Take advantage of the gorgeous weather and plant some flowers or plants with your child outside.
Some activities you can do with your children during this month of celebration are:
Plant a Rainbow!
MAY/2015
For younger children, having them dig holes and look for worms and bugs is a great sensory adventure.
Pull the weeds around the house and show the children the roots of the plants.
Visit a nursery with your child and let them help pick out things to plant.
Plant fruit and vegetables in a garden, showing them where these foods come from.
For younger children you will need to plant the flowers for them, but preschoolers will be able to transplant the flowers in the ground or pots themselves.
Discuss with your children about the different insects and animals that may come visit the garden, (bees, butterflies, bunnies) and what they may be doing at the garden.
Have each child have their own watering can to water the plants, so they can be “big helpers.”
If you do not have a green thumb yourself, you can purchase potted plants and keep them in the house.
Just a reminder that all drivers are responsible for securing children in the appropriate restraint system.
Pennsylvania’s “Law of Love” states:
All children from birth to age 4 must be secured in an approved car seat anywhere in the vehicle.
All children 4 years of age, but less than 8 years of age, must be secured in a seat belt system and an appropriate booster seat anywhere in the vehicle.
All children 8 years of age or older, but less than 18 years of age, must be secured in a seat belt system anywhere in the vehicle.
In addition, “Law of Love” recommends selecting a car seat based on your child’s age and size, and choose a seat that fits
your vehicle and use it every time.
To maximize safety, keep your child in the car seat as long as possible, as long as the child fits within the manufacturer’s height and weight requirements.
Our main focus is keeping the children safe while at the center and in their travels to and from home. If you have any questions or concerns, please see your center director.
Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
In large bowl, beat cupcake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
Bake 18 to 23 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pans 10 minutes; carefully remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Stir paste food color into frosting in container. Spread frosting over cupcakes.
To decorate cupcakes, poke 1 pretzel piece into each cupcake for stem. Cut each gumdrop leaf into 3 slices. Poke 2 gumdrop leaves into top of each cupcake on either side of pretzel stem. Poke half of gummy worm into each cupcake. Store loosely covered.
We are on Facebook!
MAY/2015
Kurious Kids is officially a group on Facebook! With so many parents, staff and families on Facebook, we thought it would be a good idea to start a page to share the great things about our centers.
On the page you can find a variety of things:
About upcoming events, up to date information about closing/cancellations for bad weather, teacher of the week, pictures from the center, and much more.
You can like our page to get all of our posts, and share the page with your friends and family. Thank you again for your continued support for Kurious Kids, this is just another way to reach out and communicate with the amazing families we have at our centers!
Keystone Stars
MAY/2014
Keystone STARS is a quality rating system. It has four STAR levels, as noted in the chart below. Each STAR designation has its own research-based performance standards.
QUALITY RATING SYSTEM
These standards measure three areas of child care that make a difference in the quality of care your child receives:
from the staff employed by the center,
in the environment your child attends every day, and in
the way the facility is operated.
As a facility moves from STAR 1 to STAR 4, the requirements in these areas increase. The information below gives examples of the requirements each facility must meet at each STAR level.
STAR LEVEL 1
A full DPW Child Care Certificate of Compliance or Registration for a year
A plan to increase early care and education professional development and training for the staff
Increased staff communication via team meetings
A completed self-assessment on quality items in the environment
STAR LEVEL 2
Director and staff must receive at least three to six hours more annual professional development and training than DPW regulations require.
One-third of the staff completed or are enrolled in credentials or degrees.
Learning materials such as books, blocks, puzzles, music, and art supplies are available for some of the day.
The facility has a budget and provides at least one benefit to staff.
Some involvement of parents in the program.
A plan to address needs found in a standardized self-assessment of the program.
STAR LEVEL 3
Even more professional development and training hours than STAR 2 requires.
Half of the staff completed or are enrolled in credentials or degrees.
Learning materials are available for a large part of the day.
Literacy activities, including reading to children, story telling, and encouraging written and verbal communication take place often during the day.
Increased parental involvement
Written policies and procedures
Implementation of a financial system, increased staff compensation, and benefits
STAR LEVEL 4
Even more professional development and training hours than STAR 3 requires.
Two-thirds of the staff completed or are enrolled in credentials or degrees.
Activities designed to encourage communication, both written and verbal, occur naturally in the day.
