BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL

Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984

www.brightbeginningsva.com

 

Crozet Newsletter

May 7, 2010

 

Upcoming Events:

 

Friday, May 7^th, Children’s Night Out, “Down on the Farm!”

 

Monday, May 10^th, Spring Semester Evaluations distributed, Conferences can be scheduled with teacher and director as desired

 

Sunday, May 16^th, Family Picnic and Art Show! 4-6pm

 

Monday, May 17^th, Rain date for Family Picnic 6-8pm

 

Monday, May 31^st, closed completely for Memorial Day

 

Sunscreen Policy:

Understand that Bright Beginnings does not provide or apply sunscreen. It is recommended that sunscreen is applied liberally in the morning before arrival.

 

Weekly Financial Memo:

 

Weekly and bi-weekly payments are due by the close of business on Mondays.  Late charges will be applied to accounts on Tuesday if payment is not received.

 

On your child's last day, please return your security card.  We are able to recycle these.  If we do not receive your card back, a $20.00 charge per card will be applied to your account and deducted from the deposit that was paid upon enrollment.

 

Laura Tomaine

Executive Director/CFO

 

3401 Worth Crossing

Charlottesville, VA 22911

434-973-8414

Check us out on the web at www.brightbeginningsva.com

 

Creativity Happens at Bright Beginnings!

 

 

Speech Weekly Notes from Stacy Torrence:

A language-rich environment?

A language-rich environment is pretty much what the name suggests: a setting in which the child is surrounded by talk and has plenty of opportunities to communicate with others.

Research on child language development has confirmed the importance of talking frequently to children below age 3 and using a wide variety of vocabulary. Toddlers whose parents do this develop better expressive and receptive language skills than children whose parents talk less with them and use a limited vocabulary.

The value of this is not limited to children with speech and language disorders.  All children can benefit from a healthy and varied diet of language activities. The following are tips and ideas for talking to your child in ways that help develop better language skills:

Turn off the TV 


Talk, talk, talk (slowly and simply)

Sing and rhyme 


Get out the toys and play, but ditch the batteries 


Learn (and use) some baby signs

Don't try to implement everything at once. Instead, pick one of these things you think you can do, and try it for a week. Once it becomes a habit, add something else. You may already be doing some or all of these things. If so, see if you can do them more often and be more conscious of them while you're doing them. After all, very few parents are actually doing anything wrong, but most parents can do more right.

 

 

 

 

Class Notes:

 

The Pelican Class

 

May is starting off with some warms days, so we will venture outside more to enjoy the different animals like the birds flying all around and the butterflies flying on the flowers. Ashlyn loved to sitting in on the speech lesson with Ms. Stacey, and she is starting to pick up some of the signs! Keaton is scooting all around the room, picking up toys, and trying to pull up. In art we made silly flower faces. This week we also read Old McDonald to get ready for the picnic have a great weekend and see you on Monday!

Thanks,

Ms. Sue

The Kangaroo Class

 

This week in Gross motor we played with the hula-hoop. We used our vocabulary words inside/outside, through, over and under. We practiced balancing on one foot and played musical chairs with music. In fine motor and art we melted ice cubes in the sand with glitter. We made flower faces, rainbows, and mother days gifts and cards. In practical living we sat up chairs side by side to form rows of chairs to pretend to be cars, and we built a road for our car. We practiced Old McDonald, and made animal sounds. The toddlers had a wonderful week playing outside in the nice weather. Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Thanks,

 

Ms. Jen

 

The Peacock Class

 

Hello Peacock family and friends! This week in the Peacock class we have had fun learning to count one-ten in English and Spanish! We used our building blocks and items from housekeeping to help us keep track of our numbers. We also have had fun with sorting/ grouping different manipulatives in our class. This week in art we have been busy making our beautiful rainbows for our display for the family picnic, we also had fun making flowers masks, and special mothers day cards!

We are still working very on team building and using our words when we want something or need something. During morning group time we have a special song that we practice called “nice hands”, this is a reminder to the class that our hands are not used for hitting or hurting our friends.

We are still practicing our very special songs for our family picnic as well. If you would please bring in an old t-shirt for your child, we will be using these as “paint” shirts to protect our clothing.

If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to stop by.

