Grand Anse Playgroup
News Update
April 2010
Dear GAP Families,
April is a month when many families get ready to leave Grenada. Some
families are leaving for a few months holiday and others to move on to the
next phase in life. To all families leaving Grenada, we will miss you and wish
you the best of luck.
On May 13th and 14th, its’ the GAP Annual Second Hand Sale. The sale has
become a regular event at the GAP that many look forward to. Proceeds
from the sale will help the GAP to purchase needed materials to add to the
play structure under the Banyan tree. Donations welcome.
For those families returning to Grenada, we are asking that you bring back
with you a pair of white, blue or black children’s socks. Together, with the
Significant Others Organization, we are asking members to donate a pair of
socks for children needing them to supplement their school uniforms. Many
families face the challenge each year to outfit their child for school. By
placing your spare change in the pair of socks, you can further assist the
GAP to raise proceeds for GAP programs and local community support
efforts.
GAP WISH LIST
● PAINT Brushes (big and fat) ● Stencils ● Rulers
● Large beads
● Costumes for dramatic play (an important part of weekly activities)
● Colored and assorted sports balls (medium and large) ● Bubble Juice
● Doll clothes (medium and large)
● Cars and Trucks (medium size)
● Bingo Dabbers ●Books - all ages ●Stickers (for potty time)
● Modeling clay
● Sidewalk Chalk ● Pencils HB
● Twister Game
At the end of April, Jenelle and Kathy Jackson went to The Spice Center in
Victoria (a school for children with special needs) to do a professional
development session with their teachers. The Early Childhood Intervention
Program (ECIP) at the GAP has become a model program and the focus of
this most recent professional development session. Jenelle and Kathy’s visit
introduced the ECIP program to other teachers working with special needs
children. The session was well received and the Spice Center teachers were
already planning how to implement new techniques!
GAP closed Monday 24th May (Whit Monday) 2010 and June 3rd (Corpus
Christie). The last day of the GAP this term is Friday June 25th and we reopen on Wednesday, August 11, 2010.
Have you see the U-tube video about the GAP? Check it out.
(http://www.youtube.com/stgeorgesu) Just click on Family Life at St.
George’s University.
During the middle of April, Tammy, Jenelle and Kathy were involved with the
Children’s Health Organization Relief and Educational Services (CHORES).
As a speech and language therapist, Kathy saw over 90 patients. We spent
the week with the rehabilitation team traveling around Grenada supporting
children and families. The GAP assists CHORES with its database
throughout the year and works to maintain better contact between patients
and specialists.
Parents, please be sure to read our selected monthly article in the Parent
Information section at the end of the news update and don’t forget to view
the GAP photos at the very end.
What’s been happening in the Infant Playroom?
The infants have been working on many different activities this month.
Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles!! Just seeing the bottle of liquid for making
bubbles draws the children near to wait patiently for the bubble blowing to
begin. As the bubbles float, fascination fills their faces as they watch with
interest: float in the air then, POP! Bubbles are a wonderful pre-language
activity for children. It encourages children to initiate communication and
work on visual tracking.
Most of the infants are now able to identify the toy balls in the playroom;
many older infants are using the word ball. Children will bring you the ball
when requested. When rolling the ball away from them, they will walk or
crawl to the ball and roll it back for you. During this activity we emphasize
the use of words, ball such as:
 Pass
 run
 throw
 catch,
 up and down.
The children are also working on their words for animals from the various
puzzles. They play hide and seek with the puzzle pieces, then teachers ask
the children to find the various animals (cat, bird, fish and dog). The dog
seems to be the favorite animal as most infants are now imitating the
barking sound of a dog! Bark at your infant and see if they bark back at you.
What’s been happening in the Toddler Playroom?
The toddlers had a great time with the topics Easter and things that fly.
They went on an Easter egg hunt with a beautiful hand made Easter bag to
collect all their treats in. Did you notice the kites and airplanes made by the
toddlers that used to hang from the ceiling? They even made airplane and
kite shapes with play dough.
In P.E. the toddlers did a great job of moving their bodies like an airplane,
stretching their arms out in the same shape. During the evening outdoor
activity, they flapped their wings and ran all over like birds laughing and
smiling all along.
