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