Milestones Children's Centre

✨Staff Spotlight: Erin✨
Role: B.Ed, RECE, Centre Administrator at our Centre in St. Thomas

Q: What is one thing you love about working at Milestones Children’s Centre?
A: I love the atmosphere at Milestones - it feels like family. I feel fortunate to work alongside Educators who genuinely love what they do and care deeply about the children. We all want what is best for one another, and there is a genuine desire to support each other and see each other succeed. Being part of a team that cares so much about the children, the families, and each other is something I really value.
Q: What is one thing you love seeing children discover or learn?
A: I love watching children discover themselves. As an Administrator, I am fortunate to welcome children into the Centre as infants and then watch them grow through the toddler and preschool years. I love seeing their personalities come through, watching them develop their interests and confidence, and discovering exactly who they are and everything they are capable of. I am so lucky to get to witness that journey for each child.
Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
A: Outside of work, I love spending time with my children and my husband. I also enjoy designing and decorating - anything that lets me be creative! And, of course, a good trip to HomeSense is always a favourite. 😊
Q: What do you hope children feel when they come into the Centre?
A: When children come into the Centre, I hope they feel like they belong. I hope they feel safe and comfortable enough to explore, take risks, and discover who they are. Most importantly, I hope every child feels valued - that they know they matter and there are people here who genuinely care about them.

Thank you, Erin, for your passion for creating a welcoming, supportive environment that shines through in everything you do. From the moment families walk through our doors, you help ensure that every child feels valued, safe, and a true sense of belonging. We are grateful for your dedication, leadership, and commitment to supporting children, families, and educators every day.

Preschool 3, at our centre in St. Thomas, spent the last seven weeks learning about and caring for growing butterflies.

In June, Tanya brought some milkweed in with a couple caterpillar eggs on it. We placed them in our habitat and watched them grow until they hatched. The children were excited to see two caterpillars. Over the following weeks, we fed them milkweed, cleaned up after them, and watched them grow. Two weeks ago, they made their way up the habitat and made chrysalis. Two weeks more passed and we watched as two beautiful monarch butterflies emerged.

On Tuesday, our class released them so they could live their best life. It was a great learning experience full of anticipation, research, compassion, and being our best earth rangers.

Great job Preschool 3! 🦋🦋

We would like to recognize our Office Assistant, Sara Mann who recently received a beautiful bouquet of flowers through a local radio contest Hustle & Heart 94.1 myFM after being nominated by one of our families.

The nomination reads: "Sara is the first smiling face you see when you walk into daycare. She always takes the time to say hello and make everyone feel welcome. She's so kind, friendly, and genuinely cares about the kids and their families. She brings so much joy to so many people every day, and I just want her to know how much she's appreciated. Thanks for always making everyone's day a little brighter, Sara!"

This thoughtful nomination speaks to the positive impact Sara has on everyone who walks through our doors. She greets families with kindness, warmth, and a smile each day, creating a welcoming environment for children, families, and staff alike. As the first person many people meet when they enter Milestones Children's Centre St. Thomas, she leaves a lasting first impression and truly represents the caring and supportive culture of our organization. We are incredibly grateful for all that Sara does and are thrilled that her efforts have been recognized by one of our families. 🌸

-Dawn Blake RECE
Executive Director

Thank you, Kasia for taking the time to nominate Sara and for your kind words.

✨Infant A at our Assumption Centre has had a room refresh!✨

Our educators had a vision, and they brought it to life, creating a more natural, calming, and inviting environment for the children.

Traditional shelving was replaced with beautiful wooden crates, and the play kitchen was transformed into a handcrafted mud kitchen, lovingly built by the spouse of one of our educators. The space now features a mix of real and artificial plants, along with natural materials that replace plastic wherever possible. Soft, neutral tones throughout the room help create a peaceful atmosphere that encourages exploration, creativity, and a sense of calm.

