Welcome Kelly as our newest momstown mama!

There's a NEW mama in town! We're pleased to announce a big change for momstown Oakville. As many of you know, our chapter has quietly been for sale for awhile and in the meantime, our incredible Community Manager, Sarah McLaughlin, has been running momstown Oakville since spring 2011.

A new licensee owner has come on board to manage momstown Oakville which will be very positive for membership, for growth and for making even better developments to the chapter. Sarah will be staying on as Community Manager as well, which means Oakville will have a superstar tag team to rely on, support and engage with.

Introducing, Kelly Goring Hodgson, you will know as KellyH on the message board, as our newest momstown mama!!



Hi! My name is Kelly Hodgson and I am the new owner of momstown Oakville. I have a three year old son and an 11 month old daughter. I moved to Oakville four years ago and when I had my son I knew I needed to get out and connect with other moms in the community. I have been a member for two and a half years and recently decided to follow my gut and become the owner of momstown Oakville. Whew! I've been dying to let that news out for a couple of weeks!

I grew up in a city in northern Ontario very similar to Oakville. Some of my best friends are those that I’ve had since my toddler days and it’s because of the relationships that my parents built with others in our community and in our neighborhood. I grew up feeling like I had not only my family, but several others that were there to help and support me.


I was drawn to momstown for the reasons mentioned above and because I know how much I value and count on the support I receive as a Mom. I really couldn’t do it without other Moms to connect with. I want to make sure that every Mom in Oakville feels like they also have support whether it’s through attending events, the message board or just reading the blogs to know that she’s not alone.

I’ll be upfront in saying that my maternity leave ends in March and that I am going back to work. But I am so thankful that Sarah McLaughlin, the Community Manager will be staying on and will continue doing all the great stuff she does for momstown Oakville. The benefit now though, is that you will have two of us to help ensure that you have lots to keep you and your little ones busy and even more ways to connect with the community. I am, of course, open to feedback and really hope to meet those I haven’t met before very soon. Please feel free to contact me and let me know what you’d like to see more of (or less of) for 2012.

I think that’s all the serious business out of the way for now. I am really excited to be a part of the momstown team and cannot wait to get started! There will be some changes coming, but they will help to make 2012 the best year yet for momstown Oakville!

Literacy Moments in momstown Oakville

Happy Family Literacy Day!!! momstown Oakville is fully committed to literacy, early learning and encouraging a love of reading. We pulled up a few of our favourite pictures of some of our literacy based activities!

We love our Scholastic Canada partnership - we have books to read and giveaway at our Tales for Tots monthly program.

All ages love storytime!

Recipes are a terrific way to reinforce literacy and our Junior Chef program is perfect for this!

Oakville Parent & Child Centre attended our momstown Oakville Birthday and held a quiet reading corner!

Crafts are a big part of momstown and support literacy!

Our themed curriculum included a Zoo theme and a T is for Tiger alphabet activities.

Singing ABCs is a simple and easy way to bring the alphabet into your daily sing-songs. Notice the letter themed play mat? Sound out letters, push cars around the shapes of the alphabet, trace them with your fingers - great support for letter recognition!

Pencil practice is key!

The best way to learn is to have FUN! We're always having fun in momstown!

Boys and Girls Learn Differently Seminar

As a mom of different gender kids, I am very interested in this free parenting seminar hosted by the Oakville Parent Education Network and thought momstown should pass along.

Boys and Girls Learn Differently Seminar

The Oakville Parent Education Network Invites you to attend the following event about how gender differences influence learning and behaviour.

• Wednesday, January 25, 2012
• 7 – 9 p.m.
• Holy Trinity Secondary School
  2420 Sixth Line, Oakville view map
• Free Admission!

Boys’ and girls’ brains develop and operate very differently, and understanding the implications of what that means will help both teachers and parents. You'll learn strategies to raise and teach either gender to help them succeed in school and in life.

Guest Speaker: Michael Reist is a teacher with over 30 years of experience in the classroom. He is a frequent speaker to parent groups and education conferences across Canada where his workshops on gender differences and learning have drawn large crowds and enthusiastic responses. Michael’s work has been featured on CBC, TV Ontario, Today’s Parent Magazine, The National Post and the Toronto Star. Michael is the author of the forthcoming book Raising Boys In A New Kind Of World. His first book was entitled The Dysfunctional School: Uncomfortable Truths and Awkward Insights on School, Learning and Teaching. He has published over 70 articles on topics ranging from education, spirituality and parenting to movies, books and popular culture.


To RSVP

• Online
• Call 905-825-6000
• E-mail accesshalton@halton.ca

Perfect Snow!

Thanks to Scholastic Canada, momstown Oakville shares a book every month. We read the book and chat about it with our kids, and then a lucky family gets to take the book home with them to keep and share with their family.

Momstown is all about winter and snow in January! To fit right along with our theme, we shared the book "Perfect Snow" by Barbara Reid. This is a favorite at my house for so many reasons. My kids LOVE snow, and although we don't get much of it in Oakville, they love to read about snow, snowstorms, snowflakes....anything to do with snow. I love this book too and i'm especially excited about this one as it's a Canadian author.
Our kids really enjoyed this book, hearing about the snowmen and snow forts that we built after the perfect snow fall. I think a few of them left wondering when Oakville would get a perfect snow!
One of our kids will be bringing this book home to share with her family!

I would recommend this book if you are looking for a great story to snuggle up with this winter. Momstown also has some other great "winter wonderland" books that you'll want to read over and over again with your little ones!



Thanks to Scholastic Canada we will be sharing another book next month! If you are interested in joining us, sign up for a 2 week free trial!

Snow Crafts and New Member Meetup!

There is no snow on the ground in Oakville right now, but our kids had a great time pretending, and really enjoyed our snow themed crafts!

We decorated our "S" crafts with snow, snowflakes, and snowballs!





Our moms had a chance to catch up, and chat.


Just a few of our finished crafts!

Are you looking for other winter theme crafts you can do at home with your kids? Check out our momstown arts and crafts for some easy ideas.
Our momstown playgroups meet regularly for fun, crafts and playtime. If you are interested in meeting us, and getting out for some great events this winter sign up for a 2 week free trial. We hope to see you soon!