Mill CreekBright Beginnings Mill Creek is located 1.5 miles from the Charlottesville downtown mall and close to Monticello High School, Cale Elementary and the University of Virginia. This location has a Children’s Garden and a large Nature Trail that runs the length of the 2.5 acre property. The preschool is located near the popular sub-divisions of Mill Creek, Mill Creek South, Foxcroft, Lake Renovia, Redfields and Mosby Mountain as well as condominium neighborhoods including Lakeside and Stoney Creek. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Thursday, 04 March 2010 16:22
Newsletter March 5thBRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
Millcreek Newsletter
March 5, 2010 Upcoming Events: Friday, March 5th, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30 “Over the Rainbow” Tuesday, March 9th, Brownie Bake Off starting at 5:30 Friday, March 19th, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30 Monday, March 22nd, Parent Advisory Meeting, 5:00-6:00
School News and Notes The sun was shining bright here at Bright Beginnings. Everyone was working hard and I hope everyone can enjoy their weekend! We had a wonderful turnout for the Children’s Night Out! Be on the look out for the next one! Do not forget to sign up for the Brownie Bake Off! The signup sheet is up at the front desk. There will be a Parent Advisory Meeting coming up on the 22nd of this month. Please sign up to come and chat! That signup sheet is on the board outside of the gross motor room. I know there have been concerns about the gate to the older kids’ playground. The fence company has been called to come next week and fix the latches on the gate to the older childrens’ playground. We have a fantastic project coming up. It is the Original Works Fundraiser! Families will be able to order different items with their children’s art work on them! There is stationary, mugs, t-shirts, tiles, magnets, and more! Art is so important and precious for kids, it is a great idea to save and preserve their art in a whole different way! The gross motor room for the older kids is up and running and we are always looking for donations to put in the room! Have a wonderful weekend and we will see you on Monday!
Speech Weekly
Can you understand what your child is saying? Does your child speak clearly? Do you have to translate your child's speech to others? This is called intelligibility. The term intelligibility refers to how much a listener can understand the speaker. In typical development, as children learn to talk, their comprehensibility to those around them steadily increases. In young children there is often quite a marked difference between understanding: Single words vs. conversational speech Known conversational topics vs. unknown conversational topics Parents and close family members are usually experts at understanding their own child's speech attempts. We have seen many parents "translate" even the most unintelligible efforts made by their children! With regard to families, siblings may sometimes be more adept than parents in comprehending what their little brothers and sisters are saying! Unfamiliar listeners, on the other hand, are often unable to decipher a young child's speech.
Penguin Hello everyone! We had another wonderful week in class. We were really busy working on our colors this week! Everyone really loved the games we played to help us learn our colors. We also have been busy with arts crafts. The children made cotton ball lambs, tissue paper “D’s,” and made a lion mask. Some of the other projects and activities we did included, pretending to be zoo animals by crawling around on the floor and making their sounds. For our cooking project, we made muffins, and they were sure yummy! We also played in our water table, had bubble fun, and did some awesome puzzles. We read some great books also like, 123 Zoo, Grandpa’s Quilt, Who’s Peeking? and ABC Touch and Feel. This pretty much wraps up our week. Do not forget to check your child’s cubby and day notes daily. Ms. Danielle Starfish Throughout March, we will be focusing on colors, shapes and number recognition/counting in Math. To help reinforce our knowledge of colors, we have been doing a lot of math and science activities with the rainbow. We used a mirror, a small dish of water and the sunlight to make a rainbow while outside on Monday. We used milk, dish soap and food coloring to make another rainbow on Wednesday. Talking about rainbows is educational in itself, but it also affords us the opportunity to talk about many colors on a daily basis. We matched colored blocks to like-colored paper (R, O, G, Y, B and P) and, on Friday, we will have matched skittles in the same way (as well as used them for a yummy counting activity). Additionally, we have been using our science time to identify new animals. We have been using lots of