CrozetOur Crozet school is located on Park Ridge Dr for your convience. We are in a neighborhood setting and very easy to access. The teachers at Crozet have an average of 12 years of education experience and less than a 5% employee turnover rate. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Friday, 05 March 2010 11:23
Newsletter March 5, 2010BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984 www.brightbeginningsva.com Crozet Newsletter March 5, 2010 Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, March 9th, Brownie Bake Off!
Friday, March 19th, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30 “Shining Shamrock” Tuesday, March 23rd, Kindergarten Registration! Registration will take place at the school that you which will be attending. Please see the informational sheets posted on the front Bulletin Boards and Pre-K classroom for details! Monday, March 29th, Re-registration Fee Charged to Accounts Except Rising Kindergartners Friday, April 2nd, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30 “Hop into Spring” Thursday and Friday, April 8th and 9th, Closed Completely for Spring Break School News and Notes:
Reminder: Scholastic Book Orders are due March 18th!
Don’t forget about the Brownie Bake Off next Tuesday! What’s Cooking?
Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients: 3 cups flour 2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt 3/4 cup raisins 2 eggs Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Mix eggs and buttermilk and add to dry ingredients. Add raisins and mix. Pour dough onto lightly floured board and knead 10 times. Shape into round loaf adding flour if necessary. Place into lightly greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Speech Weekly Notes from Stacy Torrence:
Intelligibility Guidelines
Can you understand what your child is saying?Does your child speak clearly? Do you have to translate your child's speech to others? This is called intelligibility. The term intelligibility refers to how much a listener can understand the speaker. In typical development, as children learn to talk, their comprehensibility to those around them steadily increases. In young children there is often quite a marked difference between understanding: Single words vs. conversational speech Known conversational topics vs. unknown conversational topics Parents and close family members are usually experts at understanding their own child's speech attempts. We have seen many parents "translate" even the most unintelligible efforts made by their children! With regard to families, siblings may sometimes be more adept than parents in comprehending what their little brothers and sisters are saying! Unfamiliar listeners, on the other hand, are often unable to decipher a young child's speech. Approximate Age Percentage of Understood by Parents 18 months A typical child is 25% intelligible. 2 years A typical child is 50-70% intelligible. 3 years A typical child is 80% intelligible. 4 years A typical child is 90% intelligible. Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP Class Notes:
The Pelican Class This week the Pelicans mixed food coloring in water to play and splash around in! Gray is testing out the toddler room so that he can get adjusted to their schedule with Ms. Jen and Ms. Kim; so far he is doing wonderfully! Sami and Ashlyn really enjoy the game "Hand and Hand" where you give them a toy to play with and it's their job to try and move it to the other hand without dropping it! In art we made lion's manes and cotton ball lambs. We practice our counting during meal times which Sami has enjoyed learning and even trying on her own! Keaton is really doing well sitting up and loves to play and laugh with is friends! Have a wonderful weekend! Ms. Sue The Kangaroo Class This was another wonderful week in the Kangaroo classroom! To work on developing our gross motor skills we practiced walking like animals! We hopped like a bunny, walked on all fours like a tiger, slithered like a snake, and even tried to crab walk! We did several art projects helping us work on our fine motor skills including making sheep and even lions! During our practical living time we set up a pretend vet office! This week we also worked on opposites by making smiling and frowning faces! Have a nice weekend! Ms. Jen The Bunny Class Hello Bunny families! The Bunnies had a great time discovering new things this week! For math we worked really hard on recognizing all of our shapes. We drew them on the white board and played Pooh flashcards. Martin and Addie loved going around the room to see what shapes they could find. During science time this week we learned about circus animals. Emily and Nathan loved the stories we read about different circus animals. We even got to have a pretend circus in our room! For language arts we concentrated on rhyming. We read rhyming stories from the Discovery Quest reading series and practiced saying rhyming words. Jake and Makayla's favorite rhyming story was "Over in the Meadow"! The Bunnies did a lot of great art projects this week. We painted with green, made lemon playdough and created circus animal puppets. Conner and Elara really enjoyed making lion masks this week! Thank you for another wonderful week in the Bunny room! Have a great weekend! Ms. Whitney The Peacock Class Hello Peacock family and friends! We have had so much fun learning and playing in our classroom this week! We have really started to focus on our ABC's. We are learning what the letters sound like and coming up with a few words that begin with each letter we're learning about! For example, we discussed how the word "apple" begins with the letter A and we practiced making the sound, verbally. We are using our ABC books and flashcards each morning in order to help us learn our letters and letter sounds. This week we have also been working on our vocabulary with simple words and uses. In order to better understand this concept we did an activity where we found an object in the room, named it and explained what it is used for (ex. chair-we sit