| Prince Edward Day Care - School Age Program |
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Good morning! I'm Stacey Stanford, JK/SK School Age Teacher at Prince Edward Day Care. Although I have worked with all age groups, the JK/SK children are by far my favourite - they are so smart!
I hope everone enjoyed their Family Day long weekend. I know my family did. My boys and I headed to the Sandbanks Provincial Park, walked the beach and the trails...so much fun, even for my four year old. We walked for 2 hours. They loved it.
So my question is, "What can we do to entertain our children?". Some suggestions...play games, read some books, go on the computer. There are lots of fun children's websites.
Get outside! The weather has been amazing - no snow, let the kids ride their bikes, take a long walk, talk about animals in their habitat. Which animals are sleeping for the winter? When do they wake up? Children are very curious.
Cold day - stay inside and make some playdough. Here's my favourte playdough recipe:
1 pkg. Kool Aid
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp. cooking oil
food colouring (matching Kool Aid colour)
Combine the dry ingredients. Mix together boiling water, oil and food colouring. Pour on top of dry ingredients and stir together. It will feel really gooey at first, but let it cool. Perfect playdough!
Don't forget March Break is fast approaching. Lots of fun programs to do through Prince Edward Child Care Services Day Care Program and March Break Day Camp at Queen Elizabeth Public School. Call Margie 613-476-5566 or Kim 613-476-8142 for more information. You can also check for details on the March Break Day Camp on the home page here on the website.
Do you have any other suggestions for fun with the kids? |
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| Before and After School Care |
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Working early hours in the morning? Maybe late evenings? Before and After School could be the answer for child care for your school-age children.
There are three schools in the community where Prince Edward Child Care Services offers licensed Before and After School programs: Queen Elizabeth in Picton, Pinecrest in Bloomfield, and C.M.L. Snider in Wellington. The hours of operation are 7am (QE), 7:30am (PInecrest & C.M.L.) until the start of school, and from the end of school until 6pm.
At Before and After School, our Early Childhood Educators offer fun games, activities, science experiments and crafts for the children, help with homework, and provide physical activities outside or in the gym. A variety of toys and board games are at each program, as well as, dramatic play and stories for free play. Children learn to socialize and problem solve with other children in a wide age group. Nutritous snacks are provided for children at the After School program.
Check out our parent fee menus for more information on Before and After School child care fees. Subsidy is available for those who qualify. Try our child care subsidy calculator for an estimate.
Submitted by Danielle Jolly, Supervisor
Queen Elizabeth Preschool and Before & After School Programs
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| Busy Feet Playgroups |
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Are you looking for a way to add additional exercise into your child's play? Perhaps create a more silent night at home? Prince Edward Child Care Services offers many ways to do this, but one of our favourites is our Busy Feet evening playgroups. We now offer two locations: our Wellington location runs every Monday evening at C.M.L. Snider School from 5:30-7:30pm in the Auditorium; and the Picton location runs every Thursday evening at Queen Elizabeth School from 5-7pm.
What is Busy Feet you ask? Contrary to popular belief, it is not a move about alittle penguin with lots of rhythm and tapping feet...that's Happy Feet! Just as it sounds, Busy Feet is a program that focuses on parents and caregivers and their children ages 2-6 years with "busy feet". This program offers lots of physical activity, cooperative games, a snack, a place to enjoy the company of other families, and all indoors out of the cold nights that will remain with us for many more months. At the end of our program we will have some quiet time offering a story before you bundle up your tired little ones for home and bed.
If you live in the Wellington area please join us at C.M.L. Snider School Auditorium, 5:30-7:30pm, for Busy Feet on Monday nights. If you live in the Picton or surrounding area join us at Queen Elizabeth School on Thursday nights, 5-7pm, using the Elm Street or back entrance to the school.
Need some additional playgroups to run out the extra energy? We offer a Friday morning program at the ROC (Recreation Outreach Centre) in Macaulay Village, Prince Edward Heights where we use the gym. Check out the latest newsletter edition on the website and read the Schedule of Programs for all playgroup locations, dates and times.
So let's lace up those non-marking shoes, and join together with our children for some physical activities to wear off our holiday heft! We set such good examples for our children when they see us joining in the fun.
