My Small Wonders will be closing at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 26, 2008.  We will be serving the children lunch at 11:00 a.m. as usual, and will put them down for their naps at 12:00 p.m. unless otherwise instructed by you to your child’s teacher.

We hope this give you and our Staff ample time to get on the road to Grandma’s house!

From our family to yours…Happy Thanksgiving!

The book of the month for November is Against Medical Advice by James Patterson.

Description
Cory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck. From that day forward his life became a hell of irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances, and Cory embarked on an excruciating journey from specialist to specialist to discover the cause of his disease. Soon it became unclear what tics were symptoms of his disease and what were side effects of the countless combinations of drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. Simply put: Cory Friedman’s life was a living hell.

AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is the true story of Cory and his family’s decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties and a maddening medical establishment. It is a heart-rending story of struggle and triumph with a climax as dramatic as any James Patterson thriller. (2008)

November 24, 2008

6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Trainer:  Robyn Sears, M.S.  (OCCHD – Oklahoma City County Health Department)

Positive parent-teacher communications benefit everyone! The manner in which schools communicate and interact with parents affects the extent and quality of parents’ home involvement with their children’s learning.
Schools that communicate bad news about student performance more often than recognizing students’ excellence will discourage parent involvement by making parents feel they cannot effectively help their children.  Parents also benefit from being involved in their children’s education by getting ideas from school on how to help and support their children, and by learning more about the school’s academic program and how it works.
Perhaps most important, parents benefit by becoming more confident about the value of their school involvement. Parents develop a greater appreciation for the important role they play in their children’s education. 
All parents and guardians are welcome to attend this free training. If you would like to attend please sign up at the front desk or email Brandi.

October 25, 2008

The first annual Harvest Festival was a tremendous success! All involved had a great time, the auctions went smoothly, the games and activities were awesome, and there was plenty of food! A couple things that we will change for next time include making the classroom activites free, more outside activites, and shorter timespan (at least be over before nap time! )
You may view and purchase the pictures that the professional photographer was taking by visiting this photo gallery.
The Edgar Cruz concert was great but it was too late in the day and many families had to go home for nap time. Next time we will try to have the concert earlier and the festival shorter.
Thank you to all our teachers, parents, and students! We are already planning a spring event and we are considering a bake sale… let us know what you think!

Ms. Liliy is one of our 2 year old Master Teachers. She was born on October 21, 1978. She has one brother who is in the Marines and is a Staff Sergeant Recruiter and a sister in Sarasota, Florida. Mrs. Liliy’s husband, Daniel, moved her and her family to Oklahoma when became employed by Dell. Together, they have two children, Trysten, 7, and Camron, 3. 
In her spare time, she loves to be messy, and also loves swimming. She enjoys reading and painting when time allows! Mrs. Liliy is of Cuban descent and speaks Spanish fluently. Mrs. Liliy is in the process of teaching her own children a 2^nd language and looks forward to introducing it to your children! Her favorite foods are Pepsi, salted peanuts, coffee, ice cream, and chocolate! 
Keep up the good work Mrs. Liliy!

Although we have been using our current webcam system in house since we opened, it has proven to be less than adequate and not reliable or secure enough to put on the internet.

Therefore, My Small Wonders is contracting our webcam system to ChildrenView; In the next few weeks they will come in, after hours, and replace the wiring, cameras, and server with their own high-end system.

They will put in place strict security measures to give the parents and our staff peace of mind. Each parent will be given a unique username and password that will allow them to access the secure video area. This is to ensure that only authorized eyes see the streaming video. We know that the safety of your children is the most important aspect of this project so we are bringing in an outside company to help us resolve these issues and bring the webcams securely to our website.

We are hoping that this can all be done before the end of the year. Thank you for your patience as we continue to work on this initiative.

Congratulations to Mrs. Nancy & Mrs. Brandi for representing My Small Wonders in the Miles for Miracles race!

The Miles for Miracles 5K was established as a fundraiser for the Ellie Kate Foundation.  It was established to help fund reasearch for rare genetic diseases and to help families in the same situation as the McLaughlins were with Ellie Kate.  The EK Foundation was also established to promote awareness for newborn and prenatel  screening.  Fortunately, most babies receive a clean bill of health when tested. When test results show that the baby has a birth defect, early diagnosis and treatment can make the difference between lifelong disabilities and healthy development.

Ellie Kate McLaughlin was born on December 4th, 2005 in Oklahoma City, OK.  By the looks of things, Ellie Kate was a normal, healthy baby, but family and doctors would soon find out that something was desperately wrong.  By the end of her first week, Ellie Kate was fighting for her life, and she continues to do so this day.  Elli Kate suffers from rare genetic disease, Non-Ketotic Hyperglycinemia.

Not much has changed in the treatment of Non-Ketotic Hyperglycinemia (NKH) in recent years. We are very thankful to the doctors that have shown interest in NKH but to continue to research treatments, prenatal diagnosis, and just to get a better grasp on this disorder and the effects of glycine more money is needed to fund the programs the doctors would like to pursue. In addition more funds are needed to interest new doctors in pursuing research in NKH as well as help other families that have children that have been diagnosed and have thousands of dollars in medical bills.

If you would like to donate to the Ellie Kate Foundation, you may do so by clicking on this link.

My Small Wonders was proud to sponsor a hole for the annual Red Jacket  Challenge for the Oklahoma Hemophilia Foundation. The golf tournament is held to raise money for the Foundation’s Camp Independance.
Camp Independence is a one-week resident summer camp for Oklahoma children of the bleeding disorders community.

Camp Independence welcomes children, ages 7 to 17 who have hemophilia, von Willebrand, other clotting deficiencies, carriers and siblings.  Camp also welcomes children of parents with bleeding disorders.

The purpose of Camp Independence is to provide a summer camp experience for children of the bleeding disorders community that is both educational and recreational.  Our goal is to build a strong bond among families of the bleeding disorders community and to increase public awareness of bleeding disorders through volunteer participation. Chronic Illness can be very isolating.  Because of our camper’s medical conditions and family finances, many would not be able to attend a summer camp if it were not for Camp Independence.

Camp Independence has a volunteer team who plan camp on a year round basis.  The camp committee is comprised of people from the Oklahoma Hemophilia Foundation Board of Directors, The Oklahoma Center for Bleeding Disorders, community and industry volunteers.  The medical staff comes from the Oklahoma Center for Bleeding Disorders.
If you would like to help support Camp Independance, please follow this link for more information.

You may be aware that black carbon is again coming off the playground and staining clothes as well as our carpets and toys! This is the second time this issue has occured and has been very frustrating for both us and the company that sold it to us.
The manufacturer has agreed to completely replace our surfacing with a different product in a lighter color. The new product is composed of virgin material rather than recycled rubber so their hope and ours is that the staining issues will cease and we can begin the interior cleanup process (cleaning/replacing carpets, toys, walls, etc.).
In the meantime, please dress your children accordingly as we are required to take them outside everyday that weather permits and we would hate to accidentally ruin good clothes!
Thank you for bearing with us while we get the situation resolved.