December 2017 newsletter

Beaumont Child Care Services Newsletter INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Supervisors Update

1

Sunshine & Green

2

Rainbow & Gold Room

3

Kinder Room

4

ELCC Pictures

5

ELCC Snack Menu

6

SAS Update

7

SAS Snack Menu

8

SAS Pictures

9

Gift Guidelines

10

2018 Closure Schedule

11

Fee Schedule

12

Supervisor, ELCC Jodie Vesso 780-929-1263 jodie.vesso@ beaumont.ab.ca Sunshine, Green & Rainbow Rooms phone: 780-929-5913 Gold & Kinder room phone: 780-929-5914 Supervisor, School Age Site Christopher Kruk 780-929-2173 chris.kruk@ beaumont.ab.ca SAS Room Phone: 780-929-2190 SAS Cell Phone: 780-862-7803

Upcoming Closure Dates December 25,26,27, January 1 February 19 March 30 April 2 May 21

Early Learning Child Care Supervisor Update It’s hard to believe that December is here already!

We hope all the children enjoyed our National Child Day celebration, please take a moment to check out the pictures in this newsletter.

Our MacEwan students returned on November 20 and will complete their 4 week placement on December 15th – we wish them all the best!!

Thank you for the positive responses to our first upcoming annual professional development day! I know it isn’t easy to work around but we appreciate the support.

With Christmas right around the corner, we have included our gifts for staff guidelines that may offer some suggestions for those wishing to do so.

A few reminders: 

December Scholastic book orders are due back by end of day on Friday, December 1st. I will be putting the order in first thing on Monday morning, this way the books should be in prior to Christmas.



Holiday vacation schedules are due back by Friday December 1st. Thank you to those families that have submitted them already, it definitely helps with staff scheduling.



Please remove wet or dirty footwear before walking into your child’s room. This helps keep our floors clean as children do play on them.

We hope you can enjoy some time with family and friends this holiday season!

Merry Christmas!

School Age Site Supervisor Update A big thank you to everyone assisted us and the Let’s Move program that visited our centre and conducted some research on the physical activity of after schoolers. The information collected will support future programming and provide our centre with more resources to promote physical activity.

A big thank you also to everyone that helped us celebrate National Child Day! This month, the children will be choosing items from the World Vision catalogue to buy a gift for Benjamin.

Just a reminder, it can get very hectic as I am sure you are aware and we do very much appreciate notifications and your patience as we ensure the safety of your children. To make things easier, we do have a program cell phone that you can now TEXT if your child will be absent. The program cell phone number is (780) 862-7803. Our regular phone number of (780) 929-2190 can still be used but if it is easier to TEXT us, please use (780) 862-7803.

Have a great month and happy holidays to everyone!

Chris Kruk

Sunshine Room Early Learning Child Care

Tendai—Early Childhood Program Coordinator Stephanie—Early Childhood Program Assistant

This month has been filled with lots of action in the Sunshine room. The children seemed to be climbing and standing on furniture and equipment. We realized all they were trying to do was test their physical limits. With this in mind, we provided lots of opportunities for the children to test their physical limits in a safe , controlled and closely supervised environments. The children were really excited to see and try out the unique play spaces that we created for them in the room and in the gym. There were moments when we would hold our breath as we watched them explore their body movements and risky play, but it all went well. The children showed awesome body control and balance. We explored “How We Can Test Our Physical Limits” in ways that really challenged the children in their gross motor skills as well as their problem solving techniques as they tried to figure out how best to climb over, under or around objects.

Balancing was another one of the experiences they really enjoyed. They balanced on beams , pool noodles ,skate boards and river rocks .We introduced yoga as another way of balancing, that not only challenged the children's balance but the staff as well, l think we lost our balance more than the children did .They also experienced balancing half plastic eggs on straws , balancing eggs on spoons was also another fun experience the children did. The most risky play we have introduced so far is climbing up a ladder, as much as it is risky the children are enjoying it and they are comfortable knowing we are right there with them. The sensory walk also gave the children the opportunity to test their balance while walking on different textured surfaces ,they walked in shaving cream ,water beads , grass , sand , cold water and warm water . This learning experience came just at the right time as we venture outside in the snow, the ground is all uneven but they are managing to keep their balance most of the time as they enjoy outdoor play. Some of the children have mastered the balancing so well they are no longer holding on to the rail when they are going up or down stairs. There is so much to learn and explore for the little one and we are exited to be a part all the learning and exploring in the sunshine room.

