BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
www.brightbeginningsva.com
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
www.brightbeginningsva.com
Crozet Newsletter
January 29, 2010
January 29, 2010
School News and Notes:
Thank you all for the great turn out at our Chili Cook Off! Thank you to the Parent Advisory Committee for all of their work in organizing this event! And, congratulations to the winner, Shane Torrence! (See below for the winning recipe!)This week you all received a Parent Survey! Please take the time to give us your feedback and turn these back in to Ms. Casey as soon as possible. Feel free to sign your name or keep it anonymous. The more feedback the better! We truly appreciate your comments and suggestions. Thanks!
Shane Torrence’s Winning Chili Recipe:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves minced (I always add at least 6)
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce (with the spices in it)
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can tomatoes
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 (28 ounce can) chili beans
Salt and Pepper to taste
Serve with Frito Scoops, sour cream, and cheddar cheese!
Enjoy!
Upcoming Events:
Friday, February 5th – Children’s Night Out
“Sweethearts Ball”
Wednesday, February 10th – Grandparent’s and Special Friends Day/Sweetheart Brunch
Thursday and Friday February 11th and 12th – Valentine’s Day Parties (See sign up sheets)
Monday February 15th – Closed completely for Staff Development and Training
Tuesday, February 16th – Parent Advisory Committee Meeting at 5pm
Friday, February 19th – Children’s Night Out
“Celebrate Diversity”
Thursday, February 25th – Staff Appreciation Day
Friday, February 5th – Children’s Night Out
“Sweethearts Ball”
Wednesday, February 10th – Grandparent’s and Special Friends Day/Sweetheart Brunch
Thursday and Friday February 11th and 12th – Valentine’s Day Parties (See sign up sheets)
Monday February 15th – Closed completely for Staff Development and Training
Tuesday, February 16th – Parent Advisory Committee Meeting at 5pm
Friday, February 19th – Children’s Night Out
“Celebrate Diversity”
Thursday, February 25th – Staff Appreciation Day
Financial Memo:
February tuition is due by January 30th to avoid late charges.Simply your life with Automatic Credit Card payments for tuition. Complete an authorization form and we'll take care of the rest!
Our Federal Tax ID # is: 54-1529854
Specials:
Tell-A-Friend- Did you know that if you refer a family to our program you will receive a free week of tuition?!?!Bright Beginnings partners with several corporations and institutions including UVA and PRA, providing employees with a 5% discount off of tuition! We are currently working on a partnership with Sperry Marine and PVCC. Please let us know if your company would be interested as well!
Speech Weekly Notes from Stacy Torrence:
Can Childhood Ear Infections Impact Speech and Language?
The answer to this question is "yes". Many children (I know mine have had several) have at least one middle-ear infection before the age of one and 10-20% of children have more frequent ear infections. Fluid can last on average up to one month per infection. Of huge importance is that persistent fluid is more common for children under 2 years of age than for older children.
Why is this of huge importance? This is a critical time for language learning and speech development. During a child's first three years is when the most amount of language learning is taking place - both learning to speak and understanding language. Children do this by interacting with people around them. If hearing is muffled during this time, it only makes sense that speech and language development may be delayed as a result.
Signs of a Possible Hearing Loss:
Children with otitis media will often have a mild to moderate TEMPORARY hearing loss. If you suspect your child may have trouble with her hearing, check for a difference in behavior and check for these signs:
* has difficulty paying attention
* not following directions well
* saying 'huh" often
* not responding when spoken to
* needing volume turned up on TV or radio
If you continue to suspect that your child may have a hearing loss, you'll want to first take her into the pediatrician for a hearing screening. If a hearing screening is failed then the next step would be to see an audiologist. An audiologist will be able to do a more in-depth hearing assessment.
Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP
Child Development Notes from Ms. Brittany Veith:
Help your whole family be healthy and fit Our country is in the middle of an epidemic. Many young children weigh too much for their height and age. Almost 16% of children ages 2 to 5 are overweight. These children are at risk for illnesses once found only in adults, such as Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Because they get out of breath easily, they don’t enjoy physical play. This robs them of many of the pleasures of being a child.
http://www.naeyc.org/files/tyc/file/MessageV1N4.pdf
What’s Cooking?
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
* 1/2 cup chunky or smooth peanut butter
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
* 1 egg
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preparation:Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
* 1/2 cup chunky or smooth peanut butter
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
* 1 egg
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light. Add the egg and mix until fluffy.
3. Blend the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together well. Add these dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add the chocolate chips. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°.
Overheard at Bright Beginnings…
In the Rooster Class:Rebecca – “Germs are super tiny dirt you can’t see – and green!”
In the Walrus Class:
Ms. Erin – “What is the moon made of?”
Sarah – “Cows!”
Cate – “Cheese!”
Class Notes:
The Pelican ClassThe Pelican’s enjoyed the warm beginning of the week by playing in water and splashing it all over our blue table! Gray loved making banana’s in art using yellow paint. Sami enjoyed crawling up and over the cushions! When she rolled over she laughed very hard! Ashlyn loved pulling everything off of the shelf and sat in the container. Keaton is getting the feel of sitting up by himself and reaching for the toys. Everyone enjoyed sniffing different scents like vanilla, peppermint, and baby powder to see what they will do. Everyone likes taking their shoes off so we put them in a pile and see who can pick out their own shoe! We’ve had a ton of fun this week!
