Saturday, 31 August 2013

Open for Business

West Cambie Children's Centre will open it's doors and welcome 42 children on Tuesday September 3, 2013.

It is a huge moment for the Society.......long awaited.

The staff teams and the playground installers worked hard all week to be ready .... and we are......I will post some better shots soon but here is a little peek.

Friday, 9 August 2013

Encouraging Early Writing

REPOST from Exchange Everyday

August 7, 2013

A smile is the universal welcome.
-Max Eastman

In her article, "Encouraging Preschoolers' Early Writing Efforts: Take Another Look at That Scribble," which serves as the basis for theExchange Out-of-the-Box Training Kit:Encouraging Early Writing, Leslie Falconer provides these insights:

"If there’s one object common to pre-schools and child care centers the world over, it’s pieces of paper covered with looping scribbles made by small hands learning to hold a pencil or crayon. The next time you’re cleaning up at the end of a busy day, though, consider taking a closer look at those scribbles. They’re actually samples of early writing, and an invitation for you to channel those small hands into recording their new ideas and creative thoughts....

"Writing is an extraordinarily complex process for young children. It requires children to formulate personal opinions or ideas and then translate them into written symbols that represent words they use in oral language. Because this process is very demanding on both an emotional and intellectual level, it is important for educators to celebrate the child each time she experiments with writing. Cultivating a child’s willingness to express herself through scribbles or inventive spelling will yield benefits in her long-term social, emotional, and intellectual development."

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

West Cambie Children's Centre - Welcome to the family

We moved in to our new centre - West Cambie Children's Centre last week and it was a very sweet moment after years of waiting and planning......

We open with the children on September 3rd and we are full.

We plan to open a preschool upstairs in 2014 so let us know if you are interested in that.

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

SPACES

We have September 1, 2013 openings at:

Cook Road Children's Centre for 3-5 year olds

and at our new

West Cambie Children's Centre for 4 year olds

Please call

Cook Road : 604-214-8271

West Cambie : 604-231-0870 or 604-214-3490

These centres are just 5 minutes from one another in central Richmond.

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Gratitude

We are so grateful for this meaningful letter to the Editor from a parent......

Child care, a community effort

RICHMOND NEWS JUNE 28, 2013

The Editor,

As a first-time parent in 2003, I worried about returning to work in the midst of a childcare shortage, particularly for infants and toddlers.

Ten years later, and after enrolling three children at Bowling Green Children's Centre, our time has come to say goodbye.

My husband and I learned so much from the talented early childhood educators at Bowling Green. They taught us strategies to deal with challenging behaviour and opened our eyes to the amazing things our children were capable of. They helped prepare us and our children for kindergarten.

And, at the end of every day, they made us feel as if our children were special.

The Society of Richmond Children's Centres is a non-profit organization currently running Bowling Green, Cook Road and Terra Nova Children's Centres. Under the guidance of their dedicated executive director, Nicky Byres, and board of directors, the society provides an outstanding service for our community.

Luckily for Richmond families and businesses, the society is growing and will soon open the West Cambie Children's Centre.

Sadly, 10 years after having my first child, the overall shortage of quality childcare, particularly for infants and toddlers, still exists.

As parents, we don't work to buy fancy cars, Jimmy Choo shoes or go on elaborate vacations. We work to pay our mortgages, afford orthodontics and give our children music lessons. We may work, but we also devote ourselves to our children.

Childcare is not about delegating the raising of our children to someone else. It is about a community of care - one that allows families to be financially stable, keeps skilled and educated workers in the workforce and nurtures our future leaders.

To Byres and the Bowling Green teachers - our heartfelt thanks for all you do. The Pan family will miss you immensely.

Teresa Pan Richmond

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Home away from home

From the Bowling Green Toddler Room:

You may have noticed that we’ve been going through a few changes in our room lately. We’ve moved a couple of things around, bought new furniture, used different materials in different ways but all with a purpose in mind.

After our visit to Hilltop we’ve sat down as a team and have had many discussions about our program and we’ve been inspired to change our environment and have it reflect and honour the children, the families, and educators of our program.

As a whole, we love the idea of providing a “home away from home” for the children and families, as well as the educators.

While picking up Matthew, Maja and Melanie engaged in a conversation that led Melanie to express to Maja how we’ve wanted to plant more trees and flowers in our yard. To Melanie’s surprise, Maja mentioned that they were landscaping their home and had many flowers and plants they were getting rid of and offered to bring them in for us. Melanie was ecstatic and told us the exciting news later that afternoon. The following day, Melanie went over to Matthew’s house to help dig up the plants and flowers that Matthew and his family were giving to us.

When Melanie arrived at the center with the plants and the flowers, the children were immediately curious and wanted to take part in what was happening. They asked many questions about what these things were that Melanie was bringing in and what we were going to do with them. Melanie went on to explain that these plants and flowers were from Matthew and his family and that she had gone to his home to help bring them to the center. When she asked the children if they wanted to help plant the different items the children answered with an excited “Yes!” including Matthew.

We are so grateful to Matthew and his family for sharing something from their home with us. Bringing something from home is always special to the children. Whatever it is they bring, they always want to show everyone and talk to everyone about it. This special item they bring, whatever it may be, is a connection to their home life in which most cases provides a sense of comfort for the children along with belonging while being away from home.

This led us all to think it would be great if every child and their family picked an item they would like to donate to the program (for example a basket, blanket, pillow, lamp, etc.) that’s meaningful both to the child and their family and have it be a part of our classroom?

We would love to have all of these different and personal items to create a place that feels like home to each child and family. I believe it will encourage the children to continue to thrive and feel a sense of well-being and belonging when they come in.

Having a place that they can truly call their own by sharing a piece of their home with us, is the beginning of a family oriented place we would love to have and share together in our room.

We’re really excited and looking forward to having our families be a part of this meaningful experience in the near future.

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Making Friends with Leaves

I spent a delightful morning At Terra Nova Children's Centre.

Officially I was there to observe an ECE Practicum student but I got so involved with the children and their play and art. I ended up having a great time in conversation with our artists and scientists.

Thanks to my student for presenting a great activity and to the children for their boundless curiosity and creativity.