Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984

www.brightbeginningsva.com

Voted #1 Daycare by you in

 C’ville 2007, 2008  

Daily Progress 2008, 2009

Voted # 2 Daycare and Preschool by you in

Albemarle Family Magazine 2009

 “Babble”

February 25, 2010

Mark your Calendars

March 5 Children’s Night Out

March 9 Brownie Bake Off

March 14-20 Virginia Festival of the Book

March 19 Children’s Night Out

March 22 Parent Advisory

March 29 Re-Registrations billed to Accounts

From the Front Desk

Special Events

Parents we don’t want your child to miss out on a thing!  It is super important that you read your daily day note and the dry erase boards.  The teachers work really hard to keep you posted on the daily curriculum and special events that are taking place in the classroom.  We know that you are busy at pick up and drop off so maybe post your monthly curriculum calendar and the pink yearly calendar on your fridge at home to help you remember!

Security Cards/Buzzing

If you have lost your card or do not have one please let the front desk know so we can reissue you a new one.  When you buzz you are defeating the purpose of our security system.  Lots of parents over the last few weeks have not been using their cards and they are not signing their child in and out at the front desk.  We have to have record of the time your child is dropped off and picked up and by whom.  If you swipe your card it goes directly in to our system and it makes it much easier for the security of your child. 

Virginia Festival of the Book March 14-March 20

We are very excited to be celebrating literature.  We have lots of special events planned for the week.  If you are able to come in to be a Mystery Reader or have someone come in please see your child’s class board to sign up.  We will have an ice cream party, free Pizza Friday, special guests and dress up as your favorite fairy tale character, as well as art Eric Carle art display presented by our Pre K classes.  We will also participate in the “Sesame Street” walk.  They will turn the downtown mall into Sesame Street.  The walk begins at the Omni and ends at the Paramount.  We will make posters celebrating books, wear our BB t-shirts on Saturday March 20 Time TBA.  Come join us and get some free literature!

Brownie Bake off Tuesday March 9 presented by the Parent Advisory.  Signup sheets are located at the front desk.  Hope to see you there!

Don’t miss out on the Children’s Night Outs.  March 5: Over the Rainbow and March 19: Shining Shamrock.  Signup sheets are at the front desk.

Speech Weekly

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.  

                                                                                                Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP

Classroom News:

Monkey

This week the Monkey class enjoyed using the tunnel to master the terms “in” and “out”. We also practiced words that begin with “B”. We enjoyed playing with the colorful rice and noodles at the sensory table. The Monkeys made stethoscopes during art and used them for listening to friends and babies hearts while playing doctor. We are constantly working on colors and animal sounds. We talked about our teeth and how to keep them healthy and did art projects that correspond with the lesson.

Giraffe

This week the Giraffes will sort healthy and non healthy foods. They will go over what different doctors do and how we should care for our heart and teeth. They will be exploring textures at the sensory table. The Giraffes will also practice building with ladders, lacing, and using cards and linking links. The children will continue to practice shapes, colors, counting, and nursery rhymes. Thank you – Sharon

Lion

This week the Lions have been roaring about the food pyramid. We have had a lot of fun this week sorting food on our food pyramid and talking about the different food we are eating. We have been talking about food that will help us keep our teeth healthy and food that will give us cavities.  Our letter of the week is Bb we have been talking about words that begin with Bb and practicing writing b’s in our journals. For Children’s Humanities we have had lots of fun playing various table games including memory and play dough! Happy Birthday to Alex and Ege.

Elephant

We continued to add to our Bb word list this week we also learned about the food pyramid and put our favorite foods into groups.  We labeled different parts of our body, made stethoscopes to listen to our hearts beat, and learned about taking care of our teeth.  We used toothbrushes and floss to make art!  Welcome back to Bradley; he has been at home with his new baby sister.  And Jake welcomed a new baby brother last week. 

Tiger

This week the Tigers will be focusing on Health. We will discuss the food groups, listen to our hearts, count our teeth and talk about flossing, and even discuss the tooth fairy! For Math and Science we will play number bingo, discuss our teeth, and for Project Green discuss ways to reduce carbon. For Art we will paint with soap, create trees, and paint with toothbrushes and qtips. The Tigers also enjoyed playing the shoe game, flash cards, matching games and file folder games for Children’s Humanities J  Happy Birthday Thomas

Chameleon

It’s Dental Health week in the Chameleon class! We have been discussing foods that are good and bad for your teeth, as well as the importance of brushing and flossing everyday and visiting the Dentist regularly. We painted with toothbrushes and toothpaste, made our own toothbrushes for a fun, squiggly design, and made tooth fairy wands. We also talked about the tooth fairy and losing teeth to help us feel less scared and nervous about losing our first tooth. We made a graph to see how many of our friends have ever lost a tooth and how many of our friends have been to the Dentist. In the Science center, we learned how to take care of our teeth and the correct way to brush and floss. We also conducted an experiment with a boiled egg to see the effects of soda on our teeth. We also did journal writings about what we think the tooth fairy does with all those teeth.  We had a special day on Thursday; we wore our pajamas to school! We have also been working on sight words and letter sounds during circle time.

Zebra

We had fun talking about dental health this week! We started the week off by reading Dr. DeSoto, a story about a Mouse’s dental practice and all the interesting patients who visit him. This book gave us a good opportunity to talk about reality v. fantasy in stories. We also talked about our own dentist experiences and listed reasons to visit the dentist. On Monday, we graphed when we brush at home: morning, night, or day and night.  Most of us brush twice a day! Floss was used as a unit of measurement and we classified food good for our teeth and food not so good for our teeth. We had fun with Science this week. Predictions were made as to what would happen if we put toothpaste in the freezer. Would the gel or paste freeze (or neither or both?). We also observed what coffee, tea, and soda can do to our teeth by soaking eggs in liquid. On Friday, we were able to get our hands dirty and try to scrub off the stains using toothpaste. For Language Arts, we continued working on Bb by writing some B words and identifying them in our reading center books. We also wrote why it’s important to take care of our teeth. On Thursday, we wrote a letter to the tooth fairy in our journals. On Friday, we practiced identifying sight words with our Ready Readers. For Art, we made a dentist class book, drew pictures of the tooth fairy, painted with a toothbrush and floss, and made an edible art project: tortilla teeth! Dramatic play was encouraged by opening up a dentist’s office in class for dolls using toothbrushes, toothpaste, a dentist’s chair, and white dentist uniform.