in chairs). In addition to all of these activities we've also been working on sorting blocks as well as shape recognition. We have had a lot of fun with arts and crafts this week. We used glitter, paint and long yarn in order to create colorful lion masks! We also used a lot of green this week in our coloring and painting activities as we are preparing our room for St. Patrick's Day! We were finally able to get outside this week (yay!) All of us really enjoyed being able to run and run out in the fresh air! If you ever have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to stop by! Thanks! Ms. Lee Ms. Lee The Walrus Class Welcome March! Spring is on it's way and the Walrus class was so thrilled to run around on the playground this week! We were happy to find it almost totally clear of snow this week! We've been working hard and learning lots. In math we have been focusing on shapes. We were re-introduced to our shape friends! We met/reviewed Ollie Oval, Tommy Triangle, Cindy Circle and the rest of the gang. We counted the number of sides on the triangle and square and learned that "tri" indicates 3! We also played a few rounds of "Shape Shop" which is one of our favorite file folder games. By doing these activities we are able to visually recognize shapes and identify them by name. In science we've been learning all about dental hygiene! We counted our teeth and discussed what kinds of items are beneficial to our dental growth and strength. Clifford the Big Red Dog helped us out with these lessons as he had us working hard on some of his favorite class activities! We worked together to distinguish healthy vs. unhealthy tooth related items and learned about what each item had to contribute to our dental hygiene. We learned about what an apple a day can do and how milk helps not only our bones but our teeth too! In language arts we had our weekly community meeting with the Rooster Class where we read about "The House That Jack Built". We also were introduced to the letter D. We learned about the sound that D makes and made a list of words that begin with D. Matthew really loves to make D's and reminds us that the word "Daddy" begins with D! In art we made lion masks complete with a beautiful mane! We also painted with toothbrushes and Q-tips! Our art lessons focus on fine motor development as well as creativity and self confidence. We are constantly reminded that each individual is unique and that all artwork is beautiful in it's own special way. In social awareness we have been working really hard on respecting differences. We learned how to say the word "peace" in many different languages and discussed how there are many different faces all over our world. Alan and Remmer love to say "goom gi gi" and Lucy's favorite is "kurtuku" which both mean "peace". We also learned what the word "cooperate" means and how important it is to be cooperative in the classroom. Our project green lessons were all about planting trees! We discussed all the necessary tools needed in order to plant and grow a tree. We discussed what trees provide for us and how important they are in maintaining a healthy environment. For our cooking project we made Irish Soda Bread in celebration of the month of March! We love to cook together and really enjoy eating what we worked so hard on. In children's humanities we have been discovering nature stations and building our character. We played with nuts, rocks and shells in order to learn more about nature. We've read stories about and discussed the importance of building strong character and being the best person that we can be! Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine! Reminders and Information: Please refer to daynotes for reminders regarding upcoming events! We have show and tell every Friday and I would prefer that students not bring any toys from home except for Fridays. We are trying to minimize the amount of toys lost or broken plus we have lots of great toys in our classroom that the children enjoy! Ms. Erin The Rooster Class It was a busy week in the Rooster room! In science, we focused on appreciating nature, especially now that we can venture outside again! We discussed ecosystems in danger and took a nature walk to better appreciate the nature around us. In math we focused on shape recognition, playing musical "shapes" and creating patterns with shape blocks! We know: circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, hexagons, octagons, diamonds, ovals, hearts and stars! In language arts this week we began working with a new Letter of the Week, Dd. We worked with the phonics and sounds of D and brainstormed words that begin with D. We also practiced writing D's and d's in our writing journals. Finally, we worked with two new sight words: very, us. Creatively this week, we worked with two themes: the circus and lemons! We created lion masks and pretended to be lions and lion tamers! We also used cut up lemons to make lemon prints. Finally, we made lemon-scented playdough and sculpted different fruits. In social studies and awareness we worked on aspects of character building, specifically cooperation and team work. We played a variety of group-based and team building games, such as operator, a three legged race and puzzle races! The highlight of our week was our Thursday cooking project: shamrocks! We used Pillsbury breadstick dough and formed shamrock shapes by ourselves. We then rolled them in green sugar and baked them! They were delicious and full of the Irish spirit! Classroom reminders: toys from home are not allowed in the Rooster room except for Fridays for show and tell. Please discourage these as they are distractions from our learning. Thanks, Ms. Amanda
Friday, 26 February 2010 13:02
Newsletter February 26, 2010BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984 www.brightbeginningsva.com Crozet Newsletter
February 12, 2010 “When children feel good about themselves, it's like a snowball rolling downhill. They are continually able to recognize and integrate new proof of their value as they grow and mature.”
