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Greetings!
ESPECIALLY FOR CHILDREN WILL BE CLOSED ON FRIDAY, JULY 3, FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY. WE WISH EVERYONE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEKEND!
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SUMMER GARDENING FUN
We have been having a great time planting and maintaining our very own gardens. Our raised garden beds are located on the preschool playground and contain lavender, tomatoes, green beans, basil, cucumbers, radishes, dill, and flowers. Here are snapshots from our garden!
If I cannot do great things,
I can do small things in a great way.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
COMING SOON!
In our work as early childhood educators, we are continually looking for ways to grow alongside the children. What young children are seeing, hearing, and experiencing across the nation challenges us to do more within our center community.
Susan and Michelle will be dedicating time each month to develop a Kindness Book Club with the children at EFC. Each month we will select age-appropriate book(s) to share with the classrooms. These books will be centered around these anti-bias goals:
- Self-awareness, confidence, family pride and positive social identities/
- Comfort and joy with human diversity, accurate language for human differences; and deep, caring human connections.
- Recognize unfairness, have language to describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts.
- Demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions.
We know the benefits reading with children has. We look forward to conversing with the children and collaborating with our teaching staff to select meaningful and impactful anti-bias books to share with the classrooms at EFC. If you have
a book that you love, please feel free to share it with us! As always, families are always welcome to borrow books from the Kindness Corner located just outside the office!
This month, we will be reading:
Skin Like Mine
and
Hair Like Mine
, written by LaTashia M. Perry and illustrated by Bea Jackson.
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FARMERS MARKET
This year, the Edina Farmer’s Market will be held at Rosland Park, in the parking lot closest to the Edina Aquatic Center. This location will allow for wider walkways and the recommended social distancing between vendors and patrons. The market will be open on Thursday afternoons, between 3 - 7 PM. By hosting it later in the day, the fruits & vegetables are fresher. Most of the produce is picked in the morning for sale the same day. Products vary weekly but visitors can anticipate items like apples, beans, beef, breads, cheeses, confections, eggs, fruit, honey, jams, jerky, lamb, melons, pears, peppers, pork, potatoes, poultry, salsas, strawberries and sweet corn.
COVID-19 NOTE
In accordance with state requirements, all workplaces are required to have a Covid-19 Preparedness Plan that outlines current health and safety procedures. If you would like to view EFC’s plan, please ask your center director.
U.S. CENSUS REMINDER
Just a reminder to fill out the U.S. census if you have not already done so! The census is a hugely important tool that helps the government determine representation, funding, and infrastructure planning.
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This month we are offering a mental break from some of the heavier topics we have covered in recent months. Enjoy this throwback article from 2014 below!
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THE STICK
While playing outside with your child this summer, don’t forget the value of the stick. Children find sticks an endless source of make-believe fun. In 2008 the stick, which may be the world’s oldest toy, was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. Here are some of the attributes cited:
“Sticks can turn into magic wands, majorette batons and fishing poles. When children pretend with sticks, they cultivate their creativity and develop their imaginations.”
This made me smile when I realized that one of my favorite childhood photos is of my older sister and me sitting on a log. She was teaching me to whittle.
When hiking in the woods, I still love to find a sturdy stick to accompany me. Not only does it help me stabilize, it also makes me feel like a voyager on a real adventure. And part of the fun is exploring the area to find just the right stick!
Of the 53 toys that have made it into the National Toy Hall of Fame, the stick is the only one that is found in nature all ready to be played with. Sticks are all around us: they are natural and free.
After this past windy weekend our yard was filled with sticks of various sizes. Without any prompting our two-year-old grandson gathered several together to touch and examine.
Pretty soon I looked and saw that he found one still covered with leaves. Over a period of a few minutes that stick was a lawn mower and then evolved into a leaf blower. Later that day Steve and I had him help us pick up sticks and put them in a trash can.
What a fun afternoon! Now I want to find sticks to use to draw in the sand, make a campfire and then roast marshmallows!
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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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