The Lee Wiggins Childcare Centre at York University
4700 Keele St. # 201 First Student Centre Building M3J 1P3 Toronto, ON, Canada

We will be offering all LWCC members a 25% fee discount for full-time care (2020 - 21 only)! Please see our website (yorkuchildcare.ca) for more information and if a CUPE 3903 member. - We hope you have been well during this time. We have missed all the families whom we haven't seen since LWCC was forced to close due to the pandemic!... LWCC has requested special permission from the Student Centre Building to open mid-October 2020, despite the fact that many of the University's normal activities on campus has been shut down or moved off campus. We are only permitted to care for preschoolers at this time. All toddler tuition plans have been suspended until further notice. We wish you and your family a healthy start to the new academic year and thank you for entrusting the LWCC with the care of your child(ren). We bid a fond farewell to those friends moving on to kindergarten or other experiences, and look forward to seeing returning friends in October. Sincerely, The Lee Wiggins Childcare Centre Staff and Board of Directors

Dear Lee Wiggins Childcare Centre members, As you are all aware, the COVID-19 situation has been evolving rapidly, especially over the course of the last few days. Since the middle of this past week, it has been announced that all Ontario schools will remain closed for two weeks beyond the already-scheduled March break, starting this weekend; most Ontario universities, including York University, have cancelled in-person classes and have moved virtually all instruction to onli...ne platforms; the City of Toronto has closed all municipally run daycares, recreation centres, museums, and libraries; and many public performances and gatherings have been cancelled. The Board of Directors of the Lee Wiggins Childcare Centre met on Friday to discuss the viability of staying open, at reduced capacity, for those families in absolute need of the Centre’s services; however, with the growing list of closures in daycare and educational environments, and especially with the recommendation from the Chief Medical Officer for the City of Toronto that even private, non-city-run childcares discontinue services, the Board has decided that the most prudent and responsible course of action, both for the well-being of the children, their families, and the Centre’s staff, and as part of the collective effort to protect the public from further spread of the virus, is to close the Centre for at least the next three weeks. We will monitor ongoing developments and communicate any further decisions as quickly as possible. For the moment, we hope to reopen the Centre on Monday April 6, though at this time we cannot guarantee that. We know that you will have many questions, and we will try to address them in forthcoming communications once all facets of this closure have been considered. We thank you in advance for your patience, and, naturally, regret that we are not able to extend our services at this time. Sincerely, Lee Wiggins Childcare Centre Board of Directors

Quiet play during sleep time. The children were provided the opportunity to enhance their social skills through co-operation. They engaged in exchanging ideas and materials during play.

Rob from "Soli&Rob" has returned to share his winter musical extravaganza with the Centre! The songs provided the opportunity for children to imitate actions, make associations, play with instruments, pretend play and get up and dance.

"Homemade" books

Keeping warm indoors. During indoor gross motor, some toddlers and preschoolers took turns trying to balance, roll and jump in our bouncy castle. If they weren't interested, some other options were to drive our indoor bikes or cozy up with puppets, soft friends and/or books inside a lit up tent

Due to the cold weather, our preschoolers went for a short walk today.

Please stop by to say "hi!" The Lee Wiggins is taking part at YorkU's job fair today from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. We're located at Ross in between Vari Hall and Central Square.

Dear parents of recent graduates of the Lee Wiggins Childcare Centre, It has been announced that there will be a one-day strike of elementary school teachers in the Toronto and York Region District School Boards this Monday, January 20, and that there will be a Province-wide strike of Catholic school teachers on Tuesday, January 21. If your children will be affected by these job actions and you are looking for alternate arrangements for their care, the LWCC would be happy acc...ept children (up to seven years old) for single-day care for a full day or for blocks of four or five hours of the day. With 48-hours’ advance notice, fees are $90 per day, and $38/$55 for four- and five-hour blocks. With less than 48-hours’ notice (emergency care), fees are $150 per day and $75 for five-hour blocks. For inquiries, please call (416) 736-5959 during regular business hours or e-mail us. We would also like to extend our services for PA days. There is a PA day scheduled for this Friday at all Toronto and York Region Public and Catholic English school board elementary schools, and others in the coming weeks. See below for a list of no-school days in Toronto and York Region this Winter. Friday 17 January: PA day TDSB, TCDSB, YRDSB, YCDSB Friday 31 January: PA day YRDSB, YCDSB Friday 14 February: PA day TDSB, TCDSB Monday 16 March-Friday 20 March: March Break Please let us know if you have any questions. We would be delighted to see old friends again and to show off some of the changes that we’ve recently made. Best, Lee Wiggins Childcare Centre

Thank you to all the family who attended our holiday sing-a-long!

The children and staff worked together to create bookmarks as an accessory for the book centre. The children used crayons, markers, pencil crayons and stickers to decorate a large paper. We then cut the paper to create our bookmarks. The children and staff discussed the purpose of bookmarks and discussed different ways the children and staff could utilize them.

Science lab program! Dramatic centre gives children opportunities to conduct experiments and role play as scientists. The room also includes a large play area for toddler and preschool gross motor

Halloween walk Thank you to everyone who participated and handed out candy

Halloween program for next week. Dramatic centre includes a reading nook and a dress up area

During the reading week the children went for a walk around the campus. They enjoyed seeing the changing leaves and collecting fallen leaves. The children also examined and traced their shadows using chalk.

Cause and effect experiment with baking soda and vinegar.

Come visit our table

Learning about what happens when we mix different colours together

For our cooking activity we baked chocolate chip cookies. The children identified each ingredient that would be used for the cookies and took turns guessing what the combination of ingredient would create. The children used their fine motor skills to pour and mix all the ingredients. We then baked the cookies and had them for our pm snack