dickinson college children’s center december 2019€¦ · be making cookie cutter art, singing...

I would like to thank all families for their cooperation with the Pumpkin Run event. It was quite the task walking the chil-

dren to the Dickinson track and back! We were so pleased with the weather and we all had a very fun and memorable time. Check out our Facebook page for pictures and a fun video! Your participation at the track was wonderful and the children had a fun time judging by the smiles on their faces. This is the one fundraiser that is all about the kids and it has such a positive message about being active and eating healthy! We far exceeded our goal for the year so please join us for a center-wide PJ day and light breakfast in the Big Play Room on Tuesday December 17 (7:15-9:30). On November 14th the children and staff enjoyed a Thanksgiving Meal prepared by Dining Services. Each of the older classes enjoyed the group meal in the big room. Our smaller children remained in their own classroom but also enjoyed the yummy food. Thanks to dining services for a delicious meal. A complimentary vision screening was offered to the preschool children on December 4th. Vision Resources of America screens approximately 90 of our children ages 2 and up on an annual basis. The results are then shared with families if the child needs to be referred to an eye doctor. Kindergarten also took part in a Hearing Screening sup-ported by the Carlisle Area School District. Our Kindergarten Program organized, gathered, and delivered the donated items from our center families to Project Share this month. Last month the class assisted with a distribution day. The food drive brought it full circle and it has been a valua-ble service experience for them. We have lots of fun events planned for the center during December. My favorite will be the annual door decorating contest. The classrooms and teachers will all win an award of some type. A special thank you to Ms. Barb for her creative ideas to keep the holiday spirit going in all of us! Have a great holiday and enjoy your time with your children! It’s all about creating memories with them. -Gina VanKirk, Director

Dates to

Remember:

December 11—Parent

Meeting 4:15 p.m. Big

Conference Room @

DCCC

& Cookie Orders due

December 17—

7:15 –9:30—

Light breakfast served

for children and

families in the Big Play

Room & PJ Day!

December 18—Cookie

Order pick up

December 23-January

3, 2020—DCCC Closed

January 6, 2020—

DCCC re-opens

From the Director’s Desk

Dickinson College Children’s Center

December 2019

December-January Closed Dates

As a reminder, DCCC will be closed from Monday December 23 through Friday January 3. We will re-open on Monday January 6. It is our hope that this doesn’t catch anyone by surprise as we have these dates noted in many of our publications (Family Handbook, Agreements, DCCC Calendar of Events, and more). Tuition will not be charged for these 2 weeks.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season!

Pancake Breakfast

Parent Meeting

Dec. 11th @ 4:15

Come find out how to get involved in making

Pancake Breakfast a success!

Fundraising so far: $6,600

2019 Goal: $15,000

Upcoming Events:

Cookie Sales

Pancake Breakfast

The Pumpkin Run was a HUGE success! DCCC received $4,536 in donations! Your children would not have been so motivat-ed without your support, and encouraging words!

Thank you to all that donated!

Ducklings


November was a month of thanks! We enjoyed our pumpkin run training,

especially the yoga! The ringing bowl was an object of interest that we wish

we would have had more time to explore. Thank you to all of the friends and

family who came out to support the infants. We enjoyed a few mini art pro-

jects this month as well. Having our feet painted is a new experience that

most of us enjoy. Some of us don’t like the cold paint, but we like watching our feet touch

the paper and observing the footprint that is left behind.

In December we will experience some of the diverse ways that families celebrate the winter

holidays, adding new story board books, pictures, music, songs and finger plays to our rep-

ertoire. We will continue games that involve clapping and other gestures, such as waving,

pointing, blowing kisses and simple sign words. We learn through repetition, repetition, repetition!

Playtime will include lots of free floor time, on the playground and in the large motor room (the Big

Room), with surfaces to pull up and cruise and lots of space to roll and crawl and climb. We love to

post your family holiday photos on our bulletin board to help spread the cheer! Please be sure that

your baby has appropriate clothing for outdoor weather – we will be spending time outdoors if the

temperature/wind chill factor is above 25 degrees F. December will pass quickly with winter break

approaching and so much to do and to learn! We wish you all a safe and happy winter holiday season

with family and friends!

