Picnic and Play at the ELC Parent Café
On September 13, a beautiful, sunny, late-summer Wednesday afternoon, the Early Learning Center (ELC) had their first-ever Parent Café. All ELC families were invited, and over 150 people attended the event.
This was the first year the ELC hosted an outdoor concert and picnic as part of their Parent Café. CCSD59’s youngest learners and their parents and guardians congregated on the ELC lawn on blankets and lounge chairs.
The Parent Café was developed to help reach out to families and offer them a chance to have fun with their children, meet and network with others in the ELC community, and provide learning opportunities. Family facilitator Marlyn Orozco and ELC staff teams worked together at the event.
A lot of fun was packed into the one and a half hour event for the attendees. The event started with an outdoor picnic, and while families were able to bring their own food, the ELC also had sandwiches, chips, and water available to those who didn’t pack their own meals, which were generously donated by Mr. Allison’s restaurant in Arlington Heights.
We are hoping that this is another positive step in helping us build a stronger connection between the ELC and our families.
Michele Ramsey
ELC Principal
After lunch, early childhood music specialist “Miss Carole Stephens” and her musical partner Clarence got the students and their families on their feet, singing and dancing to a variety of fun, youngster-friendly songs from her “macaroni soup” repertoire. Some of the hilarious, favorite songs she performed during her interactive music show were “the Bubble Gum Song,” “Stinky Cake,” and “the Goldfish,” to name just a few.
“Clarence and I had a great time sharing music & movement fun with CCSD59’s enthusiastic families and staff at the picnic,” said Miss Carole. “We watched lovely interactions between parents and children – adults dancing and singing WITH their little ones. Let’s do it again next year!”
Orozco thought a performance by Miss Carole would be a great way to kick off the Parent Café series, as she is well known in the early childhood field and gets everyone moving, singing, and dancing. Miss Carole concluded her performance by stressing the importance of everyone coming together by encouraging the group to sing during her final act, “We’re Building a Better World.”
“We are hoping that this is another positive step in helping us build a stronger connection between the ELC and our families,” said Principal Michele Ramsey. “We want this to be a time for families to meet each other, visit the ELC staff, and just enjoy an afternoon of sun and fun together.”
Since Ramsey said feedback to the event was extremely positive, the next Parent Café event is already being tentatively planned for November 8, 2017.