Thanks,

 

Ms. Lee

 

The Bunny Class

 

Hello Bunny family and friends. The Bunnies had such a wonderful week! We have been working really hard on our counting skills. We have mastered counting to 10, now we are working our way to 15. Throughout this month we will be working on making a counting book. We are also practicing our Spanish counting. Addie and Nathan loved using Dora to help us count in Spanish to 10! We will also be making a Spanish counting book. For Science this week we discovered farm animals. Emily brought some great farm animal books to class, which helped us understand what types of animals live on farms. Elara and Martin loved making animal noises! For language arts we read farm animal books and we were also introduced to poems. We enjoyed all sorts of poems- Makayla and Jake enjoyed silly poems, and Connor enjoyed like poems that rhymed!

A few reminders- Don’t forget Family Picnic is on May 16^th from 4-6- the whole family is invited!! Also, don’t forget to make your Scholastic orders- it is a great way to build up your home library! Hope everyone has a great weekend! Happy Mothers Day!

Ms. Whitney

 

The Walrus Class

 

This week the Walrus class made scrap paper rainbows, lions with paper plates, wrapping paper, and ready Reader hats. They have been learning all about rainbows, different animal tracks, and keeping our Earth beautiful. Many of the Walrus’ were curious about recycling, and waste reductions techniques. As well as our environment, we have been learning about the different animals living in different environments. We then connected them, by learning about keeping the environment clean, so animals will have nice homes. As a reminder, sun block should be applied before coming to school, and our little ones should be wearing appropriate shoes for running around! Ms. Melissa will be starting Monday! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and happy Mother’s Day!

Ms. Kim and Ms. Ann

 

The Rooster Class

 

Hello Rooster families! In language arts this week we continued with the letter of the week, “I i”. We talked about words that start with “I i”. The Roosters practiced writing “I, i” as well. We enjoyed acting out a nursery rhyme. We continue to work on our site words daily.

This week the Roosters were busy with math and science we focused on estimating. Each child estimated how many jelly beans were in a jar. We sorted and counted the jelly beans too. They made a nice treat for all our hard work! We talked about how we can prevent litter and how litter can effect our environment.

In social studies/awareness, we discussed Cinco de Mayo! Ask your child what they learned! We also talked about what you need to take on a spring picnic. We also graphed a chart of our pets. The Roosters has a fun time on our listening walk. We discussed all the sounds we observed.

For art this week, we enjoyed rainbows made with food coloring. The Roosters glued flower faces, they were so cute. We also worked really hard on our Mother’s Day project!

Have a wonderful weekend and happy Mother’s Day!

Ms. Amanda and Ms. Sherri

 

 

School News and Notes:

Bright Beginnings would like to welcome Ms. Stephanie and Ms. Melissa to our team! As you know, Ms. Amanda will be working part time starting May 10^th. Her schedule will be 8:30-12, Monday through Thursday, which will allow her to continue teaching during our preschool hours. We are excited to announce Ms. Stephanie as a Rooster Co-Teacher along with Ms. Sherri. Ms. Stephanie started working here on April 12^th from 4-6 in the afternoons, I hope you all have gotten a chance to meet her! Stephanie graduated from Towson University with her Associates Degree in General Studies, Psychology. Stephanie comes to us with several years of preschool experience in Maryland. She worked mainly with ages two through four. After moving to Charlottesville, Stephanie worked in the Albemarle County Public School system as a teaching assistant. Stephanie is also CPR and First Aid trained. Since Stephanie will be supplementing Ms. Amanda’s role and time in the classroom her schedule will be, Monday through Thursday 12:00-6:00, and Friday, 8:30-6:00.

We are also very excited to announce Ms. Melissa Parsells as the new Walrus class lead teacher. She did a fantastic job on Monday working with the children and we expect this transition to go very smoothly. Melissa graduated from Mary Baldwin College in 2009 with her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Social Work and a minor in Education. She is currently working on her Masters of Education at Averett University which she will complete in 2011. Melissa interned in the public school system in Staunton, and at Child Protective Services in Verona. Melissa has also worked as a substitute teacher in grades pre-k through fifth at Thomas Dixon, A.R. Ware, and Bessie Weller Elementary Schools. Most recently, Melissa worked as a PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) aide at Riverheads Elementary Schools where she worked with Pre-K and kindergarten students. Melissa has great energy, is excited about our program, and is ready to jump in as our Walrus classroom lead teacher! We are excited to welcome her to our team! She begins work on Monday, May 10^th. Please welcome her by introducing yourself and feel free to set up a personal or phone conference with her. As always, please feel free to ask any questions. Thank you for your help with this transition!

Water park update: This week the plumber installed the piping, and we got the concrete for the pads outside the classrooms and for the toddler bike pad laid. May 10^th- 15^th the concrete will be laid for the sprinkler area, sprinklers will be installed and tested, we will also be setting up a shade area, and the climbing equipment will be reinstalled.

