THE PARENT CONNECTION

Volume 26 Issue #5

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January 2017 The Parent

Connection N

Director’s News

1/2- Closed for New Years 1/16- Closed for MLK,jr. Day

By Lesley Belanger & Rebecca Casey Greetings, Happy 2017 Everyone!

We hope you all enjoyed the holiday season and had extra time to spend with your families. Our Annual Toy Drive and Pennies Count Drive were both very successful! We would like to thank all of the families who participated. Through your generosity, we were able to help many families of our local community. Hat and Mitten Drive: Starting in January, we will be collecting new hats, mittens and gloves for local homeless men and women. Please be on the lookout for our donation box near the front office. Any and all donations are appreciated! Snow Delays/Closings: All families should have received a special handout regarding all of our snow policy information. Extra copies are available outside the front office. This handout outlines how to identify any delays or closings due to inclement weather.

Worcester State Nursing Students: Again this year, student enrolled in the Nursing Program at WSU on their Pediatric Rotation will be spending some time in our classrooms throughout their Spring semester. Usually, they are here from 8:30am – 1:00pm two or three days a week. They will visit a variety of ages from Toddlers through Kindergarten while at our Center. We have had the opportunity to partner with WSU for several years now and the children love to have these special visitors in their classrooms. Please remember that the children do still go outside in the snow and cold. They need a warm coat, snow pants, hats, boots and gloves/mittens daily. Make sure to label all of your child’s belongings to insure they do not accidently switched, taken, mixed-up or misplaced in the cubbies.

Please call the Center before 9:00 am if your child is going to be out or in late so the teachers can order your child a lunch. It is required by the state that all children have updated physicals and immunizations in order to attend the Center. Due to safety, cars cannot be left running in our parking lot during pick-up or dropoff. Also, please be courteous of the marked Handicap Parking spots in our parking lot. Thank you! Tuition ~ Please contact Mary Rose Casey directly for all tuition related questions; at (508) 755-3922 or [email protected]

We wish everyone a wonderful 2017! Lesley and Rebecca

THE PARENT CONNECTION | January 2017

Infant 1 By Debbie S. and Debbie G.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and were able to find some time to relax with family and friends. Infant 1 was very busy in December creating special gifts for our families and singing holiday songs! We especially loved watching the Toddlers parade by with their special holiday hats on! They were so festive! When you read this, it will already be 2017! Happy New Year! Many of our friends are crossing the threshold into Infant 2. We wish Aiden, Stella, Elin, Ruby and Lena all the best and know they will do amazing in their new classroom! This month, we will be welcoming many new friends into our classroom and into the SCC family. We are looking forward to getting to know all of them over the upcoming month. Have a happy and healthy 2017! Reminders: January 2nd – SCC closed- Happy New Year! January 16th - SCC closed -MLK, jr. Day It is very important to remember to remove all shoes, especially boots before entering our classroom.

Monthly Milestones Finn enjoys cuddles with his caregivers and singing songs with motions! He loves watching bubbles float by and playing in the entertainers. Emma is beginning to become familiar with all the children and caregivers in the classroom. She loves watching bubbles float by and listening to songs. Emma has been intently observing all of the classroom action! Ruby is a very content little girl who watches friends and plays alongside them. She rolls to her sides when she is under the activity gym mat and has fun in the entertainers too! Addison has a smile for all! She likes being in the entertainer playing with small toys and teethers. She also enjoys watching bubbles float by and listening to songs we sing! Mason enjoys tummy time a lot on the crawly mat alongside friends. He spends sometime in the entertainers and is beginning to hold small toys and rattles. He also likes to chew on the cool teethers and watch bubbles float by him!

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THE PARENT CONNECTION

Volume 26 Issue #5

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Infant 2 By Courtney D., Michelle M. and Lai C.

Wow, the month of December flew by! We hope everyone had a fantastic month and enjoyed all the holidays with friends and family. The children had a blast this month and were very busy with all the special events which took place. We thank everyone who participated in all of our holiday drives. Both the Penny Counts and Toy Drives were huge successes. Brrrr, it is January! We will be very busy getting to know all of our new families this month. We cannot wait to play with and watch Aiden, Lena, Lila, Stella, Elin and Ruby grow! We will miss our big kids dearly, but will visit and wave to them often. We will take some time in January to introduce art activities to our new friends. We will start off by making New Years decorations. We will paint, glue and get dirty decorating our classroom with winter wonderland crafts. Make sure to look around our classroom and see all of the art displayed! Be on the lookout in our next month’s newsletter for special milestones for all of our children! They are all growing so fast! January 2nd – SCC closed- Happy New Year! January 16th - SCC closed -MLK, jr. Day It is very important to remember to remove all shoes, especially boots before entering Our classroom

Cardinals are non-migratory birds. Most cardinals live within a mile of where they were born. Cardinals are song birds and the male uses its call to attract a mate.