~LACI, STEPHANIE, & MIMI

Spotlight on the Family Handbook

Monthly Feature: PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Support)

GUIDANCE PROCEDURES

At DCCC, guidance is regarded as a learning strategy and the procedures are based upon the philosophy of the Children’s Center. The Center believes that all children should be treated with respect and that developmentally appropriate guidance strategies should be implemented. The focus will be on helping children learn inner control and resolve conflict among them-selves. Classroom teachers may use some of the following strategies to encourage the children to make the right behavior choices: charts, stickers, positive reinforcement, redirection, and timers.

The Dickinson College Children’s Center has implemented a PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Support) program to support children’s healthy social-emotional development. Our Center-wide expectations for all classes are Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Responsible, often referred to DCCC’s Big 3. The PBIS program will foster positive and encouraging interactions between all teachers, children, and families.

Please check out our DCCC’s Big 3 hallway bulletin boards for updated information and handouts.

Reminders: **Please be sure to send in extra clothing that is

appropriate for your ba-by’s size (we grow fast!) and the cooler weather

ahead. We will play out-doors each day if the

temperature is above 25 degrees F.

**Please make sure bot-tles and table food con-tainers are labeled with

your baby’s name.


November flew by in the blink of an eye. We spent the month talking about all

we have to be thankful for! We read some special books, sang some songs, and

celebrated everyone being one by coloring together. We talked about friendships and read and

played together. We practiced pointing to our friends when we heard their names, and we

worked on saying names, too. Thank you all for attending parent teacher conferences. It was

wonderful having the opportunity to discuss how special your child is, and how well they are do-

ing in the room. We all had so much fun eating our turkey feast together! It’s fun to try new

foods! We also had a great time at our Pumpkin Run parade!

We always look forward to December! It is a month full of new sights, smells, sounds, tastes,

and textures. We’ll dive into the holiday season using our five senses. A special bulletin board

will be a fun addition to our room as we learn about special family holiday traditions. We will

be making cookie cutter art, singing holiday songs, shaking jingle bells, and looking at lights

that are hung in our room, just for a start! We will also be exploring pine branches, wrapping

paper, and pinecones. Before our holiday break we will be tasting some yummy potato latkes,

and a special holiday snack. (Don’t worry, no special snacks will be served without your permis-

sion.)

~ Alisha & Diana

Yellow Pups

FAMILY REMINDERS:

• We will be going outside as long as it is

above 26°. Please make sure your child has

a hat, gloves/mittens, and a warm coat!

* Please place your child’s coat in the plastic

bin in their cubby. (This way, no little hands will

be tempted to pull on coats on hooks.)


Yellow Honey Bees

Wow! It’s such an exciting time, there are so many sights to be seen and heard this time of year! The puppies are going to be exploring some of fun things that happen around this month.

Since candles are used in so many holiday traditions, the puppies are going to make a candle from a paper towel roll. We will get to decorate a paper gingerbread house and color a gingerbread man, along with working on our counting skills as we count some gingerbread men.

The puppies will paint with pine branches and roll pine cones in paint, color a pine tree, and make a handprint wreath.

We are going to practice on our colors as we hang a strand of colored lights in the room, and we will make hand print lights.

There will be colored wrapping paper, bows, ribbon, and bottles with bells in them to explore in the sensory bins. We will also get to engage our fine motor skills with homemade play-doh!

We will be sending home a cut out gingerbread person, if you have any family traditions for the holidays, please feel free to share with us and write them on the gingerbread.

FYI:

We are going outside every day, (weather and temperature permitting) please make sure to have a warm coat, hats, and glove/mittens for your child. The children like to take them off but we do our best to keep them on while outside. We would also like to try and play in the snow, make sure to have snow pants and boots on hand to bring in.

We’ve had a lot of birthdays in the puppy room, and a few more on the way. We will be providing skim milk to those who are two. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

REMINDERS:

~Check/ask to see if your child has extra seasonal clothes

~Please check daily sheets for items needed such as diapers, wipe, creams, etc.

~Cathryn & Donna

Hello Yellow Bee Families!

