The Prouty Voice: January 2019

→ Click here to read the FEBRUARY Prouty Voice ←

Winston Prouty celebrates 50th anniversary

2019 is a big milestone for the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development as we celebrate 50 years of service to children and families.

Founded in 1969, the Center started as First Chance, one of the first programs in the country exclusively for preschool children with special needs. Incorporated in 1972 as The Winston Prouty Center, our name honors Senator Winston Prouty of Vermont who co-sponsored the Handicapped Children’s Early Education Assistance Act of 1968. This law allowed for the funding of model programs for preschoolers with special needs creating access to effective early interventions. Built into the law were provisions for parents to receive appropriate supports so that a child could remain home with their families. This early work led to the development of inclusive early education programs nationwide and the growth in knowledge about the educational needs of all young children.

Early Learning Center News

Acorn Room

Happy New Year! A New Year brings renewal, a fresh start, New Year Resolutions. The Acorn Room too welcomes new families to our room. As the ELC continues to grow, it is exciting to see our infant program grow as well. Some of our older infants will be joining the Willow Room as younger friends will be starting in Acorn this month. We would like to welcome the Doyle family. We are so happy you have joined our family here at Winston Prouty.

We will be spending the month getting to know our new friends, establishing and reestablishing relationships and bonds. We will be learning from each other as we spend this first year together. As we extend our program to include more infants we will still honor and foster the relationships and bonds we have made this fall and will have many times during the day to join both groups together. Here’s to a new year of discovery, growth and invention!

Elm Room

December was a busy month full of cooking and glitter art! We enjoyed making applesauce cinnamon ornaments to paint and bring home to parents as well as a cute ornament with pictures of the children! We also did some sensory play with “snow dough” which everyone loved. January is a new year for us as we begin it with being in a new room. The children are really enjoying the new and bigger space and trying to learn about what is “open” and what is “closed” to play with. We are excited to start this new journey in this room and with the children, too. Happy New Year!

Maple Room

The month of December was very exciting. We started the month with our new group of 3 year olds, five of them to be exact, turned 3 the same week. Rue, Cortland, Alex D., Alex H. and Payton. We learned about Hanukkah and the oil that lasted 8 days. We made a menorah and placed pretend candles each night. We also made latkes and blue playdough. Then we announced that the whole Maple Room; the children, teachers and materials, were moving next door to the vacant classroom. Everyone was so excited, and couldn’t wait to play in our new room and with lots of help we moved next door. We made finger print “twinkle lights” to decorate our new room. Towards the end of the month, we prepared to learn about another holiday, Christmas. We added evergreens and jingle bells to the sensory table, and sand Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, and Jingle Bells almost every day. We gave our corn kernels to the squirrels as a special gift and made gifts for our parents.

We look forward to 2019 and will be enjoying the official start of winter! We will hope for lots snow to play in, and hopefully enjoy some sledding and learn about ice and other winter weather. We really want to make a new snowman as we miss our Frosty

Birch Room

We are so excited to welcome 2019! We are having fun learning and practicing our new “house rules” ‘Be safe’ and ‘Be kind.’ We have also started a fun curriculum called “Second Step” and have had fun meeting our new puppet friends Brian, Bella, and Fred.

We are looking forward to a January full of sledding, boot skating on the ice, woods walking, and playing in the snow. We will also bring the winter inside with snow and ice in the sensory table, ice cube panting, making “snow” and spray painting snow! We are excited to continue to do some story telling this winter- we will be telling stories by Jan Brett – “The Mitten” and “The Three Snow Bears” to name a few.

Here is a new song we have been practicing in our class!
Eyes are watching
Ears are listening
Voices quiet
Bodies calm
This is how we listen
This how we listen
At group time
At group time

Oak Room

The Oak Room has started off our new year with a bang! We has recently welcomed our new friend Zoey to our classroom. We have been enjoying learning about the features of the Calendar each morning at circle. This activity has helped us learn numeral recognition, counting, letter-sound correspondence, days of the week, and beginning concepts of time (yesterday, today, tomorrow). We have started to create snowy owls in our art area and look forward to exploring more of winter’s gifts in our science, sensory, and art areas. We will soon turn our dramatic play center into a grocery store. On our walks in the woods we have begun to notice a variety of animal tracks in the snow. We will start to explore books about winter and animal tracks and will hopefully begin to identify some creatures that call the woods home. We have also enjoyed playing at the cabins in the woods. We have found a perfect patch of ice on a slight hill that we slide down with delight many days.

Dates to Remember

Monday, January 21 – Center closed for All Staff In-service

Wednesday, February 6 – ELC closes at 3:30 for staff meeting

Monday, February 19 – Center closed for Presidents Day

View the full school year calendar

Celebrations & Recognitions

Happy Birthday!

1/2 – Happy birthday, Chloe (Executive Director)

1/10 – Jade is 3

1/12 – Happy birthday, Evon (Family Supportive Housing Coordinator)

1/21 – Kai is 4

1/28 – Madison is 3

Resources & Events for Families

How are Vermont’s Young Children report released

Building Bright Future’s sixth annual report provides a factual, data-driven depiction of the well-being of young children and families in Vermont, with selected indicators and outcomes for the early care, health, and education systems. It serves as a useful tool for government leaders, service providers, parents and caregivers, educators, and other community members interested in improving neighborhoods and communities to better support a safe, healthy, and prosperous future for Vermont. More information

Winston Prouty Center partners on New Mom’s Network

In partnership with Brattleboro Memorial Hosptial, Winston Prouty will now help organize the Brattleboro New Mom’s Network. The Network has a very active Facebook group with over 750 local parents and caregivers sharing ideas and support in a safe space. They also meet bi-weekly at BMH with presenters sharing a range of topics, including baby yoga, baby wearing, breastfeeding, sleeping, postpartum feelings, dental health, starting solids and much more. Connect with the Network on the Facebook