Your May News & Updates
Greetings!

May is here and May is Child Care Month! And we are asking our community to find creative ways to recognize and celebrate the essential service work of our Child Care Educators, throughout the month of May in celebration of Child Care Month. Please take time to say THANK-YOU in your own way to Child Care Educators who we who we depend upon daily to perform our own jobs and to keep businesses open in our community. Here are some ideas:

  1. Submit a video message of thanks to your childcare Educator/centre for our May is Child Care Month video collage: resource@childhoodconnections.ca
  2. Send your childcare educator or center a bouquet of flowers
  3. Help your child write a thank-you card to their childcare educator 
  4. Write a letter to your local MLA asking for more funding to go towards increasing wages for early childhood educators
  5. Deliver coffee or tea to your child care educator or center
  6. Organize a group gift from all parents connected to a childcare center

We are thrilled that the City of Kelowna has provided us with Proclamation - please see it here: May is Child Care Month Proclamation. This is wonderful to see how the City recognizes the amazing contribution of our child care educators who have been there, especially during this pandemic, supporting our local businesses, essential services workers and families. Without child care educators, our City does not work - literally.

Childhood Connections and our CCRR Program have created a lot of exciting professional development opportunities coming up this month with Hannah Day of Happy Day Yoga, Crystal Jenson, Ann Douglas and a contest too for a chance to win a Healthy Happy Hour with Journey Henkart! Please see more details about our May is Child Care Month Training HERE!

Also check out the beautiful Make and Take offering for our Central Okanagan child care educators. And we have a printed Child Care Appreciation Poem for child care educators to come and pick up at our office - please stop by this month, we'd love to see you! All our workshops and networking sessions are free, and they are our small way to say thank-you, we see you, we believe in the important work you're doing, and we are forever grateful for the work you do everyday for the children, families, and businesses in our community!

Happy Child Care Month! Get out and celebrate a Child Care Educator (aka a Local Super Hero!)

Take care,
Melissa Hunt,
Executive Director
CCRR Manager
Please share our newsletters with your families and co-workers by forwarding emails or encouraging them to sign up for their own newsletter.
We are Excited to Celebrate
May is Child Care Month
  • Submit a video message of thanks to your child care educator/centre for our May is Child Care Month video collage (by May 14) : resource@childhoodconnections.ca
  • Send your child care educator or center a bouquet of flowers
How will you Celebrate your Child Care Educator?
  • Help your child write a thank-you card to their child care educator 

  • Write a letter to your local MLA asking for more funding to go towards increasing wages for early childhood educators

  • Deliver coffee or tea to your child care educator or center

  • Organize a group gift from all parents connected to a child care center
Childcare Educators: Did You Know?
Child Care Fee Reduction Grant
Did you know that child care providers are eligible for grants to lower fees for their families? The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI) enhances child care affordability by offering funding to eligible, licensed child care providers to reduce and stabilize parents’ monthly child care fees. Check regularly to see change is grants available.

COVID-19 Emergency Changes to the Affordable Child Care Benefit
Changes to the Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB) mean that families may continue receiving the benefit even if:
  • The child was, or will be, absent for over two weeks due to COVID-19
  • The parent no longer has a valid reason for child care due to COVID-19
Health & Safety
This information from the Ministry of Child and Family Development is to assist child care operators, providers and partners with health and safety information and support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Link below.
You can also subscribe to this COVID-19 Newsletter for news and information directly from Childcare BC. Enter your email address on either page to be automatically notified every time the web page is updated.

Indigenous Early Learning Corner
This Framework envisions First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families as happy and safe, imbued with a strong cultural identity. It sees children and families supported by a comprehensive and coordinated system of ELCC policies, programs and services that are led by Indigenous peoples, rooted in Indigenous knowledges, cultures and languages, and supported by strong partnerships of holistic, accessible and flexible programming that is inclusive of the needs and aspirations of Indigenous children and families.
Empowering Your Parents
Raffi Cavoukian, a children’s singer, songwriter, and child advocate, wrote a song titled – "All I Really Need" – which beautifully captures from a child’s perspective their most essential needs. Raffi sings, “All I really need is a song in my heart, food in my belly, and love in my family.” Every time I listen to this song I hear an unspoken message directed at adults as to what our children really need in order to thrive. Read more here on Deborah Macnamara's website: http://macnamara.ca/portfolio_category/parenting/page/2/
May is Child Care Month:
Month of Wellness
And we have a great line up to celebrate YOU - Child Care Super Heros:

  • CONTEST All Month Long - enter your favorite childcare program or provider in to win a Healthy Happy Hour with Journey Henkart: Enter Here

  • YOGA Every Monday in May - Yoga in the Park with Hannah Day of Happy Day Yoga: Register Here

  • EVENT - May 4 - Journeying Together: A Pandemic Survival Guide for Early Learning Professionals and Parents with Ann Douglas: Register Here

  • Make and Take for Childcare Providers - May 19th Join Yvonne and Cindy from Childhood Connections Kelowna CCRR with making a welcoming project for your Register Here
Thank you to all of our Child Care Educators!
Come to Childhood Connections (4-1890 Ambrosi Rd.) to pick up your free child care appreciation poem to display at your center.
Child Care Resources
Barefoot Books is having a Teacher Appreciation Week and is giving teachers 20% off all orders over $60 with the discount code:  TWACA.

Teachers and Child Care Educators can order from Ileana's website and apply the discount code at check out.
Early Childhood News, Articles & Events
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Are you interested in child care as a career?
There is a child care shortage in BC. If you are interested in starting a child care program, contact Yvonne at the Kelowna Child Care Resource and Referral program at 250-762-3536 ex 206 or email to find out more information and learn about funding, supports and options for this in-demand career!
Membership and Service Survey
lease remember to fill out the renewal membership form, survey link and Childcare Pro Portal login for the 2021/2022 membership year. It has been sent to all of the current child care provider members.



Budget 2021: A Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan
A Canada-wide early learning and child care plan is a plan to drive economic growth, a plan to secure women's place in the workforce, and a plan to give every Canadian child the same head start.


Early Years Library
More fun than flat, these raised beams provide even more options for healthy, active play and engaging games for kids who love to jump, climb, and stretch. 16 fun pieces in this set!
Ask for item # 530



Learning Through Play
Engage children in these fun May activities! And please remember this: "Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity."
Anxiety and Young Children Workshops Online
Professional Development opportunities with a variety of workshops with topics about Anxiety and Young Children featuring CHRISTINE M. YU, M.A., R.C.C. IOCDF BTTI GRADUATE IN PAEDIATRIC OCD 
Training, News & Resources
Funded by the Ministry of Children and Family Development
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