Elizabeth's Home Daycare

Summer is in full swing!  Every morning the kids can barely wait to get outside and start playing ~ they try to tell me that they aren?t hungry and want to skip breakfast so they can get down to the business of playing! 

Everyday we observe the growing flowers and trees. They especially gravitate towards the sand box, swings, and wading pools (sometimes in quick succession). No wonder they get so tuckered out!

The themes have really been a hit ~ I have regular requests for "calendar time" from the children which is extremely encouraging.

Last month we practised the letter Ww. I read stories with the word "wolf" in it and the older children knew when I made the "w" sound to say wolf. We all had a lot of fun with this.

We read about Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. We even made a red riding hood girl and a wolf character that the children enjoyed playing and story telling with. I used this opportunity to gently speak to the children about potentially dangerous situations so as not to frighten or stress out the children, but to ALERT them to situations and actions by strangers. We did this by singing the Stranger Song.

Stranger Song by Karen Lewis

(To the tune of Brother John)

If you see a stranger

If you see a stranger

walk aaaaaaaa way

walk aaaaaaaa way

never look for puppy's

never look for kitty's

never say your name

never say your name

If you see a stranger

If you see a stranger

walk aaaaaaaa way

walk aaaaaaaa way

never take their money

always call for MOMMY

run aaaaaaaa way

run aaaaaaaa way

Stranger Safety Tips

These are good rules to review as your children get older and more independent.

1. Share a secret code word.
2. Stay away from strangers.
3. Grown ups should NOT ask kids to do things that other adults can do for them.
4. If you lose your parents in a public place, like a store or a park, do not go looking for them.
5. Always ask your parents or a grown up in charge before going anywhere with anybody; leaving the yard, play area, or going into someone's home; getting a ride home with someone other than your bus driver or usual ride; and/or getting into a car or going somewhere with somebody even if it is someone you know.
6. Once you have permission from your parents, tell them where you are going, how you will get there, who will be going with you, and when you will be back.
7. If someone follows you on foot or in a car, stay away!
   

What's New

I have purchased a bulletin board for the mud-room / laundry room. It is above the hooks where the bags and coats are stored. Check out out often to find our menus, lesson plans and othe rrelevant information.

We all need to drink plenty of water to stay healthy and active - especially during the summer. I have a small cooler to keep with us outside where the kids know their drinks are kept cool. They are invited to help themselves (or I offer drinks more frequently to our younger friends) to ensure they stay hydrated.

Holidays & Events this Month

July 1 ~ Canada Day

July 10 ~ Teddy Bear Picnic Day

July 15 ~ Ice Cream Day

July 18 ~ Cow Appreciation Day

July 20 ~ First Moon Landing (1969)

July 24 ~ Amelia Earhart's birthday

July 28 ~ Beatrix Potter's birthday

July 26 ~ Parent's Day

Themes

July 6 - 10 ~ Picnic & the letter "B" for Bear

July 13-17 ~ Ice Cream & the letter "I"

July 20-24 ~ Astronau & the letter "E" for "Earth"

July 27-31 ~ CLOSED

Safety First ~ Sunscreen

The children spend a lot of time outdoors and it is important that they have protection from the sun. Please apply a generous coating of sunscreen on your child prior to bringing them to childcare . I will reapply with their sunscreen as needed throughout the day.

We will be enjoying a variety of outdoor water activities several times a week. Please bring a swimsuit for your child to keep in their daycare bags, a towel, and change of clothing during the summer months.

Some of these items are repeats from last week as we didn't quite get to all of them or they were favourites. We are also continuing the bug theme this week since the children adored it so much.

Note: all meals and snacks are served with milk or water

Monday

Snack ~ Rice crackers

Lunch ~ Pemeal Bacon, pickles, potato salad, strawberries

Snack ~ Celery and Pretzel Butterflies ~ Cut a small piece of celery for the body of thebutterfly. Spread some cream cheese or peanut butter inside of the stalk ofcelery. Add 4 small folded pretzels for the butterfly wings. Add 2 strings ofblack licorice for the antennas.

Dinner ~ One-Pot Chicken with Beans & Vegetablesleftovers

Tuesday

Snack~ Multi-grain Cheerios (dry), oranges

Lunch ~ One-Pot Chicken with Beans & Vegetables,yogurt

Snack ~ Ants on a Log ~ Needed: Raisins (ants) or prunes (bugs), celery, peanut butter or creamcheese. Spread peanut butter on the celery and put either their ants (raisins)or their bugs (prunes).

Dinner ~ Tomato BasilQuiche.  Makes 10 servings.

