Children's Center Preschool Serving the Los Feliz, Hollywood, Silverlake , Atwater communities
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  • Jul18

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    BIG 3 tips for an Easy Start to Preschool

    Posted in: Child Development, From the Director, Parenting

    September is around the corner and 20 new children will be starting at CCP and thousands will join preschools  around the city. Over the years, I have noticed there are a few things you as parents can do to make your children’s transition to preschool go more smoothly. I offer these ideas not only as a preschool Teacher/Director but also as a mother of 4 children.

    Basically, it is the BIG THREE that helps children enter the classroom with their A game.

    • Sleep
    • Breakfast and an orderly morning
    • Supportive routines

    SLEEP

    Enough sleep every night is a key element. As you all know, when children are tired , they have a harder time with anything. Starting preschool, while it is a positive and supportive experience, has a lot to cope with and learn about. Everything is new; the teachers, the environment , the children around them, the routines and eventually separation.
    They need an uninterrupted, good night’s sleep. Actually you need one too to be at your best in support of your child. Start the shift from summer bedtime to school bedtime early enough in the summer so your child is into the new bedtime before preschool starts.

    BREAKFAST

    A good breakfast, with sufficient protein,  is the fuel that keeps children in good shape in the morning until snack. Combined with enough sleep, their bodies have what they need to focus on the preschool experience. Hungry children or ones who start out with just cereal run out of fuel and coping skills before snack time.
    Being tired and hungry makes everything in life harder; preschool is no exception. It isn’t always easy to get out the door in perfect shape but we have found that supportive bedtimes and morning routines help ALOT.

    SUPPORTIVE ROUTINES

    Children are never at their best during transitions and that is what bedtime and morning time are. Each time also leads up to  separations issues as they cope with falling asleep or getting ready to say goodbye to you at preschool. Children benefit from our use of  supportive, clear, consistent routines at preschool to help them  go from one experience to another.

    Bedtime Routine

    Children find bedtimes routines very helpful and calming. As they move through the steps, they are psychologically letting of of the day and preparing for sleep. The book, Goodnight Moon ,  is a classic story of a child saying goodnight to her daytime world as the light gets dimmer and dimmer and she snuggles with her mother.
    The steps of getting ready for bedtime are familiar. Bath, teeth brushing, PJ’s, stories, lullabies. Each family has its own unique twists but the order does matter as each step should calm the child and helps them be ready for sleep. Wrestling, tickling, chasing games, scary TV, etc make getting to sleep harder. Observe what works for your child.
    The more consistent you are, the more helpful the routine is in getting your child relaxed and ready to sleep.

    Morning Routine

    There is a lot to do in the morning to get ready for preschool and your own day too. And now there is this new  place to be on time to. A routine helps.
    From the time a child wakes up, it helps for them to know the steps involved to be ready to walk out the door.  These are familiar as well. Get dressed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, comb your hair, and gather your belongings.  The order is not so important here but having a consistent order for your family helps your child, and often you,  settle into being a cooperative participant and makes the morning more fun for everyone.
    A few suggestions.
    • Prepare a health breakfast of food your child likes. This is not the time for experimentation. If you can, join your child and model good breakfast eating.
    • If clothing choice is a trouble spot, have your child choose their outfit the night before.
    • Limit the choices of play clothes to 3 rather than allowing the whole closet to be a possibility. I still find it hard some mornings to make choices and that is why you will often see me in black and white.
    • TV only when everything else is really done. It can create a problem for getting out the door, however. It seems like they are always in the middle of a show.
    • Don’t negotiate everything; you will make yourself and your child crazy. Young children can’t handle that much freedom or choices but they will push anyway if you are inconsistent.
    • You have rights too. Expect a child to allow you to get yourself ready; help them to know how they can do that.
    I hope that these ideas allow you  and your child to have a  successful start to preschool, or for that matter, any grade level. If you are a CCP family, don’t hesitate to talk to me.

  • Jul16

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    Nearby Summer,Small-Town,Family Fun

    Posted in: Family events, From the Director

    My husband and I just came back from a wonderful Saturday lunch and  stroll along the 3 blocks of tree-lined Honolulu Avenue in historic Old Town Montrose. Montrose is a 15- 20 minutes drive  from our preschool area of Hollywood, Los Feliz, and Silverlake and very convenient for our Glendale and Burbank families, but feels like the small towns of my childhood.

    It has everything you need to enjoy a delicious lunch and afternoon with your children. One end has a Color Me Mine and a baby and breast feeding store, and the other end has Doris’ Sweet Shoppe store with soft sugar- free”frosties”, McConnell’s Santa Barbara absolutely not- sugar- free delicious ice cream, and cupcakes.

