Kimball’s Early Childhood Coalition (a group of people who have been meeting for three years working with the Central Minnesota Initative Foundation to build community resources for preschool children) is ready with three brand new curriculum boxes for child care providers in the Kimball district. The Initiative Foundation Grant has allowed ECFE staff to write 14 curriculum boxes for use in child care homes. These curriculums provide fun activities in the areas of motor (both gross and fine motor), language and literacy, mathematical thinking, science and art. Music and literature are also in each box. The kids have fun things to do, some of which can be repeated over and over for better learning. Providers also have learning to do in the “Provider Pages” which are one-page “lessons” about child development, child care settings or discipline. These curriculums are a three to four week box, and costs the licensed child care providers in Kimball nothing. How do we do it all? We don’t. We have friends who help us. Again this year, we have several Kimball Area Chamber of Commerce members who sponsor a box for this project. This allows us to purchase all the paper, glitter (lots and lots of glitter), cotton balls, paper plates and the like for the boxes. In this way, providers can use the curriculums free of charge. It would be wonderful if you would stop by and thank the following businesses who are paying $100 each for materials for this year’s boxes: for the second year in a row, the following are paying $100 – Ehlinger Agency, Kuechle Underground Inc., State Bank of Kimball and Images by Marguerite; and for the first year, the following business have chipped in $100 each also – Paynesville Area Health Care Center, Kimball American Legion Post 261 and Kimball Fireman’s Relief Association. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift to our preschoolers. Be sure to ask if you child care provider is using the materials for kids. It does not take the place of a more intensive social and learning experience that the classroom would provide, but it is a wonderful way to intergrate fun learning before or in addition to the preschool experience. OK. So, you are a grandparent, relative or mom at
