Cultivate Mankato: January 2023 News

VOL. 32 JAN 2023

This Month's News

Parent Resources

Door Winners, Early Education Curriculum and Training Specialist, Sensory Library Sneak Peek

Rethinking Power Needs

NURTURE. GROW. EMPOWER.

www.cultivatemankato.com

January News Index

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR FAMILY INFORMATION PACKET

2023 Center Closures

03

Upcoming Study, November Guests

04

2023 Volunteer Baby Rockers

05

Warm up for the Winter Photos

06

Sensory Library Sneak Peek

07

RaiseRight - Save on Tuition

08

Scholastic Book Orders, Baby Food

09

Early Education Curriculum & Training Specialist, GiANT Worldwide

10

Infant Development Center

11

Workiversaries

12-14

Door Decorating Contest Winners

15-18

Referral and Hire: Parent Incentive

19

Parent Resource

20-21

Menus

22-23

227 Event Space

24

Covid-19 Policies updated February 2022

Review & download MN Dept of Health COVID-19 Decision Tree for People in Child Care Programs

25-26

Upcoming Study

December Guests

Within our education curriculum, we use studies to guide our lesson planning. Studies are a broad concept that we focus on for 4-6 weeks. Currently our study has been all about Winter. This month we will begin our Health Study. If you feel your family has something special to share in regards to our upcoming study, we would love family participation.

Reach out!

Thank you Mankato West High School carolers for being our guests! We love community, and it was so fun to see the oldest children singing to the youngest children. Thank you!

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Many of you are familiar with Mr John's visits but for those who don't – Mr John has been volunteering at Cultivate since we opened our doors in 2019. He sings songs with his guitar and reads stories to our preschoolers. And yes, those are mini colored bulbs on his beard.

He sure knows how to have fun! Thank you for your time Mr. John!

www.cultivatemankato.com

COMMUNITY

CHILD CARE FUND Are you Looking to Donate to a Cause?

CultivateMN is our early education advocacy organization and is a 501c3.

We also have a CultivateMN community child care fund. Make a donation to the fund and tell us who you want it to support whether it be a specific family or a general scholarship.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

The Baby Rocker Volunteer Program will be in FULL SWING in 2023!

We put the call-out for volunteers to help in the infant classrooms and WOW did people respond!

In December, we had our first volunteer orientation. At orientation we went over expectations and responsibilities of the volunteers and gave them a tour of our infant program.

Starting in January we will have volunteers in the classrooms rocking and singing and giving extra love to the babies. Volunteers will always be supervised by the classroom teachers.

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www.cultivatemankato.com

WARM UP HOT COCOA BAR COOKIES POPCORN PHOTOBOOTH MUSIC

Winter

THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!

Sensory Library

Coming Soon!

We have been working hard with Sam Olsen, OT with Persist Therapy, getting our sensory library ready for our families to use! Watch for details on when and how you can check out items from our sensory library, which will be located in our administrative office!

Teachers will also be able to utilize our sensory library, and children will be able to come over to the administrative office and use our quiet space if sensory breaks are needed.

Sensory Library made possible by community donations through CultivateMN

Sneak Peek of the items we will have available below!

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www.cultivatemankato.com

SAVE ON TUITION

click here for Cultivate Mankato' s RaiseRight FAQ ENROLL HERE

ENROLLMENT CODE:

GIFT CARD ORDER SCHEDULE:

HAVE QUESTIONS?

CZGPSWL3ID8X

1st & 3rd FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

JORDYN ERICKSON jordyn.erickson@cultivatemankato.com

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(physical gift cards)

www.cultivatemankato.com

HELP US BUILD OUR CLASSROOM RESOURCES

SCHOLASTIC Book Orders!

Use Class Code: R76H7

Through the Scholastic Book Club, you have the choice to place an order each month. Your orders will allow us to earn free books for our Cultivate library and will be used throughout all of our classrooms. Books will be delivered to Cultivate and sent home with your child.

Orders will be due the 1st Friday of this month to guarantee delivery before the holiday.

Reminder: please write your first & last name on your book orders Use the link below to order.

Order will be due on Friday, January 13th.

Any questions about ordering can be emailed to Ms. Tera at tera.vankeulen@cultivatemankato.com Link to order: https://orders.scholastic.com/R76H7

'Made From Scratch' Baby Food Did you know that Liv Benson, our Central Kitchen and Food Coordinator, makes our baby food for our infants here at Cultivate Mankato?

Our 'made from scratch' baby food is 100% beets, carrots, broccoli and green beans.

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www.cultivatemankato.com

Did you know we have a Early Education Curriculum and Training Specialist?

This specialist is an integral part to the Early Education carrying out the vision and initiatives. They work closely with the Early Education Coordinator on tasks/projects that help support the goals the program has. Some things Alexis does are; tracking teacher accountability with their responsibilities in lesson planning and ProCare communication, tracking of assessment documentation, curriculum support time (she steps in to each classroom so the teacher can step out to work on planning/prepping), maintains teacher resources and supplies, puts together documents to support teachers in their planning, creates material to have on hand for teachers to use when working on specific skills, etc.

