From the Principal’s Office
The fun of summer activities is over and the children are on to the fun of learning lots of new skills and taking part in lots of new experiences. As nice as the relaxed feel of summer is, it is always good to get everyone back into the regular routines and structure of the school year. We wish all of the children, parents and teachers a very successful 2019-2020 school year!
There are new faces in the building with newly enrolled students and new teachers getting settled into the classrooms. Please bear with us while the kinks get worked out with getting the children acclimated to their new settings and the teachers acclimated to everything Chesterbrook. We hope to have everyone and everything in place soon so fun photos, daily reports and Links to Learning folders are being received as expected. Things slip through the cracks when changes occur, but everything should be getting back on track.
The parking lot is scheduled to have repairs done on September 14th. The repairs were scheduled for a couple of weeks ago but ended up getting postponed. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and there are no hitches with the company doing the work to delay the repairs again. The repairs are scheduled on a Saturday, so there should be no problem using the parking lot on the following Monday. If there are any other changes we will let you know.
We have tentatively scheduled a field trip to Rader Farm for the pre-k classrooms. We are waiting to get confirmation of our online reservation. Right now, we are planning on taking the classes on September 17th from 10:30-12:30. The children will eat lunch when they arrive back at the center. The field trip occurs regardless of the weather that day, so be sure to dress your child appropriately and have them prepared to get dirty. We will let the parents know for sure about the field trip once we receive confirmation.
Have a safe and fun holiday! Until next month, Shawna
Dates
September
September 2 – Labor Day ~ Center closed
September 5 – Open House 5:00-7:00
September 6 – Grandparents Day snack @ 3:00
September 8 – Grandparents Day
September 16-20 – Back to School Spirit Week
September 17 – Pre-k to Rader Farm – to be confirmed
September 23 – First day of fall
September 30 – Links to Learning folders distributed
October 4 – Links to Learning folders returned
Open House
September 5, 2019 5:00-7:00
November 18, 2019 10:00-1:00
For Parents and Teachers
We have scheduled a Back to School Spirit Week for September 16-20. We will have special dress ups and activities for each day of the week. We are still working out the details of what we would like to do each day so we will send out information once details are finalized. Watch your inbox for an email prior to the sixteenth. We hope everyone joins in on the fun of welcoming the 2019-2020 school year!
We will continue to offer parents the opportunity to order books from Scholastic Book Clubs. Ms. Kinzie puts monthly flyers at the front desk for parents to take to look through and order from. The book clubs offer a wide range of books and items for infants through pre-k age children. Orders can be placed and paid for online or you can turn in an order along with your payment made payable to Scholastic. The orders are shipped to the school and Ms. Kinzie distributes the books to the classrooms. The school earns points for purchases which we use to keep the classroom libraries stocked. Be sure to grab a flyer and take a look at the selections. Happy Reading!
We have our fall picture days scheduled for October 28th and 29th. We will have two photographers on site both days to take individual and sibling pictures. The photographers will arrive early to get set up to begin taking pictures about 7:30 and will end each day around 11:00. On Monday, infant, toddler, beginner and sibling pictures will be taken. On Tuesday, we will do intermediate, pre-k and any who were absent the previous day. A holiday background will be available as an option for background choices. Flyers will go out the week before for parents to make their background selections and to make special request. We will send out more information closer to the date.
For Parents
In honor of Grandparents Day, we are inviting grandparents or special guests to join the children for their afternoon snack. We will plan on serving snack at 3:00 that day to allow the children to wake from nap and get diapers changed or go to potty. We will check with the funeral home to see if we can use their parking lot for excess parking. We will send a reminder out next week about the Grandparents’ snack.
Please be sure you are signing your child in and out each day using the dedicated I-pad at the front desk. You should sign in when you come into the building and sign out after you have collected your child from the classroom. An easy way to remember is to always have your child with you when you sign in or sign out. If you do not have a PIN to use when signing in or out, please see one of us at the front desk to get one set up. If you have access to your account through ALMA, you can set up your own PIN after logging in. We are also happy to walk you through the process of using the I-pad to sign in and out if you aren’t familiar with it. Any questions, please be sure to let us know.
With the shift from summer to fall, now would be the perfect time to go through your child’s cubby and clear out the miscellaneous papers that have collected and to make sure there is a change of clothes. We never know when an accident might happen and someone will need to change clothes. We try to keep some extra clothes in the classrooms, but we often don’t have the right size or article of clothing needed. The teachers would really appreciate it if everyone would bring in a complete change of clothes including socks and underwear to go into their child’s cubby. If your child’s clothes get changed, please take the soiled ones home and return clean ones the next day. Thank you for your help with this!
Reminders
Please remember to sign in during drop off time and sign out when you pick up each day.
You can use the Links2Home App to send messages to the school to let the teachers know your child will be absent, if there are changes to the days schedule or if there is information you would like to share.
