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
~Eva~

We are so excited to officially start our “Super Summer Fun Program”.  The next couple of months are jam packed with so many fun activities and events for the children to participate in.  Make sure to keep your summer calendars posted so you are ready for all the fun.

We have a few fun field trips for the children to go on over the summer.  We will distribute permission slips and trip information closer to the dates of the trip.  If you would like to chaperone a trip, you are more than welcome.  All chaperones will be in charge of a small group of children while on the trip.  We have also scheduled some visitors to come to the school and other special events.  If there are any fees for these activities we will let you know in advance.

To make sure that your child is ready for some summer fun, don’t forget to send in the following items: bathing suit, towel, water shoes and sunscreen.  We can’t apply sunscreen without a signed permission slip.  Please stop by the office if you need one.  All water play items will be sent home weekly for laundering.  Please make sure to replace your child’s extra clothing with weather appropriate ones and also one’s that fit.  Children can grow quite a bit over a season.

Summer safety is another important part of our program.  The children spend lots of time outdoors over the summer therefore it’s important that they are coming to school wearing appropriate clothing.  Please send your child with sneakers or closed toe sandals with straps.  Flip flops and open back sandals are very hazardous on the playground.  As you know children love to run and jump when they are outside and sandals can cause tripping which leads to boo boo’s.  If your child is insistent on wearing them to school please make sure to send in a pair of sneakers for when they go outside.  Also water shoes are a must for outdoor water play activities.

Varying your child’s lunch for the summer is also a good idea.  After playing outside on a warm day or having fun in the sprinklers, I’m sure the children are looking forward to a light, cool lunch.  Try sending more fruits and veggies, lunch meats, cheese, crackers and yogurt.  These may be some good alternatives for summer lunches.  We will keep plenty of ice pops on hand for an extra cool me off treat.

Patriotic Week kicks off our summer program.  On July 2nd we will be having a Patriotic Party.  There will be a sign up sheet in your child’s classroom for some items you can bring in.  Don’t forget to dress your child in their festive red, white and blue outfits.  Every week is filled with fun activities, so the summer definitely promises to be an exciting one.

Summer/Fall Enrollment…
We are currently accepting enrollment for our summer and fall programs.  Please spread the word and invite your family, friends and co-workers who are in need of quality child care to visit our school.  They are more than welcome to stop in anytime between the hours of 9:00am-5:00pm M-F.  We will also be having an open house carnival for our currently enrolled families and potential new families in August.  More information will follow.  We appreciate all the referrals you make and thank you in advance for them.  Don’t forget if we have 5 or more families from the same company enrolled in any of our Prime Time locations, you will receive 5% off of your monthly tuition.  If you plan on adjusting your child’s contract for the fall please let management know A.S.A.P

Lunch Program….
Starting September we will be offering a lunch program.  It will be catered by Planet Wings/Pizza.  It will be offered on a daily basis and will consist of cold and hot nutritious meals.  Pizza will still be on the menu every Friday.  A monthly menu will be distributed to let you know what is being offered for lunch on a daily basis.  The lunch program will be of no extra monthly charge.  If you know that your child may not like something or may be allergic to certain foods, please feel free to send in a lunch for him/her.  We have decided to offer this program as a convenience to our parents.  September’s menu will be distributed sometime at the end of August.

School Age Care/Indoor Gym…
We are so happy to announce that starting this fall our program will be licensed for children up to 12yrs of age.  We have been able to take over the space that is between our infant/toddler and preschool program.  The space will be remodeled into an indoor gym, computer lab and school age classroom.  For those of you who have older siblings or whose children will be entering Kindergarten we will have before and after school programs as well as school vacation and summer programs.  If you are interested in registering your school age child please let management know.  We are so excited to finally get an indoor play area for the children.  Gross motor play is so beneficial to the kids.  During inclement weather, extremely hot or cold days the children will have the opportunity to run and jump in our indoor gym.  This will just make our program that much better.  September is bringing many positive changes to Prime Time.  We hope that you all will enjoy them.

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.  
 
