Nursery Spring Cleaning Day - 13th August 2011

Here is the result of our hard work. A BIG thank you to everyone for your team work, without which would not be possible. Rochelle will be doing a write-up for our newsletter. You will read more about it :-)

This is how our nursery looks like now after the spring cleaning

 

This was how the nursery looked like before the spring cleaning

You can see more pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150262541413348.334779.705043347&l=f4115d229a&type=1

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear All

As you know, we discussed during our last quarterly Nusery meeting that the nursery badly needs a cleaning. Rochelle is organizing a cleaning of the nursery. We are needing volunteers to help to clean and organize the nursery. Please sign-up or let her know if  you can make it on the proposed date.

Date: Saturday, 13th August 2011

Time: 10am

A. Programme Time-Table

Here is the programme time-table suggested by Rochelle:

10 - 11am: Start with our cleaning tasks

11 - 11.30am: Snack - muffins baked by Rochelle :-)

11.30 - 12.30pm: Cleaning tasks

12.30 - 1.30pm: Lunch

1.30 - XXpm: Cleaning tasks and pack up :-)

B. Working Teams

It might be a good idea to divide the tasks and appoint a team leader for each team. Below are some suggested teams and the name in bold in the bracket is the team leader who has agreed to guide and coordinate the volunteers for that particular team.

So now, all we need are volunteers :-). Please have a look and let us know which team you would like to join.

The 5 Teams are:

I. Cleaning Nursery Team (Jannie, Allan)
II. Cleaning Toys Team (Rochelle)
III. Assembling of New furniture Team (Mark, Stephen)
IV. Organizing and Labeling Toys Team (Elaine, Glory)
V. Baby-Sitting Team (Sarma/Wimin)
VI. The Food Team (Thys, Mark)

The tasks of the teams are as follows:

I. Cleaning Nursery Team (Jannie)

1. Vacuuming or sweeping the floor
2. Vacuuming the cabinets
3. Wiping the cabinets shelves
4. Mopping the floor
5. Wiping the table tops
6. Carrying buckets of water up and down the stairs (need some volunteers with strong hands here)

II. Cleaning Toys Team (Rochelle)

1. Washing and drying the toys under the keep and give piles
2. Sterile and disinfecting the toys
3. Throwing away unwanted toys

III. Assembling of New Furniture Team (Mark)

1. Assemble all the new furniture from IKEA with a few other strong boys

IV. Organizing and Labeling Toys Team (Elaine)

Here is what I propose to go about organizing the nursery:

1. Sorting toys into 3 piles: Keep, Give and Throw

2. Create Activity Areas as follows:

a. Work Station
b. Cleaning Station
c. Play Kitchen Station
d. Musical Instruments Corner
e. Art Corner with easel and basic art supplies

3. Organize the toys into sub-categories as follows:

1. Puzzles (both wooden and jigsaw)
2. Board Games
3. Wooden blocks
4. Books
5. Art Supplies, magnetic drawing board, etc.
6. Train Set
7. Theatre play puppets and props
8. Cleaning toys such as brush and dustpan, vacuum cleaners, etc.
9. Alphabet and numbers toys
10. Musical Instruments
11. Cars and vehicles
12. Kitchen toys
13. Dress up Chest
14. Dolls
15. Toys for rotation

4. Find the appropriate boxes to store them and label them with the labeling machine

5. Find the appropriate shelf space to store the boxes

Here are some pictures of I went about organizing Joshua's play area:

http://elainengfriis.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-organize-your-childs-toys-or.html

V. Baby-Sitting Team (Sarma/Wimin)

Here are just some activity ideas for the baby-sitting team, but you don’t have to take them:

1. Children’s Videos

Rochelle suggested a very good idea about putting videos for the children. She will bring along the laptop to play the videos

2. Montessori Cleaning Activity

Since the theme is cleaning, maybe we can introduce some Montessori Practical Life activity on cleaning. Just a suggestion, of course, it depends on the mood and interests of the children. Elaine can bring the children cleaning kit. Here are some links to see how the concept is implemented:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYMG3nfCr64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTqJr_WV82Y&NR=1
http://elainengfriis.blogspot.com/2011/07/montessori-activity-toddlers-cleaning.html

As  suggested by Wimin, as it is a cleaning-day, and the activities are relating to this, we could guide and teach the children to help them understand that God helps us and how the children themselves can help in the family in simple chores and in the church as well. We can use this Bible memory verse from Psalm 46:1: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." and as we are guiding them in the activities, we could say 'God helps me' and for older children, we could for example, say to the, 'I like to help my family' or 'I like to help the church'.

3. Montessori Pouring, Spooning and Scooping Activity

Since the floor would have to be cleaned anyway, it is alright if the children can do some pouring activity in the nursery. Elaine can bring along some of the materials. Here is how the concept can be implemented:

http://elainengfriis.blogspot.com/search/label/Scooping
http://elainengfriis.blogspot.com/search/label/Pouring%20Beans
http://elainengfriis.blogspot.com/search/label/Spooning
http://elainengfriis.blogspot.com/search/label/Scooping

4. Montessori Cutting Fruit with Butter Knife Activity

We can let the older children participate in preparing their own snack. Elaine can bring along some soft fruits such as banana, avocado, pears. Here is how the concept can be implemented:

http://elainengfriis.blogspot.com/search/label/Cutting%20with%20Knife

5. Shooting ABCs with Spray Bottle

This is a fun activity that involves water and spraying, two components that would be a hit with children:

http://elainengfriis.blogspot.com/2011/07/shooting-abcs-with-spray-bottle.html

6. Singing Children Christian Songs

Someone can also play the piano along with the singing.

I think the above suggested activities should be more than sufficient to occupy the children for a day, while the parents are cleaning the nursery. If you have other ideas, please feel free to let us know :-)

VI. The Food Team (Thys/Mark)

1. Grilling hamburgers and hot dogs
2. Providing the fixings
3. We all build our hamburgers/hot dogs for lunch

C. Cleaning Supplies and Equipment

Here are some cleaning equipments that we would need. If you can bring some of the stuff, could you let us know please?

1. Rugs
2. Sponge
3. Vacuum cleaner (Elaine will check whether church has vacuum cleaner? If not, can someone bring along one?)
4. Detol to sterilize toys (Rochelle)
5. Labelling machine (Elaine)
6. Buckets (Can everyone bring along a bucket please?)
7. Mop (Elaine)
8. Cleaning detergent (Elaine)
9. Cleaning benzin (Elaine)
10. Children Cleaning Kit (For Montessori Activity) – Elaine
11. Montessori activity materials for cutting, pouring and spooning - Elaine

Thank you in advance.

Look forward to see everyone on that day :-)

Participants List for Food Catering:

Adults

1. Allan
2. Jannie
3. Rochelle
4. Simon
5. Stephen
6. Glory
7. Wimin
8. Sarma
9. Thys
10. Mark
11. Elaine
12. Florian
13. Keith
14. Avery
15. Ryan

Children
1. Joshua
2. Joshua Kaien
3. Anna
4. Eric
5. Aden
6. Faith