-Stephanie Marston Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, March 9th, Brownie Bake Off!
Friday, March 19th, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30 “Shining Shamrock” Tuesday, March 23rd, Kindergarten Registration! Registration will take place at the school that you which will be attending. Please see the informational sheets posted on the front Bulletin Boards and Pre-K classroom for details! Monday, March 29th, Re-registration Fee Charged to Accounts Except Rising Kindergartners Friday, April 2nd, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30 “Hop into Spring” Thursday and Friday, April 8th and 9th, Closed Completely for Spring Break School News and Notes:
Thank you all for another wonderful week. Please turn in your parent survey if you have not already done so! Thank you all for your feedback! Thank you Shannon and Alan Franklin for the generous donation of toys! March 15th through 19th is the Virginia Festival of the Book! We have several fun events planned. See the front desk/current events bulletin board for more information! Financial Memo:
Tuition is due by March 3rd this month since February is short (and with a 3 day grace period).What’s Cooking?
Marshmallow Pops
Ingredients:
20 lollipop sticks (found at cake decorating or craft stores) 20 large marshmallows 1 cup Nestle Tollhouse Premier White Morsels 1 cup Milk Chocolate Morsels Decorating icing Assorted candies and chocolates Directions: 1. Line baking sheet with wax paper 2. Push each lollipop stick halfway through a marshmallow 3. Melt white chocolate morsels. Immediately dip 10 marshmallows lightly into the melted chocolate for a thin coating. Set the stick on the baking sheet. 4. Repeat step three but with milk chocolate morsels. 5. Refrigerate marshmallow lollipops for 10 minutes or until hardened. Use decorating icing as glue to decorate with assorted candies. Speech Weekly Notes from Stacy Torrence:
2.26.10
These are the skills that were addressed this week. I was at Mill Creek and Crozet this week and will be at the Forest Lakes location this coming Tuesday. Toddlers and young 2’s We began by building our vocabulary by reaching into my function bag and naming objects and talking about the use of the specific object. We discussed around 25 items as well as their functions including a spoon, chair, bed, cup, phone, comb, etc. We also read another noisy story and worked on the sounds /m/, /s/, /n/, /r/, /e/, and /w/. We also reviewed sign language as well. Older 2’s Each student reached into the function bag and had to name the object and tell their friends the function of each object. We also read a noisy story and focused on the sounds /m/, /s/, /n/, /r/, /e/, and /w/. Finally we worked on oral motor skills to exercise the muscles in our mouths by blowing cotton balls across the table with straws. 3’s and 4’s We worked on rhyming sounds and used our rhyming houses. Each student had 2-3 cards in front of them and had to match their cards with the specific rhyming house. We also addressed the use of objects and were able to list 6 things you can do with a ball, discussed the use of keys, quarters, phones, bikes, and several others. Class Notes:
The Pelican Class This week, every morning during circle time, we sang the song “Who is here?” We pointed to each one of our friends and called out his name! We played with soap on our blue water table, making soap prints! Gray and Sami had so much fun! Keaton has been cooing and trying to talk a lot and has been smiling all week! We are all walking (except Keaton!) and we had fun marching around the room to music. All of the children would laugh! Sami, Gray, and Ashlyn have learned to put the play rings on their arms! They like to keep them on all day! We enjoyed playing the number game! We have tried to count our toys as we pull them out of the container! We also counted our teeth to see who has the most! We all really enjoyed painting with toothbrushes! We always have so much fun in the baby room! Ms. Sue The Bunny Class Hello Bunny families! The Bunnies had another wonderful week discovering new things! This week we worked really hard on our colors and shapes. We played games and made collages to help us remember the names of our colors and shapes. Elara and Nathan really enjoyed using glue to make shape collages. This week in language arts we read rhyming word stories. We also used the white board to write our names. We practiced saying the letters that make up our names. Emily and Riley did a great job naming their letters! We also talked about the letter “B!” Martin and Jake really enjoyed making “B” art with buttons! We also talked about our teeth this week! We learned about what our teeth are used for, how we lose teeth, and how new ones grow, and how to keep our teeth clean! Addie and Makayla loved telling the class about how they brush their teeth! Thank you for another wonderful week in the Bunny class! Have a great weekend! Ms. Whitney The Peacock Class Hello Peacock family and friends! I hope everyone has found the transition to the Peacock room and great