BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


April 30, 2010

Upcoming Events:

Friday, May 7^th, Children’s Night Out, “Down on the Farm”

Monday, May 10^th, Spring Semester Evaluations distributed

Sunday, May 16^th, Family Picnic & Art Show: 4-6 pm

(Rain date for the Family Picnic is Monday, May 17^th, 6-8 pm)

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

School Notes and News

Parents, please check out the Bright Star Voting Box. Fill out a slip when you see one of our teachers going above and beyond! Also, as a reminder, for our sick policy, your child must be fever free, and without medication for 24 hours before returning to school. There are food signup sheets located at the front desk for the Family Picnic/Potluck, which is on Sunday, May 16 ^th 4-6 pm.  

Financial Memo

May tuition is due. Pay by April 30 to avoid late charges.
 
If you forget your pass card to enter the building, please remember to sign your child in or out at the front desk.

Speech Weekly

 Toddlers and young 2’s

We began by reading “Moo Ba La La La” and “Barnyard Dance” while focusing on animal sounds.  We “read” sentence strips with pictures of animals and sounds.  The children were encouraged to “read” the sentence strips (3 pictures).  We cut up pretend fruit and gave it to our doggy.  We worked on sign language throughout the entire session.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session. 

Older 2’s

We also began by reading “Moo Ba La La La” and “Barnyard Dance” while focusing on animal sounds.  We utilized sentence strips with pictures of animals and sounds.  The children were able to read the “sentence strips” (3 pictures).  We cut up pretend fruit and gave it to our doggy while using 4 word sentences.  We also focused on categorizing animals and shapes with puzzles.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session.   

3’s and 4’s

  We began buy reading “The Very Quiet Cricket” while learning lots of new vocabulary such as rummaged, ambled, scurried, slithered, gigantic etc.  We also worked on opposites throughout the entire story.  Next we focused primarily on /s/ words in the initial, medial, and final position.  We then colored snakes and made “thick” and “thin” tongues.  In some classrooms we were able to play sound bingo.   

I hope everyone has a fantastic spring break. 
 

                                    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

 Penguin

We had another fun week in class! We talked about the letter “Ii,” made a tree using green tissue paper for the tops and brown construction paper for the bottom. We talked about ways to recycle and reuse things that we do not want. We have been working really hard on our songs for the family picnic, which is May 16^th, 4pm-6pm. Please try to make it out; it will be lots of fun. Everyone has been working really hard on using their words to express themselves and not their hands. We have learned some great new songs, and also reviewed our animals, colors, and shapes. The children also worked on sorting by color and matching different things by their colors. For gross motor skills, we have been working on kicking, rolling, and bouncing the ball. We pretended to bake a pie in the family living class, and took a trip to grandmas. We had a busy week. Enjoy your weekend, see you next week!

Ms. Danielle

Starfish

We had a fantastic week. We started off the week talking about trees. We painted trees, we read the book The Busy Tree, and we went outside to explore the trees. We talked about what grows on trees, what animal lives n trees, and also the parts of trees. We made our own globes using blue construction paper for earth, glued it onto black paper, and put star sticker in all around; the children had so much fun.  We learned some new finger plays. We danced and sang to a new CD, that Miss. Cheri made for us thank you. We also read The Paperboy the book was a boy who had a paper route with his dog; the children enjoyed this book. We also did recycle art, we recycled our scrap paper. The children loved it I put spots of glue on the paper, then I told them to place it on the glue, they all did well. It teaches them how to follow direction. We also recycled or trees from the beginning of the week and turned them into blossoming trees; they children really love to paint. We had a fabulous week and many more to come.

Ms.  Jennifer

Seals

Hello again from the Seals! We had another exciting week. We did many neat art projects and learned about some cool topics! We talked about the earth and how it is the planet we live on. The children also learned that the green on earth is land, the blue is water, and the black around earth is outer space. We also counted things that belong in the forest.  We learned that squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and bears live in the forest. The children also reviewed reptiles and insects. Then we learned about the different parts of a flower and the life cycle of a butterfly. Finally we talked about different ways we could help earth by planting trees, recycling, and not littering. The children practiced the skills of walking, listening, gentile hands, ABC’s, counting, habitats, and space. 