play and movement to understand sea creatures (this week). A counting chart has aided in the identification of particular sea animals and helped us to associate a grouping with a number. The same active-activities have helped us to understand feelings (as part of our humanities curriculum). For Project Green, we are building the foundation to do experiments and activities related to the well-being of the environment and the upcoming seasonal change. We acted out and talked about the qualities of winter and did the same for the spring. Although young-twos are learning words at a rapid rate, we have been taking advantage of our reading time this week to point out both familiar and unfamiliar objects; building vocabulary has been a goal of our literature activities. To that end, we have been picking objects out of a bag and naming their function. Art is always a blast in the Starfish room. Shaving cream art and the lion masks we made were a big hit! We made cotton ball lambs and rainbow suns. On Friday, be sure to look for our lemon prints. An overarching theme of the week has been the color yellow—we had a scavenger hunt to find yellow things, wore yellow on Wednesday and sang a song to go along with our sunshine-clad outfits. Our book of the week was “The Teddy Bear” by David McPhail. Ms. Victoria
Hello again from the Seals! This has been another great week! This week we learned about the letter D and reviewed some of the letters from past weeks. We also played a game called pass the shape where the students had to pass the shape but, before they could pass it to their friends they had to first say what the shape was. We also did some practice with patterns. During this week we practiced the skills listening, following directions, walking in a line, learning our letters, and reviewed placement of body parts. I would like to say goodbye to Naomi whose family had to move. We will miss you good luck at your new preschool and new town! I would also like to turn and welcome Kalen who just started this past Monday! I hope you will have a great time in our class! In art we made lion masks, roar! The children colored the masks with a brown or tan crayon and then used a pink one to make the nose. Then they glued yarn on for the mane. We also made cotton ball lambs. This used fine motor skills of grasping and placement. The children also made smelly play dough we put some lemon in the dough to make it smell lemony fresh. We also made animal puppets and lemon prints. In gross motor we played follow the leader, dance, pretended we were in a circus. We were everything from clowns to lions when we played circus. For the follow the leader we pretended we were wolves, tigers, lions and dogs. Pretending we were lions and tigers helped them to practice their R sounds. Being the wolf let us practice our “ou” sound. We also used the gross motor skills of crawling and stomping. The children also went on a bear hunt and exercised. I hope everyone enjoyed our fun week! I will see everyone next week. Until then have a great weekend! Reminder: Brownie Bake off March 9! Next Children’s Night Out March 19! Ms. Cheri
Dolphin This week, the Dolphin Class roared its way into March! We did everything from going on a nature walk in our classroom to doing letter groups, to making lion masks to learning all about Venezuela! We had a rocking time! This last weekend I went to an inspiring, insightful conference through Applebaum institute called "One Heart, One Voice for Children." I learned so much and one of the things I learned is about knowing what kids have eaten for breakfast and when. I am going to start a new chart system that will be on the side of the cubbies. Each day, it would be great if you could fill in an idea of when your child went to sleep, woke up, ate breakfast, and what they had. I know morning times are hectic and rushed and I realize you probably might forget sometimes but it will help me so much in helping your child! In math/science, I did an assessment of one-to-one correspondence (counting one object at a time). Then they played pass the shape, talked about people building and destroying animals habitats for Project Green, went on a nature walk around our room, and made a graph of our favorite parts of Spring! In letter's time, we read our "Dd" book, had letter's groups to play letter's games, wrote easel "D's," had a "D" scavenger hunt, and read a book, then talked about the objects in the book. In art, we painted with water color, made cotton ball lambs, crated lion masks, had music class with Ms. Melissa, and made animal paper bag puppets. In social studies, we talked about Venezuela, looked it up on the map, learned some Spanish, found the Venezuelan flag, and looked at pictures I took when I was there. In humanities, we planted fake seeds in rice table, dug a garden in rice table, made lemon play dough, had a cooking project, and sorted yellow things we find in nature! Overall, we had a blast this week! We cannot wait for another fun-filled week! Ms. Kimberly
