Kids in the kitchen are happy, helping kids! They did the work and reaped the rewards on this special day when the Junior Kindergarten class and the 3-5 year olds joined forces!
One of these days soon, the toddlers will be using their fingers and their hands for all kinds of important tasks - whether it's writing their name on a piece of paper, or using a screw driver to fix or build something.
Today, they practiced using those small muscles as they crumpled bits of tissue paper, dipped them in some glue, and stuck them to the paper. At first it was hard to think about leaving the bits on the paper. Sometimes it was more interesting to dip the same piece lots of times, or take it on and off the paper. Being patient while they waited for the glue to dry had its challenges, but seeing the transformation of the liquid glue into something solid was worth the wait! What a beautiful day to be outside exploring all of these big machines, and having a bite to eat! What a great community we live in! So many businesses and organizations brought their machines to show the children! Thanks also to our parent and community helpers!
Over many years, parents have expressed that a 2.5 hour preschool class was just not long enough! The Salmo Child Care Society heard that concern, and has increased their part-time program to 4.25 hours!
This change comes with a change to the program name and license-type. The Salmo Children's Centre Preschool will now be the Salmo Children's Centre Junior Kindergarten, and will now be under a Group Child Care license, rather than a Preschool license. Parents who use the Junior Kindergarten Program will now qualify for the same benefits as those who use the Group Child Care Program, including a daily Parent Fee Reduction rate of $5 (since the program is more than 4 hours long,) and a full-day rate for the Affordable Child Care Benefit for families that qualify. Some of the criteria for qualification in the Affordable Child Care Benefit program include: working, looking for work, attending a school or training institution, a medical condition, or a recommendation from MCFD. Our original hope was that, by creating a longer program, we could lessen the burden on our wait lists for the other groups at the Centre. We are still anticipating this to be true, and are looking forward to seeing how that plays out. The staff and board are excited about the programming possibilities that a longer program offers. Today all of the children at the Centre joined some community members on a walk around the community to raise awareness about the importance of our environment.
The children were asked to notice as many things as they could, that are part of this wonderful Earth we live on. Here's their list: Seeds, people, trees, snow, trucks, garbage truck, garbage, signs, sky, power lines, houses, cars, garbage cans, books, birds, squirrels, foxes, chipmunks, mountains, rainbows, schools, clothes, diapers, blankets, gardens, toys, giraffes, elephants, leaves, tree branch, water, rivers, rocks, sun, airplane, fish, buildings, ice, bunnies, fences, puddles, sticks, bushes, grass, slides, parks, deer, elk, moose, forests, dog, moon, clouds, bears, wolves, eagles, cheetahs, lions, earth, coyotes, bridges, animals, cougars, berries, pools They are certainly aware of their environment! Where will this conversation take us? |
Archives
January 2024
Categories |