In art we made a tree picture. We took insects and flowers and placed them on the picture of a tree. The children also got to color the picture. Then we made a picture of space and planet earth. They glued planet earth together and then put stars and a couple of space ships on the picture. We also made a collage using materials we had used from past art projects. The children also made flowers using their pictures, and foam stickers. We used flowers because everyone is in “full bloom” (school year is almost over) now. Then we learned about life cycle of a butterfly by making a mobile. The children had lots of fun in art this week and make a number of neat projects. The children practiced the skills of following directions, listening, colors and a number of fine motor skills.

During Gross motor time we did a lot of fun games. One day we danced we used a couple of action songs to get some of their energy out in the morning. Another day we pretended we were traveling around the world. I showed the children pictures of different places around the world and we pretended we went there. The children loved pretending! Another game the Seals love is to take fake flower petals and throw them up and have the children try and catch them. This works on their hand eye coordination. Bubbles are another way to help them with this skill. Not only does bubbles help with this skill but it helps them practice there oral motor skills by blowing the bubbles. Then the Name Ball roll helps them also use their hand eye coordination skills. They have to catch the ball then roll it to the right person. Then we played flower the leader and acted like different animals.

    I hope everyone has a great weekend! I will see everyone next week! Don’t forget the family picnic is May 16 Sign up on my door so I know who is going to be present for our skit and song.

Ms. Cheri

Dolphin

This week, the Dolphin Class celebrated a belated Earth Day! We had a blast playing a forest math game, having music class with Ms. Melissa, making recycling art, learning about Egypt, and playing in soil center. We had so much fun!

We are also so glad that we have been able to go outside! But as the days get warmer, it is nice to have clothes that are weather appropriate. I will be going through their bags of extra clothes next week and taking out the winter clothes and writing a note about what spring/summer clothes they need! Thanks for your help!

In math/science, we went on a trash/nature walk, played a forest math game, talked about the process of planting a tree, looked at/sorted blossoming verses non-blossoming trees, and made a chart of what “S” stands for.

In letter’s, we summarized a story, wrote “I’s” on our easel, had music class with Ms. Melissa, did letter activities, and went on an, “I” scavenger hunt.

In art, we made tree art, painted with sponges; made recycle art, created, “Wake Up, Earth!” pictures, and made a butterfly life cycle mobile.

In social studies, we learned about Egypt, found it on the map, learned some about the Egyptian language, looked at its flat, and saw pictures of Pharaohs’ and pyramids!

We had a grand time this week celebrating our Earth! We look forward to what next week will bring!

Ms. Kimberly

Walrus

The Walrus group had a wonderful time this week. We spent a lot of time working on our numbers by counting, figuring out addition and subtraction problems, reviewing our coins, and we even introduced the idea of estimating. Our letter for this week was “I,” and we made a great list of words, including: igloo, ice cream, iguana, India, and inside. We wrote a couple of them in our journals, and worked on our Ready Reader, “I Have.”

The art projects were really fun this week. We made blossoming and non-blossoming trees, the Earth, recycled wands, and even managed to do some free art. For Project Green, we talked about clean water and how it can be very and sometimes impossible to clean water again once it is polluted. The Walrus class is preparing more and more for our family picnic and is really excited! Please remember to sign up if you are planning to come. Also do not forget to sign up for strawberry picking! Have a wonderful weekend.

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

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


April 23, 2010

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, April 21st Staff Appreciation Day

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

Friday, May 7^th, Children’s Night Out, “Down on the Farm”

Monday, May 10^th, Spring Semester Evaluations distributed

Sunday, May 16^th, Family Picnic & Art Show: 4-6 pm

 School Notes and News

 We had a wonderful but hot week here at Bright Beginnings. The children have been playing in the garden a lot during their outside time. They are getting ready to plant more flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Everyone is really looking forward to this. Drop off time can be a little crazy since all of the classes are combining into single classrooms and kids are seeing friends that they do not normally see. We are helping by making sure that activities are happening during those times but we have something that you could do to help us out! Please make sure that you drop off your child(ren)’s stuff in their classroom first and then bring them to the classroom they are usually in at drop-off . It makes it easier for the teachers so that they do not have to keep track of whose stuff is whose and also it makes it easier at the end of the day when you need to get all of your child(ren)’s stuff! Thanks so much for your help! Also, do not forget to sign up for CNO with Ms. Danielle and Ms. Erin!