It is always fun starting a new month! New songs, nursery rhymes, letters, and art projects! The Walrus group started the week off with complex patterns. I was amazed on how well they did. We made the patterns with shapes. I created the first two patterns, then had two of the students complete them. Then I had two students create their own complex patterns and then they picked two of their friends to complete them. We also “passed the shape”, which meant having a friend ask for a shape and their partner had to pick it out of a large assortment of shapes and hand it to them. For project green this week we talked about the destruction of habitats and what happens when animals homes are destroyed and their population begins to shrink. Our cooking project consisted of peanut butter, graham crackers, and raisins, which made our famous peanut butter boats! We made sure we had enough passengers and crew members (raisins and chocolate chips) to help lead those boats right to our bellies! Our letter for this week was "Dd," and we made the longest list yet of "Dd" words! I think we had over twenty words! We wrote some great ones down in our journals. We learned a lot about some furry friends this week including rabbits, kangaroos, fish, and more! It is always fun comparing different animals and really look at why they are built the way they are. Listening to our friends was a big theme this week. When we listen to our friends, they will listen to us, and that is when we can help each other, work together, and really have a fun time together! I hope everyone enjoys their weekend and we will see you on Monday! Ms. Ryland
Friday, 26 February 2010 16:35
Newsletter February 26thBRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
Millcreek Newsletter
February 26, 2010
Upcoming Events:
Friday, March 5th, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30 “Over the Rainbow”
School News and Notes
The children have had a blast here at Bright Beginnings this week! Nothing could be better than playing in the snow with your friends! Please continue bringing extra clothes, socks, and shoes. Make sure to sign up for Children’s Night out with Ms. Cherie and Ms. Ryland! “Over the Rainbow” is the theme and it is going to be a blast! We are having a BROWNIE BAKE OFF on March 9th! Please sign up at the front desk if you want to participate! The Octopus Room is being turned into a gross motor room for the older kids and we already have some great things in it but we are always looking to add more! We would love any donations. Some of the things we are interested in getting are hula hoops, a small basketball hoop, a keyboard, and a tent. Speech Weekly
Toddlers and young 2’s We began by building our vocabulary by reaching into my function bag and naming objects and talking about the use of the specific object. We discussed around 25 items as well as their functions including a spoon, chair, bed, cup, phone, comb, etc. We also read another noisy story and worked on the sounds /m/, /s/, /n/, /r/, /e/, and /w/. We also reviewed sign language as well. Older 2’s Each student reached into the function bag and had to name the object and tell their friends the function of each object. We also read a noisy story and focused on the sounds /m/, /s/, /n/, /r/, /e/, and /w/. Finally we worked on oral motor skills to exercise the muscles in our mouths by blowing cotton balls across the table with straws. 3’s and 4’s We worked on rhyming sounds and used our rhyming houses. Each student had 2-3 cards in front of them and had to match their cards with the specific rhyming house. We also addressed the use of objects and were able to list 6 things you can do with a ball, discussed the use of keys, quarters, phones, bikes, and several others. Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP Sea Turtle
Hello! Welcome back! This week, we learned about the dentist and we pretended to be one! We also learned more "Bb" words like bumble bee and boat! Learning our numbers is always fun, and we read "Skippy Jon Jone's 1,2,3's" to help us out! We were able to learn the numbers 1-10. This week for art, we made cotton ball art, sponge art, marble art, toothbrush art, and Q-tip art. We used many different materials this week and if was fun to explore the different techniques! Parents, we have a new diaper cream form that is right above the changing table. So, if your child needs diaper cream, you no longer have to see Ms. Amy for a form. You can simply sign your child's name, the type of cream being used, and you signature! The signature is very important. We cannot apply the cream without a signature. Have a wonderful weekend, see you Monday!
