KidOasis FEBRUARY Newsletter

Happy February! January was a fast paced month for us but packed with plenty of fun! February brings more exciting days together and Im going to take a chance and say I predict there will be many days we will be outside enjoying the mellow winter!

Last week I sent home another packet of Scholastic Book orders. I hope you and your child found some great books to order from us! All book orders are due by Friday Feb. 3rd! If you would like to order online, you can go to http://clubs.scholastic.com/ click on order as a parent (if you have not already done so in the past, you will need to take a minute to register, but its super easy) Our activation code is HGL2K, or you can log in with my ID, our username is kidoasis/ password is books

When you place an order online, we earn a free book! You order and pay online so no need to bring your order in to me or write me the check! SLICK!! But feel free to return the order form to me if you would like to pass on ordering online! I don�t mind!

At a time when many Daycare Providers are increasing their rates, I am looking for ways to cut our costs instead! The children and I are working hard on conserving energy throughout the day by paying attention to lights being left on, �Hollywood� drinks and hand washing, etc. Some ways that families can help cut costs are to contribute to our fundraisers and things like ordering books so that we earn points towards free books to keep our library growing! Reminder we also collect Aluminum cans and our last batch earned us enough to stock up on coloring sheets, construction paper and paints! We collect Kwik Trip Milk Moola bag tops/caps year round also! Twice a year we submit over 1800 thanks to Mia and Devon�s contributions added to ours! Last spring we bought a play house and hoola hoops with that money we earned! So I hope you see how simple collecting and ordering really benefits your children when they are here! Looking forward to Spring we will be participating in a larger fundraiser that I hope you will help us with! We are looking to earn the funds to do some kind of landscaping in the backyard that tends to flood and fill with mud so easily.

This fundraiser includes taking orders from family and friends. If you are interested in looking at the products now, the website is http://www.midlandfundraising.com  We are doing the spring fundraiser and using the �Going Green� catalog(35% profit), but won�t be passing up the TREATS/ misc catalogs! (50% profit)

More information on this fundraiser will be available in March!

This Month we will be celebrating our AMAZING Beautiful Assistant Kaycee�s Birthday on Feb 9th! Now we just have to find out what her favorite treats are so the kids and I can bake something up!

Feb 14th we will be having our Valentines Day party! Each child will need to bring in a Shoe box (adult size preferred!)  I DO have a few spare (with 5 girls, we tend to buy a lot of shoes! J) so if you do not have one at home, don�t fret! We will decorate boxes here, unless you would like to decorate it with your child at home! I just ask they have an opening in the top, about an inch wide and 6 inches long! During the party we will be playing games, enjoying some sweet Valentines treats, some art, books and Valentines Exchange! A group list will follow the newsletter and also be available in the entry! If you have any Valentines themed books or movies, please feel free to share them with us, but label well! Be sure to overload in Red and Pink clothing also! If you are choosing to do a treat bag or treat included in your child�s Valentine, please limit it to ONE piece of Candy per child. In the past the children have come away with our Valentines party looking more like a Halloween party with so much candy! Non food items are great ideas too!

Other dates to note��.

We will be signing up for YMCA Healthy Champs twice this month! Feb 7th and 21st are what we are hoping for! Kaycee will be staying back with the babies since to me, their naps are too important! LOL

Last month we had planned for an Officer to come and talk to us about Fingerprinting etc. Well after much phone tag, I found out because we are not in Nfld, the NPD wont visit us. The Dundas PD doesn�t carry the kits, so our next avenue is the Rice County Sheriffs Dept! I have some connections with Chief Troy Dunn, so we will follow that route and hopefully get that done this month!

KidOasis will be closed Friday Feb 24th as an unpaid personal day!

On Wednesdays I generally have less kids, so I will be taking that time for Cassy and myself to go to the Library, store, etc. when Kaycee arrives. The kids love the time with Kaycee in charge and she does an amazing Job with them! She enjoys continuing to do our Circle time/Preschool activities and knows the babies schedules as well! I just wanted to let you know that Kaycee will be providing care on Wednesdays from 930-1130 in case you plan to stop by, call etc and I am not available!

My last item I would like to share with you has to do with communication! Last month I had 5 families fail to communicate with me that their child was going to be arriving early, or staying later than normal, several times. Some families have a bit of swing schedule with me, and as long as I have already approved this, there is not a concern. But when you drop your child off early or pick them up later than your scheduled time at the end of the day, (that we arranged when you enrolled) it becomes difficult for me. We have a routine I need to follow in the mornings to get all children fed and schoolagers off to school. In the afternoons I am required to carry a variance for the overage in children that I have. The licensor has all of your schedules and if your child is here later than the hours we arranged, and she visits, I could be given an infraction. For you to run to the store or finishing up that one last thing at work before picking up your child on time, isn�t worth me getting written up! If you are running behind due to circumstances beyond your control, please communicate with me ASAP! I schedule helpers and activities according to your schedules, also I just have a �personal preference� NOT to have 8 kids here until 530pm. 11 hours with children, chores that I need to do in the daycare at the closing of the day, my own family activities after daycare, wear this old lady down! Adding even 2 or 3 extra kids is frustrating. Especially when a parent hasn�t ASKED me if it�s OK, or communicated with me that they would be late. Please do not assume that because you PAY for full day, that my FULL day is offered to you if it�s not your original schedule. Please do not put a price tag on your OWN time with your child. When you are late, your child knows and when I have to reply �I don�t know� to their question of when you are coming, they get worried. I am sorry I am coming off sharp with this topic, but it�s been happening a lot lately with up to half of the families. I feel taken advantage of and my heart goes out to the children that have to be in care for so many hours. I have confronted a few of the families so far on this situation, but I�d like to ask all families to please be conscious of your schedules and respect me enough to pick up your children on time or communicate with me if your child is going to be arriving early. Thank you for your attention with this!

Have a great month! If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please feel free to discuss them with me!! Our COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO YOUR CHILD�S SUCCESS! (And my sanity!! LOL)


YOUR FRIEND

CINDY THOMAS