November 2026

Happy Turkey Day Month!

Please make sure to look at our November Activity Calendar and Site Newsletters there are many items to read and important dates to put on your November calendar. There will be links for parents to sign up on for numerous items. (Non-School Days, Early Dismissal, Santa Visit, November 30th non-school day) Parents must use the links provided below so we have the correct number of staff and space.

In the month of November and then again in the Spring of 2027 all staff and sites prepare an assessment on all children. GEARS Kids Center uses the "Desired Results" from Preschool to 5th graders. Parents will receive a copy of the results of the assessments that the staff creates. The results shows how well your children interact while in Gears Kids Center. We look at Development of Preschool and School Age children. Here are the measures for School Aged children-Identity of Self Esteem, Empathy, Impulse control, Follow rules, Awareness of diversity, Interaction with adults, Friendship, Conflict negotiation, Safety, Understanding healthy lifestyle. Personal care routines and Exercise and fitness.

Teachers will share the results with all parents in early December. Our staff will have you sign off on the results. Conferences with each teacher at our sites will be available for any questions of the results. Preschool teachers will have documentation from Desired Results as well for Preschool parents.

Kelly and I are available if there are any questions at anytime. We also want to remind our families that GEARS will be closed during the Christmas week. (December 23rd we are closed for Professional Dev. Day. ) We are closed from December 24th to January 1st. We will return on January 4th, 2027.

See the link below to sign up and "Monday, November 30th for the "Non-School Day" .

Thank you for allowing us to care for your children, Wendy Musser, Director

Dear Parents,

You may be wondering why we adopted a cow (again) ? This year's calf is Artemis. See picture below. Artemis (she is a girl cow) was born on August 23, 2026 on the Walmoore Farms in Collegeville, PA and currently weighs 95 pounds. For the last four years, our Kindergarten and Preschool children have adopted a cow through "Discovery Dairy"! This wonderful organization teaches the importance of where our dairy products come from and the importance of drinking and consuming foods that come from milk. This curriculum allows our children at GEARS Kids Center to discovery a lesson each week about the farms, farmers and the cows. Parents will most likely will hear exciting things from your children throughout this "Cow Journey"!. Children will be exposed to education about math, reading and cow art! During this month and futures months, each child in Preschool and Kindergarten children will be able to take home the" Cow Bag" with a journal and stuffed cow for the weekend. Each classroom has named their stuffed cows. The stuffed cow will go on adventures with the host family and and child will document their adventures in the Cow Journal. Each Monday, the children will share where the families took their cow for the weekend! In past years, we have had cows visit a grocery store, went for walks, and one cow family backed cookies! We ask that parents take pictures of the adventures over the weekend.

We cannot wait to see what adventures our cows will embarked on this year!

November's Teacher of the Month is Tracy Carl. Tracy has worked for GEARS Kids Center since 2018. Her main position is Site Director for East High's Before and After School Program and for the past few years Tracy has been our Summer Camp Director. She is the one who creates the themes for all of the 11 weeks of summer camp. A lot of planning goes into GEARS Kids Centers Summer Camp.

Thank you Tracy for all you do!