experience! I believe that all of the classmates in the Peacock room are adjusting very well to the new environment. This week we have been learning about the letter “B.” We have played the “B” game, where each child had to go into the classroom and find a toy that starts with that letter! We also stamped bunny pictures as well! This week we practiced our counting, sorting, and stacking tall, tall towers. We really have enjoyed borrowing some of Ms. Whitney’s story books for reading time during the morning, the whole class enjoys the story called The Hairy Toe. It is very silly but full of suspense! If you ever have any questions or comments please feel free to stop by! Ms. Lee The Walrus Class Snow, snow melt away! The Walrus kids are checking the progress of the playground everyday and can’t wait to get out there and run around. We’ve been super busy learning and getting to know our newest addition, Ms. Ann! In science we’ve been learning all about healthy bodies. We discussed what our favorite form of exercise is and even made a graph with our results. Dancing was the most popular form of exercise in our classroom. By doing graphs we’re working on being able to interpret results by using our visual skills; we also get practice with counting! We’ve also been working on sorting. We sorted M&M’s by color and counted how many of each color we had. We also sorted different foods into their appropriate food group. We were introduced to the concept of food groups but would love to practice this at home as well! In order for us to practice using our fine motor skills we used beans, noodles, and paint brushes to spread glue on our paper plates, placed the food item on the glue, then painted over them with our favorite colors! We also made jeweled “J’s” and soap prints! For our cooking project we made scrumptious chocolate chip banana bread! We measured, discussed wet vs. dry ingredients and stirred the batter. We all enjoyed making the bread together and most of us enjoyed eating it too! Sam and Rye particularly enjoyed the tasty treat! In social studies we read The World Turns Round and Round which is a wonderful book about differences in people all over the world. We read about a girl from India with a beautiful Sari, a boy from Nairobi with a dashiki so grand, and many more. We discussed how important it is to respect differences in people! Ava Jordan really enjoyed learning about other cultures and was quite inquisitive during the story! In children’s humanities we’ve been doing all sorts of puzzles. We love the giant puzzle that can either be an underwater or jungle scene. Mia, Caitlin, and Lucy really like to work on this one as a team! Again we’d like to welcome Ms. Ann into our classroom as our new teaching assistant as we’ve enjoyed getting to know her! Have a fantastic weekend! Reminders and Information: New Classroom Rule: Please do not bring any toys from home to school unless it is show and tell day (Friday!) We have wonderful classroom toys and would like to minimize the amount of things brought in from home as they may be lost or broken. Please remember to bring in sheets and blankets each Monday! Thanks! Ms. Erin The Rooster Class This week in the Rooster class, we worked with the themes of healthy bodies and healthy teet! In science we learned about the food groups and which foods are healthy. We also discussed what our hearts do for us and listened to our heart using a stethoscope. We also discussed the proper way to brush our teeth and keep our teeth healthy! We are a very healthy class! In math this week, we continued our healthy theme and sorted foods into healthy and unhealthy groups. We also observed and counted our own teeth. In language arts, the Roosters were hard at work with our letter of the week, “Bb.” We practiced writing “Bb” in our writing journal and brainstormed words that begin with “Bb.” We also worked with new sight words: for, do, but. In addition to these new words, we are always reviewing our previously learned words! A great way to practice these at home is to make sight word soup! Simply write the sign words on large pieces of pasta, like Rigatoni. Let your child ladle out a few pieces into a bowl and have your child identify the letters in the word and then the word, if they can! This is a fun and easy review tool to use at home! In art, the Roosters made “Stethoscopes” and hearts. We also made our own toothbrushes and painted with toothbrushes. Our favorite art project this week was making our own tooth fairy wands – then we pretended to collect teeth and give out money! A few reminders about our class: Please remember to bring in a sheet and blanket for nap. We no longer have laundry facilities so any school linens used will be sent home to be cleaned and returned. Please use ice packs in your child’s lunch to keep things cool as refrigerator space is limited! Thank you! Ms. Amanda
Friday, 19 February 2010 15:17
Newsletter February 19, 2010BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984 www.brightbeginningsva.com Crozet Newsletter
February 12, 2010 Upcoming Events:
