Learning about Cold and Flu Season in Preschool!

We are halfway through cold and flu season here in Canada and as a real world and concrete learning experience one class set up a doctor’s office dramatic play area!:

Today we set up a new dramatic centre for our preschoolers. Some of our preschoolers have been sharing stories about going to see the doctor. To continue this conversation further we decided to change our dramatic centre into a doctors office. Once the preschoolers were able to play in the dramatic centre they were excited to see all the new instruments and tools they could use in their play. We heard some of our preschoolers talking and sharing what they found:

“Wow, a doctors coat” - L
”What’s this called, Ms. P?” - L  “It’s a stethoscope” - Ms. P
”Let’s put on our mask” - A and C
”The baby is hurt, let’s fix it” - L and C
”We need to give the baby medicine- he’s so sick” - B

Engaging in doctor pretend play can be a fun and enlightening experience for children. It provides a platform for them to learn, grow, and understand the world around them in a playful and interactive manner. It is also a great introduction to basic health concepts and foster nurturing and caring mindset in our preschoolers.

Happy New Year from Trafalgar Oaks!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Trafalgar Oaks! We have had a very busy holiday season and are excited to share what we have been up to!

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Open House

We had our annual Christmas Open House which was a busy and exciting time as always! Families got to join in Christmas activities, eat yummy treats, and participate in our raffle and silent auction.

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Christmas Fun

The Christmas and holiday season is always exciting for the centre. The children had lots of fun with the various Christmas activities and decorations we had set up in each classroom.

We are looking forward to an exciting 2024! Wishing everyone a safe and happy new year!

September Centre Update

Fall is here! We are excited to share what has been happening this September at Trafalgar Oaks!

Open House on November 15th:

We are so excited to host our annual open house on November 15, 2023. This open house will showcase Trafalgar Oaks to prospective families. The event is by RSVP only our list is currently full. We are so excited!

Preschool 3’s Monarch Butterfly Friends:

Preschool 3 is proud to show off Monarch butterflies that hatched this past week! The two Monarchs are both females which the preschoolers identified by their lack of black spots at the top of their wings. They have since been set back into the wild!

Centre Learning Programs:

We are proud to share that we have begun our Fall learning programs at Trafalgar Oaks!

Suzie Sunshine Music Classes have started and will finish in June 2024.

Our Preschool Readiness Program has started and will finish the end of December.

Our Kindergarten Heggerty Program has started and will wrap up for the school year in June 2024.

We are excited for the rest of Fall at Trafalgar Oaks!

July Centre Update

We are excited to share what we have been up to for the month of July!

Another visit from MP Pam Damoff:

We were so excited to have MP Pam Damoff visit our centre once again to check in on our Canada Summer Jobs Student as well as meet with the children and staff in the centre. Trafalgar Oaks is proud to continue our participation in the program.

Beating the summer heat!

All of the summer heat waves had us thinking up some fun ideas for the children! We had an ice cream truck come for a visit and all the children and staff got a yummy frozen treat. Our water play days have also continued to be a popular activity for the children and always ends in smiles and laughs! We also had a centre wide pizza picnic day and it was a hit with the children, who doesn’t love a picnic outside!

June Centre Update

Program Updates:

Kindergarten Readiness Program

For the month of June we are implementing our 5-week Kindergarten Readiness program! Children will work on name recognition and printing their name, cutting with scissors, social skills, and more. Progress reports will be sent home for parents to continue this at home so they are ready for school in the fall!

Centre Updates:

Federal Summer Jobs Program

We are again participating in the Federal Government of Canada’s Summer Jobs Program and are happy to welcome a student for 16 weeks this summer.

Co-op Student Placements

We are currently providing the opportunity for co-op placements for high school students this summer. Students participating will be working towards high school credits and gain volunteer hours.

Centre Renovations

We have had a bit of a face lift and had our centre repainted! We went with bright and natural colours to complement our centre furniture and environment. This enhances the new art work we put up to display and creates a very warm, calm, and welcoming environment for the children. Take a look at all the changes in the gallery below!

Visit from Minister Filomena Tassi and MP Pam Damoff

Trafalgar Oaks is proud to have a visit from Minister responsible for Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario, Filomena Tassi and Member of Parliament for Oakville North - Burlington Pam Damoff.

During their visit they engaged with the children in some activities with our Educators and talked with staff about how families are being impacted by the reduction in child care costs.

This visit comes as a result of our centre being part of the Canada Wide Early Learning Child Care Plan (CWELCC) in addition to our continued involvement with the Federal Government of Canada’s Summer Job Program.

Their visit is shown in a few pictures below!

Our New Preschool 3 Classroom

We are SO excited to finally show you our new Preschool 3 classroom! It features areas specific to the developmental stages of our preschool aged children and open concept spaces.

Check out the video and pictures below!

Big Changes for Trafalgar Oaks in 2023!

Over the past year we have been busy at Trafalgar Oaks Child Care and Learning Centre and are proud to announce the new changes occurring in 2023!

Trafalgar Oaks Participating in CWELCC

We are excited to announce that we are participating in the CWELCC (Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care plan)! Effective March 2023, we will be re-structuring the programs we offer. The program change will include the removal of our infant program and will accommodate children ages 18 months to 5 years going from 72 to 78 spaces. These changes to our program have also allowed us to reduce our parent fees by 62% to $28.35 for toddlers and $26.93 for preschoolers.

Our Newly Renovated Classroom

The removal of our infant program has allowed us to renovate that classroom into a bright, new and spacious preschool classroom! This classroom has now gone from a 10-space classroom to a 16-space classroom, increasing our ability to provide care for the community.

Tip from the Teachers

Children are experiencing the world and many things for the first time ever. One of the main new things: food. We have all experienced at one point or another our child seeing a new food and immediately deciding not to try it. A great way to encourage your child to try new foods is to implement this method of “taste testing” which our educators have found helps significantly.

• Sit your child down with the food clearly visible to them.

• Ask them to touch the food to their lip, once they have done that successfully praise them.

• Move to touching the food to their teeth, then touching the food to their tongue, and finally, taking a small taste.

Navigating food with picky eaters can be difficult and they may still not like the food but this method gives them the opportunity to try it and have as little stress through the process as possible!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

From Ashley Austrew on Twitter:

4-year-old: What did I earn for being good today? Me: My love and affection. 4-year-old: [cries] I don’t want that!