Please be sure you are not blocking the handicapped parking spot or parking in front of the gazebo during drop off and pick up times. The parking lot can get congested and backing up can get a little tricky if there is a car in front of the gazebo. We also do have some families who need to be able to use the handicapped spot. We appreciate your consideration in this matter.
Information for Consumer Product Safety Recalls:
Website – http://www.cpsc.gov/en/recalls or Mobile app – RECALLS.GOV
Coming Up…
*Shawna will attend this year’s Principals Conference October 21-26. She will participate in trainings along with other principals from across the country on changes in policies and practices within Links to Learning and Chesterbrook. The information Shawna learns during the conference will in turn be shared with the teachers at the school. Everything should run as normal at the school during Shawna’s absence with Jen and Cindy able to answer any questions which may come up.
*We will have our Halloween parade and classroom parties on Thursday, October 31. The children will dress in their costumes and parade outside at 2:30 and then will go to their classrooms for parties at 3:00. The classrooms will have signup sheets for parents to volunteer to bring in treats for their child’s party. We will get more information to you closer to the day and to will let you know when the signup sheets are posted.
*Our fall Professional Development Day is scheduled for Monday, November 11. The center will be closed so the teachers can participate in trainings to stay current in the field of early education. Please mark the date so you can make other arrangements for care for the day. We will reopen at 6:00 am on Tuesday the 12th.
Open House
September 5, 2019 5:00-7:00
November 18, 2019 10:00-1:00
School Highlights
INFANTS 1: The infants, Ms. Brittany and Ms. Kara are going to spend time with the books The Biggest Apple Ever and Elmer during September. We are going to talk about all the different colors we find in the classroom. There are several of us on the verge of crawling and sitting up on our own, so we are going to spend lots of time strengthening our core muscles so we can move away from the boppies and get across the room. Before much longer we will be able to greet you at the door!
INFANT 2: Our emphasis for September in the infant 2 room will be on circle time and our circle time routine. We start off by singing our welcome song “I’m Glad You’re Here Today” and then read our book of the week. We take turns matching the pictures of the animals from Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See? as we name the different animals and their colors. We then look at our emotion pictures on our circle time board and name the feelings in the pictures and act them out. We then sing “Hello, How are You?” in both English and Spanish. We end our time reviewing shapes, colors and weather by looking at pictures and objects. We have lots of fun during circle time and look forward to participating every day.
TODDLER 2: The toddlers are going to read the books Hoot and Dot during September. We will spend lots of time talking about colors and counting. We will do different hands-on activities and lots of repetition to help us learn them.
BEGINNER 2 & 3: The beginner classrooms will be learning about a wide range of topics during September. We will spend some time talking about apples, the different colors of apples and tasting new foods made with apples. We will then cover the books Golden Bear, Corduroy, and Road Builders. The books will help us build our vocabulary with many new words. We will also spend lots of time sorting by size and color buttons, construction vehicles and apples. September is going to be a very fun month!
INTERMEDIATE 1: The month of September is going to be all about colors, especially fall colors, in the intermediate room. The children will start out with the fun favorite book How I Became a Pirate and then move to The Day the Crayons Quit. Besides talking about colors with these books, the children will talk about emotions and how different colors can make you have different feelings. From there, they will move on to Johnny Appleseed and Fall so they can learn about how apples grow, what changes occur during the fall and the colors of apples and fall leaves.
PRE-K 1: The Pre-k 2 children are starting the new school year off running! They will continue recognizing their names in print and will begin writing both their first and last names during center time. They will practice counting 1-30 during calendar at circle time and will practice tracing the numbers and then move onto writing their numbers. ABAB and ABCABC patterns will be introduced with lots of opportunities to use different manipulatives to recreate those patterns. Time will be spent on getting acclimated to the classroom, the daily routine and the different centers. We will learn how to move from one classroom center to the next and will work on waiting our turns to participate. We are looking forward to a great year!
PRE-K 2: Summer went by very fast, and we are excited for fall in Pre-k 2. We are going to start with week one with the book, Duck for President. The class will pretend to run for president and describe what they would do if they ran for president. Also, they will learn how people are elected for any office. In the second week of September, the class will read the book, Preschool Here I Come. This week the class will do activities all about writing numbers, writing sight words and practicing their sorting skills. The third week in September, the class will be starting fall lessons and will read the book, Fall Apples. They will experiment with the different types of apples and create graphs on what apples they like better. Also, the class will use paint to paint an orchard. The last week in September, the class will read the book, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. The class will create a picture using different types of leaves and also the class will create a mural using leaves.
From the Education Department
Books are a great way to enrich your child’s understanding and acceptance of diverse cultures. With this foundation in the preschool years, children have more social confidence and success in interacting with many different types of people as they progress through elementary school and beyond. Below are some age-appropriate options[.....]
