Children's Center Newsletter
September 8, 2008
Dear Families,
Welcome to Mesa Community College Children's Center. It is great to see so many new and familiar faces. I will do my best to introduce myself to all of the new families. Please feel free to stop by my office anytime to introduce yourself or to discuss any questions or concerns you may have. I encourage you to get to know all of your child's teachers as well as the other families enrolled at the Center.
At beginning of the semester it is important to remind everyone about illness prevention. When children enter a group setting, the spread of germs is inevitable. An easy way to guard against illness is to wash your hands regularly. We make hand washing a priority in order to reduce the spread of illness. Please encourage your child to wash their hands often at school and at home. If your child becomes ill, we cannot provide care for them. Please refer to the Family Handbook for specific symptoms that we cannot care for at school. In general, if you need to give your child medication to break a fever or settle a stomachache, please do not bring them to school for 24 hours from the time the symptoms subside. We want to make sure the children and the staff stay healthy.
Prior to the beginning of the semester each of you received information on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), the developmental screening tool the center will be using to help teachers conduct assessments.
The use of developmental milestones for screening is based on child development theory, which views the young child as moving through a predictable set of behaviors at certain ages. Every child is different, but if these early milestones are not met on time, a child can be watched for any further concerns, helped through specific classroom activities, and referred for further assessment if needed. The earlier a developmental concern is identified and addressed, the greater the chance that the young child will be ready for school. We need your permission to conduct the screening so please let us know if you are interested. I have inserted a permission slip that you can sign and give to your child's teacher. All screening results will be kept confidential.
If you have any questions or comments I encourage you to speak to me or any of the lead teaching staff. We are here to help make your experience at the Children's Center and Mesa Community College a positive one.
Best Wishes for a wonderful semester!
Sincerely,
Chris Nash, Director
East Room News
Welcome to all new and returning families! We would like to thank all the families who participated in our open houses and parent night; you truly helped make them a success! We hope you enjoyed yourselves as well and found them to be helpful and informative.
During the course of the semester, we will be basing our curriculum on the interests of the children in the classroom. If we notice the children playing with or talking about specific items or subjects, we will focus our learning on those subjects. The theme may change often or it may last for several days. If there are things that your child is very interested in at home, please let us know so that we can offer them the opportunity to expand on that topic.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be working on getting to know one another and the classroom. We will continue to establish our classroom routines, create classroom rules as a group, get to know each other and most importantly have fun! Starting on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 we will be going over to the west gymnasium on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 10:30-11:30. Since our playground is not completely repaired, we are only able to go on the playground for short periods of time due to the lack of shade. The physical education department will be providing us with a variety of equipment to use while at the gym including: mats, large and small balls, hula hoops etc. There is a permission slip that must be signed in order for your child to participate in our field trip. If you have not yet signed the slip please see one of the teachers.
If you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to speak with any of the teachers. We are more than happy to help you.
We look forward to getting to know your family this semester.
The East Room Staff
Kellyn, Liz, Mandy, Christina, Nanaki
West Room News
Welcome to the start of the new school year. We hope that everyone has had a chance to enjoy the summer and are looking forward to meeting each of you. Our classroom learning environment and teaching style is based on the emergent curriculum. The "themes" and activities provided are built around the children"s interests, ideas, and needs, thus making the learning process positive, meaningful and enjoyable. The children will have several opportunities for hands on learning, meaningful play experiences, and discovery.
As parents/guardians we invite you to visit and join us anytime throughout the day. It may just be to stop by and say hello to your child between classes, or to join us for lunch, circle time or play. Lesson plans, snack menus, special events and other pertinent information will be posted on the classroom bulletin board located on the wall closest to the door.
If you ever have any questions or concerns regarding your child or our program please do not hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
The West Room Staff
Karen, Iris, Allison, Mandy
Afternoon/Evening News
Welcome to the East Room Afternoon/Evening Program.
We will be spending the first couple of weeks getting acquainted and helping your child adjust to the classroom schedule. At first we will focus on getting to know each other and learning the center rules and expectations. We have many fun and exciting activities planned that will facilitate an easy transition to our center. Later in the semester we will base our curriculum on the interests of the children. For example, if we see several children playing with or asking questions about a particular topic, we may expand on that topic.
We welcome family participation. Please feel free to visit our classroom at any time and spend some time getting acquainted with the teachers. Building a positive relationship with each family is an important goal for us.
If your child will be here for dinner we ask that you provide a meal that doesn"t require heating up by the staff. We have this policy in place to adhere to child/staff ratios. If you would like to send a warm meal we suggest you send a warm meal in a thermal container. If you let us know that the item is already warm we will leave it outside the refrigerator to keep it warm for dinner. Please provide 100% fruit juice, milk, or water with you child"s meal. If you have any questions regarding our food policy please speak to one of our teachers.
We are planning to have a fun and exciting fall semester. If at any time you would like to visit feel free to do so.
We hope you have a great semester!
The Afternoon/Evening Staff
Liz, Nanaki, and Christina
Download the newsletter as a .pdf file.
Please contact Rita Covert for comments or corrections email phone: 480-461-7082 | fax: 480-461-7846
