GBKC Fall Newsletter 2015

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The Connection
Welcome Katelyn Dennis
Welcome Katelyn Dennis, our new Great Bay Kids' Company
Executive Director!
Katelyn graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelors
degree in Elementary Education and Music Performance. She
continued on to receive her Masters from Cambridge College in
Higher Education, Counseling.
Most recently Katelyn served as Executive Director to Nurture &
Nature Children's Center in Newfields for almost five years, where
she was introduced to the non-profit sector. Before her years in early childhood, Katelyn
worked as a Corporate trainer for an advertising company. After five years as a trainer,
she yearned to go back to her education roots and has truly found her passion in leading
early childhood organizations.
Katelyn resides in Southern Maine with her husband Larry, step son Louden and her two
girls Klaira & Everly.
Exeter Center Opens It’s Doors!
On September 8th, the Exeter Center opened the
doors to its new center. We welcomed new staff
and new families to our agency as we moved
from five classrooms to ten. The growth allows
us to meet the growing need for early childhood
care and education in the Exeter area. With the
opening of the new building we are now able to
offer care to infants and young toddlers. The
Exeter Center now holds two infant rooms, two
young toddler, and
added an additional
toddler room. The sound of babies and little ones enjoying their
day resonates throughout the building when you walk in and it
just makes you smile.
Our Exeter Center was also the recipient of Epping Lowe’s
Heroes adoption program. We had 15 volunteers work on
extending fencing for a larger play area as well as planting new
shrubs and beautifying the front with seasonal planters. Thank
you to Lowes!
Quality, Licensed
Child Care with an
Educational Focus
Fall 2015
Bi-Annual Newsletter
Issue 16
81 New Hampshire Ave
Portsmouth, NH
03801
Inside this issue:
Open House at
GBKC
Ages and Stages
2
2
Great Bay Kids’ in
the Community
2
The Great Escape
3
Did you know...
4
Recipe
4
Calendar of Events
November 19, 2015
Exeter Ribbon Cutting
Ceremony ~3pm
March 26, 2016
Eggcellent Easter Egg
Hunt ~8:30-10:30am
April 12, 2016
Newmarket Children’s
Art Show ~ 6:307:30pm
April 13, 2016
Pease Children’s Art
Show ~ 6:30-7:30pm
April 14, 2016
Exeter/Action Club
Children’s Art Show ~
6:30-7:30pm
Open House
In October each center opens their doors at night and invites families to
come and see what a typical day at Great Bay Kids’ Company is like.
Teachers welcome families into their classrooms to participate in activities
that are offered to their children throughout the day around the core
knowledge areas of Math, Literacy, Science and Social Studies integrated
into each interest area in the classroom, including: Art Area, Block Play,
Cooking, Discovery Area, Dramatic Play, Library Area, Music and
Movement, Outdoor Play, Sensory Table and Technology. Families
network with parents in the classroom and spend time with the teachers.
Open House is always a great success and a lot of fun for those that attend.
It is a great way to see what your children are doing when you leave them
in our care. We look forward to the event each and every year!
Ages and Stages
This October kicked off the Agency’s decision to
incorporate the Ages and Stages Questionnaire as
part of our assessment process. The Program
Development Committee comprised of teachers,
administration and board members met and
researched many different tools and decided that
ASQ was the most efficient and helpful tool. Ages &
Stages Questionnaires® (ASQ) provides reliable,
accurate developmental and social-emotional
screening for children between birth and age 6,
drawing on parents’ expert knowledge. The
questionnaires are filled out by families and teachers
and with both family and teacher feedback we will be
able to better meet the needs of the children in our care.
ASQ has been specifically designed to pinpoint
developmental progress—paving the way for
meaningful next steps in learning. ASQ is family
friendly, with fun learning activities. The ASQ system
includes fun, simple, and inexpensive learning activities
that teachers can use with kids during the day and
parents can use at home.
Great Bay Kids’ Out in the Community!
Great Bay Kids’ Company has
been busy this fall participating in
local community events! If you
were out and about you may have
seen representatives at the recent
Making Strides Walk in Exeter as
well as the Richie McFarland
Touch-a-Truck in Portsmouth.
