Lakewood Childcare Center

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PRE-K PAGE

FAMILY CONNECTION

The holidays can be stressful (especially now) and hard on some families. We have been trying to talk about ways to keep the stress down, and still keep the fun without going crazy. Here are a few tips on what to do that might help:

  • Manage your stress- you set the example for the little ones so when you are tense, they will be too. Be sure to set aside time for yourself, get enough sleep, breathe and smile (like Buddy the Elf says, “smiling’s my favorite!”).
  • Keep routine- if possible, keep consistent daily routines to help everyone with sleep and staying focused.
  • Manage expectations- set limits, explain changes and variations ahead of time and expect some emotions may be elevated.
  • Stay active- instead of night after night of movies and screen time, take a brisk walk outside, play a family game of Twister, bake some cookies and just spend time being together.
  • Start a new tradition- why not make some ornaments for family members or go see holiday lights. Your child will remember the happy times together over what toy he/she got for Christmas each year.
  • Giving back to others- choose to get rid of old toys and donate to Toys-for-Tots or clean out the closets and donate to a shelter. Teaching kindness is something we work on in the classroom daily.

SOCIAL SKILLS

We will be tackling the skill of “Dealing with Teasing” for the rest of the month. This has been an issue in the classroom recently and we have heard “you are a baby” or “You don’t know how to do that”. We are working on using our words and telling someone to stop, don’t repeat the words, tell the peer what they should do, etc. An example would be: a girl is playing in the block area and a boy comes to play. He calls her a “baby” for not being able to build. She could say, “I am not a baby. I didn’t like that you called me that. That hurts my feelings. Next time, use my name and be kind.” These are the steps to take:


  1. STOP AND THINK- discuss the importance of giving yourself time before reacting and the likely consequence of saying something back or acting aggressively. Another thing you can do is to talk about why people tease in the first place (get others mad or get their attention)
  2. SAY “PLEASE STOP”- we need to remind others that we do not like the behavior towards us and we want it to stop.
  3. WALK AWAY- we teach that this ends the situation with the peer. We can also come to a teacher for extra help.

THEMES FOR THE MONTH

11/16-11/20 families

11/23-11/27 Thanksgiving

11/20-12/4 dinosaurs

IMPORTANT DATES TO CELEBRATE


11/18 Mickey Mouse birthday

11/26 Thanksgiving

11/28 National French Toast Day