May 1 May Day - Similar to Labor Day, it is a spring festival celebrating the renewal of nature.  It was popular in England during medieval times, with children dancing around the Maypole.

May 5 Cinco de Mayo -Cinco de mayo commemorates the May 5, 1862 Battle of Puebla (Batalla de Puebla) in which Mexican troops defeated Napoleon’s French forces. Cinco de mayo is celebrated more in the United States than in Mexico.

May 8 – Teacher Appreciation Day Today is a day to honor teachers – if your child is in school he or she might want to make a card for the teacher.  Preschool age children 3-5 love playing school.  Let the child be the teacher and read you a story or give you homework.  You might want to invite some dolls or stuffed animals into the classroom as well.

May 8- Mother’s Day-   Today is a day to celebrate and pamper Mom.  Help the children make cards or gifts or plan a special meal or other surprise for Mom.

May 11 Annual Castles in the Sand – Raise money to support the homeless and other neighbors in need.  The build a-thon will be held at Compo Beach from noon to 4 p.m.  Call 203-226-3426 ext. 11 or www.ihawestport.com to reserve your sand sculpting lot or obtain further information.

May 28 Memorial Day Parade – Parade begins at 9 a.m at Saugatuck Elementary School and travels up Riverside Avenue over the Post Road and on to Town Hall.  Stand on the Post Road near Main Street and join the fun.   Memorial Day started in 1868 after the Civil War ended.  Dead soldiers from both the north and the south were honored as a way to try to heal the nation.  Now all past soldiers are honored.  It is also a day that is considered to be the start of the summer season.  Many people celebrate with a cook-out or even a trip to the beach.

April is the month many people celebrate Easter. For many children that means the Easter Bunny is on his way. Out in the gardens, rabbits are springtime active – watch for them from your windows and enjoy some “Funny, bunny” reading, crafts and games throughout the month:

Head for the Library and find some “Bunny Books”
The Bionic Bunny by Marc Brown
Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Little Rabbit Foo Foo by Michael Rosen
Good Job, Oliver! by Laurel Molk
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor Ada

Bunny Crafts
“Rip a Rabbit”! Cut a sheet of paper in half – plain white or pastels work fine. Have the children tear an oval shape from one half and two ears from the other half. Glue the ears to the top of the oval; use crayons to color ears, eyes and nose. Poke 3 whisker holes on either side of the nose with a toothpick and thread dry spaghetti or straws from a broomstick through the holes for whiskers. Add a cotton ball for a tail – display your bunnies around the house.

Bunny Game
I Spy a Bunny – if you have a stuffed bunny at your house “Hide” it in a different place every morning, not too difficult to find, and challenge your children to find it. After a day or two they will really look forward to this morning puzzle!

“Here’s a Bunny” finger play
Here’s a bunny, with ears so funny (hand forms head with two fingers slightly bent for ears)
And here is a hole in the ground (form a hole with the other hand)
When a noise he hears,
He perks up his ears (wiggle ears)
And jumps in the hole that he found. (bunny dives into the hole)

For Older Children:

Many children love to be the center of attention so being on stage is natural for them. Choose 4 or five things that don’t go together and put them in a bag. Work with the children to make up a story to act out using the things in the bag. It can be very funny! Be sure to join in the fun with them, and give them a chance to choose objects for the bag for you. (Suitable for children 7 and up)

April is  National Garden Month
Read the children The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss or try simple gardening with them. If it is not warm enough to plant outside put some soil in a paper cup and start a few seeds indoors. Choose seeds that sprout quickly such as morning glories or marigolds. For more information about gardening with kids see our activity page (http://www.aupairinamerica.com/aupairs/activityideas.htm) or find ideas for growing flowers, vegetables and herbs at http://www.copper-tree.ca/garden/ .

Look Up at the Sky Day
Try to find shapes in the clouds or wait until dark and look at the stars. Can you see any planets in the sky? Visit this site for coloring pages of constellations http://www.earthsky.org/kids/activities_connect.php

April is also National Humor Month
Children love jokes and riddles. Find some new laughs at http://www.ahajokes.com/kids_jokes.html or look in the library for joke books.

