BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
     Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
     www.brightbeginningsva.com
    
Crozet Newsletter
Friday, November 20, 2009
      
Upcoming Events

Monday and Tuesday, November 23rd and 24th- Harvest Friendship Feast- sign up sheets on classroom doors
Thursday and Friday, November 26th and 27th- Thanksgiving Holiday- Closed Completely
Friday, December 4th- Elf Club- Traditions of the Season- 5:30- 9:00 p.m.
Monday, December 7th- Fall Semester Child Evaluations distributed/ Parent Conference upon request
Friday, December 11th- Elf Club- Holiday Crafts- 5:30- 9:00 p.m.
Monday, December 14th- Pre-K Holiday Program and Cookie Exchange- 6:00 p.m.

School News and Notes

Reminder:  we will be closed on Thursday and Friday of this week (November 26th and 27th) for the Thanksgiving holiday.  If your child will be out Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, please make sure to let us know.  There are sign-up sheets on the front desk for you to write on if you will NOT be here. 

Ms. Lee and the Peacocks have made an awesome discovery!  They found that if they saved their foil tops to Yoplait yogurts and mailed them in, that 10 cents would be donated to breast cancer research for each one.  We are now trying to have the whole school participate.  If you want to bring some in, we will send them along.  Thanks for your help!

We are working on a new cookbook from Bright Beginnings and would love a recipe from each family.  Please send one in so you can be part!  Please submit your recipe by no later than Monday, November 30th.

We are making a lasagna garden this fall!  It’s a great way to preserve our pizza garden over the winter and have it even stronger in the spring.  We will be layering it will lots of brown and green goodies.  We will begin with shredded newspaper and then want to build on it with coffee grounds, fruit and veggie scraps, grass clippings and mulch.  If you want to bring us any of these items from home it will help us grow our garden strong! 

In effort to help keep us flu-free, monitor your children at home and please do not bring them to school with a fever (or if they have been running a fever within the last 24 hours).  Additionally, please watch for other warning signs, such as sore throats, achy bodies, extreme fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, or general change in behavior.  Do not hesitate to vaccinate children with both the flu shot and the H1N1 vaccine as well.  We are offering employees incentives to get their shots to help on our end!  Additionally, you should have received the flyer we sent home about the free flu clinics from the Health Department.  If you have the flu, please ring the bell and we will bring your children in or out so you don’t have to worry about coming in and possibly spreading germs.  Thanks for all your help with this! 

SPEECH WEEKLY- Children who speak two languages

Speaking two languages is like any other skill. To do it well, children need lots of practice, which parents can help provide. Without practice, it may be difficult for children to understand or talk to people in both languages.
How do I teach my child to be bilingual?
There are a number of ways to teach children to speak more than one language. You can do the following:
Use two languages from the start. Many children grow up learning two languages at the same time.

Use only one language at home. Your child can learn the second language when he or she starts school.

Give your child many opportunities to hear and practice using both languages in everyday situations.

Will learning two languages cause speech or language problems?
No. Children all over the world learn more than one language without developing speech or language problems. Bilingual children develop language skills just as other children do.
What should I expect when my child learns more than one language?
Every bilingual child is unique. Developing skills in two languages depends on the quality and amount of experience the child has using both languages. The following are some basic guidelines:
Like other children, most bilingual children speak their first words by the time they are 1 year old (e.g., "mama" or "dada"). By age 2, most bilingual children can use two-word phrases (e.g., "my ball" or "no juice"). These are the same language developmental milestones seen in children who learn only one language.

From time to time, children may mix grammar rules, or they might use words from both languages in the same sentence. This is a normal part of bilingual language development.

When a second language is introduced, some children may not talk much for a while. This "silent period" can sometimes last several months. Again, this is normal and will go away.

From Our Reading Specialist

On Tuesday, November 17th, the book, Silly Sally by Audrey Wood was read to sustain the focus on the subject of names.  With much anticipation, more student names were drawn from the Name Jar to continue the meaningful activity of recognizing words that begin with the letters in their names. This phonological awareness activity encourages letter and sound associations as students are developing the ability to recognize that words can begin with the same sound.

Financial Memo

December tuition is due on Wednesday, November 25 because of the holiday. When the 27th falls on a weekend or a holiday, tuition is due the closest day PRIOR to the 27th. Automatic credit card payments will be charged on Wednesday, November 25.
 
New tuition rates take effect on November 27, 2009.  Please let us know if this is a financial hardship. Copies of the new rates are located at the front desk.
 
Avoid the crowds!  Sign up for the last Elf Club before the holiday shopping season officially begins.  See the front desk for more information.

What’s Cooking?!?!?

PUMPKIN SPICED AND ICED COOKIES!
 
Ingredients
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi sweet chocolate morsels
* 1 cup chopped walnuts
Vanilla Glaze instructions
 
COMBINE 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract in small bowl; mix well.
 
Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease baking sheets.