Read More »
September Newsletter
From the Principal’s Office
The fun of summer activities is over and the children are on to the fun of learning lots of new skills and taking part in lots of new experiences. As nice as the relaxed feel of summer is, it is always good to get everyone back into the regular routines and structure of the school year. We wish all of the children, parents and teachers a very successful 2019-2020 school year!
There are new faces in the building with newly enrolled students and new teachers getting settled into the classrooms. Please bear with us while the kinks get worked out with getting the children acclimated to their new settings and the teachers acclimated to everything Chesterbrook. We hope to have everyone and everything in place soon so fun photos, daily reports and Links to Learning folders are being received as expected. Things slip through the cracks when changes occur, but everything should be getting back on track.
The parking lot is scheduled to have repairs done on September 14th. The repairs were scheduled for a couple of weeks ago but ended up getting postponed. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and there are no hitches with the company doing the work to delay the repairs again. The repairs are scheduled on a Saturday, so there should be no problem using the parking lot on the following Monday. If there are any other changes we will let you know.
We have tentatively scheduled a field trip to Rader Farm for the pre-k classrooms. We are waiting to get confirmation of our online reservation. Right now, we are planning on taking the classes on September 17th from 10:30-12:30. The children will eat lunch when they arrive back at the center. The field trip occurs regardless of the weather that day, so be sure to dress your child appropriately and have them prepared to get dirty. We will let the parents know for sure about the field trip once we receive confirmation.
Have a safe and fun holiday! Until next month, Shawna
Dates
September
September 2 – Labor Day ~ Center closed
September 5 – Open House 5:00-7:00
September 6 – Grandparents Day snack @ 3:00
September 8 – Grandparents Day
September 16-20 – Back to School Spirit Week
September 17 – Pre-k to Rader Farm – to be confirmed
September 23 – First day of fall
September 30 – Links to Learning folders distributed
October 4 – Links to Learning folders returned
Open House
September 5, 2019 5:00-7:00
November 18, 2019 10:00-1:00
For Parents and Teachers
We have scheduled a Back to School Spirit Week for September 16-20. We will have special dress ups and activities for each day of the week. We are still working out the details of what we would like to do each day so we will send out information once details are finalized. Watch your inbox for an email prior to the sixteenth. We hope everyone joins in on the fun of welcoming the 2019-2020 school year!
We will continue to offer parents the opportunity to order books from Scholastic Book Clubs. Ms. Kinzie puts monthly flyers at the front desk for parents to take to look through and order from. The book clubs offer a wide range of books and items for infants through pre-k age children. Orders can be placed and paid for online or you can turn in an order along with your payment made payable to Scholastic. The orders are shipped to the school and Ms. Kinzie distributes the books to the classrooms. The school earns points for purchases which we use to keep the classroom libraries stocked. Be sure to grab a flyer and take a look at the selections. Happy Reading!
We have our fall picture days scheduled for October 28th and 29th. We will have two photographers on site both days to take individual and sibling pictures. The photographers will arrive early to get set up to begin taking pictures about 7:30 and will end each day around 11:00. On Monday, infant, toddler, beginner and sibling pictures will be taken. On Tuesday, we will do intermediate, pre-k and any who were absent the previous day. A holiday background will be available as an option for background choices. Flyers will go out the week before for parents to make their background selections and to make special request. We will send out more information closer to the date.
For Parents
In honor of Grandparents Day, we are inviting grandparents or special guests to join the children for their afternoon snack. We will plan on serving snack at 3:00 that day to allow the children to wake from nap and get diapers changed or go to potty. We will check with the funeral home to see if we can use their parking lot for excess parking. We will send a reminder out next week about the Grandparents’ snack.
Please be sure you are signing your child in and out each day using the dedicated I-pad at the front desk. You should sign in when you come into the building and sign out after you have collected your child from the classroom. An easy way to remember is to always have your child with you when you sign in or sign out. If you do not have a PIN to use when signing in or out, please see one of us at the front desk to get one set up. If you have access to your account through ALMA, you can set up your own PIN after logging in. We are also happy to walk you through the process of using the I-pad to sign in and out if you aren’t familiar with it. Any questions, please be sure to let us know.
With the shift from summer to fall, now would be the perfect time to go through your child’s cubby and clear out the miscellaneous papers that have collected and to make sure there is a change of clothes. We never know when an accident might happen and someone will need to change clothes. We try to keep some extra clothes in the classrooms, but we often don’t have the right size or article of clothing needed. The teachers would really appreciate it if everyone would bring in a complete change of clothes including socks and underwear to go into their child’s cubby. If your child’s clothes get changed, please take the soiled ones home and return clean ones the next day. Thank you for your help with this!
Reminders
Please remember to sign in during drop off time and sign out when you pick up each day.
