It's hard to believe that it is May already and the school year is coming to an end. It has been a joy to work with you and watch your children grow!

Remember to check the Lost and Found Items. They are located outside the Children's School office - there are many items of clothing left at school. Please return your gate card to office by the last day of school (or camp) if your child is not returning to the Children's School in the fall.

We will be closing the school year with special events in each classroom.

The Three Year Old Groups are having a "Teddy Bear Picnic" on Wednesday, May 15. They will be making their own special snack for that day.

The Four Year Old Groups are having an ice cream social on their last day of school.

The Kindergarten will have a picnic lunch on Thursday, May 16. Then on May 17, the whole family is invited to a graduation ceremony.

The Extended Morning Program is having a picnic at the Children's School Playground on Tuesday, May 14 from 12:00 to 1:30. Parents are invited to bring a lunch (no siblings, please) and join their children on the playground. Children will make ice cream sundaes for dessert.

The Extended Afternoon Program is having a "p. j. party" on Wednesday, May 8th.

Parking is limited in our lot ­ we only have 7 spaces available for visitors. Please try the University's parking garage on Forbes Avenue, which is now available to the public on a "pay as you park" system.

"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher" Japanese Proverb

Few other professionals touch so many people in such a lasting way as teachers do. May 7, 2002 is National Teacher Day, a time for honoring teachers and recognizing the lasting contributions they make to our lives. At the Children's School, we are fortunate to have exceptional teachers. We thank all our staff for their dedication to the children and to the early childhood profession!

Staff Changes

Rachael Fairweather is moving to Loveland, Ohio (outside of Cincinnati) where her husband will begin a new job at Proctor and Gamble. While this is an exciting time for Rachael and Neil, the Children's School staff and families will miss Rachael greatly. Her organizational skills, computer savvy, and creative ideas have been an asset to the school. Rachael's last day will be Friday, May 10th. Please join us in expressing our appreciation for her contributions to our program and our wishes for a smooth transition to Ohio.

Many of our best leads on new employees have come from parents, so please consider whether you know anyone suitable for an Office Assistant position. We prefer candidates who also possess teaching degrees and have website design skills. We will post the position on the CMU Human Resources website, so applicants should check there for details and for instructions on application procedures. Parents are encouraged to give recommendations directly to Dr. Carver. We appreciate your help.

Thank You
Update about On-Going Committees

Library Committee: We would like to thank the library committee and especially Nancy Knowles, the committee chairperson, for taking such good care of our library this year. This committee worked weekly to make sure all books were kept in good condition and returned to the right shelf. If you would like to co-chair this committee with Nancy Knowles next year, please call Jean Simpson.

Scholastic Book Club: Thank you for purchasing books from the Scholastic Book Club. The Children's School earned bonus points, and we were able to purchase many new books for our library. A big thank you to Maria Swarts who organized this book sale, not just for this past year, but for the past couple of years. Since Maria's daughter, Anna, is "graduating" this year, we are looking for a new chairperson. If you are interested in becoming the new chairperson, please call Jean Simpson at the Children's School.

Repair and Construction: We would like to thank Doug and Kathy Wolfe for overseeing and organizing this committee. They repaired wagons, tables, mirrors, chairs, coat racks and the homasote bulletin boards in the classrooms.

NAEYC Accreditation Update

In February, we completed the self study component of in the accreditation process! We gathered information through classroom observations, family surveys, and teaching staff surveys. We then summarized the results and compiled the program description. Our program description was mailed to the NAEYC Academy in February, but we are still waiting for our validation visit. The purpose of the validation visit is to verify that the program description is an accurate description of the program's daily operations. The validators will do this through classroom observations, checking documents, and talking with us. After this visit, the validator will mail the program description to the Academy for their review to determine accreditation. We are hopeful that they will be able to visit before the end of this school year, but due to the many requests for validations, and because there are only a few validators, the visit might not occur until September. We will keep you informed of our validation visit! Thank you, again, for your help in this process.

Positive Parenting

The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is hosting a Positive Parenting Series at St. Edmund's Academy. In this series, parents will learn how to enhance self-esteem for themselves and their children. They will also learn more than 30 discipline techniques that teach children self-control and trust. Other topics include developing communication skills, sibling rivalry and problem solving.

Place: St. Edmund's Academy, Squirrel Hill
Dates: Thursdays, May 9, 16, 23
Time: 9:00 to 11:00 AM
Register: Please call 412-692-7105

On-line Research Project Opportunity for Moms

Brian Zikmund-Fisher, a researcher of medical decision-making in the Department of Social & Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon and parent of a Cyert Center preschooler, invites mothers to participate in a brief, online study of women's medical decision-making. Together with a physician from Magee-Women's Hospital, Dr. Gabriella Gosman, he is currently recruiting subjects for a web-based study that explores women's decisions regarding medical treatments, specifically efforts to conceive a child and fertility treatments.

Participation in the study is limited to women, aged 20-40, who have never personally experienced infertility. The study is done completely online and takes only about 10 minutes to complete. All responses are kept confidential. The study may be completed anonymously; however, if participants are willing to provide an email address, they are entered into a drawing to receive $50 Amazon.com gift certificates.

If you are eligible, I hope you will be willing to participate. To do so, just go to the following web address: http://hssdevweb.hss.cmu.edu/brianzf

Even you are not interested or eligible to participate, however, please feel free to pass the notice of this study to any friends or relatives who might be. Thank you.