DICKINSON COLLEGE CHILDREN’S CENTER
Carlisle, Pennsylvania17013
Newsletter for Parents and Friends
September/October 2009
DATES TO REMEMBER
September 29 @ 4:30Fundraising/Parent Meeting
October 6Fire Safety Day
October 8Infant/Toddler Fall Portraits
October 9Preschool/Kindergarten Fall Portraits
October 18Family Picnic – Letort Park
October 30Classroom Halloween Parades (more details to be sent at a later date)
FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK
The DCCC expansion project has been completed here at the center. The August timeline was met in opening three new classrooms, two new conference rooms and some re-arranging of classrooms. Currently the additional playground is underway. We purchased a new climber and some additional toys for the new rooms. Our total enrollment is at 101 and our overall staff has grown to 25. We are very excited about our new additions to the DCCC family. We especially love the new paved parking!
Our website continues to be updated. We plan to implement some new pictures and to keep the website interactive with our current parents as well as the community. Be sure to check out our website for fundraising information.
A staff meeting was held on the 15th. We discussed the precautionary steps that we will be implementing to help protect ourselves and our families from the flu this year. Staff reviewed center policies, procedures and playground concerns. A separate letter reviewing our health policies will go out this week as well.
Kidz Dance will once again be offered at the center for those children 3 and up. Class time will be every Thursday from 3:15 to 4:00.
Our next Parent Meeting is scheduled for September 29th at 4:30. We will be working on designating fundraisers for the year. This year, we hope to put forth extra efforts towards raising funds for the new playground.
During October the center will be busy with Fire Safety Week. The children will be participating in Fire Evacuations, Weather and Intruder Drills. The children will also have a visit from the Fire Department on October 6th.
On October 18th the center will be holding our annual Family Picnic at Letort Park at 4:00 PM. It is always nice to offer families and staff the opportunity to get to know each other better! A calendar of Events will be distributed and posted online.
A new change within the center has occurred with our cleaning staff. Darlene will no longer be cleaning for us. Monday September 21st was her last day here at the center. She is still cleaning for the college so I am sure you will see her around. We will miss her. Thanks Darlene for the excellent job you did for all of us at DCCC. We welcome Vicky to the center. Vicky will be our new cleaning lady and she is eager to do a great job for us as well. Please be sure to great Vicky with a smile as she begins her new adventure here at the center.
Have a wonderful fall!
Gina VanKirk
Director
DCCC Fundraising
As some of you may know, funds for many educational programs, such as STARS, have been drastically cut. Therefore, the center will be concentrating heavily on fundraising this year to help ensure the availability of quality programming and materials that we all expect from DCCC. The following is a list of upcoming and current fundraisers that you can participate in to help:
- Hoss’s Steak and Sea House dinner night out on September 23rd
- Bon Ton Community Day on November 14th
- Use to search the web and earn money for the center
- Register your Giant bonus card to earn money for the center when you shop
For more information on these and additional fundraisers, please visit our website at or call Bethany Dearborn, DCCC Business Manager, at 245-1892. Thanks for all you do to make our center great!
***Classroom News***
DUCKLINGS
The theme in our room this fall is care. We feed 23 bottles per day, change at least 28 diapers, feed eight snacks and four lunches. How do we have time for fun and talking with our infants? Our favorite place for personal chat is the changing table. We ask our infants many questions such as: Are you wet? Did you take a walk with your family last night? And many more. We wait a few seconds for them to respond and then answer them in their own sounds. Our children are very creative in learning in their own. Have you seen what a pinched blueberry can do to your skin or shirt? Yogurt and applesauce make great finger-paints!
Because this is your infant’s first full year of winter, I would also like to mention the subject of children being ill. Group care is not really a setting to accommodate children who are sick. Sandy and Ann both understand the stress of having to arrange your work schedule to care for your child who is ill. Ann has four granddaughters under the age of nine and Sandy has a daughter in school so we do know that it can be stressful. We will never send children home on a whim or when they have a little sniffle. Please review our sick policies in your Parent Handbook. Start now to make plans for if your child would become ill. Your spouse could be boarding the plane for a conference across the country and you are heading into an important meeting with your boss and you will receive the dreaded call saying that your child needs to be picked up from the Center. Be prepared!
