Child Watch - Adding Your New Enrollments

You can add your own new students into Child Watch.

1. Log into your account.
2. Click the CACFP menu.
3. Select "Quick Family"
   
4. Fill in the Parent's Name, address, phone number, and email address (the rest of the information is not required.)
5. If you are only adding one child for this family, then select 1 and click refresh, for more children select the number and click refresh.
6. Fill in all the information for the child(ren)
7. Go to the "Family Data" menu and select "Children", locate the child you just added, click the checkbox next to "SCHEDULE" and click the Edit button. Check the days of the week the child will be in your care, although it is not required, you can add the hours the child is in your care, then you will be able to see how many hours you watch the child.
8. Click the Save button
9. Send in the enrollment form.

That is all there is to adding a child - you can now record their meals in Child Watch!

Healthy Children Are Active

With a rainy forecast today and Valentine's Day this weekend, your children are probably bursting with energy. Below is a fun activity that can help children burn some of that energy!

Creeping and Crawling
Children will alternate between creeping (flat on the ground) and crawling (on hands and knees) in a circle or across a room. Ask children to move like the following animals, and say what each animal starts with. Also feel free to have the children make the animal noises while they are acting out the movements.

Can you creep like a snake? Snake starts with the letter S.
Can you crawl like a baby? Baby starts with the letter B.
Can you creep like a worm? Worm starts with the letter W.
Can you crawl like a dog? Dog starts with the letter D.
Can you creep like a snail? Snail starts with the letter S.
Can you crawl like a spider? Spider starts with the letter S.
Can you creep like a caterpillar? Caterpillar starts with the letter C.

Feel free to add different types of animals. For example, "Can you jump like a kangaroo? Kangaroo starts with the letter K." Have fun with this activity and remember that children usually will participate in an activity when they see YOU doing the activity as well. Have a great day!

Changes in Child Watch

You may have noticed that there are a few changes in Child Watch. These changes have been designed to help you in submitting your claims without mailing us signed copies every month. We will roll out these changes to you in a letter shortly, until then if you have any questions please contact me at the numbers to the left and I will find answers for you.

Keep up the great work you are all doing online!

Day Nursery Food Program Office closed on January 18th

The Day Nursery CACFP office will be closed all day on Wednesday, January 18th. We will reopen for business regular hours on the 19th.

Make Valentine's Day Goodies!
(The following article appears on the Universal Preschool website)

Candy is often the predominant form of sustenance on Valentine's Day. But there are lots of nutritious ways to celebrate Valentine's Day too. Here are a few ideas to make every meal on Valentine's Day a healthy celebration with your little ones...

· Valentine Pancake Breakfast -- Make regular, whole-grain pancakes. Once they are cooked, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the pancakes into heart-shapes. Top with sliced strawberries, maple syrup, and a dollop of whipped cream or yogurt.
Note: In a hurry? You can use whole-grain frozen toaster waffles too. Just use the cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes, toast as directed, and garnish with strawberries, syrup, and whipped cream.

· Heart-Shaped Sandwiches -- Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut heart shapes out of sandwich bread. Spread one heart-shaped bread slice with nut buttter or cream cheese and strawberry jam. Top it with another heart-shaped bread slice.

· Think Pink -- You can tint regular food pink (with a drop or two of red food coloring) to make it more festive. Pink milk, pink cream of wheat, pink scrambled eggs, pink dip for chips and vegetables, pink mashed potatoes, pink mineral water, pink sparkling apple cider, pink cream cheese on celery sticks or crackers, pink sour cream, pink biscuit mix, pink applesauce -- your imagination is the limit!

For more ideas or to see this article in its entirety visit: http://www.universalpreschool.com/how-to/valentines_day.asp

Lasagna Soup

From FamilyFun Magazine

When Meredith Deeds was working on her cookbook "300 Sensational Soups," her son, Kyle, came up with the idea of turning his favorite meal, lasagna, into a soup. The tomato-y broth, brimming with sausage and pasta, melts the mix of cheeses placed in each bowl before serving. A quick swirl of the spoon ensures diners will get a bit of gooey cheese in every bite.

