BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL


Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984


www.brightbeginningsva.com  

Millcreek Newsletter


March 12, 2010

Upcoming Events:

Virginia Festival of the Book, March 15^th-19th

 Friday, March 19th, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30
“Shining Shamrock”

Monday, March 22^nd, Parent Advisory Meeting, 5:00-6:00

Tuesday, March 23rd, Kindergarten Registration! Registration will take place at the school that you which will be attending. Please see the informational sheets posted on the front Bulletin Boards and Pre-K classroom for details!

Monday, March 29th, Re-registration Fee Charged to Accounts except Rising Kindergartners

Friday, April 2nd, Children’s Night Out, 5:30-8:30
“Hop into Spring”

Thursday and Friday, April 8th and 9th, Closed Completely for Spring Break

School Notes and News

The weather could have been better this week! The students were able to do many of their activities outside! Do not forget to sign up for the next Children’s Night Out on March 19^th with Ms. Cheri and Ms. Emily. Next week is Virginia Festival of the Book. Each day we will have a fun and special activity. There are signup sheets outside of the classrooms for bringing in toppings for our ice cream party, and to sign up for our mystery guest reader! If you are interested in reading to your child’s class, feel free to sign up! Kindergarten registration is coming up this month on the 23^rd. Also, on March 29^th there will be a re-registration fee for everyone EXCEPT rising kindergartners. Look out for information about the Original Works Fundraiser. Have a wonderful weekend!

Speech Weekly

We had a great week with language groups.  It was exciting to see the toddlers talking more and using sign language while speaking.  My octopus bubble machine was a big hit in all of the classrooms.

Toddlers and young 2’s

We began by reading a “Noisy Story” to practice our speech sounds.   We read the Noisy Story about a “Baby on the Farm”.   We worked on the following sounds /m/, /g/, /b/, /r/, and /n/.  Buddy Bear books were used to read books and answer simple “what”questions.  We also introduced the story “Elmer” about a very special elephant.  The book is filled with great language concepts such as (old, young, tall, short, thin, big, etc.  The children had to listen to the story and place their story piece on the flannel board when appropriate.  The octopus bubble machine was introduced and the children had to say, “pop bubbles” while the machine was on. 

Older 2’s

 We also read Elmer and focused on specific opposites and language concepts listed above.   We played with our bubble machine and the children had a great time.  Buddy Bear books were used to answer specific “what” questions.

3’s and 4’s

  We read Elmer and stepped it up a notch with the language concepts.  We discussed the meaning of a herd, what it was like to be the same as well as different, answered many “wh” questions while reading the story and again focused on tall/short, thin/big, same/different, old/young, happy/sad, etc.   We then continued to work on rhyming words with our rhyming houses and the children did a fantastic job putting their pictures in the appropriate rhyming house.

                                                                        Stacy Torrence M.S. CCC-SLP

Class Notes

Sea Turtle

Hello! Nice to see you all again. We have started to go outside and have enjoyed the beautiful weather. So parents please make sure you bring an extra change of clothes. Also, since spring and summer are on the way, if you have already signed the sunscreen form on your contract, please let me know so we can apply sunscreen on your child. If you have not, please see Ms. Amy for another form. This week was fun and exciting. We made marble art, straw art, monkey art, and made a clown face. We have also started to learn about spring and spring animals. We are still learning about colors, and we used M&M’s to sort colors, which was fun and yummy!  We also enjoyed learning how to play musical chairs. Have a wonderful week. See you on Monday!

Ms. Erin

Penguin

In the Penguin Class this week we worked on our shapes, colors, and number recognition. We painted with straws, marbles, water colors, made monkey masks, and more! We really enjoyed going outside this week. We played basketball, had bubble fun, played lots of games like, hide and seek, and tag! We also reviewed the letter of the week “D.” By naming and talking about things that start with “D.” For child’s humanities, we talked about nature. We looked at all the trees outside and took a nature walk around the playground. Remember next week is the Festival of the Books week. We will have a lot of fun things going on, so be sure to check for signup sheets and reminders on day notes. See you next week.

Ms. Danielle and Penguins!

Starfish

 With a typical vocabulary range of 150-300 words and an acquisition rate of understanding and learning eight new words a day, the importance of talking to or around a two year old cannot be stressed enough. I have re-focused the emphasis placed on pre-literacy skills in our classroom. Each Starfish and I are a good match as I have a lot of vocal energy and they are curious beings. All day long, we talk, talk and talk. All activities afford an opportunity for growth in vocabulary and knowledge of language. With specific regard to reading, we have, as of late, been discussing the functions of objects we see in our stories—what do we use a hat for; what does the oven do; is the character using the object correctly, etc. The newest element in support of reading is our book corner; the children love the rocking chairs, comfy Care-Bears and the plethora of books from which to choose. Sequencing is another pre-reading skill we have been working on this week, in addition to beginning a study of opposites. In science and math, we have continued to use the rainbow as our bolster for learning colors. Blue and orange were the colors of the week—we made orange prints, blue aquariums (also an activity to learn more about the sea-animals we have been talking about), have had scavenger hunts, sorting tables and played “I Spy” for each color. To further our understanding of the rainbow itself, we used a glass full of water, a paper plate and direct sunlight to make a rainbow. In Humanities, we have been learning about the seasons, going for nature walks and, best of all, bug-hunting—the warm weather has allowed us to return to one of our favorite activities! We are working on sharing, manners, the Golden Rule, practicing listening, understanding/making feeling faces and class rules. In Social Studies and Social Awareness, we have been learning about the circus through stories, having a music parade, practicing being tightrope walkers, making monkeys and clown faces! It was a great week in the Starfish room—cheers!