Sensory play is an important part of the toddler program. This month we
grated up Ivory soap with a cheese grater and mixed it with water. It
creates a lovely soapy, foamy mixture the children love to play with. They
spread it all over the table and drew designs in the soap. The tables get
sparkling clean after this activity too! We also used Jell-O for sensory this
month too. The Toddlers squeal with delight as the Jell-O wiggled and
jiggled on the table top! Sensory play is great pre-writing practice as they
use their fine motor muscles necessary for holding a pencil later!
What’s been happening in the Junior Playroom?
Bon Voyage to Annabella, Nicole, Yaseen and their families, we will miss you.
The Easter Treasure Hunt was a hit as the children searched for their hand
decorated tissue paper and vinegar eggs and other special treats. A treasure
hunt is a favorite game of the juniors.
The children were excited when Wanda the witch visited during W week.
She was in search of her wand and watermelons to make the necessary
wishes for her friends.
The children had a wonderful surprise - Water Sports Morning – Children
were heard to exclaim “This is fun! I’m loving it! Boy! We should do this
everyday”. Poor Ms. Ronelle, the children got her all wet. From all the
children’s comments and squeals, they really enjoyed Wanda’s wish.
Did you notice the body portraits on the wall? For Science, the children have
begun learning about important body organs - the heart and lungs. They are
fascinated with the body apron, locating and affixing the organs to their
body portraits.
We had to cancel our Mother’s Day trip as the majority our moms were
unable to attend. The children have decided to make a special gift instead.
What’s been happening in the Senior Playroom?
In honor of April being National Poetry Month, the seniors were introduced
to the wonderful world of poetry. They learned to explore the world using
their "poet's eyes" and listen for the "music" in poems. They discovered that
even something as simple as an apple could become a poem when viewed
through their own poet's eyes.
The seniors were also busy last month growing two "mystery seeds." They
have been carefully monitoring the seeds and charting their daily
observations as they begin to crack wide open and develop roots.
The seniors also continue to follow Elmer in his final adventure, The Dragons
of Blueland as the dragon calls on Elmer to help save his family from a group
of hunters.
The students were busy practicing patience as well as learning about the
importance of being considerate to others."
Parent Information
How to Nurture Language Development - Preschool Children
by Robert Needlman
www.drspock.com
Between ages two and five, children acquire a tremendous amount of information about
language. They go from saying brief two-word sentences to full, long phrases. They learn how to
make past, present, and future tenses; how to devise singulars and plurals; and how to ask
questions and make statements.
By age five, the differences between children with different degrees of language skills can be
striking. One child may have a vocabulary of four or five thousand words; another child only has
one to two thousand.
The key to helping a preschool child optimize his/her language skills is simply this: Expose them
to lots of interesting things every day, and talk about those things with them right then and there,
as well as later. Here are just a few of the ways you can make this happen:
Talk about things you are doing around the house. Think of interesting words to describe the
details of objects and processes. If you are washing dishes, you might be scrubbing or scouring,
or using detergent, or cleanser, or elbow grease. Make these words be part of the experience.
Tell stories. Young children love stories, and learn a lot of language from listening to them. Tell
stories about things that really happened, especially events from your own family and past. And
also tell make-believe stories. Stop from time to time and ask your child what should happen next.
Limit TV. While children can pick up some words from watching TV, it's not a great learning
experience because it is so passive. Watching hour after hour of TV blunts a child's imagination-the TV does all of the imagining for the child! Listening to stories does just the opposite: Children
create the images in their own minds, and fill in the details with their imaginations.
Make reading aloud a part of your everyday routine. Even if you just read for five minutes or
less each morning and the same amount each night, you'll be exposing your child to a great
wealth of new words. Don't be surprised if you start hearing some of these words slip into your
child's everyday speech.
Encourage creativity. Preschool children get excited about making things. Ask your child about
her creations, and listen carefully to the answers. A simple way to ask is, "Tell me about your
drawing (or painting, building, doll, food creation, etc.) Then say some things yourself using
interesting words to express your thoughts.
GAP PHOTOS
Two members of the
CHORES
TEAM
Mapalo’s 1st
Birthday
Shared with
The
Whole Family!
Friends Forever
Were
Going To
Miss You!
Warm Goodbyes
For all our
Friends and
Especially Miss Adele…
Tammy Martin
Director, GAP
tamartin@sgu.edu
405-3522
GAP
439-6657
Jenelle Bullen
Assistant Director, GAP
jbullen@sgu.edu
405-4036