Day Nursery Thursday December 27

All Day Nursery Centers will open on their regular schedule on Thursday,  December 27, 2012.

Day Nursery Start Smart 4 Children Winter Wonderland

So far December has been a very busy month.  It is time to do a little catching up with all the fun things happening in the Day Nursery Centers.  Let’s start with the December 4th holiday program produced by the students and teachers of our Day Nursery Start Smart 4 Children Center at Ft. Harrison.  With over 200 guests expected,  Center Director Debra Ballard and Assistant Director Jessica Stewart decided that the program was too big for any classroom they had so they scheduled it for the auditorium at the DFAS Center next door.  Every age group had a part in the program from the infants to the preschoolers.  Here’s a recap of some of our favorite moments.  Additional pictures can be found on our Facebook page.  

Day Nursery Ft. Harrison Center parents enjoy lunch with students

Here’s a note we received last week from Day Nursery parent Heather Stoner after she joined her children at the center for lunch at our Start Smart 4 Children  center at Ft. Harrison.  Parents are always welcome to join us for lunch.  You don’t have to wait for a special holiday, just stop by the front desk in the morning to tell us you are coming so we will count you in.

Just wanted to say thank you for inviting parents to enjoy lunch with their kiddos yesterday.  I enjoyed dining with Evie and Luna and the Toddler 2 class. The meal was delicious!  I thought I’d share a picture I took of the little munchkins while they sat and enjoyed their plates of yummy food.  Evie, Luna and Elon had to be hams of course!!  

Day Nursery Ft. Harrison preschoolers go behind the scenes at theatre

About 250 Day Nursery preschoolers are participating in the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre‘s Backstage Pass program, compliments of PNC Bank’s Grow Up Great Initiative. Each of the 7 Day Nursery centers took a field trip to Carmel for a personal peek behind the scenes of the theatre which is part of the Center for the Performing Arts. These pictures are from Tuesday with our Start Smart 4 Children early learning center at Ft. Harrison Center students. Our tour guides were Brent E. Marty – Director of Music & Education and Holly Stults – Associate Director of Education. Check out our pictures and take a little tour with us.

Day Nursery Ft. Harrison students visit bookmobile

Preschoolers from Ms. Tracy Wickware’s class at Day Nursery Start Smart 4 Children at Ft. Harrison climbed aboard the Red Cross Bookmobile on Thursday to pick out a book to keep. The books were donated to the Red Cross by PNC’s Grow Up Great program. Preschoolers at each of the 7 Day Nursery centers got to select a book to take home thanks to PNC.

Lemonade Day at Day Nursery Ft. Harrison

Two Day Nursery Indianapolis centers recognized by Federal Government

Day Nursery Federal Center Director Sarah Parks (left) with Brenda Roldan, Regional Child Care Coordinator, GSA Public Buildings Service
Facilities Mgmt & Services Programs

Last month, two Day Nursery Association of Indianapolis centers were presented with a Keystone Award by the General Services Administration in recognition of our commitment to provide quality child care through the achievement of re-accreditation from the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs.  NAEYC accreditation is an achievement reached by only 10% of child care centers nationwide, so we are very proud that 100% of our seven Day Nurseries in Indianapolis have reached this goal.  The two centers recognized are those we operate in partnership with the Federal government. Congratulations to Sarah Parks and her staff at the Day Nursery Federal Center downtown and to Debra Ballard and her staff at Day Nursery Start Smart 4 Children at Ft. Harrison.

(Left to Right) Jessica Stewart, Assistant Director and Debra Ballard, Director, Day Nursery Start Smart 4 Children at Ft. Harrison; Myrine Callihan, property manager at the Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center at Ft. Harrison; and Patty Fisher, Director of Center Adminstration, Day Nursery Association.