Financial Memo

 Spring cleaning? Children’s Night Out is a great way to have some extra hours to yourself to get things done around the house. Check out the yearly calendar for upcoming dates and sign up at the front desk!

 Simplify your life with Automatic Credit Card payments for tuition.  Complete an authorization form and we'll take care of the rest!

 Speech Weekly

 Toddlers and young 2’s

We began by reading “Moo Ba La La La” and “Barnyard Dance” while focusing on animal sounds.  We “read” sentence strips with pictures of animals and sounds.  The children were encouraged to “read” the sentence strips (3 pictures).  We cut up pretend fruit and gave it to our doggy.  We worked on sign language throughout the entire session.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session. 

Older 2’s

We also began by reading “Moo Ba La La La” and “Barnyard Dance” while focusing on animal sounds.  We utilized sentence strips with pictures of animals and sounds.  The children were able to read the “sentence strips” (3 pictures).  We cut up pretend fruit and gave it to our doggy while using 4 word sentences.  We also focused on categorizing animals and shapes with puzzles.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session.   

3’s and 4’s

  We began buy reading “The Very Quiet Cricket” while learning lots of new vocabulary such as rummaged, ambled, scurried, slithered, gigantic etc.  We also worked on opposites throughout the entire story.  Next we focused primarily on /s/ words in the initial, medial, and final position.  We then colored snakes and made “thick” and “thin” tongues.  In some classrooms we were able to play sound bingo.   

I hope everyone has a fantastic spring break. 
 

                                    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

Sea Turtle

Hello, nice to see you all again. This month has gone by very fast; I cannot believe it is almost May! This week we continued to practice counting. We used M&M’s, sea turtles, and cars to count from 1-10. We learned more about bugs! Everyone had a blast counting spots on ladybugs, slithering like a snake, pretending to be a caterpillar, and then becoming butterflies. They also enjoyed playing with sand in the water table. For art, we made ladybugs, snake paintings, made a caterpillar, made our own sand castles, and made a rainforest collage. Since we learned about bugs, everyone enjoyed reading, Little Miss Spider. Also, I want to wish our Sea Turtle Eva, a very happy birthday! I hope everyone has a fast and fun weekend! See you all on the Monday!

Ms. Erin

Penguins

We had a blast in the Penguin room this week! We talked more about the letter “Ee,” and worked on our songs for the family picnic that will be held on May 16^th. For art, we made a red ladybug, a snake out of a paper plate, a caterpillar, and painted a rainforest picture. We read some great books like, Sam’s Lamp, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? Tough Chicks, and Get to Work Trucks. We went on a nature walk around the playground and talked about what we saw. We worked on moving bodies like high marches, waving arms, and turning our heads from side to side. We also sailed a boat in our water table. We had a great week! Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Danielle

Starfish

We had such a fun time this week. We started off our week with ladybugs. We counted the spots, read books, and made a three part ladybug red body, black spots, and a black head.

We also pretended to fly like ladybugs. We also made snake art and talked about what a snake sounds like. We practiced for your family picnic we are doing How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You. 

The picnic is on a Sunday May 16^th from 4-6; there is a signup sheet on my door so I know who will attend. We talk about caterpillars, made caterpillars with pom-pom, and read the Three Little Caterpillars.  We talked about what we like to drink when we are thirsty, it displayed on the classroom door. We finished up the week with sand castle art, which they loved making. We also reviewed the class rules, listening ears, lining up, and we also played in the gross motor room this week. We played bubble catch, which is their favorite. Have a great weekend from the starfish class.