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage (bulk or with casings removed)
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
8 ounces fusilli pasta
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil
8 ounces ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Step 1: In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the sausage and sauté, breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until the sausage is no longer pink, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain any excess fat from the pot. Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and sauté for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and sauté until the paste turns a rusty brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the broth, and the bay leaves and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Step 2: Add the pasta, then increase the heat to medium-high and boil the soup until the pasta is tender to the bite, following the time recommendations on the pasta package. Discard the bay leaves, then stir in the basil. If desired, season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Step 3: In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, the Parmesan, the 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and the pinch of pepper. To serve, place about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture in each bowl, sprinkle with some of the mozzarella, and ladle the soup on top.
Makes about 13 cups.

Nutritional Information:Per serving (1 cup):Calories 264Total Fat 11 g (17% DV)Saturated Fat 5g (26% DV)Cholesterol 38 mg (13% DV)Sodium 1162 mg (48% DV)Total Carbohydrate 22 g (7% DV)Fiber 1g (6% DV)Sugars 5gProtein 19 g (39% DV)Vitamin C 14 mg (23% DV)Calcium 259 mg (26% DV)

Free Mentoring Program

Did you know that all Licensed Child Care Home Providers qualify for Child Care Answers free mentoring program? If you are interested in learning more about it you can attend a free Paths to QUALITY introduction session. To register contact Lynn Harris at 636-5727 x 238 or lynnh@childcareanswers.com

Enrollment Forms Part II

Last week I commented about enrollment forms and how they relate to Child Watch - today I want to go into more detail about filling out enrollment forms.



The enrollment forms are a vital part of the CACFP. If these forms are filled out incorrectly - we must send them back to you as the provider to make sure that they get filled out correctly. If the forms are not turned in until the beginning of the claim week, and I have to send them back for any reason, this will cause a delay in the completion of your claim.



Here are some of the things to double check before you send in your enrollment forms:

• Make sure the entries are legible. Chances are if you can't read it, then I can't either. All entries should be printed neatly, except for the "Parent's Signature" which of course should be signed.


• The days of the week the child is in care, and the hours of each day should be completely filled in and all meals for those days checked. If the child is there for a meal but the parent has not checked that meal - then it will be disallowed.


• Parent's complete contact information, including COMPLETE address (street adress, city, state, and zip code) along with a functioning home or cell number and a work or secondary contact phone number. If the parents move or change jobs or phone numbers, you MUST complete a new enrollment form. This is vital if we do a random parent audit, if we can not reach the parents to verify attendance then those meals may be diallowed.


• The enrollment date must be filled out correctly, 12/08 is not a valid enrollment date.

It takes just a few extra seconds to quickly glance over the form to make sure it is filled out correctly. We are constantly looking for ways to make filling out these forms easier for you and parents, if you have any suggestions please let us know!

I saw this cute idea in the latest issue of Family Fun Magazine... you can even let your kids assemble their own banana-based snowmen if you've prepared the fruit - Here's the recipe:

Bananas

Grapes

Carrot

Apple

Bamboo skewers

Mini chocolate chips

Pretzel sticks

1. For each snowman, you will need three thick slices of banana, a grape, a sliver of carrot, and a triangular piece of apple. (Tip: Poke a hole in the apple piece with a bamboo skewer first to make assembly easier.)

2. Have your kids slide the fruit onto the skewer, then use the carrot slivers for noses, mini chocolate chips for eyes and buttons, and pretzel sticks for arms. Enjoy :-)

Enrollment Forms and Child Watch

This week I would like to write a little about enrollment forms and Child Watch.

One of the biggest issues that we hear about enrollment forms is "I sent those in!" We believe you. The fact remains that if they are not in Child Watch something is wrong. The post office is not perfect and unfortunately things do get lost in the shuffle at times. This is one of the reasons we ask you to keep copies at your location so that you can resend us a copy if needed.

If you look under the CACFP menu in Child Watch, then select "Enrollment Onfile" - you will see which children we have enrollment forms for in the office, they will be checked. If you see a child that is not checked then we need the enrollment form.

As always if you have questions regarding Child Watch you can call me at 636-5727 ext. 249. I offer Child Watch training every Thursday from 5:30 - 7:00 pm - just call me and we will set up a day!