On a happier note, all of our infants are adjusting very well to our room. They all seem very comfortable with us. We know that drop off and pick up times can be hectic-please feel free to arrange a time to speak to us if you need to discuss any concerns you may have. Your children are very important to us.
Happy Fall!
Ann & Sandy
PUPPIES
The Yellow Puppies are anxious for the upcoming fall season. We are looking forward to the cool weather and watching for the changing leaves.
Our first month together has been great. The children have adjusted well to their new friends and surroundings. Marsha and I have enjoyed just watching how well they all interact with each other. As we keep working on our routine within the room, we hope to introduce them to more activities. They enjoy books, getting out and about, and of course singing with Marsha.
Here is your “puppy round up” Alec has become our official classroom greeter. He welcomes everyone with a “Hi”. Alexa is starting to walk and loves to bop to the music. Ellington is quite proud of himself now that he stands on his own. Evan likes to show everyone how to commando crawl. Freddie talks on the phone all day long! Those play phones are ringing off the hook. Leah loves singing with Marsha. She is always giggling and smiling. Lillia is teaching us all baby sign language. Liza our newest edition has entered the group like a pro. She loves exploring the toy bins.
Please remember to label EVERYTHING from clothing to food containers. Also when a reminder is sent home please bring in the necessary items as soon as possible, we go through diapers and wipes very quickly. Please wash your child’s hands as you arrive in the morning to help us cut down on the spread of germs. Again check cubbies and keep a spare set of seasonally appropriate clothing for those accidents.
Thank you,
Marsha and Nicole
It has been an exciting beginning of the year getting to know the children in the Blue Puppy Room. We are a busy group of 9 boys and 1 girl that loves to be on the move and outside as much as possible. The sand box is one of our favorite spots outside. Inside, the block areaalong with stacking cups and dramatic play area tend to be a hit! We do enjoy dancing with scarves and watching puppets at circle time.
The Playful Puppies have been having a wonderful time exploring different art mediums. We enjoyed coloring pictures of school buses andTigger with crayons. We colored Piglet withmarkers.The puppiespaintedturnips with stampsand rolled balls in paint, which was really fun. We loveputting stickers on paper and we REALLY like to play with play dough. We glued a honey pot collage and cotton balls on paper for "Eeyores rain clouds." Another medium we explored was chalk. We colored with white chalk on black paper for a "chalk board."
We have changedour daily schedule and the room around to fit our personalities and added a sensory table with bits of fabric, shower puffs and been bags. We will be adding some cool sensory bottles as well.
A FEW REMINDERS:
~Wash your child’s hands as you enter the room
~Label yogurt and applesauce please
~Seasonally appropriate clothing in bin.
~Take bedding home on Fridays to be washed
~Check choking foods list for appropriate foods
~Cut food into bite size portions ex. noodles, chicken tenders, meats.
We have been having a great time and hope to do a lot more in the following months.
Cathryn and Laci
BUSY BEES
The Yellow Honey Bees are off to a great start. One of our favorite things we like to do is buzz around campus. We enjoy doing the art projects, Mrs. Barb and Miss Jamie say we have little Mori Picasso’s among us. Mr. Manner Mouse visits us every day at circle time. He encourages and rewards good behavior. He also watches us during the day catching us doing good things, you might even see him.
We have enjoyed learning about colors, numbers, butterflies and much more. We are looking forward to fall and learning about health and safety, apples, pumpkins and gourds and having Halloween fun.
Keep your eyes out for us buzzing on campus, look quick because the Honey bees are always on the go.
Parent Reminders:
1.)We go outside every day (weather permitting) please be sure to layer for the cool mornings and warm afternoons.
Barb and Jamie
The Blue Busy Bees have gotten off to a great start to a new year. The room is full of laughter and learning. We started the year off with an “All About Me” week. The bees talked about their family and friends. We learned two new friendship songs that we love and have also helped us learn everyone’s name and made all of us feel like we are a very special part of the Busy Bee room. The children love to sing and dance and have a great time when we sing Who Is Here Today? and it is their turn to jump in the middle of the circle. They also seem to enjoy holding hands and saying each child’s name as we sing The More We Get Together. We also measured ourselves during this week to see how tall we are and at the end of the year; we will measure again to see how much we grew.