Day Nursery students help tackle hunger in Indy

Federal Center

Congratulations to the staff and families of the seven Day Nursery early childhood centers and our administrative staff for helping to Tackle Hunger in the Indianapolis area as part of the national Souper Bowl of Caring annual event.  As a group,  Day Nursery made this contribution:

• Total food donated: 559 items
• Total money donated: $340.59

Here’s a recap of our success story center by center. The Day Nursery Federal Center downtown selected their Pennsylvania Street neighbor, The Metro Baptist Center food pantry to support.  In a typical month, this pantry serves 400-500 people.  Federal Center Director Sarah Parks reports her center  collected 118 items and $32 to help them out.

Ft. Harrison Day Nursery

Our Start Smart 4 Children Day Nursery at Ft. Harrison split their collections between the Damien Center on North Arsenal and The New Haven Missionary Baptist Church food pantry.  The center collected 100 food items and $19.22 in cash. Ft. Harrison Center Director Debra Ballard and her head cook Beverly Croom are pictured here getting ready to wheel the donation out to the car.

Day Nursery Hendricks County

The Day Nursery Hendricks County Center collected 73 food items and $31.50 for the Messiah Lutheran Church in Brownsburg. The MLC Food Pantry exists to provide food for families and individuals in Hendricks County who are experiencing temporary financial hardship.

Day Nursery IU Health

The Day Nursery IU Health Center was collecting for Dayspring Center at the corner of 16th and Central Avenue.  Day Nursery Director of Curriculum, Jesse McCloud, who is based out of our IU Health Center knows the Dayspring Center very well because her late mother used to run the food program there. Dayspring provides emergency shelter, clothing, and three nourishing meals-a-day for homeless families with children in central Indiana. The IU Health center collected 34 cans of fruit and vegetables and $143.69 in money for Dayspring. Pictured above, Jesse McCloud joins  Rene Withers of Day Nursery to make the presentation to Dayspring Center Executive Director Lori Casson.

Northwest Center

The Day Nursery Northwest Center chose to do their Souper Bowl of Caring collection for their Pike Township neighbors at the Fay Biccard Glick Center at Crooked Creek,2990 West 71st Street. They collected $81.23 in funds and 20 different non-perishable items.  Ms. Rene’s class, pictured here, collected the largest amount of money and food.  The classroom won a pizza party and Ms. Rene won a Souper Bowl of Caring t-shirt.

Lilly Center

The Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center was so close to the beneficiary of their Souper Bowl of Caring collection that the Pre-K class took the donations over to them in wagons. The students collected 100 food items for donations to the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church,418 East 34th Street. TAB serves meals to their neighbors every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. More than 800 people come through our doors each month for a hot lunch and food to take home to families.

State Center

The staff and families of the Day Nursery Indiana State Government Center chose to collect for the Northside New Era Baptist Church Feed the Sheep program where Day Nursery teacher Debbie Beatty is a volunteer.  The food pantry served over 1400 families last year and is open twice a week. The center collected$32.95 cash and 74 food items.

Day Nursery Human Resources Director Cathy Johnson

Finally, the staff of the Day Nursery Administration office in the English Foundation Building chose to collect food for the Ronald McDonald House to honor our co-worker Marsha Hearn Lindsey, Day Nursery Chief Operating Officer, who is retiring from a position on the RMH Board of Directors.  Food collected will help restock the pantry at the Ronald McDonald House allowing families to prepare meals at the house so they can stay close to their child being treated at Riley Hospital.  We collected 40 non perishable items and also donated fresh fruit and eggs for their kitchen.

Day Nursery Ft. Harrison preschool students enjoy snow

Day Nursery Start Smart 4 Children at Ft. Harrison preschool teacher Tracey Wickware said she just couldn’t resist taking her 5-year-olds out to have fun in the snow today before they settled down for nap time.  With the crazy weather we have been having in Indianapolis this winter, it was probably a smart move to enjoy the snow while it was fresh.   

National Bird Day

Today is National Bird Day.  Take a moment with your young child to point out birds in your travels today.  Add a few new words to their vocabulary.  Your friends will surely be impressed when your preschoolers uses “habitat” correctly in a sentence! This talented 4-year-old attends the Day Nursery Start Smart 4 Children center at Ft. Harrison.  She drew both of these birds and told us they are singing.