Children's Center Preschool Serving the Los Feliz, Hollywood, Silverlake , Atwater communities
  • From the Director

  • Feb19

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    School Day/Sick Child- 7 ideas

    Posted in: From the Director, Newsletter, Parenting

    The preschool is having its first round of colds and fevers affecting a number of children during this cold and flu season. With no school Monday, President’s Day, I hope everyone gets healthier.
    In this email, I am talking about the parent’s dilemma best summed up by a dad who said, “My boss doesn’t like it when I miss three days of work, but I understand she needs to be at home”. Many of you have busy schedules, traveling spouses, and meetings that are important. I remember this well;  I have four grown children. Unfortunately, sick and recovering children need to be cared for outside of the preschool.
    I want to share with you some resources and “before need” coping strategies to think and plan about over the 3 day holiday to help with the dilemma. The two main obstacles seem to be the ” morning of” illness and the “getting well but not ready for school” recovery period. Not all strategies will work for all families.
    1. Relatives- talk to family who are close by and see how and when they might be available  to cover you.
    2. Other parent/friend- as with a babysitting coop, some families make arrangements to cover each other in the case of illness. Not hours and hours, but the caring for or picking up of a child until your  crucial work need  is over.
    3. Babysitters- they often have flexible daytime schedules. Other parents may have a person you would  trust;  they could spend some time with your child before you need them.
    4. Nannies- some of you have talk about “underutilized” nannies. Perhaps they can step in and be paid while they are not caring for their usual child.
    5. Neighbors- some of you have spoken of a good neighbor/ friend.  Are they available for recovery care or pick up at school and short term care?
    6. Friends- is there someone who would be willing to be on call?
    7.  College students- We are fortunate to have Los Angeles City College nearby. Both Ty and Suzanne went there. Check and see if they have a way of putting you together with students available for  childcare.
    Developing ” before need” care arrangements will hopefully ease some of the stress of caring for a sick child. Please make sure that I have the names of the people you choose written in my file. You can stipulate the circumstance under which they can pick up your child, i.e. sick child care only. I will ask for ID if we don’t know them.
    I CANNOT release a child without a written note from a parent if the pick up person is not on the list; in the moment of need that can be a real hassle.
    I hope these ideas help and I wish you a happy and healthy President’s Day holiday.

  • Feb16

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    Orientation Meeting March 2nd

    Posted in: Family events, From the Director

    We have added one more orientation meeting before the  late spring and fall applications are due on March 3rd. We will be having one on March 2nd at 5:30 at the school.

    The Orientation Meeting is the second step in the admissions process and is intended for parents who are interested in the preschool who have already taken the parent tour. They will  hear an overview of  the school from its philosophy to the daily schedule. It is good opportunity to ask questions and make sure that the preschool is a good match to their families goals and needs.

    In addition, applications are handed out at the meeting. To be considered in the first round of application decisions, parents must submit their applications by March 3rd. Admission responses will be sent during  at the end of the first week of March.

    We will continue to give parent tours and orientation meetings for summer and fall 2011 but there is no guarantee that there will be space available.

    If you are interested in applying to Children’s Center Preschool, please contact Deborah to rsvp to the meeting on March 2nd  and to schedule a parent tour if you have not already had one. Click on the Contact Us header on the home page of this website. We look forward to seeing you and sharing the preschool with you.

  • Feb13

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    Marriage & Children-5 Ideas

    Posted in: Child Development, From the Director, Parenting

    5 Ideas in support of a Healthy Marriage

    At a recent parent coffee, the  parents and I were discussing their lives as married couples with children as a part of their family and how hard it is for the children not to become all of their married life together.  I was struck by the importance of the words  “with children as a part of the family”.

    When you begin life your life together as a couple, it is a huge adjustment to become parents and incorporate a child into your family. It is also a wonderful, satisfying, and time-consuming part of your life; I have 4 children and certainly understand. Children need and benefit from your love, attention, respect, and thoughtfulness and you love doing it.