Ms. Erin
Penguin
The Penguin Class had a great week! We worked on our colors with this really fun matching game. Everyone did a great job match the color cards together. We worked on using our words, learning more about out body parts, taking turns, recognizing animals and their sounds, and more! We pretended to listen to our hearts with a toy stethoscope, discussed words that started with the letter “Bb,” and made fairy wands! The children loved our toothbrush art activity, q-tip painting, and free art. We also did a floor puzzle and exercises in the gross motor room. Pushups were not as easy as we thought! We had lots of fun this week and the best part was having our friend Ming Ming join us again! She took a wonderful trip to visit her family and friends and now she is back! Welcome back Ming Ming! We missed you! And just as a reminder, do not forget to sign up for the BOWNIE BAKEOFF. It is on March 9th at 5:30 and the signup sheet is at the front desk. And now for the best news ever! We have a new form for the diaper cream. It is much faster and there is less writing. You do not have to ask for a form at the front desk; just sign your child up on the form in the Penguin Room on the wall by the changing area. Please be sure to put the cream in your child’s cubby with their name on it. We will see you next week! Ms. Danielle Starfish
We spent a lot of time this week talking about our teeth, the dentist, keeping our teeth clean and the tooth fairy! We made sparkly fairy wands and sprinkled them with "fairy dust" (glitter). We used toothbrushes to make two different paintings--the first, a rainbow collective and the second, a pink-painting to match the color of our tongues and gums! In science, we made "bubbles" by mixing baking soda and vinegar--this was a big hit. We also listened to and felt our hearts using a stethoscope, our ears and our hands. The Starfish were introduced to classifying this week, a skill they already utilize as they pick up their toys and that can be reinforced with the card-game we have been playing. Upon Ms. Stacey's recommendation, we have also been building our vocabulary through the same game and another activity involving naming the functions of particular objects. We used straws to blow cotton balls around the table top (a good oral motor activity), and it was much fun! On Monday, we used our play fruits and vegetables as a means to classify and understand healthy foods. We had a toss and threw fruits into one basket, vegetables into another. In humanities, we did lots of exercising songs and activities--jumping jacks, pretending to be bicycles, hopping on one foot and even jumping rope! Using a rope ladder, we played jump-over-the-ladder-rungs (like hopscotch). We have been reading a lot of books and will have a new book of the week for Monday. Thank you parents for making that program a success in our classroom! Seals
Hello again from the Seals! This has been another great week. This week we learned” I’ve been working the railroad.” We reviewed the letters J, I and a few others. This week we talked about teeth and how to keep them health. The children discussed the tooth fairy. Since we talked about the tooth fairy we made tooth fairy wands. The children also sorted food into groups. During this week we practiced the skills listening, following directions, walking in a line, learning our letters, and placement of body parts. Great job seals on the skill walking in a line. You did an awesome job, keep it up! :) In art we made Fairy wands and a train picture. For the fairy wands and train picture they practiced fine motor skills. For the fairy wands they had to peel the stickers off the back of the foam stickers. For the train picture they had to use crayons and draw a background for the train. We also made soap prints using bubbles and paint. The children used straws to spread the paint. We also finger painted and with white paint on black paper. The children made a picture using tooth brushes and paint. The last thing they did was make a picture using Q-tips and paint. They activities practice fine motor control of a object to make designs on paper. In gross motor we played follow the leader, dance, pertained we were driving a train and riding on a train. For the follow the leader we pretended we were wolves, tigers, lions and dogs. Pretending we were lions and tigers helped them to practice their R sounds. Being the wolf let us practice our ou sound. We also used the gross motor skills of crawling and stomping. I hope everyone enjoyed our fun week! I will see everyone next week. Until then have a great weekend! Remember: There will be a CNO (Children’s Night Out) on March 5. I will be hosting it along with another teaching. Be sure to sign your child up before it fills up! Ms. Cheri
This week, the Dolphin Class has really "hit the books," and definitely had fun doing it! We have done everything from making a food pyramid poster, to learning "Old Mother Hubbard," to drawing with stencils, to learned dances from different cultures! These next month’s are going to be a little crazy with Scholastic orders. They are going to come up quickly so we n catch up and get them out as fast we possible. The March catalog is online already and will be available in the lobby around March 1st. They will be due March 10th. I will keep you updated about April! I will be sending out an email with all of these details soon! Thanks for understanding! In math/science, we made a food pyramid poster that is on display above our sink, listened to our hearts with a stethoscope, talked about trees making oxygen, compared different measuring tools, and had group recognition activities. In letter's time, we read books, had reading class with Ms. Fisher, wrote "B's" in our journals, did the "B" scavenger hunt that we missed last week, and learned "Old Mother Hubbard." In art, we made soap painting, drew with stencils, made fairy wants, created toothbrush paintings, and painted with Q-tips. In social studies, we read a book about people's differences, looked in the mirror to talk about our differences, looked at pictures of people and picked out differences, played games from different cultures, and danced dances from different cultures! In humanities, we had free play in centers, played in the gross motor game room, played with Ms. Kimberly, and played with puzzles. Overall, we really enjoyed this week! I loved playing with your children and I cannot wait to see what next week brings!