April 1  April Fool’s Day The day is generally observed by tricking someone. Think of a silly and harmless trick to play. Work with the children to write a silly story to read to the parents. Try serving breakfast food for dinner or some other harmless way to trick the children.

April 2  International Children’s Book Day The perfect day to read the children a story from your own country or a book about cross-cultural experiences. link  to KCC http://www.aupairinamerica.com/resources/kids/culture_corner/

April 7-13 Passover Passover, also known as Pesach or Pesah, is a Holy Day, observed by several religions, beginning on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan and lasting seven days (in Israel and among some liberal Diaspora Jews, and eight days among other Diaspora Jews) that commemorates the exodus and freedom of the Israelites from Egypt; it is also observed by some Christians to commemorate the deliverance from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus.

April  7 World Health Day This is a good day for children to learn about how their body works, and to discuss good health habits. Remind them about the importance of covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze and to always wash their hands before they eat. For school age children to learn more about their body with a wonderful on-line tour of the body, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/kids/.

April 8 Easter Day Easter is an annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated on a Sunday. Connected with the observance of Easter is the 40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. Find fun Easter activities to do with children at http://www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/easter/fun.htm

March 1 – Dr. Seuss’s Birthday
Born in Massachusetts in 1904, Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat and more than fifty other books. These books are fun to read aloud and children love them!  Visit the Westport Library and read some of his books to your host children.

March 11 Daylight Saving Time Be sure to set the clocks forward one hour!  Don’t be late for work!

http://blogs.aupairinamerica.com/mdf/files/2009/11/Deadline-Clock-300×198.jpg

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – St. Patrick is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland.  St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in the US since 1737.  Traditional icons of the day are the shamrock, leprechaun, the color green and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In Chicago, they city celebrates with a parade and the Chicago River is dyed green! New York City will have a big parade

http://blogs.aupairinamerica.com/chicagoarea/files/2010/03/st-patricks-day-pic-2-300×253.png

March 20 – Today is the first day of spring!  Take a walk outside and look for signs of spring – swelling buds on the trees, flowers poking up from the ground, more birds back in the trees.  Take a hike with your host children through Earthplace, Westport’s Nature Center.

March 30 Van Gogh’s Birthday
Vincent Van Gogh was a famous Dutch painter. Using washable paints show your host children how mixing primary colors (red, yellow and blue) can make new colors.

March 31 Westport Weston Nursery School Touch a Truck fundraiser.  Come and help face paint or bring your host children and have some fun.  9:30 a.m-1:30 p.m. at the Coleytown Elementary School

Driving – Traffic tends to be heavier around the Holidays.  My best advice is to leave earlier than normal and take your time.  Be the “bigger person” and allow that one last car to slip in ahead of you.  It may avoid an accident.  Remember au pairs can be asked to pay up to $500 of the deductible for an accident.

Driving – Keeping children happy in the car can be challenging. One helpful approach is to engage them in car games in the safety of their car seat or seat belt.  Sing songs, such as the “”Wheel on the Bus”",  tell stories or play “”I Spy”", a color game.  Children take turns stating “”I spy something red”" and the other people in the car need to guess what the child sees that is red.

Alphabet Game- ages 3 and up

Children who can identify letters and can easily see out the window of the car can play this game. One child starts with A and has to find a word on a sign visible from the car with the letter A. The next child has to identify the B, and so on.

November 18 – Mickey Mouse’s birthday – Mickey Mouse was created in 1928! Celebrate his birthday with Mickey Mouse pancakes:  Follow the directions for mixing on the package.  Heat a griddle or frying pan.  For each pancake pour batter into pan in a large circle with two smaller circles at the top to make the ears.  Cook until pancake is puffy and bubbles.  Flip and cook the other side until golden brown.  Use chocolate chips for the eyes.

Then go to the library and read some Mickey Mouse books or take home a video or two to watch after bath time.

Scratch Pictures – This is a fun art project for children ages 7 and up. You need paper, crayons (make sure you have a black one), and a paper clip. Take one crayon and rub it over the paper. Use the flat side of the crayon and rub hard. Take another color and do the same to another part of the paper. Cover the whole paper with different colors of crayon. Now, take the black crayon and color over all the other colors until the whole paper is black. With a paper clip or coin, draw a picture by scratching through the black crayon. The other colors will show through where the drawing is scratched.