 

 

Ms. PJ, the director of Bright Beginnings at Forest Lakes and our Assistant Executive Director will be out at Crozet two days a week to start cross-training with some of our staff, including Ms. Whitney who will be starting to work at the front desk some afternoons. Ms. Whitney can answer any questions you may have!

This year, our Family Picnic and Pre-K graduation will be on different days. The Pre-K graduation and Sundae Social is at 11am on June 9th.

We have started construction on our water park/sprinkler play system! Our 2 year old playground will remain closed until all construction is complete. Both the Bunny and Peacock classes have outside times on the 3/Pre-K playground! While we certainly are excited and ready to get our water play area up and running, the construction time is dependent on weather, independent contractors, and the availability of materials. We will keep you posted on the progress of this project!


Understand that Bright Beginnings does not provide or apply sunscreen. It is recommended that sunscreen is applied liberally in the morning before arrival.

Pay your re-registration fee now to ensure your child a spot in our program.  Re-registration fees are due by August 1st.

Earn a free week!  Refer a friend or coworker and if they enroll you will receive a free week's tuition.

On Tuesday, April 20th, the book, Bear’s New Friend, by Karma Wilson, was read to facilitate a discussion about friendship. The Class Name Book the Pre-Kindergarten classes have been working on as authors and illustrators was read aloud.  There were smiles of pride and pleasure to see their name printed in the book. The Classbook will travel home with each student so each family can enjoy the class project.


The Pelican Class
This week the Pelicans loved painting and counting spots on ladybugs!  Bugs are all over the room; their in the water tub and crawling through the sand!  They crawled up our arm to make it tickle.  During circle time we sang the “Welcome” song to all of our friends.  We also sang “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.  Hiding the animals and trying to find them all over our room was super fun and had Ashlyn looking all over the place!  Making the letter “E” sound made them laugh.  We enjoyed reading “Old Macdonald Had a Farm” and singing the song; some of us made the sounds and some just watched!  Putting the tent up and letting Keaton sit in it while Ashlyn crawled through was fun!  Have a great weekend!

Ms. Sue

The Kangaroo Class
This week the little roo’s had fun dancing with our ribbon sticks and dancing to the Wiggles.  They just love the Wiggles!  We played in playdough; we pretended to make birthday cakes, by rolling, stretching, and pushing the playdough around.  We had so much fun!  We took a nature walk on our playgroud to look for birds and bugs.  We pretended to go camping!  We got our tent and out for our trip into nature.  We played in the water and sand table.  We made ladybugs and counted her spots.  We made snake prints and made a sand castle with glue and sand; very sticky and fun.  We built a house out of blocks and played follow the leader.  Ms. Stacey came in to do speech with us which were a blast!
Thanks,

Ms. Jen

The Peacock Class
Hello Peacock families and friends.  This week in the Peacock class we have had fun learning about insects; ladybugs in particular!  We counted spots on ladybugs, we finger painted red ladybugs, and we played a ladybug sorting/matching game that was really fun!  During our community meeting with the bunny classroom we had an open discussion about “rain”.  We discussed what color it is, where it comes from and when it rains.  We had some really cute answers some about with this discussion.  The Peacock class also enjoyed Ms. Stacey coming in this week as part of their language groups.  This week they were able to feed a pretend baby and talk about what they were doing.  For example: are you hungry?  Eat up baby, would you like some food?  Ms. Stacey also played a very nice sharing game as well!  We have begun to sing our nice hands song every day before center time and it seems to be helping us to remember that our hands are nice hands and they are not for hurting.  We are also beginning to practice our songs for the family picnic.  We will be singing “Mr. Sun” and “You Are My Sunshine”.  If you have any questions please feel free to stop by!
Thanks,

Ms. Lee

The Bunny Class
Hello Bunny Families! The Bunnies were very busy this week learning all sorts of new things! For math this week we continued to practice number recognition and number matching. Addie and Makayla worked really hard this week on their number skills! For science this week we continued to talk about bugs, and we also discussed flowers. We explored the different parts of a flower, such as the stem, petals, and that yellow stuff on the inside. All the Bunnies were very curious as to what that yellow stuff was. Then, Emily and Connor reminded that the yellow stuff is pollen. We talked about how you can find pollen on your mommy and daddy’s car, and how bugs carry pollen. During language arts time this week we explored insect and flower books. We also read rhyming stories, and practiced saying rhyming words. Nathan did a really good job this week picking out rhyming words! For social studies we discussed recycling. We discovered the things that can be recycled and why it is so important to recycle! We had a great, messy time during art.  We made paper plate lady bugs, and very hungry caterpillars, which Jake and Elara loved doing, to go along with out bug theme! Everyone’s favorite this week was the sandcastle art!!