Ms. Kimberly
Walrus
The Walrus team had loads of energy this week and we tried to get outside as much as we could! Please make sure the children are still bringing extra pairs of shoes, socks, and other clothes for next week. We looked at an old painting this week with Ms. Fisher and compared it to today’s art by showing one of the student’s drawings. This was a great activity for them to really look at the differences of each picture and what key things they might look at to see if a painting is from centuries ago or from today. Ms. Stacey worked with them on rhyming words and used a cute activity that involved little houses. We continued to work on our lower case letters and teen numbers. We have started a new thing where I have two students whisper a word to me that I then write down and we all try to sound out the word together. We start out by sounding out each letter separately and then trying to blend them all together. They have done a great job with this activity. The Walrus Class has the month of March for the creativity board so we have been preparing the decorations for that. Please be on the lookout when entering the school! The children continued working on their number book and wrote 7, 8, and 9, leaving us only 10 to write! We estimated how many teeth we have in our mouths and our predictions went between 13 to 1002 teeth! They wrote more "Bb' words in their journals and we are excited to move on to our next letter next week, “Dd.” I hope everyone has a great week and we will see you on Monday!
Ms. Ryland
Friday, 19 February 2010 17:05
Newsletter February 19thBRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
Millcreek Newsletter
February 5, 2010 School News: ATTENTION PARENTS! I am so excited to tell you that we will be going OUTSIDE again starting MONDAY. Yes, this MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd. Please make sure your child has an extra pair of clothes, a jacket, BOOTS, extra socks, extra shoes, and any other things you may think of that will help them be comfortable for the rest of the day just in case they get wet outside. Everyone is super excited about this and we want everyone to be prepared so they can have all the fun they can and still be dry inside.
We recognize that with the amount of snow and ice we have had this winter that we have had to alter our hours of operation and appreciate your understanding as you can imagine that it is a difficult decision to make. Overall we have not closed as often as others and strive to be open during bad weather for your convenience. Please keep in mind that when making this decision we consider the safety of our staff and families and the number of staff that can make it in order to maintain ratios. If we have another day that we are closed due to snow or ice (cross your fingers that we don't!) we will add back in one of the spring break days in April. Thanks again for your patience and understanding. Have a wonderful weekend! Upcoming Events:
Friday, February 19th – Children’s Night Out
“Celebrate Diversity”
Thursday, February 25th – Staff Appreciation Day Friday, March 5th- Children’s Night Out “Over the Rainbow Tuesday, March 9th- Brownie Bake Off and Potluck Friday, March 19th- Children’s Night Out “Shining Shamrock”
Financial Memo If you forget your pass card to enter the building, please remember to sign your child in or out at the front desk. Class Notes Sea Turtle Welcome back! Thank you all for coming to our Grandparent’s Day Brunch! We also want to welcome out newest Sea Turtle, Carter to our class! This week we learned about the letter “Bb!” We came up with a list of words that began with “B,” such as, ball, bear, bike, and bubble! We enjoyed doing jumping jacks, and everyone loved jogging in place. For art, we finger painted, colored the letter “B,” made flowers, and did some free art. For our cooking project we made mini pizzas, using English muffins. They were tasty and everyone had a blast making them. Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday! Ms. Erin Penguin The Penguin Class would like to thank everyone for stopping by on Grandparent’s and Special Friends Day. It was a lot of fun, and everyone seemed to have had a really good time. This week we did a lot of fun things. We read some great books like “Miss Spider.” The class really liked the bright colors that were portrayed on each page. For arts and crafts, we colored a picture of a ball for the letter “Bb,” and did some finger painting, body tracing, and made some new sensory bottles! We made pizza for our cooking project this week, which everyone enjoyed! For children’s humanities, we did some jumping jacks, running in place, and even some push-ups! We talked about our bodies more this week. At circle time, we added a new song to sing about animals! We even had another new friend that joined out class! His name is Spencer and he is so wonderful! See you next week! Ms. Danielle Seals Hello from the Seals! This week we were jam packed with things to do since it was a short week, due to the staff training