BRIGHT BEGINNINGS PRESCHOOL
Experienced Quality Child Care Since 1984
Millcreek Newsletter
June 18, 2010
Upcoming Events:
Monday, July 5th, Closed for the Holiday
Friday July 9th, Children’s Night Out, “USA Night,” 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 21st, Staff Appreciation Day!
School Notes and News
Thank you to all our parents for being flexible enough to allow the center to close last Friday for a teacher training. Dr. Brice Jackson from the Connections Achievement and Therapy Center in Crozet came in and spoke all morning about a child’s brain development. His presentation touched on a wide range of ideas including assessment techniques, classroom strategies, and nutrition. Everyone learned so much and we appreciate everyone’s support.
Sprinkler and Bike Day was a great success this week. Please remember to bring a towel for Sprinkler Day. Also, as a reminder, the toddler explorer program closes at 5:30 p.m., while the rest of the classes are open until 6:00 p.m.
Attention automatic credit card paying parents-Please let us know if you would like us to include payment for the re-registration fee on your next month’s tuition payment. Re-registration fees are due by August 1st.
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.
On your child's last day, please return your security card. We are able to recycle these. If we do not receive your card back, a $20.00 charge per card will be applied to your account and deducted from the deposit that was paid upon enrollment.
Sign your child up for our Summer Solstice Party at Children's Night Out on Friday, June 18! We'll have a night filled with activities to celebrate the sun and summer.
Re-registration fees are due by August. Pay now to ensure your child a spot!
Thank you for your referrals. Several families will be receiving a free week and you can too! Refer a family that enrolls and you will receive a free week after they have been enrolled here a month.
Speech Weekly
Toddlers and young 2’s
We began by reading several noisy stories to focus on correctly producing /p/, /b/, /m/, /s/, /z/, /t/, /k/, and /g/. We then read Becca Bunny and worked on time concepts such as early/late, morning/afternoon, and day/night. We read “Buddy Bear Goes on Vacation” and described all the places Buddy Bear went such as the desert, ocean, jungle, beach, forest, etc. We worked on sign language throughout the entire session.
Older 2’s
We also read several noisy stories and worked on simple categories. We put several different pictures in category pockets of clothing, food, animals, and transportation. We then read “Buddy Bear Goes on Vacation” and described places such as the forest, jungle, beach, desert, ocean, etc. We finished the session with our bubble machine.
3’s and 4’s
In some classrooms we continued working on phonemic awareness. More shaving cream was placed on the table to blend sounds to make words. We used the tabletop to make simple words and integrated several letters to make new words. In other classrooms we answered questions from our oral language box. Each child had to pick a card out of the box and answer several different questions. We focused on speaking clearly while standing up in front of our friends and worked primarily on /k/, /g/, /th/, /sh/, and /s/ sounds in words and sentences.
Have a great weekend.
Penguins
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful three day weekend! We had lots of fun this week. We worked on learning the color red by coloring, painting, and sorting with red! We reviewed our abc’s, counted, animals, and our vocabulary. We are still working with everyone on using their nice hands with their friends.
For art this week, we painted with chopsticks, painted a red apple, and some free coloring! The children also had the chance to review their body parts by singing songs and pointing them out. Everyone is doing a great job in class and Delaney and Koen have really enjoyed making art! Andrew loves music time, and Spencer loves to take everyone for a ride in his cars! The Penguins have also been working on saying, “please,” and “thank you.” We read, Time To Say Please a few times this week to help us remember when to say these words.
We had another cooking project this week and we made rice crispy treats! This was our first week for Sprinkler and Bike Day, and everyone had a great time. Remember that it is every Wednesday for Sprinkler Day and every Friday for Bike Day. Enjoy your weekend and Happy Father’s Day!