    But it can very easily take over your life and fill the time you used to have as a couple. It is very important to your children’s and your  well being that you find time to continue to have a close relationship as a couple. By nurturing close relationships with your  children, creating a cohesive family life, AND maintaining a strong bond as a couple, you provide the very best environment for every family member to thrive.

    The other side of that coin is that  no matter how thoughtfully you try and raise a child, an unhappy marriage or divorce will undo many of your best efforts in parenting and leave you unhappy as well.

    At the coffee, the parents were sharing some of the things that, in daily life with their children, make it difficult for them to have time for their marriages. For example,  being unable to have an uninterrupted conversation,  having no time together alone unless it at the very end of the evening,  exhaustion,  never being able to get away, etc.

    They also generated a number of excellent suggestions that allow children to be a meaningful part of their  family while neither being the “boss” of the family nor a part of everything.

    Here are some of the suggestions for creating everything from little moments of adult time to having some time to get away alone.

    1. Make sure there are times when you talk with your children and really listen to what they have to say AND THEN make equally sure you have times when you can talk as adults together without every sentence being interrupted. If the children are there, ask them to wait while you finish a thought or sentence.

    • You can say  “ I am going to finish telling Mommy/Daddy/ Papa something and then I can talk with you.”  Or “ In one minute, I will listen to what you have to say but now I am talking to M/D/ P”, and then stick to it.  Children learn from the parental modeling and this will benefit not only your marriage but also the children’s relationships with other people.

    2. Find time every day to ask your child to find something self- amusing to do so you can be together and talk.

    • Not just the necessary logistical and child stuff but the important stuff. “How are you?”, “How was your day”, “What interesting happened today” , “ How about Egypt?”  “ How about the Lakers?” Whatever matters to you. Protect these times.
    • When your child comes over to interrupt, remind him/ her that you are talking and that you will be with them soon.  Don’t negotiate.  If this is new to them, start small, 5 minutes, but plan on building up. Praise their success. Preschool children are capable of  easily self-amusement  for 15 minutes  several times a day.

    3. Set a reasonable bedtime and find a way to make it work. Have enough time left in the evening for yourselves when you are not exhausted.

    • Start early enough.
    • Bedtime routines can be very helpful here. Do the same thing every night. Pick the order that works for you but bath, pj’s, toothbrushing, story, song, lights out are the general ones. The routine predisposes children to settle in and it prepares their minds for sleep.  End on a quiet and loving note.
    • Help your child to learn to fall asleep without having you in the room.  If you have a family bed, reassure them that you will be with them when you come home and come to bed. Like all of these suggestions, take it in baby steps.

    4. Plan dates nights and protect them fiercely.

    • Find a trusted babysitter, grandparent, or friend.  Teach them about your child’s needs and routines,  leave them with the needed information, and go out together. Children will be fine and will develop the ability to be flexible and cared for by others.
    • If this is new, start small. Go out for coffee and come back. But build up to  enough time so you can really connect as a couple.
    • Make this time  a priority and don’t allow it to become something functional i.e., going to a meeting, a business dinner, or the market.
    • DON’T DISCUSS THE CHILDREN; very hard but very important. You need to connect with the part of your marriage that is about other things. You did that before; you can do it again.

    5. Once in a while, try and get away for a night or two.

    • Use those same trusted people and get away.
    • Again, baby steps after you have developed the date night.
    • First, stay in a lovely but local hotel.  You might try leaving after you put the children to bed and coming back after breakfast.
    • Next time, extend the stay until after lunch.
    • You get the idea.

    Supporting a healthy and connected marriage is an invaluable gift to yourselves and your children. They will learn how to have loving and caring relationships that respect not only their own needs but the needs of others and you can have a marriage that will last a lifetime.

  • Feb3

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    Parent Coffees

    Posted in: Family events, From the Director

    As a parent involvement school, parenst participate in a variety of ways, be it volunteering in the classroom, attending the bimonthly parent potlucks, joining in the child/ parent regular gatherings, or coming to the parent coffees.

