Dear StrongStart friends,

Please CLICK HERE to watch a video of me reading The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri published by Simon and Schuster books for Young Readers.

You will also meet two of my friends: squirrels Peter and Paul.

Here are the words and variations for this rhyme:

Don’t forget to join us for our Monday Zoom Storytimes starting at 11:15 am and Music Wednesdays with Kindergarten at 9:15 am. If you haven’t received a link yet and would like to join us, please e-mail me at lillian.kocmaruk@burnabyschools.ca and I will send you both links.

For those of you who really enjoyed the song I’m a Nut during our first Zoom Storytime: here are the words as well.

Have fun!

Ms. Lillian

Dear StrongStart friends,

Please CLICK HERE to hear me reading a book called “Leaf Man” written by Lois Ehlert, published by Harcourt Inc. Hope it will inspire your and your child’s imagination to see (and make) Leaf Man around you.

Fall provides us with many treasures you and your child can collect. Here are some examples I collected: a variety of pinecones, chestnuts,  twigs, bark, leaves of many shape or colours, acorns , maple seeds, and dried flowers (the ones I have are Allium flowers from our StrongStart planter). Along with some rocks found or bought at a dollar store (just like the ones you see) you have a bounty of materials for sensory and creative play. Let children touch and feel the textures of natural objects, by giving them the words to describe these objects you will be expanding their vocabulary but also helping them be in touch with nature. There are so many ways you and your child can have a marvelous time together using these materials in many creative ways.

Before putting these items away, make sure anything you collected from outside is dry and it will last you a long time. Please always be careful as smaller items are a choking hazard so always be with your child when using these items. Be creative,  creativity is like a muscle that more you use it the stronger it gets!

I got inspired by Leaf Man to be creative with my fall materials. Here is my ” surprised” Leaf Man. The hair is made from maple tree seeds and the mouth out of a big rock I found in front of our centre.

Of course, everyone will make their own creations. Acorn caps made wonderful eyes and short stalks of Allium made his hair.

I used the paper bag to create another leaf man. I used some cedar branches and chestnut. If you and your child want to create a puppet, you can use other flat materials (other than the rocks and chestnuts I used this time).

Here are the twigs and bark again along with some leaves and acorns.

You can also collect leaves of all shapes, colours and sizes. What a wonderful opportunity to teach your child about how to appreciate different trees that have been around here for many, many years: maple, oak. birch, elm, poplar, and horse chestnut trees. In my childhood, we used to press the leaves of trees in our neighbourhoods between pages of a fat book. Once dried and flat, we would tape them in a notebook with names written for revisiting and enjoying later. Here is another way you can enjoy the variety of colours and shapes in your home. Use clear self-adhesive (sticky) MacTack. It is found in Dollar Store or some grocery or hardware stores where they sell the items for lining the shelves. Enjoy sticking the leaves to the surface, and when you are done put it somewhere where you can enjoy a leaf collage for a long time.

Happy collecting and creating!

Ms. Lillian

Dear StrongStart Friends,  

Welcome back! I am so happy that Ms. Lillian has invited me so make a guest post on her blog to talk about the Burnaby Public Library and our services! My name is Jamie and I am the Children’s Librarian at the Tommy Douglas Branch of the Burnaby Public Library (https://www.bpl.bc.ca/). Tommy Douglas is located on the corner of Edmonds and Kingsway at 7311 Kingsway (learn more about our other three locations here: https://www.bpl.bc.ca/locations-hours).  

 Did you know that you can now come into the library and look for books and other materials? Our hours at all branches are: 

• Monday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
• Tuesday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.   
• Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 
• Thursday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

• Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
• Saturday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
• Sunday: 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

 Here are some of the other exciting services we are currently offering: 

• Need a library card? Give us a call at 604-436-5400 or come in. Having a Burnaby Public Library card will let you access all our cool online resources, place holds, and check out books. Everyone can get a card from babies to grandparents!  
• Need something to read? We have many new print books in library and e-books to enjoy at home. Check out: https://tinyurl.com/BPLStaffPicks and https://burnaby.overdrive.com/library/kids  
• Got questions about the community, technology, books, or anything else? Drop by, call us at 604-436-5400 or email eref@bpl.bc.ca. We love to answer your questions! 
• Searching for more stories? Check out TumbleBookLibrary, Bookflix, Indigenous Storybooks and other great options for online stories here: https://www.bpl.bc.ca/kids/online-stories .  
• Did you read this summer? Pick up a Summer Reading Club medals at the branch while supplies last.  

Keep visiting our website for news and announcements. For more information, visit: https://www.bpl.bc.ca/news/covid19 .  For library virtual tour click Virtual Tommy Douglas Tour – Oct 1

Remember, if you have any questions, please stop by, give us a call at 604-436-5400 or email us (eref@bpl.bc.ca). We look forward to seeing you again soon! 

Warm regards! 

Jamie 

 Children’s Librarian, Tommy Douglas Library 

Fall is a wonderful time to enjoy nature and its fallen treasures. When you go on walks with your children look on the ground and on the grass. On my last walk I picked up some fallen branches and twigs and found some bark on the ground. It inspired me to use some everyday materials: pipe cleaners, yarn, gardening twists, some sheer fabric to decorate the branches. You can use almost anything, be creative!

Show your child how to twist pipe cleaners and wind yarn around the twigs, for younger children I used some hair elastics and colorful elastics on the bark.

Older children can even choose two colours and you can playfully show them how to make a pattern: red, blue red, blue…I wonder what comes next?