What a wonderful month we had celebrating No-vember. We were busy learning about Pilgrims, Native Americans, leaves, fall colors, and tur-keys. We also enjoyed playing with pumpkins, exploring with feathers, and learning about the shapes and colors of leaves. The Pumpkin Run was definitely the highlight. The children worked so hard and did an amazing job. As always, thanks for your support.

And here we are…in the month of December. We are excited to celebrate “The Senses of the Sea-son”. We will learn about trees, wreaths, Gingerbread Men, and “Holidays Around the World”. We will be asking you about your family traditions and sharing them with one another.

Just a reminder: Please make sure your child has an extra pair of warm clothes at school. Please also note that the center will be closed Monday, December 23rd- Friday January 3rd.

~Barb & Michele

Blue Puppies


Blue Busy Bees

In November the children talked about family and friends. They learned that families are all different and are made up of people that love and care about each other. We also talked about how the Blue Bee Room is like a family also. We learned about hiberna-tion, migration and adaptation. We talked about and learned about animals that hiber-nate, migrate and adapt to the cold weather. The blue bees also talked about being

Thankful and talked about the things that they are thankful for. We ended the month talking about turkeys and make two cute turkey crafts. The DCCC Feast was delicious as usual and we had a great time on the Pumpkin Run and the two weeks prior getting ready for it. Thank you Ms. Cheri for do-ing an awesome job training us.

In the month of December the blue bees will talk about and experience the holidays using our 5 senses. The crafts and activities that we do will center around one of the 5 senses.

We will participate in activities such as:

Making play dough and playing with it to get our hands in action.

I spy games and making sensory bottles to work our sight.

Painting with spices to get our nose sniffing.

Listening to sounds and trying to identify the sound

Making gingerbread cookies and tasting them.

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and experience a festive time in the month of Decem-ber with family and friends.

REMINDERS:

Please make sure your blue bee has a warm coat, hat and gloves to play outside on the play-ground. We do go outside every day unless the feel like temperature is below 26 and should snow be in the forecast please bring snow boots and snow pants as well.

If you child needs a fork to eat their lunch please be sure to provide on in their lunch box. We

have plastic spoons we can give the kids but do not have forks. Check your child’s cubby for warmer change of clothing.

~Jody & Cassie


Blue Bears

Wow we can’t believe it is December already!! Last month was so great and so busy with so much fun going on. We sure did enjoy the Pumpkin run and everyone who came out to support us in our fun trot around the track. Then there was feast day!! We sure did had full bellies that afternoon. We had a lot of

Teddy Bears coming in and talking about Thanksgiving and the family they visited.

In December we are going to be looking at different types of traditions you do as a family. We will have three weeks for you to sign up and come into the classroom to read us a story, do an activity with us or talk to the class about something you do together as a family during this time of year or one you do throughout the year. It is always a great way to get to know a little more about many different families in the room.

We have several reminders for this month to start looking ahead and planning…

Please make sure you sign up to come share a family tradition with us in the next three weeks. If you need another paper sigh up form, please see Ms. Ange or Ms. Kendra

We love snow days here at DCCC and it typically works best when each of us has a pair of snow pants, snow gloves and boots that we leave here at the center so we can go out and enjoy the snow without getting wet and cold.

The center will be closed December 23rd and will reopen January 6th.

~Ange & Kendra

Yellow Bear Cubs

The teddy bears seemed to especially enjoy the Pumpkin Run and Pumpkin Run Training activities in November! We learned all about EXERCISE, TREES, LEAVES AND SEASONS throughout November!

We will kick off December with some train fun and kick off our holiday tradi-tions with the Polar Express movie! We will then begin our Family traditions weeks by sharing and partaking in all the different Holiday Traditions that our families have and do, we look forward to having families come and share some with us! So be sure to complete the family traditions sign-up sheet and return it as soon as possible!

Please remember to send in hats, gloves/mittens (preferably water proof), boots, snow pants and coats. We will go outside as long as the temperature feels like 26 degrees or more. We need the water proof clothing to protect us from the wet snow followed by the melting snow and mud!! We will be keeping the snow gear at the back of the cubby area on the hooks that are labeled by names!

The bears are growing like crazy and the extra clothes bins need updated with seasonally appropriate clothes! Please bring clothes in and swap them out with the clothes in the bins before our Holiday Break!

If you would like to bring in hand lotion and/or Chap Stick for our chapped hands and lips that is fi-ne, we will label them with your child’s name and place them in a basket in my locked cabinet above my teacher sink. We will make it a routine to apply them before rest time and anytime your child requests throughout the day. It may not stay in the cubby, bag/backpack, or child’s pocket; due to safety reasons!

~Mandy & Bri


It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Novem-ber flew faster than a turkey and December is here! Celebrating the tastes, sights, sounds, "feels," and smells of special times. Perhaps the place that family traditions start is not in one spe-cific activity but simply in the joy of shared expe-riences. And maybe the best way to talk about these traditions at group time is to help children open up to their own senso-

ry memories! We invite all our families to come share their family tradition with our Bunny class-mates! Look for a SIGN-UP SHEET on our classroom door!

A favorite aroma of Miss Sarah’s! during the holiday season is GINGERBREAD! We’ll dive into reading different versions of the classic tale The Gingerbread Man. We’ll compare characters, plot, and all the different story elements that make up the classic tale. Possibly, we’ll even get the chance to explore ginger-bread with our 5 senses!

With the holiday seasons come winter like weather. What would it be like to live in the snow and cold all year long? We’ll take a week to research and discover the

animals of the arctic! What makes the animals that live there so spe-cial? Why is it always so cold there? How do the animals survive and stay protected? So many questions, so little time!

With the thought of snow and winter weather approaching we want-ed to remind all families to check your child’s extra clothing bins for seasonally and size appropriate extra clothes. The bunnies will ven-ture outside (weather permitting) and sometimes our normal clothes can get a little soggy underneath our snow clothes! Having extra clothes that are com-

fy and warm will make us very happy!

The bunny teachers thank our families and children for remembering to hang our cold weather gear out in the hallway. Keeping it in our cubbies will cause them to get too cramped with stuff. When our cubbies are overcrowded it allows for things to get lost or misplaced more easily. So we really appreciate your cooperation with this!

We wish all of our Bunny families a safe, healthy, and happy holiday sea-son!

~ SARAH & CARLY

Bunnies

Kindergarten Dolphins

Newsletter Title

November was a fun but busy month. We started out the month with finishing our Nocturnal animals’ unit and a unit on healthy bodies and what that means. We discovered that eating healthy foods and moving our bodies daily is critical to staying healthy. We also were able to tie this unit into our Pumpkin Run Training. We had a lot of fun going into the big room everyday to do a new movement activity. The dol-phins wanted to take it further and often asked if we could do exercises throughout the day too. We finished up Novem-

ber talking about Thanksgiving, turkeys and things we are thankful for. We learned that the children who came on the Mayflower and the Native American children had a lot of responsi-bilities. We discussed how some of the things were like things we do today, and some were very different. We had two big events in No-vember as well, the Thanksgiving Feast and the Pumpkin Run.

In addition to our fun themes in November we added to our sight word list and have continued to practice reading these words by playing games and doing fun activities. We also started to add some technology and STEM activities to our science times. In math we have continued to practice making

ten by using “mystery numbers” and ten frames. During writing times, we have started focusing on capital letters at the beginning of the sentence, spacing, and punctuation at the end. We also started to talk about a new super hero: Philo. Philo helps us with our problem-solving skills. We have added him to our Project Team house.

In December we are excited to start our unit on Gingerbread men where we compare several different ver-sions of The Gingerbread man. We will also be inviting parents and families into our classroom to share their family traditions. We talked a little about family tradi-tions last month with Thanksgiving and we learned how everyone has special things that they do with their family to cele-brate and fun together around this time of year. It is so fun to experience and

learn about those traditions. In December we will also say good-bye to Ms. Aisha and Ms. Espoir who have taught us so much this semester. We have enjoyed our lessons with them and will miss them! There is a signup sheet on the door to come in and share a tradi-tion with the class.

Important Dates:

12/20-PJ Day 12/23-1/3-DCCC Closed for Holiday Break

~ Ms. Brittney & Ms. Bri

dickinson college children’s center december 2019€¦ · be making cookie cutter art, singing...

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