Ms. Jennifer

Seals                                                                                                                                                   

Hello again from the Seals! This week we had another fun week! We practiced the skill of walking in a line and I must say the Seals are getting better and better at it! Keep it up Seals! The Seals also practiced their listening skills, fine motor, gross motor, and following directions. We reviewed shapes, colors, counting, and opposites. The children learned about sea animals and reptiles. They also learned a new rhyme, called “it’s raining its pouring.” The seals also read a story about caterpillars and another one about animals in the rainforest. These were just a few of the many things we learned and skills we practiced this week.

In art the children had a lot of fun. We practiced using our fine motor skills to grasp and draw. We made ladybugs with wiggly eyes. We made a snake picture using a yarn and some paint. Then we had some fun with circles and made caterpillars. Then the children pretended we were at the beach and made a sand castle picture. Then we practiced using the information about rainforests by making a picture about them. In the picture the children included animals that live in the rainforest.

In gross motor we practiced blowing bubbles and popping them.  We also pretended we were different animals by playing follow the leader. The Seals love pretending so we pretended we were playing at the beach. Since it is spring still the children tried to catch flower petals falling down. They practiced the skills of hand eye coordination, jumping, and walking.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! See everyone next week! Here are some reminders:

                         May 7 Children’s Night Out Down on the farm

Sunday May 16 Family Picnic 4-6pm 
May 28 Children’s Night Out Fairy Tale Night

May 31 CLOSED for Memorial Day

Ms. Cheri

Dolphin

This week, the Dolphin Class has hopped into a whole bunch of spring things! We have done everything from sorting ladybugs, to having speech class, to painting with dandelions, to learning about American coins. We have had such a blast!

One of our favorite times during the week is Show and Tell! It is a great time to bring in toys from home and show them to our friends. However, because we have so many friends in our class, and everyone wants to have a time to share, we have decided to implement the one toy rule. Please only allow your child to bring in one toy for Show and Tell so that we can get through everyone!

For math/science, we graphed our favorite bugs, talked about patterns, discussed recycling plants, sorted ladybugs, and counted ladybug spots.

In letters, we read books, wrote “E’s” in our journals, had speech class, did letter groups, and then learned a nursery rhyme.

During art, we painted with dandelions, made red ladybugs, made egg carton caterpillars, created sand castles, and did rainforest art.

For social studies, we talked about the American coins. We learned about the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter, what they look like, and how much they are worth.

In humanities, we played a lot, had inside/out day, talked about what makes us thirsty and created a rainforest drama.

Overall, it has been a fantastic, rowdy, fun week! We cannot wait to find out what we are going to do next week!

Ms. Kimberly & Ms. Missy

Walrus

Hello! The Walrus Class had a fantastic week.  There was a ladybug theme. We had ladybug spots that we had to count and write the number next to our ladybug, we made ladybugs in art, which helped us more with our cutting and pasting skills. We also matched up ladybugs that had the same number of spots on them. The children also learned about coins. We discussed the names of them, the sizes, and the amount of each coin, the people that are the coins, and the dates that the coins were made. The students continued reading our “E” words and writing a few in their journals. There was a game of sound bingo, and we found all of the periods and underlined all of the words in our ready reader, “A Kiss.”  We made a lot of different animals this week in art. Besides our ladybugs, we made a caterpillar, painted snakes, and drew rainforest animals! The book mobile came this week to help fill our classroom with brand new books! We now have books about dinosaurs, butterflies, big machines, chickens, hamsters, and a dinner running off a young boy’s plate! We talked about animals that are extinct and saw some pictures of the fabulous animals of the rainforest. Everyone had a great week and we are looking forward to the weeks to come! Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Ryland and Ms. Emily

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


April 16, 2010

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, April 21st Staff Appreciation Day

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

Friday, May 7^th, Children’s Night Out, “Down on the Farm”

Monday, May 10^th, Spring Semester Evaluations distributed

Sunday, May 16^th, Family Picnic & Art Show: 4-6 pm

 School Notes and News

We had a wonderful but hot day week at Bright Beginnings. The mornings have been a little chilly but please make sure the children have extra summer clothes that they can change into before outside time. Drop off time can be a little crazy since all of the classes are combining into single classrooms and kids are seeing friends that they do not normally see. We are helping by making sure that activities are happening during those times but we have something that you could do to help us out! Please make sure that you drop off your child(ren)’s stuff in their classroom first and then bring them to the classroom they are usually in at drop-off . It makes it easier for the teachers so that they do not have to keep track of whose stuff is whose and also it makes it easier at the end of the day when you need to get all of your child(ren)’s stuff! Thanks so much for your help! Also, do not forget to sign up for CNO, “Singing in the Rain,” is the theme and it is with Ms. Danielle and Ms. Erin!

