July 2019 Early Learning Center Where Families Connect to Learn, Grow and Play! Contact us at: www.bellevuecollege.edu/childcare 425-564-2240

Bellevue College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, language, ethnicity, religion, veteran status, sex, sexual orienta-

tion, including gender identity or expression, disability, or age in its programs and activities. Please see policy 4150 at www.bellevuecollege.edu/

policies/. The following people have been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Title IX Coordinator,

425-564-2641, Office C227, and EEOC/504 Compliance Officer, 425-564-2178, Office R130.

July & August 2019

Dates to Remember: Dear ELC Families, Last month, at the last minute, we had to cancel our Family Picnic due to the extreme weather conditions. I’m truly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you but safety is our first priority when the ELC children, families and staff are involved. I am happy to say that we have rescheduled the Family Picnic to Friday, Aug. 2nd. I hope this day works for you and you can join us at Robinswood Park for an afternoon of delicious food and friendly conversations. I am happy to announce that we have a New toddler Teacher, Assistant Teacher and Pre-K Teacher joining our team! Delaney is teaching in the T-5 classroom with Paula. Nadir will be teaching in the Pre-K classroom with Karen and Joshua will be working in all classrooms as a floater Assistant Teacher. Inside this newsletter, read more about their talents as well as the exciting activities that are going on in your child’s classroom. As we enter the summer months, many of us are making transitions. A heartfelt congratulations to the student families who have reached graduation and are moving onto other institutions or entering new jobs. Some children will move up into other classrooms, from infants to toddlers, from toddlers to preschool; and some will move on altogether to a kindergarten experience in a new school. Please let us know what we can do to support you in these transitions, so that they are a positive, celebratory, growing experience for your child and family. Lisa

Director, ELC

8/2/19 EARLY CLOSURE

ELC Annual Family Potluck

Robinswood Park 4:15-6:15 pm

Please pick your child up at the center by 4:00.

7/1 - 8/15 Summer quarter ELC OPEN

7/4/19 Independence Day ELC CLOSED

7/5/19 Early closure at 4:15pm Please be in the building by 4:00 to pick up your child.

8/16/19 Classified Professional Development Day *BC and ELC CLOSED

July 2019

Introducing New Toddler Teacher: Delaney Murphy

Hello Bellevue College, ELC Families, My name is Delaney Murphy and I am very excited to begin working with you and your children! I moved to Seattle from Oregon almost 3 years ago. I love everything about this area, and plan to be here for a very long time. I love to read and write, and explore outdoors in the amazing surrounding areas. I am finishing up my AA in education right now from Highline College and plan to begin my Bachelors De-gree in Child and Family Studies from Central Wash-ington University in the winter. I have worked with tod-dlers for the last 3 years and I am excited to continue developing my experience here at the ELC. I am look-ing forward to creating lasting relationships with you and your children!

Introducing New Pre-K Teacher: Nadir Salaam

Hello Bellevue College, ELC families, My Name is Nadir Abdul Salaam. I am enthusiastically looking forward to joining and contributing to the ELC community. I am originally from the Ivy League town of New Haven, Ct. I relocated to Washington state with my family in 2016 after falling in love with the area during a visit. I have 2 young daughters , a 3.5 year old and a 9 month old whom I adore. I enjoy reading , exercising, videography, listening to podcasts and following my entrepreneurial passions. I have my Child Development Associate and over 11

years of classroom experience working with diverse

groups of children in different educational settings. My

passion is teaching our young scholars and giving them

the tools they need to be successful in all aspects of

life. Pro-social skills are just as important as Academic

skills, and we will hone both through play and creative

expression. I look forward to meeting you all. It is a pleasure to be a part of the Bellevue

College, ELC Family.

Welcome New Staff

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July 2019

Introducing New Assistant Teacher: Josh Tjelle

Hello Bellevue College ELC families! My name is Josh Tjelle, and I am thrilled to be joining the ELC Community this summer.

I’ve lived in Bellevue my whole life, and have attended both Seattle Pacific University and University of Washington Bothell studying Mathematics before realizing that I had a passion for working with chil-dren. After discovering that I have a love for teaching, I I I believed that working with middle and high schoolers was where I belonged. However, two years ago I had an opportunity to work with preschoolers, and fell in love with working with that age group and never looked back. Some of my other passions include board games, camping all over the PNW, and explor-ing Seattle with my wife.

