May 2022 Newsletter
April 29th, 2022
Dear Jack & Jill Families:
We understand the start of 2022 has been difficult for everyone, we are all ready to move on from COVID. Unfortunately, we need to shift to understanding how we will adapt to a lifestyle of living and working around COVID upticks.
We are all looking forward to enjoying some sunny spring weather, which will allow the children to play outside twice daily!
Teacher Appreciation Week is right around the corner and is observed May 2-6! Please help show the support of our teachers. Teacher Appreciation Day itself is Tuesday, May 3rd and we will be catering lunch for our team. We have continued to support our staff through mental health pay supplements, staff retention bonuses, additional staff hiring to allow for time off, and more. Next week we will play bingo throughout the day and award prizes. This gets quite competitive during the day and the kids love getting involved too.
Please help show your support by coloring the card linked below.
This is a perfect time to have your child write their name, or try, to show their teacher how much they have learned this year by learning to write. Families may comment their appreciation for the younger children unable to write or color.
As the cards are received, we want to cover the classroom doors with all the wonderful appreciation received! Thank you for helping us appreciate our team!
Many of you have noticed the contractors at the Saint Anthony location. We have begun building an activity room (indoor gym) scheduled to be done by June. The older school age children will enjoy this space for the summer program. All children in the program will enjoy the activity space for large motor activity in the fall.
The Blaine site has been fully painted – it is amazing to see the difference in the classrooms. St Anthony is about half-way there! This weekend we will paint the L’ll Fish, Ladybug B and Penguin A classrooms.
We are pleased to announce the hiring of a full-time maintenance employee as of mid-April. Joe joins us full-time working on building and classrooms maintenance and repairs. He will also be driving the school age bus in St. Anthony. Joe was a fire fighter for the City of St Anthony for more than 20 years. He is highly trained in safety and emergency response care, and we are grateful to have him as part of our team.
Staffing Updates:
Hiring in a difficult job market has kept me quite busy in the past 3 months. I am pleased to have Giles’s assistance as we attended college job fairs and did an extensive online recruiting strategy. Some of our new teachers and office persons are noted below:
Many of you have spoken with Owen in our office in the past few months. We are grateful to have him as part of our office team. Owen is assisting with the monthly billing, credit cards, and office administration.
Beginning Monday, May 2nd, Sergio also joins our office team and will assist with the staff training responsibilities and human resource items.
Blaine Program: Ms. Kaitlyn returns for the summer on May 16th. Ms. Ava returns on May 23rd. Both have worked for us the past few summers while attending college completing their education majors. We look forward to their return. Ms. Morgan joins us full time for the summer the week of May 9th and she is currently finishing up her school year in the nursing program.
Our St Anthony infant program welcomed Ms. Amelia to our Big Bear classroom this week. On Monday, May 2nd we welcome Ms. Barb to our Baby B room, as Amy heads out on maternity leave. Ms. Jade joins our Bebe B infant room on Monday, May 2nd, with the addition of new babies starting.
Ms. Chloe joins our infant team June 1st. She has many years of early childhood experience and will begin graduate studies in the fall of 2022.
Ms. Sheri joins our St Anthony preschool team on Monday, May 2nd and brings many years of experience to our preschool program here.
Another Ms. Heather joins our infant team part-time for the summer. During the school year, Heather works full time as a counselor in the Oakdale school district.
At our St Anthony site, we have many new staff joining our summer school age program as well.
Mr. Caleb graduates from Luther University with an early childhood education degree. He will be part of our JJ’s Jam summer program and teach in our Pre-Kindergarten program in the fall of 2022.
Mr. Mac is attending UW-Stout completing his early childhood education degree and will be part of our summer program.
Ms. Kaylan, Ms. Abby, Ms. Lauren and Ms. Cora also will join our summer program. You will begin seeing these teachers on campus over the course of May and early June as they begin training. Most of our new teachers are education and psychology majors with experience in teaching and working in summer school age programs.
We are excited for everyone to meet our new teachers and staff soon!
Parent Teacher Conferences:
Pre-Kindergarten and Preschool sign-ups have been sent out for mid to late May and early June.
Next week we will begin scheduling L’ll Fish and toddlers at St Anthony for early June. St Anthony infant conferences will follow.
Blaine’s toddler and infant conference sign-ups will be sent next week to be scheduled the first part of June.
If you did not receive a link to schedule a Pre-Kindergarten or Preschool age conference, please email: owenm@jackandjilledu.com and a link will be sent to you.
Pre-Kindergarten Graduation:
Pre-Kindergarten families received a separate email with details of the graduation ceremonies to be held June 1st in St. Anthony via your child’s POD at 2:00, 3:00 or 4:00 pm, and similarly on June 2nd in Blaine. Each graduating child will be allowed two guests for the scheduled ceremony that will take place outside.
Upcoming Closing Reminders: Jack & Jill is closed on the following days. Each day the center is closed is a paid tuition date.
Friday, May 27th: Staff Development Day
Monday, May 30th: Memorial Day
Monday, July 4th: Independence Day
Thursday, September 1st: Staff Development Day
Friday, September 2nd: Staff Development Day
Monday, September 5th: Labor Day
Sunscreen:
Weather permitting, our day provides for children to have outdoor play time twice daily. Our babies go outside daily once they are age appropriately able to be in a stroller. Please assist us to keep your child protected from the sun.
Parents, please apply the first layer of sunscreen in the morning, prior to drop off. (We will apply a second layer after rest time, prior to going outside.)
Please bring in a bottle of lotion style sunscreen for your child, labeled with their first and last name.
When purchasing, please check the label to ensure that the product is peanuts/tree nut free, especially almond oil which can be a common ingredient in natural sunscreens.
Remember that public health regulations do not permit the use of aerosol sprays in the program so sunscreen must be lotion style.
Please dress your child for the weather! Sun hats are excellent-especially for the younger children.
Summer Shoes:
All children must wear closed toed shoes and socks to school daily. We also ask that children do not wear croc style shoes. We have found children wearing crocs and flip flops often trip and fall because the shoes do not stay on correctly. Children’s feet also become easily irritated by the woodchips when not wearing socks. Thank you for understanding and help to keep our kids safe and comfortable this summer.
Clothes Exchange:
Please be sure to send extra clothing for your child to school that are the correct size and seasonally appropriate. We will be sending home any clothes currently in your child’s locker that may no longer fit and are not seasonally appropriate.
We appreciate your continued support.
Warm Regards,
Carol L. Arens,
Owner/Administrator
carol@jackandjilledu.com