Financial Memo

 Spring cleaning? Children’s Night Out is a great way to have some extra hours to yourself to get things done around the house. Check out the yearly calendar for upcoming dates and sign up at the front desk!

 Simplify your life with Automatic Credit Card payments for tuition.  Complete an authorization form and we'll take care of the rest!

 Speech Weekly

 Toddlers and young 2’s

We began by reading “Moo Ba La La La” and “Barnyard Dance” while focusing on animal sounds.  We “read” sentence strips with pictures of animals and sounds.  The children were encouraged to “read” the sentence strips (3 pictures).  We cut up pretend fruit and gave it to our doggy.  We worked on sign language throughout the entire session.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session. 

Older 2’s

We also began by reading “Moo Ba La La La” and “Barnyard Dance” while focusing on animal sounds.  We utilized sentence strips with pictures of animals and sounds.  The children were able to read the “sentence strips” (3 pictures).  We cut up pretend fruit and gave it to our doggy while using 4 word sentences.  We also focused on categorizing animals and shapes with puzzles.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session.   

3’s and 4’s

  We began buy reading “The Very Quiet Cricket” while learning lots of new vocabulary such as rummaged, ambled, scurried, slithered, gigantic etc.  We also worked on opposites throughout the entire story.  Next we focused primarily on /s/ words in the initial, medial, and final position.  We then colored snakes and made “thick” and “thin” tongues.  In some classrooms we were able to play sound bingo.   

I hope everyone has a fantastic spring break. 
 

                                    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

Penguin

 Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! This week we talked about the letter “Ee”, butterflies, bee’s and lots more. We colored a big E for art then talked about things that start with an E. We made tissue paper butterflies, coffee filter butterflies, bumble bee using black tissue paper on yellow paper and colored a big ant then glued it to paper and added green tissue paper to the bottom. We had a birthday in the Penguin class as well this week. Caleb turned 2! Happy Happy Birthday!

We also worked on our colors, shapes, words, animals and counting to five. We sang lots of new songsto help us out with our colors, counting and shapes. We went fishing on the boat in the gross motor room. We hopped like frogs, played basket ball and blew bubbles! We had lots of fun activities and projects this week. Enjoy your weekend!

Ms. Danielle

Sea Turtles

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. This week we learned about the letter “Ee!” We come up with words like elephant, Eva, egg and Ms. Erin. We learned more about our colors and counting to five. For art we made coffee filter butterflies, colored a bee, made tissue paper art, made rain drops on the letter “Ee” and colored an ant. We enjoyed talking about bees and how they buzz . We made Chex Mix with the Penguin class, which was fun and yummy. Thank you all for bringing in frosting and sprinkles for our cupcakes! They were delicious and fun to decorate! Happy birthday to our Sea Turtle Siena who turned 2 years old on April 15^th. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend and I will see you on Monday!

Ms. Erin

Starfish

In the beginning of the week, we counted, read, acted and made butterflies. In the middle of the week, we talked about bees. We buzzed around like bees, we counted the legs of the bee: six legs. We read How Many Legs and talked about other insects, which we counted their legs in the book too! At the end of the week, we talked about rain and made raindrop mobiles on display. We also had a cooking project! We made oatmeal cookies, yum! Have a great weekend! See you Monday!

Ms. Jennifer

Seals

 Hello again from the Seal room. I hope everyone had a fantastic spring break. Glad to see everyone again. This week we we’re back full swing into things. We counted butterflies from a picture. This helped the children practice their counting skills. We reviewed the letters we have talked about and added X and Y. The children practiced matching their written names with their friend’s faces.  We practiced some more on patterns using one shape, two colors, and two different sizes. The children learned about things that live in the sea and reviewed insects. We continued working on our opposites also. This week we also decorated cupcakes and did a cooking project on Friday.

