BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


May 14, 2010

Upcoming Events:

Monday, May 31^st, Closed Completely for Memorial Day

Friday, June 4^th, Children’s Night Out, “Space Adventures”

Wednesday, June 9^th, Pre-K Graduation and Sundae Social, 11:00 am

Friday, June 11^th, Closed Completely for Staff Development and Training

Financial Memo:

Pay the 2010-2011 re-registration fee now to ensure your child a spot in our

program.

Be sure to use your pass card upon entering the building. If you forget your

card, please sign in at the front desk.

Speech Weekly

Toddlers and young 2’s

We began by reading a repetitive story while acting out the movements in the story.  We also fed our baby cookies that were in the shape of a circle, rectangle, heart, semicircle, triangle, and square. Next we focused on a sharing activity in which the children sat in a circle and requested a toy by using at least 3-4 words.  We read “Buddy Bear Goes on Vacation” and described all the places Buddy Bear went such as the desert, ocean, jungle, forest, etc. We worked on sign language throughout the entire session.

Older 2’s

We began by reading “Polar Bear Polar Bear” and described several animals as well as actions.  We then read “Buddy Bear Goes on Vacation” and described places such as the forest, jungle, beach, desert, ocean, etc.  We also fed our talking baby shape cookies.  The children did a great job with the different shapes.  We also worked on a sharing activity in which the children requested a toy from their friends using at least 5-6 words. 

3’s and 4’s

  This week we focused primarily on phonemic awareness.  The children received a plate filled with shaving cream to practice their letters.  I made a sound and the children had to “write” the corresponding letter in the shaving cream.  Then we discussed words that began with specific sounds as well as came up with rhyming words.  Next we began blending sounds to make words.  We used the tabletop to make simple words and integrated several letters to make new words.  The children are going to have a great start to Kindergarten.  In the upcoming language groups I would like to continue the “Road to the Code” phonemic awareness program to continue sound blending. 

Have a great weekend.   
 

                                    Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP

Reading Weekly

On Tuesday, May 18th, an appropriate book for the rainy day was read a-loud, The Rainy Day, by Anna Milbourne.  The Pre-kindergarteners used the literacy skill of letter knowledge to match the seven letters of the word “rainbow.”  Matching the letters also matched the seven colors to form a class rainbow! It may have been rainy outside, but it was beautifully bright inside!

Edith H. Fisher

Class Notes

Starfish

This week in the Starfish class, we had so much fun. First, we were farmers on the farm and we pretended to grow corn. We counted farm animals, and made a finger puppet out of a paper bag, and the children had a blast decorating it! Ms. Stacy came to visit and read, “Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?” We also practiced feeding a baby with shapes and using our words to express what we were doing.

Towards the end of the week, we talked about our pets. We made cats, and the children picked out their own colors and gave their cats a name! There was also a cooking project this week and we made “Cheese Cats,” with english muffins and string cheese. They created different faces and it was really yummy!

Seals

Hello again from the Seals! The Seals had a lot of fun this weekend at the family picnic. The Seals and all the classes did a terrific job on their songs and skits! Great job everyone, you were great! This week we reviewed our farm animals, counting, ABC’s and opposites. We graphed our pets and talked about our pets. The Seals were back into the cooking mode on Friday whipping up something yummy. We practiced the skills of follow directions, fine motor, gross motor, listening skills, sharing, manners, etc.

In art the seals were hard at work. We made a farmer and decorated him with watercolor paints. The children also made a finger puppet rooster. Then we made a photo frame for our pets. The Seals made a cat lunch bag puppet. The last thing we made was another class photo “tree.” The Seals are so creative!

During gross motor time we danced and played with the bubbles. We also did exercise and played, “Follow the Leader.” The children also played, “Ring Around the Rosy.” We practiced the skills of hand eye coordination, running, jumping, hopping, and following directions.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! See everyone next week! We are going to have a lot more fun! Some dates to remember:

We will be CLOSED Monday May 31 and Monday July 5.  

Ms. Cheri

Dolphin

This week, the Dolphin Class has talked about animals! We counted the animals in a picture, graphed our pets, created our own pets, and made cats. We have had so much fun!

We have so much fun during our day and we want that to continue it at home. It is hard to do that when their routine is interrupted and you do not know it. I am going to start writing on Day Notes whenever there is an irregularity in your child’s day. If your child does not sleep or eat on a given day (and s/he usually does), then I will write it on his or her Day Note. Also, I will write if they have had accidents, complained of feeling sick, or looking tired. This will hopefully help with stuff at home.