THE PARENT CONNECTION | January 2017

Toddler 1A By Sarah F. and Becca R. All of our holiday fun made December fly by! The class enjoyed many different activities throughout the month! We kicked off December with a week about holiday cheer! We decorated stockings and handprint trees, as well as, dreidels. The children had fun at our first Toddler Cookie Swap where we traded cookies we baked as a class. December kept us busy with holiday gifts that we hope everyone enjoyed as much as we enjoyed making them! We learned the songs “Jingle Bells” and “Frosty the Snowman”! Our “Ugly Sweater Parties” were a blast and would like to thank everyone who helped to make those a success! The month of January brings lots of fun! We kick off the month with Transition Week and are sad to say goodbye to Vivian, Dominic, Viyaan and Meredith. We hope you have fun in T1! We will miss you! We are excited to welcome our new friends Chase, Sebastian, Tyler, Matthew, Julia, Ruby, Anthony and Abram to our class! The month of January will be spent learning about snow, ice and Arctic animals, as well as, winter sports! We will paint with ice, create different animal tracks and make ice skates just to name a few crafts. We will also learn the song “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” and continue to sing “Frosty the Snowman”. We will read the book Itsy Bitsy Snowman by Jeffrey Burton as well! We are excited for all the winter fun in store! Reminders: January 2: SCC Closed Happy New Year! January 16: SCC Closed for MLK, jr. Day! Please make sure you have hats, mittens, coats, snow pants and boots each day! We love to get outside as much a possible!

Toddler 1 By Beth S. and Sue R. December was a holiday blast filled with so many wonderful projects that taught us all about special holidays around the world. We had a great time at our parties with fun sweaters and games! We cannot forget our Christmas Caroling Parade with all of the Toddler classrooms! We found out our class loves to bake and mix, so we will definitely be doing more cooking projects in the future. Our favorite book was the Santa Shimmy by Christianne Jones – it is a dancing book that we loved to follow. This month will be snow filled! We will learn about Arctic animals, snow, ice and so much more! We will be off to a wonderful start in the new year by welcoming our new friends from T1A. We would like to give a warm welcome to Meredith, Vivian, Viyaan and Dominic. We are so excited to get to know each and every one of you! Sadly we are saying goodbye to a few friends that are moving on to a new classroom. Cynthia, Vivienne and Clark will be moving on to Toddler 2. We will miss you very much in our classroom! We wish you the best of luck! A few of our activities this month will be exploring an ice block with bugs inside, snowmen ice cube painting and so much more! We will also be making snowmen marshmellows as a cooking project and “melted” snowmen ice cream cups. We are hoping for snow so we can build our very own snowman on the playground. Please be sure to send in appropriate winter gear for the cold weather, we do go out multiple times a day (temperature permitting). Reminders: January 2: SCC Closed Happy New Year! January 16: SCC Closed for MLK, jr. Day! Happy New Year!

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Toddler 2

Toddler 3

By Jen T. and Canisha B.

By Karen G. and Jill N.

Happy New Year to all of our friends and families! A

Happy New Year – new friends and new beginnings! December came and went by very quickly! We had so much fun creating items for our holiday door, making stockings, sleighs and holly. We wore hats and Santa beards for our parades through the Center. Everyone looked great! Our holiday parties were yummy and fun! Thank you for signing up to help make them great! Happy birthday to Delaney and Logan who turned 3 in December! We hope you both had wonderful days!

We ended the year with a busy month! The children did a wonderful job decorating our holiday door in honor of Brazil. It looked absolutely beautiful! We made socks to hang on the window just like the children in Brazil and we made our own Brazilian money. Other art projects we created this month included Christmas trees, Christmas stockings and ornaments. Our holiday parties were a success. Thank you to everyone who donated items to make them extra special! We also want to thank everyone who participated in our ugly sweater days. It was nice to see the children get into the holiday spirit.

The New Year brings changes and transitions. We are saying goodbye to some old friends and hello to new ones! Best wishes to Declan, Dominic and Mathew as they move up to Preschool 1! We are so happy for you and will miss you so much! We would like to give a warm welcome to Kayla, Lily and Matthew! Welcome to Toddler 3! We are so excited to get to know you and watch you learn and grow!

new year means new beginnings. For our friends Matthew, Kayla and Lily – they will start a new chapter as they move on to Toddler 3! We wish them the best of luck! Toddler 2 is very excited to welcome some new friends as well! Clark, Cynthia and Vivienne will be joining us. We are looking forward to getting to know them and their families.

