Parent Information Letter April 2013

Dear Parents,

In an effort to save trees and money we attempted to go paperless with our winter newsletter, it was a huge flop! It has been brought to my attention by a friend that works with computers that there are just too many different computer programs and versions of computer programs/software to be able to send out an email blast that has an attached document that EVERY person can open on their computer  Therefore, we are going back to the old style and doing it in newsletter fashion! Thank you to all the parents that tried to open the document, tried saving it on another version of word or even helped by saving it on their computer, changing the save setting and forwarding it to friends, we really appreciated the effort. In the long run the real goal was always to have all parents receive the necessary information to stay updated on the center, and we feel that the old fashioned paper newsletter is going to serve the goal best!

Field Trip for Pre K 3 and Pre K 4: Camden Adventure Aquarium!

The Pre K 3 and Pre K 4 classes will be taking a field trip to the Adventure Aquarium on April 26th. The bus is leaving at 9am (please have all children here by 8 am to allow time for bathroom, lunch collection, and roll taking) the bus will leave the Aquarium around 1pm (plan on a 2-2:30 pm pick up time if you are not a chaperone).

Please remember to dress weather appropriately (no dresses and sneakers only please) because there is an outdoor Children’s Garden area at the Aquarium, there is a strong possibility that we will be outdoors for part of our time, so please dress for outdoor weather too. Please send your child to school with a totally disposable lunch (no glass/ no thermos/ no containers that need to be returned to you), in a brown paper bag, with your child’s name on it. Please update any new emergency contact information (cell numbers) with the lead teachers before the date of the trip. Thank you, we are really looking forward to a fun time at the Aquarium!

Move Up Reminders: The next big move up for the childcare center will occur on June 17th for the start of our summer program. At that time, the current children in Pre K 3 and Pre K 4 attend our summer camp program, the toddler 2. 5 children that will be old enough to attend Pre K 3 in the fall (3 years old by Sept. 1st) will move to Pre K 3, the toddler 2 children that are 2.5 will move upstairs and the rest of the toddlers and infants will move to their appropriate classrooms. I know that for some children in Infant 2 there was a lag in the quick movement to the Toddler 1 room, I apologize for that delay, as it occurred when we created the 2.5 room (but not all children were 2.5 and able to move upstairs quickly enough). Please know that your child’s academic needs were still met while they stayed in the Infant 2 classroom. The staff in the room worked very hard to offer the children age and developmentally appropriate interactions, activities, story times, songs, puppets, and art experiences to ensure that when they do move over they haven’t missed a beat. I know that the only thing that did make it difficult for families was the fact that the children are still on their own sleeping schedule and not on the one nap that the toddler program offers. For this I do apologize and thank you for your patience as well!

Spring Parent Newsletter Page 2

Signatures Requested…thank you to everyone that signed our “Slow Speed, Children at Play” sign request. It was mailed to Officer Klein at the 5th District, say a prayer that we receive our signage soon! A phone call to the 5th district complaining about speeders may help also, if anyone feels up to it, hint, hint!

Update on Play Yard

We are moving ahead with the artificial grass in the play yard. To date we have raised almost $1000. We are going to be offering two raffle baskets in the spring/early summer. The first is a Garden Basket (with a free week of childcare included) which is available now, tickets at Cyndi’s desk. The second will be a Beach Basket (with a free week of camp included) late May early June, as our final two fundraisers for this school year. Father McKee has approved us moving ahead and installing the yard this spring, with any fundraising efforts next school year going towards the amount still due on the grass. We have spoken to the company and we are hopeful that we will be installed and ready to go sometime in May! I will keep you updated on our progress as we move forward. Thank you to all of our families for their continued support of this endeavor. Also, if you were able to bring in a donated basket for either of our fundraisers, please give Cyndi the name of the people / businesses that donated so that a thank you note can be sent!

Recycled Items Needed for Camp Projects! Summer camp utilizes all sorts of recycled items in their art and science programs. If you would like to drop off any of the below listed items, the camp staff would be most appreciative!

 Water bottles, soda bottles (lids included please)

 Egg cartons

 Pieces of: ribbon, yarn, string, buttons, and fabric/ material swatches  Strawberry containers (plastic ones along with the basket type)

 Paper of any type

 Any craft items (opened/ unopened/ partially used)

Summer camp and childcare also take donations: games, toys, sports equipment. Thank You!

Spring Parent Newsletter Page 3

On-going Improvement Projects

Cabins for Camp: We will be able to utilize the upper school building, the learning center and the hall again this year; therefore, we are going to hold off until next summer for this purchase in order to be able to buy the cabins that we really want to invest in.

Washing Machine: DONE, YEAH! We have a washer in the large girl’s bathroom now on the first floor. Up until now, Miss Nancy and Miss Cyndi have been taking home the infant bouncy seats, boppie covers, swing seats, and activity mats to wash them on a rotating basis. Now they will be able to be washed here, which will make life much easier 

Office/ new wall: the first two estimates are in on the wall construction, the third will be done very soon. The archdiocese requires three estimates before lager construction projects. We have discovered that we need to involve L&I: both the inspection/ building code department and the Fire Inspector as we move along. We want to ensure that we do this project correctly, up to fire code, and up to L & I code. We expect that this is going to be a long process (especially since L & I is involved) I will continue to keep you apprised of the situation.

With this in mind, and camp coming soon, the following will be implemented to ensure the safety of the entry door to the childcare center: the camp sign in/out table will be moved to outside the entry door of the childcare center, Miss Cyndi will be at the sign in/ out table and will also monitor the entry door to the childcare. She will unlock the door to let the families from childcare enter both in the morning and the afternoon.

Staff Changes: Sad Farwell

 Miss Jess in the Nursery moved to Georgia to live with her Aunt and pursue a career in the area of her degree. We will miss Jess and her smile in the nursery! We wish her much success in her job search.

 Miss Anne, Infant II: Miss Anne has been with us since the center opened last year. At the time that she took on the lead teacher position in her classroom we knew that her goal was to work with adults with special needs. She finally attained a position in her field and will begin her work there on April 22nd. We wish her much success and thank her for spending the past two school years with us. We will miss her very much!

Staff Changes: New Additions

 Miss Ashley joins us in Miss Jess’s position in the Nursery. She is currently being trained by Miss Nancy. Please welcome her to our childcare family.  Miss Jamie and Miss Aly will be back from college in a few weeks and will be subbing at the childcare until camp begins.

 Miss Ashley B. will also return to do some subbing before her summer internship begins at Shriner’s Hospital for Children in her field of Occupational Therapy.

 Miss Dana will be joining us as a sub in classrooms while staff members begin to take their spring and summer vacations.

If ever you have any questions about staffing please feel free to speak to Cyndi