    Across the street, at 2207 Honolulu Ave.  is the Once Upon a Time family book shop with half of the store dedicated to children’s books.  Tom’s Toys has a good selection, friendly help,  and many quality items with real play value. Outside of Critters, there are  two of the old-fashioned moving cars that you put quarters in. My brother and I loved those when we were little; there were never enough quarters.

    For summer fare, it has easy-going,  outdoor seating in restaurants  that offer appealing food for both parents and chldren. For Mexican, there is Pepe’s and Joselito’s;  for really great barbeque, Zeke’s is the place;  the Black Cow serves excellent breakfasts as well as lunches.

    On Sunday morning and early afternoon, Montrose has a fabulous Harvest Market with organic produce, flowers, and interactive cheldren’s collectables. At the east end of the market, there is a bounce house and hand-led pony rides. There is live music to listen to.

    Montrose is a great place for families to spend time, especially during these summer months. Enjoy!

     

  • Jul14

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    Eating & Planting Seasonally at CCP

    Posted in: From the Director

    We are so fortunate to have a school in Southern California, which has one of the most hospitable growing climates in the world. The farmer’s markets and a variety of stores give us  access to a delicious array of foods during the course of the year as does our garden.

    We decided as we founded the school to try eat seasonally and to maintain a low carbon footprint with the foods we serve. We do our best to support local farmer’s markets as well as to select produce and other foods that have not been shipped long distances. Organic food is also a goal and often achievable.

    One of the best ones to utilize farmer’s markets and to lower our carbon footprint is to eat seasonally. We try and create menus that live within the season, albeit the Southern California version. During the winter, we ate lots of different varieties of apples, pears, tangerines, and oranges.We really enjoyed our garden with the blueberries from our bushes and the sugar snap peas from the vines.

    The apricots that burst into flower and then gave us delicious fruit (our first crop) were the beginning of change as Spring came. The strawberry plants liked the warmer weather and started producing. We planted summer garden with herbs, tomatoes, beans, squash, and gourds for harvesting in the fall.

    Summer has come and we are so happy to be serving its bounty. Our menu is filled with ripe plums, peaches, grapes, and  melons, who by now have had enough heat. There are fruit smoothies, berry parfaits, fruit ice cream and yogurt pops to fill the hot days. We will enjoy the tomatoes and beans as they start producing

    Los Angeles doesn’t have the sense of season that most of the country has but we have our  own version.  By the time children leave us for kindergarten they will have grown two winter and two summer gardens along with spring bulbs. They will have cyclical change in their snack diet and experienced a variety of foods. By honoring our seasons of planting and eating, we help children to live within nature’s rhythms and learn from them.  It is a very satisfying way to live.

  • Jul13

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    Favorite Books- Green Room Request

    Posted in: From the Director, literacy

    The Green Room had its first parent coffee (an every other week chance for parents to get together and talk about raising children). There was lots to discuss but one subject lead me to start talking about some of my favorite books, especially the ones that deal with children’s emotions. Not the big issues like divorce or death( I have those too) but rather the ones about more routine life things like sharing, bedtime, anger, and separation. They asked me to share some of the titles. Amazon has them all except perhaps the Badger series.

    While I could talk for hours about why books help children with their feelings, I am going to confine this article to the books themselves.

    1. The Bear Who Shared ( delightful take on sharing) by Catherine Rayner
    2. The Llama, Llama series starting with Is your Mama a Llama?, Llama, Llama, Misses Mama (separation), Llama, Llama, Red Pajamas ( bedtime separation anxiety), Llama Llama, Mad at Mama. by Anne Dewdney
    3. Big Wolf, Little Wolf  (friendship and sharing) by Nadine Brun- Cosme
    4. Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too, and Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems, 3 wonderful stories about a girl and her special bunny. She grows up from toddlerhood to girl who is old enough to give away her bunny to a new baby that needs it.
    5. Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Fly, and Diary of a Spider, books by Juanita Hill about friendship and appreciating differences.
    6. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown about separation and trust between a parent and a child.
    7. Badger’s Bring Something Party, Badger’s Parting Gifts, and Badger’s Bad Mood by Hiawyn Oram and Susan Varley. These  are fabulous books about friendship and coping with feelings and loss. Hard to find but so worth it.

  • Jul11

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    Snack menu and fruit parfait recipe

    Posted in: Weekly Snack Menu

    Summertime brings us back to one of the children’s favorite recipes- Berry and Yogurt Parfaits. We will be making them  this Friday and then freezing some yogurt mixed with the fruit for frozen treats next week.

     1. Mix plain yogurt with a bit of honey. Stir until smooth.

    2. Prepare the berries by gently washing and drying them; this week we are using strawberries so the children will cut them into small pieces.

