The Garden School Tattler

Greetings after a long break!

We've been so busy with getting ready for the big yearly inspection, writing time has been really limited. We are writing about the school curriculum, and how the school runs from inside out. We want to achieve something special. We've always been interested, but never had the staff that would follow through. This year, we are pulling years of activities together and it's not easy.

The play goes well. Some of the little kids are a big squaneekish, but you'll understand later.

School work has been suspended with theater which is is fine art, so don't panic if your child is not taking home regular school papers. He's learning something else this week, and that's good. Theater is an art, a social need in children to explore being on stage and bringing a creation like a play to fruition.

Parents have asked if we need anything for the play. Just snacks and a couple of parent to arrive early to help with costumes.

The costumes that go home after the play are the hats.

FYI: We buy antibacterial soap from a distributer, and our water temperature must be at 171 degrees for dish cleaning. Unfortunately, we had a child who consistently fooled with the plumbing and hurt a few children with too hot water. We have turned down the hot water in the children's rooms to avoid this scorching, but it is available. Then we found out that lukewarm water is a bacteria trap.

Teachers take particular care in hand washing to avoid such accidents, but at the same time children need to continue to be taught properly how to wash at home. In a childcare facility, hand sanitizer is not a possibility and not recommended because water must be running, and children must wash off the dirt rather than cover it with hand sanitizer. Have you ever wondered what would happen if a child ate hand sanitizer?

Clean hands prevent the spread of disease. We have very little disease at the Garden School in comparison to most early childhood places, and we are proud of that.

Please teach your child how to put his own coat on, and that we park hats and mittens in sleeves not in pockets.

Next week is Pilgrim week. We will be doing a lot of cooking and a lot of talking about food. We are trying to start a food game at school.