Happy Thanksgiving

The staff of the Day Nursery Association is grateful for   110 years of community support.  Happy Thanksgiving!

A family feast

Lunch is served!

About 20 parents and grandparents of students in the Day Nursery Federal Center were able to sneak away from their responsibilities last Thursday to take part in the center’s annual Thanksgiving luncheon.  As an added treat, the guests and students were entertained by a special presentation by pianist Dave Hepler and story-teller extraordinaire Will Gould, who are teaching artists from the Young at Arts program of Young Audiences of Indiana.

The performing team of Will and Dave are no strangers to Day Nursery.  We first met them in 2002 during the pilot of the Young at Arts program, made possible with the support of the Nina Mason Pulliam trust.  Over the past six years, the preschool children in every Day Nursery center have been lucky to interact with a number of fine teaching artists who have also shared with our teachers how to include the arts into every day teaching.

Will Gould and Dave Hepler meet members of the Day Nursery audience after their performance.

Will and Dave will be back at the Federal Center soon as artists in residence.  I am sure there will be a request for a second helping of their version of the Maurice Sendak book “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Family Day of Caring

Day Nursery Clarian Center parents spent Saturing morning cleaning toys during the United Way Family Day of Caring at their center.

Last Saturday I spent part of the morning at our Day Nursery Clarian Center where a small group of parents and teachers had gathered to do some deep cleaning of the center. This much needed semi-annual cleaning is difficult to do when children are present during the week.  Several of the parents had responded to our call for volunteers for this project, which was part of the city-wide United Way of Central Indiana Family Day of Caring.  I briefly met Dr. Prasad as she paused for this photo before heading down the hall to work on a bulletin board about India in the classroom of her two-year-old daughter, Meghanna. I had a bit more time to get to know Kristen, mother of Will, a preschooler and Melissa, mother of Sydney, an infant as they worked scrubbing plastic toys and buggies.  All the moms I spoke with said they gratefully gave up their free time to help the Day Nursery teachers who do so much for their children during the week. This event was a perfect kickoff for National Family Week. We are thankful for all the great parents who support our staff.

On being named to the Top 50 Blogs in Indianapolis list

I have two pieces of big news today.  First…the Day Nursery blog hit 1,000 views this past Friday (after less than 3 months on line) and second…the Day Nursery blog was just named one of the top 50 blogs in Indianapolis!! Check out Kyle Lacy’s blog to see who else made the list.  I’ve never met Kyle but I am connected to him through a social networking group called Smaller Indiana.  As the marketing director of a not for profit agency, I am all about grass-roots marketing and meeting people through groups like Smaller Indiana (which makes creative people and innovative ideas easier to find).  Even though Day Nursery has been serving the Indianapolis community for over 100 years, we can use all the marketing help we can get.  If you like what you read here, we would appreciate you spreading the word about Day Nursery.  Thanks for reading and we would love to hear from you.

99 things to do with your child in Indianapolis

Day Nursery State Center students head toward the Capitol on a walk.

Now that I blog for Day Nursery, I enjoy reading other blogs that appeal to parents of young children.  I followed a link today that landed me on a great one.  It is called Being Savvy.  The cool thing about this blog (beside the fact that the local author takes awesome photos) is that they have secured moms who live in many major cities, including Indianapolis, to write a local version–check out this post 99 things to do with your child in Indianapolis before they grow up!  If you are planning a trip with your family in the near future, see what other cities this blog covers.  You may just luck into a wealth of family friendly information.

National Family Week

National Family Week is coming up next week.  It seems logical that this event, made official by legislation (not just Hallmark) is celebrated during the week of Thanksgiving when many families gather. I have to admit I wasn’t aware of this annual celebration, even though I discovered it was established in 1968 right here in Indianapolis by Sam Wiley, an Indianapolis teacher and school administrator as a means to provide Americans with an opportunity to promote strong families. The premise of National Family Week is that children do better when their families are strong and families do better when they live in communities that help them succeed. Children live better lives when their families are strong, and families are strong when they live in communities that connect them to economic opportunities, social networks, and services. These “connections” include reliable child care. The Alliance for Children and Families, a nonprofit membership association representing child- and family-serving organizations in the United States and Canada, has directed National Family Week efforts for more than 30 years.
INShape Indiana, Governor Daniels’ statewide health initiative suggests that you celebrate National Family Week, November 23-29, by doing physical fitness activities together. Try one of these fun ideas:
–Have a family dance competition
–Play a sport together in your backyard
–Record steps taken each day and compare
–Go ice skating
You can plan your own family celebration at http://www.nationalfamilyweek.org/