 In art we made tissue paper butterflies, where the children used glitter to decorate them. We also made coffee filter butterflies. The children took coffee filters and placed colored water on it to let the colors fade together. Then we took a clothes pin clipped to the filter to make the body. To practice some more fine motor skills the children took Q-tips and placed glue on paper and glued pictures on the paper. To talk about April showers we made a mobile of rain. We used a rain cloud, rain drops, the words April showers, rain gear, and blue glitter. The last art activity we did was ant art. The children design two ant pictures. On the picture the children placed eyes and decorated the ants.

 During gross motor we played with bubbles, which helps the children practice using the muscles in their mouths which help them to be able to blow and speak.  The children used some gross motor skills to dance. I used an exercise CD for the children to dance to. The children also played follow the leader by pretending we were different animals and insects.  We also practiced our catch and release skills by playing hot potato. The last thing we played was catch with a ball. We rolled the ball to each child. The children had a choice of who they rolled the ball to. The only catch was the children had to say the other child’s name before they rolled the ball to them.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I will see everyone next week! Some dates to remember:  Staff Appreciation Day April 21

Next Children’s Night out April 23 “Singing in the Rain”

Ms. Cheri

Dolphin

This week, the Dolphin class has certainly gotten into the swing of spring! We’ve done everything from add and subtract butterflies to writing E’s on our easel to making umbrella and raindrop mobiles to learning about the money from different countries! It was out of this world!

Another great way to celebrate spring is to get out in this great weather! CNO is a great way to do that! Your kids get to hang out with their friends, it’s $15 for the first child and $5 for additional children and it gives you 3 hours of free time! It’s a win-win situation!

For math/science, we did addition and subtraction with butterflies, did math with bees and flowers, talked about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle for Project Green, did a sponge experiment and played shapes bingo.

For letter’s, we read books, wrote E’s on the easel, did letter activities, went on an E scavenger hunt and learned a nursery rhyme!

For art, we made tissue butterflies, created coffee filter butterflies, made bee hive collages, put together umbrella and raindrop collages and made ant art.]

For social studies, we learned about and saw money from different counties and compared them. We also got to see a dress that Ms. Kimberly got in Venezuela.

For humanities, we did lots of playing, had some scarf dancing, made a butterfly play and did a cooking project with oatmeal and animal crackers.

Say a very happy birthday to Sofie (April 6^th), Maria Antonia (April 11^th), Emerson (April 12^th), Ethan (April 13^th) and Matthew (April 28^th).

This week has been so much fun and we can’t wait to celebrate next week with you!

 Ms. Kimberly

Walrus

 The Walrus class did a great job this week. We were able to incorporate a lot of “springy” things into our activities. The students did a wonderful job making up subtraction and addition problems and telling me everything that I needed in the problems. We drew butterflies, bees and flowers to help us add and take things away. Our tissue butterflies turned out great, which everyone can see in the hallway. We also made some wonderful bee hives that are hanging up in the gross motor room.

The letter we worked on was “E,” and we came up with a great list of words like edible, echo and east! We also focused a lot on our letter sounds by playing sound bingo. The kids found the letters on their boards by listening to the sounds that I gave them.  Everyone did a great job when I asked them about sentences verse single words. I wrote single words and sentences up on our board and they were able to tell me which ones were sentences and which ones were single words. They know that a sentence has to have a period at the end and it needs to be more than one word. We did something a little different with our Ready Readers this week. I asked the children to circle all of the periods and underline each of the words. They did a great job this week and we are looking forward to more warm days to come! Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Ryland

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


April 16, 2010

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, April 21st Staff Appreciation Day
Friday, April 23rd Children’s Night Out, “Singing in the Rain!”

