“The Associated Students is the primary advocate for students at California State

University, Northridge and provides excellent, meaningful programs and services

designed to create and enhance a spirited, learning-focused campus environment.”

Children’sCenter

Fall 2008

Issue 4

Children’s

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onnection

Serving the CSUN community with quality child development programs since 1975.

Ten Tips for Choosing Books for Children of All AgesSource: Family of Readers Advisor's Guide

Have children choose their own books as soon as they start showing a preference for one over another.Find the children's section of your local library. Get to know the librarian, who can be a great resource.Find out what your child is interested in, and help choose books that are related to his or her interests.Ask friends, family, and teachers what books their children have enjoyed; try a book swap.

If your child does not like a book you are reading together, put it away. Reading is a fun time to share, not a time to fight.Children may want to read the same book many times, even if you think they have outgrown it. Use book lists generated by various literacy organizations; they usually have good suggestions. For example: American Library Association, International Reading Association, Children's Book Guild.Look for books that you will like reading aloud. Your enjoyment will shine through and become contagious. Try out different kinds of books to see what appeals to your children.Have fun! Show your children the joy of reading and how it can open up a brand new world!

Vegetable of the MonthBy Leslie Gussin, Master Teacher

Children need to taste a new food several times before they learn to like it, so we offer a “Vegetable of the Month” curriculum, providing the children with opportunities to try new and healthy foods. Each classroom shares a sample of the vegetable and does a cooking project

to expose the children to the new food.

In October, we learned about squash. We prepared acorn, banana, spaghetti and butternut squash. The big hit was Teacher Linda’s recipe for Butternut Squash Crisp (inset). It was just sweet enough to appeal to without hiding the buttery flavor of the squash. The children also enjoyed “noodles” of the spaghetti squash with butter and garlic. We baked a pumpkin pie, also a squash, and the toddler class enjoyed a stir-fry with kabocha squash.

The cooking project provided rudimentary math and science concepts used in measuring and compar ing, and we pract iced counting while we added ingredients. The children measured and weighed each squash, finding that the banana squash was the longest and the

spaghetti squash weighed the most. Then children used magnifying glasses to look at the skin of the several squash, identifying those that had smooth skin and those that had rough skin.

A large part of the curriculum and activities in our classrooms focuses on building community and working together. Children learn about these concepts through books, cooking and other activities. We read “Big Pumpkin” by Erica Silverman about a pumpkin so big that a whole cast of characters needed to work

Butternut Squash CrispRe

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together to pull it off the vine. Through this story, the children learned about team work and cooperation.

Now that we’ve eaten all the squash, we look forward to planting the seeds in the spring. We saved the acorn, banana, spaghetti, and butternut squash seeds, so next Fall we may be ready to eat another crop of squash. As teachers, we love to see evidence that children are truly integrating the curriculum. At the end of November I knew we accomplished our goals with the “Vegetable of the Month” when I asked children in the play yard what they were doing; “We are making squash” was the response.

Ingredients:3 eggs3 cups cooked butternut squash, mashed1 ½ cup sugar2 teaspoons baking powder1 teaspoon vanilla½ teaspoon salt½ cup soft butterBeat eggs until lemon colored. Put all ingredients in bowl and mix. Place mixture in buttered baking dish and bake at 400 degrees until set (about 20 minutes). Remove from oven and cover with topping.

Topping:½ stick butter3 cups crushed cornflakes½ cup brown sugar½ cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients well. Cover butternut squash with topping and return to oven. Continue baking another 10-15 minutes. Serves 6-8.

Today’s Children, Tomorrow’s LeadersHelp keep this exceptional program going. Don’t forget to make your tax‐deductible gift. You can now make donations online at www.csunas.org/childrenscenter/donate or you can contact the Children’s Center Development Officer, Jerry DeFelice, at (818) 677‐3935 or jdfelice@csun.edu .

2008-2009 Children’s Center Advisory Board

The Board serves several purposes including participation in the selection of the director, approval of the annual budget, insurance of effective organizational planning and adequate resources, enhancement of the program's public image, and participation in the program’s annual evaluation and planning efforts. Advisory Board members volunteer their time and commit between three and four hours a month to our program including monthly meetings and special events.

This year the Board will be working very hard to address necessary program and policy changes, including addressing the new California Department of Education Title 5 regulations and Adult and Child Food Program regulations, participate in fundraising, and participate in the evaluation of the center’s programs.

The parent members on the board serve as representatives to the current parents at the center and in the Family Child Care Network. In addition the board has representation for CSUN faculty and staff and from the Associated Students. Families are invited and encouraged to share comments and concerns with Board members in addition to sharing them with the center staff.

2008-2009 Advisory Board MembersArmstrong, JaynaStudent at Large

Cantu, IrisParent

Crandall, DavidGeneral Manager

Foster, JoshuaSenator

De La Torre, JenniferAssistant Director

Gonzalez, RosemaryFaculty

Luna-Contreras, ErikaParent

Mortimer, KatieParent

O'Dell, ChristinaDirector

Scott Lewis, WhitneyParent

Turner, UndrealParent

Wakefield, DavidFaculty

Watkins, WilliamDean of Students

Room 110Animal Sounds Fun!By Baby Connection

Welcome to the FarmAvailable at Lakeshore

Sweet DreamsAvailable through Scholastic

Room 120Fire Truck! By Ivan Ulz

The Ants Go Marching By Jeffery Scherer

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?By Eric Carle

Room 130Abiyoyo       By Pete Seeger

Hush , Little AlienBy Daniel Kirk

Fire Truck!By Ivan Ultz

Room 140No, David!By David Shannon

Hands are not for HittingBy Martin Agassi

Fire Truck!By Ivan Ultz

Room 1505 Little MonkeysBy Eileen Christelow

Click Clack Moo Cows that TypeBy Doreen Cronin

Tiff, Taff and LuluBy Eva Montanari

Room 160No, David!    By David Shannon

Abiyoyo       By Pete Seeger

Where the Wild Things Are      By Maurice Sendak

Room 170Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad DayBy Judith Biorst

ElmerBy David McKee

Corduroy- any bookBy Don Freeman

Watch our website www.csunas.org for additional favorites!

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Children’sCenter

Associated Students Children’s CenterCalifornia State University, Northridge18111 Nordhoff StreetNorthridge, CA 91330

Classroom and Playground Wish List

Books for children ages three months through five yearsBoys and Girls Dress-up items (children size 8+)Musical Instruments (drums, jingle bells, etc)CD's (for dancing, peaceful nap music, etc)Large magnets (letters, numbers, shapes, animals, vehicles, environments, etc)Flannel Board Stories and/or Velcro StoriesVariety of Stickers (letters, numbers, shapes, animals, vehicles, environments, etc)Extra "CSUN" Clothes: boys/girls underwear and socks Cot sheets with heavy duty elastic bandsSand toys; particularly shovels and bucketsBalls of all shapes and sizesMulti-colored traffic conesPuzzles (both table puzzles and large floor puzzles)Clothes for dolls and barbie dollsThree Laptops with Microsoft Windows XP, Pentium III 900 Mhz or higher; 1 GB or more of Memory8 Battery chargers for AA batteries

go green with A.S. Printed on recycled paper