I’d also like to welcome Ms. Stephanie to the Bunny classroom. She will be in the room in the evenings from 4-6. I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Ms. Whitney

The Walrus Class
May is right around the corner and the Walrus class is keeping busy!  In Math we have been focusing on our counting as well as number identification.  We counted ladybug spots and played a game where we had to find the given number on a classroom chair!  During the ladybug game we also were introduced to the concept of addition.  Each time a spot or spots were added to the ladybug we recounted in order to get our total.  Gryff did an excellent job both of counting and adding; way to go Gryff!  In Science we learned all about ladybugs!  Ms. Erin read us some fun facts and then we restated those facts during a class discussion.  We learned that ladybugs are beetles, which are insects, that they lay eggs, they live to be 2-3 years old and that there are 5000 different types of ladybugs!  Sam and Ava Jordan both enjoyed learning these facts and retelling the class what they learned!  In Language Arts we had our weekly community meeting with the Roosters where we sang "It's Raining, It's Pouring" among other songs that we chose.  We also have been continuing to work on writing Ee and recognizing Ee words and sounds.  In Art we made red ladybugs using paper plates!  We also created snake paint!  We used our fine motor skills to make curvy lines that resembled snakes.  In Dramatic Play we have been practicing our family picnic performance!  Ask us what our lines are!  In Social Awareness we read a story called "It's My World" where we learned about various different environments.  We discussed all of the different plants and animals in each environment and talked about ways to sustain healthy life in those environments!  For Project Green we learned a song called "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" and discussed what each of those words mean.  We also set up a mini recycling center in our room where we will be using some of our recyclable lunch containers!  Have a great weekend!

Ms. Erin

The Rooster Class
Spring is in full bloom!  We are glad to be outside and enjoying the warm weather.

In Language Arts, we continued working with our letter of the week,” Ee”.  We brainstormed words that start with” E”.  We added “can” and “run” to our growing sight word list.  The Roosters enjoyed making up a class story.  The children were very creative!

The Roosters were very busy in Math and Science.  We enjoyed a shape sort.  We worked on counting with ladybugs.  In science we talked about clean water.  The Roosters learned about the life cycle of a caterpillar.  Ask your child all about it!

In Social Studies, we did research on ladybugs and snakes.  They learned a lot of interesting facts.  We talked about our favorite bug!  The Roosters enjoyed hearing all about the desert as well!

For Art, we made ladybugs and paper plate snakes.  We painted egg cartons to create caterpillars.  Sandcastle art was a huge success!

Ms. Amanda and Ms. Sherri

Class Notes:

The Pelican Class
With the nice warm weather we’ve been doing lots of playing out in the sun!  We’ve been enjoying our buggy rides as well as just sitting on a blanket and watching the butterflies and birds fly by.  Making butterflies out of tissue paper and coffee filters was so much fun!  Making funny faces made everyone laugh.  We smeared red and white paint all over paper which was super fun.  Ms. Sue counted out loud and identified the colors of blocks to see if we could repeat those words after her.  We sang the song “This Little Froggy Said Good Morning to All His Friends”.  We did scarf dancing to the music by the Wiggles.  We wish everyone to have a happy and safe weekend!

Ms. Sue

The Kangaroo Class
Welcome back Kangaroo’s!  Hope you all had a wonderful break!  This week we have established a lot of sensory into our planning.  We are exploring more textures, which will also help with opposites.  We put grass into our tub with toy insects, play dough, spices and sand!  All of the children love using their hands to squish, roll and tear apart the objects.  This week’s theme is insects!  So for dramatic play we went hunting for interesting and colorful bugs…ewww!  We made noises like a cricket, crawled like a spider, and tried flying like a butterfly.  For literature we are working on one word sentences.  Please, stop, no, yes, and thank you are some examples.  All of our Kangaroo’s are fantastic mockers!  They are learning so quickly.  As a reminder for our parents; our Toddler curriculum begins at 9:00am.  We encourage all our adult Roo’s to bring in the little Roo’s so they won’t miss any fun activities!