Submitted by Sabrina Hudson, Early Learning Facilitator |
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| The Toy Lending Library |
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The Toy Lending Library has been a valued part of Prince Edward Child Care Services (PECCS) for over 20 years. During this period it has grown to include an in-house library (at the Ealry Years Centre) and a mobile library with a combined inventory of over 700 toys and theme boxes. One of the most distinctive symbols of the library and PECCS for that matter is our red Mobile Toy Lending Library Truck. It travels over much of Prince Edward County visiting Early Years' playgroups, schools, libraries, private service providers (like doctors' offices) and home child care providers, lending toys at all its stops. Membership to the Toy Library is free to parents, family members and family caregivers, while we charge a minimal annual membership fee to "on-site" locations such as schools and libraries. Last year we had 297 active individual memberships (including 50 new members) and 24 on-site memberships accounting for more than 3000 toy loans in 2011.
The major financial support for the library comes from Prince Edward and Addington & Lennox Children's Services. As well, many of our "new" toys come from the generosity of our current and former members, who donate "pre-loved" toys that once belonged to their own children. All toys available for loan are catalogued and pictured with a description of the toy and its potential educational value. These descriptions are available in our 3 catalogues that accompany the mobile library (Toy Truck) and in the one catalogue for the in-house library. Our inventory includes: games, puzzles, small toy sets like farms, houses, trains, theme boxes (e.g. Dinosaurs, Community Helpers), creative toys for building, musical and larger ride-on items. To make it easy for parents to return toys (and all the pieces) every toy part is etched with the toy's catalogue number and the letters TTL (Toy Lending Library).
Toys are checked regularly for any safety issues such as broken pieces or sharp edges. Infant toys are sanitized on their return to the library, while toys for older children are cleaned as needed. With so many toys in the library, we also count on our members to report any problems or missing pieces and help by returning toys in a clean condition.
Approximately every 2 months, we produce a rotating 2 week schedule describing the Toy Truck stops and associated dates and times. A copy of the schedule is available on our website by following the "Mobile Toy Lending Library" and then "Schedule" links or from our Playgroup facilitators. Parents and caregivers can access the library at the stops indicated on the schedule and especially at our playgroups. The smaller "in-house" library can be found at the Early Years Centre and is open for loans from 8am to 4pm most days. It is not necessary for the librarian to be present as toys can be signed out and returned on the "honour" system.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me at the Ontario Early Years Centre 613-476-8142 or by email mfpeccs@kos.net.
Submitted by Mark Ferguson, Toy Lending Librarian |
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| Home Child Care |
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If you're looking for child care, why not consider Home Child Care? All homes have passed a fire and safety inspection and caregivers and family members have been screened through criminal reference checks.
Caregivers are contract workers and as such they set their own hours of operation. Earlier start, later finish times and week-end care can sometimes be accommodated.
A wide variety of stimulating activities such as daily outside play, crafts, music, stories and free play are offered in small family type settings. Nutritious meals and snacks are also provided. Subsidy is available for those who qualify.
As always, when searching for child care, take time to find the best environment for your child. Each family has their own needs and expectations. What works for one family may not work for another. Ensuring that the person/persons you trust to care for your child has the same morals, values and expectations that you do will allow you to go to work or school with peace of mind that your child is being well cared for.
Remember, child care is your child's home away from home. With Prince Edward Child Care Services Home Child Care Program "We have you covered".
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| Margie |
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Happy New Year from Prince Edward Day Care. After a refreshing holiday break we look forward to getting back to the Center.
For my very first blog I wanted to tell you a bit about the Day Care part of PECCS:
Our licensed facility currently has a capacity for 51 children every day. We are close to full capacity but still have some spaces available. Prince Edward Day Care is here to serve the families of Prince Edward County in meeting their day care needs so if families make requests and we identify a need for space in a certain age group-then, with a special request to our Ministry of Children and Youth Services, we can obtain approval and adjust our capacity to meet the needs of the parents in our community.
As a licensed day care we are inspected annually by the Province of Ontario. We have a variety of requirements we must meet (over 100 actually) to ensure,we maintain our licensed status. The requirements include specific standards in regards to health & safety, nutrition, programming, playground, equipment/furnishings, and policies and proceedures just to name just a few. All of our program teachers are Registered, Early Childhood Educators who have obtained a diploma from a Community College. Many ongoing professional development activities are attended throughout the year by all our staff- its always important to keep up-to-date on current child care trends!
Prince Edward Day Care first and foremost is dedicated to providing quality child care. To us that means providing a safe, secure, FUN, environment where learning and development are encouraged through play and discovery. I would love to hear your thoughts on the different aspects of child care which you believe are essential to an enriched experience for children and parents.
