Wakefield Picnic at the Playground!

L’association récréative de Wakefield sera l’hôte d’un PIQUE-NIQUE au terrain de jeux sur la rue Valley Drive afin de célébrer l’ouverture du Parc et pour se remémorer un de nos concitoyens exemplaire – M. Bill Gonzales!

The Wakefield Recreation Association is hosting a PICNIC at the Playground on Valley Drive to celebrate the opening of our new playground and to remember one of Wakefield’s outstanding citizens – Mr. Bill Gonzales!

Samedi le 20 juin

Présentation @ 11:15 AM
Suivi d’un lunch BBQ Gratuit
..Venez vous amuser..

Saturday, June 20

Dedication @ 11:15 AM

Followed by a Free BBQ lunch
..Come out and Play..

Petition for children in new WCC!

To all parents, friends and supporters of Wakefield area children,

It’s petition time!

As you may know, the Wakefield La Pêche Community Centre Cooperative recently presented architectural plans to the public on May 24.

The proposed building is beautiful. It reflects the natural beauty and spirit of the local landscape and community, including much needed dedicated spaces to the Recreation Association, Theatre Wakefield, Seniors’ Group, Wakefield Youth Centre, Festivals & Markets, and Biblio Wakefield Library. You need to see for yourself at http://wakefieldcentre.ca/index.php?ID=416&Nav=&criteria=&list_start=&list_end=&list_perpage=&Lang=En

What was not reflected in this proposal was space dedicated to or designed with the needs of children 0 – 10 (see Building Design and Interior Finishings), which seems to fall short of the intergenerational mandate the centre is aiming for.

Before such plans are finalized, it is important that the needs of children and their parents/caregivers are heard to ensure there will be indoor as well as adjacent outdoor spaces that can be used by children’s groups that are safe, beautiful and supportive of their development. These activities could include playgroups, music circles, story times, puppet shows, arts and crafts activities, parenting workshops – all those experiences that numerous parent-run groups have been maintaining through the years at a variety of halls, basements and private homes on their own steam, trying to create child-friendly environments with very few resources.

Imagine a community centre with an indoor space designed with the young child in mind: child-friendly entrance, change room, bathroom, furniture, food preparation, and work-play areas, with storage for each user group so that parents aren’t packing and transporting boxes of supplies each week to the space, and children’s works in progress can be left for awhile…surfaces where babies can roll, preschoolers can jump on pillows, nooks for building forts, shelves for displaying treasures… it’s hard to imagine how this would work in the ‘Multi-Purpose Room’ or ‘Great Hall’ that appear to be the options for other community groups to use on a pay-per-use basis where presumably everything for the activity must be brought in and back out each time.

Cabane à Jeux, just one of many past and present volunteer-run children’s groups (Rupert CC Playgroup, Farm Point Biblio & Circle Time, Pusteblume, Edelweiss playgroup, OAPE, to name a few…) is going to submit a proposal for such a space with the hope that consideration of young children’s needs and activities goes into building design and interior finishing. We raised the issue at the May 24th meeting and the committee invited us to submit a proposal by June 12, their deadline to the general public to respond to the architectural plans.

To have any real impact however, your voices are needed to underscore that young children and their families represent a significant and growing portion of the community that is underrepresented in the current architectural plans.
It should be noted that the Meredith Community Centre proposed for Chelsea has committed free space to its local Joujouthèque/Toy Library & Playgroup in its plans.

The more personal comments are submitted to the Wakefield La Pêche Community Centre Cooperative, the greater the chance that space and/or finishings will be revisited incorporating children’s needs.

One of Cabane à Jeux’s parent volunteers has shared her comments below, which you can copy, or be inspired by to write your own thoughts and visions on what needs to be included in the Wakefield Community Centre to make it truly a community space that reflects all age groups:

Comments: I am [a volunteer at the Wakefield Toy Library/Joujouthèque]. Thank you for all the work you are doing so my children can enjoy a beautiful community center. It would be nice to have an area in the building for preschoolers and moms. A place that is facing the play structure would be great for parents to keep an eye on children. Thank you, Melanie

Please take a few minutes before Friday, June 12 (end of this week!), using the online form at http://wakefieldcentre.ca/index.php?ID=416&Nav=&criteria=&list_start=&list_end=&list_perpage=&Lang=En, or
• the Biblio Wakefield Library Drop Box
• mail to Box 25, Wakefield, QC J0X 3G0

If you read this after June 12, please forward your comments to the WCC to info@cabaneajeux.com and we will make sure your letter is passed to the Committee along with the others.

Send this to your friends and neighbours in La Pêche, and stayed tuned to www.cabaneajeux.com ‘s website for updates on how our quest for a child-friendly community space is progressing!

Thanks
Yvonne Wynen

Gaye Chicoine - ‘Living Dreams’

Sat June 13, 2009
10 - 11am
Church of the Good Shepherd
693 Riverside Rd., Wakefield

Gaye Chicoine  will give a short slideshow and talk about her experiences as a homeschooling parent who went on the trip of a lifetime with her family of 6 children. She will spend the rest of the hour responding to your questions about homeschooling.

See more about Gaye’s inspiring book ‘Living Dreams’ at www.livingdreamsbook.com.

Please RSVP to this event by Saturday, June 6, and email us the questions you’ve always wanted to ask about homeschooling to info@cabaneajeux.com. This will help Gaye plan the visuals and tailor the discussion to your interests.

Event is free (though a small donation to Cabane a Jeux would be welcome!). Bring your children, the coffee pot will be on!

Make it a morning outing for your family by coming out to the LaPeche Toy Library at 9:30, followed by Gaye’s discussion hour, and then head over to the Wakefield Recreation Centre for the 11:15am official grand opening of the children’s playground, newly installed last year!

May 9, 2009: Collage for Kids with Chelsea artist Diane Lemire at Café Molo

”Generation” by Diane Lemire (collage/acrylique)

Saturday, May 9, 2009
10 - 11am
New Location: Upstairs at Café Molo
1 ch. Valley, Wakefield

Geared to the young and the very young - if your children enjoy ripping paper and have a parent to help, they’ll enjoy this session with Diane, and you’ll bring some ideas home on how to do more collage work with your children.

Here’s what we’ll be learning:
1. What is a portrait?
2. How to draw a face by going through the drawing of facial features as well as the proportions of the face.
3. The parents and the children will do a portrait, by first drawing and then using collage to complete the portrait.
We will do collage technique with either magazine or tissue paper.

“This technique is fun because it is easy and all you need is a little creativity to put it all together, ” says Diane. She is presently working at the Portrait Gallery in Ottawa, teaching family portrait.  For more information about her work, you can contact Diane at dclemire2@sympatico.ca

Cost per family: 5$, $3 for Cabane A Jeux members.

Please RSVP at info@cabaneajeux.com so Diane can plan for the right amount of materials.

An Information Session: Canadian Parents for French, with Sean Butler

Saturday, April 4, 2009
10 - 11am
Church of the Good Shepherd
693 Riverside Rd., Wakefield

Canadian Parents for French (CPF) is a national network of 26,000 members who work to promote French-second-language learning opportunities for young Canadians. Sean Butler is the regional coordinator for CPF - Quebec, and will be giving a presentation on how parents can give their children the chance to grow up bilingual, followed by a discussion.

All are welcome to come out for this free event. The regular Saturday playgroup and toy library will be held from 9 – 10am, and a parent volunteer will then supervise and play with any children who need to stay on with their parents through the presentation.  Refreshments provided.

For more information, contact Sean Butler at 819-459-3112 or sbutler@cpf.qc.ca.