Ms. Danielle
Sea Turtle
Hello Everyone! First I would like to say thanks to everyone for giving me such a warm welcome to the Bright Beginnings program. I look forward to working with you and the children! I would also like to welcome Owen to the program. He joined the Sea Turtles last Monday and has had a great couple weeks. We love having him! All the sea turtle’s have had a fantastic week! We had lots of projects going on. We made father’s day gifts for the upcoming holiday and the children seemed to really enjoy that. We also decorated brown paper bags and made puppets out of them. We did chopstick paintings, colored summer butterflies, and decorated plates and made them into tambourines. We continued talking about birds by reading “Feathers for Lunch” by Lois Ehlert, which introduced the children to several different kinds of birds, and decorating pictures of birds, with crayons and feathers. We reviewed our colors and focused on the color red, our color of the week, by sorting the red toys from the rest of the group. We pretended to have a car wash with some of our cars in the classroom, and talked about the different sounds animals make by singing songs and reading books featuring diverse animals. Sprinkler Day went really well this past Wednesday! The kids loved running around in their bathing suits and playing in the water. Please continue to dress your children in their swimwear each Wednesday, with waterproof shoes, or extra shoes to change into afterward. Thanks again for the warm welcome, and I look forward to see everyone again next week! Have a great weekend!\
Ms. Ashley
Starfish
Hola from the Starfish Class! We had an awesome week. The first part of the week was all about Father’s Day! We made Father’s Day cards, and the children told me what they like to do with their fathers. We had a blast at Sprinkler Day! Miss Stacy came to visit to do a few activities with us and she let us play with her bubble machine at the end! We wrapped up the week making Chinese lanterns, riding our bikes on Bike Day, and the children did a fantastic job during our fire drill! We also made chocolate pudding for our cooking project! We would also like to welcome back Siena to the class. Ms. Jessica and I are very proud of everyone. Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Jennifer & Ms. Jessica
Seals
Hello again from the Seals! I hope everyone had a great weekend! This week the Seals were hard at work learning about some different countries. We learned about Egypt, China, and Mexico. The children also reviewed sign language, counting, abc’s, opposites, and shapes. We also learned how to say “hello” and “goodbye” in different languages. We did another cooking project this week. The children learned a lot this week and had a lot of fun!
In art we made mummies with TP, wiggly eyes, and glitter. We also made passports to help us pretend we were really traveling to these places. Then we painted with chop sticks. For Mexico we made paper plate maracas. Then for China we made Chinese lanterns made from toilet paper roll tubes. During this time, we practiced a lot of fine motor skills and following directions.
For gross motor time we pretended to be traveling to other countries. We also exercised by doing jumping jacks, running in place, stretching, etc. The children also had fun playing Simon Says and Follow the Leader. We also did the Mexican hat dance, and of course we had to dance some to our favorite songs.
I hope everyone had a fun week. I will see everyone next week. Things to remember:
· Every Wednesday till now and the end of our summer session will be sprinkler day. Bring an extra change of clothes and some kind of shoes they can get wet. They will need to wear their bathing suits to school our time will be 10:00- 10:30am.
· Every Friday will be bike day. Bring your bike and a helmet.
Ms. Cheri
Dolphin
This week the Dolphin Class took a trip around the world. We made our passports and headed off to Egypt, Japan, Mexico, and China! For math, we made a graph of our favorite vacation spots. We also practiced our numbers 1-20, and for Project Green we talked about the jaguar!
For art, we made maracas from Mexico, passports to help us travel around the world, and we made lanterns from China!
We really enjoyed speech class with Ms. Stacy, the book mobile, Sprinkler and Bike Day! The treasure box is going well, and we are still accepting donations. Thank you to everyone for the donations we have already received. Please remember, on Sprinkler Day to pack a towel labeled with their name, water shoes or flip flops, and extra clothes. On Bike Day, bring your bike, or scooter, and a helmet.
Ms. Missy & Ms. Michelle
Walrus
The Walrus group had so much fun this week! It was the first week for Sprinkler and Bike Day, and it was just a blast! The children continued their clock work, and we started back up on writing sentences! Our art projects were awesome this week. We made Chinese inspired lanterns, mummies, our very own passports, and painted with chop sticks! Please be on the lookout for them in the hallway. Egypt was the country of the week and we made sure to discuss the colors of its flag, its location, and some of the things they might be found there. Our wonderful book mobile joined us this week and the children are looking forward to reading all of our new books in the next week or two. The wonderful Ms. Stacy came to visit as well. We worked on oral language, and comparative superlatives like young, younger, youngest. The children worked really hard this week and did an amazing job! Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Ryland & Ms. Emily
434-823-7129
1645 Park Ridge Drive