I am so excited about this opportunity to work at the ELC, as well as the opportunity to grow more as an educator. One thing I’ve realized in my two years of teaching this age group is that every child has some-thing new to teach me, and I am looking forward to meeting all of you and learning from you and your children. Can’t wait to start this exciting new chapter with all of you!

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July 2019

Infant 1 Teachers: Mahboobeh & Tiffany

What's New in the Infant Room?

Mahboobeh - mnasroll@bellevuecollege.edu *Tiffany-tiffany.xiong@bellevuecollege.edu

Specialist for Infant and T1 : Linda Boyd

June was filled with fun playing outside with our friends in T1. We saw caterpillars transform into butterflies and shared them with our friends as we watched them fly off together.

We also welcomed Keira to the infant room in June and said goodbye to our friend Khải who is spending the rest of the summer with family. Next month we will be working on focusing our physical motor-skills in the classroom.

Saanvi is out and about on the toddler

playground.

Ava loves to play outside and

touch the grass.

Curious Khải looks up onto the

umbrella during outside play time.

Matthew reaches over to touch the grass.

Welcome

Keira to the

Infant

room!

5

July 2019

What's New in the T-1 Classroom?

T-1 Teachers: Brian & Liliana

It is amazing and exciting to watch as the one year old children are growing and developing in so many different areas. We are observing how they interact with us and with each other using words and expressions like; “not done’, “all done” “I want” “more”. They are pointing, identifying and naming animals and objects in books. The children are beginning to follow classroom routines such as cleaning up, washing their hands before meal time and to walk as a group holding on the rope. This allows us more freedom to investigate and explore the different areas of the Early Learning Center. The children are developing large motor skills and balance as they climb, slide, push, throw and dance. They are showing confidence in their abilities as they are growing in these skills. The children are also enjoying spending time investigating the grassy area outside. They are also very interested in observing all movement and sounds outside. During the summer months we will engage in many different outdoor activities such as water play, bubbles, climbing, taking walks and experience new act vies in the large motor classroom. Please check your child's clothing regularly to make sure they have extra clothes for warm summer months. Water activities are lots of fun, but also require a change of clothing after outside play.

Brian - bcooper@bellevuecollege.edu * Liliana - lmartell@bellevuecollege.edu

We learn by exploring and investigating our environment.

Specialist for Infant and T1 : Linda Boyd

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July 2019

What have the T2 Toddlers been learning?

Teachers: Yen-Chiu

Yen-Chiu - yong@bellevuecollege.edu

Specialist for Toddler Rooms: Vanessa Von Papp

Our classroom had an exciting and fun time exploring many things in the month of June. The children worked together as a group as they measured, poured and mixed the ingredients to make their own play dough and then chose the color the wanted to make the play dough. They did an excellent job taking turns as they discussed the changes that accrued during the process of making play dough. We learned many new tings about lady bugs and butterflies as we observed them grow and change. The children were very interested in the changes we observed and asked many questions which increased their knowledge of caterpillars, butterflies and ladybugs. It was a very exciting day when we released the lady bugs and butterflies and watched them fly away on the playground. We made blueberry smoothies which was enjoyed by all as we took the solid ingredients and changed them to a yummy liquid smoothie drink. During the summer time we will be focusing on outside activities, watching out for butterflies, lady bugs and other insects that live on our playground. We will also be observing nature around us as we care for the vegetables grow in our garden. Now that the weather is warming up we will engage in water play activities outdoors. We will practice our small and large motor skill by kicking balls, running, jumpingto build body strength. We will also continue to work on our communication and problem solving skills with our friends and teachers.

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July 2019

What have the T3 Toddlers been learning?

Teachers: Rita & Ghousia

Specialist for Toddler Rooms: Vanessa Von Papp

Rita - Rruffin@bellevuecollege.edu

In the month of June one of our favorite experiences was making blueberry pancakes. We discussed all the ingredients needed for the recipe and how much of each ingredient was needed to measure out for the pancake mix. The children were excited as we added the blueberries to the mix, which started a conversation of the batter changing colors from the blueberry juice. When the pancakes were finished one child said “We have blue pancakes”.

The children were very engaged in creating beautiful artwork which is displayed in the classroom. A popular activity in the classroom is exploring sensory play using both water and sand in the sensory tables.