Looking into January, the children are guaranteed to have another fun-filled month with a winter wonderland! We will discuss all the excitement that comes with the winter season! Keep your eyes open for our free form snowmen. As the month goes on, we will also discuss winter sports. We are looking forward to exploring Arctic animals and all of the winter changes we see taking place outside. Thank you to all the families who donated to our Pennies Count and Toy Drive. You helped to make many children’s season bright! Reminders: January 2 – SCC closed – Happy New Year! January 16 – SCC closed – MLK, jr. Day

This month, we will be creating things for a “winter wonderland”. We will be learning all about winter animals and their homes, Winter sports and make fun crafts like ice skates and snowboards! We will talk about kindness, tolerance and friendship on Martin Luther King, jr’s birthday! Chinese New Year is this month too! It’s the year of the Rooster! We will celebrate and create lanterns for the special day on January 27th! Happy New Year – Gung Hay Fat Choy! Reminders: Janaury 2 – Closed for New Years Day January 16 – Closed for Martin Luther King, jr. Day!

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Preschool 1

Preschool 2

By Lusi D. and Taylor M.

By Liz M. and Bonnie G.

As we say goodbye to December – we welcome the new year of 2017!

December was a very busy, but fun, month in Preschool 2! It was filled with magic, excitement and learning. We learned about many different holidays that are celebrated throughout the world. Different cultures celebrate the season in various ways, yet all holidays involve some kind of light and lots of color. We set-up our very own Christmas tree and everyone added a special touch by putting on an ornament. We practiced writing numbers, letters, learning letter sounds and tracing/cutting on a line.

December was a busy month! We had so much fun exploring holidays around the world. We walked around the school and learned a little something about different countries and their special holidays from the various classroom doors. We discussed Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and the celebration of lights. We got into the holiday spirit by making special gifts for our parents, singing Christmas songs and creating lots of art projects including trees, wreaths, Santa hats and elf hats! Thank you to everyone who participated in the Pennies Count Drive, Toy Drive and Holiday Parties – everything was a huge success! This January, we will be exploring winter! The snow, ice and different winter activities - we will be talking about Arctic animals and celebrating Chinese New Year! It is the year of the Rooster! Please remember to have your child prepared for the cold weather and make sure all of your child’s belongings are labelled. It is that time of year again where we say goodbye to some old friends. Brenna, Tarek, Reagan, Virat and Sucheth are all moving to Preschool 2! We wish you all the best and will miss you in our class! We welcome Declan, Dominic and Mathew to our class. We look forward to getting to know you and your families! We wish Ally, Shirin and Mathew happy 3rd birthdays this month! We are ready for a new, fun and busy year!

The next week was a busy week. We transformed into elves during the week called “The Elf Workshop”! We made elf headbands with our names on it and made special gifts for our family. We even made our own wrapping paper and used it to wrap all the wonderful gifts we made! The week after, we learned activities we could do in winter to stay busy! We traced our hands to make mittens, designed a paper plate polar bear, made snow flakes and built a snowman puzzle. We ended the month getting ready for the New Year. We made noise makers, hats and 2017 signs. We also learned how many seasons are in a year and discussed what we all hope to do in 2017. 2017 here we come! We will spin ourselves right into space by writing the word space, making a rocket ship and counting the planets. We also will explore different genres of literature, Winter sports, the Arctic and its animals. Reminders: The cold weather is here! Please bring a hat, coat and mittens/gloves daily. All belongings should be labelled. For rest time, please bring only one small, quiet toy that fits in half of the upper cubby basket. Children do share cubbies. Bags should be emptied each day and taken home. January 2 – SCC closed – Happy 2017! January 16 – SCC closed – MLK, jr. Day! Thank you to everyone who donated to our Annual Toy Drive, Pennies Count Drive and our Holiday Parties. This month we would like to welcome Brenna, Tarek, Regan, Virat and Sucheth to our classroom! Happy new years and stay warm!

