Cultivate Mankato: September 2022 News

VOL. 28 SEPT 2022

This Month's News

Parent Resources

Cultivate's 3 years, Parent Referral Incentive Program, CultivateMN Child Care Fund, Cultivate Alumni

5 Reminders When Parenthood Feels Heavy

NURTURE. GROW. EMPOWER.

September News Index

SUMMER FUN! CULTIVATE NEWS | 2

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR FAMILY INFORMATION PACKET

2022 Center Closures

03

New Parent Handbook, COVID Policies

04

Cultivate Alumni

05

Cultivate Kitchen

06

Scholastic Book Order, HS Opportunity

07

Upcoming Study, 'I Matter' T-Shirts

08

Referral and Hire - Family Incentive

09

Recap of Spirit Weeks

10-11

CultivateMN Podcast

12

Infant Development Center

13

Workiversaries

14-15

Parent Resource

16

Community Room Event Space Rental

17

Menus

18-19 www.cultivatemankato.com

JULY 4 ...

AUGUST 26 SEPTEMBER 5 OCTOBER 21 ..

CULTIVATE NEWS | 3

g!

Upcomin

Covid-19 Policies updated February 2022

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

Click Here

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.

NEW: Parent Handbook MAIN STREET

INFANT DEVELOPMENT CENTER

Lip Sync Battle!

It is our MOST EPIC Give Back to the Community event yet!

On Friday, October 7 there will be a team from Cultivate Mankato competing in the Minnesota Valley Action Council’s…

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Cultivate is Turning 3!

Can you believe it? On September 9th, Cultivate's doors have been open for 3 years!

LIP SYNC BATTLE!!!

Businesses and organizations from across Mankato will face off in a head-to-head lip sync battle. Many teams will enter, only one will win!

Tickets will be available directly through Cultivate Mankato, or from the Mayo Clinic Health Systems Civic Center Box Office.

Tickets are $40 each.

Be watching for more details as we get closer to the event. www.facebook.com/mvacwarmyourheart www.mnvac.org

CULTIVATE NEWS | 4

www.cultivatemankato.com

CULTIVATE

ALUMNI

ORDER ALUMNI T-SHIRTS HERE!

WE WILL MISS YOU! You're off to great places, today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so... get on your way! Well wishes to all of our students off to kindergarten this fall.

CULTIVATE NEWS | 5

www.cultivatemankato.com

Baked Ziti and Take & Bake Pizzas NOW AVAILABLE! We have Take and Bake Pizzas and Baked Ziti for families to purchase. Feeds between 4-6 people. Pizza options: cheese, pepperoni, veggie. Order by Wednesday, pick up on Fridays. Pick up at either of our locations.

ORDER HERE

Coming Soon!

While we are currently offering these two meals for families, we can go beyond this… catering for events and employee lunches coming soon!

Why are we looking to expand our kitchen services?

We have access to a commercial kitchen at our Infant Development Center!

Our Central Kitchen and Food Coordinator, Liv Benson, and her assistant Paige Walters have tons of experience and want to grow and expand in their careers. We at Cultivate are always looking to help support this growth.

CULTIVATE NEWS | 6

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 on the 2nd Friday of each month.

Use the link below to order.

Order will be due on Friday, September 9th.

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

DO YOU KNOW A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT? HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS CAN EARN A CHILD DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE CREDENTIAL WORK AT CULTIVATE MANKATO

GAIN HANDS ON EXPERIENCE

LEARN & TRAIN WITH PROFESSIONALS

EARN YOUR CREDENTIALS

Do you know a high school student who is looking for professional growth and development? We are launching a high school CDA program within the Mankato community. We are committed to expanding opportunities for individuals to learn and become qualified to work with young children and earning a CDA while in high school is one way that we want to accomplish this.

Learn more at www.cultivatemankato.com/earncredentials CULTIVATE NEWS | 7

www.cultivatemankato.com

Upcoming Study 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 Diversity.

This month we will begin our Community Study. If you feel your family has something special to share in regards to our upcoming study, we would love family participation.

Reach out!

REMINDER

Upcoming Center Closures We are CLOSED October 21 for Teacher Appreciation

Now Available Infant, Toddler & Child T-Shirts

T MATTER

T MATTER

T MATTER

T MATTER

ORDER HERE note: pick up available at our admin offices CULTIVATE NEWS | 8

www.cultivatemankato.com

CULTIVATE MANKATO

Referral & Hire 10 PERCENT TUITION DISCOUNT

Family Incentive Program

Refer a teacher and if hired, receive a 10% discount on one week tuition.

No limits on the number of referral & hires.

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

Employment Package includes: health, dental & vision insurance, retirement plan, child care benefits, professional development stipend, and other employment perks. ​Please share this information to help us find caring, outstanding and qualified individual to join our team!

Now hiring in all programs CULTIVATE NEWS | 9

www.cultivatemankato.com

Photos of our Two Weeks of Spirit Week!

Dress like a Grandparent Day. Wacky Day. Cultivate Spirit Day. Tie Dye Day. Pajama Day. Jersey/Sports Day. Opposite Day — Dress like a Teacher / Dress like a Student Day. Backward Day. Monday aka 'Mom'day! = Dress like a “Mom” Day!

CULTIVATE NEWS | 10

www.cultivatemankato.com

A Journey in the Career of Early Education Listen to our latest podcast, 'A Journey into the Career of Early Education,' with Katie Condit, Early Educator, and podcast host Laura Walser, Early Education Coordinator.

