A warm hello to all our Stoney Creek strongstart families.  I hope you have all had a great summer enjoying the lovely weather and making memories with your children.  As many of you know we are presently in stage 2 and as a result, adults are not permitted in schools as of yet. We are exploring a variety of ways to run an in person program though.  With these circumstances in mind, my hope is to plan for a mix of virtual and outdoor strongstart.  It will look very different than we remember as we will not be offering a drop in program, but rather a pre-registered one with a much reduced capacity. For those of you that would like to participate if you could email me at marianna.cavezza@burnabyschools.ca and please indicate whether you are interested in both a virtual and outdoor program.  The outdoor program would be based at a nearby park, not the school site.  As I know more definitively what demand there is, I will be in touch with more details.  Please be reminded that we are in a planning phase now and do not yet know which direction we will take, but will consider all your feedback.  For the most up to date information on Strongstart, you can visit the school district site:https://burnabyschools.ca/strongstart/

I look forward to hearing from you and navigating these challenging times together.

Warmly,

Marianna

For those of you that remember we planted 5 seed potatoes just before spring break and harvested 46! If you look closely at the first photo, you can see the root system! If you do any gardening together over the summer, be sure to tell me all about it.  Our family is happy to be growing romaine lettuce, bok choy, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, eggplants, chives and blueberries.  A great resource to get lots of gardening fun ideas is https://kidsgardening.org/garden-activities/

 

Dearest Strongstart families:

What an usual year it has been!  I have been reflecting a lot lately on all the fun we had in person: on our wanders with the kindergarten classes, our story times with Ms. Good and all the fun and creative exploration we did together.  Our last one was planting  potatoes together and for those of you that are curious we got 46 potatoes from our tub alone!  Amazing!  I know we are not able to celebrate at this time as we have always done with a potato party and a large farewell picnic at Cameron park, but I know that we will find creative ways to be with one another again in the fall.  Please monitor the strongstart site for updates about our opening, hopefully in the third week of September  by clicking here

Ms. Good also has updated her blog to include information for the summer reading program so do have a look http://blogs.sd41.bc.ca/stoney-library/

I have been so impressed with the resilience and patience many of you have shown throughout this time as we have all tried our best to navigate these extraordinary times and for this I am so very thankful.  It has been a  great pleasure connecting with all of you and building a community of support for each other.

I am also so very proud of all of you that are starting kindergarten in the fall, you are going to have a great transition which I am so thankful to be a part of.  I am also thankful to remain connected to you and watch you learn and grow as you begin your journey with our amazing kindergarten teachers at Stoney Creek.  Best of luck to all of you!

For those of you that  may need some parenting support Information Children will continue to have their helpline open and they can be reached at 778-782-3548

Additionally, Anita Olson with Greater Vancouver Family Services will also be available and if you are interested in some virtual programming a pdf is included below:

Anita Olson (she/her) ECE, BA, MEd

Early Childhood Community Consultant

T 604 525 9144

M 604 723 9548

3^rd Floor – 321 Sixth Street, New Westminster BC V3L 3A7

www.fsgv.ca

 

for virtual programming click here FREE Virtual Programs Summer FINAL 2020 Master Burnaby (1)

I hope that your summers are filled with lots of wonderful family fun with lots of  experiences in nature and I look forward to hearing about all your adventures!

Warmly,

Marianna

 

 

click here for self care, parent education and activities for children

 

Monique gray Smith has a wonderful Ted talk speaking to the importance  and power of resilience to view her speak click here 

This has been a challenging week in the world around us and I feel the need to encourage the discussion of race and racism with children.   Research from Harvard University suggests that children as young as three years old, when exposed to racism and prejudice tend to embrace and accept it, even though the might not understand the feelings.  By age 5, it has been noted that white  children are strongly biased towards whiteness.  So it becomes very important for parents and educators to acknowledge and name race and racism.  One way to do this is through children’s books as this can help foster more questions and opportunities to model.  For a link to the read aloud  I am Rosa Parks click here

For younger children there is a great book by Todd Par, It’s Okay to be Different, to hear the author read the story click here

With all the uncertainty around us, many of us as well as our children may be feeling all kinds of emotions and may need support and extra reassurance.  Some helpful ways to encourage this and name, validate, and work through their feelings are listed here.  If you have been trying out other ways at home and would like to share what has worked, please email me to share.

Using the palm of your child’s hand you can start by showing them to breathe in as they move up tracing their thumb then out as they go down and back in all through each of their fingers, keep repeating as needed.  Another great way to do this is  to place a little stuffy on their belly and have them take in deep breathes and ask them to watch the stuffy move.

To try some 7 minute HIIT self-regulation with your children you can follow the animal moves below, use a timer if you like and encourage each movement for 45 seconds, take a 15 second break in between:  For the first one do frog leaps up and down, then do a bear walk, hands and feet on the floor, walk left and right. Next do some gorilla squats by doing a low sumo squat then use your hands to balance and shuffle around the room.  Now do a starfish, jump up and down with your arms and legs spread wide. Now be a Cheetah and run as fast as you can in one place, then do a  crab walk by sitting and placing your palms on the ground behind you then lift your hips and crawl on your hands and feet.  Finally do an elephant stomp by marching in place and stomping the ground with all your strength.  In our own family we having been trying to do some yoga in the evening and practising positive affirmations like: “I am strong”, “I am capable”, “I am Ok.”  We all need to remember to recognize how we are feeling and model this to our children so they can learn how to handle all these big emotions.

To share a mindfulness story together as a family click here

 

Here is a link to Ms. Good’s library blog.  I know  many of you loved our weekly visits there so have a look and  a listen to the read alouds Ms. Good has for you all there.

//http://blogs.sd41.bc.ca/stoney-library/