All Preschoolers Will Need These Items:
1. A family thermometer: Preferably a "no touch" temporal thermometer, but will accept any kind. This is to be kept in your car. If both parents drop off, you are going to want two--one for each vehicle. You will need to take your child's temperature at drop off in the presence of a staff member.
2. A spare change of clothes complete with socks and underwear: Please place in a large, clear, Ziploc baggy. Clearly label with child's name.
3. A flat, twin sheet for nap: We suggest you buy a cheap pack of several. In the days before COVID, we had parents bring a sheet on Monday and the child used it all week long. We sent it home on Friday to be laundered over the weekend. However, current guidelines require we send the sheet home and the parent replace it daily. Unless you are prepared to do laundry every single night, we encourage you to have many sheets on hand, which will allow you to quickly replace them throughout the week and then do one load over the weekend.
4. A brown bag lunch: Miss Kathy did a fantastic job converting everyone to plastic lunch bags over the summer, when MSDE required that we do so. However, they have since retracted that mandate, finding that Corona actually can't live very long on paper products. Those of you who wish to continue with Ziploc baggies may do so. Those who wish to revert back to paper, be our guest. We may not have material bags, metal lunch boxes, or anything that is not disposable. Lunches ARE refrigerated, so it is perfectly fine to pack yogurts and cheeses. Keep in mind, we are nut free! No peanut butter, please. You may wish to try soy butter or sunflower butter. If you do, simply note that on the bag, so your child's teacher is aware what the contents contain. All children will have 1% milk served with their lunch, so it is not necessary to pack a drink.
2. A spare change of clothes complete with socks and underwear: Please place in a large, clear, Ziploc baggy. Clearly label with child's name.
3. A flat, twin sheet for nap: We suggest you buy a cheap pack of several. In the days before COVID, we had parents bring a sheet on Monday and the child used it all week long. We sent it home on Friday to be laundered over the weekend. However, current guidelines require we send the sheet home and the parent replace it daily. Unless you are prepared to do laundry every single night, we encourage you to have many sheets on hand, which will allow you to quickly replace them throughout the week and then do one load over the weekend.
4. A brown bag lunch: Miss Kathy did a fantastic job converting everyone to plastic lunch bags over the summer, when MSDE required that we do so. However, they have since retracted that mandate, finding that Corona actually can't live very long on paper products. Those of you who wish to continue with Ziploc baggies may do so. Those who wish to revert back to paper, be our guest. We may not have material bags, metal lunch boxes, or anything that is not disposable. Lunches ARE refrigerated, so it is perfectly fine to pack yogurts and cheeses. Keep in mind, we are nut free! No peanut butter, please. You may wish to try soy butter or sunflower butter. If you do, simply note that on the bag, so your child's teacher is aware what the contents contain. All children will have 1% milk served with their lunch, so it is not necessary to pack a drink.
5. Medication with accompanying paperwork, if applicable: If your will need to be medicated while in our care, you will need to acquire a signed medication form from your pediatrician. If it is an allergy and/or asthma, you will need an action plan form to accompany the medication form. Both of these may be found on our website at www.fallstonchildcare.org, under the tab labeled "forms". If you have not already done so, please electronically send that form to your pediatrician immediately. No child who requires medication, will be admitted without it. No medication will be accepted without the correct accompanying forms. Place medication in the hands of the staff member checking you in when you arrive. Do not leave medication with your child or with your student's personal belongings, please. We must log in all medication and then place it in a lock box.
6. Any forms that you need to turn in: Families will be receiving a few forms via email just prior to starting the new school year. Please print them off and sign promptly. They may be handed to the greeting staff member on the first day back.
7. Tuition Check: Tuition is due every two weeks. The first day of the new school year falls in the middle of a tuition cycle. Families who have been attending regularly and are just continuing with us, can just stay on the same cycle they have been paying. However, do be aware if you have a payment change between the weeks. Families who are new to us will just pay one week's worth of tuition, but then the following Monday, you will owe again and that time it will be two weeks. Families who took the summer off and are returning to us, remember, you paid one week's fall tuition deposit in the spring before you left, so you should not owe. If you have any doubt, just ask.
8. A lovey: If your child requires a nap time snuggle toy to soothe them, you may send it in.
If Your Child Is Two, Please Add These Items:
1. Diapers: One pack to start, but this should be kept well stocked.
2. Wipes: Two packs to start, but this should be kept well stocked.
3. Changing Pads: Two, please.
4. Additional Spare Clothes: Add another set of clothes here. Or two. Heck, make it three.
Please Do NOT Send These Items:
1. Medications, vitamins, lotions, potions or other substances for which we do not have a doctor's note. We cannot apply or store it without the proper documentation. We cannot allow students (even school age) to handle them on their own.