Alexis focused alot on curriculum for the 2022 year in her role. For 2023, Alexis is be supporting the program with more initiatives on training by helping create a catalog of trainings that staff can take for professional development credit. 2023 will also have her focusing on supporting the teachers as assessments and conferences are rolled out organization-wide.

GiANT Program Here at Cultivate, we implement the GiANT program.

The GiANT program helps us to learn more about ourselves so that we can lead ourselves better and lead others better. It helps us to understand what our natural tendencies are (both good and bad) and how we can fine tune ourselves to be the best version of ourselves. This is part of the professional development and professional experience that we are creating at Cultivate or Early Educators. All staff have taken a personal questionnaire to find out what their professional “voice” is. Within the GiANT program, there are 5 voices. The voices are: nurturer, guardian, connector, creative, and pioneer. The five voices can be used to understand yourself and your communication, along with the people you work with everyday. Some of these voices come naturally to you and others you recognize in others but can’t see in yourself. We all have the ability to use every voice. Every so often, we would like to introduce you to one of our team members and share a little more about their voices!

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CULTIVATE MANKATO INFANT DEVELOPMENT CENTER

SAME PROGRAM SAME VALUES SECOND LOCATION

SECURE YOUR SPOT FOR 2023 NOW ENROLLING & HIRING | REQUEST A TOUR TODAY

www.cultivatemankato.com Interested in being a volunteer baby rocker? Contact Us Today!

Our Infant Development Center:

♡ Conveniently located near Mayo Hospital & Mankato Clinic ♡ Space is designed specifically for infants 3-16 months ♡ Brand new facility with the same stellar infant program ♡ Exceeds policies & procedures expectations ♡ Detailed parent communication throughout the day ♡ Infant development checklists, lesson planning & activities ♡ Staff on-site training & professional development CULTIVATE NEWS | 11

ENROLLMENT CONTACT FORM JOIN OUR TEAM APPLY HERE MORE INFO SCHEDULE A TOUR www.cultivatemankato.com

CELEBRATING three YEAR WORK ANNIVERSARY Adrienne Trahms, Infant Assistant Cassandra Theriault, IDC Site Supervisor and Infant Teacher

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www.cultivatemankato.com

CELEBRATING two YEAR WORK ANNIVERSARY Katie Nance, Toddler Lead Teacher Kayla Jensen, Assistant Teacher

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www.cultivatemankato.com

CELEBRATING ONE YEAR WORK ANNIVERSARY Lanie Beyer, Toddler Lead Teacher Stephan Stangler, Property Manager Liv Benson, Central Food and Kitchen Coordinator CULTIVATE NEWS | 14

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1ST ANNUAL

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DOOR DECORA

T IN G C O N T E S T

WINNER

IDC Two

1ST ANNUAL

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DOOR DECORA

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WINNER

Infant Two

1ST ANNUAL

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DOOR DECORA

T IN G C O N T E S T

WINNER

Toddler Three

1ST ANNUAL

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DOOR DECORA

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WINNER

Preschool Three

CULTIVATE MANKATO

Referral & Hire $200 TUITION CREDIT

Family Incentive Program

Refer a teacher and if hired, receive $200 tuition credit.

No limits on the number of referral & hires.

Questions? Email Megan Diedrich at megan.diedrich@cultivatemankato.com

​Please share this information to help us find caring, outstanding and qualified individual to join our team!

Our Benefits & Incentives: ‣ Health, Dental, Vision Insurance ‣ Professional Development Training & Stipend ‣ Retirement Plan ‣ Professional Work Environment ‣ Competitive Wages ‣ Paid Teacher Appreciation Days ‣ Child Care Benefits ‣ No Nights or Weekends ‣ Drinks, Snacks & Lunch Provided ‣ Team Parties & Events Click Here to Apply CULTIVATE NEWS | 19

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Parent Resources

! y a D e h t f o Quote

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www.cultivatemankato.com

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Jan Menus Click the menu to download a pdf

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We would like to give families the opportunity to order the bread that River Rock makes for our children. There are two different options to choose from: Sourdough and Midwest Multigrain.

Pick up at Cultivate in 1-2 business days.

To place an order: Visit our Cultivate Mankato shop!

Questions? Email us at info@cultivatemankato.com

www.cultivatemankato.com

Click the menu to download a pdf

CULTIVATE NEWS | 23

We would like to give families the opportunity to order snack packs for your child(ren) or upcoming event. Choose between a meat or vegetarian option or send us a message to create a custom order.

Pick up at Cultivate in 1-2 business days.

To place an order: Visit our Cultivate Mankato shop!

Questions? Email us at info@cultivatemankato.com

www.cultivatemankato.com

Us & ff r e f Re 0o 2 $ eive tion c e R tui r u yo

OUR EVENT SPACE PROVIDES: • A large kitchen island with bar stools • Tables, table clothes & matching chairs • Three large windows for lots of natural lighting

• A kitchenette with a refrigerator, freezer, sink & microwave • Access to bathrooms • Beautiful artwork

To reserve visit: www.cultivatemankato.com/community-room

ENROLLED CULTIVATE FAMILIES RECEIVE A FREE RESERVATION