Importance of Heat Protection for Children

Sun exposure and fresh air is great for everyone. It provides the Vitamin D our body needs to help absorb calcium, which leads to better and stronger bones! However, it does not take long for our bodies to absorb the recommended amount of Vitamin D. Overexposure to the sun without proper protection can lead to burning and heat exhaustion. 

It is so important to provide our children with proper heat protection. Taking proper precautions can also greatly help reduce the risk of skin cancer later on in life. 

When your child is out in the heat and sun there are a couple things you need to worry about: sunburn, heat exhaustion, and dehydration. 

During summer months at AOFC, we offer to use sunscreen on all of our children to help prevent sunburn during outside play times. According to Dr. Sharon Orrange, a professor at USC, sunburns can occur in less than 15 minutes of sun exposure. The fairer the child's skin the more likely they are to burn quickly due to the lower amount of melanin in their skin. Sunburn can happen quickly so we want to take all proper precautions to keep our little friends safe and comfortable! 

The school provides Coppertone Babies SPF50 sunscreen for all children with a signed permission waiver. 

The next thing we need to be aware of with our children being outdoors in the summer is heat exhaustion/stroke. Heat exhaustion is when a child's body begins to overheat. If not treated immediately and properly it can lead to a heat stroke. The signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion are:

·         Cool, moist skin with goose bumps when in the heat

·         Heavy sweating

·         Faintness

·         Dizziness

·         Fatigue

·         Weak, rapid pulse

·         Low blood pressure upon standing

·         Muscle cramps

·         Nausea

·         Headache

According to the Mayo Clinic, If you think your child is  experiencing heat exhaustion:

·         Stop all activity and rest

·         Move to a cooler place

·         Drink cool water or a drink with electrolytes in it

If the symptoms worsen, you should see medical attention immediately. 

The last thing we try to focus on preventing is dehydration. A child can become dehydrated so quickly that we will always take our Brita filter outside to the playgrounds with us during the summer months so the children can have a drink of water any time they are out playing. All classrooms will also have a time to sit down and have another drink of water once they return to their classrooms. This will give their little bodies some time to cool down. 

So go enjoy the sunshine with your children but be safe and practice proper heat protection!

If you would like more information about our program, please click here.

1st Annual Green Our Scene Family Picnic

We had our 1st Annual Green Our Scene Family Picnic this past week and it was so much fun to see our families come enjoy some sunshine with the AOFC staff and their children. 

Green Our Scene is the Academy's one-of-a-kind program to increase awareness of protecting our earth through reducing, reusing, and recycling through preschool education. It involves the whole family and is also a ton of fun! 

Our Pre-K 1 class enjoyed the shade on the playground for their picnic! All of our children and families got to enjoy a delicious chicken salad croissant!

 Our Toddler 1 friend loved having mom and dad hangout! We were so excited for the AOFC staff and families to spend quality time together. 

 Ms. Mandy and Preschool 2 loved getting to eat outside! Her little friends talked all week about the picnic!

 Ms. Sara was busy fixing her Preschool 1 friend's plates! They were ready to eat!

 Needless to say this brother and sister duo were very happy to have dad join in on the picnic fun! This happy bunch enjoyed their time together!

 How cute is this picture! Her Minnie Mouse bow pushes it over the top!

Ms. Erica. our director, even got to join in on some play time at the end of our picnic. The children were thrilled to have the management team playing with them!

We are already excited about more family activities coming up!

If you are looking for a fun recycling project to do with your children, click here.

If you would like more information about our program, click here.

All About Zoo Animals!

This month at AOFC we are learning all about different zoo animals! This week has been a very fun week with the children! The two animals we are focusing on this week are Kangaroos and Elephants! 

Did you know that kangaroos can hop up to three times their own height at times? How cool is that. 

The children at AOFC got to hop like kangaroos in our bounce house on Tuesday! They were giggling and hopping all over the place!

 These two little friends liked being still kangaroos! Not much hopping happening but loved hanging out in the bounce house!

 This little guy learned the game of 'popcorn' today! If you sit still and don't move, you can let your friends jump all around you making you pop like popcorn!

 Our Assistant Director, Lauren, even joined in the fun with our Preschool 1 class! She even got to hang out with this handsome guy for a minute!

 Jump! Jump high like a kangaroo! Preschool 1 loved the bounce house!

Our Preschool 2 friends found a corner in the bounce house to hideout in! How cute are those faces!

This week we also got to make elephant toothpaste! We took this opportunity to talk about elephants but also talked to all of the children about brushing their own teeth! We discussed the colors of their own toothpaste as well as when and how they brush their teeth! Then we went straight into science experiment mode and made some toothpaste for our elephant friends! 

 Preschool 2 was waiting very patiently to see what elephant toothpaste was going to look like! They decided to make their toothpaste blue! 

 Look at her face! She was so excited to see how our ingredients reacted together and began to make elephant toothpaste!

 Pre-K 1 was full of giggles and excitement as the toothpaste began to ooze out of the bottle!

Pre-K 1 loved making elephant toothpaste so much that we did it twice! First they wanted red toothpaste, then we made blue! How cool!

If you would like to make elephant toothpaste with your child, click here.

For more information about our program, click here.

Classroom Spotlight: Pre-K 1

Our AOFC classroom spotlight will be on Pre-K 1 this week. 

Pre-K 1's teacher is Ms. Dawn and she is phenomenal with our Pre-K class. She graduated from Middle Tennessee State with a Bachelor's Degree and has over 10 years of childcare/preschool experience. AOFC is very grateful to have Ms. Dawn teaching, guiding, and loving on our Pre-K children.

Our Pre-K 1 class uses Frog Street curriculum as well as Get Set for School. Get Set for School uses a developmental approach that is based on research about how young children learn best:

- Breaks difficult concepts into simple tasks

- Every child can achieve

- Use really cool materials that make children want to learn

We believe that children need to be imaginative, independent, and actively involved in learning. 

 Part of the Get Set for School curriculum is Handwriting Without Tears. Here is an example of using Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. Each child uses simple wood pieces to form letters. They learn that all letters are created by using a little line, big line, little curve, or big curve. This Pre-K 1 friend is making an E for Elephant out of 3 little lines and 1 big line.

Here is another sweet girl making the first letter of her name. The letter M uses all big lines!

The children in Pre-K 1 love to listen to Ms. Dawn read books from their reading center! Dr. Seuss books are their favorite!

Our friends in Pre-K 1 are learning all about the different shapes. Not only do they talk about the shape and amount of sides the foam pieces have, they also use the foam shapes to make new bigger shapes! 

We are learning all about zoo animals at AOFC this month.  

Our Pre-K 1 class did an amazing job helping decorate our hallways with zoo animals. All of our Pre-K 1 friends put so much love and time into these!

 Ms. Dawn made several different animals out of hand prints for their zoo themed bulletin board! Look how cute those flamingos are!

This little sweetheart is working on a painting project for the Art Auction that we will hold next week.

 AOFC will have its first "Art from the Heart Art Auction". Each classroom will produce canvases that families will have the opportunity to bid on during a silent auction. The auction will begin in the afternoon on Monday, April 11th & will end in the afternoon on Thursday, April 14th. All proceeds will benefit Branches Ministries. We are thrilled to participate in an opportunity to give back to our community & families in need. We are excited to show you what we have been working on for this! To learn more about Branches Ministries, click  here.

We hope you enjoyed getting a small glimpse into out Pre-K 1 classroom! For more information about our program, click here.