Friday, May 7^th, Children’s Night Out, “Down on the Farm”

Monday, May 10^th, Spring Semester Evaluations distributed

Sunday, May 16^th, Family Picnic & Art Show: 4-6 pm

School Notes and News

We had a wonderful but hot day week at Bright Beginnings. The mornings have been a little chilly but please make sure the children have extra summer clothes that they can change into before outside time. Drop off time can be a little crazy since all of the classes are combining into single classrooms and kids are seeing friends that they do not normally see. We are helping by making sure that activities are happening during those times but we have something that you could do to help us out! Please make sure that you drop off your child(ren)’s stuff in their classroom first and then bring them to the classroom they are usually in at drop-off . It makes it easier for the teachers so that they do not have to keep track of whose stuff is whose and also it makes it easier at the end of the day when you need to get all of your child(ren)’s stuff! Thanks so much for your help! Also, do not forget to sign up for CNO, “Singing in the Rain,” is the theme and it is with Ms. Danielle and Ms. Erin!

Financial Memo

Spring cleaning? Children’s Night Out is a great way to have some extra hours to yourself to get things done around the house. Check out the yearly calendar for upcoming dates and sign up at the front desk!

Simplify your life with Automatic Credit Card payments for tuition.  Complete an authorization form and we'll take care of the rest!

 Speech Weekly

 Toddlers and young 2’s

We began by reading “Moo Ba La La La” and “Barnyard Dance” while focusing on animal sounds.  We “read” sentence strips with pictures of animals and sounds.  The children were encouraged to “read” the sentence strips (3 pictures).  We cut up pretend fruit and gave it to our doggy.  We worked on sign language throughout the entire session.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session. 

Older 2’s

We also began by reading “Moo Ba La La La” and “Barnyard Dance” while focusing on animal sounds.  We utilized sentence strips with pictures of animals and sounds.  The children were able to read the “sentence strips” (3 pictures).  We cut up pretend fruit and gave it to our doggy while using 4 word sentences.  We also focused on categorizing animals and shapes with puzzles.  The bubble machine was used at the end of our session.   

3’s and 4’s

  We began buy reading “The Very Quiet Cricket” while learning lots of new vocabulary such as rummaged, ambled, scurried, slithered, gigantic etc.  We also worked on opposites throughout the entire story.  Next we focused primarily on /s/ words in the initial, medial, and final position.  We then colored snakes and made “thick” and “thin” tongues.  In some classrooms we were able to play sound bingo.   

I hope everyone has a fantastic spring break. 
 

                                    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

Penguin

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! This week we talked about the letter “Ee”, butterflies, bee’s and lots more. We colored a big E for art then talked about things that start with an E. We made tissue paper butterflies, coffee filter butterflies, bumble bee using black tissue paper on yellow paper and colored a big ant then glued it to paper and added green tissue paper to the bottom. We had a birthday in the Penguin class as well this week. Caleb turned 2! Happy Happy Birthday!

We also worked on our colors, shapes, words, animals and counting to five. We sang lots of new songsto help us out with our colors, counting and shapes. We went fishing on the boat in the gross motor room. We hopped like frogs, played basket ball and blew bubbles! We had lots of fun activities and projects this week. Enjoy your weekend!

Ms. Danielle

Sea Turtles

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. This week we learned about the letter “Ee!” We come up with words like elephant, Eva, egg and Ms. Erin. We learned more about our colors and counting to five. For art we made coffee filter butterflies, colored a bee, made tissue paper art, made rain drops on the letter “Ee” and colored an ant. We enjoyed talking about bees and how they buzz . We made Chex Mix with the Penguin class, which was fun and yummy. Thank you all for bringing in frosting and sprinkles for our cupcakes! They were delicious and fun to decorate! Happy birthday to our Sea Turtle Siena who turned 2 years old on April 15^th. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend and I will see you on Monday!

Ms. Erin

Starfish

In the beginning of the week, we counted, read, acted and made butterflies. In the middle of the week, we talked about bees. We buzzed around like bees, we counted the legs of the bee: six legs. We read How Many Legs and talked about other insects, which we counted their legs in the book too! At the end of the week, we talked about rain and made raindrop mobiles on display. We also had a cooking project! We made oatmeal cookies, yum! Have a great weekend! See you Monday!