on Monday. On Wednesday of this week we had the rescheduled Grandparents day! The children loved having visitors to our classroom. They got to spend some quality time with some members of their extended family they may not see too often. The children sang their songs and gave their gifts to their visitors. The seals also headed back into the kitchen to make some delicious muffins on Friday. I wanted to congratulate a few students on some students on some big accomplishments; Joshua, Gabrielle, Emma, and Logan great job on using the potty! You guys are doing an awesome job keep it up! The children are continuing to work on knowing their shapes and colors. I have been quizzing them with flash cards. They are getting better at knowing and saying what shape it is without delay. We have also been working on recognizing letters and connecting a letter with a picture of something that starts with that letter. We are still working on our walking in a line skill. The children are also working on knowing their body parts (head, shoulders knees, toes, etc). To convey this we made crazy people in art. The children were given two eyes, mouth and nose. Then they were given supplies to use as need to create their person. The person could have feathers, sequence, fabric, etc. The children have started to investigate the world of patterns during block play. They all learned a new rhyme. We learned Humpty Dumpty! In art besides the crazy people, we made jeweled J’s that sparkled and shone! The children also got to experiment with textured paint I mixed some paint up with sand in it and let them finger paint with it. They really seemed to enjoy doing this. We also made an Igloo picture and talked about the letter “I.” While doing this art projects they were using listen skills, following directions, and fine motor skills. For example picking a crayon up and drawing with it is a fine motor skill. Also putting glue on something small is a fine motor kill. During gross motor time we did exercises. We did jumping jacks, stretching and running and jogging in place. We also played red light green light and pretended we were driving cars. This week we also played follow the leader, Simon Says, and went on a bear hunt. All these activities practiced gross motor skills using their legs and the skills of jumping. They also used the skills of listening and following directions. I hope everyone has a great weekend! I look forward to next week’s fun activities! There will be a CNO (Children’s Night Out) on March 5. I will be hosting it along with another teaching. Be sure to sign your child up before it fills up! Ms. Cheri Dolphin This week, the Dolphin Class had a rip, roarin’ time! We did everyting from fingerpainting to find Germany on the map, to using the scale in our room, to going on a “B” scavenger hunt! We learned so much! We learn a lot n our classroom, there might also be some things that you (parents) want your child to learned or improve on. Is there anything else that you would like your child to focus on learning, or do you have any ideas for things that we could learn? What would you like to see more of in the Dolphin classroom? What does your child enjoy and want to do more of? With what does your child need more support? Feel freek to email your answers to
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or just stick a note in my cubby or your child’s cubby. In math, we talked about what our body parts do, how bikes can help reduced carbon dioxide during Project Green, weighed different things with our class scale, and talked about how magnets repel and attract. In letter’s time, we read our “B” book, went on a “B” scavenger hung, wrote “B’s” on our easel, and talked about objects in our read aloud. In art, we finger painted, traced our hands and feet and then glued them onto our bodies, had music class with Ms. Melissa, and made a collage of food pictures. In social studies, we talked about Germany, found it on the map, leaned some German words, and looked at the German flag. In humanities, we did some room jogging, did sit-ups, jumping jacks and made our cooking project! We had a fantastic week, and our Grandparents/Special Friend’s Day was so much fun! Ms. Kimberly Walrus The Walrus Class had a great time starting the week learning about static electricity! We discussed some of places we experience static electricity at school. The students have experienced it on the slide outside, playing in the tunnel in Ms. Cheri’s old room, and sometimes when we put our jackets on. Our letter this week was “B,” and we made a great list of “B” words like book, board, bike, bad, ball, baseball, and Bright Beginnings! We wrote two of these “B” words in our journal to help us practice writing our lowercase letters. The Walrus group recycled their lunch packages this week to help start with the school wide recycling project. They had an absolute blast with body tracing. Each student’s bodies were traced and they were able to drawn on their own hair, clothes, and even shoes. Before we did this project we discussed what our bodies help us do and why they are so important. We are still working on our number book and we were able to write 4, 5, and 6 this week. We have drawn food before but this week we gave our food drawings faces and capes like superheroes! There was a discussion about the healthy foods we put in our bodies and the foods that give us good energy. The Grandparent’s/Special Friend’s Day was a great success and thank you to everyone who could come out! For those who could not make it, we missed you! The Walrus group really did a great job this week and I cannot wait for the events and projects to come! Ms. Ryland
