BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


April 2, 2010

Upcoming Events:

Thursday and Friday, April 8th and 9th Closed Completely for Spring Break

Tuesday, April 13th Cupcake Decorating Contest!

Wednesday, April 21st Staff Appreciation Day

Friday, April 23rd Children’s Night Out, Singing in the Rain!

School News and Notes:

We had so much fun here at Bright Beginnings this week. As a reminder, the pickup time for half day students is 12:30. Anyone picked up afterward without prior approval will be subject to a late fee.  Also, do not forget to sign up for the next CNO, Friday, April23rd, "Singing in the Rain."  The Cupcake Decorating Contest will be held on April 13^th, so be sure to watch your child's classroom door for decoration signup sheet. It is going to be great! Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the great, but hot weather!

Financial Memo:

Re-registration Fees have been charged for the 2010-2011 school year.  This fee is charged at this time to allow our current families first priority.  The spring is a busy time for us showing prospective families to our school and want to make sure that your child's spot is reserved before we sell the spot to someone else.

 Word of Mouth works!  Referring a friend or co-worker who enrolls 5-days fulltime will benefit you with a Free Week! (You may refer as many friends as you wish.)  Free week applies only to currently enrolled families.

 All families must provide us with a valid Visa or MasterCard number before your child’s start date.  Any late fees or outstanding balances will be charged to credit card after the 30th of the month.

Speech Weekly

Bubble Play for Early Sound Development    

   Bubbles are always a big favorite with infants, toddlers and preschoolers.  The kids absolutely love bubbles and I often bring them out for the last few minutes of a language group.  The older kids think it's a reward and will work well with the promise of bubbles. I love them for several reasons.  If the child is old enough, I have them practice blowing the bubbles as part of the activity.  This works on oral motor strength and coordination.  I use bubbles to encourage sign and gesture usage for "more," "please," "done," "bye," "yes," etc.  I use related words to encourage all early developing sounds such as /h,p,b,d,m,n,w/.  Some bubble play related words are: bubble, more, up, bye-bye, pop, done, please, gone, blow, wow, uh-oh, high, yes, no.   

When blowing bubbles with the child...use the key words repeatedly. For example: "Look....bubble..up-up-up...bye-bye bubble....pop-pop-pop...."  "More bubble...pop-pop-pop....all gone..."  "More bubble...uh-oh...pop-pop-pop...."  "Bubble...wow!....up-up-up... uh-oh...pop!"   "Wow...high bubble....bye-bye." This is also a chance to ask questions of your child and encourage responses either verbally or with gestures.   Ask child "Do you want more?"  Encourage them to use head gesture for "Yes," sign for "More" or use words if they are able to say "more" or "more bubble." So get those bubbles out and have fun!  The learning opportunities are endless. 

                                    Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP

Reading Weekly

On Tuesday, March 23^rd, the book My Crayons Talk, by Patricia Hubbard, was read to facilitate a discussion of how colors are used by illustrators to help the reader understand more fully the meaning of the story.  The students then used visual literacy skills to help them better understand and appreciate two paintings.  Children who can orally communicate what they visually see or observe are developing language skills that will transfer into writing skills in Elementary school.

Edith H. Fisher

 Class Notes

Penguins

Wow! What a week we had. Let me tell you about it. In class, we talked more about spring, animals, our colors, shapes, and did some counting. We used our counting turtles for counting and sorting. We talked about Easter and Bunnies. For art this week, we made a paper Easter basket, painted a paper Easter egg and put tissue paper on it, colored an Easter bunny and then put cotton balls on it. We also made some clouds by using white paint and sky blue construction paper. We read some great books too. The Amazing Animal Alphabet book was a great one to help us with our letters, and It’s Spring was perfect to help us discuss more about the spring season. The children played in the boat in the gross motor room, pretended to bake a cake using real spoons and bowls! We were able to watch a groundhog from the playground, birds, people walking their dogs, and talked about all the beautiful flowers that are blooming on the trees. Please do not forget that we are closed on the 8^th and 9^th, as well as remembering to put on sunscreen before coming to school. If it needs to be reapplied, please let us know. Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Danielle

Sea Turtles

Hello and welcome back! We want to welcome Lincoln to our class, our newest Sea Turtle. This week, the Sea Turtles got into the Easter spirit. We read, Still Tilly and the Easter Bunny. They learned about dying eggs, an Easter egg hunt, and about the Easter Bunny. For at, we made stamp art, made a chick, bunny ears, decorated our own Easter egg, and made bunny masks! For our cooking project this week, we made jello jelly beans, which were fun and tasty. Parents- We will be closed on April 8^th and 9^th for Spring Break. Have a great and safe Easter weekend! See you all on Monday!

