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- SPEECH AND LANGUAGE GROUPS

 This is a snapshot of what we worked on this week!  I was very excited to see some young children using new signs, the teachers implementing the visual schedules, and the children working on difficult language concepts.  Such “smart cookies” we have at Bright Beginnings! 

Toddlers and young 2’s
We began by reading a “Noisy Story” to practice our speech sounds.  Noisy Stories are simple stories that very young children can “read” because they are asked to make a specific sound in a repetitive manner.  We read Noisy Stories about riding the bus and going to the zoo.  Animals such as snakes were trying to “ride” the bus and the children pretended to be snakes and make /s/ sounds.  We worked on /s/, /f/, /l/, /z/, and /r/.  They did an amazing job.  Next we worked on using “I want” strips as a visual tool to work on speaking in 3 word sentences.   The children were able to choose specific colored balls but had to say and point to the strip using 3-4 words.  For example,  “I want red ball” and of course we had to add our sign for please as well.   Speaking of sign language, we worked on the following signs “More”, “ball”, “please” and “want”.   We also introduced Becca Bunny to work on specific language concepts.  This week we focused on identifying shapes. 

Older 2’s
 We also read “Noisy Stories” and focused on sound bombardment of /f/, /s/, /z/ /l/, and /r/.  We also categorized animals that live at the zoo.   They were able to “read” the story with little help from me.  We also used 4-5 word sentences and played with our ball toy.  The children had to give sentences of at least 4 -5words to choose a specific colored ball and hammer.   Next we also read language concepts books and the children help read the story by placing a shape sticker on Becca Bunny.  They also used “big kid” sentences and described the story to their friends. 

3’s and 4’s
  We focused on comparatives/superlatives this week.  For example, we introduced Buddy Bear and focused on using correct grammar by using comparatives and superlatives in sentences.  For example, the first cave is dark, the second cave was darker, and the last cave was the darkest.  This is a very hard language concept and I was really impressed with how the children did when introduced to comparatives/superlatives.  We completed the language groups by making dogs that were folded to be long, longer, and longest.   We worked on the following comparatives/superlatives:
short, shorter, shortest                                                        
large, larger, largest
scary, scarier, scariest
happy, happier, happiest
high, higher, highest
low, lower, lowest
good, better, best

Financial Memo

December tuition is due on Wednesday, November 25 due to 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.  Copies of the new rates are located at the front desk.
 
Attention Early Bird Shoppers.  Sign up for the Elf Club each Friday evening in November and get your shopping done early this year.  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

      Our Pelican friends have become quite the avid readers!  We have been enjoying lots of new books!  Jackson especially likes “Welcome Fall” so we have been reading this as a group quite often!  The children love to watch and help us follow along through the words with our pointer finger.  We also enjoyed a special activity this week.  We made pudding and played with it as a group on our big, blue table.  They loved smooching and splattering it all over and wiping it off before trying again!   Tuesday’s hat day was a great success.  We all wore our hats around the room and jumped in the buggy to go show our other school friends!  Everyone seemed to really enjoy a visit from our infants.  We also had some good fun with some homemade toys!  Our infants had a blast playing with clean, used egg cartons!  We poked and made holes and had a great time with this activity.  Berkeley and Maegan especially enjoyed the egg carton fun.  Meanwhile Gray and Sami were fans of looking at pictures of foods.  At times, they became a bit confused and tried to eat the actual pictures, but we cleared it all up!  We also made our own watercolors using simple food coloring and water.  The children all enjoyed the “painting” and used the sponges as well!  See you Monday! 

                              
Kangaroos- Ms. Jen and Ms. Kim

 This week the Kangaroos had fun mixing colors.  We finger painted with brown paint to make some turkeys and then we mixed red, yellow and brown to make pitter, patter turkeys as well.  Check out our new artwork in the hallway!  We also enjoyed learning about our 5 senses and guessing the smell in our scent bottles.  We have been touching all the things around our classroom and learning how they feel; each item seems to have its own unique texture.  We are so excited to talk about what we see as well!  In working on our speech, we are focusing on words to use verbally and also learning the sign language that corresponds with the selected word/phrase.  Our classroom boat still seems to be hit, but we are also enjoying racing our cars and trucks too!  During humanities, we have been making up stories using our puppets- so fun!  A few of our friends are beginning to start using the potty and are doing a super job!  Thanks for a wonderful, although, wet week.  Have a great weekend and we will see you back next week!

 Peacock- Ms. Lee

 This week in the peacock class we have all enjoyed learning about our five senses.  We had lots of fun finger painting and exploring our creative side therein.  We are also beginning to think about and make some of our Thanksgiving decorations which we are having a blast with!  The paint, glue, glitter and feather are all so much fun!  We also have been working on our counting skills some this week.  We have been practicing counting 1 to 10 on our fingers, and in both English and Spanish!  In the afternoons during humanities we have been producing our very own puppet plays.  The children have selected their puppets and performed dialogues and songs for one another.  Each child has been very unique in their presentation.  Please remember to sign up and help with our upcoming Friendships Feasts.  We are making Stone Soup on November 23rd and Friendship Fruit Salad on the 24th.  We greatly appreciate your donations.  Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!!!  Stay dry!

