Red white and cute!

Debra Ballard, the Center Director at our Day Nursery Ft. Harrison center has been busy this week emailing me pictures of the red, white and blue activities in her center.  Here’s the latest from the infant room where the children enjoyed exploring the texture of cereal that had been brightened up with a little red and blue food coloring.

Best blog month ever

Preschoolers at the Day Nursery at Ft. Harrison sort out red and blue beads during Celebrate America week. Activities like bead sorting strengthen fine motor skills in children which lays the foundation for writing in elementary school.

Since we launched the Day Nursery blog in August of last year, our visits have been steadily on the rise.  I am happy to say on this last day of June that we have hit an all time high of 1,538 views this month as of this moment.  Thanks for your support!!

Red White and Blue Fun

Counting the stars on the flag made by the students.

The students decorated a fort

It’s “Celebrate America” week at all Day Nursery centers and the students at our Start Smart 4 Children Center at Ft. Harrison have been busy.  These pictures are courtesy of the Preschool5 classroom led by Ms. Tracey Wickware and her assistant Ms. Kim. 

Day Nursery Parent Survey

The Day Nursery 2009 Spring Parent Survey is officially closed.  Thanks to all the Day Nursery parents who took the time to complete this important document.  We had an outstanding response.  The survey showed that 98.9% of the respondents felt that Day Nursery impacted their child in a positive way. A Day Nursery Guion Road parent wrote: My children are able to receive great care and get a good education. You can tell Day Nursery has impacted their lives in positive ways daily (even on weekends) by the way they relate to people and the good manners they have learned and that have been reinforced by the Day Nursery staff.  

We are finalizing the results and plan to share them with you next week.  Here’s a comment from a parent at the Day Nursery Indiana State Government Center. “My child has been in Day Nursery since he was an infant and is now 3, so he has grown in many ways since enrolling. I especially enjoy him interacting with his friends and talking and playing together. He has learned songs and many self-help skills. I see him do things on his own at school that he wants help with at home. I like that he is encouraged to do for himself and be part of the group and activities. It has been great for his social development.”

The area where parents thought we need the most work was in parent communications.  This is an area for improvement which has also been identified by our center management and senior management.  In the last year, company-wide we added this blog, started Twittering and added a monthly email newsletter for parents and supporters.  At the center level, each center has identified a member of their team to represent them on the parent communication committee and this group meets to discuss ways to reach out to parents more consistently in each center.  This parent comment reminds us why good parent communication needs to be a daily priority: I would like to have updates on my child’s development more often. The conferences that we have every 6 months are great. In addition to this I would think there would be a benefit to having informal conversations as 6 months is a long time. Something as simple as a phone call from the teacher to each parent once a month to talk about how the child is doing and developing, what is going well and what needs to be worked on at home, etc. That is just an idea of how to do this. I certainly ask the teachers when I have questions but typically that is what it takes before I hear how my child is doing unless there is an issue. Personally I want to know as much as I can to help my child so I think more communication is better.

Although our official parent survey is done annually each spring, your comments are welcome everyday.  Thank you for your participation.

Weekend Project: Three Bears Bread

Instead of dinner and a movie this weekend, how about a book and some bread. I found this idea while clicking through a newsletter emailed to me by the folks at Highlights.com.  The recipe for Three Bears Bread uses frozen bread dough so you need a little advance planning for this project. The night before you want to make the bread with your children, put the frozen bread dough in the refrigerator to defrost.  For your bedtime story that night, share your favorite version of The Three Bears. I found 2,777 choices when I queried Amazon.com! If your child is just learning to count, check your library for Ten Bears in My Bed: A Goodnight Countdown by Stanley Mack for a fun variation of the story.

Friday Feature: Day Nursery State Government Center

Heading off to swim lessons at the Natatorium

The center's indoor gym, the INShape Indiana Fitness Funplace has child size equipment.

Every May the center has their own race on the playground

The Day Nursery State Government Center is located in the north building of the Indiana State Government Complex.  Day Nursery has been providing care at this location since November of 1998.  The center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Deanna Saylor is the Center Director, Marti Thiery is the Assistant Director and Amy Cavin is the Office Manager. The center hours are 6:45 am to 5:45 pm Monday through Friday.  The center is open to the public and accepts children ages 6 weeks to 6 years old.  Currently they have openings for two year olds and, as of this writing, have one opening for an infant.  If you would like more information about this center, you can reach them at (317) 233-1776 or state@daynursery.org.

Preschoolers learn how to kick from their water safety instructor

D is for Duck

There are lots of great places to go walking in downtown Indianapolis.  This week the toddlers at the Day Nursery Indiana State Government Center found a duck on their walk.  I thought this picture they sent me was cute and just wanted to share it with you.

Is it hot enough for you?

Adeligh enjoys splash day.

Splash day is a summer staple on the Day Nursery calendar. At our Hendricks County center in Avon, the children in the toddler 1 classroom, lead by teachers  Ms. Vanessa and Ms. Rhonda have splash day every Monday morning after snack.  Thanks to the teachers for sending this cute picture of Adeligh.  The note with the picture said she is trying to spray her friends as they ran by.  Ms. Vanessa said that many of the toddlers were using team work to help clean up after the event, while putting the sprinkler away they continued to spray each other.  She also said they had a blast and can’t wait till next week.

Caring and sharing to last a lifetime

"The triplets" as toddlers

Day Nursery friends circa 2004

Friendship still going strong in 2009

Getting along with others is an important social skill for everyone. Babies show social skills from the time they are born. From the first time a baby turns to the sound of his mother’s voice, young child willingly plays with another child, social skills are being developed.  Every summer I am reminded of how important the early years are for modeling good skills of caring for others and building friendships.  My daughter Claire and her friends Caroline and Morgan first met as infants at Day Nursery in 2000.  They formed a bond so strong during their time at our Federal Center that everyone started calling them “The Triplets.” As they head into fourth grade this fall in three different elementary schools their friendship remains strong. The Daily Parent at the Child Care Aware website notes it may seem like common sense that children need to get along with others. However, nurturing positive social skills takes time and practice. Skills grow when children have ongoing and steady relationships with their parents, caregivers, teachers, and friends. These skills continue to develop and grow throughout their lives.  This week “the triplets” are together again at summer camp trying out their acting skills and falling right back into their old routine even though their time together is limited these days. I think I look forward to these Day Nursey summer reunions as much as the girls do.  I am lucky to have found great friends at Day Nursery too in the mothers of these girls.  As Moms, we will continue to nuture our daughters’ friendship as long as we can.  It is worth the investment.

More swimming fun

Friday we featured our Day Nursery Guion Roadcenter and shared some pictures of the children participating in summer theme activities with bubbles and “muddy” items.  Today I would like to share some pictures I took of the Guion Road students when they were at their water safety classes at the IUPUI Natatorium last Wednesday.  If you want to see a larger version of the picture, just click on it.