Ms. Sue
The Kangaroo ClassThis week the Kangaroos have been working on balance, seasons, and shapes. We have been testing our balance by standing on one foot, jumping, and spinning around. We have used dress ups to layer clothing for cold weather, and talked about the different clothing we would wear in different temperatures. Thursday, we made up a snow dance! Soon we will find out if it worked! Also, we have used puzzles this week. We worked on learning our shapes and colors with them. The Kangaroos had a fantastic lesson with Ms. Stacy on preposition words. We worked on: “over, under, on, and in.” It was a wonderful week in the Kangaroo class! Have a warm and safe weekend!
Ms. Jen and Ms. Kim
The Peacock ClassHello Peacock family and friends! This week we have had a great time learning about snow, ice, and cold weather. We had several group discussions about what we like to do outside in the snow, and, what type of clothes we wear when it’s cold/hot outside. All of our friends enjoyed painting with ice this week! This week we also practiced sorting, matching, and counting with all of our different manipulative toys; all the friends really enjoyed this! This week we have begun to practice our very special songs that we will be singing for the Grandparents and Special Friends Day program. We hope that everyone will be able to attend this on February 10th. If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to stop by!
Ms. Lee
The Bunny ClassHello Bunny families! The Bunnies had a great week learning about new things! For math this week we focused on counting in both English and Spanish. We can count all the way to 15 in English, and to 5 in Spanish. Makayla and Jake liked reading the Dora book to help us with our Spanish counting. We also used Dora to help us with words like, “hello, goodbye, please, and thank you!” For science this week we continued discussing winter weather. Riley and Nathan enjoyed reading stories like Snow Friends to help us learn more about winter weather. During language arts this week we continued learning about nursery rhymes and reading through our Discovery Quest book series! We had a lot of fun during art this week. On Tuesday we painted with ice! This gave the Bunnies a chance to discover ice, see how cold it I, and learn how it melts. Emily and Martin really enjoyed this art project! Elara loved making shooting star art this week also! For social awareness the Bunnies are working really hard on their problem solving skills. We have practiced sharing, taking turns, and communication. The Bunnies have done a great job learning these skills! Addie did a wonderful job this week working on using her words!
Thank you for another great week! Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Whitney
The Walrus ClassFebruary is right around the corner and the Walrus class has enjoyed the first month of the New Year! We’re learning so much and developing a strong sense of identity and independence! Our math lessons have been focused on size, shapes, and numbers. In order to practice our shape recognition as well as size concepts we have enjoyed playing a matching game. Each student had an opportunity to come up to the giant game board and match a shape according to its size! We all did a great job determining each match and really enjoyed the activity. We played a fun file folder game called “Shape Shop” where we each had a different sized oval or diamond in which we had to find its twin! We had a good time playing this as a class and all lent a helping hand when needed! We also worked on distinguishing differences in groups of objects. We had to figure out which object was different from its counter parts and explain to the class what made it different. In science we researched arctic animals and did a “blubber” experiment! We learned all about penguins and polar bears and how a fatty layer called blubber helps keep them protected from the arctic temperatures. We then had Lucy volunteer to be our class polar bear. We added layer after layer of warm gear and asked Lucy if she felt warmer than she did before the “blubber” was added; sure enough, our warm layers made Lucy feel much warmer! We also worked on our balancing skills by walking, one foot in front of the other, on a balance rope we made in our room! Sam was fantastic at using his arms to help him balance on the straight, skinny rope! In language arts, we searched for the letter “N” all over the classroom. Matthew found lots of “N’s” both upper and lower case! We also are continually working on our sight words. We are improving on recognizing “a, at, and, as,” we are also working on using these words in sentences! Thomas does a great job of identifying the words and giving us examples of ways to use them in sentences (i.e. “I am A Walrus, I am AT school, etc.). In dramatic play we acted out the process of hibernation! We looked like a bunch of sleepy bears and squirrels ready to take a long winter’s nap! In social studies we learned that the word “moja” means different and applied this to our same versus different lesson. In art we made black cat masks, winter headdresses and created beautiful pieces during free paint! We’re enjoying our classroom jobs and are continually helping Ms. Erin around the room; especially Mia! Have a great weekend!
Reminders and Info: If you haven’t done so already, please send in a writing journal for your student. Please send utensils to school with your student if they are needed in their lunch. If a lunch needs to stay cold please send it with an ice pack! Please refrain from bringing in Sippy cups. If your student has special drinking needs let me know and we can work together to find a solution!
Ms. Erin
The Rooster ClassThis week in the Rooster room we were hard at work with nursery rhymes! We read The Real Mother Goose and identified the rhymes in the stories. We also read “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and created our own similes using the “fleece as white as snow” rhyme as inspiration. For example, Ms. Amanda’s lamb had fleece as red as an apple! Our last nursery rhyme was “Little Boy Blue.” We used this rhyme to identify some of the sign words we have learned this year! In art, the Roosters used some special objects to paint with this week! We painted using bananas, ice, and our hands! We also made our own differently colored lambs to reinforce our discussion of similes in “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
In math this week, we worked on a variety of different projects. We estimated the number of cotton balls used to make our lambs and matched mittens by size and color. We also created a class graph of what we like to do outside! Our number one answer was playing Red Rover! In science, we conducted an experiment to see what would happen if we wet our hands with water and then touched an ice cube! The result: sticky ice! This was a very popular activity!
Ms. Amanda
434-823-7129
1645 Park Ridge Drive