Children’s Center Chronicle

Arroyo Grande United Methodist Children's Center www.worshipweekly.com. January 2025

Message from Ms. Maddy

Happy New Year! We are now open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you want your

child to stay for the Extended Day there is a different tuition rate and you will need a

new Admission’s Agreement.

Did you know we have Drop In rates you need extra care from time to time? Fill out an “Extra

Care Form” and give it to your teacher or me. It is helpful to provide a 24-hour notice to ensure space

is available. There are various options for you to choose, such as an Early Bird drop, a Nap Stay, a Par-

tial Day, a Full Day, or an Extended Day. Prices vary depending on the times you need.

We hope you enjoyed the return of the Children’s Christmas Program that we had on Dec. 12h.

This was a special time together visiting with the families of our program. THANK YOU to the staff

and the children who spent many days practicing their songs in preparation for the fun event for every-

one to enjoy. Also, THANK YOU to all those who brought treats to share.

We feel blessed to continue serving families and providing the best care and early childhood edu-

cation to the children in our program. We extend a heartfelt “THANK YOU” to all the families who

have chosen our program. As a quality childcare provider, our staff participates in the Quality Counts

program provided through the San Luis Obispo Child Care Planning Council. This service offers our staff

continued education opportunities and stipends for their continued professional and educational achieve-

ments.

Please check to make sure your child has a set of Extra Clothes. Also, this is a good time to

check if your child has extra clothes in their cubby and if the ones in his/her cubby still fit and are ap-

propriate for the weather.

Dates To Remember

Wed. Jan 1—We are closed

for New Year’s Day.

Mon., Jan. 20 - School is Closed

for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

This is also the last day to

order Scholastic Books .

BIBLE STORY AND GOODIE BEAR TIME

Wed. Jan. 8 and Thurs. Jan. 9 2025 in the Narthex at 9:00 am.

Bible Story: “Fish for Breakfast” , from the Beginning Bible,

John 21.

Song: Joy, Joy, Joy

The Fruit of the Spirit” message will be about “Joy”.

Friends of the Children’s Center CAMPAIGN.

Make a difference in a child’s life with a

“ One Time Gift” or Monthly Pledge

Your tax deductible contribution is safe and easy.

Three ways to GIVE:

1. Visit: https://www.agumcc.org and use the GIVE NOW

button.

2. Mail: AGUMCC 275 N Halcyon Rd.

Arroyo Grand, CA 93420

3. Use this QR code with your smartphone’s camera.

Thank You to

our January

Friends of the Children’s

Center Sponsor:

Michelle Richardson

Ms. Swati’s TK Class

December was a whirlwind! Thank you to Ms.

Ladonna, Ms. Shirley, and Ms. Mary for covering for me

while I was gone to India to be with my family. We hope

that everyone had a blessed Christmas with friends and

family! We also hope your time off with your children

was filled with laughter and love. I am really honored to

be your child’s teacher and appreciate your generosity

and support of our program and class. During this

month, children created many Christmas-themed art

activities to go with this special holiday we all enjoy.

The children made a very special gift to give to their

families. In addition, we talked about why we celebrate

Christmas. It is when Jesus was born. Children colored

and created a “Jesus is Born” book to go along with our

bible story. The children decorated shiny stars with

foil and trees and ornaments with colored sequences.

They also painted a stocking and then added cotton

balls and jewels.

Thank you to all who came to the Christmas

Program and helped out for the social. The children had

waited for that special event to come and were excited

to have their families see them up on stage and hear

their beautiful voices.

As we look forward to a New Year in 2025, I will be

observing the children to uncover the many interests

they have so that we can continue to incorporate them

into our curriculum, along with our Kindergarten readi-

ness curriculum. We will include learning to count by

tens. Practice placing a star symbol on the class birth-

day calendar so the children can see how many months

are left in TK to prepare them for starting Kindergar-

ten. Also, this is a good time to reach out to your child’s

upcoming school to find out when they will conduct their

Kindergarten Round-Up. They usually take place in the

spring (Mar, Apr, or May) and will allow your child to

see their potential new school and teacher.

For January, we are moving forward with our Zoo

Phonics, introducing Pp and Qq. We look forward to

your child sharing pictures for these letters in the

weeks ahead. Our moral teaching for the month is Joy,

so we will also discuss what brings us joy, such as our

families and friends. Happy New Year! ~ Ms. Swati

Ms. Liz’s Preschool Class

Happy New Year! We welcome 2025 and can’t wait to

start this new year off. I was sad to miss the Christ-

mas Program, and wanted to thank Ms. Shirley for cov-

ering for me while my husband and I went to watch our

son graduate from the Air Force Academy in San Anto-

nio. Texas.

This month, we begin our focus on winter weather

and the changing of the seasons. Although we don’t

have snow in Arroyo Grande, we will discuss winter

weather in our area, where we get rain and high tides.

We have pictures posted on the wall as a visual aid.

Children are enjoying racking the leaves in the back-

yard. Through books and videos, we will learn about

winter plants, animals, and new concepts like Hiberna-

tion.

To start the new year, we will begin a new routine in

the class. Before snack and lunch, their names will be

placed in front of a chair, and the child will be asked to

find their names and say the letters in their name. We

will practice tracing their name as one of the classroom

activities. This will help enforce the skills of identifying

their name and learning to trace. Children enjoy build-

ing with the blocks and hiding the small animals within

the blocks. They also enjoyed weighing different items

on the scale to see which side was heavier. We will

work on some fun art projects like the name Snowman

and making snowflakes.

As we have started a New Year, please restock ex-

tra clothes in your child’s cubby since they may have

outgrown them. In addition, please make sure to contin-

ue sending your child wearing layers as we are still in

our cold months.

Thank you to all of our cherished Preschool Families as

we look forward to another amazing year.

~ With best regards, Liz Delory

Ms. Sibyl & Ms. Cindy Bo’s Toddlers

Happy New Year to you all! It is always nice to see the

children and families following our Christmas break and

to start up our familiar routines once again. Routines

and consistency are so important for all of us, especial-

ly for young children. They help to provide the sense of

security we need in the ever-changing world we live in.

Thanks to all of you who could attend the Annual

Christmas Program and Social. It was such a joyful time

of celebration. The children were so adorable and did

such a wonderful job. We continued to sing “Jingle

Bells” throughout the month and had lots of singing and

dancing in the classroom as we ended the year. The tod-

dlers joyfully danced, with their scarves, to Christmas

music, including “Happy Birthday Jesus” and “How on

Earth Can God’s Baby Sleep.” They also enjoyed dancing

with their teddy bears, following the song instructions

to “Dance with your Teddy Bear.” There were many oth-

er holiday activities that captured their interests, in-

cluding decorating our tiny classroom tree with candy

canes and a tree branch in the Courtyard with bead

necklaces, using gift boxes and bags in their explora-

tions of other materials in the classroom and in their

sensory tubs; and revisited the story of Jesus’ birth as

they played with the nativity set and the nativity flan-

nel board pieces.

The children have already noticed changes in the

weather, and we look forward to fostering their curios-

ity as we explore some of these changes together. We

will also involve the children in more group participation

activities as they show more interest in interactions

with each other.

Thank you for showering us with Christmas gifts and

blessings. We feel so appreciated.

May each of you be filled with peace and joy as you

journey through this new year.

With love and blessings, Cindy Bo