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Greetings!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We had an exciting and very busy December. The enthusiasm of the staff, children, and parents made the month fly by. We hope each of you had a safe and happy holiday season. We wish to express a special thank you to all families here at EFC for making the holiday season so special for us. We all greatly appreciate the holiday cards, gift cards and special treats!
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VEAP FOOD DONATIONS
We’d like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone for your generous donations for the VEAP collection. With a few last-minute donations, our total weight was
885lbs
!!!! We are absolutely blown away. It was so fun to see the children’s excitement and involvement with the process and the donations.
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THANK YOU
Thank you to everyone who came and helped us celebrate the holidays with our December family event, making gingerbread houses! Spending time with those we care about is truly the best way to celebrate.
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IN-HOUSE FIELD TRIP
On
Friday, January 18
, Costume Kim will be coming to do a fun performance for the children from 9-10am. The show is titled “Hugs, Kisses, and Sweet Dreams” and the best part is…it’s a pajama party! Make you your child comes wearing their most snuggly PJs that day!
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ADVENTURE PEAK
The toddlers and preschoolers will head to
Adventure Peak
on
Tuesday, January 22
, from 9-10am. Please make sure your child has socks that day!
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LOOKING AHEAD
The center will be closed on
Tuesday, January 1,
for New Year’s Day.
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JANUARY TUITION INFO
Your new tuition rates are in effect
January 1. We will also e-mail out Year to Date statements for tax purposes once all 2018 payments are finalized.
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WEATHER EMERGENCIES
If Especially for Children cannot open due to inclement weather, the center’s closing will be announced on WCCO (830 AM radio, Channel 4 television, and WCCO.com.) If conditions during the day (weather or emergency) make it necessary to close before our regularly scheduled time, we will reach out to you by email or Baby Connect.
If at any time you are aware of changes that should be made on your child’s emergency card, please request a new card. This also includes changes with emergency contacts and authorized to pick up persons.
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DID YOU KNOW?...
- Of the 24 children in our infant classroom, over half of the babies are the second (or third!) child in their family to attend our center.
- Our staff must complete 2% of their annual working hours each year in professional development training. All together, that means our teaching staff have completed around 850 hours of training just in 2018. Wow!
- If you add up all the years that our teaching staff have been with EFC, it equals almost 200 years!
- Our longest-term teacher, Ms. Sue, “came with the building,” and has been with us since the Edinborough location opened 31 years ago.
- Our teaching team with the greatest longevity is our toddler team of 3 teachers: Ms. Barb (26 years), Ms. Rohini (13 years), and Ms. Nicole (12 years).
- As a program, we have continued our commitment to providing a high-quality program that is educational, loving, safe and developmentally challenging. We completed the process and received our re-accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). We are so proud of our teaching staff for their hard work and continued commitment to providing high quality care.
- We have continued our partnership with the nearby Brookdale seniors. A couple times each month a pre-school group spends time with the seniors in the memory care unit doing different fun and engaging activities. It is just as meaningful and important for the seniors as it is for the children!
- Each year we host a series of family events. Some of our favorites are: Mother’s Day Breakfast in May, the family picnic in September, and the Thanksgiving Luncheon in November. We highly encourage you to attend these events as it is fun way for you to be involved in your child’s program as well as a way for you to meet other families with children. Many of our families develop great friendships by having play dates—birthday parties, etc. with others who attend EFC. It is a great way to support each other during these early years and beyond.
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KEEP CHILDREN MOVING
You may have noticed that our newsletter for EFC teaching staff accidentally hit your Inbox recently—oops! Within the newsletter was an article from Community Playthings entitled, “In Defense of Active Learning”. The article described how physical movement supports learning in all areas of development. Children are better able to understand new vocabulary words that they can act out through movement. They learn scientific and mathematical concepts by using their bodies to balance, jump, add, and subtract. It’s important to note that studies show children learn
more effectively as physically active learners because they are able to put these concepts into a meaningful context.
Another area being studied is the correlation between movement and mental health in young children. With academic learning being pushed into the early elementary years of schooling and less time dedicated to play and physical activity, teachers are seeing more incidents of behavioral disorders. At EFC, we believe that policymakers need to rethink how the daily schedule is affecting young children and ensure that physical activity is still an important component of the learning experience. As a recent article in ChildCareExchange notes,
“The best results occur when physical activity takes place every day in an outdoor environment, as these have the strongest correlations with positive mental health outcomes.”
For the first time, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement in November regarding children ages 3-5, recommending that they should be “active throughout the day.”
And while adult-directed physical activities are beneficial, “unscripted or solo free-play is also important. When they’re not responding to outward stimuli and instructions from their coaches or friends, kids are better able to tune in to their own imaginations. And according to
recent studies
, daydreaming is both a marker of intelligence and a conduit to greater creativity.” (
How the Outdoors Makes Your Kids Smarter, Outside Magazine).
It is clear that children require and benefit from physical movement for their growth and development in all areas. As caregivers and parents, we need to consider how we make room within the structure of our lives and environments for extended periods during which children can run, jump, roll, climb, spin, and move.
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Angie Williams
Director of Finance and Marketing
Additional Resources:
Mental Health Benefits of Exercise in Children, Psychiatric Times
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/child-adolescent-psychiatry/mental-health-benefits-exercise-children
In Defense of Active Learning
(
http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2018/in-defense-of-active-learning
).
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TWIN CITIES
FAMILY EVENTS
Now-2/23
Night Trains
, Twin City Model Railroad Museum, St. Paul
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CENTER CONTACT INFO
With the new year nearly upon us, we thought it would be a good time to remind you of the center's contact information so that you can save it in your device.
Phone:
(952) 835-0505
Address:
3300 Edinborough Way
Edina MN 55435
Email:
In addition to Baby/Daily Connect, your child's classroom also has an email address that you can use to reach the teachers. Please inquire with your child's classroom if you do not have that email address. Thank you!
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Especially for Children
3300 Edinborough Way
Edina MN 55435
(952) 835-0505
Center Directors:
Anna Wilson
Samantha Baker
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