Friday, February 19th – Children’s Night Out
“Celebrate Diversity” Thursday, February 25th – Staff Appreciation Day Tuesday, March 9th, Brownie Bake Off! School News and Notes:
Thank you all so much for attending Grandparent's and Special Friend's Day this week! Look for pictures of the event in our front desk slideshow next week!Next week we are welcoming Ms. Ann to our staff who will be a teaching assistant in the Walrus room. Ms. Ann comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience in teaching and we are very happy to have her here! Thank you all for signing up for Children's Night Out this week. We are excited to have such a great turn out. Please remember to turn in your coupon to Ms. Casey, otherwise we cannot apply it to the charge. We recognize that with the amount of snow and ice we have had this winter that we have had to alter our hours of operation and appreciate your understanding as you can imagine that it is a difficult decision to make. Overall we have not closed as often as others and strive to be open during bad weather for your convenience. Please keep in mind that when making this decision we consider the safety of our staff and families and the number of staff that can make it in order to maintain ratios. If we have another day that we are closed due to snow or ice (cross your fingers that we don't!) we will add back in one of the spring break days in April. Thanks again for your patience and understanding. Financial Memo:
If you forget your pass card to enter the building, please remember to sign your child in or out at the front desk.Thank you for your referrals. Several families will be receiving a free week and you can too! Refer a family that enrolls and you will receive a free week after they have been enrolled here a month. Specials:
Tell-A-Friend- Did you know that if you refer a family to our program you will receive a free week of tuition?!?!Speech Weekly Notes from Stacy Torrence:
This week we worked on: Toddlers and young 2’s We followed directions with a game of Simon says, we read “Polar Bear Polar Bear” with our story manipulatives, and read the Noisy story “Sam Wants More”. We focused on the signs “more”, “Finished”, and “thank you”. When we were reading our story the children were asked to “tell” their part of the story in at least 3-4 words. We also answered “what” questions using Buddy Bear. Older 2’s We also read “Polar Bear Polar Bear” with our story manipulatives, and read the Noisy story “Sam Wants More”. We answered “what” questions with Buddy Bear as well. We also answered simple questions from our oral language box. 3’s and 4’s We utilized our alphabet books and focused on phonemic awareness skills. We used our individual alphabet flip cooks to focus on our letter sounds. We made it all the way to the letter /r/ this week. The children have really picked up on the alphabet “jingles”. Sequencing was also addressed focusing on first, second, last. The children had to put the story pieces in order and tell their classmates the story using sequencing words. Finally we opened our oral language box and each student picked a card and had to answer specific question or describe items. For example “Describe something that is gigantic”, “What is something that makes you proud”, “What’s your favorite crunchy food” etc. We got to focus on all kinds on new words and adjectives. Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP Class Notes:
The Pelican Class Our week started off well with all of our friends back and no snow! We have been singing our ABC song and learning to pat our knees. Gray and Sami did a great job with this and had a lot of fun! Keaton has started to look around the room as he listens to sounds. Finding out what it was put a big smile on his face! Ashlyn is walking all over the room now! She is exploring empty containers and enjoys playing with the toys that were once in them! This week we all got down on our backs and rolled all over the floor to music! We picked cotton balls out of a bag to feel as we explored different sensations of touch. Although sometimes we might have tried to taste them too! A lot of our friends are starting to talk and trying to make different sounds. At Grandparents Day, Sami's Grandma was wonderful and was able to sit and eat snack with us! Have a great weekend! Ms. Sue The Kangaroo Class The Kangaroos are continuing to work on shape identification. We are identifying shapes around the room. We are also working on opposites like laugh/cry, wet/dry, and open/close. We are doing a great job! We are also doing a great job on our sign language! We are starting to sign and use our words at the same time. The letter of the week was "B" and we made a word list - "Ball," "Bat," and "Bag." We went on a sight seeing tour of the earth, and we also played games like in and out of the hula hoop! We pretneded to throw snowballs in a basket and made an obstacle course! We had a super week! Have a wonderful weekend! Ms. Jen The Bunny Class Hello Bunny families and friends! The Bunnies had a very exciting week with visits from