Notes From the Principal:
January News
HAPPY NEW YEAR! The unseasonably warm weather was just amazing! I have heard many different perspectives regarding the weather. It seems to have had the same impact as the snow – either you loved the warmth or you just didn’t like it. Some commented how nice it was for a change, while others have shared it just didn’t feel like Christmas. While the season of giving has come and gone, and we are now in the year 2016 – we are currently focusing on our attention on two new initiatives for you!
The first new initiative we will be rolling out is – we will now start accepting Credit Card payments. We will be sending home the paperwork for this great advancement in the next few days. Your tuition payments and registration fees will be accepted as a credit card payment. We are very new with this system so please read the directions carefully and ask us any questions you may have prior to signing up. If we do not know the answer to your question, we will find out as quickly as possible from our finance and accounting department. Credit card information will be stored in our accounting system and will be encrypted to ensure the safety of your information.
The second new initiative we will be rolling out is a parent communication tool. You will now be able to see your child’s daily activities, photos, incident reports, and receive messages online from this tool. It will be a simple to use app that you can access from the computer or your smartphone. The teachers will start training on this device in the next 2 weeks. We plan on having it go live and roll it out to the parents as soon as we can. The information you receive will be live and accurate. Not only will this program help save our teachers time and keep you more informed, it will also reduce our needs of sending so many papers home. Again if you have any questions please feel free to ask. We learn and grow from the questions that you ask!
It is inevitable that we will be seeing some winter weather in the upcoming few weeks. I just wanted to remind you how to find out if there is a change in our school hours of operation. Please try all of the following before attempting to come out to school, if the weather is bad.
1. Sign up for Remind. This will allow notifications to be sent directly to your phone.
2. Watch Channel 6 new.
3. Check your e-mail.
4. Check the school website.
5. Call the school. Our voicemail message is updated with any changes to our schedule.
6. Tadpole’s will also send out a notification. At this time since I am not fully trained I am not sure how this will look…but it is coming soon!
Please remember that the decision to alter the hours of our school is made by upper management. As soon as we are informed about any changes we start making all the necessary postings and notifications. We understand that you need to make arrangements in the event that plans change. Please bear with us on these days; it is our utmost priority and goal to ensure the safety of our staff and families.
Have a great New Year!
Donna Baus, Principal
LATE PICKUP FEES
As per the Parent Handbook, a fee will be assessed to any families picking up after our closing time of 6:00 p.m. In the past weeks we have noticed an influx of families picking up their children after our closing time of 6:00 p.m. We ask that you please abide by this policy. We will be getting stricter with following this policy. Any family who picks up their child after 6:00 p.m. will be charged a late fee of $5.00 for the first part of 5 minutes they are late, and $1.00 per minute there after. This fee will be assessed per child.
Below is the excerpt from the Parent Handbook that shares this policy. This can be found on page 10 of the 2015-2016 Parent Handbook.
Our school is open and supervised daily during the stated hours of business, excluding the holidays observed during the year and based on a 10-hour school day as per our tuition agreement. Please make sure if more hours are needed you need to put it on the DPW fee agreement, so we can staff accordingly. .If your child remains at school past the designated closing time you will be charged a late fee of $5.00 for any part of 5 minutes after closing and $1.00 every minute thereafter. There is no grace period. For families with multiple children enrolled, these fees apply to every child with no discount awarded.
If you have any questions of concerns please feel free to contact a member of the management team.
The Value of Visual Art Activities for Your Preschooler
Visual art experiences help children develop skills such as critical thinking, self-expression, problem-solving, communication and collaboration. Our teachers focus on process-based art education, in
which the experience of creating art is valued over the end product.
In our classrooms, teachers integrate art into many aspects of our Links to Learning curriculum. After reading a book about polar bears, teachers might ask students to create their own polar bears using sponges, paint, markers and paper. They encourage students to talk about their art, providing a great opportunity to learn new vocabulary, particularly words related to colors, shapes,textures, and emotions.
Our students are also exposed to and inspired by famous artwork. In order to cultivate that fascination, we discuss famous artists and art works and ask students to create replicas of well-known paintings and sculptures. For example, after learning about Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, teachers mimic the activity in the classroom. They tape paper underneath tables, and students practice painting a masterpiece while lying down.
Below are visual art activities you and your child can do at home, as well as recommended reading.
At Home:
• Provide your child with finger paint, a large piece of paper and a smock. Let him create a masterpiece. Talk about how the paint feels and what colors and shapes he creates on the paper.
• Start a journal with your child. Have him draw a picture of something that happened during the day. Avoid giving direction. Instead of saying “Draw a picture of your teacher and classmates,” encourage him to experiment using different colored markers or crayons. If age appropriate, ask your child to write a few words to describe the picture.
• Give your child a piece of paper and a box of crayons or markers. Show him how to use the materials to make dots, lines and swirls on the paper. Let him take over and have fun. Encourage conversation about your child’s art by saying, “Tell me about what you made” or “I see you used a lot of blue in your picture. Why did you choose that color?”
• Ask your child to decorate a sign for his bedroom door using various art materials. Have him write his name on the sign.
Recommended Reading:
• The Dot by Peter Reynolds
• Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg
• Art by Patrick McDonnell
• Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
• Mix It Up by Herve Tullet
It is wonderful to share the joy that children naturally take in using art materials. Giving children extra opportunities to connect art to the world around them, contributes to happiness and future success in elementary school and beyond.