Our Newmarket Center is currently
collecting food items for
Newmarket’s End 68 Hours of
Page 2
Hunger program. Many children
don’t know where there next meal is
coming from when they leave
school on Friday and this program is
a solution for many of these
children by sending home food with
them for the weekend. We are a
collection site all year round
however, during the month of
November we are celebrating
“being thankful” and have put an
emphasis on the food drive. It is
great to see GBKC out in the
communities that we serve and
helping others raise awareness for
their cause. Whether we are face
painting, providing activities or
collecting food for a worthy cause,
GBKC is there to support our local
agencies .
The Connection
The Great Escape
Our 6th Annual Great Escape
Fundraiser was held on Friday,
September 25th at the Rockingham
Ballroom. The event raised over
$10,000. It was a great night had by
all and we want to sincerely thank
our sponsors and local businesses
that helped to make our event a
success!
Friends of Great Bay Kids’
Chinburg Builders
Gold Level Sponsor
CP Management
Federal Savings Bank
Silver Level Sponsor
Proulx Oil & Propane
DeStefano Architects
Georgetown Bank
Sulloway & Hollis
Bob’s Clam Hut
Li Yuen’s Chinese Cuisine
Bronze Level Sponsors
D.F. Richard Energy
Donahue, Tucker &
Ciandella, Pllc.
Martini Northern
Louis F. Clarizio, DDS PA
Optima Bank & Trust
Thank you to all of our
AUCTION ITEM DONORS:
Anneke Jans, Attitash/Wildcat
Mountain, Auto Sounds/EZ Bike,
Ava Anderson, Badger Balms,
Beach Pea, Blue Moon Evolution,
Café Nostimo, Ceres Bakery,
Charmingfare Farm, Children’s
Museum of New Hampshire,
Clean Home & Office, Common
Man Restaurants, Convenient
MD, Country View Restaurant,
Cymbidium Floral, LLC.,
DeStefano & Associates Inc.,
Quality, Licensed Child Care with an Educational Focus
Diamond King Sports, Dicks
Sporting Goods, District,
Dunkin Donuts, Exeter
Jewelers, Fairfield Inn By
Marriott, Fitness Together, G
Willikers, Granite Steak &
Grill, Gundalow Company,
Gunstock Mountain Resort,
Hafner Winery, Hampton
Beach Casino, Hanlon
Longboards, Hilltop Fun
Center, Isles of Shoals
Steamship Company, Kelly
White/Silpada, Kume Japanese
Steak House, Las Olas
Taqueria, Lindt & Sprungli,
Living Mantras, Marc Fournier,
Martingale Wharf, Maryanne
LaPointe Creations, Music Hall,
Nadeau’s Subs, Nippo Lake
Golf Club, Northeast Lantern,
Philbrick’s Sports, Pickwick’s
Mercantile, Poco’s Bow Street
Cantina, Portsmouth Aikido,
Portsmouth Gas Light Co.,
Portsmouth Harbor Cruises,
Portsmouth Spa, Precision
BMW Repair, Prelude,
Quintessential Chiropractic,
Red Sox Organization, Redhook
Brewery, Rochester Country
Club, Rochester Opera House,
Rockingham Ballroom, Rodin +
Fields (Alizza), Runner’s Alley,
Seacoast Repertory Theatre,
Seacoast Science Center, Sig
Sauer, Silpada Earrings,
Strawberry Banke Museum,
Sullivan Tire, Terra Cotta Pasta
Company, The Rinks at Exeter,
The Rosa Restaurant, Top
Drawer Boutique, Valerie
Haggert/Avon, Windjammers
Restaurant.
Page 3
NON PROFIT
Great Bay Kids’ Company
ORGANIZATION
81 New Hampshire Avenue
US POSTAGE
PAID
Portsmouth, NH 03801
PORTSMOUTH NH
03801
PERMIT NO. 64
Great Bay Kids’ Company, Inc.
Administrative Office
81 New Hampshire Avenue
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Did you know ~ Great Bay Kids’ Company first opened their doors on
October 2, 1967 in Newmarket, NH. Since then we have grown
exponentially to include centers in Exeter, Portsmouth and after school
programs in Exeter and Newfields and currently offer care to over 500
families!
Phone: 603-772-9830
Fax: 603 772-4917
Email:
info@greatbaykids.org
No Bake Energy Bites
Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
.org
www.GreatBayKids
1/2 cup crunch peanut butter
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chip
s
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Combine oats, chocolate chips, flax see
d, peanut butter, honey and
vanilla extract together in a bowl; form
into balls using your hands.
Arrange energy bites on a baking sheet
and freeze until set, about 1
hour.