    Parent coffees occur twice a month on different days of the week at 9 am until  10:30 ish. Parents first settle their children in the classroom and then gather together for tea or coffee and some conversation with other parents.

    Coffees provide a wonderful chance for moms, dads, and papas to discuss their daily life and parenting experiences and challenges. Being a parent can be hard, and sometimes lonely,experience  in today’s busy times.  As children grow, there are always changing circumstances, new developmental steps, and questions.

    In this group, parents have a chance to discuss with a diverse group of other parents what is on their mind. The discussions have ranged from life with siblings, TV watching, helping kids get up and going in the morning and ready for bed at night, to coping with grandparents with different parenting styles, and finding time for themselves.

    Many parents commented in the beginning that they were just relieved to know they weren’t the only ones, whether it was about toilet training or limit setting. I was impressed from the beginning at how open and honest they were with each other. And how kind. There is a wonderful feeling of good will and support.

    The coffees are also wonderful for me as I learn what is currently important to my parents.  For example, I quickly learned that there are many families with younger siblings and have created a bimonthly parent and younger sibling playtime and discussion about life with siblings.

    With such a supportive and engaged parent body, I look forward to the many coffees that lay ahead as we work to love and to support the children we care for.

  • Feb3

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    Orientation Meeting Feb 10th 5:30 pm

    Posted in: From the Director

    We are rapidly approaching the orientation meeting on February 10th at 5:30 pm. Parents who are interested in the preschool, most of whom have already had a parent tour, will be coming to hear about everything about the school from its philosophy to the daily schedule. It is chance to ask questions and make sure that the preschool is a good match to their families goals and needs.

    In addition, applications are handed out at the meeting. To be considered in the first round of application decisions, parents must submit their applications by the end of February. Admission responses will be sent during  the first week of March.

    We will continue to give parent tours and orientation meetings for summer and fall 2011 but there is no guarantee that there will be space available.

    If you are interested in applying to Children’s Center Preschool, please contact Deborah to rsvp to the meeting on the 10th and schedule a parent tour before the end of the month. click on the Contact Us header on the home page of this website. I look forward to seeing you.

  • Jan23

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    Valuing Diversity in our School

    Posted in: Child Development, Curriculum, From the Director

    In giving parent tours these last few weeks and in considering the wonderful pool of applicants we are developing, I was revisiting the importance of diversity in our preschool and the many ways it is achieved. One of the reasons I chose the Los Feliz, Silverlake, Larchmont, and Hollywood area is that it has a diverse population. I have also chosen a staff that reflects our diverse community. I believe children learn from what they live with in the normal course of their daily lives. They learn that there are many different ways for families to love, raise, and support children. Families with diverse family structures, faiths, backgrounds, races, ethnicities, economic means, and careers all raise healthy, interesting children.

    I believe that it is through living and sharing together that we all really come to internalize tolerance, appreciation, honoring and supporting the people in our own world. Children also naturally develop a view that gives them the opportunity to comfortably explore the rich range of people and possibilities. From  this base, children will go on in their world to benefit from the richness of people they will come to know.

    As a staff, we believe diversity goes well beyond race and ethnicity although those are the easiest to identify quickly. As we put together a classroom group, we think of diversity quite broadly. We are interested in a mix of racial and ethnic backgrounds and I am delighted that our preschool has developed significant diversity using those criteria.

    The children themselves always represent diversity and we value a group that is varied. Some are outgoing, some more quiet; some are more visual learners, some auditory learner, some kinesthetic learners. While they generally enjoy the many offerings of  a preschool program, they have a a great range of interests and talents. Some go right to the puzzles while another is off to the blocks.  Some love a big group to play with where others like one good play friend. In a mixed age grouping, children reflect their different developmental stages.

    We also look for diversity in other ways. We welcome families with a variety of family structures; families with mom and dad, with a single parent,with same sex parents, with step families, with adopted children, with grandparents as the primary caretakers. There are so many ways to successfully raise children today; each family is striving towards being the best parents they can be.