Ms. Victoria

Seals

 Hello from the Seals! We had another great week. We reviewed about sharing, ABCs, patterns, fire drills, using words and learned some new signs in sign language. The children are also working on a new project. We will be doing Original Works again as we have done in the past. This is where your child will make a picture and it will get sent in to Original Works. You will get the opportunity to purchase things made with your child’s art work on it. For example you could order a hot pad with your child’s art work on it or a tablet. There are many more options for this. These order forms will get sent home shortly with instructions. I want to also apologize to the parents for the state of my room I am currently re-painting my cubbies in my room. Some of the paint was starting to chip off. Hopefully by the time you read this I will have them done or close to it. Please bear with me during this time of redecorating.

 The children have been working really hard this week practicing their letters. The children seem to know the few letters we have been working on. We have been working on A, B, C, D, E, G, I, J, K, L, N, and P. We are working on the rest of the letters. Most know what letter their names start with and what letters their friend’s names start with. We also practiced them by quizzing the children on the letters in their name and their friend’s name. The children did some roll playing where we acted out how to share and how not to share.  The children did some work with patterns with our colored wooden blocks and reviewed procedures for fire drills. The children have been doing much better at walking in a line with their friends. Great job Seals, keep it up! We also of course worked on some gross motor skills of running and bouncing the ball to our friends.  

 In art we made a clown collage, with pictures of clowns. We also did some painting with marbles. The children had a lot of fun with this. We used a variety of colors. The children also reviewed the letter M by making monkeys and marker M’s. We also pretended we were setting up camp and made tents with Popsicle sticks and construction paper. The skills that these projects helped with were; fine motor skills of grasping and applying glue by spreading it with a Q-tip.

 I hope everyone has a great weekend! I look forward to next week’s fun activities! See you next week!

Ms. Cheri

Dolphin

This week, the Dolphin Class has been doing some clowning around! We have made clown face collages, learned nursery rhymes, learned about time, and explored Mexico! It has been loads of fun!

Another place we have been having fun is outside! It has warmed up a little bit and the snow has melted! That means we can take boots home! If you have not already taken your child’s boots home, please make sure you do! Also, I have sorted through your child’s extra clothes, and I have put the extra ones in your child’s cubby, put the rest in a bag above the sink and left a note with the clothes your child needs.

In math, we counted, did patterns, talked about how fires affect animals’ habitat, learned house and minute hands and learned about plants.

In letter’s time, we learned the nursery rhyme “Cobbler, Cobbler,” had letter groups, went to speech class with Ms. Stacey, wrote in our journals, and talked about authors and illustrators.

In art, we did marble painting, made clown face collages, created tents with popsicle sticks, made monkey art, and colored in “M’s” with markers. 

In social studies, we learned about Mexico, found it on the map, learned some Spanish, found the Mexican flag, and looked at pictures from Mexico!

In humanities, we had free play, made a reading poster for the Festival of the Book, coming up in March 15-19 (next week,) had a music parade, played musical chairs, and pretended to walk on a tightrope.

We are doing a fantastic fundraiser in the next few weeks called Original Works! Your child will be creating a beautiful piece of art work, and then you will have the chance to purchase it in the form of mugs, t-shirts, tiles, and all sorts of things. The order forms and pictures will be passed out soon and it is very important that you keep both since we do not have extras. If you want to order something, you need to return the order form and the pictures by March 19^th! We are really looking forward to this!

We have a special treat next week! We will be participating in Festival of the Book. We will have mystery readers, special parties, and different books to read. We are really looking forward to it!

Walrus

It was a fabulous and gorgeous week for the Walrus group! We played clown loto to help us recognize our numbers, an M&M matching and counting game, and we worked on complex patterns! It was so nice this week, we were able to have two picnic lunches, and go on the nature trail! We collected some rocks on our walk and went over what happens to an animal’s population when their habitat is destroyed. The students made the greatest clown collages that are now hanging in the hallway. They are all so different and creative! We painted with marbles and decorated the letters "Mm." We wrote more words in our journals and started to write sentences again! We had a music parade, played musical chairs, and walked the tightrope! There were some very important discussions this week as well about cooperation, making someone feel welcome, and ways people may feel unwelcomed. These were great topics for discussion because it helped us make our new friend Arya feel welcomed! She just started with us on Monday, so if you see her in the classroom, please say hello and welcome her family! The Walrus group worked so well together this week and we are crossing our fingers for more good weather next week! Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Ryland