Four Seasons Under our Belt!

We have officially been here at Carp Ridge for one year now; having started our outreach for the Forest Preschool in Aug '08, our pilot project up on October '08, and having started up the full time preschool in March '09! We have learned so much from each season, the adventures/gifts/challenges offered to us by Mother Nature. We are looking forward to continuing to implement our program with each of these things in mind.

As September is here, we have two children who will be leaving the program to attend kindergarten...Laurel and Norah! We'd like to wish them so much luck and happiness at school and let them know that it was such an amazing treat having them here. Their ideas, excitement, stories, dreams, and sense of adventure were such great gifts for all the adults and children on site. We welcome visits, and hope to see them at our Camps during school breaks and the summer holidays.

In light of their departure, we have already filled the open spots with people on our waiting list. We look forward to transitioning them into the program, and will officially welcome them into the group after their first few programming days. Stay tuned!

Lastly, parents are reminded that September payments are due this week during your childs first programming day. Also, please don't forget to take your blankets home with you (once a week for full time children and once every second week for part time children) for periodic cleaning. Other than that, thank you so much for your help in keeping our bins organized and your child's gear in the appropriate place. We appreciate all these efforts! Additionally, I will be posting some Forest Preschool pictures on our blog very soon, and our Forest Preschool video will be posted on our website. If parents have NOT signed a photo consent form please let me know and I can leave one for you with Sara.

Kindest, Marlene

Hello Heat, Good Bye Mosquitoes

Welcome back, after our two weeks closure! We really missed all the children on site, but we were happy to clean out the Learning Centre, organize a better transition zone for parents in our front entrance, and set out our goals for the upcoming months. Here are some notices for parents that will assist us in keeping our LC clutter-free and our program running smoothly on a daily basis:

• Each child now has a bin labelled with their name on it. When you drop off your child in the morning, please take clothes, comfort item, etc. and place in basket. If your bag is small enough to fit in bin, feel free to leave it there as well. If it's larger, please take it with you into your car.
• Each child has also been assigned a hook at the front door. Please hang their jackets, rain gear, sun hats, and boots/shoes at this site.
• Water bottles can be given directly to Sara for her carrying bag.
• PLEASE put sunscreen and bug spray on children at home prior to arriving at preschool. You no longer need to bring sunscreen and bug spray with you in your child's bag, as we will be providing Sara with a communal bug spray and sunscreen for Sara to put on the children at several intervals throughout the day.
• Children only need one small blanket for sleeping at the Forest Preschool. If you have sleeping bags, or any large blankets on site, please replace them with one thin blanket as soon as possible. We will occasionally do sleep-outs and will request camping gear, but they are much too large for our Learning Centre.
• Parents should be taking their child's blanket home once a week for cleaning if they are full-time, and once every two weeks if they attend part-time.
• Our catering started last week, and the children have been very happy with the meals as well as the lunchboxes they come in. If your child is talking about these boxes, and you'd like to purchase one, they are for sale at Credible Edibles in Ottawa.

Please don't hesitate to call or write with any questions. Also, a note to parents who observed the mosquitoes last week...the heat over the weekend has seemed to help and we're hoping for fewer and fewer mosquito bites in upcoming days. Cheers, Marlene