We are proud to have Kate Condit on our team! Did you know Kate is not only a phenomenal Preschool Teacher, she is also our Preschool Liaison and one of our Strategic Support Specialists!

LISTEN HERE

Professional Development Day We had a great Professional Development Day last Friday! Thank you to Dunkin for donating donuts and coffee to start our morning off right, The Beast Food Boutique for supplying delicious sloppy joes for lunch, the Wolf family for donating a variety of treats from Panera for our afternoon, Sam Olsen with Persist Therapy for sharing her knowledge about sensory play and breaks in the classroom, and Laura Walser for ending our day with Conscious Discipline!

CULTIVATE NEWS | 12

www.cultivatemankato.com

CULTIVATE MANKATO INFANT DEVELOPMENT CENTER

SAME PROGRAM SAME VALUES SECOND LOCATION

WE ARE NOW OPEN! NOW ENROLLING & HIRING | REQUEST A TOUR TODAY

www.cultivatemankato.com We have officially opened our doors to families on July 5th!

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 | 13

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

CELEBRATING three YEAR WORK ANNIVERSARY Abbey Weilage, Toddler Teacher Kaity Dabney, Toddler Teacher Maddie Kuchenmeister, Infant Assistant CULTIVATE NEWS | 14

CELEBRATING ONE YEAR WORK ANNIVERSARY Sydney Church - Infant Support Kieran Roller - Infant Support

CULTIVATE NEWS | 15

Parent Resource 5 Reminders When Parenthood Feels Heavy Written by Rebecca Eanes

During different seasons and situations, I’ve felt the weight of parenthood like a heavy load laid upon my chest. It hurts emotionally and sometimes even physically. It’s especially bad for me when my children have to deal with things that are heavy for them, things I can’t remove or fix. It also feels heavy when I feel like I’ve failed; when I can look back and see what I should have done differently and then start wondering what I’m doing today that could be tomorrow’s regret. On the days when parenthood feels heavy, these 10 reminders help me get through.

One. My kids are a work in progress. I know this seems ridiculously obvious, yet I still sometimes feel like the kid in front of me is the finished result. I have to remind myself that they’re still growing.

They’re brains have a lot more maturing to do, and they have a lot more to learn and experience. Who my 8 year old is today isn’t who he will be 18. He’s a work in progress. Just like me. Plus, I have a feeling that the more I find to like about him today, the more there will be to like when he’s 18. So, I try to remember to see the good in my kids, even when they’re driving me sort of bonkers.

Two. Their problems are not mine to solve. Not always. Of course, I want to help when I can, but they have to struggle through some things. They just do. It’s how they learn resilience. Life won’t always be fair to them. People won’t always be good to them. More often than not, they don’t need me to solve their problems anyway; they

CULTIVATE NEWS | 16

just need me to be there for them while they work through it, and they need me to believe in their ability to do so. They draw strength from that.

Three. It’s never going to be perfect. It sounds like another obvious statement but I had some pretty wild expectations when I started this motherhood journey, and I’ve felt really disappointed to find that it’s never just right. I’ve found myself holding my breath, waiting for the next phase when they’ll be more independent or more self-controlled or more mature. I’ve held my breath waiting for some magical patience potion to appear or a day when a deadline doesn’t loom and the house isn’t a disaster zone of toys, empty juice bottles, and dog fur. Guess what? I eventually had to exhale because I realized it just isn’t going to happen.

There is always something I could be bothered about, always something else to wish for. The load feels a little lighter when I decide to find the joy in the chaos.

Four. I’ve messed up but they’re still okay. I haven’t done it perfectly. Still, there’s been plenty of great times, and those outweigh the tough ones. That matters. So, on the days I get it wrong, we talk about it. We listen to each other. We hug and forgive. Then we try again. When you can release the weight of guilt and accept forgiveness, the load is so much more bearable. To the mom who is too hard on herself, you’re good enough. Aim for connection instead of perfection. Perfection isn’t attainable but connection heals.

Five. I can’t be everything and do everything. A lot of heaviness comes from trying to do and BE too much. The kids can put the laundry in. Dad can make dinner. The grandparents can keep them for a night. Someone else can volunteer for lunch duty at school. I don’t win a trophy for overextending myself and stressing myself out. So when the heaviness settles in, I take a look at my schedule and my responsibilities. What needs cut gets cut, what needs delegated gets delegated. When I stop trying to be Wonder Woman, I can be quite wonderful. See what I did there?

www.cultivatemankato.com

s& U r e off Ref 0 2 ve $ on i e c Re uiti t r you

Community Room

BEAUTIFUL EVENT SPACE FOR YOUR UPCOMING PARTY OUR COMMUNITY ROOM PROVIDES: • A large kitchen island with bar stools • Tables, table clothes & matching chairs • Three large windows for lots of natural lighting • Beautiful artwork

• A kitchenette with a refrigerator, freezer, sink & microwave • Access to a preschool room or an extra meeting room • Access to bathrooms

ENROLLED CULTIVATE FAMILIES RECEIVE A FREE COMMUNITY ROOM RESERVATION

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

CULTIVATE NEWS | 9

www.cultivatemankato.com

Sept Menus Click the menu to download a pdf

CULTIVATE NEWS | 18

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 | 19

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