Parental and community resources are used effectively in the delivery of quality child care.
Business, organizational, and staff compensation practices are maximized.
A review of the facility by a nationally recognized environmental rating scale that indicates a high-quality score
Thank you for your extreme generosity! The donations that are coming in are greatly appreciated. Remember to bring in your three May donations by Tuesday 5/5/2015
Directions for Making the Caterpillar Necklace Craft
Cut out red paper circles about 1 inch in diameter. Punch a single hole in each one.
Make the caterpillar’s head. (You can be as simple or fancy with this as you want. We tried to make it look similar to the caterpillar in the book.) Cut out construction paper face and glued on some eyes and antennae. Punch a hole in the face for stringing later.
Now it’s time to assemble the necklace! Cut your piece of string or yarn to the size you’d like for your child. (I usually go a little longer than I think~ you can always cut it off later!)
Place some tape at one end of the yarn or string to make it easy for threading.
Have you child first thread a green pasta onto the thread. Next they add one red circle, then green pasta etc. forming a pattern.
When your child is happy with his or her caterpillar length, add the caterpillar head.
Tie the string together to form a necklace. (Cut off the tape).
Tips:
There’s no need to leave out the little ones. While we were busy making our necklaces, Theo practiced those fine motor skills of his by putting pasta on pipe cleaners instead of string.
This craft would be perfect for just one child, but also easy to produce in mass for a large group of children~ a project for your child’s class or playgroup activity. When doing the activity with large groups, I find it helpful to place each individual child’s materials in his/her own small baggie.
Let Your Child’s Everyday Activities P O P with Literacy-Learning POWER!
BATH TIME
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Sing songs and do fingerplays about bath time or your child’s interest. “rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub…”
Together with your child, name and point to body parts.
Point to and read words “hot” and “cold” on the water taps.
Look at waterproof bath time books together.
Fill and pour water from empty shampoo bottles. Point to the words and letters on the empty bottles.
Your Health
Benefits of Child Care Programs
-New Evidence
New research shows parents whose children are in child care gain more than freedom to pursue adult-only activity. They reap social, psychological, and financial rewards. Collectively, these re-wards are called “social capital.” They add to the benefits of early education for children. This is especially true for low-income mothers. Advocates can use this new evidence to seek universal access to quality early education.
Mario Small at the University of Chicago found that many mothers benefit from relationships with staff and other families. Their data came from four sources. The first was a national survey of 3,500 mothers in 20 large U.S. cities. The second source was a survey of 300 child care centers in New York City. The third was 67 in-depth interviews with mothers who enrolled children in child care. The fourth source was 23 case studies and observations in specific centers. They didn’t study what fathers gain from having their children in child care. However, the benefits for mothers are likely to help them too.
PAYTON’S PROMISE- Many of you have received information about our new initiative called Payton’s Promise. If your child will not be at the center or will be arriving late, please call to inform your director. Please see your classroom teacher or director if you would like more information. We appreciate your cooperation and support.
EMAIL ADDRESSES– We have begun to distribute important information via email. Please make sure your most up to date email address is on file with the office. If you are not receiving emails, please let us know.
OUT SICK– Please be sure to call and notify the center if your child has been seen by a doctor and has been diagnosed with anything contagious. It is our responsibility to notify the parents of the children in your child’s classroom in a timely manner. Illness Policy
DONATIONS – We can always use donations of empty food boxes and dress up clothes for our dramatic play centers. And we are always looking for empty shoe boxes!
TUITION CHECKS – Remember, payment is due on the first day that your child attends the center for the week. We will start to assess late fees at $5 per day that payment is late. In the “memo” section of your check, please write the week that you are paying for along with your child’s name (if the last names are different). If you are paying for particular days, please write that in the memo section as well. This is CRITICAL for book-keeping!
VACATION REQUESTS- If you are a full-time family and would like to use vacation days, please submit them in writing at least 2 weeks prior. Vacation days cannot be used for holidays or sick days.
SUNSCREEN PERMISSION SLIPS – As the weather is getting warmer, the children will be going out more on a daily basis. Attached is the sunscreen permission slip which needs to be completed and turned in this allows us to apply sunscreen to your child. Please return this form along with sunscreen (that can be kept at school) to your child’s teacher. Please make sure all bottles are labeled. If you have any questions please let us know.
(610) 440-0287