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. |
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May
May 8th-12th - Teacher Appreciation Week
May 17th & 18th - Picture Day
May 29 - Closed in observance of Memorial Day
May 30 - Summer Camp begins for School Age
June 6 - Water Feature (please see schedule below)
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Teacher Appreciation
Week
Thank you to all our families who signed up to donate special snacks, gift cards, and words of gratitude.
Please consider bringing a book for the classroom in replace of a card for your child's teacher.
We are excited to show our teachers extra appreciation next week!
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Appropriate Weather Wear
With the warm weather we are experiencing, please make sure that your child has appropriate extra clothes. Please check with your child's classroom to ensure that your child has extra clothes available. Families wishing for their child to wear a hat on the playground, please bring a hat to be left here and communicate with your child's teacher that you wish for your child to wear it outside.
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Water Feature Information
Monday AM: Room 3 and Room 4 PM: Older Infants & Summer Camp
Tuesday AM: Room 6 and 7
Wednesday AM: Room 5 and 6
Thursday AM: Room 3 and Room 4 PM: Older Infants
Friday AM: Room 5 and Room 7 PM: Summer Camp
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Appropriate Water Feature Shoes
All children participating in the water feature must wear a non-slip shoe. Crocs or flip flops are not an acceptable shoe to wear on the water feature. Children will also need to bring swimwear, your family is encouraged to leave it here for the summer. Katie's Kids will wash the swimwear after each use. Children not potty-trained need to bring swimmers.
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Quality Improvement Grant
You may have noticed all of the packages in the lobby over the past month. We received a Quality Improvement Grant of almost $7,000! Our classrooms compiled a list of things they needed or wanted to improve their learning environment and we were able to purchase many of the items on their lists! A lot of our teachers have been posting about their new toys on their Facebook pages. Be sure to ask your child about their new favorite things!
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Picture Day
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Picture Day was rescheduled for May 17th & 18th.
May 17th -- Toddlers & Siblings
May 18th -- Infants & Preschool
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Benefits of Climbing Up The Slide
If you care for kids or have some of your own, chances are you've had to deal with the climbing-up-the-slide conundrum. Children are often ready to go down the slide on their own at around 24 months, and are liable to attempt going up at the same age. But why? What is it about the slide that beckons kids to conquer it? When you look at all the benefits associated with children climbing up the slide, it’s obvious why kids are drawn to this "taboo" playground activity!
Proprioceptive & Vestibular Systems
Of course, you are familiar with the five senses and how they affect our perception of the world around us. But did you know we actually have more than five? The two you may not have heard of, and the reasons children are attracted to climbing up the slide, are called the proprioceptive system and the vestibular system.
Children climbing up the side stimulates their vestibular system, which includes the fluid-filled parts of the ears that send messages to the brain. The vestibular system is the sense of movement, and it lets us know if we’re moving, how fast we’re moving, and where we’re headed. It provides our brain with information about motion, head position, and spatial orientation. It’s also involved in motor functions that allow us to keep our balance and posture, as well as stabilize our head and body during movement. This system is the most influential of all the senses, as it affects almost everything we do. Balance, coordination, fine motor skills, and even self-regulation all rely on the vestibular system.
Another sense that many may not be familiar with is called proprioception. According to KaBoom, proprioception is a hidden sense, yet we use it every day. It gauges your body's position in space. The receptors for this sense are in our muscles, tendons, and joints, which tell our body where its various parts are in relation to each other. The proprioception sense provides children with very important information that they need to be successful in all types of motor activities. Running, climbing, sliding, and balancing are the most natural ways that children develop their proprioceptive senses.
There are so many other practical life lessons that children can learn from climbing up the slide, such as:
- Risk-Taking - Climb and slide fun promotes risky play. Risky play is exciting to children and requires them to push boundaries, test limits, and see what they are capable of. Knowing how and when to take risks in life is a necessary skill, and risky play in a controlled environment (such as a playground) is the perfect place to start.
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Laws of Nature - When a child goes up the slide instead of down, they will inevitably notice that it’s harder going up than it is down. Similar to the experience of playing with a physics-based toy, your child will quickly learn from going up the slide that gravity only works one way.
- Determination - Not only does climbing strengthen the arms and legs, but it also helps teach drive and determination. It is not an easy feat for children to climb up the slippery incline of a slide – it takes several tries and failures to make it to the top. Children need to learn that, when you fall, you get back up. Climbing the slide is a perfect example of this!
- Problem-Solving - Using the slide in a different way than other children may involve conflict. When your child is going up the slide, other children may want to go down at the same time. This is a great way for children to learn real-life conflict resolution, negotiation, and problem-solving.
- Trust & Self Confidence - When children are allowed to take risks, like climbing up the slide, they learn to trust their own abilities and that you trust them to try. It’s so important that your child knows that you trust their abilities, because that's how they have the confidence to try and learn new things!
Now that you understand the benefits of children climbing, take your little ones outside to play and learn new skills.
Why It’s Not Safe to Go Down a Slide With Your Child
Going down a slide with a child on your lap may seem like an innocent way to bond, but experts warn against doing this.
When you slide together, the weight of your body increases the velocity at which your child slides. Sliding with this much momentum puts them at risk for injuries, especially leg fractures.
"If their foot gets caught and the rest of their body is pulled along by your weight, they can break a leg," says Pierrette Mimi Poinsett, MD, a pediatrician and medical consultant at Mom Loves Best.
Slide injuries are common. One study found that in 2018, over 350,000 kids under age 6 were hurt on a slide. Most of these children were between the ages of 1 and 2.
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May 6th
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
FREE
The Home Depot
May 7th
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Free
Michael's
May 27th-May 28th
Tickets start at $8
4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
The Corn Crib
*for more information, click on each event
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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.
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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.
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Katie's Kids Learning Center at Ft. Jesse |
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Accredited by: National Accreditation Commission |
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