End of Semester

Last week was our last class for the semester. The weather cooperated so we were able to have our celebration at the park under a sunny sky. The children had fun playing outside and everyone brought food to share.

Since some of the children leave the program at the age of three, there were a few who were given a certificate of participation by the City College instructor that works with our program. It will be sad not to see their faces next semester and I hope I run into the families in the future. We have even made plans to meet up again in the park on Tuesday!

As for seeing familiar faces, I stayed a little bit later than I usually do last Tuesday and thought one of the mothers in the baby class looked familiar. I eventually started talking to her and did find out that she was the person I thought she might be. She had been in the first class I had ever taught in elementary school! I hope I get to reconnect with her again next semester.

-Laura Hecht

Preschool Information

Today’s turnout at the preschool information session was great! We even had a family of a 1 ½ year old show up and few others that did not need preschool information for various reasons. For those looking for a preschool, they had the chance to meet people from various centers and organizations and a chance to ask questions. For those few not necessarily looking for a preschool, it was still the time to play with their child and meet up with group since the classes have become an important weekly event.

-Laura Hecht

Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day.

It seems as if it has been raining every Tuesday in April. The wind and the rain kept many of the families away from the class. Hopefully it won’t rain on the next two Tuesdays since we plan to take a field trip and to have the last class outside in a park.
A nice thing about having such small group was that it felt a bit cozier. We had a few conversations about topics that we had not discussed before.

-Laura Hecht

Little Seeds

This week I read "Ten Seeds" by Ruth Brown in my toddler classes. I have only a few toddlers in one of my newer classes - and these toddlers are still getting used to the idea of story time. Since the craft this week was a birdfeeder, I discovered a "secret weapon" to get the toddlers to listen to this engaging story. I gave each toddler a seed to hold in their hand (birdseed from the birdfeeder craft). I told them that the seed was a part of the story, so as long as they sat and listened to the story, they could hold the seed in their hands. If they wanted to get up and wander around, that was fine, but they had to give the seed back. It took a few exchanges for them to get the idea, but in the end, I had captured the full attention of all five toddlers, they were completely engaged in the story, eager to find out what happened to each seed. I love it when a story comes together!

-Dawn Noelle

TWINS!

As a mother of twins, it was with much pleasure that I greeted one of our toddler moms this week with her toddler and two month old twins in tow. It was great to swap twin stories but mostly intriguing to see how this usually very mild mannered sibling was reacting. He was still a joy to have with us. He is very engaged in conversation, play, and loves to help clean up and put away the mats. I could see the struggle in him, however, to be proud of his new little baby brother and sister - but also continually trying to compete for my attention. Since our attendance was low this week due to a storm, I was able to enjoy giving this little one my full attention while his mother fed and diapered her two newest additions. Looks like she'll be coming to my baby class tomorrow as well!

-Dawn Noelle

Working out the glitches

In applying for library cards for my students, one mother came up in the system with $65 owed on her previous card. This seemed like an overwhelming amount to even consider mentioning to any of our mothers, but the librarians were very helpful investigating the source of this fine. It turns out that there were three books listed as "lost" from before this mother turned 18 (back in 2006) and the replacement fee for each book had been applied to her account. There were also three books listed as returned with the maximum overdue fine of $5 applied to each of them. Further investigation revealed that the three "lost" books were actually the same books that had actually been returned. This process of applying for cards before a librarian visit, allowed this discrepancy to be discovered - and even the $15 in overdue fines were waived, considering that these books were checked out when this mother was still a minor. (Children are not charged overdue fines, but parents are responsible for paying for any lost books.) I am eagerly anticipating letting this mother know that she can start checking books out on her own with a clean slate...and her new baby now has a library card as well.

-Dawn Noelle

Tiny Ones

We had two new babies in one of our classes this week. They are both only 2 months old. It has been a while since I've been around such tiny babies. Mothers don't tend to get out of the house to a program like ours until their babies have turned at least 3 months old. As these mothers worked on their projects, leaving their babies on the mats, I had the privilege of reading to each one individually - lying on the mat beside them. At this age, the most response I get from reading them a book is simply a head turned in the direction of the voice that is reading to them. It is a great feeling to be getting such an early start with these babies.

-Dawn Noelle