December 2022

Our mission is to elevate child development to a new level by leading the social, emotional growth, and education of young children while providing a safe, welcoming, home-like environment with a caring, educated and professional staff that promotes partnerships with parents, children, and other childhood professionals.

Calendar of Events: Parent Teacher Conference Dates: December 2nd- Rooms 1 & 5 December 9th- Rooms 3 & 8 December 16th Room 2 & 6 January 6th- Rooms 4 & 7 School Age Days: December 19th-22nd December 27th- 30th Closure Dates: December 23rd December 26th Jan 2nd 

Washing Hands: When you are dropping off your children into their classroom, please make sure you are helping them wash their hands. We want to do our part to stop the spread of germs. This is not always possible, but every little bit helps! Parent Teacher Conferences: We will be hosting parent teacher conferences in the month of December and a week in January as well. There will be a sheet in each room for you to sign up with your child's primary care giver and discuss any questions you have and their overall development. Each meeting will be 20 minutes. The teachers are looking forward to meeting with you! School Age Days: School age days will be offered for the holiday break. The exact days are listed above. Please email missy@katiekids.net to sign up your child. Schedule Changes: Reminder- we require a two week notice for schedule changes for your child. These schedule changes include, changing from full-time to part-time or changing days for a prolonged period of time if you are already utilizing part-time care. If you need to change a day temporarily, we do not need two weeks' notice. Please see the front desk to make sure the day change will work for your child's classroom. If there are days your child will not be here the week before or the week after Christmas (Monday 19th- Thursday 22nd and Tuesday 27th- Friday 30th) please let Aiyana or Missy know so we can plan for staffing that week.

Spirit Week December 19th- 22nd Monday- Holiday Hat/Headband Day Tuesday- Ugly Sweater Day Wednesday- Wear Your Favorite Flannel Day Thursday- Pajama Day

The Mitten Tree... This year for the Mitten Tree, we will be donating to Mid Central Community Action specifically Mayors Manor in Bloomington. This is a permanent supportive housing for formally homeless and disabled individuals. We as a center, wanted to find an organization we could donate to that helps our community. There will be a Christmas tree set up in the entry way that will have stockings and reindeer tags with items on them. You can take a tag, purchase the item and return the item(s) unwrapped to a box near the tree. Please return the items to Katie's Kids by Wednesday December 21st. The items that are needed are bath towels, dish towels, cleaning supplies, potholders, personal hygiene items, etc. If there are other items, you would like to donate please feel free to. Thank you for helping out this facility! They are very appreciative!!

Recipe Corner... Hot Cocoa Cookies Ingredients: 1 Cup butter softened 1 Cup sugar 2/3 Cup brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 tsp Vanilla 3 1/4 Cups of all-purpose flour 4 packets of hot cocoa mix or 3/4 cup of hot cocoa (not sugar free) 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder 1 cup chocolate chips 1 cup Marshmallow bits Hot Cocoa Cookie steps: In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugars with mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Gradually beat dry ingredients into butter mixture until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and marshmallow bits. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. When ready to bake set oven to 350 degrees. Drop 2 tablespoons of dough, 2 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for five minutes.

Giving Back... It's so improtant to give back and here are some books that are great refences to read to your child. Older Infants: "The Give Back Sack" By Monica Hammerick "The Rainbow Fish" By Marcus Pfister Toddler Books: "If you give a Dog a Donut" By Laura Numeroff "The Gift that I Can Give" By Kathie Lee Gifford Preschool Books: "The Giving Tree" By Shel Silverstein "The Giving Snowman" By Julia Zheng

Upcoming Closures... Friday December 23rd, Monday December 26th, Monday Jan 2nd

Upcoming Family Events In our Community... Wild Lights at the Zoo December 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 10th! Check out the Miller Park Zoo light up the evening as you and your family walk through the exhibits and see all the festive lighting of the season! Christmas Parade Saturday December 3rd in Uptown Normal at 10am, bring a bag to catch some candy. Breakfast with Santa at the Zoo December 10th 8:30-10am come have breakfast with Santa! Contact the Miller Park Zoo for tickets!

Share your positive moments!  Do you have any positive moments you want to share about our staff? If so, we want to hear and share them! Simply click on the button below, fill out the form, and submit. Kudos! Help spread the word of Katie's Kids! Do you have a friend, neighbor, or colleague looking for care? For every family you refer to Katie's Kids we will apply a $50 credit to your account after the family has been with us for 90 days.

Katie's Kids Learning Center |

Accredited by: National Accreditation Commission