INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Learning Stories 2-5

Vacation Scheduling 6

Raising the Bar on

Quality 6

Summertime

Reminders 7

Weather

Advisories Policy 8

Fundraising Notes 8

Summer 2014 Saint John Paul II

DATES TO REMEMBER

July 1 Centre Closed for Canada Day

Aug. 4 Centre closed for Civic Holiday

Aug. 15 Post-dated cheques due for September 2014 to June 2015

Sept. 1 Centre closed for Labour Day

On behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you for choosing Owl as your child care provider.

I know first-hand, the difference that quality child care can make in a child’s life. Here, at Owl, we feel privileged to be a small part of your child’s development. Just like many of our families, the Board takes a bit of a break in the

summer months, but much work continues in the background. Thank you to those who have signed up for Owl’s new referral program. I look forward to seeing the new lawn signs around my neighbourhood and across the Region. Speak to your centre supervisor for more information or to join the program. We appreciate your word of mouth referrals.

Management is currently working on the 2015 budget to align it with our strategic pillars. This will be a focus of our finance & audit committee in July and will come to the Board for approval in September. Upcoming Board meeting: July 29 6:30 pm Lincoln Road Chapel Look for the agenda one week prior to the meeting at www.owlchildcare.org/board-meetings.

Each year, Owl reaches

out to our vendors and

supporters to obtain

sponsorship for our

summer camp program.

In addition, in 2014, we

added a technology

sponsorship opportunity

to support a new project

that will provide iPads

with wireless capability to

our staff to assist in

researching learning

topics with the children.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS Thank you to the

following sponsors for

your support. These

donations are used to

off-set admissions and

transportation for

summer camp field

trips.

CCV Insurance

Sharp Bus Lines

Avron for Kids

Flanagan Food Service

Thank you also to our Technology Partners:

The Waterloo Networking Company

Beatties Basics

Dakon Construction Ltd.

With your support, we make a difference every day!

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Kevin Viana

Newsletter Title Page 2

HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CHILDREN’S LEARNING

Did you know that each week staff document the planned learning activities and what actually happened? Many of you shared that you don’t have time to review our curriculum plans, so we’ll bring them to you! Each month our program teams will fill you in on all the great learning activities that are happening in the classroom. Staff will choose which learning area to focus on, ensuring that all 6 are covered throughout the year.

Infant Room

“We Share Everything!”

The infant staff often undress the babies to allow

them to fully participate in painting activities in the

room without ruining their clothes. One day, after

finishing up the painting activity, some of our

friends became interested in exploring the clothes

that were on the table. They were very excited to

try and put on all of the different shirts and shorts

whether they belonged to themselves or their

friends. This activity was a great indicator of

personal and social skills. We used imitation to

help them succeed with their task. We encouraged

self help by allowing the babies multiple attempts,

and adjusted the garments to set them up for

success and ensure they would feel good about

dressing themselves. This spontaneous activity

helped them to turn take as they had to wait while

another friend tried on a certain garment. It also

allowed the infants to express their emotions and

sense how their behaviour affects their friends. As

this group enters the toddler stage we see more

and more independence in all aspects of their day.

Toddler Room

Busy, Busy Toddlers!

Our toddler friends have been showing an interest in climbing everything! They have attempted to climb

many things in our classroom such as tables and chairs. Though this promotes independence, it can

look and feel unsafe. So, to put their gross motor, co-ordination and balancing skills to work, we created

an outdoor obstacle course. The obstacle course consisted of recycled and natural materials. Such

things as tires, wooden platforms, tree stumps, pieces of plywood, and cardboard boxes were added to

our tunnel and climber. The toddlers were all very anxious and excited to explore their new course! As

well as promoting their gross motor development, these activities also encourage teamwork skills and

empathy for others. At first some friends like Claire, Espen, Ava and Abby would fall to the ground, not

quite as sturdy on their feet. But other friends would encourage them to keep trying by either helping

them to stand back up, or by repeating what the teachers were

saying. Monika held Claire’s hand while she walked in and out of

the tires and said, “You can do it!” The children also really enjoyed

jumping across the tires and plywood. They exclaimed with

excitement, “We’re jumping!” They worked hard to manipulate their

bodies going in and out of the tunnel and boxes. They were having

so much fun that it soon became a parade of Show and Share.