    3. Break up Oat and Honey granola bars into little pieces.

    4. Using a clear glass or cup, layer the fruit, yogurt, and granola twice, ending with the granola.

    Enjoy this healthy and yummy treat. Fruit mixed in yogurt also makes wonderful frozen treats. Simply mix the yogurt, a touch of honey, and the berry of your choice and freeze them with good sized sticks in them. We use tongue depressors to ensure every one comes out.

    Snack Menu

    July 11- 15th

    Monday morning

    Wh. wheat lavash with hummus and melon

    Monday afternoon

    Grapes, String cheese, wheat thins

    Read More

  • Jul11

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    July Newsletter

    Posted in: Newsletter

    Dear Parents,

    I hope you are all enjoying the 4th of July. We are looking forward to being back with you tomorrow. As you know, we are  past June gloom and are into some lovely warm weather.
    Outdoors are curriculum will feature water. We will be using the water table, the wading pool, and the hose in the big sandbox. There will be bubble blowing and frozen juice bars. Our garden with its beans, tomatoes, gourds, strawberries, and herbs needs watering everyday.
    The water theme continues inside with science experiments, the installation of our fish tank, and a pouring table.
    Summer Necessities
    We need a few things in order to be ready for all of this fun. Some of you may have brought them.  Please label everything.
    1. Very important, please put sun block on your child, body as well as face before they come to school. Waterproof kind is the best. It is very difficult for us to do while we supervise 18 kids.
    2. Send a bathing suit if you already haven’t. LABEL IT. The kids often don’t recognize their own suits.
    3. Check and ensure that we have two complete changes of clothes, labeled please.
    4. Sunglasses and hats are great but please label them.
    5. Safe shoes. While it is summer, the loose sandals, clogs, and flipflops are not safe. Please send children in good shoes for playing.
    Volunteers
    We would love some parent volunteers this summer. Readers are always a big hit. Cooking, be it making a fruit salad or perhaps some ice cream with our ice cream maker. Bring you own ideas. We have some kids who are ready to tackle elementary sewing or the simplest knitting. Anyone? Also, it would be great to have some one who loves to build trains or build with blocks. Those are hot areas. We have a lot of boxes. Does anyone want to come in and cut them for creations and help the kids make them what they want? We have the tools. Other ideas?
    Thank you to the parents who recently read as well as the bringer of the toads.
    Traveler’s Wall
    We have a traveler’s picture page on the first door  of the children  who are away for a portion of the summer.  It helps the kids who are in school; they  see what their friends are doing and are reminded  that their friends will be coming back.
    Our Classrooms
    The Green Room has begun successfully with Aracely Jimenez and 6 children. She has created a welcoming and lovely space. The group will grow to 16 per day in September and 18 in the November. We have one remaining space for a girl.
    The Yellow Room, the original class, will be sending 3 children off to kindergarten, one to Franklin, and two  to Citizens of the World. There is one girl space available.
    We wish you all a great July!
    Deborah, Ty, Maya, Marilyn, Aracely, and Allison

  • Jun16

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    The Green Room is Open

    Posted in: From the Director

    On June 10th, the Green Room opened at the preschool. With Aracely Jimenez as the Head Teacher and 6 families, it was reminiscent of the beginning of the preschool when 4 families trusted us to provide a quality, developmental program to their children. This year, we will graduate the remaining children from that group and send them off ready for kindergarten.

    Aracely was a wonderful find. All of us liked her from the moment we met her and she has excellent education and experience with preschool children. Her bio is posted on this site.

     

    The Green Room looks great and for those of you who have visited, it has been transformed. Cubbies with children’s  pictures and names greet the children as do the balloons with their photos and birth dates. The reading area has book covers of some of our favorite books  along the back wall and a comfortable rug and pillows. The window wall is filling up with art supplies and science activities. The center table is always changing from animals and people with magna tiles to bristle blocks to wooden “blocks” made from tree branches.

    The most recent art project was very big paper  and green and blue paint rolled on with brayers. Aracely cut them to create an earth and our diverse group of  children are talking about their families and their backgrounds. They also have made handprints to go around the earth in the many shades of skin. There is chocolate, caramel, ivory,coffee, tan, copper, almond, cream and many more.

    They have read a great book to go with the project. Shades of People by Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly. The book has many beautiful photographs of children and families of all shades along with the message that “our skin is just our covering, like wrapping paper. And, you can’t tell what someone is from the color of their skin. ”

    This new group of children have banded together and with Aracely and are having a great time. In the fall, they will be joined by other children to make 17 children per day. In November, we will be up to our  limit of 19.  There may be a space or two left and we have a couple of spaces for 3 or 4 year old girls, and perhaps 1 boy,  in the “original” Yellow Room. We look forward to sharing the Green room with them.

