Toddle Towne

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The Great Outdoors

We go out to play every day except in cases of very extreme weather.  Dress your child accordingly. Do not request that your child be kept in. If s/he is not well enough to go out, then probably s/he is not well enough to be at school. Each teacher is responsible for a group of children, if your child stays in, a whole group must stay in. Fresh air is good for children and there are fewer germs in the outside air.

We are still having problems with unmarked coats! Please, mark them now. Also, remember that anything that comes to school should be in a labeled bag which can go in your cubby or hang on the hook in the coatroom.

Thank you in advance for your help!

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Giving Thanks!

With the Thanksgiving holiday this month the TTLC Board of Directors would like to “give thanks” for a staff of 30 dedicated, well trained, and experienced employees.  Staff turn-over is an important issue in early childhood education.  A stable staff is one of the highest indicators of quality care.  A local survey revealed that the average length of employment in child care centers is 3 months with almost 1/2 of all center positions experiencing turn-over each year!  Because we have directors with from 17 – 39 years of experience and our 23 teachers range from 1-26 years of experience, we have been able to incorporate new teachers with fresh ideas into our staff. More than one half of the staff have over 5 years of employment with us. Our average length of employment at TTLC is 8 years 7 months.

The education of employees is another important indicator of a quality center. TTLC requires an educational background related to the care and education of young children: 6 staff have an AAS, 4 have been awarded CDA certification (a proficiency based credential which requires extensive non-credit training and evaluation by an outside observer).  Ninety percent of our staff have college classes in child development.  All  staff members complete at least 20 hours of non-credit inservice training each year, all have CPR training and certification, 9 have Food Preparation and Sanitation certification.

This is a fine staff but equally important is the leadership provided by the Executive Director.  With 31 years of experience at TTLC, an AAS in Early Childhood Education, and a B. S. in Business, she provides the training and motivation necessary to enable the staff to operate at their best.

Our Curriculum Consultant with 48 years experience at TTLC, a B.S. in Early Childhood Education, an M.S. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education, and additional hours towards an Ed. D. provides a learning program geared to individual children.

Please join the board in thanking the staff for the quality of care they provide for your children!

Since you bring your children back to the center day after day, we must assume you are pleased with the services you receive, but please join the board in expressing to the staff your appreciation for the quality of care they provide for your children!  How do you do this?  Say it! Tell the teacher, tell her boss, tell a friend.  Compliments motivate people to work even harder.  Smile it!  Even when you are busy and the day has gone all wrong, a smile or a shared laugh will make both you and the teacher feel better.  Write It!  A quick note or a card for no particular reason will let the teacher know you are interested and appreciative.  Show it! Actions always speak louder than words, do the little things that will make a teacher’s life easier:  label coats and other belongings; if a sibling accompanies you to the center watch them and insist that they follow all rules; see that your child puts away toys before leaving; stick to the school rules and don’t ask for special privileges; drop off and pick up children at the scheduled time, don’t be late; turn off Power Rangers and encourage productive play at home.

Oh, and by the way, “Thanks for being such great parents!”

TTLC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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From Ms Peggy – November

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE

At this time of year, Native Americans become the focus of news articles, sale ads, magazine features, and radio and TV sound bites. Most preschool and early elementary teachers have a unit of study during November that focuses on Native Americans and their culture. It has been the same at least since I was in grade school. It is only recently that there has been any awareness that perhaps this is not an appropriate thing to do, that maybe we are teaching children prejudice and bigotry instead of history. Good teachers are aghast at this accusation. A stylized TV concept of Indians makes a convenient focus for learning because of its interest to young children. It is fun. It is exciting. Most of it is also untrue or distorted. This Indian stereotype ignores the passage of time for that one segment of the population, leading children to assume that Indians live today in the same way that they did 200 – 500 years ago. Any immigrant who came to America during that time period lived off the land, washed their clothes on a scrub board and lived in log cabins or underground soddies. You don’t expect your children to be taught that this is still the norm. Yet most young children assume that Native Americans still live in teepees and spend their time hunting with bow and arrow.

There were hundreds of different tribes of Native Americans each with different values and ways of life. Yet we lump them all together and teach our children about “Indians!” Making generalizations or assumptions about any group of people and attempting to apply them to everyone of that group without respect to individual differences is, very simply, prejudice. Some would attempt to right this wrong by reversing the prejudice. But, prejudging any culture as totally “good” is as inappropriate as prejudging it as “bad.” The myth of the “Noble Red-man” is as much prejudice as is the “Dirty Savage” image. In reality Native Americans, like any other group, are made up of a few really good people, a few really bad people, and an awful lot of people who just try to do the best they can. Any generalized cultural blame is non-productive. Europeans did kill off many tribes by exposing them to small-pox. But it is also true that Native Americans introduced the rest of the world to tobacco which has probably caused an even larger number of lingering and painful deaths. Neither group did this with malice, it was an unfortunate result of a mingling of two very different cultures.

We have no control over the past and we aren’t always certain that we have much influence into the future. Certainly solving the problems of racism, prejudice, and discrimination is not simple. It requires resources and power that we as individuals do not possess. There is however, one thing each individual can do to make this a better place for all of our children. Language is a powerful force. Many words we use to identify groups of people carry insulting overtones which give children the idea that superiority and anger towards other groups of people are acceptable. While individually you can’t solve the problems on the reservations or in the ghettos, you can become sensitive to, and eliminate from your vocabulary, all terms which are insulting to people of another color, race, religion, or gender. Only then can attitudes begin to change so that all of our children will be able to work together and improve their future

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Quality Time Tips – AUGUST

Scrub-a-dub
Combine water play with some constructive accomplishments. You and the kids put on your bathing suits, get out scrub brushes, soap, and the hose. Work together to scrub down the patio furniture, the kitchen table, and chairs, or whatever needs to be cleaned. When everybody is tired and the worst of the dirt is off the furniture, rinse it and put on a coat of wax. Yes, you could do it faster and neater alone, but the object is to spend constructive time having fun with your children.

Heavenly Fireworks
We all watched the fireworks in July, but August brings natural fireworks. If your family stays up late around August 10 -14, you can view the Perseid Meteor Shower. An average of 65 meteors will light up the sky each hour as they move towards the Earth. Viewing will start after dark, but the best show is after midnight. On any clear summer night, look for the big and little dipper.

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Homework Alert – AUGUST

Many of our activities will be done outside each day, check our daily themes.

We will be using the pirate’s treasure for many of our classifying activities, if you have any old “junk” jewelry which you could donate for our activities we would appreciate it. Also we will be using medicine droppers, sea shells, and rocks for many activities, If you have any of these to donate, we will put them to good use.