MAHWAH NEWSLETTER
July/August 2009 Direct From the Executive Director
Ricci Wasserman M.A., P.D. Greetings and happy summer to all. I always start off this July newsletter extolling the beauty and excitement of the June graduations but fear that I might sound redundant. On the other hand each year is unique and so wonderful. The air is filled with smiles and excitement. So many of our graduates have shared our lives since they were in our baby rooms. Their siblings attended or attend our school. We have all enjoyed seeing these children and their families grow and develop. For us, that’s the Hokey Pokey (what its all about). So I must start the July newsletter here each year. Another topic I have brought up over the past 26 years of Prime Time is sex in the preschool. Summertime and sex education in the preschool often go hand in hand. Four and five year olds are very observant and verbal. They notice the anatomical differences between the sexes as summer clothing covers less. Not only do they notice “regular” folks but pregnant ones as well. They have all sorts of questions and often blurt them out at most inconvenient times. Often parents are embarrassed by the questions and floored by the challenges of wise and appropriate answers. I have always felt that if we properly acknowledge and name ALL body parts for children from infancy they will be free to talk about their bodies with adults. We can’t run away from their questions so, by opening a dialogue early-on, we establish trust. I support the idea of only telling them when they ask and, in a language they can understand without too much technicality. They will ask for more information as they go along. Good luck, this is a 20 year challenge. Next, I wanted to address our September price increase. We typically have a 5% annual increase that coincides with most staff salary reviews (staff comprises 70 % of our budget), benefits, rent increases etc… We will have this increase in September but we will continue the 5% incentive for parents who pay by check. Please check with the office to see your new tuition. While you’re at it, please update your child’s medical, your telephone and emergency contacts and e-mail address. Having these e-mail contacts have made it SO much easier to keep in contact with you. Many of you forward our newsletters to your family as well so we all keep in touch. Excellent! Lastly, since January 2009 our Regional Educational Director, Nancy Nathanson, B.S. has been working with her center based educational directors to update our curriculum. She will be rolling it out this fall and will speak of it at our Back to School meetings. We are very excited about the curriculum and are eager to see it being implemented. See you in September. Direct from the Director
Kathy Lieblich We are now enjoying the lazy, hazy, but we hope not crazy days of summer. The Prime Time Camp is in full swing under the direction of Miss Kerin and the following weeks hold the promise of a great many fun filled activities for our campers! Since our camp schedule does vary from the usual school days please keep updated by constantly checking the large bulletin board by the front door. One of the unique features of our camp program is the number of trips we take outside of the school. Most of these excursions have to a degree a great opportunity for not only having fun but learning as well. Talking with your children after these trips is a great way to let them enjoy their experience again! Many of our present parents and children as well as past families were on hand to help us celebrate Prime Time at Mahwah’s 10th Birthday on Friday, May 10th. In addition to the fun of being at a birthday party, Miss Karen Wasserman, who was Mahwah’s first director and here for many years in that capacity was on hand to greet everyone. Miss Karen had her 2 children with her, Mackenzie and Molly! It was a great event so please join me in congratulating Ricci and Joel Wasserman on this wonderful accomplishment. We all take pride in Mahwah’s role in the Prime Time School family. This years Pre-K graduation was enjoyable as always. Of course all children make great strides every year but nowhere is it more evident than in our Pre-K group. We were happy at the large turnout of family and friends at our graduation activities. We hope you enjoyed the opportunity to highlight the many teachers still at Prime Time who have experienced the children’s tremendous growth through the years. Miss Margaret and Miss Emily are to be congratulated on the wonderful Pre-K experience they have endeavored to provide for your children. Thank you to all the parents for allowing us to share not only this special year but all the years with your children. With September right around the corner be sure and stop by the office and finalize your child’s attendance plans if