some very special guests! We enjoyed having all the Grandparents and Special Friends in our class and we thank you for coming! This week we worked really hard on learning the names of our colors. We played games, and practiced with flashcards. Martin and Nathan loved using the flashcards because they have Pooh and Friends on them! We have also been working very hard on our Spanish, using Dora for help! The Bunnies are doing great counting to 5 in Spanish, and saying hello/goodbye. Makayla and Riley love when we read Dora and speak Spanish! For language arts this week we've been practicing learning the letters in our names. Emily and Addie love seeing their names on the white board and naming the letters. We also had a great time doing art this week. The Bunnies have warm weather on the mind! So we made Mr. Golden Suns! On Wednesday, we traced ourselves! Jake and Elara really loved doing this! We also made Grandparents Day cards! Thank you again to all the families who came for Grandparents Day! I hope you had fun! Ms. Whitney The Peacock Class Hello and welcome Peacock friends and families! Over the past few days we have had new classmates joi our classroom, what fun! This week in the Peacock class we have been working very hard with our ABCs as well as counting on our fingers. We have been using our magnetic letters as well as picture flashcards to learn our ABCs. With numbers, we have several songs we sing to help us count like, "5 Little Monkeys," "Jack Hammer," and "5 Green Speckled Frogs." All of our hard practice paid off for Grandparents day with our favrite songs and art work we made! I hope everyone that came out had a great time and enjoyed themselves! We are definitely ready for the warm weather to get here so we can go back outside to play! We are having a great time adjusting to the new Peacock classroom! If you ever have any questions please feel free to stop by! Ms. Lee The Walrus Class February is in full swing and the Walrus class is ready for spring! We've been very busy and having tons of fun! In math we've been working on shapes, colors, and graphing. We played a super fun game of "Find the (color) Zimbo!" We each had a turn to come up to the Zimbo table and identify the color of Zimbo that Ms. Erin chose. When it was our turn to return the Zimbo to the table we ashared with the class what color we had. This game helped us both recognize and identify a variety of colors. We all did a fantastic job and loved cheering for our friends! We also made a "Favorite Exercise" graph and played a version of "Simon Says" that helped us recognize different shapes. In science we learned what jogging is and how it helps us stay fit! We even took a class jog around the room! Emily, Mia, and Caitlin had a blast during our jog and wanted to keep going! For Project Green we pretended to ride our bikes around our room and learned about how doing this can really help our environment. Specifically, we talked about how reducing harmful gasses from vehicles could improve the quality of air we breathe! In language arts we learned the sound of "Bb" and identified words that start with "Bb." Alan came up with the wod "Buzz" all by himself! We also read the story Buzz Said the Bee and identified the "B" words we heard. In art, we created "Where are you Spring?" fingerpaints! We used bright paints and paper to make Spring come a little sooner (in our classroom!) We also made jewel "J's" which helped us with our fine motor and gluing skills. We briefly discussed the letter "J" and what it sounds like. In social awareness we had a morning stretch class which Remmer and Ava Jordan really excelled at and enjoyed! Ava Jordan reminded us that stretching and exercising help keep our bodies healthy! For our cooking project we made scrumptious banana chocolate chip bread! We helped with the measuring, stirring, and of course, eating! We talked about the health benefits of fruits such as bananas, and tied our cooking project in with language arts as Banana Bread can be part of our list of "B" words! Ms. Erin really appreciated all of her Valentine's and would like to say thank you for all of the special goodies! Have a great weekend! Reminders and Info: Please make sure you bring in sheets and blankets on Mondays. If you do not bring them in we will use extras that will be sent home with your student in order to be washed and returned. Please do not bring in sippy cups. If your child comes home with another students clothes, (i.e. underwear, pants, etc.) please wash and return them ASAP as they are extras for that student! Ms. Erin The Rooster Class Welcome back after the long weekend! I hope everyone enjoyed the day off! The Roosters were hard at work this week, catching up from our snowdays. In language arts, we reviewed sight words from previous weeks. We have 26 words now! We also began working with a new letter of the week, "Bb!" We learned the sound "Bb" makes, brainstormed words that start with "Bb," and practiced writing "Bb" by ourselves! In art, the Rooster class painted with fruit and their fingers! The apples and bananas made great stamps! We also decorated "Bb's" in honor of our new letter of the week! In math, we worked on addition and subtraction using the symbols +, -, =. It's big kid stuff, but we are smart! In science we identified all the parts of the body that we know using our own bodies and a diagram. On Friday, we measured and mixed ingredients to make a cherry crisp! Super yum! Finally, in social studies and social awareness, we brainstormed healthy foods and healthy physical activities. We even practiced some jumping jacks and aerobics! Have a great weekend! Ms. Amanda and Ms. Sherri
