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Sunhine Patch Daycare Newsletter April, 2013

Message to the Parents:

Dear Parents/s,

We had a great Spring Break!!! We thank mother nature for the lovely spring weather in

the week off from school for the Kindergarteners. The rest of the groups enjoyed their nature

walksas well.

We would like to remind the parents that we are taking suggestions for the summer field

trips at this time. We would like to acknowledge and thank Lisa-Marie King , a parent who has

children in our Daycare Centre and has a Recreational & Leisure Services Diploma is putting

together a bunch of Offsite Excursions and other ideas for a fun Summer Program for our

Daycare . Once short listed a copy of the activities along with the fiscal responsibilities will be

presented to the families at the soonest.

We have received the majority of the Family Surveys back and are now working on our

QEP(Quality Enhancement Plan) which will have our short term, medium term & long term

plans. We are planning a parent meeting towards the end of May to form a Parent Advisory

Board. Kindly communicate with the room staff as to what time in the evening is most

convenient. We were hoping 7-8PM.

We thank the families for bringing back the permission forms for the participation and

involvement of the Leduc County FCSS FOR skill Enhancement, enhanced programming and

support of children’s individual development and needs and for opportunities for early

identification of families that could benefit from support and linkages to community resources.

April is Earth Month and we would like to request parents to save their wine bottle

corks for a project that our OSC Program has planned for the recycle crafts to celebrate Earth

Month. We would be thankful if they can be handed to the room staff for your child and they will

be collected and given to the OSC Program.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Kim or Rani in person, e-mail-

sunshinepatch@live.ca or by phone at 780-929-2298.

Thanks,

Management & Staff

Upcoming closure dates: May 20- Victoria Day

Wise words:

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher

April Birthdays: Natalia De La Garza - April 9

Klaret Kriel- April 25

Marek Webster- April 29

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Sleeping Llama Room (Baby room)

Kuljit Kaur- Child Development Assistant-Room Supervisor

Our Little Llamas are using Stage 1: Palm Grip Crayons from “My First Crayola collection”.

We are excited to see their art using palm grip crayons for their own art work.

There are shakers made with recycled pop cans to make music along with empty cereal box

shaker to use their grips and shake shake to hear the sounds they make. They sing, dance, and

use sound makers along with the instruments in the room.

Masks were introduced to the children made with recycled knee pads. Little Plastic jars were

Introduced with different materials from everyday life for labelling to add to the vocabulary.

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Water play with plastic easter eggs and ducks was enjoyed by the children all month.

The week of the spring break was great for outdoors. Every day was a day for stroller walks.

Butterfly Room (Toddler room)

Trupti Patel- Child Development Supervisor – Room Supervisor

Goma Srao- Child Development Assistant

The Butterflies were excited to use palm grip crayons for their art work. These were introduced

to the younger toddlers. We also used our fine motor skills to color butterflies using crayons to

welcome the spring along with finger painting. Hand prints were made using spring colors and

lady bugs were painted. Easter egg hunt was another fun feature of the month in our playground.

Children used glue sticks for make an Easter art by gluing the items of choice on the table inside

the egg shape on the Bristol board. We also painted paper plate rainbows.

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Water play is a all time favorite sensory play for our Butterflies!! Play dough being the second

favorite as we develop our hand muscle strength rolling, squeezing, and creating shapes using the

cookie cutters.

Lady Bug Room (Pre-school Room)

Hina Patel- Child Development Supervisor

Aman Randhawa- Secondary Staff

We had a very busy month in the Lady Bug Room!! We painted Easter eggs, had spoon and egg

races, Hooping races for Gross Motor activity and had an egg hunt. We played pin- the tail on

the bunny, children shared big laughs during the event. We went for daily nature walks with the

lovely weather. For cognitive, our lady bugs played the Easter egg number recognition game

using empty egg carton to match the number on the plastic eggs with the number in the inside

carton. Children created their own Easter Bunny cards. The room resonated the “Little Bunny

Foo-Foo” and “I’m a little chick” songs.

Every Thursday, we have show and tell!

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Egg n Spoon race

Egg Painting Playdough Bunnies

Green Frog Room (Kindergarten Room)

The Green Frogs had a great Spring Break!! We went to skating to the Ken Nichol Recreation

Centre on Monday- March 25, 2013, Tuesday- March 26, 2013 Tobogganing at Bellevue

Elementary Hill and Thursday- March 28, 2013- Tobogganing at Library Hill. Our Green Frogs

explored the Hospital in March. There were little doctors and nurses in the room. They explored

the items in the first aid box. They made doctors kits for crafts using cutting skills and made

items like stethoscopes for craft. They were interested in how babies come home from the

hospital. We want to thank Kayden’s mum for bringing in their new born to the classroom to

show the children. We also explored caring for babies, how to hold babies, infant safety, food,

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bathtime and diaper change. Children hand printed their palms using white paint on black craft

paper to create x-ray effect. We also had Dinosaur exploration going on at the same time.

Children experimented with eggs soaked overnight and observed the baby dinosaurs emerging

from the eggs. They also used vinegar and baking soda to explore the volcano effect along with

carving the fossils.

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Food Bank: Please find the container for the food bank to reach out to the community of Leduc

& District Food Bank.

Clothes Exchange: We are also toiling with the idea of having a clothes exchange program for a

better use of lightly used items. Please bring forth suggestions as if we should do this quarterly,

before a season starts/ on a weekend or the weekdays, etc. Please give your input to the room

staff verbally, written note or e-mail it to us at sunshinepatch@live.ca

Recipe of the Month

Chicken & Mango Spring Rolls

prep time : 30 min

total time: 30 min

makes :12 servings, 1 roll (72 g) and 1-1/2 Tbsp. (20 mL) sauce each

What You Need

12 rice paper sheets

1/2 lb. (225 g) cooked chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1 smallmango, peeled, thinly sliced

1 cup thin red pepper strips

2 green onions, finely chopped

1/2 cupcilantro leaves

4 cupsarugula

1/2 cupKraft Asian Sesame Dressing

1/3 cupKraft Smooth Peanut Butter

1 tsp.reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp.water

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Make It

SOAK rice paper sheets, 1 at a time, in warm water 1 min. or until softened. Place in

single layer on work surface.

PLACE chicken on one short end of each rice paper sheet; top with mangos, peppers,

onions, cilantro and arugula. Roll up each sheet, starting at topped end and folding in

both sides of sheet as you roll it up to enclose filling.

MIX remaining ingredients until blended. Serve with spring rolls.

http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/chicken-mango-spring-rolls-119880.aspx

Parent resources

In this section you will find useful information for you and your family such as links and tips.

The Adventurers School Age Care team has searched out the best resources on the internet and

have combined them all here for you in one convenient location. Useful links :

http://www.professionalparenting.ca/

http://bullyfreealberta.ca/

http://kidshelpphone.ca/teens/home/splash.aspx

http://www.childrenslink.ca/childrensLink/home.aspx

http://activeforlife.ca/

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php

http://www.healthyalberta.com/

http://arpaonline.ca/program/kids/

http://www.participaction.com/splash/

http://canadiansportforlife.ca/parents

http://www.health.alberta.ca/health-info/physical-activity.html

http://www.gov.ns.ca/hpp/publications/05092_BreakfastLunchSnackIdeasBooklet_En.pdf