Green Room Early Learning Child Care

Laura—Early Childhood Program Coordinator Kristi—Early Childhood Program Assistant

The Green Room children are still showing us that they are interested in collections so we will continue to plan off this interest with different extensions of play! Dressing up is a big hit at the moment and we are currently observing a new interest of ramps that we will plan around next.

Our snow fort project is taking shape in our park and if the weather cooperates we should have some nice colourful ice brick pieces made for them!

Our MacEwan student Shanley is back with us and we are all enjoying the play experiences she is carrying out in our room as well as her bright and joyful personality.

With the Christmas holidays just around the corner we are reminded that yes it is a time of receiving but it is also a time of giving. We would like to create a giving tree in our room in December with the intention of covering it with mitts and hats that we can donate to a local charity. We hope that we can help the Green Room children understand at their level that everyone needs mitts and hats to stay warm in the winter and we want to help everyone stay warm by giving these away. Knowing we are all a little part of a bigger community is a great thing! Thank you in advance if you and your family choose to participate.

We want to wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas season and please don’t forget to share any special pictures with us as you celebrate and practice your own special family traditions over the holidays!

Laura and Kristi

Rainbow Room Early Learning Child Care Centre

Beth—Early Childhood Program Coordinator Lorena—Early Childhood Program Assistant Tammy—Early Childhood Program Assistant

Wow – it’s hard to believe that December is already here! For the past week, the children have been creating structures all over the room. The interest started with the Lego, Kaley built a tower that was a long at the water table lid and then Clark decided he wanted to create one as well. Other children began to build with the blocks, creating racetracks, bunkbeds and garages.

Our new focus for December will be “How can we create structures?” We will be exploring and creating plans and maps, the concept of balance, carrying and hauling the materials we need and working on developing our teamwork skills. We will also be adding a variety of blocks and materials to different areas which will add to the “building boom” already taking place. Please email or send in a picture of your home as we will be creating house and people blocks for the children to use as they build. This month we will be visiting the “Pet Valu” store to drop off our room’s portion of the National Child Day hot lunch money. As the children have such a love for animals, we decided to donate the money to support the Pet Foodbank Donation in our community.

Thank you, Tammy, Beth and Lorena

Gold Room

Joanna—Early Childhood Program Coordinator Jodi—Early Childhood Program Assistant Simran—Early Childhood Program Assistant

Hello December! Make our wishes come true, and fill our hearts with joy and love.

November was such a busy month in the Gold Room, starting with Rebecca, a MacEwan student who began her field placement practicum with us. She will be with us until mid-December, preparing experiences, playing and learning during her four-week block placement.

Our next-door neighbors, the J.E. La Pointe students, continue to come from time to time, reading, spending time and socializing with their younger friends.

Our first skating day was exciting and fun as the children enjoyed practicing their gross motor skills together, listening to music and playing all sorts of ball games. A BIG thank you goes out to the parents that came to help with lace tying and skating. Our next skating day will be on December 13th from 10:30am to 11:30am. Please join us if you can.

Celebrating National Child Day is a big event every year, starting with story time and a hot lunch. Our disco dance gave the children the chance for dizzy playtime, incorporating dress up and a fashion show on "the red carpet". This event gives the children pride and happiness to know that November 20th of every year is their day. Teaching our children to be socially active starts with them observing their parents and family members in their celebrations, reunions and social gatherings.

To help some of the less fortunate around us, we will be using funds collected from the hot lunch to purchase some food items for the Food Bank. In addition, we will be collecting non-perishable food during the month of December. We hope that you can support us in this initiative.

Following the children's requests and interests, together, we've created the evergreen tree, giving the children the opportunity to come up with their own ideas of how to decorate it. Providing many different art supplies boosted up a spark of creativity and invention.