2. Cash. We do not accept cash as payment. Your child will not need it. We promise.
3. Backpacks. (The current regulations allow school age children to carry backpacks because they will be handling laptops, etc. Preschoolers are not allowed to have backpacks since they are required to be sanitized)
4. Toys from home. (Other than the nap time lovey). The thought process here is to cut down on any outside germs where possible. All our daycare toys are kept to the same child daily and then sanitized at the end of the day.
5. Nuts.
6. Additional nap time items: Pillows, blankets, comforters, futons, bunk beds. We get it. You want them to be comfortable. But we do not have the storage space nor can we sanitize to this degree. A sheet will suffice.
7. Binkys: Pacifiers are not recommended over the age of two due to speech development. But in a group setting, hygiene concerns also factor in.
8. Water bottles: All students are given milk three times a day at both snack times and at lunch time. They also have access to bottled water throughout the day. It is taken on the playground, while they play, for hydration. It is also accessible to them any time they request it. Individual bottles, again, pose the concern of sharing germs, even if labeled. Preschoolers can't read them.
9. Germs from home, when avoidable!: We realize it is not always possible to know when your child is coming down with something. But, please, especially in the world of COVID, do not medicate a sick child and send them in to school. We must all work to maintain the health and safety of one another during this unique time.
8. A lovey: If your child requires a nap time snuggle toy to soothe them, you may send it in.
If Your Child Is Two, Please Add These Items:
1. Diapers: One pack to start, but this should be kept well stocked.
2. Wipes: Two packs to start, but this should be kept well stocked.
3. Changing Pads: Two, please.
4. Additional Spare Clothes: Add another set of clothes here. Or two. Heck, make it three.
Please Do NOT Send These Items:
1. Medications, vitamins, lotions, potions or other substances for which we do not have a doctor's note. We cannot apply or store it without the proper documentation. We cannot allow students (even school age) to handle them on their own.
2. Cash. We do not accept cash as payment. Your child will not need it. We promise.
3. Backpacks. (The current regulations allow school age children to carry backpacks because they will be handling laptops, etc. Preschoolers are not allowed to have backpacks since they are required to be sanitized)
4. Toys from home. (Other than the nap time lovey). The thought process here is to cut down on any outside germs where possible. All our daycare toys are kept to the same child daily and then sanitized at the end of the day.
5. Nuts.
6. Additional nap time items: Pillows, blankets, comforters, futons, bunk beds. We get it. You want them to be comfortable. But we do not have the storage space nor can we sanitize to this degree. A sheet will suffice.
7. Binkys: Pacifiers are not recommended over the age of two due to speech development. But in a group setting, hygiene concerns also factor in.
8. Water bottles: All students are given milk three times a day at both snack times and at lunch time. They also have access to bottled water throughout the day. It is taken on the playground, while they play, for hydration. It is also accessible to them any time they request it. Individual bottles, again, pose the concern of sharing germs, even if labeled. Preschoolers can't read them.
9. Germs from home, when avoidable!: We realize it is not always possible to know when your child is coming down with something. But, please, especially in the world of COVID, do not medicate a sick child and send them in to school. We must all work to maintain the health and safety of one another during this unique time.
The dates that tuition will be due for the month of August are:
- Newcomers: one week's tuition on the day yoiur start. Then two weeks on September 13th and September 27th
- Current families: Monday, September 13th and Monday, September 27th
- If you are a family who attend last year, took the summer off, and are now returning, you do not owe the first week since you paid that in the spring when you reserved your spot
Cleaning Supplies and PPE Donations Welcomed!
Fallston Child Care Center always functions within our budget. But, as you can imagine, as we approach the year benchmark of navigating this new "world of COVID" in a large daycare center, the additional cost of critical cleaning supplies and PPE has affected our bottom line. Many of you have asked if there is anything we could use, and for those generous souls, we are supremely grateful. Please do not feel obligated, but if you feel moved to make a supply contribution, these are the items we are constantlly restocking:
- paper towels
- unscented baby wipes
- adult masks
- child masks
- Lysol
- antibacterial wipes
- Basic G cleaner
- alcohol wipes
- hand sanitizer
- Clorox bathroom cleaner
- Swiffer dry pads
- Swiffer Wet Jet Solution
- Soft Soap with Aloe Refills
- Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner
- Ziploc gallon, sandwich, and snack bags