Shapes and Opposites week brought us fun making stained glass shapes, playing with moon sand and play dough and coloring on top of and under the table. Tracing letters and numbers and making our own little pizzas were fun during ABC’s and 123’s week. Mrs. Mandy (yellow bear’s teacher) brought us milkweed and we ended up with four baby caterpillars. We have had so much fun watching them eat and grow. We watched as the caterpillars hung and turned into chrysalises. One day to our surprise during naptime one of the butterflies emerged from its chrysalis. We took her outside and watched as she flew away. This wonderful surprise all happened just in time for our caterpillar-butterfly week. We had fun making a classroom caterpillar and two butterfly projects. We also read the story the Very Hungry Caterpillar and the children helped by placing the characters on the flannel board as the teacher told the story. Color, colors, colors, what is your favorite color? The bees had fun wearing the color of the day and doing many other activities involving colors.
As fall rolls around we will be talking about:
Health and Safety (visit from firefighters on October 6th)
Apple Harvest
Pumpkins and Gourds
Halloween Fun
Parent Reminders:
1.) Please have your child wash his/her hands upon arrival at school before beginning to play.
2.) We will be going outside every day, weather permitting, mornings are starting to be cool so please bring a sweatshirt or light jacket for morning recess.
3.) Please refer to your parent handbook regarding foods that are choking hazards.
4.) Please be sure that your child stays within your sight when you drop off and pick-up each day.
5.) Please bring in 4-5 family pictures.
Cheri and Jody
TEDDY BEARS
Welcome Yellow Bear Cubs and parents! Everyone has enjoyed starting our new year by watching the caterpillars grow and change! We can’t wait to see our second butterfly emerge and fly off! Looking at ourselves and our friends during All About Me week was a lot of fun, and everyone enjoyed putting on their family puppet shows during Family week! Valerie and her GERMS certainly made a great impression on our cleanliness!!
We are looking forward to some fun with Farm Animals and Food from the Farm over the next few weeks, followed by Fire Safety and Fall Fun!
REMINDERS:
- Wash hands upon arrival in the morning to help keep the germs away!
- Two items to keep in mind for the playground: Sweatshirt and Bike Helmet!
Have a wonderful fall,
Mandy
The Blue Bears have had a wonderful beginning to the school year. We started the first week entitled “Beautiful Changes,” while we watched our caterpillar eat and eat and eat! She changed in to her chrysalis and just came out of the cocoon about two weeks ago, all while the Bears were sleeping! We’ve met a lot of new friends so far. Brayden, Mason, Ella G., Sara, and Zach are all new to the Center. Our second week we talked all about ourselves. Each day we made a picture of a Teddy Bear friend to hang on the wall. The Bears got every single detail down on their friends, including eyebrows!!
We enjoyed a week talking about our families. We drew pictures and put on puppet shows to show everyone how many people were in our families. We enjoyed the book Llama Llama Mad at Mama. After family week we moved on to Germs! We practiced coughing and sneezing in our elbows, and even had a special visit from Valerie Virus, Ms. Gina’s cousin. We had to write her a letter to tell her how to take care of herself better when she feels sick. She sent us a thank you note with a pack of tissues for everyone.
Our farm week was full of many new things to learn and look at. Ms. Mandy brought in hay for us to play with in the water table, and then she brought in silage, the food that cows eat, for us to touch and SMELL!! Boy did it stink! We tried our hands at patterns, missing animals, and naming baby farm animals. We had a special visit from a sheep and goat that we were able to pet. They were very soft! We talked about the different types of farms, and shared those two weeks with our nutrition week. Every day at lunch the Bears marked on our food pyramid what food groups they brought in for lunch. We made spilled milk paintings, painted with baler twine, and made butter and milkshakes!
Ms. Ange is working very hard to come up with new activities every week for our letter of the week. She reads our letter book, does an art activity and an alphabet activity. Make sure to take a look at the word wall, where the kids make up a picture with words that start with the letter of the week.
We are looking forward to fire safety week along with all the fall themes. We will be talking about apples, leaves, pumpkins and scarecrows and fall fun. We have scheduled a visit from the fire truck and Ms. Mandy will do a presentation about what a fireman looks like in his uniform.
Please make sure that your child has an extra set of seasonally appropriate clothing in their extra clothes bin. Remember to avoid glass containers in your child’s lunches if possible. If you have any questions about anything please feel free to talk to Ms. Ange or Ms. Kristen. Thank you!
Ange & Kristen