The Sandcastle Times- Jan. 2022

"Building Strong Foundations for Lifetime of Learning"

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

A message from Holly Bevilacqua, COO

Happy 2022! On behalf of all the staff, I want to extend a huge thank you to our families for their generosity during this holiday season. The gifts and goodies were delightful. We loved them all. Thank you for thinking of us!


It’s that time of year again! You will see our teachers getting ready for parent-teacher conferences in our Centers. Please take the time to complete the paperwork that is sent home and return it to your child’s teacher. We will do our best to schedule conferences to suit your busy schedules! Conferences will be held on Monday, January 17th. You can schedule an in-person conference or virtual conference with your child's teacher.


January also brings a time of resolutions for many of us! Take this time to teach your children how to make their little lives better too! Some resolutions for your children could be as simple as making their beds, brushing their teeth twice a day, or helping prepare for dinner! It's a new year and a great time to start new habits!


Carelot offers several opportunities for our families to share feedback that will improve or continue activities within the programs. Please take the time to assist us with the question of the month, conference forms, and surveys to help us out!


We look forward to a great year with all of our staff, families, and children! 2022 is going to be fantastic!

Calendar of Events- Click Here!

Check out all the exciting events happening at Carelot!

Reminders:

Time to get that Flu Shot! Please be advised that it is the Connecticut State Law that all children attending child care have a seasonal flu vaccine if they are between 6 to 59 months by December 31st, 2021. All children should have the vaccine to return to child care for the new year.


Label and Date all of your child’s snack and lunch items. Place items in the labeled bins in your child’s classroom. This is a NAEYC requirement and also for the safety of the children. Thank you for your help! Permanent markers are available in all classrooms for your convenience when labeling!


Change of Clothes: If you haven’t done so already, please make sure your child(ren) has an appropriate change of clothes and thicker blankets for a nap. In order to play outside in the snow, each child will need snow boots, snow pants, hats, and gloves. Parents, don’t forget that going outside is an important part of our curriculum. As the weather gets colder, it is important to send your child in with a warm coat, hat, and mittens/gloves daily. Snow pants and a pair of snow boots are required as well once it starts to snow.


Scheduled Hours: Please follow your contracted hours for your child’s care. Our teachers are scheduled until a specific time and need to go home to their families as well. If you need to make a change, stop by the office so we can make the necessary adjustments.

Join our Facebook Page!!

Check out Pictures, Reminders, Parenting Articles, Updates and more!

Question of the month "What do you feel is the most important aspect of a childcare program?""

Don't forget to submit your answers! You can win a $25 tuition credit!

It's easy to win by clicking below and submitting your answer!

Thanks for helping us make our programs better! Without everyone’s input, we are not able to effectively assess how our programs are doing! We appreciate you taking the time to help us assess our policies, procedures, curriculum, and more!


December Winner: No winner

Question was: "If you could create a policy for Carelot what would it be?

PTO news....

Upcoming events:


Fundraiser: Thank you to all of those families who participated in our Butterbraid and cookie dough fundraiser! Watch for our next fundraiser coming soon.


Giving Tree

This year the PTO sponsored 5 Families for the Holiday! Thank you for all of your generous donations to make a child's Christmas super special!


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Thanks for all of your continued support

! We are always looking for new ideas for fundraisers if you have an idea drop by the office and share it with us. Helping out with committees is easy, there are many ways to help!

Survey Results

Thank you to all our families who participated in our Annual NAEYC Surveys. Your feedback is a key component in providing a nurturing learning environment for our Children.

Stop a Bad Day in it’s Tracks!

You know those days. The kids are cranky and pushing all of your buttons. When you feel this happening, try these ideas to regain

control of the situation and salvage the day:

* Stop everything, sit on the floor and read some quiet books with your kids.

* Give your child a warm bath.

* Put on some soft, gentle music and encourage everyone to relax.

* Turn off the television and turn down the lights.

* Talk about how you all can change the mood in the house. By staying calm yourself, you can keep the situation from accelerating.

Big picture

All around Carelot- Curriculum Updates

Learning and Growing in December:

Happy New Year! What a busy month of December was at Carelot! We learned a lot about different holidays that are celebrated throughout the world. We also worked really hard on making some really awesome gifts for our families. We all hope you were able to stay up to date with your child's activities through kid reports, our Facebook page, and our website. Be sure to check out the calendar of events to stay up to date on daily activities throughout the classrooms. January will bring a month-long lesson on Winter Wonderland! It's going to be a great month!


Outdoor Play & Snowy Days: Outside play is part of our everyday curriculum. We love it when it snows!!! Snow clothes and boots are necessary to go out and play on snowy days. We ask that you bring in snow pants, a warm coat, hat, mittens, scarves, and boots. These keep the children nice and warm and dry when snow is on the ground! We can't wait for some snow!!


Keeping us Healthy: Please review your family handbook about illness and exclusions as we head into the upcoming months. Covid has brought challenges and we must be extra cautious to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. We have been working hard to reduce the spread of germs and we greatly appreciate your help to keep all of our children as healthy as possible.



Kindly return your conference forms to the teachers this month so you can schedule your conference/stay up to date on your child's academic/developmental progress.



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Fun activites to do at home!

Wish list items- Drop off at any Carelot location

We are always looking for gently used toys! Our classrooms love new items and sharing with friends! Think of Carelot when cleaning out after the holiday. We would be happy to give you a donation letter to use with your taxes.


We love: Gently used toys and puzzless, dry pasta, dry beans, shaving cream, dry rice, Toilet, and paper towel tubes. Any old working Ipads, iPhones or tablets, or toys your child has outgrown for our classrooms! Recycle!

Carelot Children's Center, Inc.

"Building Strong Foundations for a Lifetime of Learning"

Providing education to Children ages 3 months to 12 years!