SSCC Nursery School News

SSCC Nursery School News

Thank you again for all of your donations!!!! Your support is amazing!

Things are really taking shape at school. This week teachers were able to get into the classrooms and set them up for our students.  Here is a sneak peek. The art displayed in the classrooms was created by the students of 2019-2020.  

The Yellow Room features the very familiar, Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The Red Room features lots of the characters from one of our favorite authors Mo Willems. 

Pigeon, Elephant, and Piggy are all characters that the children love! And make all of us laugh.

One of our favorite authors is Todd Parr. He writes beautiful children’s books that speak directly to children in clear appropriate language about families, feelings, and starting school. We love the illustration in Parr’s books because the children can recreate the characters and tell their own stories to extend learning.  

We will be reading stories by these authors to start the year, so if you have the chance preview them with you children before we start school.

Getting ready for School Checklist

On the first day of school your child will need to bring:

· a backpack

· a labeled change of clothes in a plastic bag that will stay at school (don’t forget socks and underwear!)

· a bath towel, we will be using the towels during snack to promote social distancing, bath towels will come to school everyday and go home every day to be washed

· a small peanut/tree nut free snack

· a labeled water bottle

· 2 masks in a labeled paper bag that will stay at school

Mask Policy

Last Friday EEC released another iteration of the Health and Safety Guidelines for Reopening. In the new version EEC changed the language regarding children and masks. 

The policy for children over 2 years old wearing a mask has changed a bit. The July 12th version of the EEC guidance encouraged children over 2 years old to wear a mask. 

The new wording is much stronger. EEC now states:

Face Masks: Programs must promote the wearing of face masks during the program day for children and require face masks to be worn by adults at all time for adults (unless outside and maintaining physical distance), and for children when 6 feet of physical distance is not possible.

We are sharing this journey through a pandemic. It is truly uncharted territory. Our goal is to build a healthy, safe community.  We start by taking care of each other. Teachers, children, and families will have to be flexible to achieve that goal. Wearing a mask may be a challenge for some but we will work together to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Fun ways to promote wearing a mask is through play.  If you make it play, children join in! “Simon Says” is a game we can play when we transition into the classrooms.  Children copy teachers’ motions, “Masks on lap”, “Hands on head”, “Wiggle your fingers”, “Masks over your nose” until by the end, everyone is wearing a mask!

Our expectation is that children will wear a mask while inside the classroom. Our plan is for children to be inside the classroom for one hour and outside for one and a half hours. Snack for Red and Blue Room children will be picnics outside on bath towels. Yellow Room groups will have snack in the classroom. 

Orientation Over the next 2 weeks we will be arranging Zoom meetings with families and teachers. 

The meetings will be on Sept. 9th and 10th

If you have already sent in your paperwork, thank you, if not please get it in this week. I will be in the office on Monday 8/31 and Friday 9/4 this week. 

Please complete and return the children’s survey, a photo of your child and a family picture. We will be using the information for classroom setup and orientation. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Communication is so important this year so don’t hesitate to reach out.

Ann  

South Shore Community Center Nursery School News

Reopening Update

August 5, 2020

Dear Families,

I want to keep you up to date on all that is happening at the Nursery School.

I will be sending out weekly emails with reopening information through the month of August.

Monday, I submitted a complete reopening plan to our licensor, MA Department of Early Education and Care. We should receive a provisional license next week. Our full license will be reinstated within the next month. 

Thursday, the teaching staff met to familiarize themselves with the new protocols and procedures. It was awesome to have everyone together (appropriately masked and socially distance). Teachers are working together to create a new learning community that is safe, fun, and challenging.

We are planning to reopen on September 14th. Due to COVID-19 restrictions orientation will have to be virtual. We are creating a new orientation plan and schedule; more information will follow. 

Communication is so important. We have created a new website for families. Newsletters, calendars, enrollment forms, SSCCNS Handbook and SSCCNS Health and Safety Guidelines are all posted and updated weekly.

The new website address is http://ssccns.com/ 

I have been getting great questions form families and so I am going to devote some of our newsletter to address questions.

FAQ’s

What is the Refund policy?

Below is the refund policy found in the 2020-2021 Family Handbook

Refund Policy If all childcare programs are forced to close again due to Covid-19, tuition will not be charged until we reopen. Tuition due for partial months will be determined by date of closure.  Tuition will not be refunded if your classroom is required to shut down for 24 hours due to potential exposure. Tuition will not be refunded if your child is absent due to a required Covid-19 diagnosis or quarantine. 

What is the PPE charge?

The PPE charge has been added to tuition. To comply with the new health and safety guidelines and to keep the children and staff safe we must provide enhanced cleaning of everything in the school. 

The PPE charge will pay our janitor for additional hours necessary to clean, sanitize and disinfect the school and playground.  Staff will use exponentially more cleaning products and gloves; the PPE charge helps with that cost.  Also, in the event of a COVID-19 exposure the school will have to be professionally cleaned. The quote we got for a professional cleaning was $4000.

What if Cohasset Public Schools go all remote for the fall?

That is an excellent question. The short answer is we will comply with guidance from MA Department of Early Education and Care regarding closure.

In the event of closure, we will have to reassess our school plan and consider how to compensate teachers and tuition. 

For now, I am concentrating on reopening. When we get back to school, I plan to meet with parents to find the best answer for our students, families, and staff if we are forced to close our doors again.

How can we help?

We appreciate your offers to help. As with many small businesses, The Community Center has been seriously impacted by the unexpected closure. The school has not had any income since April 2020. Closing was shocking but easy, reopening is hard. We have been working since April to get the doors reopened. 

We would appreciate anything from donations of nonlatex gloves and paper towels to playground mulch. The mulch on the playground needs to be replenished yearly for safety. Last year the playground mulch was a $1000 expense.

Wish List

Monetary donations to get mulch for the playground

Paper towels

Baby wipes

Clorox wipes

Lysol wipes

Hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol 

Children’s masks

3 plastic Easels for the playground 

Non-latex gloves (nitrile)

I need a Family Committee to help us navigate through this year.

I am in the office most days, but I am definitely in the office on Tuesdays from 10-1:00 ready to accept donations!

Please keep your questions coming.

We cannot wait to get back to school!

Have a great weekend,

Ann and the SSCCNS Staff