Bunny- Ms. Whitney

 The Bunnies had such a great week discovering new things!  In math we are working on understanding shape and color patterns.  We also used our blocks to help us add and subtract.  Riley and Lucas really light up when they know that one block added to two blocks equals three!  We did lots of fun things in science this week!  First, we learned about mixing colors.  On Tuesday, we did an experiment to see which two colors make another color!  Emily and Addie had so much fun guessing what colors we were making!  We also discovered different textures.  We learned the difference between hard and soft and rough and smooth.  For social awareness we discovered the importance of friendship.  We discussed ways to be a good friend, and the things that we shouldn’t do to our friends.  Through this discussion we discovered the importance of sharing and taking turns.  The Bunnies did a great job coloring and painting pictures for their special friends.  Makayla and Nathan really enjoyed making friendship necklaces for their friends! 
 Hola Amigos!  Your Bunny friends also discovered Spanish this week with the help of Dora!  We learned to say both hello and goodbye, and can even count to five!  Next week we will continue to work on counting in Spanish and begin learning colors.  Thank you for another wonderful week!  Looking forward to next week- have a great weekend!

Walrus- Ms. Erin

 November has been full of learning and fun!  The Walrus class is continuing to grow and develop.  In math we’ve been learning about and creating patterns using colors and shapes.  We also played a color wheel identification game where we had the name of a color and had to match the word to the corresponding color on the wheel!  We also played a game of “I Spy” where Ms. Erin gave us a color and we had to find something in our classroom that was the color she spied!  In science, we researched the forest on Encarta for our kids.  We learned what kinds of plants and animals live in the forest as well as what the environment is like.  We also have been learning about our 5 senses.  We learned all about the sense of smell.  We played a game called “Guess the Smell” where we first learned what vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger all smell like.  Once we distinguished the scents, we started our guessing game.  Ms. Erin put the three scents in 3 separate identical, unmarked cups.  Each of us had a turn to smell the cup Ms. Erin chose for us while being blindfolded.  We guessed what scents our sniffers’ were smelling!  We had so much fun doing this activity and just loved the factor of surprise!  We discussed our favorite smells and you can take a look below for the things we love to smell!  In language arts we played “Identify the X” where we had three letters to choose between in order to identify the “X”.  This helps us with the recognition of the letter of “X” as well as what “X” doesn’t look like.  In art, we used paint, tissue paper, feathers, and a paper plate to create Fall wreaths!  We also did easel and feather painting.  We’re quite the little artists!  In dramatic play, we learned “The Little Pilgrim” and began discussing the First Thanksgiving.  In social awareness we discussed why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  We talked about the words “donate” and “give” and learned what they mean and how important they are especially during the holiday season.  We talked about others in need and what we can do to help.  We came up with ideas like donating toys we don’t use anymore, coats that don’t fit us, and food that others need in order to stay healthy.  Our reading friend, Mrs. Fisher visited us and she did an activity with us where we thought of words that start with each letter of our names!  We worked on recognizing our own names, our friends’ names, and practiced letter sound.  During our music lesson we sang songs in Spanish, Japanese and French.  Our favorite song this week was about a pony names Macaroni!  We’re all looking forward to the upcoming holidays and are counting down the days until turkey day!  Have a fantastic Fall weekend!

My Favorite Smell(s) Is/Are…..
“Cupcakes” Cate
“Ice cream” Bree
“My dog” Ava Jordan
“My brother” Sarah
“A horse” Alan
“My birthday” Sophia
“Trees” Sam
“My foot” Matthew
“Apples” Thomas

Reminders and information: Starting the week of November the 16th, the Walrus class will be doing an activity called the Traveling Tiger.  Our favorite class stuffed animal is a soft, snuggly tiger.  The purpose of this traveling tiger is to help the children bridge home with school.  The tiger (whose name will be chosen by the kids) will go home with a different student each weekend for a “weekend adventure”.  The tiger will depart the classroom on Friday with the selected family and should return on Monday.  He will have with him a journal so that the student (and his/her family) can write all about the tigers’ adventure in their home!  On Monday, the student will share some of his adventures with the class.  Be on the lookout for the traveling tiger in your student’s cubby!  Please remember to send in a photo (if you haven’t already) of your student for their portfolio. 

 Rooster – Ms. Amanda

      In math this week, the Roosters were busy using and learning to understand patterns.  We patterned with shapes, colors, and colored shapes!  In science, we continued working on our five senses, specifically our sense of “touch”.  We worked on texture, experiencing different textures and guessing what they were.  In language arts, we read stories about colors and our senses.  Elmer was a big favorite!  We also continued working on the letter “X”, our letter of the week.  We practiced writing “X”, understanding the sounds that “X” makes, and brainstorming “X” words. 
      In art, we worked on a variety of projects.  We finger painted Indian corn- you can see these in the hallway by our classroom!  We also worked more on understanding colors and creating colors of our own.  We mixed red, yellow, and blue, to create brown turkeys!  Another fun project was writing our names using a variety of textures- sand, glitter, and rice!
      In social studies/awareness, we continued our discussion about the five senses, especially texture.  We shared our favorite textures, or the way things feel.  We also took turns describing an apple using our 5 senses.  Our red apple looked red and shiny, smelled fruity, felt smooth in our hands  and crunchy in our mouths.  It also sounded crunchy in our mouths, and tasted both sweet and yummy!  The Roosters wish you all a lovely weekend!  See you soon!