I look forward to any questions or comments you may have.
Margie
AND............A big congrats of the winner of our Christmas draw.......Daniela Auciello.....Hurray! |
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Happy New Year from everyone here at Prince Edward Child Care Services.
For the past few months Prince Edward Child Care has had the privilege of supporting Co-op students from Prince Edward Collegiate Institute. Kelsey King has been supporting our Ontario Early Years Programs and our Resource Centre staff. It has been great to have her working with us and she has brought a youthful perspective to the team. I asked Kelsey to share some of her experiences with everyone through this weeks Blog.
Tamara
Choosing to do my co-op at the Prince Edward Day Child Care Services was one of the best choice�s I could have made for myself. Not only did I gain great work experience, it helped me finally decide what I want my future career to be after I�ve graduated high school. Before coming to the day care I was completely undecided as to what I wanted to be in my future. I�ve never been to a day care before or anything like this so I had no idea what to expect. I was kind of scared to be honest because I have never really been a big fan of younger kids, until I came here. I realized that the reason I wasn�t fond of younger children was because I had never taken the time to get to know them. After being at the day care for my first semester of grade 11, I have learned that I actually love being around little kids. They are so cute, fun to be around and they are always so energetic. No matter what kind of mood I�m in, being at the day care and around energetic children can always bring a smile to my face. I�m actually excited to wake up in the mornings because I get to go to the day care, and that�s saying a lot. What teenager is actually excited to wake up in the morning to do work? I have gained way more then just work experience by coming here. I met a lot of great people, I learned a lot about kids and how they think, and I now sort of have a picture of what I want my future to hopefully be like. I think if I do go to school for Early Childhood Education, I will not regret it and I will enjoy my job just as much as I enjoy coming to the day care in the mornings. This particular day care is a great environment to work in. The employees here are all very nice and helpful, they are always doing their best to make sure I am enjoying my time here and they are patient with me when I have questions or need help with certain tasks. All the different families that come to playgroup are also very nice and they treat me the same way they treat the other employees and that makes me feel like I�m actually part of they�re team. My Co-op program ends at the end of January and I am going to be very sad to leave the day care. I have enjoyed my time very much here and I really am not looking forward to leaving.
Kelsey King
PECI Co-op Student
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| Tamara |
| Welcome to the Prince Edward Child Care Services Blog |
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When I joined the organization as Executive Director in May, one of the most striking characteristics of the organization was the body of experience that the staff here at Prince Edward Child Care Services bring to the quality programming we provide. With the goal of sharing this depth of experience it seemed only natural to me that we add a blog to our new website and provide an opportunity for our Program Coordinators to share their years of experience with all of us.
I hope that the families we serve will benefit from a weekly Blog that will initiate discussion on a wide range of topics. What should parents know about finding the right child care for their children? Who do we turn to find out more about child development and early learning? How do we become the best parents we can be? These are only a few of the questions I hope to see discussed on our blog. I look forward to families taking advantage of the opportunity to guide and direct the topics you really want to explore. |
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| Susan |
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News from Ontario Early Years Resource Centre
As our holiday season fast approaches we start thinking about others in need. We are currently placing stockings at our centre for adults to take away and buy a book for a child birth to 6 years old to be included in the Angel Tree gift baskets at Christmas. We are also starting a food drive for non - perishable items to be given to our local food bank or Angel Tree program. In an effort to keep costs down for families during our Christmas Parties we ask parents to provide a wrapped book with their child's name on it to be given to them from Santa. Registration forms for the Angel Tree Program are available at Picton Children's Aid Society at 16 McSteven Drive. The local office for the program is still being established.
The other subject that usually comes along with the holiday season is stress. Try the following tips to reduce stress. Taken from Scientific American Mind (Sept. 2011)
1. Seek and eliminate. Take a few minutes every day to identify stressors in your life and find ways to reduce or eliminate them.
2. Commit to the positive. Don't rely on self-destructive ways of coping with stress drinking, drugs, overeating.......
3. Be your own personal secretary. People who keep lists of thing to do really do more things.
4. Immunize yourself. Through exercise, managing thoughts, and a daily practice of relaxation techniques, you will be in a better position to face stressors.
5. Make a little plan. Spend a few minutes every morning planning your day. You will waste less time, get more done, and feel less stressed.
6. And make a big plan. Planning your future is a great way of exercising more control over your life. |
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