BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
Millcreek Newsletter
April 9, 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 13th, 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
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 23rd, 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
This was a short week but it was fun. We really enjoyed the awesome weather by playing outside. Playing games like kick ball, tag, red light green light, and talking about bugs, trees, and we event went on a rock hunt. Matthew was a big help with finding the rocks. He would push around the shopping cart, stop and pick up a rock to put it in his cart, and kept going. We also had a lot of fun pretending we were stuck in the mud and then pretended to jump into the pool, which ended up being our ball pit. We talked about pollution and recycling for Project Green. For art, we decorated a paper umbrella, apple prints for the letter “A,” and free coloring. We also worked on animal sounds, learning our body parts and used our fingers and toes to count with. Everyone is doing a great job in class. We even had a new friend join us. His name is Koen, so please welcome him to the Penguin Class! As a reminder: Cupcake decorating contest April 13th, the signup sheet is on the door. Thank you.
Ms. Danielle
Starfish
Hello from the starfish class! This week was short and full of fun. This week we are closed for spring break April 8-9. We had the seal’s visit our class, which we loved. Our letter of the week was “A”, we talked about words that begin with “A”. We said apple, air, and airplane just to name a few. This week we went over our number’s 1-10, colors, shapes, and animals. We read tons of great stories. The book the children loved the best was Driving my Tractor by Jan Dobbins, it also has a sing-along CD that we listened to as well as sang along too. We also talked about the animal in the story. I asked the children what is their favorite fruit; you can view the answers on the starfish door. We had many visitors in our class Miss. Stacy stopped by with two wonderful activities for us to do. The book mobile came by; the children love the book mobile. We practiced listening ears, lining up, taking turns, and gentle hands. On Wednesday the starfish visited the seal’s class so I could help out the Walrus class. We also went outside with bubbles, the starfish and I really have been enjoying this weather. Have a wonderful Spring break everyone, see you on MondayJ
Ms. Jennifer
Seals
Hello again from the seals! I hope everyone had a great Easter Weekend. This week was a short but fun week. Thursday and Friday we were off due to spring break (April 8, 9). On Monday the Seals visited the starfish class in the morning. I had to go help out in another class. A few children in the morning made felt boards.
This week the children reviewed patterns by making a quilt. We also reviewed ABC’s, numbers, shapes, and colors. We learned about spiders and read a little from Charlotte’s Web. To review shapes we played a game where you jump to each shapes. We reviewed ABC’s from flash cards. To review colors I asked them what different colors were at art time.
In art this week we made flowering trees. The children placed flowers on the tree to decorate it and to make it look like the tree was in bloom. We also made a quilt from construction paper. Each child had a square and decorated it with things. Between each square a blank square was placed to make a pattern. We also painted and decorated spiders made from paper plates. We learned spiders have at least eight legs and two parts to their body. We also made a picture about butterflies. I hope everyone enjoys spring break. It was a great week. See you Monday.
Some dates to remember:
Staff Appreciation Day April 21
Next Children’s Night out April 23 “Singing in the Rain”
Dolphin
This week in the Dolphin Class we talked about spring and the birds that we see. This led us on a hunt for Robins! We have been reviewing our shapes and patterns as well as some of the countries that we previously learned. We found their flags again, talked about the clothing, and even tasted some of their traditional foods. For Project Green this week, we talked about recycling and the different items that can be recycled. Our favorite art project this week was our class quilt! We decorated different squares and glued them all together. Have a wonderful Spring Break and we will see you on Monday!
Walrus
Although it was a short week, the Walrus Class managed to accomplish a lot! The students did a fantastic job with their number recognition, 11-20. They were able to match the numbers on our number chart and identify which number was which. Jumping over shapes was a new game this week. I cut out large shapes and placed them on the carpet and asked each student to jump over the shape that I called out. Air pollution was our topic for Project Green. We discussed what it was, what causes it, and how to prevent it. The children continued reading our “A” words and writing some more in their journals. We are looking forward to moving on to letter “E” next week! Ms. Stacy came this week, which we always love, and helped us with our letter sounds while playing letter bingo! She read us a great story too and helped us expand our vocabulary! It is always special to have the book mobile come and visit and this week we were able to get more books. We have a new soccer goal and soccer ball that we get to play with outside. The kids have had a blast with it this week! See you on Monday!
Ms. Ryland
434-823-7129
1645 Park Ridge Drive