“Play is the foundation of learning, creativity, self-expression, and constructive problem-solving. It’s how children wrestle with life to make it meaningful.”
– Susan Linn
April has been an extra vibrant month at The Children’s Center. From multiple events to creating some fun memories for the kids at the center, we have been delightfully busy! It really is an honor and privilege to watch the children we serve grow and learn each and every day. Thank you for the part you play in making that possible!
We celebrated National Volunteer Appreciation Week this month, and we want to thank all of the amazing people who take time out of their lives to come and spend time investing in the children at the center.
This month we also celebrated the Week of the Young Child. This event was started by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It serves as a way to annually spotlight the importance of early education and to remind us all that the education of children is a collective responsibility. It is also a ton of fun, with educational activities for the kids each day of the week!
Thank you for your support during Birdies for Charity! Thanks to your generosity, we exceeded last year’s total which means there is even more amazing funding we can put towards our early education programs here at the center! Thank you!
Thank you to all of our board members and friends who came out to Burnt Church Distillery in support of The Children’s Center as the distillery’s charity of the month! Thank you also to our friends at Burnt Church Distillery for your generosity and investment in early education services for Lowcountry families. We appreciate you all!
Our after schoolers had a blast hanging out and doing educationally enriching activities during their spring break here at The Children’s Center! Thank you to Mr. Drew and the after-school instructors for all your hard work!
This week we celebrated all of the siblings at The Children’s Center during Big Brother/Big Sister week! We are grateful to have so many amazing kiddos in our program!
Our sold out 2nd Annual Celebration Dinner is TOMORROW night at the Westin Hilton Head. Attendees are sure to enjoy an evening of fun including a cocktail reception, seated dinner, live and silent auctions and entertainment by The Junior Jazz Foundation. With a theme of “Building Futures”, the night will also feature work from local Lego Brick Master, Chris Sudduth.
All proceeds from the night will fund the organization’s mission of providing affordable, high-quality early childhood education and childcare to the working families of the Lowcountry. We can’t wait to see our registered guests there!
Supporting Dual Language Learners
Some of the children at The Children’s Center speak more than one language at home. Maybe Spanish is their first language and English their second. Or maybe they are growing up in a home where their parent(s) or guardian(s) would like them to develop fluency in a second language. What are the benefits of this? And how can we support children who are growing up speaking two or more languages at home?
There are many benefits to speaking multiple languages in childhood. The Department of Education states that children who speak two or more languages have more flexible brains and therefore have an easier time with things like math concepts, memory, logic, and learning additional languages. These skills also benefit children on a social-emotional level, by empowering children to learn the social skills of multiple cultures and make social connections to individuals in each culture. The long-term effects show that multiple language speakers learn to sift through relevant and irrelevant information as early as seven months hold.
So how can we encourage and support these children at home? Think Bilingual Austin encourages parents and caregivers to do the following things to encourage their bilingual child:
- Maintain an open dialogue around why it is important to learn a second language. When English is the primary language in most settings, children may not understand the benefits of learning the language(s) they speak at home or are learning outside their normal environments.
- Provide books, movies, and music in the second (or third) language your child is learning. This helps children gain fluency and learn grammar and spelling!
- If possible, introduce them to other community members, family members, or friends who are bilingual and/or from the secondary or tertiary culture.
- Be open to any frustrations or concerns your child may have. Sometimes children can feel embarrassed or ashamed of being different from their peers. Helping them understand how awesome they are and how beautiful our differences are can help.
Staff Spotlight
Pam Ross is our Butterflies teacher and the First Steps 4K lead teacher. That means she’s instructing for the state-funded pre-kindergarten program AND for The Children’s Center. The Butterflies stay very active in their classroom learning tons of fun and educationally enriching material to prepare the for kindergarten and for LIFE! When Ms. Pam is not educating and loving on the littles at The Children’s Center you can probably find her traveling somewhere exciting. Thank you for all you do Ms. Pam!
Thank you for catching up on all of the exciting events that happened at The Children’s Center this month! We are so grateful to have you in our corner.
Do you want to make a difference? We are looking for full-time and part-time employees! E-mail resumes to info@thechildrenscenter.org
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