Ms. Jennifer

Seals

Hello again from the Seal room. I hope everyone had a fantastic spring break. Glad to see everyone again. This week we we’re back full swing into things. We counted butterflies from a picture. This helped the children practice their counting skills. We reviewed the letters we have talked about and added X and Y. The children practiced matching their written names with their friend’s faces.  We practiced some more on patterns using one shape, two colors, and two different sizes. The children learned about things that live in the sea and reviewed insects. We continued working on our opposites also. This week we also decorated cupcakes and did a cooking project on Friday.

In art we made tissue paper butterflies, where the children used glitter to decorate them. We also made coffee filter butterflies. The children took coffee filters and placed colored water on it to let the colors fade together. Then we took a clothes pin clipped to the filter to make the body. To practice some more fine motor skills the children took Q-tips and placed glue on paper and glued pictures on the paper. To talk about April showers we made a mobile of rain. We used a rain cloud, rain drops, the words April showers, rain gear, and blue glitter. The last art activity we did was ant art. The children design two ant pictures. On the picture the children placed eyes and decorated the ants.

During gross motor we played with bubbles, which helps the children practice using the muscles in their mouths which help them to be able to blow and speak.  The children used some gross motor skills to dance. I used an exercise CD for the children to dance to. The children also played follow the leader by pretending we were different animals and insects.  We also practiced our catch and release skills by playing hot potato. The last thing we played was catch with a ball. We rolled the ball to each child. The children had a choice of who they rolled the ball to. The only catch was the children had to say the other child’s name before they rolled the ball to them.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I will see everyone next week! Some dates to remember:  Staff Appreciation Day April 21

Next Children’s Night out April 23 “Singing in the Rain”

Ms. Cheri

Dolphin

This week, the Dolphin class has certainly gotten into the swing of spring! We’ve done everything from add and subtract butterflies to writing E’s on our easel to making umbrella and raindrop mobiles to learning about the money from different countries! It was out of this world!

Another great way to celebrate spring is to get out in this great weather! CNO is a great way to do that! Your kids get to hang out with their friends, it’s $15 for the first child and $5 for additional children and it gives you 3 hours of free time! It’s a win-win situation!

For math/science, we did addition and subtraction with butterflies, did math with bees and flowers, talked about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle for Project Green, did a sponge experiment and played shapes bingo.

For letter’s, we read books, wrote E’s on the easel, did letter activities, went on an E scavenger hunt and learned a nursery rhyme!

For art, we made tissue butterflies, created coffee filter butterflies, made bee hive collages, put together umbrella and raindrop collages and made ant art.]

For social studies, we learned about and saw money from different counties and compared them. We also got to see a dress that Ms. Kimberly got in Venezuela.

For humanities, we did lots of playing, had some scarf dancing, made a butterfly play and did a cooking project with oatmeal and animal crackers.

Say a very happy birthday to Sofie (April 6^th), Maria Antonia (April 11^th), Emerson (April 12^th), Ethan (April 13^th) and Matthew (April 28^th).

This week has been so much fun and we can’t wait to celebrate next week with you!

Ms. Kimberly

Walrus

The Walrus class did a great job this week. We were able to incorporate a lot of “springy” things into our activities. The students did a wonderful job making up subtraction and addition problems and telling me everything that I needed in the problems. We drew butterflies, bees and flowers to help us add and take things away. Our tissue butterflies turned out great, which everyone can see in the hallway. We also made some wonderful bee hives that are hanging up in the gross motor room.

The letter we worked on was “E,” and we came up with a great list of words like edible, echo and east! We also focused a lot on our letter sounds by playing sound bingo. The kids found the letters on their boards by listening to the sounds that I gave them.  Everyone did a great job when I asked them about sentences verse single words. I wrote single words and sentences up on our board and they were able to tell me which ones were sentences and which ones were single words. They know that a sentence has to have a period at the end and it needs to be more than one word. We did something a little different with our Ready Readers this week. I asked the children to circle all of the periods and underline each of the words. They did a great job this week and we are looking forward to more warm days to come! Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Ryland