Day Nursery Indiana State Center students meet special birds

Thanks to our friends at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for giving our Day Nursery State Center preschoolers a chance to see some spectacular birds up close.

Friday Faces: Day Nursery State Center Preschool grads

Mr. Tim’s Shining Stars of PS3 of the Day Nursery Indiana State Government Center led their preschool graduation ceremony yesterday. Teacher Tim Tegarden shared a few thoughts about their program when he sent this picture…..”All my stars shined brightly on stage. This is the American flag we made for our honorary graduate Ms. Amy. She received this flag at our ceremony presentation. My class said the Pledge of Allegiance and told the guests what they learned about the number of stars on the flag and what city and state our school is in. The children sang the song by John Lennon “Beautiful Boy” in sign language.”

Day Nursery Indiana Government Center preschoolers learn through lemonade sales

In the shadow of the Indiana State Capitol building, Mr. Tim’s preschool class is learning valuable life lessons through lemonade.  Students in this and our other 6 Day Nursery centers have been working on becoming entrepreneurs through the national Lemonade Day program.  Although the Lemonade Day officially is Saturday, our teachers took advantage of the curriculum materials that come with the bright yellow Lemonade Day backpacks to bring the lessons into their classroom and make it a group learning experience.  From learning new vocabulary words (can you say customer service?) t0 learning how to count change, Day Nursery students have been busy with preparations for their sale.  Yesterday I had a chance to see Mr. Tim Tegarden’s class in action and taste their product (delicious!).  Tim shared pictures of the process his class went through to launch their business and even included documentation boards behind his stand so the customers might appreciate the valuable lessons his students learned this week. Judging by the smiles on the faces of the students (and the amount of money they had stuffed in their bank), Lemonade Day was a success.  And, for Mr. Tim, it was a great day for him too. “This is why I love to teach,” he said.

IU Kentucky match up helps teach lesson of friendship

The infant classroom at the Day Nursery Indiana State Government Center is having a IU vs Purdue Day today. Infants and teachers wore their favorite team…IU had 3 and Purdue had 3 and Kentucky had 1.  Our teachers know it is never too early to teach children it’s ok to have different likes and opinions and still be friends.   Thanks to Assistant Director Amy Cavin for sharing a picture.

Day Nursery State Center students go looking for leprechauns

Last Friday, while most of the city of Indianapolis was heading to the St. Patrick’s Day parade, the preschoolers in Mr. Tim Tegarden‘s class at the Day Nursery State Government Center talked their teacher into a march of another kind.  Walking in the sunshine along the freshly tinted green canal, the children went in search of leprechauns.  Here are a few pictures Mr. Tim shared with us.

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 Friday Faces: Chinese New Year

The INShape Indiana fitness  room at the Day Nursery State Center was converted into a family fun area earlier this week in celebration of the Chinese New Year.  Activities included a writing area where children could practice writing Chinese characters and a dramatic play area complete with pretend tea, sushi and soy sauce. Thanks to Assistant Center Director Amy Cavin for sharing these photos.

Frosty visits Day Nursery Indiana State Government Center

The “official” pictures aren’t available yet, but our staff in the center couldn’t help sharing this picture of Frosty the Snowman‘s visit to the Day Nursery Indiana State Government Center this morning.  We thank the parent volunteers who made this visit possible.  The children enjoyed interacting with Frosty and were full of questions.  State Center  Office Manager Tonia Wilkinson reported that she overheard a 3 year-old ask if Frosty’s snow would get on her pants when she sat down.

Helicopter visits Day Nursery Lilly Center

Four and five-year olds from the Day Nursery State and Federal Centers downtown took a short bus ride to the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center, 3522 N. Central Avenue, to take part in an educational program featuring a helicopter that was trucked in to their parking lot this morning.  The helicopter will be visiting other Day Nursery locations later this month.  Each child got a chance to dress in a flight suit, have their picture taken and sit in the cockpit.  Here are some pictures from this morning.

With love from Day Nursery Indy Colts fans

I am packing up the books I owe Royal Castle Child Development Center in New Orleans.  They won the books when the Saints beat the Colts on Sunday.  We were winners too because we made some great new friends.  Center Director Pearlie Harris and her staff are just starting their quest for NAEYC accreditation, a process we have been through many times in our 110 years of service to the community and so we have promised to mentor them any way we can.  You can be sure I will be including some “local color” in the box with the books in the form of pictures of our pint-size blue and white clad Colts fans.