They all shouted, “Look what I can do!” and “Look at me!” Each

child took great pride in showing their friends their skills, and they

all continued to support and encourage each other with cheers!

Newsletter Title Page 3

Preschool #1

“I Want to Ride on a Fire Truck”

Early in June the Preschool #1 room performed “Fire Truck” at the Spring Concert. It is a favourite song in our room! The children spent many weeks practicing the words and actions as a group. We worked on the social skills we would need to stand closely together on stage and perform for our families. The children learned to express their feelings and listen to their peers as they problem solved with the help of a teacher. They practiced their helping skills as they helped friends pick up fallen hats and remember the words to the song. They also worked on cooperation skills as they listened and watched for teacher’s cues, followed the rules (ie. using the hoses properly), and encouraged all friends to participate. Kate and Evan S. were great role models, showing their friends how to stand and sing with big strong voices.

A week later we were able to take a field trip to the fire station. Each child was given the chance to sit in

a fire truck and was shown all the tools and gear firefighters use. At the fire station and on the bus the

children practiced their communication, language and literacy

skills by listening to others, retelling stories, and having

conversations with their peers and adults. The children had

many conversations about the things they saw and heard at the

fire station and in the “Fire Truck” song book back at the

childcare. They made connections between the story and the

real life fire truck and gear they saw. They listened closely to

the firefighters explain how they use the hoses to spray lots of water to put out fires and use the ladders

to save people who are up high. We will continue to promote Fire Safety in our room and provide props

the children can use to model what they have learned firefighters do!

School Age #1

Forts and Spaceships and Monster Trucks...Oh My!

Over the past couple of weeks, the children have been building and creating many amazing creations using different materials. We recently got some tires on our playground and the JKK’s have become quite creative. They have used the tires to build forts, spaceships, motorcycles and even monster trucks! The JKK’s are enhancing both their cognitive and physical development through this activity. They are using representation to construct 3D models and expanding on the open-ended materials, such as the tires, with their vivid imaginations. They are also working together and cooperating as a group. One afternoon Sam asked Eric and Miguel what they were making. Eric responded, “A fort, but we can’t make one, we only have 2 tires”. Then Miguel had an idea. “Oh I know, let’s make a monster truck!” he exclaimed. Eric thought that was a great idea. Gage asked if he could help too. “Sure”, Eric responded, “You can even sit in the passenger seat!” We will continue to encourage their creativity and provide them with a variety of open-ended materials and see what they come up with next!

Newsletter Title

Preschool #2

Back in May we noticed that there were birds flying

in and out of the awnings on the playground. We

decided to take a closer look and discovered bird’s

nests in the awnings. The group thought it would

be fun to try and build our own nest. We used

paper maché to create the shape of the nest and

the children collected grass and woodchips to glue

on it to make it look more natural. After we

completed our nest, the group started to ask more

questions about the real nest in the awning. They

were curious about what kind of bird was building

the nest. We looked up different types of birds

online and discovered that the bird in our

playground looked a lot like a House Sparrow. We

decided to try and create a similar bird for our nest.

Amy prompted the children to draw what they

thought a bird looked like and many of the children

drew their interpretations of a bird. To give the

children more ideas we took some clipboards and

paper outside and drew more birds. Nathan said,

“Look, my bird is singing on a tree branch”, and

Barron exclaimed, “I made a Cardinal”. Hailey and

Lauren worked together and made a parrot and a

flamingo. After we had a good idea what a bird

looks like we took a survey to decide what colour

our bird would be. The survey resulted in a purple

bird with a yellow belly. We used balloons and

more paper maché to start the process of building

our bird. Next Hailey decided our nest needed

eggs. Barron suggested we make eggs out of clay

so we brought in some Model Magic and some

paint. Sophia said, “I’m going to make a really

small egg”, and

Leah decided to

make hers

green. Stavroula

said, “Mine is

going to be a

rainbow”. Some

friends also

wanted to mold birds out of the clay. Leah asked to

have a picture off the wall to use as a guide for

hers. Barron made a penguin, and Stewart said,

“Look Amy,

I made my

bird look

like it is

flying”. One

day two

men came

to clean out

the awning

and they took down

the empty nest. We

put the nest in a box

so we could all have

a better look. Ava

and Sophia were

really

excited to show it off to all of the other rooms, so

we walked it around the centre. When we got to

the infant room, Jen told us she had a Robin’s nest

in their room. She let us borrow the nest so we

could compare them. Nathan L observed, “This

one is made with dirt but ours isn’t”. Claire

guessed that our nest was bigger. We used a tape

measure and practiced measuring in centimeters.