    We value a range of backgrounds in the family’s  work life; lawyers, journalists, artists, engineers, chefs and  entertainment industry people all enrich the school with their different experiences, talents,  and perspectives.

    Especially at the holidays, we celebrate the diversity of beliefs our families have. We celebrate Christmas and Chanukah, St. Lucia Day, and Cinco de Mayo. We discuss the secular and the religious and the philosophical.

    We love learning about everyone’s different talents, be it cooking, music, gardening, art, or storytelling. Children have different talents and interests; the more they see that all people come with a variety of talents and interests, the better. It also help us to learn what each child cares about. Our curriculum incorporates the children’s emergent interests into the classroom activities and invited visitors.

    We encourage families to invite grandparents into the school to be part of the school activities and programs. As a society, we benefit when people of all  ages join together to enrich children’s life. We have grandparents as volunteers as well as participants in our family /child gatherings. At our Thanksgiving feast, grandparents thoughts joined with the parents’ and children’s about what they were most thankful for, offering a wonderful range of perspectives.

    We encourage families with a range of economic means to join our school. Since we offer 3, 4, and 5 mornings as well as 1 to 5 afternoons, we hope that families can find a home with us. We also offer partial scholarships to families in need. We recognize that these are particularly different times and want to ensure that the diversity offered by families different life experiences are incorporated in the school.

    Our preschool has benefitted from the wonderful range of children and their families that are with us each day. We are grateful to them for  making  our days so interesting.

  • Dec12

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    My New Favorite Book

    Posted in: From the Director

    Today, at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park, my husband walked into the gift shop and started reading a children’s book. He said that he knew from the moment he saw it that I would want it. He was so right; it won my heart.

    Big Wolf and Little Wolf by Nadine Brun-Cosme and Olivier Tallec ( Enchanted Lions Books, New York) is absolutely enchanting. Big Wolf lives under a tree, happy but alone. One day, Big Wolf finds himself with a new Little Wolf  joining him under a tree. Big Wolf’s life starts to change when Little Wolf doesn’t go home after the first night. Slowly, Big Wolf opens his heart to him but then, Little Wolf disappears. This is a wonderful story of friendship and change.

    I bought it from the Autry Museum, which has a great gift shop. It is worth a trip with your family to see the combination of the beautiful baskets and rugs from the Southwest Museum and the collection of art and history of the West from the Autry.

  • Nov30

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    Christmas and Chanukah Gift Giving

    Posted in: From the Director, Fun with Preschoolers, Holidays

    Gift giving to young children can be challenging. At Children’s Center Preschool, there are some favorite toys and activities that children really love that we thought you would enjoy knowing about. Each offers many opportunities for imaginative, open-ended play, hours of enjoyment, and, except for the Magna-tiles, are fairly inexpensive.

    • Manipulatives area-Children aged 3-7 years old  play over and over again with the MAGNA-TILES available from Amazon.com.   These square and triangular plastic tiles have magnets along their edges, allowing them to connect and create structures in an amazing array of shapes. You will want at least 50 and probably a hundred. They will last for years of use.  I love these! Bristle blocks and Medium-sized Legos are also very popular and can be added too as time goes on.
    • Sensory area- Playdough is always popular and you can get big tubs of it in a range of colors . Add some rollers, garlic presses, plastic knives, rubber stamps, etc. However, the current favorite is IncredibleFoam. It is made of tiny beads and bound together so that it can be gently molded into many shapes. Ty says it feels like soft Rice Krispy Treats.  Both are available from  Discount School Supply . It is very, very fun!
    • Sensory possibilities additionally can be found on this website. Directions of how to make Flubber, Playdough, Clean Mud, and Cornstarch Goo are given. These can be made and put into fun containers.
    • Art  projects are  always a favorite thing to do. Several years ago, my husband and I put together CREATION BOXES for all of our grandchildren. Our main source of collage materials, fabric, paper, tubes, ribbons, stickers, and other great stuff was Trash for Teaching in downtown LA. We get our recycled materials for the school from T4T. They have more than a hundred bins of manufacturer’s leftovers and other new but repurposed items. It is a bonanza of great stuff and you pay $2.00 a pound. Check your previous email or the website for more information.To make the boxes, Stephen and I first took large cardboard boxes and covered them with holiday paper. Then we filled them with different colored paper, glue sticks, tape, hole punches, markers, and lots of the items from T4T. They were a favorite present that year and still get lots of use. They are easy to refill with new materials that keeps them fresh and interesting.
    • DRESS-UP BOXES are another gift that gives hours of play. At the school , the children spend many hours putting on the dress up clothes and acting out roles from mother and baby to doctor and train conductor.  Thrift stores are a great source of clothes, shoes, jewelry, purses, capes, ties, etc. Hats (police, fire, etc. ) are great props; they can be enough to create the character and are cheaply purchased online. Scarves are very versatile as well.Once you have the basics, you can be as elaborate as you want. You can buy a ready made doctor’s kit or for a doctor coat, buy small short sleeved white  shirt and put a red cross on it. Add some doctor play equipment from the 99 cent store. Or add a few children’s cooking tools, some food boxes,  a pot and a pad of paper and pencil  and  the kitchen or restaurant have their beginnings. Ask children what they want later to create a more complete set of supplies.
    • Books are universally popular at the school and availalbe through Amazon.com. The current favorites are : Read More | Comments