You can use the Links2Home App to send messages to the school to let the teachers know your child will be absent, if there are changes to the days schedule or if there is information you would like to share.
Please be sure you are not blocking the handicapped parking spot or parking in front of the gazebo during drop off and pick up times. The parking lot can get congested and backing up can get a little tricky if there is a car in front of the gazebo. We also do have some families who need to be able to use the handicapped spot. We appreciate your consideration in this matter.
Information for Consumer Product Safety Recalls:
Website – http://www.cpsc.gov/en/recalls or Mobile app – RECALLS.GOV
Coming Up…
*Shawna will attend this year’s Principals Conference October 21-26. She will participate in trainings along with other principals from across the country on changes in policies and practices within Links to Learning and Chesterbrook. The information Shawna learns during the conference will in turn be shared with the teachers at the school. Everything should run as normal at the school during Shawna’s absence with Jen and Cindy able to answer any questions which may come up.
*We will have our Halloween parade and classroom parties on Thursday, October 31. The children will dress in their costumes and parade outside at 2:30 and then will go to their classrooms for parties at 3:00. The classrooms will have signup sheets for parents to volunteer to bring in treats for their child’s party. We will get more information to you closer to the day and to will let you know when the signup sheets are posted.
*Our fall Professional Development Day is scheduled for Monday, November 11. The center will be closed so the teachers can participate in trainings to stay current in the field of early education. Please mark the date so you can make other arrangements for care for the day. We will reopen at 6:00 am on Tuesday the 12th.
Open House
September 5, 2019 5:00-7:00
November 18, 2019 10:00-1:00
School Highlights
INFANTS 1: The infants, Ms. Brittany and Ms. Kara are going to spend time with the books The Biggest Apple Ever and Elmer during September. We are going to talk about all the different colors we find in the classroom. There are several of us on the verge of crawling and sitting up on our own, so we are going to spend lots of time strengthening our core muscles so we can move away from the boppies and get across the room. Before much longer we will be able to greet you at the door!
INFANT 2: Our emphasis for September in the infant 2 room will be on circle time and our circle time routine. We start off by singing our welcome song “I’m Glad You’re Here Today” and then read our book of the week. We take turns matching the pictures of the animals from Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See? as we name the different animals and their colors. We then look at our emotion pictures on our circle time board and name the feelings in the pictures and act them out. We then sing “Hello, How are You?” in both English and Spanish. We end our time reviewing shapes, colors and weather by looking at pictures and objects. We have lots of fun during circle time and look forward to participating every day.
TODDLER 2: The toddlers are going to read the books Hoot and Dot during September. We will spend lots of time talking about colors and counting. We will do different hands-on activities and lots of repetition to help us learn them.
BEGINNER 2 & 3: The beginner classrooms will be learning about a wide range of topics during September. We will spend some time talking about apples, the different colors of apples and tasting new foods made with apples. We will then cover the books Golden Bear, Corduroy, and Road Builders. The books will help us build our vocabulary with many new words. We will also spend lots of time sorting by size and color buttons, construction vehicles and apples. September is going to be a very fun month!
INTERMEDIATE 1: The month of September is going to be all about colors, especially fall colors, in the intermediate room. The children will start out with the fun favorite book How I Became a Pirate and then move to The Day the Crayons Quit. Besides talking about colors with these books, the children will talk about emotions and how different colors can make you have different feelings. From there, they will move on to Johnny Appleseed and Fall so they can learn about how apples grow, what changes occur during the fall and the colors of apples and fall leaves.
PRE-K 1: The Pre-k 2 children are starting the new school year off running! They will continue recognizing their names in print and will begin writing both their first and last names during center time. They will practice counting 1-30 during calendar at circle time and will practice tracing the numbers and then move onto writing their numbers. ABAB and ABCABC patterns will be introduced with lots of opportunities to use different manipulatives to recreate those patterns. Time will be spent on getting acclimated to the classroom, the daily routine and the different centers. We will learn how to move from one classroom center to the next and will work on waiting our turns to participate. We are looking forward to a great year!
PRE-K 2: Summer went by very fast, and we are excited for fall in Pre-k 2. We are going to start with week one with the book, Duck for President. The class will pretend to run for president and describe what they would do if they ran for president. Also, they will learn how people are elected for any office. In the second week of September, the class will read the book, Preschool Here I Come. This week the class will do activities all about writing numbers, writing sight words and practicing their sorting skills. The third week in September, the class will be starting fall lessons and will read the book, Fall Apples. They will experiment with the different types of apples and create graphs on what apples they like better. Also, the class will use paint to paint an orchard. The last week in September, the class will read the book, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. The class will create a picture using different types of leaves and also the class will create a mural using leaves.
From the Education Department
5 Children's Books that Celebrate Diversity
Read More »