Friday, September 17, 2010

The SPOT Children's Museum




This summer we had the pleasure of experiencing the SPOT Children's Museum Field Trips with both Preschoolers and our young Summer Campers. The SPOT is a new museum for exploration and experimentation with art for our young Prescottonians. The YMCA kids had a blast making collages and playing with all of the magical manipulatives at the SPOT! Located at the Gateway Mall in Prescott, this is a convenient and economical way to spend the afternoon with your kids too.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Quality First Funding at Work in our Preschool

Did you know that the Prescott YMCA Early Childhood Center (Preschool) is participating in Quality First?

Quality First is a statewide system created by the Arizona Early Childhood Development & Health Board, knows as First Things First. Quality First is designed to increase access for Arizona families to quality early childhood developmental and educational programs. Through financial grants, academic scholarships for Child Care Staff and individualized coaching, our Preschool is receiving wonderful support…and it shows!

In the upcoming weeks you will notice new material (rubberized mulch in addition to sand) on the Preschool Playground area to improve the safety for the little ones playing. We are excited to be receiving the funding from Quality First to enable us to execute this project. Later in the year new furnishings, dramatic play items and learning tools will also be purchased using our grant monies. In addition to these visible changes in our Early Childhood Center, there are “invisible” improvements too in the way of additional training for our staff in the areas of allergies and sun safety, courtesy of our Child Care Health Consultant as well as topics such as supervision, maximizing classroom arrangements and incorporating Arizona’s Early Learning Standards.

Our Preschool is AZ State Licensed and DES Approved and currently accepting children ages 2-5, that are non-diapered, to join our active, dynamic program.

Volcano Project



In May of 2010 the After School group worked on a special Volcano Project. They designed, constructed and engineered a functional volcano made of pvc pipe, paper mache and a wooden base. Candy and soda were the secret ingredients for the eruption, but the mechanism had to allow for distance between the volcano and the person(s) releasing the candy / soda mixture. The video is attached of the eruption and below are the credits for those responsible for this project, which we hope to duplicate again in the 2010-2011 school year. The kids (and parents, leaders, etc.) talked about it for weeks following. It was a blast! (pun intended).


Lead by: Mr. Josh
Eruption Crew: Max F. Dalila G.Caleb M. Brianna B.
Eruption Design: Max F.
Eruption Assembly Crew: Max F. Olivia B. Brianna B. Chris S.
Volcano Crew: Shelby D. Max F. Dakotah L. Zeke A. Skylar A. Madison L. Jewell A. Ashley V. Taylor H. Caleb M. Brianna B. Dalila G.