Sunday, 14 February 2010 14:08
Newsletter February 12, 2010BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984 www.brightbeginningsva.com Crozet Newsletter
February 12, 2010 Upcoming Events:
Monday February 15th – Closed completely for Staff Development and Training
Tuesday, February 16th – Parent Advisory Committee Meeting at 5pm Thursday, February 18th – Grandparent’s and Special Friend’s Day 10 AM Friday, February 19th – Children’s Night Out “Celebrate Diversity” Thursday, February 25th – Staff Appreciation Day School News and Notes:
Thank you all so much for completing the Parent Survey we sent out! We encourage you to turn yours in if you have not already. If you need an extra copy please see the front desk. We truly appreciate your honest feedback. Your suggestions and comments are invaluable to our business. The following are some of the most common questions/responses we saw:Q: How do we know what our children are getting for snack each day? A: Our monthly snack menu is posted on the first bulletin board in the main lobby. Any changes are updated daily. Q: Which classes do your Reading, Music, and Speech specialists work in? A: Reading Specialist, Ms. Edith, works with our 3 and 4 year old classes on preliteracy skills. Music Specialist, Ms. Melissa,works with our 3 and 4 year old classes combining learning, music, and movement into one fun filled class! Speech Pathologist, Stacy Torrence, completes full articulation screenings with children age 3 and up. She also works with our Toddler through Pre-K classes introducing language skills (including sign language) and working on phonemic awareness skills. One overwhelming comment we heard was, "Your teachers are great!" Here are some examples: "My child enjoys coming to preschool each day because of his wonderful teachers." "My son LOVES his teacher!" "Teachers are wonderful! Very caring!" Please continue to provide your questions, comments, and suggestions to Ms. Casey and Ms. Sue! Thank you to Chuck Yarbrough and Christopher Brement for shovelling our sidewalk during the snow! We really appreciate it! 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.If you forget your pass card to enter the building, please remember to sign your child in or out at the front desk. Earn a free week! Refer a friend or coworker and if they enroll you will receive a free week's tuition. Specials:
Tell-A-Friend- Did you know that if you refer a family to our program you will receive a free week of tuition?!?!Speech Weekly Notes from Stacy Torrence:
Due to the snow, I was able to make it to Forest Lakes this week and will be at Crozet on Monday and Millcreek on Tuesday. These are the skills we addressed. Toddlers and young 2’s We followed directions with a game of Simon says, we read “Polar Bear Polar Bear” with our story manipulatives, and read the Noisy story “Sam Wants More”. We focused on the signs “more”, “Finished”, and “thank you”. When we were reading our story the children were asked to “tell” their part of the story in at least 3-4 words. We also answered “what” questions using Buddy Bear. Older 2’s We also read “Polar Bear Polar Bear” with our story manipulatives, and read the Noisy story “Sam Wants More”. We answered “what” questions with Buddy Bear as well. We also answered simple questions from our oral language box. 3’s and 4’s We utilized our alphabet books and focused on phonemic awareness skills. We used our individual alphabet flip cooks to focus on our letter sounds. We made it all the way to the letter /r/ this week. The children have really picked up on the alphabet “jingles”. Sequencing was also addressed focusing on first, second, last. The children had to put the story pieces in order and tell their classmates the story using sequencing words. Finally we opened our oral language box and each student picked a card and had to answer specific question or describe items. For example “Describe something that is gigantic”, “What is something that makes you proud”, “What’s your favorite crunchy food” etc. We got to focus on all kinds on new words and adjectives. Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP Class Notes:
