January 2017 Child Care Newsletter

TOWN OF BEAUMONT EARLY LEARNING CHILD CARE SCHOOL AGE SITE NEWS INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Supervisors Update

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Sunshine & Green Room

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Rainbow & Gold Room

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Kinder Room

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Pictures

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Staff Activities

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ELCC Snack Menu

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SAS Pictures

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SAS Snack Menu

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Fee Schedule

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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

ELCC Supervisor Update We hope you all had a restful and joyous holiday season. I would like to take the opportunity on behalf of all the staff to thank you for your generous gifts, tasty snacks and heartfelt cards.

We really appreciated all the kind gestures!

Reminder – Please remove your shoes before entering any of the playrooms.

This helps keep our floors clean for your children.

We also need your 8GB flash drive in as soon as possible so we can work on creating your child’s digital portfolio.

There are some photos on page 6 of some staff fun we’ve been having over the past few months!

Jasmine had her baby on December 20th, a little earlier than expected. Edwin John was 7 pounds 5 ounces and both mom and baby are doing great!

We welcome back Amy from maternity leave on January 11th. Amy will be returning to the kinder room and working with Stephanie. Lorena will be moving up to the rainbow room to work alongside Beth and Tammy.

Have a great month!

Jodie

2017 Closure Dates: February 20 April 14 and 17 May 22 July 3 August 7 September 4 October 9 November 13 December 25,26,27

Sunshine Room

Tendai—Early Childhood Program Coordinator Michelle—Early Childhood Program Assistant

The month of December has been a busy one in the sunshine room. The children are now all settled into routine and starting to say a few more words, we are really enjoying watching them grow.

We have been very busy “on the go”. The children walk around the room with bags that they have filled with things and wave “bye” to us as they walk to their next destination. They have been pushing babies in strollers and shopping carts around while collecting items as well. We have noticed that many of them are really enjoying the babies and taking care of them and each other. They will find a friend’s shoes and bring them to them after nap, or come up and rub a friend’s back if they are sad. We are going to start to change the room a bit to incorporate more ways they can help each other and build some self-help skills.

The sunshine room has been very busy with sensory activities. We have painted using cars, trucks and our feet, experienced using glue for the first time, and enjoyed water, sand, and ice experiences. We have also been building our fine motor skills with crayons, markers and bingo dabbers.

Gross Motor Time is enjoyed by all our sunshine room friends. They love climbing through tunnels, up and over the ramps, through the tires and over the different balance objects we have offered. We also built a fort in the room. They enjoyed going in and out of the fort. When the room was dark we gave them flashlights. They were excited that they were able to control the light and dark themselves.

Gentle Reminders: Now that the wet, snowy weather has arrived please remember to take shoes and boots off before entering the sunshine room. Our sunshine kids spend lots of time on the floor and we need to keep it as clean as possible.

Also, please be mindful of the crosswalk in front of our gate. We know it is hard to see when the snow has fallen but it lines up directly with our gate and if cars park in front of it then the other rooms cannot get across to and from the other park. Please pull up further or park further back but remain clear of the cross walk.

Thank you Tendai and Michelle

Green Room

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

This month we continued our exploration of collecting in our room. We have made our house corner in to a grocery store, the children really love picking what food they want to go into their bags. The hot chocolate boxes and tins have been a huge hit! As we continue to explore collecting and collections we are starting to see a interest in building. We brought in a floor Duplo building centre last week for the children to explore, they spent so much time building towers with each other. Once we noticed that the children weren't playing with the duplo centre very much anymore we used a different type of Duplo and place it on top of our quiet cube so they could explore it in a different way. Some children continued to build tall towers while others filled the Duplo board with as many pieces as they could, kind of like a puzzle.

Now that the cold snap is over we are so excited to get back outside and do some exploring in our park! We've been using lots of kitchen gadgets out in the snow to make many different meals. Some of our favourite things to make are ice cream, pan cakes and soup. The snow allows the children to create soma different things.

We wished both Shae and Connor a very Happy 2nd Birthday in December and we are wishing Trey, Reid and Gabriel a very Happy Birthday this month. We also said goodbye to our Grant MacEwan student, Sam, we will miss her very much, but are wishing her the best of luck in her last semester of school.

Rainbow Room

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

Welcome to 2017! We are excited to welcome two new friends to our room, Everett and Wyatt.

December was busy, we said goodbye to Jasmine and our MacEwan student Shelly, Jake and his family had a new addition, baby Grace and Jasmine had a baby boy Edwin John on December 20th. Lorena will be joining our team in early January; she just recently returned off maternity leave, some families will recognize her from their time in the Sunshine room. For the month of January we will be exploring the concept of “How can we change ice?” We will be freezing many materials and experimenting with how to melt and create ice. These experiments will encourage the children to ask questions, make guesses, problem solve and find answers. The children will also be practicing their fine motor skills through the use of eye droppers, basters, test tubes and syringes. The children have enjoyed bringing in books to share with their friends during group time. This practice will be continuing into the New Year and please remember that toy days for the room are Tuesdays and Fridays.

