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May 2013
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May 2013 Edgewater Early Learning Center A program of One Hope United 5244 N. Lakewood Ave., Chicago IL, 60640 773.907.0278

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Family outings provide bonding time, learning opportunities
Spring is here and it is time to step outside and enjoy the warmer weather! Taking children exploring is one way to spend time together as a family while also getting some exercise and learning something new. Here are some ideas for places to go and things to do on family outings: Take a walk or ride bikes around the neighborhood. Look for things you might not have noticed before a flower or tree, an interesting house, a street with a funny name.

5 Happy Cinco de Mayo!

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can also bring outdoor play equipment such as a jump rope, hula-hoop, Frisbee or football.

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23 24 Parent Meeting: Preparing for the Transition to Kindergarten 4:30-5:30 p.m. 30 31

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Four Components of the

Explore a neighboring town, and while While you are out, ask children to look you are there, look at a map and show around for shapes. Houses, signs, cars, your child where you are. stores and murals are good places to start. Or just walk outside and inspire your childs imagination by discovering shapes Wherever you go, bring paper and drawing materials and/or a camera. Your in the clouds. child can take notes about, draw and take pictures of the place you visit. Also, bring measuring tape. Many children like knowing the size of things, and its an easy way to practice math. Measure a stick, a sidewalk square or even the distance from the top of a playground slide to the bottom. Bring something home from the trip, such as a leaf, postcard, photo, drawing or story, and put it in a scrapbook to look at again later. When you return from your field trip, encourage children to talk about what they did, what they learnedand what they want to do next time!

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Connect

Drive to a forest preserve to take a nature walk and have a picnic. Let your child choose some lunch items and help count out and pack utensils and napkins. You

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YOUR TRUSTED PARTNER IN EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION

Strengthening Families: Protective Factors

Protective Factor #5: Social and Emotional Competence of Children Parents Need to Help their Children Communicate

what they need, and how parental actions make them feel. Parents can then be more responsive to their childs needs and less likely to react to their own frustration or anger.

Summer Camp
Edgewater Early Learning Center is getting ready for some wonderful adventures this summer in our School Age Summer Camp Program! This year, our summer program will be driven by the STEM approach, which highlights science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics in our weekly summer themes. By implementing the STEM approach, our weekly summer themes focus on problem solving, discovery, exploratory learning and will also give children the opportunity to actively engage. Even though school is on break, we want to continue to develop these critical skills in the summer months. The STEM approach will help us offer exciting learning opportunities that will challenge children all while having a blast with friends!

Your doctor, school social worker, early childhood center staff and other parents may be able to give you support and advice in working with your child. Speak to your Children are complex, and sometimes it is hard to know what they are thinking and feeling. When a child is acting childs teacher if you need help. Social and emotional our or having a hard time socializing, parents need to find development is something that we focus on daily in the classroom through discussions, role-playing, stories and out what is going on. It is important to talk to your child other activities. Ask your childs teacher about the strateand make certain everything is okay. gies they use at school, and how you can help support your child at home. As children learn to verbalize their emotions, rather than act them out, it allows them to tell parents how they feel,

Honoring Child Abuse Prevention Month

During the month of April, the staff of Edgewater Early Learning Center participated in some special activities to show our commitment to ending child abuse. In addition to Blue Ribbon Day, the staff participated in WEAR BLUE DAY on Thursday, April 25 in honor of the Blue Ribbon Campaign. Staff were also presented with special blue One Hope United tote bags!

Our Summer Camp program will run from June 24 August 20, 2013. For more information, please stop by the office.

From the Directors Desk: Male Involvement Activity

Both fathers and mothers play meaningful roles in their childrens development. Although paternal and maternal relationships differ, both are important and influential. Research has shown that children are more successful at school when both the mother and father are highly involved in their childs academic life. To spotlight male involvement, families were invited to participate in a Breakfast with Dads Activity. Families were able to enjoy a light breakfast and then spend time designing paper airplanes! After creating their planes, families then practiced their test flights. Not only was this an interesting activity for families and children to participate in together, but it also was a wonderful opportunity for the males in our lives to get to know each other a little better! Thank you to all of our families who participated in our Male Involvement Activity. Remember, whether you are a father, grandfather, uncle, step-father, or male role model, all male role models can have a positive impact on childrens academic success! Happy May to our Edgewater families! Now that our Head Start Federal Review is complete, we are looking forward to catching our breath and slowing down the pace a little. I wanted to take a moment to thank our staff at Edgewater Early Learning Center for the extra time and dedication they showed as we prepared for Federal Review. Federal Review is no small endeavor, as we have to expect the unexpected! Classrooms are observed, files are reviewed, policies and procedures are monitored, staff and parents are interviewedno stone is left unturned! Our staff worked diligently to ensure that we presented the very best of Edgewater Early Learning Center. I am very proud each and every day to see the dedication that our staff has to early childhood education and quality programming. Please join me in thanking them for a job well done! Until next month... Marybeth Mlikotic
EELC Director