Kid Central is excited to be a new member of 285Bound.com!

With the end of the school year looming on the horizon, most parents will be participating in final parent/teacher conferences. Everyone, including your student and his/her teacher, will be anticipating this conversation and sharing of information. You, as the parent and primary participant in this exchange, are going with the intention of learning about your child's progress, and asking pertinent questions that can help you and your child's teacher, in your mutual endeavors to further your child's growth and development, should be a part of the process. The following are a few questions that might be helpful to ask during the conference if your concerns are not addressed. Please keep in mind that modifications will need to be made according to your child's age and grade level.

1. How is my child progressing in his/her growth and development, in general? The areas addressed might include; cognitive, physical, social, and emotional. Have any areas of concern written down and ready for discussion.

2. Ask to see examples of your child's work. These might include written, artistic, and language samples. Ask for interpretations and meanings of work from younger children. Ask how work relates to academic and instructional objectives and goals.

3. Be prepared to discuss your goals for your child and ask the teacher what you can do at home to further healthy and positive development. Ask for specific suggestions and guidelines.

4. Ask for names of community services and support in any areas of concern for follow-up during the summer months.

5. What are my child's most and least favorite activities?

6. Is my child's behavior appropriate according to classroom expectations and standards? Ask specific questions should the teacher express concerns in this area. The expectations should be consistent at home and school, and clearly defined between teacher and parent.

7. Please describe my child's social interactions with peers and staff. As in #6, ask specific questions and learn as much as you can.

While not meant as an exhaustive list, these questions and areas of discussion provide a few guidelines that may help you during your conference to be focused and thoughtful, so that the conversation is productive and meaningful, and, ultimately, of mutual benefit to you, your child, and his/her teacher.

We are having a mild spring here in the mountains, and so thoughts of gardens, landscaping, and flowers are more prevalent than usual around this time. These are all activities that the whole family can plan and do together as weather permits, and on those cooler days, spring projects that are easy, inexpensive (virtually free), and fun for children of all ages, can be extended indoors. Most of the materials needed are everyday, household items and those found in all of our yards. We are lucky to have so many natural resources available in our mountain communities. The following are a few examples of projects we did this week at our preschool and another one that we will do this coming week.

Egg Carton Flowers: Cut out individual sections of the egg carton and you will see that they look like flowers. Glue to any available surface (cardboard, construction paper, etc.) in the shape of a flower, and add a stem of your choice (popsicle stick, sticks from the yard, yarn, or ribbon). Give the glue a few minutes to dry and then paint with tempura, acrylics, or watercolors, or color with markers.

Coffee Filter Flowers: Same method as above, only using the coffee filter (s) for the flower.

Stick Flowers: Go for a walk around your yard or hike in the woods and gather small sticks. Fan the sticks out from the center in a circular fashion, glue to your favorite surface, and attach a thicker stick stem. Glue a marshmallow, stone, pasta, or little fuzzy, for a cute center. Be sure to save some marshmallows for eating!

Have fun and let your imagination do the creating. Enjoy your original designs.

I'm sure many of you are already planning your child's summer activities or wondering what options you might consider. The choices are extensive and can boggle the mind as to what to do, or not to do. Here are a few things to think about when deciding on extra-curricular camps, programs, and athletics for children of all ages:

1. Is your child already in a full day care setting? If so, does your child really need anything more? The summer months are full of special outdoor activities at many centers, for example; at our facility we will be taking, and working with, as many materials outside as we can, and doing plenty of field trips to Turkey Creek Park. If your child does have an extra event, try to balance the time frame, for instance; maybe one night and a weekend day. After all, they have already had a long and glorious day.

2. If your child does have a more flexible schedule and you are working, can you modify your schedule somewhat to accommodate various activities? Or can you network for shared responsibilities, i.e.; transporting to and from, picking up equipment, and so on?

3. In deciding on any special program, be sure the facility is safe, staffing is adequate to meet children's needs, the staff is knowledgeable about defined activities for specified age groups, staff is CPR/First Aid certified, and the activities are age-appropriate.

4. Talk to your child about the choices that are available as well as the limitations. Is there something special they have in mind, or a friend they would like to be with? Keep your discussion realistic about finances, time, travel, and geographic locations. For example, if you are considering Evergreen Rec Center, live in Conifer, and work in Denver, that may be difficult logistically, unless you have other people who can help out.

5. Family dynamics will be paramount in your final decision, especially if you have several children who all want to go in different directions.

6. Last but not least, remember that this is summer vacation, and should be a time of relaxation and enjoyment for the whole family. Children can be easily overwhelmed with too many things going on, and then not like any of it. With longer and warmer days, they should be allowed plenty of time to play in the dirt, bike in their neighborhood, sit and do "nothing", and explore and run around in their own yards. I have seen more creativity come from just being allowed to "be".