What an incredible transformation! 🌿

A huge congratulations to the Infant A team for creating such a beautiful, welcoming space where children can learn, play, and thrive every day. We are so proud of your creativity, dedication, and hard work!

✨Staff Spotlight: Loni✨
Role: RECE in Infant A at our centre in Aylmer
Q: What is your favorite part of working with children?
A: My favorite part of working with children is building relationships, really getting to know them, knowing them as individuals, and forming those strong connections. Research shows that 80% of a child’s brain development happens by the age of 3, and that “responsive interactions with caregivers, directly shape brain architecture, building a foundation for future learning, behavior, and health”. Children are always exploring and learning. They are like little sponges, soaking up the love, and attention provided which builds the confidence to try new skills as they learn through play. As an educator, observing them in unstructured play, it is inspiring to see them learn to interact with others, learn new skills, and learn to problem-solve. I love seeing the focus and determination on their faces as they master a new skill or developmental milestone and watching the pride on their faces as they conquer it. They are so eager to explore and learn, and I feel honoured to play a role and to be part of their journey.
Q: What is your favorite learning area in the classroom?
A: While I love all the areas in the room we have created, my favorite learning area is the snack/lunch table. As young infants, eating becomes part of a sensory experience as they initially eat with their hands, exploring the different textures on their plates. Feeding themselves is an important self-help and hand eye co-ordination milestone. Working with and helping the children learn to sign, before they are verbal, watching them learn to try new foods, learning to use a fork, drinking from a cup are all important physical and cognitive developmental milestones. Hearing them verbalize please or more vs. crying when they are first verbal is always exciting. Given that children learn by watching others eat, I love eating with them and helping to encourage them to try new foods.
Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
A: Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family. Time goes by so quickly, and they grow so fast, so all time together is precious! I am an avid reader, and love quiet moments with a coffee, reading on my deck. Some of my closest friends and I enjoy a monthly book club, where some nights we have to remember to discuss the book, as we get caught up snacking and laughing. My husband and I enjoy live theatre with friends and weekend road trips away. In the summer I enjoy going to yard sales and enjoy thrifting all year!
Q: If you could be any children’s book character, who would you be?
A: If I could be a character in a book, I would want to be the Little Blue Truck. This is a great story of the importance of friendship and of helping others. Sometimes when we help others, the joy is just in the helping. I love that in this story, although the Little Blue Truck tried to help on his own, it wasn’t until he had the love, support and help from his friends that he was successful. This book reinforces the importance of connections and relationships. I feel very blessed to have some lifelong friendships in my life that have always been there to support me and offer their love and shoulder when needed! Sometimes we think we can help on our own, but it is so much more rewarding to have our friends with us, working together to a common goal.
Q: What do you hope children feel when they come into your classroom?
A: I hope children feel safe, secure and loved when they are in our classroom. I’m thankful to work with some amazing educators, and we work together to keep the classroom calm, welcoming and a place of learning. I love being greeted with smiles and hearing them say hi when I arrive, and love getting their high fives when they leave at the end of the day! My hope is that every child entering our classroom knows that this a safe space for them to learn, explore, grown and develop. I want them to know that there will always be hugs when they are sad, and celebrations when they achieve a new skill or milestone. It is difficult to have a hard day when you feel those little arms around your neck giving you hugs!

Thank you, Loni, for the care, patience, and encouragement you show each day. Your dedication helps the children learn, grow, and build the confidence to try new things. The experiences you nurture will stay with them for years to come.

The children and educators in Preschool 3, at our St. Thomas centre, celebrated Random Act of Kindness Day by making gratitude cards with specific quotes from the children, for our community services. St. Thomas Fire Department, St. Thomas Police Department, and St. Thomas EMS were the children’s chosen services.

The cards and thank you chocolates were delivered this morning and the children were very excited to see their kindness pay off.

Special thanks to St Thomas Fire Department for your Community engagement and Public Safety Education program, St Thomas Police Service , and St. Thomas EMS.