COMBINE flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

BAKE for 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle or spread with Vanilla Glaze.

CLASS NOTES

 Pelican- Ms. Sue and Ms. Meredith

 Yet another happy week in the Pelican Room!  We had so much fun singing together.  We sang a song about who was in the classroom and every time we said “___ is here,” we got the selected child to stand up (if able).  Berkeley loved the “Berkeley is here” part and stood up proudly each time!  We also enjoyed a couple of buggy rides (when it wasn’t raining) and went on an adventure hunt looking for a turkey.  Sami and Gray helped Ms. Sue and Ms. Meredith look all around the classroom while practicing their walking skills.  We pulled out our bean bags to work on our sense of touch, textures and our motor skills.  Jackson, Maegan and Berkeley loved tossing them around the room as well.  Speaking of sense of touch, Ashlyn and Keaton enjoyed being tickled a bit by our feathers as we worked with them.  They were adorable when they wiggled all around!  And in case you were wondering, the rolling toy with the balls inside that pop, was definitely the favorite toy of this week.  It got a lot of use by all!  Have a great weekend.  Safe travels to anyone who will be on the road for Thanksgiving!
                              
Kangaroos- Ms. Jen and Ms. Kim

 This week the Kangaroos have been working on colors, patterns and sign language.  To work on our color and shapes, we used the shape sponges.  We have been using our sign language along with our words to practice both our verbal and non-verbal communication.  All of our Kangaroo friends are doing a great job with our sign language skills.  We have been focusing on the letter “K” this week.  We talked about lots of things that start with the letter “K” and looked around our room for “K” items.  We also looked for “K” during literature time when reading our books.  We have been busy working on our sense of touch this week through feeling all different types of textures.  Even our floor has different textures between the tile, carpets and alphabet mat.  We enjoyed lot of musical activities during dramatic play.  We made up our own puppet shows and danced all around.  We painted to music too!  What a fun week!  Have a great weekend and see you soon!

 Peacock- Ms. Lee

 Hello Peacock families and friends!  We had a great week of learning, discovery and fun at school!  We worked on a few different projects dealing with nature.  One of the children’s favorite art activities was painting with pine needles.  This week we also learned and talked about Native American cultures (examples: clothes they wore, food they ate, where and how they lived).  We made Native American headdresses with feathers and shells, in addition to Indian corn and tee pees, as well.  We discussed opposites, like long vs. short and big vs. littler.  We used water color paints this week during art and it was a hit.  Everyone loved making their very own special creations.  Please remember to sign-up for our Harvest Friendship Feasts on our classroom door so we can make Stone Soup and Friendship Fruit Salad!  We are making lots of Thanksgiving goodies and decorations to get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Bunny- Ms. Whitney

 The Bunnies had another wonderful week!  On math we are still working on understanding patterns.  We practiced with shapes and colors.  In science this week we did color mixing experiments!  Riley and Makayla really enjoyed seeing how two colors come together to make one new color.  The colors we made this week were green, pink, and purple.  We also made lots of cool projects during our art time.  Lucas and Addie really enjoyed making Indian hats and Martin loved free painting while listening to music! 
 During social awareness this week, we continued talking about the importance of friendship.  We also began getting in the Thanksgiving spirit by learning about Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful.  Emily said she was thankful for her mommy and daddy, and Nathan said he was thankful for his hands and his friend Emily!  The Bunnies are doing a great job with their Spanish! We are working on counting to 5 and saying hello, goodbye, please and thank you!   Don’t forget about the sign-up sheets on the door for our Harvest Friendship Feasts!  Have a wonderful weekend and see you Monday!

