Welcoming Families 1

MBB Learning Center

Adele Gemmell

ELCC 204: Ecology of the Family

Pamela McDougall

05 October 2020
Welcoming Families 2

MBB Learning Center

1046 Braemar Street SE

Medicine Hat, Alberta T1A 0V8

(403) 502 – 1613

A.Gemmell@mbb.ca

Welcome to My Bright Beginnings Learning Center. First, I want to introduce myself,

my name is Adele Gemmell, and I am the owner/operator and program director of MBB. Here at

Bright Beginnings, we aspire to provide all children with the best suitable framework to inspire

and promote a bright future, full of open opportunities and to introduce lifelong learning

practices. While attending our facility, your child(ren) will be provided with the daily

opportunity to explore, play, and learn from their immediate surroundings as well as our

extended surroundings. We pride ourselves in being a multicultural center and we welcome

children from all cultural and religious backgrounds as well as children from all diverse family

systems. We want you to rest easy knowing that while you are away, and when your children are

in our care; that they will be taken care of in a safe, secure, qualified, nurturing environment.

Our educational program is strongly based on the active participation of every child, we

encourage independence, and model creativity and cooperative play. Daily scheduling includes

literacy development through the mediums of stories, songs and word-recognition activities. We

also teach pre-math skills through sorting, counting and number identification during games. We
Welcoming Families 3

advocate science exploration, dramatic play, creative art, music, and physical development as all

of these are important parts of our child enrichment curriculum.

We would like you to know that we have an open-door policy for families, and that we

welcome you to join us during any of our daily activities. If you have a family tradition or

cultural holiday that you wish to share or celebrate with us, we would love to hear from you. We

are always looking to expand on our worldly knowledge and teach the children something new

that is beyond our own educational scope. You are welcome to accompany us on field trips and

walks around our community as well as scheduling to help with meal preparation and serving

any day of the week.

Our child community is made up of children from all types of family structures. Nobody

needs to feel left out. We encourage families to send in photos or personal belongings

illustrating your own family members or extended family members so that we can incorporate

and intentionally loop into our educational planning, examples that encourage the children to

realize that every family looks different. We teach the children each family and each individual

family member is valuable and important. We want you to be comforted, knowing that your

child will be cared for and looked after by empathetic, well trained, and certified personal.

Here at MBB Learning Center we believe that “Family is about taking care of each other,

a bonding connection of love and respect that creates a feeling of belonging” (Films Media

Group, 2008) and we want to extend this ideology to include you, your family and your

child(ren). I look forward to meeting each of you and your children in person, if you have any

questions or concerns about any of the information provided in this letter or any inquiry’s about

our daily programing, please do not hesitate to contact me at the number or email listed below.

Thank you in advance for your time,

Welcoming Families 4

Sincerely,

Adele Gemmell.

(403) 502-1613

A.Gemmell@mbb.ca
Welcoming Families 5

MBB Learning Center

1046 Braemar Street SE

Medicine Hat, Alberta T1A 0V8

(403) 502 – 1613

A.Gemmell@mbb.ca

Welcome to My Bright Beginnings Learning Center, as this is a multicultural, diverse

family dynamic center we wish to get to know you and your family a little better. Please

complete the attached questionnaire so that we can learn more about you and your child(ren)’s

home and cultural backgrounds and asses appropriate educational needs. Once your

questionnaire has been completed, please return it to me either by email or in person at the

addresses listed above. If you have any questions or concerns or need assistance with translation

of any of the information requested, please contact me before completing the questionnaire.

Thank you in advance for your time, we look forward to getting to know you a little better.

Sincerely,

Adele Gemmell.

(403) 502-1613

A.Gemmell@mbb.ca
Welcoming Families 6

1. Who is the main caregiver(s) for the child(ren) of your home?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. Are there any additional family members living in the same household as the child(ren)?

(example: siblings or grandparents of the child(ren) or extended family like uncles/aunts

etc.)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. Are there any additional circumstances within the home setting that we need to be

sensitively aware of? (example: combined family living arrangements, single parent,

adopted child, divorce, custody agreements, etc.)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. If Canada is not your immediate families initial home country, which country do you

originate from?

______________________________________________________________________________

5. Are there any other native languages used for speaking/educating within the household

between you and the child(ren)/other members of the family that we should be aware of?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
Welcoming Families 7

6. What cultural traditions do you practice regularly with your child(ren) inside the home?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

7. Are there any daily cultural traditions/practices that you wish for your child(ren) to

partake in during their daily scheduled activities at the center? (example, praying before

mealtimes)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

8. Are there any specific diet regimens that your child is accustomed to due to family

cultural or religious practices? or are there any food items of which we need to restrict

access to?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

9. Are there any cultural holidays/celebrations outside of our regular western practices to

which you and your family regularly celebrate?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________
Welcoming Families 8

10. Are there any cultural holidays/celebrations that you would prefer your child(ren) to not

partake in while spending time at the center?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

11. If we opted to add into our programming, some educational examples from your own

home spoken language/cultural background/holidays, would you be comfortable with

that? And would you be interested in participating in the introduction?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

12. Are there any specific social or educational concerns you may have about enrolling your

child(ren) here in a multicultural diverse center?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Please feel free to add any additional information you wish to share with me regarding your

personal family situation or any questions and concerns you may have to which I may not

have previously addressed above in the allotted space below.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________