you haven’t already done this. We look forward to another great school year of experiencing Prime Time’s philosophy of “Love, Learn, Laugh”. Spotlight on Staff This month’s Spotlight shines brightly on Kim Ryans. Miss Kim might not be known to all our families because she spends all her time in our Snugglie A Room with our youngest Prime Time children. Of course, those of you who bring your children in early know that Miss Kim is the one who greets you each day starting at 6:30 am. An amazing thing about Miss Kim is that she has so much energy she recently completed EMT training. She volunteers many hours in the evenings (and sometimes all night!) plus weekends helping others with the West Milford First Aid Squad. We know how much Miss Kim loves her work because only recently having been a graduate of St. Peter’s College she couldn’t wait to get started on more education coursework to enhance her teaching skills. Kim attended the recent classes held at Prime Time as part of the Infant Toddler First Steps Program. In addition to all her other talents, Miss Kim is proficient in American Sign Language having studied it for 2 years. Now everyone can realize what an amazing person Miss Kim is and why we are so proud to shine the spotlight on her this month. Educational Corner
Regional Education Director
Nancy Nathanson, BS LOVE & LEARN The delightful children’s classic, Caps for Sale is a good reminder that much like the monkeys in the story, children imitate our behavior. When we shout in anger, tenderly comfort a child, cringe at the sight of a spider or put away our dirty clothes in the hamper, our children are likely to follow our example. Children also live up to our expectations. If we expect a two year old to be terrible, they will be. If we expect a six year old to make good choices, they will. Adults make a huge difference in how children approach life. How do we help them to learn self-control? Do they trust us? Do they feel competent? Or are they angry…jealous…fearful…restless…frustrated…lacking in self-esteem? These and other emotions and behaviors take a long time for children to develop - starting at birth. The question then becomes, what can parents do to encourage our children to become responsible, self-controlled adults? When we look at ways for children to be healthy and strong emotionally, we must first have a fundamental understanding of child development and common behaviors. With this knowledge as a basis, we can enable children to develop self-control by exercising the following behaviors ourselves:
*expecting them to act a certain way
*setting reasonable and positive expectations
*respecting their feelings
*trusting them to succeed
*offering them good choices
*talking about problems calmly
Children need a consistent, positive approach to become emotionally mature. Consistency and clarity about acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are essential components of this disciplinary style. Expressing pride, confidence and love toward our children will enable them to learn to trust us. By implementing this “Love & Learn” approach as parents, we are giving the priceless lifetime gift of emotional good health to our children. Sneak-a-peak in the classroom For this month we want to highlight our graduating Pre-K class and the wonderful job they did at a very special graduation program. After weeks of preparation, our special students sang songs, recited poems and finger plays and even “signed” and sang a beautiful rendition of a Dr. Jean Feldman piece, “May There Always Be Sunshine” (tissues were necessary). This event was a child-oriented celebration with hand-made props and lots of age-appropriate fun! Congratulations graduates and families! Question of the month:
What do you like most about summer? Our Iguanadons replied …
Rocky – I like to go to the beach!
Jack – I like to ride the rides at the beach.
Hailey – I’m going to buy a surfboard!
Joe – Going swimming in the pool. I have Spidey flip flops, crocks, goggles for my nose and snorkel stuff. We wear flip flops in the summer and we can wear shorts.
Logan – I like to go to the beach.
Tyson – We make lemonade. Happy Anniversary Students
Emily 5 years
Peter 5 years
Logan 4 years
Gabriel 2 years
Anya 2 years
Gianna 2 years
Chelsea 2 years
Audrey 2 years
Olivia 2 years
Brenna 1 year
Hope 1 year
Irene 1 year
Cameron 1 year Happy Birthday Students
Miles 6 years
Kate 5 years
John 5 years
Gianna 5 years
Ryan 5 years
Aleck 4 years
Irene 3 years
Samantha 3 years
Brandon 3 years
Allison 3 years
Katelyn 3 years
Kaylee 3 years
Keira 2 years
Sanjna 2 years
Maurice 2 years
Gianna 2 years
Madison 2 years
Jonathan 2 years
Conner 2 years
Liam 2 years Happy Anniversary Staff
Jenn K 1 year
Kim R 1 year
Stacy M 1 year
Lori D 1 year Happy Birthday Staff
Cassie
Danielle
Fran
Kathleen
Kathy
Mary Jo
Monica
Nancy | 