In math/science, we graphed our pets, counted animals in a picture, talked about waste reduction/recycling for Project Green, and made a chart of descriptive words.

In letters, we talked about the plot of a story, had reading class with Mrs. Fisher, speech activities with Ms. Stacy, and wrote in our journals.

In art, we created farmers with shapes, drew and made finger puppets, created our own pets, and made cats out of paper plates!

In social studies, we did a unit on Serbia. We learned what continent it is on, found out Ms. Kimberly has been there, saw it on the map, looked at its flag, and learned about its language.

We also had a fun field trip to the strawberry patch at Chile’s Peach Orchard on Friday! Thanks for all your help with transportation and chaperoning.

We have had a busy, fun-filled, energetic week, and we cannot wait for next week!

Ms. Kimberly and Ms. Missy

Walrus

The Walrus Class had a busy, but really fun week. Thank you to everyone who helped out with the Chile’s field trip; it was so much fun! The students broke down into smaller groups this week to work closely on their counting, building, and complex patterns skills. We had our last visit of the year from Mrs. Fisher and we read a great book about the rain and rainbows.  Mrs. Fisher created a cute activity that involved spelling the word rainbow and going over the correct color order of the rainbow.  Ms. Stacy was also able to join us this week and go over our letter sounds by drawing them in shaving cream. She also introduced “blending words,” which we are going to spend more time on in the weeks to come. The book mobile came for its usual visit and we were able to fill our classroom with fresh, new, and exciting books! Our list of “O” words continues to get longer, and we wrote several of them in our journals.

As we review our artists, the students have noticed that each of them have a, “self portrait.” We decided to draw our own self portraits and they turned out amazing! Check them out in the hallway. For Project Green this week, we talked about wasted materials and ways we could not waste things. Some of the items the students came up with were paper, water, napkins, buying more things than needed, and food.

The weather cleared up towards the end of the week and we were able to get outside and play! We ended the week with a picnic and getting the garden prepared for our vegetables! Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Ryland and Ms. Emily

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


May 7, 2010

School Notes and News

We had so much fun this week here at Bright Beginnings. We had our usual visitors, Ms. Fisher, the Book Mobile, and Ms. Stacy, which is always fun! Thank you to everyone who has signed up for the Family Picnic. It looks like we are going to have a wonderful turn out, so remember, if you have signed up to attend the picnic, please bring a dish that will feed at least ten people so there will be plenty of food for everyone. We hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend and we look forward to see everyone on Monday!

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.

On your child's last day, please return your security card.  We are able to recycle these.  If we do not receive your card back, a $20.00 charge per card will be applied to your account and deducted from the deposit that was paid upon enrollment.

Discussion Question of the Week

How do we keep America beautiful, and what are some of the things that make America beautiful?

Here are some of the children’s responses…

Christmas lights

The American flag

Our trees and leaves

Flowers

Butterflies

Don’t litter

To keep the birds around

Water plants

Don’t pollute the water

Don’t cut trees down

Recycling!

Speech Weekly

A language-rich environment?

A language-rich environment is pretty much what the name suggests: a setting in which the child is surrounded by talk and has plenty of opportunities to communicate with others.

Research on child language development has confirmed the importance of talking frequently to children below age 3 and using a wide variety of vocabulary. Toddlers whose parents do this develop better expressive and receptive language skills than children whose parents talk less with them and use a limited vocabulary.

The value of this is not limited to children with speech and language disorders.  All children can benefit from a healthy and varied diet of language activities. The following are tips and ideas for talking to your child in ways that help develop better language skills:

Turn off the TV 


Talk, talk, talk (slowly and simply)

Sing and rhyme 


Get out the toys and play, but ditch the batteries 
 

Learn (and use) some baby signs

Don't try to implement everything at once. Instead, pick one of these things you think you can do, and try it for a week. Once it becomes a habit, add something else. You may already be doing some or all of these things. If so, see if you can do them more often and be more conscious of them while you're doing them. After all, very few parents are actually doing anything wrong, but most parents can do more right.

Reading Weekly

On Tuesday, May 4th, a lesson on friendship was presented through a read a-loud of the book, A Rainbow of Friends, by P. K. Hallinan and a “Find a Friend” matching game.  The book prompted a time of talking and listening to discuss what it means to be a good friend.  Such interactive and fun language activities will encourage early literacy skills for reading and writing success during the elementary school years.

