The Prouty Voice: September 2023

Parenting Supports at Winston Prouty

Winston Prouty offers an variety of supports for families with young children. In addition to our free community-based services such as early intervention, child care referral, early childhood and family mental health, etc, we host a number of groups to support parents and caregivers at each stage of their parenting journey.

We are excited to create these spaces for community members to connect and build relationships. As we emerge from the isolation of the pandemic, it is essential that we find ways to foster connections and we are hopeful that these gatherings will help strengthen the fabric of our community. All groups are free and no registration is required.

Prouty Pregnancy Group – for expecting parents

Join other expectant parents to build community, share experiences, and learn from local experts. Meets the 2nd Saturday of the month. More details & discussion topics.

Prouty Parent-Baby Group – for parents with new babies

Connect, learn from and lean on each other while parenting a new child. Get answers to your questions from our maternal child health and lactation professionals. Meets Tuesdays, 2:00-3:30pm. More details & discussion topics.

Prouty Playgroup – for children birth-age 5 and their caregivers

Join Winston Prouty’s early childhood specialists and other families in the community to play and learn together! Meets Tuesdays, 9:30-11:00. More details.

Resources & Events for families

Kid Fair this weekend

The annual Kid’s Fair hosted by 802 Credit Union is scheduled for Saturday, September 16, 2023. This event is completely FREE and open to the public. The event is held on the Brattleboro Common in Brattleboro, VT from 11:00am to 2:00pm. They’ll have: BBQ hamburgers, hotdogs, beverages, cotton candy, popcorn, giveaways, live entertainment, raffles, inflatable bouncy houses, and more. Winston Prouty’s Early Learning Express will be onsite, as well! More information

Free trees for Brattleboro residents

Brattleboro residents are eligible for trees to plant in their yard through Community Canopy, an Arbor Day Foundation program. The online sign-up process guides participants to the best locations to plant trees to help cool their homes, reduce energy usage, and save money. Residents can also sign-up by phone by calling the Arbor Day Foundation at 855-234-3801.

The trees must be reserved in advance and will be available for pick-up on September 23, 10-12pm at the Brattleboro Department of Public Works (211 Fairground Road) . The tree giveaway is being coordinated by the Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee and the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program, a partnership between the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation and University of Vermont Extension. Reserve up to two free trees here: https://vtcommunityforestry.org/municipal-assistance/community-canopy-program

BINGO Night Fundraiser in October

We are excited to host our first BINGO Night fundraiser! Save the date for Friday, October 6th. Doors open at 5pm. The cost is $25 advance purchase ($30 at the door). We hope you can join us for some friendly and face-paced fun and help us raise funds for our programs for children and families. More details

Early Learning Center News

School photos

Mark you calendars for school photo day: Tuesday, September 26, with a rain date of Thursday, September 28. Each family receives one 5×7 photo of each child and one 5×7 of a classroom photo for free, with the option to receive the digital file at no charge.

Lost & Found

You may have noticed in our lobby a new Lost and Found basket. If you’re looking for something your child left behind and it isn’t in the classroom, take a look inside this basket where we’ll collect items that have been discovered on campus.

Acorn Room

August seemed to fly by! The older children prepared for their transition to their new classroom and teachers. We also welcomed Harrison and his family into our Acorn classroom family and prepared to welcome our new class of infants. Such a busy and exciting time! We spent a great deal of time enjoying the outdoors. Playing in the sandbox and water were favorites of the kids. Not only did we dig and pour the sand, added water to make mud, we buried our feet and “found” them, and added things like seeds and leaves to enhance our play and practice using our fine motor skills. The kids’ relationships became stronger and they enjoyed spending time together and making each other laugh. Harrison easily joined our classroom and the older children were excited to welcome him. The toddlers were well prepared and ready to move to the Willow room, even though we were sad to see them go. We are happy to have Wes, Elizabeth, Julian and their families become a part of our Acorn classroom!

Willow Room

August passed by so swiftly and left many joyous memories behind. This month marked the end of our summer program and the beginning of the transitions into a new classroom and/or school for most of the children in the ELC. We had quite a few rainy days this month which led to breaking out our rainsuits and splashing around outside. Painting, water play, and discovering/observing creatures that live outside were some of the other fun things that the Willow room enjoyed in August. The last week of this month is when six of our older Willow friends started their journey as part of the Elm room and we gained five new friends who moved up to Willow from the Acorn room. The first week with our new group in the Willow room went very smoothly and we look forward to continuing to get to know each child and their families. We are very proud of how all of the children in the ELC have adapted during their classroom transitions and we are looking forward to another wonderful school year as a community!

Elm Room

This last month in the Elm room has been full of jokes, hugs, and smiles as we begin to transition our friends into the preschool rooms for the new school year. So we have made the most of it through finishing up our art binders, spending time outside together rain or shine; looking for worms, ants, and other critters. We have done a lot of playing together as a group, and finally got to explore the woods as a class again. While Richy may be giving best wishes to his soon-to-be new Cedar friends, he will be welcoming in his old Willow crew into the Elm room with a sense of leadership as a role model for our new group. He has been excited to share what he knows about our room to his friends. It has been a wonderful first year since opening the Elm room. This group has come so far in such a short amount of time; and they have shown to be ready for bigger things. They have grown into big personalities, with opinions that matter to them, ideas that they want to share with the world, and imaginations that show no limits. There’s no doubt they will thrive, especially since they get to take teacher Jack along with them on their adventures. Congratulations Elm, you’re officially preschoolers!

Cedar Room

In August, the preschool class used their senses to study and explore bugs and worms. We caught and released spiders, ladybugs, hundreds of worms and more from the playground. The children were able to see, feel and even smell what they found. They also heard the sounds that some of the bugs made and read stories about the different life cycles. Together, we watched as a caterpillar turned into a monarch butterfly. As the summer program came to a close, many of the children were getting ready to move on to Kindergarten or a new program, and had the chance to participate in our “Kindergarten club”. Through conversations, games, and stories they prepared for the transition to a new setting. A favorite new game was “How are you, is this your shoe?” As they transitioned away from their time at Winston Prouty, they were offered a chance to leave their mark in the garden by making stepping stones that will remain as a trace of these children and their time here for years to come. It was hard to say goodbye, and there were many mixed emotions about this new chapter in their journey of life. We hope that they will stay in touch, and look forward to working with the new Cedar children in the coming year.