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Neighbors | Submitted.Victoria and mom, Danielle Jones, are shown with Youngstown State University’s "Pete the Penguin" in the picnic pavilion at Austintown Community Church for the 2017 “Celebrate Families Picnic” at the A.C.C. Preschool Childcare Center.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Preschool teacher Elaine Ruby led all of the preschool children in finger plays and songs at the 2017 “Celebrate Families Picnic” of the A.C.C. Preschool Childcare Center.
The Austintown Community Church Preschool Childcare Center closed out the school year with several fun activities for the children and their families.
Two weeks before the end of the school year, A.C.C. Preschool Childcare Center hosted their annual Bike-a-Thon (Bike Week), It is an outdoor activity to help teach the children about bike safety and transportation. Also during this week, they raised funds for a special family or organization.
This year, their donations went to Austintown resident Mike Clemmons. Clemmons has been battling a progressive disease known as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for 25 years. He is a husband and father of two daughters. MS is an autoimmune disease that the immune system attacks the myelin sheath (outer coating) of the nerves. Currently there is no cure. Clemmons’s hobbies include going hunting with his brother and wife, and for the past 8 years volunteering his time to the Austintown Girls Softball League as a scorekeeper for his younger daughter’s team, and as a board member in charge of scheduling, keeping the website up to date and more. He has gone through every treatment and medication there is out there to help slow down the process of MS; including chemotherapy two different times.
“It was truly a surprise that I walked right into the morning. Amy (Mrs. Amy Teeters, Preschool Teacher) convinced my daughter to sneak me up there to see in person,” he said. “I think it’s wonderful what the kids and church have done this year to help support a local person, in this case being me and my very expensive disease. I truly appreciate this in so many ways. Volunteering to help others is always an awesome thing to do in life and I myself do this in order to keep myself moving no matter what this disease keeps throwing my way.”
To prepare for the event, the preschool prepared a large bike course with a chalk liner and create a mini ‘town’ in the rear of the A.C.C. parking lot. Each class created a ‘building’ or ‘business’ in their classroom from large appliance/furniture boxes or other props. These ‘buildings’ were placed along the bike course. The children followed the bike course on their bikes, following the ‘streets,’ stopping at stop signs, stopping to ‘get gas’ for their vehicles and visiting the ‘buildings’ of the ‘town.’ They also get a ‘driver’s license.’
During the last week of school, they had a “Celebrate Families Picnic.” Everyone got together as the children shared finger plays, songs and participated in activities from the past year. The Austintown Community church provided the food and beverages, along with Austintown Bounce, Inc. providing an inflatable bouncer. A special appearance was made by YSU’s “Pete the Penguin.”
This year’s summer program began June 5 with the theme S.T.E.A.M. – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math / Strong, Team, Effort, Action Machine.
“These are fun filled days of experiments, critical thinking and engineering our way ‘out of the box’ through a great team effort,” said Preschool Director Mrs. Cindy Ellashek.
The summer program is designed as a hands-on indoor/outdoor fun experience for ages 3 through fifth grade.
The A.C.C. Preschool Childcare Center is located at 242 S. Canfield-Niles Road (SR 46) in Austintown. It is open from 6:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Contact the school office at 330-793-1843 on Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. or find out more information about the A.C.C. Preschool Childcare Center by visiting www.yourACC.org.
Registrations for the summer program and the new school year are now being accepted for Preschoolers ages 3–5 and school aged children in Kindergarten through fifth grade.