Christmas in October?????

Today was part of my Christmas in October. I received 1/2 my order from Parent Aware. Toys and items for my child care and I have to say it was like Christmas opening all the boxes out in the garage and seeing all the new items for my child care and the kids.
One of my favorite items is a Art Center. It's fantastic. The kids are going to have such easier access to paper, paint, stickers, play doh and more.

I am waiting on my last part of my order from Lakeshore. I have been very fortunate to participate in these different pilot programs here in St. Paul. PEK and Parent Aware. It has done wonders for my child care, myself and the kids that attend.

Everything I received from Kaplans is sitting in the child care entrance area so you can view what has been purchased before I start putting the items away.
We got music instruments, blocks and more for outside..... I am so excited. :)

Fall and Pumpkins

This is my favorite time of year. I love all the leaves changing color and floating to the ground. The crispness in the air and the crunch of leaves under foot. Now Loren would have a different idea of fall. All those leaves to rake. :)
The tree house in the playroom has also over night changed from green to orange - red and gold. The kids noticed right away the changes.
The last 2 weeks our theme was fall and we'll be going right into Pumpkins this week. I always love this theme. The children enjoy this right before halloween. We'll learn the growing cycle of pumpkins and make a pumpkin book.
Reminder that I'm off next week.

Busy shopping. :)

Yesterday afternoon my Parent Aware Coach stopped by. (While children were sleeping). We discussed my 3 star rating and how of course I want to work to get the rating to a 4 star. The good news she brought with her was that I get improvement dollars to help me purchase items that the Parent Aware Program felt I "needed" to get the 4 star rating.

I spent last night with 3 catalogs supplied from Parent Aware and went through their suggestions and started purchasing. Alot of the items will deal with fine motor, math/number, art, music and movement, blocks, dramatic play, diapers and safety practices.

In the area of diapering, I just purchased the changing table recently and their concern was that there wasn't a 6 inch ledge on one side that could prevent falling. Instead of spending over $600.00 with that ledge, I'm purchasing a changing pad with a 6 in ledge. They would also like me to have a hands free diaper pail. That is on my order form. :)

Alot of the items I'm requesting will be for the outside play area. I have a music, reading, several dramatic centers in the 2 different playrooms and an art center, but I have none of these items outside for the children to play with if they desire. I am requesting a 3 person outdoor easel and paint supplies. (Paint, containers, aprons), a weather center. I was making one like my bug center, but I saw the new one they have available in the Lakeshore catalog that I just had to have for the children.

New items both inside and outside will consist of a science center, new art center storage, blocks, Lookout Tree House for the toddlers, observation mirrors, music instruments, workshop with tools. Too much to list, but I know I am very excited to add these items to my preschool and the children will be equally as excited. (OK, I think I'm more excited...)

I want to get the order placed right away so that I can receive the items and get re-rated. It will be a busy month getting the items placed where they need to go.... But it will be fun!

Jean

Apple Tree

This week our theme is Apple Tree, Apple Tree. Out book we are reading during circle time is Autumn is for Apples. Today we cut an apple in half and we got to see the star on either side of the apple. It look like the blossom from the apple tree. We also took guesses to see how many seeds were in an apple.

The children guessed - Mason -10, Henry -3, Abby -1, Julian -2, Micah -4 and I not wanting to say, but I guessed 20.... :) The total nuber of seeds in the apple were 6. The kids wanted to plant the seeds, so tonight I will run to get a pot for them, and we will plan a couple of the seeds tomorrow, water it during the winter and see if it grows.

Monday Sept. 15

We had a busy morning. I decided since this week will be a short week, (Only 3 days for most of you), that I would spend these 3 days testing the children. Find out where they are at. The last time I tested the children was in May. This will give me a better understanding of what we need to work on in small group.

I also received my rating in the mail on Friday through Parent Aware. I received a 3 out of 4 stars. One of the items I scored low on was not using a pre-approved curriculum. I personally like the curriculum we are using. (1 - 2 - 3 Learn Curriculum), and I was told going into this program if I desired, the Parent Aware Program would help me to get my curriculum approved. I'm waiting to start going through the process of getting it approved so that I can gain points in that area.

I received

Family Partnership 4 out of 4 stars
Teaching Materials and Strategies 3 out of 4 stars
Tracking Learning 3 out of 4 stars
Teacher Training and Education 3 out of 4 stars

I got some great ideas from the Parent Aware Program that I will be incorporating into my outside play area. There will be some new changes. I'm striving for the 4 star rating. :)

Thanks
Jean

First week back to preschool. :)

We had a wonderful 1st week back doing our preschool program. For circle time our letter of the week was T. We came up with t words like tango, (that was a fun picture to draw on my dry eraser board), train, truck, turtle, and twins. Our book for the week was David Goes to School by David Shannon. Before naptime we always pick out a book to read from the reading center, and I was happy that the children picked out new books added for our school theme.
We read a book at small group "Getting Ready for School". It was fun watching the children read the book with me. We started at the cover, read the title and who it was by. We then turned the page, and using our fingers touched on each word as we read them. Everyone down to Abby was pointing and reading the book. What fun.
Find a time with them this week end to sit and read this book with them. Next week in the children's Friday Folders I will send home a list of ideas to help create a more enriched literacy enviroment for them at home. It is so important for the children to develop a love reading.

