MAY NEWSLETTER

Thank you for all of the cards and well wishes.  Please be assured we are passing them on to Holly and she is very touched by all of the care and concern.  She has been released from the hospital and will continue to recuperate at her home in Vermont for the time being.

Thank you again for all of your support & cooperation, Mona

Warm Weather
Hopefully, the warm weather will be here to stay.  Please feel free to send in a sun hat.  Even in the Spring, sunscreen is important, but please keep in mind for most sunscreen to be effective it needs to be applied well in advance of sun-exposure, so it is best to apply sunscreen to your child at home before he/she comes to school, and then we will reapply sunscreen as needed.  Please feel free to also send in Insect Repellant for protection against those pesky bugs.  We ask that you clearly label any sunscreen or insect repellant that you send in with your child’s name.

Just a reminder, sneakers are the footwear of choice here at Young World both indoors and out.  For safety and comfort, sneakers must be worn on the playground.  Please observe the following important safety policy - Sandals, Clogs/Crocs, Jellies, etc… may NOT be worn here at Young World.

Holiday Closing
Young World will be closed on Monday, May 31, for Memorial Day.

Thank You!
Our Thanks go out to the following businesses who allowed us to display artwork in their windows during the Week of the Young Child: Florence Savings Bank, Easthampton Savings Bank, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Cherry Picked Books, and The Taylor Agency.  We hope you had a chance to see some of the artwork.

Graduation Ceremony
Our annual graduation ceremony will take place on Friday, June 4th at 9:30am.  Children in our 4yr old programs, who are going to kindergarten in the fall, will be graduating.  Additional information is posted by The Inchworm, Penguin & Seuss Crew sign-in books.

Summer 2010
If you have not informed us of your summer child care needs, please do so as soon as possible.  Typically, in the summer the names of our groups will change, some children might change groups; even your child’s teacher could change.  As we approach the summer season and planning takes place we will keep you informed.

Vacation Requests
Please remember tuition free vacation requests must be submitted at least two weeks in advance of a vacation.  You will find vacation slips by the tuition box.  Tuition free vacation time will be granted only after 5 months of enrollment.

Just a reminder, if your child is enrolled for the school-year (10 months), you are eligible for one tuition free week, and if your child is enrolled for the full calendar year you are eligible for 2 tuition free weeks.

New State Regulations
Our licensing agency, The Department of Early Education and Care, has instituted new regulations, some of which pertain directly to children and their families.  We will keep you abreast of any changes that may affect you.  Some of these new changes are:

• Entanglement Hazards - For safety reasons children may not wear any long, dangling items that could get caught and choke/harm the child.  Such items would include but would not be limited to: necklaces, scarves, excessively long shoe laces, mittens on strings, hoods/hats with long ties.  These items may no longer be worn as they are considered entanglement hazards.

• Medical Action Plans - For children with allergies/chronic illnesses we now have to have medical “Action Plans” on file.  These plans must come from your child’s doctor and should include: warning signs, possible reactions & all of the appropriate steps including any medicine needed to help your child.

• Transportation Policy - Parents will need to sign a form stating that they understand & will comply with Young World’s Transportation policy which simply states; Young World does not provide any form of transportation to and from the Center for pre-school age children, It is a Young World policy that parents or a designated adult be responsible for dropping off and picking up their pre-school age child at the Center, Young World currently provides supervised walks to and from Easthampton Public School for children enrolled in kindergarten through fourth grade.

• Progress Reports - Progress Reports will now also be written for our school-aged students as well as our pre-school and kindergarten students.

• Oral Health - Tooth brushing must now be offered whenever children (1) are in  care more than 4 hours, (2) consume a meal in care.  It should be noted that snack is not considered a meal, but lunch is.  

  We are still working out the specifics of the Oral Health regulation.  When we are ready to implement this we will let you know.

Please address any cares/concerns regarding these new regulations to Mona. Thank You!

CLASSROOM NEWS

The Dinomites welcomed the warm weather and loved playing outside and using our senses on our walks.  We finished learning about dinosaurs and are now mini-paleontologists.  We were also little entomologists as we watched and recorded the growth of our caterpillars.  We were very excited to see them hatch into butterflies!  We’ve also become little gardeners as we grew green beans and grass.  The fun part was cutting the grass when it got too long!

In June we will continue the theme of growing as we grow more vegetables, herbs and flowers.  We will also conduct simple experiments about how plants grow best.  Alongside with planting we will begin the theme of farming!  Also in June we will be making gifts for the special men in our lives for Father’s Day.

We will be celebrating a few birthdays as well ~ Leah will turn 4 on the 11th, Sabina will turn 4 on the 19th, Andie will turn 4 on the 25th and Maverick will turn 4 on the 27th.

Since September the Inchworms have learned and grown so much and made many great friendships along the way.  We have enjoyed our time together and created many special memories.  It is time to say “Good Bye”.  To those who will not be returning we wish you well in your future Learning Adventures and we wish everyone a Safe and Happy Summer!

We want to wish a Happy Birthday to all of the Inchworm friends who will be celebrating their birthdays over the summer… Natalie, Sally, Alex M., Autumn, Christopher, Gabriel, Ron, and Owen!

During the month of May the Penguins have been working very hard on learning The Pledge of Allegiance, and the three special songs we will be singing at our graduation.  We have also been working on a wonderful art project which will be on display on our graduation day.  Every Penguin is very excited and proud to be participating on this special day.

Also in the month of June comes Flag Day.  We will be doing art activities and having classroom discussions about this very important American symbol.  With Father’s Day on June 20th, we will be making a special surprise for our Dads.  Summer Safety is also on the list for June!

Happy Birthday to Erick on June 11th!

May proved to b a “merry” month for the Seuss Crew as we had such fun honoring our moms & making surprises for them!  We watched our caterpillars & ladybug larvae grow & change & we cheered them on as they flew free!  The peas we planted are thriving & should soon make for a yummy snack!

June finds us honoring grads & Dads!  Our Pre-K friends have worked so hard preparing for their graduation on June 4th & our Kindergarten friends will have special ceremonies on June 17th.  We’re VERY proud of all of them!  We’ll focus on the very special men in our lives as we celebrate Father’s Day with stories, songs, poems & some special surprises just for them!  June also brings us Flag Day & National Dairy Month (a good excuse for some ice-cream treats?)!

The end of the school year finds many of our friends moving on or perhaps taking the summer off.  We’ll have fun memories of a terrific group of classmates & the good times we shared together!  We wish you all a fun & safe summer!

In May the Superstars had the opportunity to show off their very best manners when they hosted a special tea party for some VIP guests – their Moms & Grandmothers!  We trust that all of our guests enjoyed the refreshments and more importantly, the fabulous singing!  We had a blast trying to figure out just who was who on our Baby Picture Show & Tell Board.  Thank you all so much for sending in pictures.

This month the Superstars decided they would like to cover the themes of Father’s Day & gardening.  We will celebrate Father’s Day with a special snack on Wednesday, June 16th.  We hope to see lots of Dads that afternoon. After the Superstars decide what they want to plant, we will begin our planting experiments.  Hmm?  Will things grow in the dark?  Of course we will also celebrate the last day of Public School & the beginning of Summer Vacation ~ watch for more details.

We want to take a moment to wish a Happy & Safe Summer to all of our friends – those who will be spending the Summer with us & those who will be taking the Summer off.  We also want to take this opportunity to say a special Good-Bye to our friend Lance who will be leaving Young World at the end of the Summer to go off to White Brook.  We will all miss him terribly!