Walrus- Ms. Erin

 Thanksgiving is almost here and the Walrus class has learned the meaning of being thankful and the importance of giving!  We’ve been hard at work and are having lots of Fall fun!  In math we have been learning about and creating all sorts of patterns.  We used unifix cubes to create color patterns and even made pattern placemats.  We used different colored strips of paper to weave over and under to create a Thanksgiving placemat!  We also made a Thanksgiving class poster by dipping our hands in paint and making a pattern border.  Ava Jordan and Cate were working hard on creating patterns with our math manipulatives and were very proud of themselves when they realized they had made a color pattern math cube tower!  We also made a boy/girl pattern with our bodies and played a game where we guessed which color came next in the pattern that Ms. Erin started for us.  In science we’ve been working on our sense of touch.  We learned about different textures and how to make inferences by simply touching an object.  We did an activity where Ms. Erin hid a few classroom objects under a blanket and it was our job to reach under the blanket and feel around.  We discussed whether we felt something hard or soft, smooth or rough and then tried to guess what it was.  Alan felt a wheel under the blanket and guessed that Ms. Erin had hid a truck in her “feeling box”; he was right!  We also had a sensory center rotation.  Ms. Erin set up a rice and beans center, a soapy water center and a play-dough center.  We played with a partner at each center and when the timer went off we rotated around to the next.  We really enjoyed these centers and were able to discover and explore our sense of touch.  In language arts we have been working on the letter X.  We traced X, connected the dots and practiced writing X on our own.  We completed our weekly Ready Reader which was called “In My Pocket” and learned the nursery rhyme “Jack and Jill” during Community Meeting with the Rooster class.  In art we learned about mixing colors.  We mixed colors together and then stamped our hands in order to make turkeys!  We also made masterpieces during free art!  We used glue, glitter, scrap paper, watercolors, and buttons to create individual and unique artwork.  In social awareness we read a story called “The Three Friends and the Apples” and discussed why we love our friends and what makes them special to us.  In humanities we’ve been practicing our Spanish!  We learned hello, goodbye, how are you, and a few numbers en Espanol!  With Ms. Stacey, our in house speech pathologist, we worked on comparative superlatives (ie, long, longer, longest) by reading an interactive story about a bear!  We also colored a “growing” dog so that we could practice this at home!  Our dog is a long dog but when you pull once it turns into an even longer dog and when you pull again it turns into the longest dog!  We’re growing each and every day and have so much fun with our friends!  Have a fantastic weekend!
Reminders and Information:  The traveling tiger activity will begin this week!  He will be sent home with a different student each weekend (even over the holiday break!) where they and their family will keep a journal of his activities!  Remember to bring tiger back with his journal on Monday’s so that he may continue his journey to a different Walrus home! 

Rooster – Ms. Amanda

      In the Rooster class this week, we continued working with our five senses, finishing up texture and moving onto sound.  We explored outdoor textures on a nature walk.  For sound, we made our own sound effects by crumpling paper, making shakers and listening to the ocean in shells!  We also listened to different types of music and painted what we heard.
      In language arts, we began working with a new letter of the week, the letter “K”.  We learned a “K” song, brainstormed “K” words and practiced writing the letter “K”! In art, we created paper plate turkeys as we get ready for Thanksgiving!  We also created our own paper plate shakers using beans and paint- the project was a great way to learn more about our sense of hearing and help us understand sound!
      In social awareness/studies we began reading about and discussing the Thanksgiving holiday.  What is Thanksgiving?  Who was a part of the first Thanksgiving?  What are some Thanksgiving traditions?
      The highlight of the week in the Rooster room was our cooking project.  We made our very own butter using cream, salt, and a mason jar!  It was fun taking turns shaking the jar and watching the butter slowly form!  We enjoyed our homemade butter with a nice, warm slice of bread!  Delicious!  Thank you to our parents who generously brought in supplies for this cooking project!

       BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
     Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
     www.brightbeginningsva.com
    
Crozet Newsletter
Friday, November 13, 2009

      
Upcoming Events

Friday, November 20th- Elf Club- Food ‘a Plenty- 5:30- 9:00 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday, November 23rd and 24th- Harvest Friendship Feast- sign up sheets on classroom doors
Thursday and Friday, November 26th and 27th- Thanksgiving Holiday- Closed Completely
Friday, December 4th- Elf Club- Traditions of the Season- 5:30- 9:00 p.m.

School News and Notes

Ms. Lee and the Peacocks have made an awesome discovery!  They found that if they saved their foil tops to Yoplait yogurts and mailed them in, that 10 cents would be donated to breast cancer research for each one.  We are now trying to have the whole school participate.  If you want to bring some in, we will send them along.  Thanks for your help!

We are making a lasagna garden this fall!  It’s a great way to preserve our pizza garden over the winter and have it even stronger in the spring.  We will be layering it will lots of brown and green goodies.  We will begin with shredded newspaper and then want to build on it with coffee grounds, fruit and veggie scraps, grass clippings and mulch.  If you want to bring us any of these items from home it will help us grow our garden strong! 

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
     Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
     www.brightbeginningsva.com
    
Crozet Newsletter
Friday, November 6, 2009
      

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, November 11th- Staff Appreciation
Friday, November 13th- Elf Club- Happy Harvest- 5:30- 9:00 p.m.
Friday, November 20th- Elf Club- Food ‘a Plenty- 5:30- 9:00 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday, November 23rd and 24th- Harvest Friendship Feast
Thursday and Friday, November 26th and 27th- Thanksgiving Holiday- Closed Completely

School News and Notes

Thanks again to all who attended, sent it treats, and assisted with our Halloween Celebrations.  You really helped us make it a success! 

A special thanks to the Butterfields for donating the yummy Sal’s pizza last Friday!  Everyone in the school was able to enjoy the special treat!

Upcoming Events

Friday, October 9- Children's Night Out- Stop, Drop and Roll- 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Tuesday and Wednesday, October 13 and 14- School Pictures
Week of October 19- Scholastic Book Fair
Thursday and Friday, October 29 and 30- Halloween Celebrations

School News and Notes

A special thanks to all of our parents that attended the field trip and/or Parent Advisory Meeting this past week. We had a fun, busy week and it would not have been possible without you!