Our Library check our has been a great success. We started this back in May and the children love being able to check out "new" books. Children have access to books from all around the playrooms, and I'm glad they are making this so successful. This is something that we will continue. :)

Coco Bear will be heading out to a new child care to visit, and I wanted to share a picture we took with Coco and the children on Friday. We packed him up and got him ready to go. Coco will visit 5 child care's and will return back to Treasures of the Heart Preschool in December. We'll be able to keep an eye on his visits to the different child care's via the internet. How awesome is that?
To visit Coco Bear's page at home here is the website http://stepbystepcc.com/tbe/coco.html

Teddy Bear Express, or TBE for short, originated as an idea on the Provider's Playground email list in early August of 2004. Teddy bears are sent around the United States and Canada amongst family child care homes, preschools, daycare centers, and elementary schools to visit the children as a fun geography lesson.

Back to Preschool :)

I can't believe that summer is over.... It's now September and it's back to our preschool program. The next 2 week's will be School Daze. Letters S & T, Numbers 1 & 2, Color Yellow and Shape Rectangle.

Monday we started back with Circle Time. The book we're reading for this week is David Goes to School. During small group we read a book I made up for the children. Getting Ready for School. We will be reading that during the week at Small Group andit will go home with the children on Friday in their Friday Folders. It's great to be back into our preschool routine.

Traveling Bear~

We're starting a new project in September called "Teddy Bear Express" This is a project though a child care list. There will be 3 bear keepers and hosts for the bears to visit. Our child care is one of the bear keepers and so I went out last night and bought a new bear.

The middle of September, we will mail our bear out with a photo album and journal, and a few other items to another child care. This child care will keep the bear for the week and mail it off to the next provider's home, and so on until December when the bear will come back to our child care. We will map the bear's trip on a map, and through this blog.

I will do up permission slips for your child to participate, and have their picture send along with our new bear.... What name did we come up for our bear????
Ok.... Here's where our originality comes in. :)

Coco Bear....
He is a boy bear and he had a great time today playing with the kids. I also included a recent picture of Coco Bear.... :)
I'm looking forward to this project and so are the kids.

New Bug Center :)

Everyone knows how I hate bugs, so this center was hard for me to do. :)
The kids have so much fun looking for bugs outside that I had to do a bug center. I had it up and running on Monday and I have to say.... the kids LOVE it.

Cleo caught the 1st insect. A moth on Monday and we put it into a bug house so we could view it up close. She let the moth go in the same spot she caught it so that the moth could go home to mommy.

We have a dry eraser board that in the bug center so that when children see a bug, they can sign their name. So far we have seen butterflies, ants, bees, spiders and flies. We also have in our bug center a couple of nets to catch the bugs, bug houses, magnify glasses, a bug vacuum, and a laminated book hanging on the fence with bug facts. Did you know there are 35,000 types of ants in the world. I know... I was surprised also. :)

The next outside center I will be putting together is a weather one. We sure are having fun playing (learning) outside... Learning is child's play.

Jean

Monday - July 21, 2008

WOW... it has been over a month since my last entry. Honestly I have been so busy with working on with this new Parent Aware Program, that a blog has been the furthest thing from my mind.

I took the test on Sat. for my CDA, and I will find out the results by the end of September.
I know I have told you that I had been working towards my CDA, and if you don't know what a CDA is, I thought an explanation would be in order... :)

This description is from the CDA web site:

Definition of the Child Development Associate (CDA)

A Child Development Associate (CDA) is an individual who has successfully completed the CDA assessment process and has been awarded the CDA Credential. CDAs are able to meet the specific needs of children and work with parents and other adults to nurture children's physical, social, emotional, and intellectual growth in a child development framework.

A CDA performs according to the CDA Competency Goals in center-based, home visitor or family child care programs. To date, there are more than 200,000 CDAs in all 50 United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands.
Earning the CDA Credential has many advantages, including motivating caregivers toward continuing education and providing a platform for professional and career opportunities. Many view the CDA Credential as an instrument for career advancement in the early childhood care and education profession. The Council works to ensure that it is a credible and valid credential, recognized by the profession as a vital part of a coordinated system of professional development.
As a result of an increase in demand from many public and private employers for qualified trained staff, the number of child care providers applying for the CDA Credential has grown to nearly 15,000 annually. Furthermore, 49 states plus the District of Columbia incorporate the CDA Credential into their childcare center licensing regulations.

