K-State Center for
Child Development
Pa r e nt New s le tte r
PTO Points of Interest
Hello Parents,
*We design and offer
activities to connect CCD
Summer days are slipping families with one other.
by, and school bells will
*We work together to
soon be ringing once
build a positive
again. Your Parent
partnership between
Teacher Organization
parents and teachers.
(PTO) has many things in
the works for a great
Our first meeting will be
school year. We hope
held on Tuesday, August
that you can attend an
18 at NOON, in the
activity or two, and lend a CCD Conference Room.
hand to build a great
The meeting will
partnership with our
conclude by 12:50 p.m.
teachers and families.
Bring your lunch, if you
Here is a little bit about
wish. We will discuss
PTO:
activities for fall.
*Our mission is to build a
network between families
and teachers at the
Center for Child
Development (CCD).
serving you. Questions?
If so, please email Andrea
Feldkamp at
afeld@ksu.edu.
Enjoy these final summer
moments!
Andrea Feldkamp
CCD PTO President
I am your PTO President
this year. My husband,
Larry, and I have three
children attending the
CCD. I look forward to
Building Access and Security
The safety of all who use the CCD is important to maintain. To gain access to the CCD, the
keypad entry system is located in the vestibule at the left of the entrance to the CCD.
Individuals that have access to the CCD will enter their assigned PIN on the keypad to gain
access to the center. After access to the building is gained, make sure the door closes. If there
is an individual waiting behind you to gain access to the CCD, close the door to allow that
individual to enter their PIN for access. For safety reasons, under no circumstances, hold the
door open for someone else. If, for any reason, someone gets into the CCD with you without
entering a PIN, notify the receptionist immediately.
August 2015
Inside this issue:
PTO Points of
Interest
Building Access and
Security
1
Signing Children In
and Out
1
Important Dates
1
Communicating with 2
Children
Early Childhood
Screening
On August 21st from 9am
to 11am
This free screening will take
place at Peace Lutheran
Church at 2500 Kimball
Avenue
Please call ahead on August
18th or 19th from 8 am to 4
pm in order to reserve a
time.
785-776-6363
Important Dates:

Signing Children In and Out of the Classroom
Families, please sign your child in and out of the classroom daily. This is required for safety
purposes, and is a regulation of both licensing and the federal food program. On the sign in
and out sheet please check the appropriate box to notify staff if your child will be eating the
next day’s lunch and snack. This information allows the center to order an accurate number
of meals. We must fax our meal counts to our caterer by 8:30am. Please help us by notifying
the center before that time if your child will be absent, or arriving late, and we will cancel
that day’s meals for your child.
11
1
August 10th-14th
Teacher In-Service
CCD closed all
week

August 24th-First
day of fall classes for
Kansas State
University
Communicating with Children
Children communicate from the Make sure you don’t feel rushed to
very beginning and not always with move on to a different topic.
words.
Make eye contact: Look children
Babies cry, coo, snuggle, arch their in the eyes when you speak to
them. Get on their level by
backs, make eye contact, or look
stooping or sitting as often as you
away.
can. Speaking or yelling from
Toddlers use a combination of
across the room is ineffective with
body language like pointing and
gesturing before they learn to use young children––they’re usually
focused on what they’re doing, so
single words or short sentences.
it’s important to get their attention
Preschoolers begin to speak in
complete sentences that are mostly first and then deliver the message.
Brush up on your listening skills:
grammatically correct. And they
begin to connect the spoken word Effective listening is one of the
best things parents can do to
with the written word.
improve communication. It takes
School-age children speak much
practice, but it’s a skill that can be
like adults. They ask more
mastered, and it’s worth it. When
questions and begin to talk and
children are listened to, they know
play with peers more. When
parents want to communicate with you’re interested and they tend to
share more. Put down the
their children effectively, they
need to keep a few things in mind newspaper and turn off the
such as the age of their child and television–– children know when
your attention is focused
communication styles.
elsewhere.
Researchers agree that lots of
positive child-parent communica- Validate feelings: Don’t you feel
better when someone says they
tion and interaction builds a
understand? It’s the same with
foundation for effective
communication that helps in all kids. If they say, “I’m afraid of the
dog across the street,” say
walks of life––from family to
friends to colleagues. Why spend something like, “I know that dog
has a very loud bark. Maybe we
a lot of valuable time nagging,
shouting, demanding, or threaten- can get to know him better.”
ing when it doesn’t work? Practice Restate and clarify: It’s easy to
misunderstand what another
and incorporate a few of these
person is saying. Young children
communication tools into your
need a little time to organize their
daily life.
Remember, timing is everything: thoughts and get all of the words
When you have important things to line up and make sense. It’s
often helpful to restate what you
to discuss, choose a time when
thought you heard them say.
everyone is fed and well rested.
Page 2
Communicating With Children
Steps To Effective Communication: • Get on your child’s eye
level when possible.
• Provide a parent prompt. “Tell
me more . . .”
• Reduce noise and other distractions.
• Use words that your child understands.
Make Communication Fun
Questions that allow for
more than one answer help
children feel confident. They
encourage problem-solving
and stimulate interesting
discussions
Open-ended Questions:
Where do you think that bird
is flying? What’s your favorite color? Why do you think
the dog is barking? If you
ran out of paper, what could
you write on? FUN
Center for Child Development
Kansas State University
1 Jardine Drive
Manhattan Ks, 66506
785-532-3700
childcare@k-state.edu
We’re on the Web!!
http://www.k-state.edu/ccd/
K-State Center for Child Development