Parent Guide K TON UNIT 3 year old, 4 year old, Kindergarten Camp Ruach Shimon and Sara Birnbaum JCC 775 Talamini Road Bridgewater, NJ 08807
Camp Director: Stacey Herman 908-443-9026 sherman@ssbjcc.org Director of Operations and Programs: Lauren Paniccia 908-443-9027 lpaniccia@ssbjcc.org Unit Head: Dawn Van Ness 908-443-9021 jccdanceschool@ssbjcc.org Nurse: Janice Genetti 908-443-9033 Camp Secretary: Michelle Roth 908-443-9034 campsec@ssbjcc.org Director of Transportation: Lauren Paniccia 908-443-9027 lpaniccia@ssbjcc.org
Morning: If your child arrives on a bus, they will arrive between 8:45am-9am. Camp Staff greets campers off the bus. Camp Staff will then walk them up to their group. If your child is in early care, drive to the cul-de-sac on the side of the building and there will be staff there to take them out of their car. Camp Staff will walk Kindergarteners to early care at the campsite. Camp staff will walk 3 and 4 year olds into the building for early care. If your child doesn t take a bus or participate in early care plan to drop off your child between 8:45am-9am. Please drive up to the front of the JCC building and we will have camp staff that will assist your child out of the car and walk them up to camp. If you choose to walk your child to the K ton Unit tables, please park in the front parking lot. If you drop off after 9:00 AM, please park and walk with your child to the camp office. Sign them in and a counselor will come and bring them to their group. End of the Day: Half day campers for K ton will also be picked up in the cul-de-sac at 12:45pm. Counselors will walk the campers down. Please park in the circle to wait. You can get out of your car if you wish to greet your child, or wait for a counselor to bring your child to the car. If your child is going home on the bus, the buses leave the JCC at around 4pm. If your child is in Late Stay and a Kindergarten camper, he/she will be in the camp building. If your child is in Late Stay and a 3 or 4 year old, he/she will be in the preschool building. When you arrive to pick them up, please park on the side of the building and a counselor will walkie for your child. You will sign them out and your child will be brought to you. If it is raining or has thundered, Kindergarten will be inside the main JCC building. A counselor will be in the cul-de-sac to direct you. Parent Pick Up Procedure at the end of the Regular Camp Day begins at around 4:05 after the buses have departed. Parents drive into the cul-de-sac on the side of the building. Staff members will direct traffic to help you know when and where to pull up and stop your car. Please put your car tag on your front windshield so it is visible to staff. Campers will be brought to cul-desac by camp staff. All campers must stay with camp staff until we dismiss them to you. There is no need to get out of your car. We will bring your child to you and buckle them in to their seat. If you wish to pick up your child please do so before 3:30PM. You are welcome to park in our front parking lot and walk up to camp to retrieve them. Please make sure to sign your child out in the camp office. If you wish to pick up your child in the middle of the day please send a note in the morning or call the camp office to notify them. The counselors will meet you with your child at the camp office at the specified time where you will sign your child out of camp.
Bus Behavior: All campers must be seated at all times on the bus. You must remain in your seat while bus is moving and while bus is not moving. All campers must put seat belt on and keep it on for entire bus ride. There is no eating on the bus. Campers will follow directions of the Bus Counselor assigned to the bus. Campers will use quiet voices for conversation. No shouting on the bus. If camper needs assistance for any reason, please speak with the Bus counselor. If you have an issue that is not being resolved, please contact the Bus Coordinator or Camp Director. Hands to yourself at all times on the bus. Senior Staff reserves the right to remove campers from the bus route at any point during the summer. What should you wear/bring to camp: Label everything with a first and last name!!! Your child should come to camp in a bathing suit with shorts and a shirt over it. K ton campers who are not potty trained, please come in a regular diaper and clothes in the morning. We will change them into their swim diapers, rubber pants and bathing suit before swim. Change of clothes. Please put an additional change of clothes in a zip lock bag with your camper s name on it and we will keep it in a bin at camp, just in case it is needed. The bin will be stored in the preschool building. In their backpack should be 1-2 towels and a second bathing suit. (for full day campers) If your camper wears diapers, you can leave a package of diapers and wipes at camp. You will be notified if more are needed. Non potty trained campers must have a swim diaper and rubber pants. These can be purchased at Babies R Us. Wear sneakers/closed toe shoes that they can play sports in. Campers can bring flip flops/water shoes to walk to the pool with if they prefer. Bottle of Sunscreen. Please apply sunscreen to your child in the morning. Staff will help apply sunscreen to them after each swim and throughout the day. Reusable water bottle. It will be refilled throughout the day. Counselors will carry water bottles all day so campers always have access to a drink. Labeled Glasses Case. If your camper wears glasses, please send a labeled case they can store the glasses in during swim time. The case will go into their backpacks. Do NOT bring personal sports equipment, weapons or live animals to camp. It will be confiscated until a parent can pick it up from camp. Three and Four Year Old Parents: Please fill out the nap/swim form included in this packet and scan, email or drop off with a camp director or Dawn before camp begins.
NAP/SWIM FORM THREE AND FOUR YEAR OLD CAMPERS Camper s Name NAP: YES my child will nap after lunch NO my child will not nap If YES: my child need a DIAPER at nap my child needs a PULL UP at nap (Please put Diaper/Pull UP in your Ziploc nap bag) allow my child to sleep until he/she wakes Wake my child after hours SWIM: Potty Trained. NO diaper needed Not Potty Trained. Needs swim diaper AND rubber pants Napping: Crib sheet, blanket and lovie if needed. Send on Monday in a large Ziploc bag clearly labeled with your child s name and items will go home on Friday. Diaper/pull up for nap if needed. If your child is not sleeping during nap time, Dawn will call you to discuss a change in schedule. If you would like your child to wake up at a certain time, please inform Dawn and we will make sure that happens.