Friday, 12 February 2010 17:23
Newsletter February 12thBRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984 Millcreek Newsletter February 5, 2010 School News and Notes This week was short but fun here at Bright Beginnings! Sorry for the inconvenience of any delays or closings that we had this week. We will be closed Monday, February 15th for staff training. The Grandparent’s/Special Friends Day was rescheduled for Wednesday, February 17th due to the weather and delay. Upcoming Events: Wednesday, February 17th – Grandparent’s and Special Friends February 15th – Closed completely for Staff Development and Training Tuesday, February 16th – Parent Advisory Committee Meeting at 5pm Friday, February 19th – Children’s Night Out “Celebrate Diversity” Thursday, February 25th – Staff Appreciation Day 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. If you forget your pass card to enter the building, please remember to sign your child in or out at the front desk. Earn a free week! Refer a friend or coworker and if they enroll you will receive a free week's tuition. Laura Tomaine Executive Director/CFO Class Notes Sea Turtle Hello there again! This week was fun and exciting. We learned about Valentine’s Day! We also made more Valentine art, which we all love to make. Thank you to all the parents for making our Valentine Day parties a success! For art we made Valentine cards, finger painted and painted hearts! What a week! Parents, we have rescheduled our Grandparent’s Day brunch for Wednesday February 17th at 10:00 am. Also, we will be closed on Monday February 15th for our staff training. Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend, see you on Tuesday! Ms. Erin
Penguin This was a short but fun week in the Penguin Class. We really enjoyed our Valentine Day parties! Thank you for everyone’s help with the snacks and treats. We did lots of reviewing at circle time. We reviewed our colors, numbers, ABC's, shapes a lots more! For arts and crafts, we made our mailbox bags, colored hearts, made heart prints using cookie cutters, and heart shaped stamps. We made happy faces and played a heart matching game. We talked about our bodies and teeth, looked at ourselves in the mirror and asked, "Who do you see?" We had puzzle time and did lots of exercising as well. Yes, we made this week a great week. Thanks again for helping out the toddlers’ class with the parties! Ms. Danielle Starfish The Starfish have had a wonderful week! During her last visit, Ms. Stacey encouraged the practice of sequencing. Ordering three pictures is a great pre-reading skill, an excellent fine motor activity for those little neurons, and, above all, a lot of fun! The Starfish love the pictures, the fun names given to the characters and the accompanying stories; we cannot wait until Ms. Stacey visits again to show her the progress we have made! On our “Math Their Way” curriculum, we are directed to explore problem solving—this is a fantastic mandate as problem solving is everywhere for this age group. In each activity where there is a challenge, the Starfish are problem solving: does this puzzle piece go here? How can I build a big tower without it falling over? How can we both use this toy? In art, we have had a busy week. We crafted adorable Valentine bear-hug cards for our parents, colored Valentine cards for our classmates and painted beautiful orchid cards for our special friends. The latter introduced a new way of painting—simply dusting with dry paint rather than painting with wet. We also incorporated the other aspect of “Math Their Way” by creating mirror-image finger-paintings. The Valentine collages we made are beautiful—please check them out in our hallway. On Thursday, we played with our own heart “patterns”. We found where our heartbeat is located in our chests, felt it beat as we sat still and saw that jumping around generated a faster, harder “pattern”. Ask you Starfish to show you where in his or her body they can feel a “thump, thump”. We also made snow melt—pouring hot water over a bucket of snow was like magic! Instead of graphing height and boys and girls, we discussed who is tallest, shortest and counted (good practice) how many boys and girls were in our class. Finally, in both humanities and social studies/science, we got to practice some different forms of exercising! As a yoga enthusiast and runner myself, I love to impart the value of endorphins! We