The Pelican Class Monday was a short day because of the big snow fall we had over the weekend! With the friends in our class we painted with red and glued red yarn to our pictures. Sami and Ashlyn had fun finding shapes to fit in the elephant. “Who’s That” is a game we play to see who’s in our class where we sing their name and then point to Keaton, Gray, Sami, and Ashlyn. What fun we have! We have been looking at picture books, pointing at the pictures and then trying to say the name of what we see, like cow or tree, boy or girl. We love stacking different colors of blocks and then knocking them down, Gray especially loves this game! We also tried turning on a flashlight to make our shadows! Enjoy the weekend! I hope we can get through without any snow! Ms. Sue The Kangaroo Class This week the Kangaroos have been working on shape identification. We matched puzzle pieces and hearts! We worked on rhyming words like four/door and frog/dog. We have been working very hard on our Valentine’s Day gifts! We had a super fun time playing in our sensory snow tub. Have a happy Valentine’s Day! Love, the Kangaroos Ms. Jen The Bunny Class Wow! What a crazy week! Old man winter has been in full force the past couple of weeks! Even though we had a short one, we still had a lot of fun learning and talking about love and friendship at our Valentine’s Day parties. This week we talked about feelings and love. We also thought of ways we can show those that we love how we feel. Everyone worked really hard on Valentine’s they made for Moms and Dads. This week we also worked on colors and shapes. We played with Pooh and Friends flashcards to help us practice! Thank you to everyone who helped make our Valentine’s Day parties a hit! All of the kids had a lot of fun. Have a great weekend and Happy Valentine’s Day! Ms. Whitney The Peacock Class Hello Peacock family and friends, So our dear old friend the ground dog so his shadow for sure for this winter. We have missed a couple of days of school this week but the time we did share. We had fun fun! This week we talked about love, and our feelings, we also made Valentine’s Day gifts for our mommies and daddies! This week we practiced two songs that talk about, “love,” one is the Barney song “I Love You,” and the other is, “You Are My Sunshine.” I would like to welcome Lily into our Peacock classroom! I am glad you are going to be joining myself and the Peacocks while we have so much fun learning at school. If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to stop by! Happy Valentine’s Day!! Thanks, Ms. Lee The Walrus Class Happy Valentine’s Day! We’ve been enjoying all of the heart day activities we’ve been doing and we had a fantastic time during our parties! In math we predicted how many Valentine colored M&Ms were in a cup then compared the two cups in order to illustrate more versus less, and then, counted to see how many were actually in the cup! Thomas guessed the closest with an estimation of 10! There were actually 26. In science we’ve been learning all about ways to keep our bodies healthy. We did a science lab where we were offered two snacks or activities. We then had to choose the healthier option. For example, Bree had to choose between celery and chocolate chip cookies. Sam had to choose between watching TV or throwing a ball outside. They both chose the healthy option on the first try! Good job! In language arts we traced the letter “Rr” and reviewed “Rr” words. Lucy really helped us figure out some “Rr” words! She reminded us that rocket, rabbit, and Remmer, all start with the letter “Rr!” In art, we made valentine goody bags! We used our new sponge top paint bottles to decorate them which we really enjoyed. In social awareness we sang lovely Valentine’s songs and read Valentine poems together. We loved exchanging Valentines with our friends and enjoyed all of the yummy treats! Have a fabulous weekend full of love and laughter! Reminders and Info: Please send in a journal for your student if you haven’t already. Please do not bring sippy cups to school and please remember to bring in sheets and blankets each week. Thanks! Ms. Erin The Rooster Class This week in the Rooster class, we celebrated Valentine’s Day! We decorated bags to put our Valentines in and decorated hearth shaped cookies to celebrate! They were very beautiful and delicious! We also created Valentine’s Day cards for our grandparents and guests who attended our Grandparent’s Day celebration! In math this week we practiced estimating and adding. We used heart shaped conversation hearts to practice addition. We also used these to estimate how many we had in a jar! Finally, we estimated how many envelopes Ms. Amanda was mailing for Valentine’s Day! In social studies/awareness we discussed what Valentine’s Day is and what we do on that day to celebrate. We also shared who we love and who is our Valentine this year! We continued working with the letter “Rr” this week, practicing writing “Rr” and the sound that “Rr” makes. We also worked with new sight words – at, by, if, and not. Here is a list of all the sight words we have learned to date: At And A Am Be By Is I It In If Like Me My No Not Of Or She So The To We Yes You Thank you to the parents who generously donated supplies and goodies for our Valentine’s Day parties! We couldn’t do it without your donations, time, and support! Ms. Amanda |
School News
Staff Login |
|
|
|
|
434-823-7129
1645 Park Ridge Drive