We appreciate all of the hard work you all do every day.

In the preschool room at Assumption, for the last few weeks, our play interest has been ice cream related. Based on this interest we created an ice cream shop for our friends to make and sell ice cream made from tissue paper, construction paper cones and cotton balls and pom-poms. We have built on and expanded this interest by creating different ice cream-oriented activities such as crafts and sensory table activities and having discussions about our favourite and different types of ice cream.

What a great indoor summer fun idea, to keep the children engaged and busy exploring while the weather has been somewhat unpredictable in the past few weeks. Way to go Preschool A!

Our Kinder Summer Program had a wonderful day exploring the Gay Lea Dairy Museum! We enjoyed scavenger hunts, nature walks, and learned all about the history of the dairy farm.
After our museum visit, we headed out on another nature walk where the children had fun searching for Paw Patrol characters hidden along the trail. We also participated in a team-building water game, cooled off at the slip n slide, and finished our adventure with tasty freezies before hopping back on the bus for the ride home.
It was a fun-filled day full of learning, teamwork, and summer memories!

✨Staff Spotlight: Allison✨
Role: RECE, Infant 1 at our centre in St. Thomas
Q: What is one thing you love about working at Milestones Children's Centre?
A: The outdoor space is what originally drew me to apply to work here! At other childcare centres I've worked at, the yards were much smaller—some were even just in a parking lot. I couldn't believe all the different outdoor spaces Milestones has to offer. I love the freedom the children have to explore, discover, and follow their own interests. Seeing the creative activities educators set up and watching the children experience nature and wildlife every day makes it such a special place to work.
Q: What is one thing you love seeing children discover or learn?
A: Being in the infant room means I get to witness something new almost every day. Whether it's a child's very first steps, first words, saying your name for the first time (I absolutely love hearing all the different ways they pronounce my name!), trying a new food, or exploring a new sensory experience, every day brings exciting milestones. Watching them grow and gain confidence is one of the most rewarding parts of being in the infant room.
When I worked in the toddler room, one of my absolute favourite moments was when they discovered pockets. The look of pure shock and excitement on their faces when they realized their pants had pockets was priceless! Then, of course, they had to check everyone else's pockets too, running around asking, "You got pockets?" and proudly showing off everything they could fit inside them. It's one of those hilarious little milestones you never realize you'll miss until you've seen it.
Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
A: I'm a big bookworm and would choose reading over watching TV or movies any day. You can usually find me with a book in hand, whether I'm curled up in bed at home or relaxing in a hammock at a campsite. If you ever need a book recommendation, I'm always happy to share a few favourites!
My boyfriend and I also love spending time outdoors. Whether we're hiking, kayaking, paddle boarding, camping, or fishing, you'll usually find us on some kind of adventure every weekend. I recently started learning to fly fish, so that's become our latest camping trip obsession.
Q: Do you have any hobbies or special talents?
A: Along with our love of the outdoors, we got into rock climbing this year and spend many rainy weekends or evenings at the climbing gym in London. After a few months of climbing, I became certified in top rope climbing, and it's been an amazing way to overcome my fear of heights.
Q: What is your favourite season?
A: Definitely fall! I look forward to the changing colours of the leaves all year long. Halloween is my favourite holiday, and I love everything spooky that comes with it. Give me a good ghost or haunting story, and I'm hooked!

Thank you, Allison, for sharing your passion, kindness, and love of learning with our children each day. Your enthusiasm for exploration, discovery, and celebrating every little milestone helps make Milestones Children's Centre such a special place to grow. 💚🌱

🌱 Remember the garden our children at Assumption in Aylmer planted back in June? Look how much it has grown!

The children have been visiting the garden, helping to water it, observe the changes, and care for the plants they've helped nurture. Through these simple moments, they're discovering that growth takes time, patience, and care.

🌼 Growing gardens... and growing little learners, one day at a time. 💚