Edith H. Fisher

Class Notes

Penguin

Welcome Back! We had a wonderful week. We have been working on our songs for the family picnic which is coming along really great. We also worked on our colors, animals, body parts and matching. For art we did some free coloring, made paper rainbows, free coloring and worked on our Mother’s Day gifts. We also had a cooking project we made some delicious milk shakes! Well that’s our week. Have a super fun weekend! And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers.

Sea Turtle

Hello! Nice to see you all again. I would like to introduce a new Sea Turtle to our class, Katelyn! This week was awesome! We learned about our body from our head to our toes.  We counted our fingers and toes, which was fun. For art, we made paper rainbow, lion art, and we worked on our mother’s day presents and cards! Our cooking project was a blast and very delicious. We made chocolate and strawberry milkshakes. Yummy! We also read, David Goes to School, and enjoyed another one of David’s adventures.

Parents do not forget that the Family Picnic is coming up fast. It will be on Sunday, May 16^th, from 4-6 pm. Please let us know if you will be attending. We cannot wait to perform our songs. I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day! Have a great weekend and we will see you on Monday!

Seals

Hello again from the Seals! This week we had some top secret projects going on for Mother’s Day! The children got to make a special gift for their Mom’s, Grandma’s, or Godmother’s. The seals were also cooking up something yummy this week. We worked on the skills of listening, walking in a line, categorizing, shapes, colors, and counting.

This week in art we made gifts for our moms, grandmas and godmothers. We also made flower faces. The children took foam flowers and decorated them with sequins and wiggly eyes. The children colored paper rainbows using fine motor skills. We also made Mother’s Day cards and made lions. We made the lions out of paper and colored them. The last thing we did was make a spring picture to put up on the Creativity Happens board. Check it out!

During gross motor time we did a number of activities. We danced and exercised to music. The children tried to pop bubbles. I also threw flower petals up in the air and the children tried to catch them. These activities practiced hand eye coordination, left and right hand, jumping, running, balancing, and following directions.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I will see everyone next week. Remember Family Picnic is Sunday May 16. I hope to see everyone there. Also Monday May 31 we will be closed for Memorial Day.

Ms. Cheri

Dolphin

This week, the Dolphin Class celebrated Mom’s and nature. We prepared our Mother’s Day gift, did a water experiment, had reading class with Ms. Fisher, and talked about India. It was a blast!

This year is winding down! It is time again for parent/teacher conferences. They are Monday, May 10t, so make sure you have signed up. Even if you do not have concerns, parent/teacher conferences are still a great idea! It allows us to touch base and celebrate how well your child is doing and it allows you to know what to be focusing on at home to back up what we are working on specifically with your child at school! Thanks!

In math/science, we did a water experiment, talked about our shadows and what causes them, discussed how to keep American beautiful for Project Green, went on a listening walk to hear nature sounds, and made a list of things our mom’s do.

In letters, we read books, had reading class with ms. Fisher, had speech class with Ms. Stacy, wrote “I’s” in our journals, and learned, “To Market, To Market,” the nursery rhyme.

In art, we spent 3 days diligently working on our Mother’s Day gifts, made wrapping paper, and created our cards.

In social studies, we talked about India by request of the Children, learned its location, found it on the map, learned about its language, looked at the flag, and found out about the food and dress.

Happy May birthday to Isabelle on the 22^nd! She will be 4! We had a fantastic, fun week, and we are eager for next week to begin. Have a great weekend! We will see you Monday!

Ms. Kimberly and Ms. Missy

Walrus

The Walrus bunch really had a fantastic week. We started the week off with our water station and picking things around the room that we thought would float or sink. We made some great flower faces that are now hanging up in the hallway, and we made a list of a few of the Spanish speaking countries! Some of them included: Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Guatemala, Panama, and Spain. 

May is art history month here at Bright Beginnings, and this week we discussed Leonard da Vinci. We looked at pictures of his painting of the “Mona Lisa,” his sketches of the “Flying Machine”, as well as his “Self Portrait.”

We introduced estimating last week but we really got into it this week. I would put handfuls of rubix cubes on the floor for each student and they would make an educated guess on how many they thought were there. The children did a fantastic job with this, so we took it one step further. We threw in our subtraction skills and incorporated them with the amount of cubes we had left over from our actual guesses.  For Project Green we talked about how to keep America beautiful, as well as what we thought made America beautiful. The children came up with some great answers that will be displayed outside of the classroom door. We also went on a listening walk and talked about all the different sounds we heard. This week was a really fun one and we are looking forward for the next few weeks and the great activities they will bring! Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Ryland, Ms. Emily, and Ms. Megan