Ms. Erin

Seals

Hello again from the seals! This week was another fun filled week. We had a cooking project this week. Since it is spring we made pretzel butterflies. The children took pretzels, cream cheese and pineapple and made the butterfly. Then we also went over sequence from that cooking project using sequence cards for the cooking project. The children had to put them in order of what we did first to last. Tuesday I had to attend. The children had fun anyway without me. Thank you parents for your understanding and patience on Tuesday!

During our lesson time we talked about sequence of events after we did our cooking project. Since it is spring we talked about some of the signs of spring and sang a song about spring. We also talked about insects. The children also reviewed their ABC, opposites, and patterns. We talked about the import ants of recycling. Also the children played a matching game where they had to match the number to the representation to the number.

In art we decorated pictures of baskets with foam stickers and crayons. The foam stickers they placed on the baskets all related to spring. We made clouds with shaving cream, glue and paint. We also made bunnies using construction paper and cotton balls. The children painted with finger paints using pastel colors. We also made a spring collage using picture of things happening in spring. For example we used flowers, birds in nests, green leaves on trees, bees, butterflies, green grass, etc. This gives the children ideas about what happens in spring.

I hope everyone had a great week! See you next week! Dates to remember: We will be closed April 8^th and April 9^th due to spring break.

Ms. Cheri

Dolphin

This week, the Dolphin class had an egg-cellent time doing all sorts of fun things! We did everything from an egg hunt to an “A” scavenger hunt, to egg dying, to learning about Zambia! We had tons of fun!

Next Thursday and Friday is Spring Break! In order to keep your child somewhat in a school mood and to continue to work on skills we are learning at school, this would be a great time to do some activities with them! You could pull out a book and read, find letters that you’ve hidden, flip over numbers and identify them, or think up fun games on your own!

In math/science, we experimented with potatoes, talked about and graphed our favorite things for spring, talked about how to clean an oil spill for Project Green, went on an egg hunt and counted our eggs, and talked about fewer or more with unifix cubes.

In letter’s, we learned the nursery rhyme, “Little Jack Horner,” wrote “A’s” on our easel, did activities with letters, searched for “A’s” in our room, and talked about the beginning of the story.

In art, we painted baskets, painted with pastels, made clouds with paint, created cotton ball bunnies, and died eggs.

In social studies, we learned about Zambia, found it on the map, learned some Zambian, looked at the flag and saw pictures of what they eat and drink.

In humanities, we prepared our garden, made up a play, blew bubbles, made edible bird’s nests for our Cooking Project, and created spring collages!

We will see you next week! We can’t wait for all the fun! Have a great weekend!

Ms. Kimberly

Walrus

The signs of spring are definitely here, and the Walrus group made sure to review what those signs were this week. Everything is starting to bloom around us and it’s great to see the excitement on the children’s faces! It is time for us to start planting some things in the garden! Our letter this week was “Aa.” After we made our list of words, I had the children go over the list again throughout the week. They were able to recognize all of the words, and really read them! I was definitely impressed. We continued writing in our journals, and even tried spelling words ourselves by sounding them out. Our ready reader this week was called, “Red Hens.” Please go over this and practice reading with your children!

We made some great art this week. Our basket art turned out really well and we were able to put some great items in them! Please check them out in the hall way. The pastel paints of spring, also turned out really well. We added lots of white to make them pastel looking.  Because it is bunny season, we tried to see how many cotton balls we could fit on our bunnies!

Our discussions were great this week too. We talked about cooperation and fairness, and in order to cooperate and be fair to one another, we need to share and make sure we are following school rules. Another topic was what’s the difference between a frog and a toad? Who has slimy skin and who has dry skin? 

The students collected some more great items for our nature centers, and had a great time with their friends outside. Have a wonderful weekend and be on the lookout for the upcoming events and activities.

Ms. Ryland

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


March 26, 2010

Upcoming Events:

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” with Miss. Jennifer and Miss. Kimberly.

Thursday and Friday, April 8th and 9th, Closed Completely for Spring Break

Tuesday, April 13^th, Cupcake Decorating Contest

Wednesday, April 21^st, Staff Appreciation Day

Friday, April 23^rd, Children’s Night Out 5:30-8:30

“Singing in the Rain”

School Notes and News

I hope everyone had a fantastic week. We had a great time here at Bright Beginnings, and we are looking forward to starting a new month! Thank you to everyone who brought back their Original Works stuff! The Dolphins Class will be taking over the creativity board in April, so be on the look out!