Thanks,

Ms. Kim and Ms. Jen

The Peacock Class
Hello Peacock family and friends.  Welcome back from spring break!  Hope everyone enjoyed their time off from school.  We are back in full swing of learning this week in the Peacock classroom.  On Monday during our community meeting we learned all about the life cycle of a frog, from a tadpole living in the water with no legs to becoming a frog living out of the water with four legs.  We learned through stories and songs.  This week we also have had fun learning about butterflies.  We played counting and sorting games as well as made all sorts of butterflies in arts and crafts.  We have started practicing our songs that we will be performing for the family picnic as well.  This week we have really been focusing on nature around us.  We learned about insects, animals, weather and many other things!  Please be sure to remind your little Peacocks about nice hands!  We go over what our hands are and are not used for every morning before center play time.  If you ever have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to stop by.

Thanks,

Ms. Lee

The Bunny Class
Hello Bunny families! The Bunnies had a great week exploring new things! For math this week we worked on counting and number matching. I would draw a certain number of dots on the white board and the Bunnies would tell me how many dots were there! Addie and Nathan enjoyed doing this activity. We also continued to work on recognizing numbers 1-3. Connor and Jake like to practice this on the white board. During science time this week we learned all about bugs! Martin brought in a flower so we discussed how some bugs pollinate. Emily liked to remind the Bunnies that bee’s like to pollinate. We also discussed the life cycle of frogs. We enjoyed reading Fish is Fish to help us understand how tadpoles turn into frogs! Makayla and Elara loved playing the speckled frog game! For language arts we continued working on letter recognition, concentrating on the letter E. Most everyone in the Bunny class can name and recognize the first letter of their name! We also discussed and came up with examples of opposites- the Bunnies did a great job with this!

Just a reminder—please put sunscreen on in the mornings before coming to school. If you have any questions about our sunscreen policy please feel free to ask myself or Ms. Casey!
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Whitney

The Walrus Class
Hopefully everyone had a lovely spring break, welcome back!  The Walrus class has been busy learning about all sorts of neat things.  In Math we played a game where we matched the number of dots on butterflies to the corresponding number that was written on the chalkboard.  We counted the dots out loud and found the appropriate matching number!  This game worked on skills such as counting, number recognition and number matching.  Bree, Thomas and Remmer all really enjoyed this game and even helped their friends identify the correct number!  We work daily on calendar counting as well as number identification.  In Science we learned all about Monarch butterflies!  Matthew described what they look like, including their beautiful distinct colors.  We learned what a chrysalis is and what the Monarchs due during the cold months of winter; they fly south, just like birds!  Gryff and Lucas explained to the class why the butterflies flock to warmer locations.  We discussed how we may be seeing lots of Monarchs now that its spring and they have returned from their warm retreat!  We have been checking the progress of our sunflower and are pleasantly surprised each day it grows.  Unfortunately, it seems that the sunflower we planted outside has been gobbled up by a hungry critter!  For Project Green we learned all about the importance of keeping our bodies of water clean!  We demonstrated this by using our large water tub and turning it into a “pond”.  We each had a piece of trash that we threw into the pond and then were offered a polluted drink to which we certainly turned down.  We then cleaned up our “pond” and filled a glass of water that was clean and healthy.  We then held a class discussion about ways to keep our water clean and the importance of not polluting our Earth.  In Language Arts w were introduced to the letter E.  We came up with a list of E words and traced the new letter of the week.  We are doing a fantastic job recognizing our sight words and continue to look for them in our books.  In Art we made beautiful delicate tissue paper butterflies!  We used our fine motor skills to wrap pipe cleaners around the “wings” to create their bodies and antennas.  We also helped Ms. Erin create our “Spring Into Learning” bulletin board; we all lent a “hand” in order to make flowers, grass and butterflies!  In Social Awareness we learned what the word RECYCLE means.  We discussed the importance of recycling to our environment as well as talked about recyclable materials and how to recycle.  We also did our weekly show and tell which allows us to develop sharing skills as well as self confidence!  In music class we sang songs about insects, birds and even “Noodles From Scratch”.  We practiced making and listening for rhythms and used our hands and fingers (fine motor) to imitate butterflies, birds and caterpillars.  We did some scarf dancing and sang a beautiful song about the wind for gross motor practice.  Mrs. Fisher read us a story about colors and emotions/feelings associated with colors during our reading visit.  We discussed our feelings and what types of things make us happy, sad, excited and joyful (just to name a few).  We also evaluated a painting full of colors and picked out all of the different emotive colors we saw!  We really enjoy Ms. Melissa and Mrs. Fisher’s visits and are learning lots from them!  For our cooking project we made a delicious and nutritious trail mix!  We counted out goodies and placed them in our trail mix bags, yum!  Have a fantastic weekend!