Daily Schedule: All K ton campers have instructional swim every morning and recreational swim every afternoon. (Full day campers ) Campers have a variety of activities throughout their day and week. Monday is water inflatable day, Tuesday is Tag Tuesday, Wednesday is Entertainment, Thursday is Throwback Thursday, Friday is Shabbat. There is a different theme each week and special events. Shabbat is celebrated every Friday morning. This is a time for our camp community to join together. Shabbat is the day of rest in the Jewish religion where we have a chance to reflect on our week and appreciate all the good in our life. We celebrate this day as a camp community by singing songs and prayers. It is a spiritual, uplifting time when our entire camp, staff and campers, join together. Parents will be invited to specific Shabbat Friday according to age group. After Shabbat, you are welcome to stay for Coffee with Dawn! This is your opportunity to ask questions and meet other parents. Schedule is on the Camp In Touch account under documents and forms. You can see what activities you child participates in each period every day. This is a great tool for talking about what they did at camp. Calendars will be on line so you can see the theme of the week and silly dress up days. Communication: Before Camp Begins: Before camp begins you will receive your child s camp group with counselors and camper names, bus color and time of pick up and drop off. Website will have daily schedules, Unit calendars, Specialists information. Parent Orientation and Meet the Counselor night. Dates will be emailed in May. During Camp: The camp staff, unit heads and directors are outside with the kids so the best way to contact camp staff is: Michelle Roth, camp administrator at 908-443-9034, campsec@ssbjcc.org from 8:30am-4:30pm Contact the camp director at 908-443-9026 (front office 908-443-9018) Janice Genetti is our nurse. Her number is 908-443-9033 Nurse: You will be notified when your child has visited the nurse for any reason. A written note will come home in your child s backback with the date and reason for the visit. You will receive emails throughout the week with updates about camp and specific emails for your groups from the unit heads and directors. Facebook: www.facebook.com/jcccampruach Like us on Facebook to see daily pictures, weekly camp videos, contests and more!
Daily Camp Pictures by Professional Photographer Marissa Luwisch Please contact us at any time with any questions. Your child s unit head and camp directors and all camp staff are here for you! Medical Policies In order to safeguard your child, as well as the other children in our school we require that your child remain at home if he/she has diarrhea, vomiting or fever in the past 24 hours. Children can return to camp after being fever free without the use of fever reducers for 24 hours, free from diarrhea/vomiting for 24 hours or after being on antibiotics for 24 hours. If your child becomes ill at camp, you or your emergency contact(s) (if we cannot reach you) will be notified immediately to pick up your child. Please email or call our office to let us know when you are keeping your child home from school. We also ask that you inform us of any communicable diseases so that we may be alert to their spread. Please also note that the JCC's camper accident policy is excess to your family insurance policy and any other collectable insurance. Lice Unfortunately lice can be an annoying fact of life whenever many children play in close contact with one another. We do lice checks on children when there is a case of lice in your camper s group. Any child found to be infected will be sent home with instructions of how to treat it and will be allowed to return to camp when they are nit free. We can also recommend companies that specialize in treatment. We ask caregivers to inform us if they discover lice on their child. We have found that a nit free policy is the best way to prevent its spread. Allergies Food allergies are becoming increasingly common. For that reason we are a peanut/tree nut aware school. We are NOT peanut/tree nut free. We provide peanut/tree nut tables at every unit, and we do not give out any peanut products to campers. If your child has an allergy, make sure to fill out an allergy form included in the packet so that we have the information in writing. We will require medical permission forms from your child s doctor and an allergy plan for any child that needs an Epi pen. If your child suffers from any type of food allergy or sensitivity, please
make sure that both the office and your child s teacher are made aware with written notification. Medication The staff will administer non-prescription medications (Tylenol, Motrin, nose or ear drops, or cough syrup) if we have a parent s permission. This permission can be given online in the Health History form. Prescription medicines will be administered only after the guardian gives us a doctor s note. All medicines must be kept in their original containers bearing the original label with legible information including the prescription number, name of drug, expiration date of a time-dated drug, directions for use, child s name, physician s name, date of original issue or refill, and the name and address of the pharmacy. After the Camp Season: You will receive a survey to let us know how your summer was. Camp Directors are available Post Camp Week to speak with. Look for Early Bird Specials and sign up for camp in the Fall and save money! Camp 365- we love to get together with camp friends all year round. Look for emails about camp reunions for your child s age group.
Upcoming Summer Events: Family Fun Nights at the JCC Outdoor Pool Free to Camp Families! Join us every Tuesday night from 5:30-7:30 for activities at the pool. Snack bar open for food and drink purchases. Tuesday, July 11 DJ at the Pool Dance/games/contest. Tuesday, July 18-5K race. Pool and Ice cream Party Tuesday, July 25- Camp Art Show Tuesday, August 1 Iced coffee for the Grownups. Tie dye! You bring the item, we supply the rubber bands and dye! Tuesday, August 8- Membership Appreciation Pool Party. Includes Music and Food! Shabbat at the Pool- Join camp staff and your JCC family every Friday at 5:00PM for summer Shabbat. Light candles, enjoy challah, grape juice and songs. Free to all camp families. Camp Show- Wednesday, August 2 nd join us for a camp production of James and the Giant Peach.