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Greetings!
FALL IS HERE
The leaves are falling and the temperature is dropping – fall must be here! Our teachers are planning lots of fun and festive activities to help us celebrate the coming of autumn. At home, a family walk to celebrate the season can turn into an outdoor adventure. Bring journals and crayons to make leave rubbings or bring a bag to collect treasures. Once home, kids can use their treasures to make a festive fall collage!
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EFC FAMILY HALLOWEEN PARTY
Please join us for our annual Halloween bash on
Thursday, October 25,
from 6:15-7:30pm. Our EFC staff will host a variety of age-appropriate games and activities. We will serve a light dinner for those of you who won’t be able to make it home before the party. Be sure to dress up—you too, mom & dad! Please RSVP at the parent table.
If you are able to pick up your child by 5:30 that would be very helpful as we prepare for the big event!!
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PICTURE DAY
Picture Time will be here
on Tuesday, October 16, to take individual, sibling and class group photos. Pictures will be taken outside, weather permitting. More details to follow.
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LIONS KIDSIGHT VISION SCREENING
The Lions Club will be here on
Tuesday, October 23, to provide vision screening for children 6 months and older. This service is offered free of charge. Specific details will be sent out before the screening along with a parent consent form. We are excited to provide this opportunity once again.
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LOOKING AHEAD
Especially for Children will be closed on
Thursday, November 22
, and
Friday, November 23
, for the Thanksgiving holiday.
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PRE-TRICK OR TREATING DINNER
Simple-to-make homemade pizza bagels get a spooky makeover with a few easy garnishing tricks. What a super fright night treat our Spooky face Pizza Bagels are for kids and kids at heart!
What You'll Need:
6 miniature bagels
1 cup pizza or spaghetti sauce
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup sliced pepperoni, for garnish
1/4 cup sliced black olives, for garnish
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms, for garnish
What to Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Split bagels in half and spread 1 tablespoon sauce on each half. Sprinkle each half with 1 heaping tablespoon mozzarella cheese. Decorate with pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms to make spooky faces.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
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SPOOKTACULAR COMMUNITY EVENTS
September 22-October 28 (Saturdays and Sundays):
The Great Pumpkin Fest, Valley Fair
October 26-27:
Parade and Party, Anoka
October 27:
Thrill Kenwood, Kenwood Park, Minneapolis
October 27
: Pumpkin Fest, 50
th
and France, Edina
October 27:
BooBash, Maplewood
October 28:
Great Pumpkin Halloween Celebration, Landmark Center, St. Paul
October 31:
Halloween Party, Bloomington Ice Garden
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FALL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY
We had a great day on Friday, August 31, when all EFC employees gathered together for training. The kickoff was recognizing long term employees. This year there were 56 employees honored who have worked at EFC for 5 years or more. 36 of those people have worked for 10 years or more. We are so grateful for their commitment to early childhood education and the stability they create in our centers. Pictured below are 8 of the 11 employees who have worked at EFC between 26 and 38 years!!
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The training topics of our day included a session on
Strengthening Families
led by Samantha Baker, the co-director of our Edinborough center. Samantha has her Master of Arts Degree in Early Childhood Education and has qualified as a Master Trainer for the Minnesota Early Childhood staff training system. Her presentation was thought-provoking as it gave us many opportunities to look at our own families of origin and reflect on how those experiences and values shape how we interact with the families we serve. It also gave us insight into the different ways families develop their unique family dynamics. Using a strength-based perspective, our job as teachers is to listen and try to understand your needs and support your child’s growth through the lens of your family’s values. We want to respond with a two-generational approach, taking into consideration the needs of parents and children at the same time rather than supporting parents and children in isolation from one another.
The second session employees attended was led by Nancy Hafner, an early childhood specialist. The infant and toddler staff explored a
relationship-based approach to challenging behavior
. After observing to try to understand the child’s behavior, Nancy gave us many concrete ideas for responding and specific ways to soothe infants and toddlers.
Nancy’s session for preschool staff was titled
Understanding and Preventing Challenging Behaviors in Preschool Children
. She emphasized the importance of reframing the way we look at challenging behaviors. She said to put aside any beliefs about the child trying to make adults angry. Instead, ask what it is that the child wants or needs that is resulting in this challenging behavior. An image she gave us was an iceberg where most of the iceberg is under the surface. After trying to understand the reason for the behavior, or what is beneath the surface, the challenge is to help the child obtain what he wants using acceptable behavior. Again, Nancy gave many practical suggestions that we can use in our classrooms as well as excellent resources for obtaining even more information as we encounter specific challenges in the future. One of our goals as an organization is to continuously provide evidenced-based resources and tools to our teaching staff on these and other topics to help them, and the children in their classrooms, thrive.
If you would like to check out some of the resources we learned about yourself, see the websites below:
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TWIN CITIES
FAMILY EVENTS
Apple Orchards & Pumpkin Patches
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Whether one is 3 or 30 or 80, sometimes it is hard to manage emotions such as anger, sadness, or anxiety. This video, taken from one of the resources mentioned in the Especially for Parents article, reminds us how powerful breathing deeply can be, and that even young children can benefit from the practice.
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Especially for Children
5015 W. 70 Street
Edina MN 55439
(952) 946-9971
Center Directors:
Susan Wilson and Michelle Botz
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