In July and August during the warm summer weather the children will engage in a variety of activities on the playground such as water play and using some new equipment on the playground. The children will continue to watch and nurture their vegetable plants in the garden as the warm weather and sunshine help the plants grow so we can harvest them at the end of summer.

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July 2019

What have the T5 Toddlers Been Learning?

Specialist for Toddler Rooms: Vanessa Von Papp

Teachers: Delaney, Paula and Khazal

During the Summer Months, we will be providing a variety of activities that focus on the Great Outdoors. Some of the fun activities outside include: water play, water painting, bubbles, parachute play with bubbles and balls, and exploring with ice cubes. We recently added a new outdoor kitchen set to complement the sand area so the toddlers can be involved in pretend play. Yara, Audrey, and Abigail created a birthday cake by putting wet sand in a pot and adding wood chips for candles and singing Happy Birthday to each other. Abigail filled up the muffin tins and pretended to put it in the oven. They will be real excited to use the new kitchen set. We are also planning to have picnics in the toddler yard during lunch on some upcoming Fridays. We'll practice during afternoon snack and prepare before we do the lunch time picnic.

Delaney - delaney.murphy@bellevuecollege.edu *Paula - paula.bourgeois@bellevuecollege.edu

I am an artist, creating and learning new skills every day.

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July 2019

What have the T6 Toddlers been learning?

Teachers: Lisa-Ann, Diane and Khazal

Lisa-Ann - lowens@bellevuecollege.edu * Diane - desparza@bellevuecollege.edu

Specialist for Toddler Rooms: Vanessa Von Papp

During the month of June we watched our caterpillars turn into butterflies then we released them on the playground! The children have been enjoying exploring sensory activities in many forms. Recently we had the opportunity to practice our fine motor skills by scooping in the sand, when we added water we described our cups as half full, empty and full, a very enjoyable math lesson in the sand box. We also experienced shaved ice. The children added some different colors to the ice to see amazing results, we discussed the color, texture and that it was cold and it eventually turned to water. We also added some new pieces to the Lego table and observed how the children practiced taking turns and working together by building houses. The children all worked together and made a “Costco” using Legos! During the month of July, we will continue to focus on bugs and begin to plant our seeds. What a busy month we will have in our classroom with so many activities. The children put a variety of seeds inside of a wet paper towel, then they put it in a Ziploc so they can observe it growing. During the summer months we will care for our plants by watering them. We will sing some songs and read some stories about plants. We have a variety of activities planned for outside time on the play ground such as sand and water play with our new kitchen set, bubble making, going on walks and exploring the different parts of the Early Learning Center.

10

July 2019

What have the P4 Preschoolers been learning?

Teachers: Annie, Page & Naghmeh

Specialist 3 for Preschool Rooms: BreAna Garcia

Time goes by so fast! As summer approached, we will be saying good bye to some of our friends who will be moving up to the pre-k classrooms and welcome some of new friends to our classroom. A couple of exciting events happened in June. First, we hosted a breakfast for our families. When the teacher asked Jaden how the breakfast was, he said, “It was delicious! I ate breakfast with my mommy.” Second, when the mobile library arrived, our children got to choose their favorite books and practiced waiting in line to check out the books.

Last but not the least, we freed our butterflies and watched them disappear into the sky. Good luck, butterflies! In the middle of June, we finished the unit on exercise and healthy eating habits. In order to celebrate the success of our studying, along with our children’s interests in learning about letters, we made an alphabet fruit salad. The children helped cut and peel the fruit, gathered the pieces in a big bowl, and mixed them. While eating the fruit salad, we not only talked about the textures and colors of the fruits, but we also talked about the first letter of each fruit name. For example apple starts with the letter A. To expand our learning of healthy food, we have planted seeds in the garden to grow our own fruits and vegetables

During outside exploration you will see the children checking the plants in the garden. “See! It’s growing bigger.” “I see strawberries in there.” We can’t wait for harvest time! Recently, we noticed that our children are interested in balls. Our next study unit is on balls. We will study about different kinds of balls, how people use balls, what they are made of, what is inside them, and how high they can bounce. Also, we will expand our learning on things that move. Summer is here and the weather is nice! It’s the perfect time to go outside

and play with balls.