Financial Memo:

April tuition is due. Please pay by the 30th to avoid late charges.

 The cost of lunch is $3.00.  Please write your child's full name and date on the lunch envelope.  Without this information we are unable to accurately apply charges and payments to your account.

 Thank you for your referrals.  Several families will be receiving a free week this month and you can too!  Refer a family that enrolls and you will receive a free week after they have been enrolled here a month.

Speech Weekly

These are the skills that were addressed this week.  It was a great week with speech and language groups!  We had a blast!

Toddlers and young 2’s

We began by reading a noisy story, which I feel is really beneficial for the little ones.  We read the little snake and focused primarily on the /s/ sound.  We also used the ball toy to request a specific ball and hammer and were asked to use sign language as well.   Becca Bunny and Buddy Bear books were used to address shapes and answering “wh’ questions.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session. 

Older 2’s

We read “Polar Bear Polar Bear” with our Velcro story pieces.  Each child pretended to be a specific animal and helped read the story.  Be sure to ask your child to ‘Snarl like a leopard, roar like a lion, and whistle like a zookeeper”.  It was hilarious!  We also used our bear and bunny books to answer “wh” questions.  The octopus bubble machine was used and the end of the session to address the /p/ and /b/ sounds.

3’s and 4’s

  We began buy reading “Polar Bear Polar Bear and worked on sequencing, first, last, second, third, fourth, fifth,  etc.  Then we answered specific questions from our oral language box.  Each child had to pick a card and answer a specific question in front of the class.   Some examples of the questions were:

Name things you would take to the beach?

What special clothes might you wear in the winter?

What does an author do?

Name something that is gigantic?

Talk about a time when you were frightened.

Name several things that live in the ocean. 

We also worked on the phonics ladder to address letter sounds if time allowed. 
 

                                    Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP

Class Notes

Sea Turtles

Welcome back! This week has been so much fun. We have started to go over our shapes, which we played a game called, “what shape is it?” Animals are always fun, and we got to pretend to be them by crawling around and making the same noises as they do. We also had an animal cookie day where each person picked out a cookie and said what animal it was. We used our animal puppets which made it easy for the zoo to come to us, and it was a blast! We saw a zebra, a tiger, an elephant, and a monkey. For art this week, we made dot art, paw prints, a zoo book, painted flowers, and we made potato prints! We have continued to learn about taking turns and sharing. I hope you all have a great weekend, see you on Monday!

Ms. Erin

Penguins

Welcome back for another great week with the Penguins! This week was lots of fun with our colors, shapes, and art. We talked a lot about the weather, nature and animals. It is always exciting to see the weather start to change, a new season starting, and talking about the new animals that we may see outside.  For art, we made a zoo animal book, did dot art, tissue paper art, sponge painting, and a lot more! In our zoo animal book, we had all the different animals that we talked about and read about. We also read some books about spring and flowers. One of our favorites was, Mouse’s First Spring. It was about a little mouse’s first spring and he went around with his mom and they saw all the different animals and flowers that come out and grow at spring time. The class really loved all the bright pages in the book. Well that’s about our week. Now here is a few reminders about the upcoming events. We will be closed April 8^th and 9^th, and our family picnic is coming up as well. Remember pizza Friday’s is every Friday and the money goes to the class to buy new, and cool things. Thank you!

Ms. Danielle

Starfish

Hello from the starfish, we had a fun week. This week we worked ABC’s, listening ears, lining up, colors, numbers shapes, and animals and there sounds. The letter of the week was “S”, so we worked on our fine motor skills by doing sticker art. We had stars, soccer balls, and smiley face stickers. The children used their fine motor skills they peeled of the sticker all by themselves and stuck it to the paper. We also loved making our bear prints, the children dipped their hands and fingers in brown paint and pressed it to the paper. We talked about bears, how they sounds, walk, and where they live. We also read stories animals, and the weather. We talked spring, the weather, flowers, cloths we wear. We also made spring flower art. Miss. Stacy came to visit, she read us Polar bear, Polar bear, What Do You Hear? We love when Miss. Stacy visits. I am doing CNO 4-2-10 with Miss. Kimberly, so please join us. Have a fantastic weekend! 