 

Read it to me…again

Research tells us that children benefit from multiple readings of storybooks with rich characters, plot and vocabulary. Does your child have a book they beg you to read over and over again?  While preparing for the national Read for the Record day (see my Oct 8 post), I found a wealth of info on this topic.  While, many teachers learn these techniques in school, parents don’t always get the backup information to reinforce what their “gut” tells them is important in the journey of educating their children. For young children especially, real experience in the world is the primary source of background knowledge. Young children must see things, feel things, and try to do things if they are to gain the knowledge they need about the world. But books also help children develop background knowledge. Books provide opportunities for children to think about and thereby extend their own first-hand experiences. Books also expose children to experiences they have not yet had.  If you would like to read more about this subject,  a great place to start is www.readfortherecord.org.  Click on the “Reading Tools” link and then read the lesson plan which goes with the classic book “Corduroy.”  You remember that book.  The one with the stuffed bear in the department store?  The book your child asks you to read them over and over again…

Setting the Turkeys Free

By Max, age 3, Day Nursery Federal Center, 2008

Last year around turkey time, I bought a fun book for the Day Nursery library called Setting the Turkeys Free by W. Nikola-Lisa with illustrations by Ken Wilson-Max (Hyperion Books for Children, 2004).  It is a simple story about a young boy who loves his painted turkeys so much that they take on a life of their own. We used this book to get a classroom of children at our Ft. Harrison Center excited about making turkey hand prints, one of which I scanned and made into Day Nursery Thanksgiving Day card (see my previous post for last year’s selection).  This beautifully illustrated book has now become part of a newly established Day Nursery marketing department tradition–the making of the official turkey card!  Today, I am pleased to reveal the “official” hand-print turkey for Thanksgiving 2008.  We thank Max, age 3, from the Day Nursery Federal Center for his contribution.  I also want to thank his teacher, Belinda Bailey letting us work with her students to create this year’s masterpiece.  Day Nursery Development Director, Beth Rodriguezand I enjoyed facilitating the creation of this artwork with all the children in her classroom.

What rhymes with Thanksgiving?

Turkey by Armanna, Day Nursery Start Smart 4 Children at Ft. Harrison, 2007

As I mentioned in a post last month around Halloween, Early literacy skills are a crucial component of school readiness.  The Creative Curriculum^® which is used at all age levels in the Day Nursery classroom, stresses that finding meaningful ways for children to use language helps motivate them to become readers and writers. A fun way to learn phonetic awareness is through rhyme. Here is a poem to share with your child this holiday season.

Being Thankful

by Sue LaBella

What is it you’re thankful for?
Family and friends, to be sure.
Kindness from others, love that is true
Having a pal that is special like you.
We can give thanks in so many ways,
Not just at Thanksgiving, but everyday

Sue LaBella, Education World’s early childhood editor, is a former teacher who loves writing poems for young children. She especially enjoys writing rhymes that make children smile. Susan lives in Connecticut with her family and her bulldog named Daisy. She has written fun rhymes to fit many themes. Her work appears on www.educationworld.com

Conference celebrates best practices in early childhood education

Director of Operations Marsha Lindsey visits the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center playground.

 Earlier this month, Day Nursery Director of Operations, Marsha Lindsey attended the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) annual conference held in Dallas.  I asked her to send me a note from the conference summarizing her thoughts about the week.  Sorry for the delay in getting this post up.

 As I leave a NAEYC conference I am struck by the optimism of the nearly 20,000 early childhood professionals that attended.   I was surrounded by people from all over the country that were excited about their chosen profession.  People who truly believe that children are the future and who act out this belief daily through their interactions with children.  The number of professionals attending workshops and soaking up all the knowledge possible about young children should put parents at ease. 

As for what is new on the national front, well there are two significant things.(1) The unveiling of the new 3rd edition Developmentally Appropriate Practice, which has incorporated information on implementation of best practices in early childhood education based on new and updated research, and (2) The soon to be released “Call to action” a public policy and advocacy document that will  outline the step necessary for our nation to move into the right direction to ensure all children receive a good start.

You can read more about the conference, including the notes from the presenters, at www.naeyc.org.