Reminders and Information:  Please sign up to drive for our Bounce-N-Play field trip that we’ll be taking April 28; we will not be able to go if we don’t have enough drivers!  Please turn in registration forms as well as $7 to Ms. Erin for the field trip as soon as you can!  Thanks!

Ms. Erin

The Rooster Class
Welcome back Rooster friends!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Spring break!

We had an exciting week in Math!  We continue practicing counting by 2’s and 10’s.  The Roosters enjoyed butterfly and bee math.  These games reinforced our counting skills.  We learned a lot from our sponge experiment, ask your child about it!  We made ant treats using crackers, peanut butter and pretzel sticks.  They made a yummy snack!

In Language Arts our letter of the week was “Ee”.  We practiced writing letter “Ee” in our journals.  The Roosters are practicing sight words daily.  They are doing a wonderful job “reading” them.
Art was a spring themed week.  We made tissue and coffee filter butterflies.  The Rosters worked on a bee hive collage.

In Social Studies/Awareness this week we talked about recycling.  What do reduce and reuse mean and how we make this happen.  We discussed what it means to recycle and how we can do this at school!

Finally, we have been working on circle time; sitting criss-cross, hands in our lap, quietly and with your listening ears.  Huge skills in being ready for kindergarten!

Ms. Amanda and Ms. Sherri

Ms. PJ, the director of Bright Beginnings at Forest Lakes and our Assistant Executive Director will be out at Crozet two days a week to start cross-training with some of our staff.

We have opened our Media room in the Octopus classroom! Both our three and four year old classes will have time in this room during the day. In this room we have a computer lab, listening center, music center, and library. The kids have really enjoyed it so far and we are working on expanding it even further! We are working to open a photography center as well (any donations of old, even broken, camera’s would be appreciated!) Thank you to the Evans’ family for donating a camera!

Re-registration Fees have been charged for the 2010-2011 school year.  This fee is charged at this time to allow our current families first priority.  The spring is a busy time for us showing prospective families to our school and want to make sure that your child's spot is reserved before we sell the spot to someone else.

Word of Mouth works!  Referring a friend or co-worker who enrolls 5-days fulltime will benefit you with a Free Week! (You may refer as many friends as you wish.)  Free week applies only to currently enrolled families.

All families MUST provide us with a valid Visa or MasterCard number before your child’s start date.  Any late fees or outstanding balances will be charged to credit card after the 30th of the month.




1.  Heat the oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with baking cups. Use a dry measuring cup to measure the flour, then pour it into a small mixing bowl. Stir the baking powder and salt into the flour and set aside. (Tip: To measure flour precisely, your child should hold the full cup over her canister of flour and use the flat edge of a knife to level off the flour.)
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and stir in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, stirring well after each addition. Peel the bananas, place them in a separate small bowl, and have your child use a fork to mash them until smooth. Measure out 1 cup of mashed banana. Fold it into the cupcake batter until thoroughly combined.
3. Fill each muffin cup three quarters full. (You will have some excess batter.) Wipe off any spills with a paper towel. Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of one comes out clean. Cool in the muffin tin for 15 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to a plate.
4. While the cupcakes are baking, make the cream cheese frosting. Cream together the sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl. When the mixture is smooth, beat in the vanilla extract. To tint the frosting, mix in a few drops of food coloring.
5.  After the cupcakes have cooled, your child can use a plastic knife to slice the top off each one and then carefully cut each top in half. (Tip: To help prevent crumbling, make sure the cupcakes have completely cooled.) For each butterfly, frost the cut surface of the bottom of the muffin top, then arrange the two semicircles into wings on top (with the round sides of the semicircles touching). Frost the wings, then use decorators' icing to squirt on designs. Add a gumdrop head and licorice string antennae. Makes 12 Butterfly Banana Cupcakes. Refrigerate any leftovers


Speech and language groups will be held next Monday-Wednesday.  I will be screening students that are new to Bright Beginnings (age 3 and up) as well.
Bubble Play for Early Sound Development

Bubbles are always a big favorite with infants, toddlers and preschoolers.  The kids absolutely love bubbles and I often bring them out for the last few minutes of a language group.  The older kids think it's a reward and will work well with the promise of bubbles. I love them for several reasons.  If the child is old enough, I have them practice blowing the bubbles as part of the activity.  This works on oral motor strength and coordination.  I use bubbles to encourage sign and gesture usage for "more," "please," "done," "bye," "yes," etc.  I use related words to encourage all early developing sounds such as /h,p,b,d,m,n,w/.  Some bubble play related words are: bubble, more, up, bye-bye, pop, done, please, gone, blow, wow, uh-oh, high, yes, no.