Kinder Room

Amy —Early Childhood Program Coordinator Michelle—Early Childhood Program Assistant Lyndsey—Early Childhood Program Assistant

It has been a very busy month in the Kinder room! We started the month off still interested in ramp experiences but very quickly moved into a huge interest in change and transformations that occur. We have been very busy doing a variety of science experiments. Some have instant results, for example elephant toothpaste, and some have been days of observation, like watching a Dino egg hatch.

We have done a couple large projects like scratch art. The children spent days colouring in poster boards and then covering one in black crayon and one in black paint to see which one scratches better. The children also made playdough from scratch with little direction and a large group of them helped make our birthday snack which was ice cream cone cupcakes. We explored different types of magnets and a variety of loose parts to see what is magnetic and what is not, we transformed the kitchen area into a science lab and then a space station once the children started showing interest in learning about space. We have had numerous conversations about planets, stars and astronauts. Another area they have asked lots of questions about is dinosaurs. They have been curious to know what dinosaurs are called, what they eat, and why they don’t live anymore. We removed the LEGO™ for a couple weeks and gave the children a chance to explore with KINEX™ blocks and snap blocks. They have created a variety of creations like cars, rockets, and robots. This interest of theirs has been a lot of fun for the adults as well, and they have kept us on our toes with their ever changing ideas! We have enjoyed trying different experiments with them and in some cases being just as surprised as them at the outcome. We look forward to continuing with the experiments and are curious to see where it leads us next!

National Child Day “The Right to Be Safe” Thank you for participating in our annual National Child Day hot lunch fundraiser! The children really seemed to enjoy the Story Teller in the morning – lots of fun!

We raised enough money that each room was able to put $65 towards their local charity/organization of choice.

They have been working within their rooms with families and children to organize, partner and plan for how to give back to our community.

Sunshine room-

Beaumont Christmas Elves – baby supplies

Green Room-

Mitten Giving Tree that will be donated to the Beaumont Christmas Elves

Rainbow Room-

Donation of cash and supplies to a local animal rescue

Gold Room-

Food bank donations

Kinder Room-

Santa’s Anonymous

Thank you for making this fundraiser a success!!

ELCC SNACK MENU—DECEMBER 2017 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

1

*All snacks and lunch are serve with milk and water

LEFT OVER FRIDAY

4 Rice krispies with orange slices

Cinnamon toast with apple slices

Cheerios with banana slices

7 Fruit cocktail with rice cakes

Tortilla chips with salsa and sour cream

Cherry tomatoes, mozza cheese & crackers

Pasta with butter & cheese or tomato sauce

Cheese quesadilla with salsa

12 Raisin toast with cheese

13 Yogurt with frozen berries

14 Apple sauce with teddy grahams

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Trail mix (cheerios, pretzels, shreddies, craisins, mini marshmallows)

11 Shreddies with apple slices

5

Meat, cheese, pickles Fruit cocktail & aniand crackers mal crackers

18 Mini rice cakes with apples and cinnamon

Pea butter and jam sandwiches

6

19 20 21 Eggos with syrup Yogurt with banana Oatmeal and slices and graham raisins with brown wafers sugar Taco salad– lettuce, tomato, shredded Melon with cheese, ranch dress- Cucumbers, cheese arrowroot cookies ing, tortilla chips and crackers

25

CLOSED

Friday

26

CLOSED

27

CLOSED

28 Yogurt with bran buds Pita with hummus and cucumber

8 LEFT OVER FRIDAY

15 LEFT OVER FRIDAY

22 LEFT OVER FRIDAY *Birthday snack— PM

29 LEFT OVER FRIDAY

SCHOOL AGE SITE

Supervisor, Chris Kruk Program Coordinator, Shirley Webster Program Assistant, Karissa George Program Assistant, Jamie Scott Program Assistant, Ingrid Holtz Program Support, Karen Hanchurak & Ariunaa Tsend

December is here and all the children are excited about Christmas and Santa arriving. We will focusing our interest on winter and preparing for the holiday season.

November’s snowfall allowed us to get out and go sledding a few times. The children can really zoom down the hill once the snow is packed down a bit. Please make sure that your child has a toque, mitts, ski pants and boots. If they don’t have the proper clothing they can’t participate in the activities outside and will miss out on the fun. There are times when going outdoors is optional but there are also time when everyone goes out and we want to make sure everyone is properly dressed.