Annie - ygu@bellevuecollege.edu *Page - pknapp@bellevuecollege.edu

We love when the ABC Library Bus

comes to visit and we can checkout

books for our classroom.

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July 2019

What have the P3 Preschoolers been learning?

Teachers: Parisa, Wendy & Naghmeh

Parisa - pmohamad@bellevuecollege.edu *Wendy - wendy.cote@bellevuecollege.edu

Specialist 3 for Preschool Rooms: BreAna Garcia

The month of June was an exciting month for us. We hosted six caterpillars in our classroom and the children watched as the caterpillars transformed into butterflies. All six butterflies hatched from their chrysalis and began to spread their wings. After a few days of observing the butterflies in the classroom we set them free, which was an exciting event for the children. The children asked lots of questions such as “Where will the butterflies go?” “Will they come back”?

We transitioned our pumpkin plants outside and planted zucchini seeds in the garden. After watering and care for them all the plants are growing well. Rodrick (BC student helper) helped us teach the children to count in Swahili by reading the story “We All Went on Safari”. The children repeated the words after him. It was a great experience for them to learn a different language and learn about a different culture.

During the months of July and August, we are planning to explore the BC campus by going on walking field trips to the soccer field, the theater and the science lab. We are also hoping to harvest our garden bounty so we can create different cooking projects using our garden produce. The children are going to have the opportunity to make pizza at the Pizza Café on campus with Jeanna, one of our previous cooks. We will continue to explore our unit on exercising and start our new unit on balls.

The children had the opportunity to

become young scientists by

experimenting with chemical reaction .

Presented by David’s mon

Sonya

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July 2019

What has Pre-K 2 been learning?

Teachers: Mala, Donna & Margarita

Mala - mkrishna@bellevuecollege.edu * Donna - dflanner@bellevuecollege.edu

Specialist 3 for Pre-k Rooms: BreAna Garcia

June was a busy month. We had our end of the year Tea Party, which was exciting and had the children in our classroom buzzing about the walking field trip to QFC. Thank you to the parents that volunteered and the weather that cooperated. The children worked very diligently making the Tea Party a huge success!

At our Tea Party all the children and their parents danced together to:

“A Tooty Ta”

Tooty ta, tooty ta, tooty ta, ta. Thumbs up! Tooty ta, tooty ta, tooty ta, ta. Elbows back! Tooty ta, tooty ta, tooty ta, ta. Feet apart! Tooty ta, tooty ta, tooty ta, ta. Eyes shut! Tooty ta, tooty ta, tooty ta, ta. Clap hands! Tooty ta, tooty ta, tooty ta, ta.

In June we said good bye to some of our friends as they went off to summer camps before starting kindergarten in September. We will miss them. We are very excited to have some new friends that will be transitioning into our classroom, Prek 2.

It’s summer time now and soon we will be exploring the BC campus through field trips every Thursday at 9:15am. On our field trips the children in our classroom will be using listening skills to follow multi-step directions, they will have the opportunity to explore, investigate and use resources to find answers to questions pertaining to our immediate community and apply this knowledge to a similar situation. For example: we have a vegetable garden in our playground and we are planning on visiting the green house/vegetable garden on campus. Some of the children are having conversations about their garden at home. We would like to invite you, parents, to join us on our field trips which will be every Thursday, morning.

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July 2019

What has Pre-K 1 been learning?

Teachers: Karen, Nadir & Margarita

Specialist 3 for Pre-k Rooms: BreAna Garcia

We are excited about summer and what new adventures it will bring. Let’s start off by welcoming our new teacher Nadir. He is filled with a wealth of experience and an appreciation of academic development of young children.

Let’s get ready, set, and go into our new adventures here in Pre-K. We went on a fieldtrip to the Oceanography department where we had the opportunity to explore sea life. Theo’s mom (Dana) shared with us about the life and characteristics of squids. We learned about the internal and external of sea life animals. Hands on learning!

We will be exploring and creating many Summer Fun Activities in Pre-K: The Amazing Ball Race Artful Antics The Inventor’s Workshop Where the Wild Things Are Treasure Hunters Teddy Bear Adventures Water Fun Explosion Summer Olympics Please stay tuned for more adventures to come!

Karen - kcarpent@bellevuecollege.edu * Nadir - nsalaam@bellevuecollege.edu

Summer is a time of exploring and investigating new activities.