We discovered that our nest is bigger! The children

have been working well as a team to help expand

our knowledge of birds. We are excited to see

what else we can learn about birds!

Page 4

Newsletter Title

School Age #2

The Art of Demolition

Earlier in June, the school age children were asked if they wanted to take apart a rocking chair that

had been sitting in the staff room with one arm missing. The school age teachers thought this would

be a popular activity since the children seem to enjoy exploring how things work and taking things

apart. We gathered different tools and brought the chair outside, and waited for the group to come up

with a plan. The children worked together to look over the chair and see what would be the best way to

disassemble it. They noticed that some of it was put together with screws while other parts were glued

together. Once they thoroughly examined it, it was decided to unscrew what they could and bang apart

the rest of the pieces with a hammer. The children used their fine motor skills to wield the screw driver

and Allen keys, and carefully took off the pieces that had screws to attach them. They lined up these

pieces and inspected how they were attached to each other to create the chair. Next came the fun

part. As a group we discussed some safety

rules for using a hammer including giving the

child with the hammer lots of room and wearing

safety glasses. Then every child that wanted to

was able to practise using the hammer to

break apart the remaining pieces. Many of the

children had never used a hammer

independently before but they learned very

quickly how to swing it. They all had large

smiles on their faces as they took their turn

learning the art of demolition!

Page 5

School Age #3

“Frozen” on Stage

The school agers had a great time exploring imagination and the arts. The group decided to take

excerpts from the movie “Frozen” and created their own musical

reenactment. During the creative and brainstorming phase we used

our writing skills and wrote and sketched our ideas on the white board

and note paper. We also viewed the movie to gain a better

understanding of the scenes we were going to preform, then we

worked to memorize the parts of the scenes we needed. The group

communicated their thoughts and ideas with each other and

cooperated with each other to make the skit flow together. During

the developing process there were many opportunities for the

children to use their leadership and team-work skills. The group

was very excited to perform their reenactment for their families at

the Spring Concert. They were all proud of themselves and each

other for all of the hard work they put into creating and

performing. Go Team School Age #3!

Just a reminder, if you

have not yet submitted

your summer vacation

plans please let the

office know if you are

planning to be away.

VACATION

Raising the Bar on Quality

(RTB) is a community

accreditation process for

licensed child care programs

that operate in the Waterloo

Region. RTB assesses centres

on the following scales:

Quality Assurance

Assesses the program's ability

to support quality by reviewing

current practices, completion

of classroom observations,

soliciting parent feedback, and

developing action plans for

improvements.

Best Practice

Reviews the program's

practices in providing

information and support to

parents regarding resources

and child development,

policies, procedures and

management practices.

Professional Development

Demonstrated support of

program staff in ongoing

training and development

through a range of

opportunities and practices.

Through the dedication and

hard work of all staff at Owl-

Saint John Paul II, we are

pleased to report that we

received 2 Gold ratings and 1

Bronze rating.

Page 6

SUMMER CAMPER

Our Camper programs are getting geared up for the busy months ahead! We are excited about the variety of field trips and special days that our Junior and Senior campers will be experiencing this year. If your child will be participating in the programs you will be receiving a package with some information, a calendar and trip forms. Please take time to review the trip forms and return the permission forms to the centre before the due date indicated for each week. Remember to send your child with a water bottle and hat each day and an empty lunch bag with ice pack on trip days.

If you or any of your friends or neighbours are still looking for a camp experience for your children, please see Ann or Kathleen in the office as there are a few weeks with some space still available. We are looking forward to a fun-filled

summer with your family!

Morning Snack

Snack is served in the morning

between 8:00 and 8:45. Your child

should be served breakfast at home

or in the car on the way to the

centre. Children will not be

permitted to bring food from home

into the classroom due to our

Anaphylaxis policy. Thank you for

your co-operation.

Water play

During the summer months we will

have many water activities out for

the children. Please have a

labeled bathing suit and

towel in your child’s

cubby every day.

If your child wears a diaper, please

remember to send along some

“Little Swimmers.” as they don’t fill

up with water and are more

comfortable for your child.