     

  • May8

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    Mother’s Day- an Inclusive Way

    Posted in: Child Development, From the Director, Holidays, Parenting

    Happy Mother’s Day!  We are going to have a Mother’s Day celebration at the preschool on Monday. Here is the note sent home explaining to our  parents how we celebrate Mother’s Day in a more inclusive way.

    Dear Parents,

    Below you will find our plans for tomorrow morning.

    First, though we wanted to explain why we are celebrating this day and later Father’s Day in a more inclusive way.  We have invited mothers, grandmas, aunts, and other important women in children’s lives to be with us.

    One of the most important  goals of Children’s Center Preschool is to help children to understand  and appreciate not only their own family’s heritage, culture, and makeup, but those of other children’s families.  We want to develop more than tolerance in children, which is a passive state.  In addition we seek to develop understanding, acceptance, and appreciation. When a child sees the value of his or her family as well as the value of families  who live differently , they develop an active belief that each person matters and that there are many different ways to live life positively.

    Mother’s Day was originally a Hallmark Card marketing opportunity that seems to have evolved into a National holiday. But life is not the same as it was 50 years ago, and our children and their families need to find new ways to approach this holiday (because it is so ubiquitous). Children are no longer raised only in traditional mother and father households.  They are also being well raised in single parent, same sex parent, adoptive parent, grandparent, or other caring people households. They also have several other important women who participate in meaningful ways in their upbringing,  nannies, babysitters, grandmas, aunts, neighbors, and friends.

    Tomorrow we will celebrate them all!  We hope that celebrating in this way, we will help your children redefine Mother’s Day in a new and more inclusive way and value the many women who enrich their  lives.

    We look forward to celebrating with you.

    The Morning Plan Read More

  • May6

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    May Newsletter

    Posted in: Food and Cooking, Newsletter, Projects, The Garden

    Dear Parents,

    It was great to be back with all of the kids and their stories of bunnies, trips to San Diego, New York and the Bay Area as well as visiting relatives.
    We started fresh with making new playdough and mixing pastel spring colors for painting.
    We also did a lot of harvesting both before the break and today. We have been so fortunate and our radishes, carrots, beets, lettuce, potatoes, blueberries, and peas did extremely well. Today’s harvest was the last of the carrots, the potatoes and the beets. The website will have lots of photos and the story of our garden and harvest after tonight. Next week, we will begin planting out tomato plants and get ready for the summer garden..
    Parent Coffees

    Thursday, May 5th at 9 am in the office.
    Friday, May 20th at 9 am in the office
    Stone Soup
    We are going to use the carrots and potatoes in a special soup that we are going to make on Monday and Tuesday of next week. We will be reading the book Called Stone Soup, an old folk story about three men who come into a village searching for food. At first the villagers hide all of their harvested vegetables, but once the men set up a pot over a fire and heat the water, they surprise the villagers. They say that they can make soup out of just stones.  As they stir the stones, they comment that the soup will be good as it is  but it would be much better if they only had a few carrots. One of the villagers runs off to bring a few from her home. And so it goes until the soup is filled with fragrant vegetables and the men are helping the villagers set the tables for a wonderful feast. that they all share.
    We will be making stone soup with our carrots and potatoes but we ask you to help your child bring ONE vegetable that is good for a soup. We love the wonderful mix that comes. On Monday and Tuesday, we will chop the vegetable, put it in the pot and cook the soup. We invite all noon pickup parents to come a few minutes early to join with us in a brief soup feast. Parents who pick up at 4 may also stay for a feast.
    Parent volunteers for cutting help on Monday and Tuesday needed- sign up sheet on the table. Thank you! Read More

  • Apr30

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    LA Times Book Festival@ USC

    Posted in: Family events, literacy

    The Annual LA Times Book Festival will be held this year on April 30th to May 1st on the campus of USC (rather than the traditional UCLA which is easy to reach from Los Feliz, Silverlake, and Hollywood.

    First the facts:

    Dates & Location
    The annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books will be held:
    Saturday April 30, 2011 from 10am – 6pm
    Sunday, May 1, 2011 from 10am – 5pm at:
    University of Southern California
    Click here for map.
    To locate USC on Yahoo! Maps or similar mapping software, you may use the intersection of Exposition Blvd and S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90089.

    Tickets & Admission

    General attendance is free! Parking is $10 if you want to be quite near the festival.

    Now a glimpse of the wonderful experience:

    If you are not familiar with the Book Festival, it is the Granddaddy of  all book festivals with hundreds of booths featuring a established book stores and many small presses. There are stages with authors reading from their books, and panel discussions on many genres and topics. It covers most of the USC campus.

    The very large children’s area is wonderful and not only has an amazing selection of books but also has booths with self- publishing authors and specialy catgories.  There are performances and book readings for all ages of children.

    Take your children and have a day the whole family will enjoy!

    Check the LA Times, the sponsor, for details.

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