KID CENTRAL KIDCAMPS AT CONIFER COMMUNITY PARK AT BEAVER RANCH May 31- August 19, 2011
For children age 5 through 15

KidCamps is the new and improved Kid Central Summer Day Camp of the past three years with the added partnership with Conifer Community Park. Conifer Community Park at Beaver Ranch has hundreds of acres to explore with many miles of hike/bike trails, a large sports field, Frisbee golf course and much more. We will still have swim lessons and all our favorite field trips. Children will be divided into 4 age groups consisting of two/three grade levels: K,1st& 2nd, 3rd & 4th, 5th & 6th, and 7th +.

Conifer Community Park (CCP) at Beaver Ranch is 1/10 of a mile South of Staples on Hwy. 285 then east on Foxton Road 1⁄4 mile. Check in and out will be at the playground just inside the entrance. If the weather is bad the children will be in the lodge which is 1/8 mile into the park.

Facilities at CCP at Beaver Ranch include:
•A large lodge for indoor activities including crafts, cooking classes, games, movies and more!
•Large areas for group sports including capture the flag, volleyball, softball and badminton.
•A multi age playground.
•Coyote Creek for wading, boat races, building dams, discovering creek life and water fights.
•Over five miles of hike/bike trails in the park.
•A challenge course with 12 elements that will push you to your limits.
•An 18 Hole Frisbee Golf Course
•Four hundred and fifty acres of woods to explore.
•Close to Reynolds Park and other Jeffco parks and open spaces for additional outdoor activities.

There will be a drop-off and pick-up service at Conifer Kid Central. This will run from 6:30-8:30 AM and from 4:30-6:30 PM. There will also be a pick-up and drop-off at Turkey Creek Kid Center from 6:30-8:00 AM and from 5:00-6:00 PM.

Every day the kids will have time for organized group activities as well as free time to choose their favorite activity and to play with their friends. They will enjoy fresh, whole grain snacks except on Fun Friday when we have ice cream. They will discover our forests and mountains including birds and butterflies, rocks and minerals, wild flowers and other plants, creepy crawlies and more! There will be lots of crafts, challenges, water fights and field trips in our fun filled days.

Field Trips are optional for children through 4th grade and Monday swim lessons at Wolfe Recreation Center in Evergreen are also optional for all ages.

Registration Directions:
1) Fill out the age appropriate Worksheet. Consult the Daily Schedule to see what each age group will be doing each day of the week.
2) Put totals from the Worksheet on the Registration Form and choose your payment option.
3) Mail or drop off your Registration Form and payment at Turkey Creek Kid Central to hold your reservation.
4) Summer schedule changes may be made through May 13, 2011.
5) Fill out three page Emergency/Medical pages (These must be complete and on file with KC KidCamps before your child can attend.
6) All paperwork and 1⁄2 of summer fees due by May 21st. You may bring/mail to Turkey Creek KC or bring to Conifer Community Park at Beaver Ranch, KidCamps Open House on May 21st from 9 AM – Noon.

Enrichment Camps: Go to [url=http://www.ConiferCommunityPark.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.ConiferCommunityPark.org[/url], to learn all about our week long Enrichment Camps that will be held in the Tipi Lodge at Beaver Ranch. The campers participating in these programs will join the other campers for a picnic lunch each day.

Activities include:
Nature Exploration may include birds, wild flowers, plants, rocks and minerals, creek critters and creepy crawlers!
Group Games includes one or more of the following; capture the flag, water fights, disc golf, baseball, soccer and more!
Group Challenge includes scavenger hunts, team challenges, treasure hunts, building challenges, low ropes course and more!
Build-a-Fort: Using recycled materials and tools kids will build forts in the woods!
Pay-it-Forward Project: We will choose one or two projects at Beaver Ranch that we will work on throughout the summer.
Swim Lessons are optional- Please sign-up on the Registration Form
Summer Scrapbook - The 7th grade+ kids will take photos, write articles, collect art, humor etc. to publish a KidCamps 2011 scrapbook.
Leadership: The7th grade+ kids in this option may choose to be helpers in the younger groups for a few sessions of each week.Hope to see you all there!

See our website, http://www.kidcentralinc.com/# ! and click on "Download The Summer Camp Registration Packet Here" for more information, such as the Summer 2011 Daily Schedule, prices, and forms to fill out!

KidCamps Open House on May 21st from 9 AM – Noon at Conifer Community Park at Beaver Ranch

If you have questions call Kid Central at 303-697-9125

I will hopefully be able to call about this by Friday.
Thanks for the info. It is always a long summer.
We will be at the open house too.