Winter will be Upon Us - Winter Policies

Break-out the Winter Clothing - we need to ready for a lot more wintry weather to come. It is important for our children to play outside year round. Children get many health benefits by spending time outdoors including less exposure to germs in the outdoor air, light exposure which promotes production of Vitamin D, and development of gross motor skills. Please support our efforts to provide learning for the whole child by bringing appropriate outdoor clothing everyday.

OUTSIDE PLAY
During the winter, we take the children outside on days when the temperature is at least 15°F (this includes the wind chill factor). This is a change from the parent handbook. We will now follow the National Health and Safety Performance Standards: Guild lines for Out-of-Home Child Care Programs. To read the full standard, please see the posting on the parent bulletin board.

OCC uses the National Weather Service (NOAA hourly weather graph) site in order to make the decision about going outside to play or to stay indoors.

LABELED CLOTHING
Everyday, please send your child to school with the following labeled items: winter coat,hat, mittens,snow boots, and snow pants (this is a change from the parent handbook).

Your child should wear warm pants to school. If your child does not want to wear pants, please send in a pair of sweatpants to wear under the snow pants.

CLOTHING BINS
Winter clothes needed in bins, please send in a labeled spare set of clothes, including socks and underwear. These are located in the Nittany Ave. stairwell on a shelf will all of the children’s bins. Each bin is labeled so you can find the bin with your child’s name.

WEATHER-RELATED SCHOOL CLOSINGS
We follow the State College Area School District when deciding to cancel school because of snow or icy roads. Please check your email, the television news channel 4 or the radio for the list of closings. If the State College schools are closed then Our Children's Center is closed.

We do, however, open at the regular time when the school district calls for a two-hour delay due to inclement weather. The Kindergarten buses, however, will follow State College Area School District’s two-hour delay, when there is one.