– Lauren Starnes, PhD – Director of Early Childhood Education
This entry was posted in Limerick. Bookmark the
permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
January News
Notes From the Principal:
January News
HAPPY NEW YEAR! The unseasonably warm weather was just amazing! I have heard many different perspectives regarding the weather. It seems to have had the same impact as the snow – either you loved the warmth or you just didn’t like it. Some commented how nice it was for a change, while others have shared it just didn’t feel like Christmas. While the season of giving has come and gone, and we are now in the year 2016 – we are currently focusing on our attention on two new initiatives for you!
The first new initiative we will be rolling out is – we will now start accepting Credit Card payments. We will be sending home the paperwork for this great advancement in the next few days. Your tuition payments and registration fees will be accepted as a credit card payment. We are very new with this system so please read the directions carefully and ask us any questions you may have prior to signing up. If we do not know the answer to your question, we will find out as quickly as possible from our finance and accounting department. Credit card information will be stored in our accounting system and will be encrypted to ensure the safety of your information.
The second new initiative we will be rolling out is a parent communication tool. You will now be able to see your child’s daily activities, photos, incident reports, and receive messages online from this tool. It will be a simple to use app that you can access from the computer or your smartphone. The teachers will start training on this device in the next 2 weeks. We plan on having it go live and roll it out to the parents as soon as we can. The information you receive will be live and accurate. Not only will this program help save our teachers time and keep you more informed, it will also reduce our needs of sending so many papers home. Again if you have any questions please feel free to ask. We learn and grow from the questions that you ask!
It is inevitable that we will be seeing some winter weather in the upcoming few weeks. I just wanted to remind you how to find out if there is a change in our school hours of operation. Please try all of the following before attempting to come out to school, if the weather is bad.
1. Sign up for Remind. This will allow notifications to be sent directly to your phone.
2. Watch Channel 6 new.
3. Check your e-mail.
4. Check the school website.
5. Call the school. Our voicemail message is updated with any changes to our schedule.
6. Tadpole’s will also send out a notification. At this time since I am not fully trained I am not sure how this will look…but it is coming soon!
Please remember that the decision to alter the hours of our school is made by upper management. As soon as we are informed about any changes we start making all the necessary postings and notifications. We understand that you need to make arrangements in the event that plans change. Please bear with us on these days; it is our utmost priority and goal to ensure the safety of our staff and families.
Have a great New Year!
Donna Baus, Principal
LATE PICKUP FEES
As per the Parent Handbook, a fee will be assessed to any families picking up after our closing time of 6:00 p.m. In the past weeks we have noticed an influx of families picking up their children after our closing time of 6:00 p.m. We ask that you please abide by this policy. We will be getting stricter with following this policy. Any family who picks up their child after 6:00 p.m. will be charged a late fee of $5.00 for the first part of 5 minutes they are late, and $1.00 per minute there after. This fee will be assessed per child.
Below is the excerpt from the Parent Handbook that shares this policy. This can be found on page 10 of the 2015-2016 Parent Handbook.
Our school is open and supervised daily during the stated hours of business, excluding the holidays observed during the year and based on a 10-hour school day as per our tuition agreement. Please make sure if more hours are needed you need to put it on the DPW fee agreement, so we can staff accordingly. .If your child remains at school past the designated closing time you will be charged a late fee of $5.00 for any part of 5 minutes after closing and $1.00 every minute thereafter. There is no grace period. For families with multiple children enrolled, these fees apply to every child with no discount awarded.
If you have any questions of concerns please feel free to contact a member of the management team.
The Value of Visual Art Activities for Your Preschooler
Visual art experiences help children develop skills such as critical thinking, self-expression, problem-solving, communication and collaboration. Our teachers focus on process-based art education, in
which the experience of creating art is valued over the end product.
In our classrooms, teachers integrate art into many aspects of our Links to Learning curriculum. After reading a book about polar bears, teachers might ask students to create their own polar bears using sponges, paint, markers and paper. They encourage students to talk about their art, providing a great opportunity to learn new vocabulary, particularly words related to colors, shapes,textures, and emotions.
Our students are also exposed to and inspired by famous artwork. In order to cultivate that fascination, we discuss famous artists and art works and ask students to create replicas of well-known paintings and sculptures. For example, after learning about Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, teachers mimic the activity in the classroom. They tape paper underneath tables, and students practice painting a masterpiece while lying down.
Below are visual art activities you and your child can do at home, as well as recommended reading.
At Home:
• Provide your child with finger paint, a large piece of paper and a smock. Let him create a masterpiece. Talk about how the paint feels and what colors and shapes he creates on the paper.
• Start a journal with your child. Have him draw a picture of something that happened during the day. Avoid giving direction. Instead of saying “Draw a picture of your teacher and classmates,” encourage him to experiment using different colored markers or crayons. If age appropriate, ask your child to write a few words to describe the picture.
• Give your child a piece of paper and a box of crayons or markers. Show him how to use the materials to make dots, lines and swirls on the paper. Let him take over and have fun. Encourage conversation about your child’s art by saying, “Tell me about what you made” or “I see you used a lot of blue in your picture. Why did you choose that color?”
• Ask your child to decorate a sign for his bedroom door using various art materials. Have him write his name on the sign.
Recommended Reading:
• The Dot by Peter Reynolds
• Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg
• Art by Patrick McDonnell
• Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
• Mix It Up by Herve Tullet
It is wonderful to share the joy that children naturally take in using art materials. Giving children extra opportunities to connect art to the world around them, contributes to happiness and future success in elementary school and beyond.
– Lauren Starnes, PhD – Director of Early Childhood Education