BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
www.brightbeginningsva.com
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
www.brightbeginningsva.com
Crozet Newsletter
February 12, 2010
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!
“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
434-823-7129
1645 Park Ridge Drive