With this new program I am currently working with - Parent Aware - I will be turnin gin all my paper work on Wednesday, and all my classes will be done as of tomorrow evening. You will notice a few new things with this Parent Aware program. I will be using Creative Curriculum observation tools to start a more formal observation of the children and keeping track of their development. This will help me to plan on what we will be working on with the children.

I will also be taing steps to get my preschool curriculum that I develop accrediated. I will also start the process of accrediation. :)
I leave all that information for a future post...

I just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten this blog. I can't believe the summer is almost over. I still want to have a summer BBQ, and we'll do that in Audust. I'll check my calendar and pick some dates.

Thanks

Jean

Monday - June 16

It's a new week... No children are here yet this morning so I thought I would type a quick blog. I sure hope everyone had a fantastic Father's Day. The weather was perfect. Sunday I bought a few more items for the playyard. Water table, another umbrella for shade, a frog figure for over by the hosta's I just planned, and I also have a new park bench. Just adding a few more fun items to the playyard.

This week we will hopefully be spending alot of time outside. No rain please..... If we get stuck inside we'll be doing a summer theme. On Tuesday I will have a visit from someone from the Parent Aware Program. They will be looking at my childcare and giving me any pointers on anything that should be changed to make my environment better for the children. This is a couple month program, and when all is said and done they will rate my child care on 1 - 4 stars. Of course, I'm working to receive 4 stars. :)

I'm looking forward to a great week.

Monday June 10. :)

This week is our My dad theme. We will be reading about dads, talking about how wonderful our dad's our and making a special treat for dad.

We had a great week last week with a gardening theme. We planted some seeds in pots for the children to bring home. Remember to water them! We also planted some seeds at child care. This morning Devin and I noticed the 1st seed popping through the soil. We can also see another seed in the dirt getting ready to burst through. (We planted the dirt in a see-through container - this way we can also see the roots.)

This morning we played with cornstarch and water outside in a bowl. Talk about FUN! The kids were rolling balls and then trying to hand them to someone else and they would turn into liquid. I had Kayla, Morgan and Cleo place their hands in the bowl and I hit the mixture with my fist and it turned hard for a second. The kids had a blast. I want to try this again sometime with a water table. Can you imagine how fun this would be????

I would also like to play a Saturday BBQ for everyone. (Parents and kids) at my house. I thought this would be a fun way to get together and have everyone get to know the other parents instead of just saying hi and by to each other as your dropping off and picking up. Before I start to try and plan something, could you please let me know if you are interested in something like this, and what Sat., would work good for you. Thanks
Jean!

Is it Thursday already?

Wow... these 4 day week-ends really go fast. I can't believe it's already Thursday.

Our theme this week was Camping Fun, but we ended up playing outside the last couple of days and I'm also doing some review with some of the children. Seeing what letters, colors, etc., they know so that I can keep on top of everything. This is being done with the younger children right now. Once I get this all done I'll share my findings with you. Let you know how well your child is doing.

During the summer months we'll have Mrs. Jean come 2 days a month instead of just 1. (Music Lady) The children really enjoy her, and since she has the open space we thought we would take advantage of it. We'll probably move outside to give the children more room to move a few times.

June Newsletters will go out this Friday along with a new book for the children. The House that Mack Built. They have been asking me when they get a new book, and the end of the month is here. :)

The book library has been a big hit. The kids love being able to check out books. Remember they can check out a new one as soon as they bring back their other book. I'm keeping the limit to one book per check out to make it easier on parents to not have to keep track of numerous books. I have them use their library card and the older children sign their name in our library check out binder. How fun!

It's Still Creepy Around Here!

This week will continue our theme on "Creepy Crawlers". We had fun last week looking for bugs out in the yard. Mason found the first spider, and Cleo also caught a bug. (How gross!) The kids had a blast looking for bugs, but all they really found were ants.

We had Joe from Plunkett come out and show us a book on different bugs, and several mouse traps. He even showed us a trap he forgot to clean, and when he opened it, the trap had a rubber mouse.... Again how gross.
We also had Mrs. Jean visit us on Friday and the kids had a blast. (Our music lady). We decided during the summer that we would like her to visit us twice, so she will now be coming 2 days a month.

Other notes:
* Book orders will go out today

* Reminder that Child Care is closed this coming Friday and next Monday for Memorial Day week-end.


Thanks Jean

New Week

This is the start of a new week..... I hope everyone had a fantastic Mother's Day! Our theme for this week and next week is "Creepy Crawlers". One of my favorite themes.... (NOT)
The kids love it though, so we do it. Today we read about different bugs, and talked about what was everyone's favorite bug. I like the butterfly. Speaking of butterflies, all of our 5 cocoons have become butterflies. We'll be letting them loose today in the afternoon. They are so pretty and they have been flying around their little house this morning so the children were able to see them. I'll try and get pictures this afternoon when we let them go. I was thinking it might be fun to try tadpoles next.

I also received surveys back from 4 of the families. Thank you. I got some good feedback, and that is always helpful when looking to improve my child care.

Thanks Jean