November 6 – Daylight Savings Time Ends-In most parts of the country you’ll get an extra hour of sleep – set your clock back one hour.

November 8 – Election Day for local elections in Westport

November 11 – Veteran’s Day
A day to honor American veterans of all wars, Veterans Day is a federal holiday.

November 24 Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving dates back to the first European settlers in North America. After hardship, illness and hard work the Pilgrims celebrated a successful harvest that they shared with their Native American friends. This national holiday is a day to feast and give thanks.

November 25- Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving and is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employees have the day off, which increases the number of potential shoppers. Merchants and the media use the term Black Friday to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black i.e., turning a profit for the year.  Sales are everywhere–set your alarm and hit the stores before the sun comes up to get an authentic experience this unique day!

Getting children to help you:  Ask your host parents how much time they think it should take your host kids to complete a certain task that you and your host kids struggle with.  Then set the timer and have a race against the clock to get things done before the timer beeps.  There is no reward, just a high five and a challenge to do it faster the next day.   This makes it fun and exciting!  Once the behavior has changed and the struggle is over, you will not need the timer as the expectation has been set and met.  Use a timer for things like

• getting dressed
• room cleaning–set the timer for five or ten minutes and challenge your host kids to clean as much of the toys” room as possible before the timer beeps
• playtime before doing homework or chores

Hints for success –

Many of you have been here for several months, don’t; let yourself get into a routine of not doing your best.  Take initiative – don’t wait to be asked, anticipate children’s needs, offer to help when you are sharing “family time.”

Internet use-Don’t use the internet to vent.  Remember anything you post on Facebook or other social networking sites can be seem by millions of people.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that a post in your native language won’t be understood!  If you are having a bad day, call me or a friend.

Drinking Age: It’s the Law!
As you know, it is illegal to buy or drink alcohol, beer and wine in the United States if you are under 21 years of age. If someone buys alcohol for others who are under 21, it is the person who is buying the alcohol who will be in trouble with the law. It is not a chance worth taking. Do not put your friends in an embarrassing or dangerous position by asking them to buy alcohol for you if you are under 21!

Flowers

The saying goes that April showers bring May flowers.  Start your own flowers indoors.  Marigolds and Morning Glories grow quickly from seed and can be planted outdoors in the garden after they are a few inches tall.  Use a flower pot or even an old yogurt container, follow the directions on the seed packet and don’t forget to water the pot! 

Pen Friends 

Do you have any friends or relatives in your home country with children close to the age of your school-age children?  You can encourage them to exchange letters (or emails).  Simple notes or even pictures arriving by overseas mail are very exciting for children (and au pairs).

Windy Days – March is known for its windy days. It is a great month to fly a kite

Sidewalk Chalk- Take advantage of a mild day and head outside to draw on the sidewalk with chalk. Kids love to have their whole body outlined and then fill in the drawing with clothes and a face. If you still have ice or snow outside try white or colored chalk inside on construction paper or brown wrapping paper. The drawings can be made permanent, so they won’t rub off, by spraying with aerosol hair spray (best to spray outside, and certainly away from the children).

March 9  – Ash Wednesday – Ash Wednesday, in Christian churches, is the first day of the penitential season of Lent.  On Ash Wednesday some Christians have a smudge of ashes placed on their foreheads at Church as a sign of penitence.

March 13 Daylight Saving Time Be sure to set the clocks forward one hour!  Don’t be late for work!

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – St. Patrick is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland.  St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in the US since 1737.  Traditional icons of the day are the shamrock, leprechaun, the color green and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In Chicago, they city celebrates with a parade and the Chicago River is dyed green!  There is a big parade in New York City.

March 20 – Today is the first day of spring!  Take a walk outside and look for signs of spring – swelling buds on the trees, flowers poking up from the ground, more birds back in the trees.  Take the kids to the Compo Beach Playground and enjoy the view.  After this rough winter most of Westport will be down there!

March 20 Purim –The Festival of Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar.  There are four commandments for Purim: the reading of the story of Esther, festivity and rejoicing, sending gifts (usually food), and gifts to the poor.  It is customary to dress in costume for the celebration.  (Note: all Jewish holidays begin at sundown and end the following day at sundown.)