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Preschool 3 By Jen N. and Kristen M. Can you believe 2016 is already over?! December was an exciting month. We learned all about the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. We designed our own mittens and discussed all the different animals in the story. Then we read and learned all about The Gingerbread Man. We made cinnamon playdough, designed and decorated gingerbread people and made gingerbread houses. We also learned all about winter and all of the fun seasonal activities we can do! We made thumbprint snowmen and we made clean mud for the sensory table. Finally, we enjoyed having our holiday parties and getting to wear our PJs to school! We are truly thankful for the amount of coins we collected during our Pennies Count Drive. We raised $31.22! Thank you as well for your participation in our Annual Toy Drive. It was a huge success! We will begin 2017 with smiles on our faces! January will be a month full of fun. We will first begin my learning about Arctic animals and discussing all of the different winter sports. We will then learn about Martin Luther King, jr during “I Have a Dream” week. We will also have a week where we read Pete the Cat and do many activities related to the story. Finally, we will venture off into outer space and everything we need to know about the planets and the universe! We would like to wish Paxton a happy birthday on 1/7 and Virat a happy birthday on 1/18! We hope you enjoy your special days! Reminders: January 2 – SCC Closed – Happy 2017! January 16- SCC Closed – MLK, jr. Day! Please remember to bring in boots, jackets, snow pants, hats and gloves daily! We continue to go outside in the chilly weather!

Preschool 4 By Crystal H. and Katelyn S. December was an exciting month of learning. We started off the month talking about winter holidays. We learned about Hanukkah, Kwanza and Christmas in different countries. We traced and cut Menorahs, Kinaras, Matryoshka Dolls and even made a class Advent calendar. Next, we had a jamboree – a gingerbread jamboree! We read all about ginger bread. We even had fun making special gingerbread shaped ornaments out of apple sauce and cinnamon! It was sticky and fun! Then we had fun in the elves workshop. We traced and cut elf hats and pretended to make and wrap toys in dramatic play. We also made very special candy canes by rolling and shaping clay– what fun! We closed out December by we talking about the Polar Express during ”Midnight Train” week. We were able to trace and cut our very own special train tickets. We also had a super special yummy treat – hot chocolate! It was so thrilling to watch the Polar Express too! December was filled with learning and fun! January has arrived! The month will begin with the theme “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” where we will make snowmen. The theme “I Have a Dream” will follow as we talk about Martin Luther King, jr in preparation for his birthday. We also will discuss “Ice, Ice, Snow” where we will explore how ice and snow are made. Then we will talk about Arctic Animals – the names of animals and where in the Arctic they live. We will end January with the theme: “Groundhog, Groundhog, What Do You See?” as we talk about shadows. It is sure to be an exciting month! We would like to wish very happy birthdays to Mason (1/12) and Garrett (1/13)! We hope all your wishes come true! Stay Warm! Reminders: January 2 – SCC Closed – Happy 2017! January 16- SCC Closed – MLK, jr. Day!

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Kindergarten By: Mrs. Toohey and Miss Sylvia Welcome to 2017! We hope you all had a happy, healthy holiday season! We would like to thank all the families that so generously donated to both our Pennies Count Drive and Toy Drive. We helped many less fortunate children have a magical holiday. December was a very busy, fun month. We enjoyed looking at all the class doors and learning how each country celebrates their Festival of Light. We also learned about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Years. We welcomed the first day of winter and made lots of snowmen! We mastered the letters Ss, Ll and Ii this month and read so many short words in our letter books! Please have the children review their letter books with you each week as we are preparing them to read their first story next month! The children worked very hard making their holiday gifts for you; we hope you enjoyed them! We ended the month with a ride on the Polar Express and a fun pajama party to ring in the New Year!

Reminders: January 2 – SCC closed – Happy New Year! January 16 – SCC closed – MLK, jr Day!

Our Holiday Party was a success! We wore our special “ugly sweaters”, Rudolph hats and light necklaces! Thank you for all the yummy treats, stickers and paper goods! We loved dancing to holiday music too! January will be another busy, exciting month in Kindergarten. We will explore and learn the letters Tt, Ff, Ee, Hh and Uu. We will also learn about a special man named Martin Luther King, jr. as we celebrate his birthday! Winter has arrived; please make sure your child has a warm jacket, snow pants, boots, hat and gloves/mittens. We do go outside every day! Please continue to check our classroom door, parent folders and Kindergarten News each week for important updated information.

Wilson Bentley hailed from Jericho, Vermont and used his camera to capture the magic of snowflakes. He discovered how to photograph in detail the beauty of each tiny flake. Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin tells the story of this New England legend.

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By: Amanda When thinking about food in the upcoming New Year, do not think about diets or exercise, think about adventure and creativity!! I urge each and every one of you to experience food in a whole new light with your child. I do not simply mean go and try a new food with them; I mean provide them with a memorable food experience. During the winter time, pack an indoor picnic and setup an area in your living room! Eat your classic summer foods; watermelon, finger sandwiches, fruit punch and pasta salad. Another example would be to make dinner reservations at a FANCY restaurant! Get all dressed up in your dress clothes and do a date night with your favorite little guy or gal! Splurge and have them try a new food item even if just to try it. Have fun going into the New Year and enjoy learning what your child might be interested in through a fun, family friendly food activity!!

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Notes: