Spring  is here, enjoy it!!

1~ April Fool’s Day

17~ Palm Sunday

19~ Passover

22~Good Friday

22~ Earth Day

24~ Easter Sunday

 April 1- April Fools Day

Today 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 foods for dinner or some other harmless way to trick the children.

 April 12- Scrabble

Alfred Butts who was born on this day in 1899 invented Scrabble, the game that uses letter tiles to spell words. As soon as children learn to read and spell they can play an easy version of Scrabble.  For very beginning readers you can create your own simple game by making letter tiles from index cards for each letter that is used in the words the child knows. Be sure to make extra vowels (a, e, i, o, u) as they appear most frequently. Uses these letter cards together you can help strengthen the children’s reading and spelling skills while having fun.

 April 19 Passover

Passover, also known as Pesach or Pesah, is a Holy Day, observed by several religions, begins today and lasts seven or eight days, depending on your beliefs.  It 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 22- Earth Day

The goal of the day is to “increase awareness, responsibility and action toward a clean, health future for all living things. 

April 24- Easter

Easter is an annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is always celebrated on a Sunday. 

Childcare focus – Cleaning Up Made Easy

Is it hard to get cooperation at clean-up time?
Turn clean-up time into a game. Try throwing a die, if it lands on one, the person who threw the die must clean-up one thing, if the die lands on four, he or she must pick up four things, and so on. Everyone plays (even the au pair)!

 Driving- Personal car use for au pairs is a privilege and calls for a high level of responsibility.   If you have a car accident, you can be asked to pay a deductible of up to $500.  Parking tickets are expensive and you pay for them, so pay attention to parking restrictions.

 Education– Extending: In order to extend, you must show proof that you have completed the education requirement at an accredited U.S. post-secondary institution. Your extension request will not be processed without this proof.

One or more of the following documents can be used to verify that you have completed your education:

Letter from the school on letterhead

Completion certificate from the school

School transcript

 Hints for success- Take responsibility for your actions

No one is perfect. If you make a mistake, admit it, apologize and work to correct the situation.

 Lost Passports Make a copy of your passport and visa and keep it in a safe place.

If your passport is lost or stolen, you should call the Stamford office to speak to the Compliance Officer. Then you should contact the consulate or embassy of your home country and get the process started to replace your passport.   Chances are your visa was stapled in your passport. If you lost your visa as well, you cannot travel outside the U.S., but you can stay in the U.S. to finish the program. To learn how to replace your visa, visit http://aupairinamerica.com/resources/life_in_the_us/procedure_5.asp

 Acting
Most 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!

 Fun With Crayons!

The first box of 8 crayons was introduced in 1903.  Since then over a 100 billion crayons have been produced and there are now 120 colors available!  Check the labels for some interesting color names.