Category Archives: Planning Documents

We are happy to announce that there are new pages in your child’s journal book at school!  We keep the journal books in the back room and look at them regularly.  The new photos are so much fun!

We also have some environment changes that will be happening in the classroom:

We have been singing “Five Little Monkeys” with a five monkey flannel board set.  This has been going well and we will likely continue that.  We have also started to dance to “Animal Action!”

We are also planning to make play dough to go with our new dough scissors.

Thank you for reading our updates.  We hope that you enjoy hearing about what is happening in Room 1.  It’s a fun place.

-The Teachers of Room 1-

The population at the Child Development Center is diverse and multicultural, bringing a wonderful richness to everyone’s experiences.  The Child Development Center is a place where adults and children from any background can feel comfortable, welcome, and respected.  Holidays from a variety of cultures are a valuable way of recognizing the similarities and uniqueness of different cultures (e.g., the use of food, dress, crafts, and/or songs in the celebration) while also appreciating the diversity in the forms these aspects take.

In order to benefit the most from recognizing a variety of holidays, Supervising Teachers are asked to consider the following in the planning of related activities:

• The avoidance of any holidays having any religious purpose;
• Providing a focus on the most universal aspects of a holiday (e.g., family, home, community), rather than the commercial aspects;
• Avoidance of any activity that could make any child or family feel uncomfortable;
• Ensuring that all activities are age appropriate and culturally sensitive.

Supervising Teachers also routinely solicit the help of the parents of the children in their class who are from different cultures and ask them to share information and resources about their culture’s holidays and ideas for activities that would be appropriate for the children.  Such information can be incorporated within the universal aspects of traditional American holidays.

Note:  As examples of this policy, here at the Center we do not dress in costumes for Halloween (though we may do face-painting), and we do not bring valentines to school (though we do share feelings in letters to our family and friends).

If you have any questions or concerns in regards to the policy, please talk with Ms. Laura or Linda Haar.  We will be more than happy to discuss how we can best support our families and their culture.

Donations:

The biggest thing we need currently are some plants for the fish tank.  The fake plastic plants might bring some visual appeal to the tank.  There are also moss balls at pet stores which might be fun for the children to observe.  They simply float in the water and grow!  This is how it looks: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=768+1630+2553&pcatid=2553.