To continue our community helpers theme, we welcomed Deputy Tewell, Detective Viggiano, McGruff the Crime Dog, and Safety Pup from the Citrus County Sheriff's Office! Together, they taught us about the many ways the Sheriff's Office helps in our neighborhood. They also talked to us about ways to stay safe while riding our bikes, in our cars, trick-or-treating, and at home. Thank you all for being such important community helpers, for keeping us safe, and for taking the time to visit our class!
As a side note to our parents, our children see every thing we do, and have no problems telling on us! Make sure you are setting a good example for them, and always wear your seatbelt! Also, Deputy Tewell offered to supply bike helmets for any of our students who need them, please see Miss Karen for more information.

We took a break from our community helpers theme today to discuss cultural diversity. Cultural diversity is an important topic in early childhood education. It is necessary to promote positive socialization among children, and a positive attitude toward one's own culture and the culture of others. One important aspect of a successful multicultural education is the inclusion of positive role models from the community, which makes it a great topic to include in the midst of visits from all our community helpers.
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There are many ways we integrate multicultural activities into our lessons, such as instruments and music from around the world, dramatic play with multicultural props, and our favorite, which happens to be today's activity, a multicultural pot-luck lunch! We asked our families to make a dish representing their culture or a family recipe, and to join us for lunch. This activity was a huge success, a lot of fun for everyone, and gave us a great opportunity to learn more about our friends and families cultures.

During the month of September, we learn about community helpers and all the different responsibilities they have in our neighborhood. Today, our dental assistant friend, Miss Mindy, stopped by to tell us how she helps our community and teach us the proper way to brush our teeth. She also brought along goodie bags, an art project and a group game to play with us! Thank you, Miss Mindy, for being a helper in our community and taking the time to share with us!