Day Nursery Federal Center children focus on food

Students in the 2 1/2-year-old class at the Day Nursery Federal Center have been talking about sharing during the last two weeks and have read and discussed the fable Stone Soup.  This story book is just one of several items in a learning kit they have borrowed titled You Are What You Eat.  In the fable some hungry travelers used whatever people would give them and put it in their soup.  The children made the story come alive earlier this week when they made their own stone soup with items they brought from home. Their teachers are Nina Woodbury and Brittany Walton.

The Pre-K class used the learning kit as a springboard to building a classroom restaurant. To start their project, they visited the cafe upstairs in the Federal Building and talked to the manager and the cook.  There were several props in the learning kit that came in handy in their restaurant including a cash register, cookbooks, pretend fruits and vegetables and a diagram of the food pyramid.  Shirley Williams is their teacher.

 Our Child Care Answers program has been making learning kits like this one available to child care providers in our city for several years through their Resource Library.  Membership in the library has recently been opened up to parents who would like to borrow materials.  The annual membership fee of $20 allows parents to check out materials for up to four weeks at a time.  For more info about the Child Care Answers Resource Library contact Lenore Friedly 317-926-3401 ext. 312

Day Nursery students and staff committed to recycling

Today is America Recycles Day.  Since 1997, America Recycles Day has been the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling programs in the United States. One day to inform and educate. One day to get our neighbors, friends and community leaders excited about what can be accomplished when we all work together. Since Earth Day last year,  the staff and children at the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center, 3522 N. Central, have been setting an example for our community.   Led by teacher Sara McHenry and Center Director Shannon Garrity in cooperation with Lenore Friedly and the mentoring staff of our Child Care Answers program, the employees of the center pitched in to pay for a recycling contractor visit the center every two weeks to pick up the glass, plastic and paper items they have collected for recycling.  The children deposit their items for recycling in a box outside their classroom and then at the end of the day, they take them down the hall to add to the larger collection bin.  Parents report that the young students are taking this effort to heart and are reminding their family at home which items should recycled.