Wednesday

Snack ~ Mini Breton vegetable crackers, apples, cheese

Lunch ~ Tomato Basil Quiche, toast with cream cheese, fruit (TBD)

Snack ~ Fruit smoothies

Dinner ~ Pizza Braid served with salad

Thursday

Snack ~Vegetable crackers, applesauce

Lunch ~ Grilled cheese, sliced meat, fruit (TBD)

Snack ~ Waffles & blueberries

Dinner ~ Stir Fry (use pre-cooked frozen chicken & fresh vegetables)

Friday

Snack ~ Graham crackers, grapes

Lunch ~ Chicken nuggets, cooked carrots, toast spread with no-sugar jam

Snack ~ Yogurt, apple slices

Dinner ~ Leftover Buffet

Saturday

Lunch ~ Tunafish sandwiches, carrots, apples, yogurt

Dinner ~ TBD

Sunday

Lunch ~ Breakfast sausages, eggs, toast

Dinner ~ Leftover buffet

The order of the menu below is ... morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack. Let me know if you have suggestions for what the kids are likely to enjoy. Note: all meals and snacks are served with milk.

This week's theme is bugs so we are having at least one bug snack a day. I got all the ideas and recipes from Perpetual Preschool and I have included the recipes below if you want to try them out yourself.

Monday:

Graham crackers, oranges

Waffles with blueberries, yogurt

Celery and Pretzel Butterflies ~ Cut a small piece of celery for the body of the butterfly. Spread some cream cheese or peanut butter inside of the stalk of celery. Add 4 small folded pretzels for the butterfly wings. Add 2 strings of black licorice for the antennas.

Tuesday:

Multi-grain Cheerios (dry), banana

Tuna fish sandwiches, oranges, cheese slices

Ants on a Log ~ Needed: Raisins(ants) or prunes (bugs), celery, peanut butter (make sure no one in your class is allergic). Give each child a piece of celery. Have the children wash and dry their celery. Next, have them spread peanut butter on the celery and put either their ants (raisins) or their bugs (prunes). Eat up!!!

You could also use cream cheese if you have children in your class who are allergic to peanut butter.

Wednesday:

Strawberry muffins, applesauce

Fish sticks, grapes, toast with cream cheese

Edible Spiders  ~ You'll need: round crackers peanut butter mini m&m's Pull-n-Peel Twizzlers (cut into 1 inch pieces) Give each child 2 crackers, peanut butter, 2 m&m's,and a piece of licorice. Have child spread on peanut butter with popsicle stick on one cracker. Pull apart licorice and place eight "legs" on the cracker. Place other cracker on top. Dab two spots of paenut butter on cracker top and stick on m&m's for eyes.

Thursday:

Vegetable crackers, applesauce

Grilled cheese, deli meat, banana

Caterpillars ~ Recipe: Shred 1 leaf of lettuce, spread cream cheese on 4 Ritz crackers. Layer the crackers slightly on top of each other to form the body of the caterpillar, the crackers were placed on top of the lettuce. We then took 2 raisins for eyes and 6-8 chow mien noodles for legs.

The children loved eating their caterpillars as much as they loved making them.

Friday:

Graham crackers, grapes

Chicken nuggets, apples, yogurt

Worms and Dirt ~ Supplies: Gummy worms, Oreo cookies, sandwich bags and paper cups. Place Oreo cookies in a sandwich bag and let the kids crush them. Then dump them into to paper cup and add gummy worms. Then they can eat worms and dirt!

I apologize for the lateness of this newsletter but I thought parents would want to be updated on this month just the same.

What's New

I have purchased a bulletin board and am planning to place the weekly menu, lesson plans and other relevant information for parents to review in the mud-room, above the hooks where our coats and bags are stored.

Feel free to browse the board often!

Theme of the Month

This month we will be learning about Bees and Bugs.

Dates to Remember

May 10 ~ Mother's Day

May 18 ~ Victoria Day (Elizabeth's Home Daycare is CLOSED)

May Birthdays

On May 26 Sophia turns one!

New Additions

On May 27 we will be welcoming Sophia full-time.

Safety First

As the sun is stronger, please remember to send hats and sunscreen with your children.

Schedule 

I have created weekly lesson plans to work with the theme of the month and the letter, shape and colour of the week. Check out our revised schedule to see the new format.

The plan is to implement the new schedule the week of May 25.

Monday: Holiday (CLOSED)

Tuesday: Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, macaroni salad, watermelon

Wednesday: Grilled cheese, deli meat, apple slices

Thursday: Cheeseburgers, fries, corn & green beans

Friday: Waffles, fruit salad, yogurt