learned how to do jumping jacks (a favorite), have done lots of yoga, pretended to be bicycles, sang action songs and, of course, have done heaps of dancing and running around. J Thank you to the parents who brought in party items for our Valentine’s Day festivities. Our book of the week is No, David! by David Shannon. Cheers from the Starfish! Ms. Victoria Hello again from the Seal room! We had a lot of fun this week! The children did last minute preparations for grandparent’s day and special friend’s day. This week we learned a new rhyme and finger play. We also reviewed rules, ABC’s, shapes, and colors. We talked about things we love. The children told me what they loved and I wrote them down. Some of the skills we practiced this week were listening, following directions, colors, walking in a line, ABC’s, counting, and manners. This week we also had our Valentine’s Day parties and handed our Valentine’s to our classmates. This has been a fun but full week! Thank you to everyone for bringing in supplies for the parties this week. The children had a ball. In art we made our gifts for our grandparent’s or special friend’s and made mailboxes for Valentine’s Day. The children pretended they were delivering mail to their friend’s mailboxes. We made valentine cards for the child to give out to someone in their family. The children made heart necklaces and heart crowns. To celebrate Valentine’s Day the children made a collage of hearts. For gross motor we pretended we did the chicken dance and other dances. We marched to the beat of the music and played follow the leader. We exercised and practiced hitting the ball with our hand to our friends. When we had time we went on a bear hunt around the room. Parents I wanted to remind you we will be CLOSED for staff training on Monday February 15, 2010. This is a reminder, if there is bad weather and we are closed or delayed there will be a message posted on our website detailing so. Have a great weekend and see you next week! Ms. Cheri Dolphin This week, the Dolphin Class did a lot of lovin’! We looked at heart patterns, made Valentine’s Cards, decorated our Valentine’s mailboxes and learned about Liberia. We had so much fun! Kids love playing and often times they get messy or forget to go potty and have an accident. Please make sure your child has seasonally appropriate extra clothes! I have put all the bags under the microwave to conserve space but I will leave a note if they need more clothes. Also, even if your child rarely has accidents, it is still good to leave at least one extra set of clothes in case they spill. Often times, children are standing when they have accidents, so please put socks in as well and if they have an extra pair of shoes, that is helpful as well, but not necessary! Thanks so much for your help with this! In math, we talked about what we love, and a chart of our heights, talking about the use of windmills to reduce carbon dioxide for Project Green, did some heart patterns, and matched some hearts. In letter’s time, we focused on the letter “R” again this week. We read a story and talked about the characters, had reading time with Ms. Fisher, wrote in our journals, hunted for the letter “R” in our class and learned a nursery rhyme! In art, we decorated our mailboxes, painted with red, did Happy Face art, made Heart “H’s,” and put together a Valentine’s Day collage. In social studies, we had a unit on Liberia. We talked about it being in Africa, found it on the map, learned about Liberian languages, talked about similarities and differences between the Liberian and African flag, and talked about Liberian food and dress. In humanities, we made Valentine’s cards, did yoga poses, and stretched our muscles! We had a great week, and our parties were fantastic! Thanks so much for all or your help! Ms. Kimberly
This was a bit of a short week for the Walrus crew, but we still had a blast. We were able to make our mailboxes for our valentine's, make happy faces with paint, and do some work for our portfolios! The students did a great job recognizing lower case letters and some of their numbers. Since counting by tens is a breeze for the children now, we are going to focus more on recognizing our "teen" numbers next week! We had a great time matching heart patterns, and being creative during free art! As we discussed dental health, I was surprised on how many students liked the dentist! Some of the toothpaste flavors that the children have had are banana, cherry, and princess flavored. The Walrus Class also reminded me of the great game of musical chairs and we had so much fun! The class really showed great sportsmanship during this game. I think everyone was happy that we had a shorter week because our Valentine's Day parties came quickly! Thank you so much to everyone who brought in goodies and valentines for all of our friends! Just as a reminder, Grandparents/Special Friend's Day was rescheduled for Wednesday, February 17th. Have a wonderful weekend! Ms. Ryland |
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