The children have really enjoyed creating clay sculptures and Styrofoam figures. They all have very creative imaginations leading to some interesting finished products. Time was spent experimenting with baking soda and vinegar. They mixed colors and enjoyed watching the reaction of mixing the baking soda and vinegar together. Thank you to Logan who brought in a recipe for making toothpaste with baking soda and crushed up tums. Even though they had fun making the toothpaste I don’t think any of them actually enjoyed using the toothpaste that night before bed. From regular toothpaste we then made elephant toothpaste. It was interesting to see how long the fizzing lasted.

Playing with snow in the water table left many with cold hands and wet mitts but smiles on their faces. The children also experimented with melting ice blocks with first fine salt and then coarse salt and then colored water.

A vacation form has been emailed out to everyone. We ask that you please fill out and return this to the staff as soon as possible. Thank you.

The book club winners for the month were Gracie and Bryce. Congratulations to both.

Birthday wishes for December go out to: Avery M December 24 Mikaela December 28 and Gracie December 30 Happy Birthday to all.

Hope you all have a fantastic day.

School Age Site December Snack Menu Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday 1 Left Overs

4 Cereal

Triscuit Pizza’s 11 Cereal

5 Eggos and Frozen Fruit

Early Dismissal 6 Oatmeal

Soup & Crackers 12 Muffins

7 Bagels & Cream Cheese

14 Toast & Jam

Perogies with Sour Cream

Fruit Salad

18 Oatmeal

19 Scrambled Eggs

20 Bagels & Cream Cheese

21 Raisin Toast

Meat, Cheese Pickles and Crackers 27

Veggies

26

15 Left Overs

Quesadillas & Salsa

25

Left Overs

Fruit Pudding 13 Apple Sauce and Arrow Roots

Apples with Granola Bars

Nachos & Cheese

8

22 Left Overs

28 Cereal

29

Left Overs Nachos & Cheese

Gifts for Staff Guidelines **Please note that gifts for staff are not a requirement. This information has been put together as a guideline for those parents who have requested we do so, as families often want to show appreciation in August prior to their child moving to the next room, at Christmas time, or on Child Care Provider Appreciation day recognized in May of each year.

Over the past few years we have worked as a team to revise our gift policy to be more inclusive to all staff members participating in the Town of Beaumont’s Child Care Services. Although we appreciate the kind thoughts behind the gifts to individual staff, we would prefer that families recognize and show gratitude to the team as a whole instead of individuals.

The process: Whenever we r eceive gifts fr om par ents, we pool them together and dr aw for them at staff meetings or divide them up fairly at Christmas. This ensures that all staff receives something within that year. Please do not feel that you have to bring in 20 of something so that all staff receives one, just know that they are placed together for the draw even if they are addressed to an individual staff. We would prefer that gifts be addressed to the room that child is in and then the supervisor will distribute appropriately.

Below are some different ideas that the team brainstormed together for parameters and ideas around gift giving should you choose to do so.          

A card of appreciation for room staff – give an example of a time when we have done something you noticed that went above and beyond.

Gift Cards; in no more than $10, $15 or $25 denomination; one per child/room.

Ideas: ITunes, Cineplex, Indigo/Chapters, Home Hardware, IKEA, Michael’s, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Booster Juice or restaurants.

Give a donation to a charity in our name, such as to the Beaumont Christmas Elves, or a children’s charity.

Sponsor a World Vision Child on our behalf.

Get together with a few other families and provide a breakfast or lunch that staff can enjoy on their breaks.

Baking or a fruit tray that we can enjoy in the staff room.

Chocolates, candles, bath/other gift sets.

A plant or book for your child’s play room.

Flowers.

Coffee, tea, hot chocolate or treats for our staff room.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss for further clarification, please contact the program supervisor at each site. We are open to your comments and suggestions. Again this is a guideline for those parents that choose to do so but gift giving is not expected or a requirement of our program.

2018 Closure Dates – Both ELCC and SAS January 1 February 19 March 30 April 2 May 21 June 13 – PD day July 2 August 6 September 3 October 8 November 12 December 24,25,26 December 31 – ELCC closed at 4 and SAS closed at 4:30