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Early Childhood Learning Center

December, 2024

Early Childhood Learning Center December, 2024

Message From Dr. Grillo

Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the Holiday Season. We are back and have been extremely busy as we kick off 2025. This week we had a visit from The Bergen County Sherriff's Office and Garfield Police Community Affairs to assist families in enrolling in The Gold Star ID Program and The EZ Child ID Program. We had such a large turnout and ran out of time to complete IDs for everyone. Please make sure to scan the QR Code you were provided with so you can schedule an appointment to complete the ID Process. We are also hoping to have The Bergen County Sherriff's Office back again in the near future.

Important Dates

Important Dates:

  • January 13th - 17th: Multicultural Exploration Week
  • January 14th: Home & School Meeting At 2:30 PM
  • January 20th: School Closed
  • January 22nd: One Session Day 12:05 PM Dismissal
  • January 27th-31st: The Great Kindness Week Challenge
  • January 27th: Team Kindness: Wear A Sport Shirt (Uniform Pants Required)
  • January 28th: Let Kindness Shine: Wear A Tie Dye Shirt or Multicolor Shirt (Uniform Pants Required)
  • January 29th: We Have The Power To Be Kind: Wear A Superhero Shirt (Uniform Pants Required)
  • January 30th: Dreaming Of Kindness: Wear Your Pajamas
  • January 31st: "Bee" Kind Wear A Yellow, Black Or Your Spirit Day Shirt. (Jeans Permitted)

Thank You!

  • Thank you to all the families who joined us for Wonderful Wednesday. We had 124 families who joined in on creating snowmen measuring sticks.

Classroom 2-1 Rang In The New Year While Working On Mathematical Skills

Students in Classroom 2-1 rang in 2025 with some number writing practice. They listened to verbal directions and had some practice writing the number 2 under the first 2, writing zero underneath the 0, and drew and colored 2 circles under the second 2 and practiced tally marks underneath the 5. The students wore 2025 glasses to help remind them what the numbers look like.

Science Exploration In Classroom 2-5

Brrrrrr, even with these frigid temperatures, students in Classroom 2-5 conducted a science experiment outdoors for a few minutes. The children wondered if bubbles would freeze . They learned about the property of liquids and winter vocabulary.

There Was A Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow Assembly

The Special Events Committee along with some students performed There Was A Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow. Students enjoyed the reenactment of the story and had a chance to catch some snowballs at the end.

Nurses Corner

Growing children need time to run, jump and play every day. It does a body good! It helps develop good muscle tone, coordination, and strong bones. Each day here at ECLC we take the opportunity to go outdoors and exercise our bodies as well as our minds. Our little friends will be venturing out daily, weather permitted. Parents; please make sure that all of our friends have hats, scarves, and gloves with them at all times. Even if they do not wear them into school, please ensure that these much-needed items are kept in their bookbags so, if need be, they could wear them while venturing outdoors. Please also ensure they have winter attire appropriate for keeping their little bodies warm as they run and play!

Speech Corner

Some children have difficulty articulating sounds. Consistent practice and repetition are important to help children who are having difficulty pronouncing sounds. Here are some tips to help your child along.


  • Slow down your speech. It sounds very simple but slowing down your speech and speaking very clearly is one of the most effective ways to help your child.
  • Encourage your child to look at your mouth when you speak.
  • Sounds that are more visible are sometimes easier to teach first. Sounds that are produced with the lips ("p", "b", and "m") and occur in the beginning of a word as in "pie", "ball", and "more" can be easier for a child to imitate.
  • Vary your pronunciation, say words slower, deeper, higher.
  • Always give positive feedback (e.g. "good try")
  • Accept approximations.
The ECLC