You will be happy to know that while having fun and talking with you, exploring different textures and learning the words for: rough, smooth, bumpy, strechy, prickly, wooly, twisty, poky etc., children will be using their fine motor skills, gaining the strength in their hands and wrists needed for more complex activities like writing.

What other ways you can use your sticks or twigs and branches? Children use their imagination in their play and a stick becomes a magic wand! You can trace a stick on the fence to make some wonderful sounds! Playing in dirt with sticks is something children do all over the world. Don’t forget to send me some pictures.

The boy in this picture discovered a hole in the ground. After digging a bit, he decided to use the stick to measure how deep it was. What a profound hands-on sensory and math experience!

Hello StrongStart families,

I would like to share a song that always brings a smile to my face. It is an old camping song, with some adapted words. Our Kindergarten children in Ms. Thola’s and Mr. Thola’s class sing it often and with joy! Hope you will like it too.

Click HERE to sing-a-long with me.

Here are the words: I Love the Mountains

Many Burnaby organizations are working very hard to support families and young children.

To check out the attached calendar filled with free family and children’s programing in Burnaby click here: FREE EDITED Programs fall-winter 2020 Master Burnaby (1) This program was compiled by Burnaby Early Childhood Development.

For more information on Burnaby Covid 19 activities, support and services for children 0 to 6 years old and families go to: http://www.kidsinburnaby.ca/

Information Children is continuing to offer parenting  workshops and parenting support.

Here is their Fall 2020 write-up:

For more information please check here:http://www.informationchildren.com

Hello StrongStart families,

Here is a write-up from our wonderful, warm and experienced community partner Anita offering parenting support.

Anita Olson – Early Childhood Community Consultant (ECCC) – supporting parents/caregivers with children ages 0-5 years old. Questions/concerns about behaviour, development, needing strategies or other resources call/text/email for a free virtual or socially distanced consultation.

604-723-9548 or email aolson@fsgv.ca

Join Monday’s Coffee and Chat parenting support group to get connected with other parents, learn some helpful tips about parenting and discuss your own parental celebrations and challenges. Meetings are via MS Teams – email aolson@fsgv.ca, subject line JOIN COFFEE AND CHAT, and an invite will be emailed to you. For assistance in MS Teams installation click here.

If you are interested in joining the ECCC Resource Newsletter please email aolson@fsgv.ca, subject line ADD TO RESOURCE NEWSLETTER and you will begin to receive children’s activity ideas, family resources offered in Burnaby and so much more.

Hello StrongStart friends,

Do you remember when I did a little science experiment with popping corn? I put a handful of corn kernels on a two sheets of paper towels soaked with water and covered the corn with more wet paper. After few days in the sun on my windowsill, the corn sprouted. After few more days, the sprouts became bigger and longer and some grew light green leaves.

I put the sprouted corn kernels in the planter by our StrongStart and covered them with dirt. I was wondering what would happen. The sun shining and rain falling made a miracle! If you are walking by our centre come and explore, bring your magnifying glass if you have one, or just your curious eyes: we have real corn growing! Look up close, touch, count the seeds, feel the husk and silk. You are even welcome to pick the corn and enjoy it. First come, first serve!

When you walk around in community gardens this harvest season, or in your own gardens or even in the grocery store doing your regular shopping, there is a great opportunity to notice and talk with your child about fruits and vegetables, learn their names, talk about different parts, shapes and colours, textures, where they grow and how. With most fruits and vegetables being available all year long, most children do not know there is a season when fruits and vegetables are grown locally and are tastiest. If you involve your children in noticing/shopping/picking up fruits and vegetables, they will be more likely be willing to try something they never tried before! Preparing food together adds another learning opportunity and fun time spent together.

If you have the opportunity try visiting a pumpkin patch or corn maze during this harvest season or a local farmer’s market (with all safety measures of course).

Enjoy the harvest season!

Miss Lillian

Dearest StrongStart Families,

It seems like just yesterday that we said our goodbyes for the summer and here we are – counting down the last days of September with harvest season upon us! I hope you all found the ways to relax and enjoy your summer with your families and that you are staying healthy and safe. We had some wonderful weather over the summer and some really trying conditions in the last couple of weeks.

This year will continue to be a roller coaster one for all of us with so many changes, adaptations, uncertainties and worries but I am hoping that by staying connected, being kind, taking care of ourselves and each other, we will get through this together.

It was my privilege to spend the first few days of school supporting our Kindergarten children starting Twelfth Avenue school. I was so amazed at how well they did and oh, so proud of all of them and happy to see their joy!

Please rest assured, all young children are resilient and adaptable and with your loving help and support they will get through these difficult times.

I know the question on everybody’s mind is when StrongStart is going to open.

Here is a message from our School District:

In September 2020, Burnaby StrongStart BC programs will continue to engage in outreach to families via emails, phone calls, and offering StrongStart services online.

There is currently no in-person StrongStart BC programs in Burnaby Schools.  

We are looking into a variety of options that will enable us to offer in-person StrongStart BC programs. Programs will be at reduced capacity that are consistent with Stage 2 of the K-12 Education Restart Plan. “Reduced capacity” means that we will limit the number of families attending in order to maintain safe physical distancing. We will also reduce the number of hours per day and/or days per week of StrongStart BC operations to accommodate cleaning and disinfecting protocols.  

Please continue to visit our website for the latest updates. We look forward to when we can welcome you back in person!  Looking forward to connecting with you again!

Starting today, September 21st, I will be back to support you remotely. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can help in any way

Miss you all, much love and hugs to all! Stay safe and healthy!

Miss Lillian