Page 7

REMINDERS

Page 7

Notice of Withdrawal

This is a reminder that

parents must give one

month’s written notice

at the beginning of the

month if withdrawing

their children from the

program.

Tuesday July 1

Canada Day

Monday, August 4 Civic Holiday

Monday, September 1 Labour Day

Have a safe and fun-filled

Summer!

CENTRE CLOSURES

Summer Staffing Vacation schedules for the

staff will be posted outside of

each classroom.

These schedules will let you

know who is on holidays and

who will be covering for them.

Please check each Monday so

you can prepare your child for

the changes.

Sunscreen:

We provide sunscreen with an SPF

of 30. Sunscreen needs to be

applied to your child 15 – 30 minutes

before they go outdoors in the

morning and afternoon

If you are arriving during outside

time please apply the sunscreen

to your child before drop off.

Sun hats:

Every child needs a sun hat to

wear outdoors.

Please remember to clearly

label the hat with your child’s

initials or to apply one of your

Mabel’s Labels.

Security Fobs:

If you are finished at the end of

June, please return your security

fobs before your last day of care. If

you are returning in September, new

ones will be issued to you then.

If you forget to return your fobs, they

will be deactivated and you will incur

a $10 reactivation fee in the fall.

For those attending less than 6

weeks of summer camp, check with

your supervisor regarding fobs for

the summer to determine how best

to proceed.

SCHOLASTIC

The Scholastic Book Club is

finished until September.

Thank you to the many

families who ordered books.

We received many free

books because of your

participation in the program.

SMOG ALERTS

During the summer months, smog

and Humidex alerts become more

common.

The Health Department

encourages residents to be

sensible during smog alerts.

The air quality is usually at its

worst between 2:00 and 8:00 p.m.

We receive an e-mail advisory

directly from the Health

Department if a smog or Humidex

alert has been issued.

Under the Day Nurseries Act

(DNA) we are required to follow all

recommendations by the Health

Department to ensure the well

being of the children in our care.

Owl will keep the children

indoors in the afternoon on

days where there is extreme

heat or smog.

TIPS TO STAY HEALTHY

Residents with respiratory problems,

asthma and heart disease can reduce

their risk by:

Remaining indoors as much as

possible

Refraining from strenuous

outdoors activity.

The general public can also help

themselves by reducing immediate

emissions to the problem.

1. Reduce car use. Walk, cycle or take

public transit.

2. Drive Clean. Combine trips, try

carpooling and keep your car well

tuned.

3. Limit idling. Turn the engine off,

even for short stops.

4. Refuel your vehicle in the early

morning or after sundown when air

pollution levels are lower and

gasoline vapours won’t add to the

problem.

5. Limit use of small engine tools (gas

powered mower, weed trimmer,

leaf blower, chain saw)

6. Use air friendly products. Avoid using

aerosol sprays and cleaners, oil

based paints and other chemicals

that contribute to poor air quality.

7. Avoid use of pesticides.

8. Delay exercising. If strenuous

activities or exercise are

unavoidable, plan them for early in

the morning, and avoid high traffic

areas.

9. Educate your children. Encourage

your children to play outdoors early in

the day and choose play areas away

from heavy traffic. Talk to them about

what they can do to help improve air

quality.

How Ozone is

Formed

Page 8

WEATHER ADVISORIES

Page 8

FUNDRAISING John: “I can’t find my hat!”.

Mom: “Where did you see it last”.

John: “On my head”, laughing.

Mom: “Don’t be a smart-alec. Did you leave it at Owl again”?

John: “No. I brought everything home.”

Mom: “Are you sure”?

John: “Yes!”. The next morning at Owl…

Parent: “Hi, it’s Shannon. I’m Tommy’s mom. The boys go to Owl together. It looks like Tom-my took Johnny’s hat home by mistake.”.

Mom: “How do you know it’s his”?

Parent: “It’s got his label on it. Those Mabel’s Labels are great—aren’t they!”.

Sound familiar...if so, it’s time to order your Mabel’s Labels today. You simply visit our new fund-raising page at: https://mabelslabels.flipgive.com/campaigns/11305-owl-child-care and follow the instructions.

Labels will be shipped directly to your home.

Owl receives 20% donation on all products.

Thank you for your support.