Happy New Year Beth, Tammy and Lorena

Gold Room

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

In the spirit of the New Year, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Gold Room families a healthy and prosperous 2017!

Since the weather was not cooperating with us in December, we had plenty of opportunities to play inside, to develop Lego creation skills, to play "Hide and Seek" in the Teen Center and in the classroom, to try new art techniques, and finally, to help prepare Santa's sled and build our own Christmas tree. Despite the cold weather, we had lots of fun crazy carpeting on the hill or during our visits at the Library. We learned many new skills during the first winter month: how to be safe on a slippery sidewalk, how to slide down the hill without crossing paths with friends who are going up, and how to safely use the park equipment.

Our skating was a wonderful opportunity to show off our abilities and to play hockey using sticks and pucks.

Thanks again to all our parent volunteers who helped us with the preparations: tying skates, putting helmets on, or simply giving us some extra help and encouragement after a fall. Our next skating day will be on January 11th, from 10:30am to 11:30am. Everyone is welcome!

Focusing on individual interests now, the majority of our attention was placed on winter themes such as elves, Christmas trees and, of course, Santa. The children sang Christmas carols, informed us daily of the Elf's hiding places at home and told us about their visits with Santa or the Polar Express Train. As the room filled with the smell of freshly baked cupcakes, we decorated our Christmas tree, using all kinds of recycled materials in an open-ended process and even spent time reading, "The Night Before Christmas", with Connor's mom. Thank you for this special time.

We listened to Christmas carols from different parts of the world and we learned how people celebrate this time of the year. Being involved in these activities provides the children with many opportunities to develop their creativity, small motor skills, problem solving, sharing, cooperating, and independence. Learning about traditions from around the world gives us knowledge about cultural diversity and teaches us inclusiveness and respect.

We hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season!

Happy Birthday to Faith, Elise and Kason!

Kinder Room

Jade —Early Childhood Program Coordinator Stephanie—Early Childhood Program Assistant

December was a month full of experimentation in the Kinder Room. The Kinder Room was heavily involved in science experiments and colour mixing experiences. They showed a strong interest in transformation in both science and colours. They had the opportunity to initiate a reaction between baking soda and vinegar on their own. They painted their own volcanoes and then were able to mix vinegar and baking soda in the top of their volcano using whatever colour paint they wanted. They were fascinated by the eruption but noticed that the longer the baking soda and vinegar settled in the container, the less fizzy their reaction became.

During this experiment we noticed that they were also interested in the mixing of the colours of paint in their containers so we took this as a cue to experiment with colour also. Our biggest project involving colour mixing was creating their own unique colours in test tubes and naming them. The children were so proud of their creations and were thoughtful about the names they chose. Some of them used names that reflected the colour they had created directly, like Brenton’s navy blue test tube he named “Jeansy Jeans” because it reminded him of his jeans. While others named their test tubes something that made them smile, like Shaelynn’s “Mermaid Tail Silver”. Each name and colour unique to the child, they were excited to see them displayed for their friends and families to admire. If you have a chance, check out the test tubes with your children’s colours inside and ask your children about them, some have funny stories to tell about where their colour’s name came from.

We took our colour mixing to the next level after that project, mixing colour gak together to see what colours would emerge. Using clear gelatin and squirting food colouring inside of it to see the colours mix and freeze inside of it. They also participated in a bunch of painting experiences, having the opportunity to mix colours how they liked. Our room has been inquisitive, seeking and persistent in their exploration of colour and science this past month. We are looking forward to another month of discovery following the busy holiday weeks!

Have a great month, Stephanie and Lorena

ELCC SNACK MENU— January 2017 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

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9

3

Thursday 4

5

Graham wafers with cream cheese & banana slices

Eggo waffles with syrup & orange slices

Apple slices with yogurt

Cheese quesadillas with salsa & sour cream

Cucumber slices with cheese

Pea butter & jam sandwiches

10

Fruit cocktail & mini caramel rice cakes

Banana bites with pea butter & jam

Tuna melts on ritz crackers

Trail Mix

6 LEFT OVER FRIDAY

11 12 Yogurt & granola Mandarin oranges with bagels & jam

13 LEFT OVER FRIDAY

Red peppers with melted cheese & salsa, crackers

16 17 18 Mini rice cakes Yogurt with frozen Peaches with Teddy with apple slices berries grahams & cinnamon Fresh fruit salad & fig newtons

Friday

Hard boiled eggs & Triscuits with cream toast cheese and sliced tomato

23 24 Raisin bread with Rice Krispies with apple sauce berries Ice cream cones with yogurt & fresh fruit

Pasta with Alfredo sauce & Parmesan cheese

30 Scrambled eggs & tomatoes

Cheerios with banana slices

Cucumber salad with Italian dressing & crackers

English muffin mini pizza with ham & cheese

Rice with vegetables & soy sauce 19 Shreddies with strawberries LEFT OVER FRIDAY Pita with hummus & peppers

25 26 Yogurt with bran Pea butter, tortilla buds & banana wraps Nacho chips with hummus & tomatoes

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Cereal bars with sliced pears

27 LEFT OVER FRIDAY Birthday snack— PM

31 *All snacks and lunch are served with milk and water