Special Activities |
| We recognize each child with a birthday celebration on his/her special day. |
| We celebrate a variety of special events throughout the year. Family and friends are always welcome to join in our celebrations. Annual holiday celebrations include a Halloween Parade, Thanksgiving Feast, Easter Egg Hunt, and a Winter Celebration, complete with a visit from Santa. These events provide the perfect opportunity for parents and friends to visit the school and experience some of the activities that enhance our program. |
| We schedule special attractions and guests throughout the year to enhance selected themes. Some examples include a professional chef, members of a local fire company and an engine, a police office and his cruiser, a SEPTA bus, a traveling farm, clowns, a dentist, a veterinary groomer, and even an ice cream truck. |
We encourage parent involvement throughout the year by providing
opportunities for parents to join their children, the staff, and
other families in fun social activities. Some of our most popular
events include:
Family Barbecue |
| We believe that helping a child learn to read -- and love to read -- is the best way to improve a child's chance for success in school. Realizing the importance of emergent literacy, our teachers set out to include a literacy program as part of the school's curriculum. To this end, The Traveling Backpack Program was instituted in September of 1997. It is a school-based literacy program in which backpacks are used as a creative means to group books on a common topic. The backpacks are available for children to borrow for extended use at home. The program is comprised of 24 backpacks, each containing 10-15 books on a selected theme. Themes include Animals, Saying Good-bye, Sesame Street, Families, Fables, Transportation, Adoption, and more. This unique program is a highly successful vehicle to promote reading and literacy development in children. And it provides increased opportunities for parents and children to enjoy time together at home. Inspired by the overwhelming popularity and success of this program, we launched the companion Toddler Backpack Program in January of this year. This program is composed of collections such as ABCs and 123's, Shapes and Colors, and Baby Animals. As the name and themes imply, this program is targeted at out younger book lovers. |
| Music is also a highly regarded program at the school. We incorporate a variety of songs into our daily routine, with children and teachers singing throughout the day. In addition, "Mr. David" is a skilled professional musician and storyteller who visits the children on a weekly basis. Mr. David provides music enrichment and involvement through fun songs, puppets, and character drawings. |
| Photographs of the children participating in our programs are taken from time to time and may appear in various news releases and publicity materials. |
 Back
to Child Care at SJU
Last Revised: February 20, 2000
|