Tanaina Child Development Center

TCDC Board of Directors Openings!
The Tanaina Board of Directors is seeking new members. If you or someone you know is interested in serving as a Board Member, you can access our application below. Tanaina welcomes all members of the community to join and participate in contributing to our mission. If you can't serve yourself but know someone who would like to join, please have them reach out; it is not required that a member be a current parent or caregiver of an enrolled child. You can submit your application via email to [email protected] or in person to Amanda or Haylee at the center.

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We sang “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and talked about the sequence of events in the song, helping build early preschool literacy skills such as listening, memory, vocabulary, rhythm, and comprehension. This helped support phonological awareness as kiddos hear repeated sounds and patterns in language. After singing, the Sea Otters participated in a spider web obstacle course around the classroom. They crawled and carefully moved their bodies through the “web” while practicing balance, coordination, body awareness, and problem-solving skills. Each round became more challenging as we lowered the web little by little. The kiddos also practiced following directions, taking turns, and using focus and self-control as they tried not to get “trapped” in the spider web.

Help support Tanaina in upgrading our toddler play area. We will be partnering with Krispy Kreme for the month of June. 50% of each digital dozen donuts purchased will go towards purchasing new playground equipment. Thank you for your support!

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This week we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week, we are so grateful for our Tanaina teachers! To kick off the week, they had a popcorn bar - thank you to Alaska Regional Hospital for lending us their popcorn machine for this fun treat.

Puffin friends made some ooey gooey slime! 🫟

Six little chicks waddled into show-and-tell! Tanaina friends learned fun facts about chickens, got to feed them, and even got to hold them.

The Honeybee class has been learning about space. They played a fun game of space BINGO, where they talked about the different planets and what they look like 🪐🌎✨

🐻‍❄️The Sea Otters learned about polar bears and some of their special features that help them survive in the Arctic. We talked about how polar bears have thick fur to keep them warm, sharp claws to help them walk on ice and catch food, and how they are strong swimmers that hunt seals. After our discussion, the kiddos created polar bear marble art. Each friend chose three paint colors, dipped marbles into the paint with a spoon, placed them in a bin with their polar bear picture, and gently shook the bin so the marbles rolled across the paper to create colorful patterns. This activity helped build creativity, color choice and early art skills while also strengthening fine motor control, coordination, and following directions.🐻‍❄️

Tanaina’s amazing staff attended this year’s NAEYC conference.

In Owls, we talked about dinosaurs and what they eat. We broke into two groups, herbivores 🌱 and carnivores 🥩 and hunted for food! Each child got a colored sticker to help them remember which foods they were hunting for. They had so much fun and worked well together in their teams!