  • Nov29

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    Orientation Meeting for Prospective Parents

    Posted in: From the Director

    On Tuesday, November 30th, there will be an Orientation Meeting at the school at 5:30 pm. This meeting is intended for families who have had a parent tour and are considering applying for admission as well as those who are interested in the school. Applications for admission will be available at the meeting. Anyone wishing to apply should both take a parent tour and attend an orientation meeting.

    Please rsvp for the orientation meeting or call or email to schedule a parent tour with Deborah. dsw5646@mac.com or 323 422-9690.

    Future orientation meetings are Jan. 5th and February 10th.   Further information about the admissions process is under the header “ Admissions”.

    We look forward to seeing you there.

  • Nov21

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    5 Ideas for Giving Thanks

    Posted in: From the Director, Holidays

    Thanksgiving is one of the times in the year when I become more mindful about my life and the many things I have to be thankful for. I am blessed with loving family, good friends, a school I really enjoy, wonderful colleagues and friends, good health, and the means to enjoy life.

    I also am thankful the wonderfully diverse communities I live, work, and shop  in;. Los Feliz, Silverlake, Larchmont, and Hollywood give my family so much. At the same time, I am aware of the many people in my communities who struggle, be it from health issues, hunger, joblessness, poverty,or  violence in their home and area.

    Especially at Thanksgiving, I want to give to my communities, to say thanks and extend a hand. Over the years, I have been involved with some excellent organizations that provide care, food, and other necessities all year to the many who need help. Here are a few.

    Firstly, you can bring canned food to the school and contribute to the ongoing food drive conducted through Temple Knesset Israel, the temple from whom we rent. They work with SOVA, a community food and resource program that is part of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles. SOVA cares for 10, 000 people per month of all religions, ages,  and ethnicities.

    Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles is one of our closest neighbors and provides many services to children beyond health care. The Red Wagon Program, Toy donations, food, and money are welcome contributions. This link is to their “Giving” page, both for the holidays and all year.

    Los Feliz Hope-Net is an interfaith and community effort to eliminate hunger and homelessness. Its founding premise is that ” none of our neighbors should go hungry”. It maintains food pantries and food deliveries as well as many other services.

    Angel Harvest , is especially valuable to know about if you are in the Hollywood entertainment business or have dealings with companies that give  catered events. They have established an experienced organization that  picks up  leftover food  from events, cafeterias, and other catering venues and immediately distributes it to centers who feed hungry.

    Los Angeles Regional Food Banks have a interesting way to donate that can include your family and friends. Virtual Food Drives are a great way to support the Foodbank’s hunger relief efforts. The Foodbank’s new website makes it easier to create and customize a Virtual Food Drive page to get your friends and family involved in the fight against hunger.

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