My favorite thing about summer is….
*Tylor (Dinos) - “ride my bike”
*Emma (pre-k) - “swimming in the pool when it’s hot”
*Alexa (Angels) - “the beach”
*Madaghan (Dinos) - “play in the pool”
*Nicholas (pre-k) -“going on vacation, to the beach!”
*Eidyanna (Angels) - “water play”
*Connor (Dinos) - “go ride the horsies”
*Adriana (pre-k) - “I like to play in the grass”
*Mason (pre-k) - “swimming in the pool”
*Khalisa (Dinos) - “fly my kites”
*Noah (Angels) - “golf”
*Amelia (pre-k) - “I like when I play with my dad”
*Jamilah (Dinos) - “find seashells & going to the beach”
*Jason (pre-k) - “playing with my toys outside”
*Jayden (Angels) - “water play”
*Kevin (Pre-k) - “play and go in the water”
*Kaylee (Dinos) - “swim in the pool”

Reminders….
*Prime Time will be closed on Friday July 3rd in observance of Independence Day.  Have a great long weekend!

*If your child will be on vacation anytime over the summer months, please sign up in your child’s classroom.  If you are eligible for a vacation credit, stop by the office and pick up a vacation credit form.

*If you are taking your child to the pediatrician for a well check up, please ask for an updated immunization record for his/her file.  All immunizations must be up to date.

Happy Birthday…
July
Faith (Staff) - 7/14
Syrmo (Staff) - 7/19
Jamie (Staff) - 7/19
Megan (Staff) - 7/24
Alexander C - 7/6 (2yrs)
Havan - 7/8 (4yrs)
Jayden - 7/10 (3yrs)
Camille - 7/13 (5yrs)
Anthony A - 7/14 (5yrs)
Maria - 7/27 (4yrs)
Aiden - 7/28 (5yrs)

August
Adele (Staff) - 8/17
Brooke - 8/3 (3yrs)
Aamyr - 8/8 (3yrs)
Eidyanna - 8/11 (3yrs)
Dante - 8/12 (5yrs)
Bryan - 8/14 (2yrs)
Christopher - 8/14 (2yrs)
Cameron - 8/17 (6yrs)
Sereniti - 8/18 (1yr)
Adriana - 8/30 (5yrs)

Sneak a Peaks…
Kitties by:  Ms Meghan
The weather is getting warmer and the Kitties are loving their time outside!  We go for walks, play on the playground, and play balls or bubbles.  We have also learned a new song called “Ten Little Indians.”  We continue to do arts and crafts with paint and crayons.  We made watermelon slices to get ready for summer!  We are very excited and can’t wait until our water play time outside begins! 

Puppies by:  Ms. Chrissy
It was all about dinosaurs in the Puppies class last month.  We had a bunch of little dinosaurs roaring around the classroom.  We learned the names of different dinosaurs and made dinosaur tracks and found fossils around the classroom.  We used stencils to make dinosaur fossils and hid them around the room and the kids searched for them.  They were so excited when then found one.

Angels by:  Ms. Jamie
The Angels had a blast learning about Dinosaurs.  They loved taking a toy dinosaur and dipping its feet into paint and making dinosaur prints on paper.  They also loved roaring and acting like dinosaurs.  The louder they roared the happier they seemed.  So needless to say the Angels class turned into a jungle for the day.

Dinos by:  Ms. Syrmo
The Dinos had a blast learning their colors in Spanish during circle time.  They would go around to their friends and tell them what color they were wearing in Spanish.  The Dinos also had a great time learning about the zoo.  We went around the classroom looking for the animals that “escaped” from the zoo.  They also loved to make the sounds of the animals they found, it was like being in a real zoo.

Pre-K 1 by:  Ms. Lindsay
June was a fun filled month for the Pre-K class! As Graduation approached the children had practiced often and were very excited to move on to Kindergarten.  But, they have promised to come back and visit ƒº.  In June we learned about zoo animals, reptiles, amphibians and even dinosaurs!  They enjoyed making fossils, digging for dinosaur eggs and measuring how many children it took to be the same length as a dinosaur.  Although they learned how big and scary dinosaurs were, they still wished one was roaming the earth so they could see it!  The children also learned about money and math.  We even set up our own Pre-K store!  As the children have grown eager for summer, they can’t wait for all the fun activities we have in store for them.  Have a safe summer! 

Pre-K 2 by:  Ms. Sharon 
In the months of May and June the Pre-K and I were busy preparing for our Graduation.  When you first describe to the kids what graduating means, it then tends to take on a life of its own.  Graduation is not only a time for the children, but it is a time for the teachers as well.  There is a lot of time spent with each and every one of your children.  Within that time I get to know each of them, to bond with them and to create lasting memories. I will cherish not only the times spent in the classroom, but also the time spent practicing for what is one the most monumental times in their lives.  Preschool sets the foundation for the many years of education to come.