When blowing bubbles with the child...use the key words repeatedly. For example: "Look....bubble..up-up-up...bye-bye bubble....pop-pop-pop...."  "More bubble...pop-pop-pop....all gone..."  "More bubble...uh-oh...pop-pop-pop...."  "Bubble...wow!....up-up-up... uh-oh...pop!"   "Wow...high bubble....bye-bye." This is also a chance to ask questions of your child and encourage responses either verbally or with gestures.   Ask child "Do you want more?"  Encourage them to use head gesture for "Yes," sign for "More" or use words if they are able to say "more" or "more bubble." So get those bubbles out and have fun!  The learning opportunities are endless.

Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP


The Pelican Class

We started off our week with bubbles flying all around the room so that Sami and Ashlyn could chase them; they had so much fun!  Keaton has been talking to himself in the mirror noticing his face and lips.  Sami enjoys looking with Keaton and finding his face.  We felt cotton and made clouds which were Gray’s favorite activities this week; he even tried eating the cotton!  Everyone had fun playing with water and pudding this week!  We threw beach balls around the room and tried chasing them.  We enjoyed taking buggy rides and enjoying the fresh air.  We love to watch cars, trucks and people go by!  We made cheerio necklaces which was great fun (even though more cheerios went in our mouths than on our necklaces!)  Have a great weekend and we’ll see you Monday!
Ms. Sue

The Kangaroo Class

This week in Gross Motor we went bowling and the children loved it! They enjoyed rolling the ball and knocking the pins over. We played red light, green light, and tried to walk on our tip toes, it was very fun to watch! In music and movement, we danced to the Wiggles, thanks to Maegan Sandridge’s mom for the CD, the children loved it! In fine motor we played in the water tub, what a splash of fun! We played with empty containers as well, the children enjoyed filling and dumping them. We also played in our nice new sandbox we have on our playground! We really love to explore outside on the playground and on buggy rides. For art, we painted with yarn. We painted baskets, and made clouds, we also made a spring color collage. In practical living we made an indoor duck pond where we played with ducks, rocks, and seashells. We had a blast this week looking for signs of spring and playing with the insects in the discovery table!

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Jen

The Bunny Class

Hello Bunny families and friends!  The bunnies were happy to welcome spring and the warm weather that it brings!  With the beautiful weather we get to spend a lot of time outside exploring nature.  Addie and Elara liked finding flowers that had started to bloom!  We also found other signs of spring; Emily noticed the birds chirping and Nathan would always remind us that it’s warm and we don’t need our jackets!  During Math this week we worked really hard on counting in both English and Spanish.  In English we’ve mastered counting to ten.  Now we are working our way up to 15.  In Spanish we can count to five and now we are working on counting to 10.  In Language Arts we continued working on rhyming words.  Conner did a great job listening and finding rhyming words in the stories we read.  During Social Awareness we discussed recycling.  We talked about what sorts of things can be recycled and why it is important for our environment to do so.  Jake and Martin liked finding things in their lunch or around the classroom that could be recycled.  We also did many fun art projects this week!  We painted in pastel colors, made cotton ball bunnies, which was Makayla’s favorite and we made recycling collages!
I hope everyone had a wonderful week and enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

Ms. Whitney

The Peacock Class

Hello Peacock families and friends!  This week in the Peacock class we have learned all about spring!  The weather, baby animals, Easter, eggs and flowers were all part of our lessons!  In Math and Science this week we had fun going on a nature walk looking a the signs of spring all around us, like birds singing, grass and trees turning green and flowers blooming.  We also had several activities with counting and sorting plastic Easter eggs!  In Language Arts this week we had fun learning new songs like “Little Bunny Foo Foo” and “1, 2, 3 Little Bunnies” as well as reviewing our positional words like over, under, in front and behind.   Lastly we practiced our ABC’s with our flash cards and new floor puzzle!  In Social Studies and Social Awareness we learned about baby animals and their mommies of spring.  We learned about birds, lambs, and ducks.  We also talked about cooperation and teamwork inside the classroom.  In Art this week all of my friends have really enjoyed getting to mix and mix and mix paints!  Yay!  We mixed black and white paint to make gray bunny masks.   We also mixed white paints with other paints to decorate beautiful pastel color paintings.  We also had fun with painting clouds and raindrops as well as decorating our very own Easter eggs!

If you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to stop by.  Hooray for springtime!