Seals

Hello again from the seals! This week we had another birthday. Logan Farmer had a birthday on Saturday. I hope you have a great day! This week we reviewed opposites, colors, sign language, and shapes. The children learned a new sign and few more opposites. They also played a game using shape cards. The children practiced their shapes and using complete sentences in their speech. They held up a card and asked what shape is this? Then the other children respond. We also reviewed fire safety and how to do a fire drill. I also introduced them to ordinal numbers. We also talked about what we think is funny. Some of the skills we practiced this week were; listening ears, walking feet, walking in a line, following directions, using words and sharing.

In art this week we did many interesting projects. We painted with sand paint and regular paint using marbles and hands. We also pretended animals walked all over our papers. Using paint and a stamp the children made animal tracks. We made zoo books. The children helped make this by telling me what animals to include. Then they decorated the book. We also made noodle necklaces and potato prints. The children practiced fine motor skills, following directions and listening skills.

During gross motor activity we practiced the skills of jumping and hand eye coordination. We practiced the skills of jumping by having the children pop bubbles and by doing jumping jacks. The children practiced hand eye coordination by catching the petals when they fell, catching the bubbles and by catching the rain drops. We pretended some of the bubbles were rain drops. The children also played follow the leader, pretended they were alligators and playing in the puddles. The children had a lot of fun doing these activities.

I hope everyone had a great week! Have a great weekend! I will see you next week for more fun! Here are some upcoming dates to remember:

·     We will be closed April 8, 9 (Thursday, Friday) for spring break.

·     Next CNO (Children’s Night Out) April 23, 2010.

Ms. Cheri

 Dolphins

This week, the Dolphin Class is revved for spring! We are doing everything from migration to scavenger hunts, to potato prints to learning about Hungary, to making noodle necklaces. It’s been loads of fun!

Next week, we will be gearing up for some egg hunting and dying to get in the festive mood. In order to make both of these events possible, we need some help from you! We will be having an egg dying party on Thursday as our art project, so we are going to need some eggs! If it is possible, please bring them to school. We will be using the carton to let them dry. Also, we will need sandwich bags in order to take our eggs home. The very next day, Friday, we will be having our egg hunt! In order for this to happen, we need something to put our eggs in. Each child will receive six eggs, so please bring a small bag or basket to put their eggs in and label it with their name. Thanks so much!

In math/science, we learned about shapes, continued with one-to-one correspondence (counting one thing at a time), talked about pollution for Project Green, made a chart of funny things, and talked about standard tools.

In letter’s, we learned, “There Was an Old Woman,” had reading class with Mrs. Fisher, wrote “S” in our journals, broke into our letter groups, and had an “S” scavenger hunt.

In art, we colored popcorn, made animal tracks, created a zoo book, made splatter paintings, and painted with potatoes.

In social studies, we talked about Hungary, found it on the map, learned some Hungarian, looked up the flag, and got to see some stuff I brought back from Hungary in high school.

In humanities, we had some free play, made an animal cracker parade, created noodle necklaces, and played “Who Took My Nose?!”

This week has been fantastic! We can’t wait for our egg hunt and dying this coming Thursday and Friday!

Ms. Kimberly

 Walrus’

The Walrus group is really moving along. Everyone has grown so much already in so many ways! This week we went back to shapes. The students drew them, and a friend guessed what shape they drew. We also went over the letter sounds of each shape, and got tricked with the word “circle.” Animal tracks were another really fun activity this week. I had pictures of a dog, a black bear, a fox, a human, and their foot prints. They matched the animal with the correct foot print. Pollution is always a great discussion, and this week we focused on water pollution. Ms. Jennifer gave us a great idea for an experiment for project green. We took two empty water bottles and filled one with water and dirt. Then we took a cotton ball and placed it over the dirty water as a filter. We held the two bottles on top of each other so the water could filter through and become clean again in the other bottle. 

Art was also really fun this week. We started off with popcorn art, making our own popcorn buckets and eating the leftovers! The students also did some free painting outside on the easel during our outside time, which helped them get inspiration in a different environment. Animals were a big theme this week. We made pictures of our favorite zoo animals. There were pictures of lions, tigers, snakes, gorillas, and giraffes floating around!

In language arts, we continued practicing our writing, had a scavenger hunt looking for “S” words that were hidden in the room.

There was a great discussion this week about things that are funny and things that are not funny. Sometimes we accidently laugh at things that we shouldn’t and could end up hurting someone’s feelings. The Walrus group did a great job this week and we have many more projects and events coming up soon! Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Ryland