Ms. Lee

The Walrus Class

Welcome April and all of the showers you bring!  The Walrus kids are continually learning, growing and having plenty of fun!  In Math we are working on number matching and correspondence.  In order to practice this skill we have been playing matching and correspondence games with our math manipulatives (i.e., math men, unifix cubes and links).  We also are continuing our focus on number identification/recognition as the math concepts we are learning are built upon core knowledge of numbers.  We played a file folder game called "Owl Pals" which worked on number recognition and numerical order through 12.  In Science we have been learning all about nature!  We discussed signs of spring and plant care.  We planted two sunflower seeds in our classroom that we have been caring for.  We discussed all of the things that are needed in order to keep our plants healthy and help them grow.  We really enjoyed planting and this week have been taking turns watering the seeds.  This teaches us responsibility as well as gentleness as it is up to us to keep the sunflowers alive!  For our Project Green lesson we discussed Migration Barriers.  We learned their purpose and even created a mock migration barrier in our water tub!  In Language Arts we have been working on finding sight words in our classroom books.  During read a loud time Ms. Erin points out when a sight words is read and shows the class where it is in the story.  We also were introduced to the letter A.  We conjured up a list of words that start with A and practiced tracing A in our journals.  Caitlin, Mia and Lucas are doing a fabulous job tracing letters!  Ms. Erin is extremely proud of the work we've been doing with our letters!  Some of us are writing our own names as well as writing friends' names; Bree even wrote Ms. Erin's name!  We are also working on recognizing our names and those of our classmates when written.  In Art we learned what pastel colors are and painted with our pastel dot paints!  We also created collages and cotton ball hares in celebration of the arrival of spring!  Our Creative lessons give us the opportunity each day to express ourselves through arts and crafts.  It also allows us to spend quality time with each other while encouraging uniqueness and individuality.  In Dramatic Play we pretended to be hopping bunnies and explorers of nature!  In Social Awareness we continue to build our Caring Classroom through stories and activities based on character building.  We have been discussing ways in which we can earn stamps/stickers on our day notes as well as things we can do in order to earn coupons.  Natalie and Ava Jordan were both awarded bookmark coupons for constantly helping out around our classroom.  Their kind and nurturing actions are much appreciated by the class as well as Ms. Erin; thanks girls!  In Children’s Humanities we have been playing some fun cooperative games!  We love playing a "Jeopardy"-style game with our flash cards.  We all sit together and call out answers to questions posed by our Sesame Street flash cards which focus on opposites, colors, shapes and letters.  Gryff and Emily get especially excited during this game!  For our cooking project we made Strawberry Sparkles!  We worked on color identification through this project as we dyed sugar different colors.  We also discussed seasonal fruits and the upcoming fruitful bounties of spring and summer!  Have a sunny, smiley weekend!

Reminders and Information:  Spring break is 4/8 and 4/9 and school will be closed!  If you have any extra plastic grocery bags that you would like to get rid of please send them in for "accident" bags! 

Ms. Erin

The Rooster Class

We are so happy to welcome spring in the Rooster classroom!  The spring weather has allowed us to be outside more and celebrate spring in our activities!  In Science this week, we observed and brainstormed the signs of spring and what animals do during the springtime.  For Project Green we brainstormed how we are “in this together”-or ways we could celebrate nature without hurting her.  We all said recycle!  In Math, we continued our spring theme and measured “spring” items (i.e., eggs, jellybeans, etc.) using our unfix cubes.  We also measured ingredients for our cooking project!  We made bird’s nests using coconut and jelly beans as eggs!  They were festive and delicious!
In Language Arts we read spring books about eggs, ducklings, bunnies and lambs.  We continued working with sight words, adding are, as and on to our list.  We also worked with a new letter of the week: Aa.  We brainstormed words beginning with Aa and practiced writing Aa in our journals.  Finally, we worked with the fable/nursery rhyme “The Tortoise and the Hare”, acting out the “famous race”.
Our spring theme continued in Art where we worked on a variety of projects.  We worked with pastels, painting Easter eggs and baskets.  We also made spring flowers for the April board in the front hallway.  Finally, we created bunnies using cotton balls.

Finally, in Social Studies we discussed and shared our ideas about the Easter bunny: In a word-Candy!  We also discussed the seasons and voted for our favorite season.  Finally, we learned about clouds and shared what we saw when we did some cloud-watching!

Classroom reminders:
-Sippy cups are not allowed on the Pre-K side of the hall.
-Our curriculum beings at 9am.  Please try to come to class in time so your child does not miss anything-we start with circle time and Language Arts!

Ms. Amanda