Happy New Year!
We are excited for this New Year and thankful for the wonderful past year we have shared with you, our families!
We are updating all of our enrollment forms, parent handbook and reviewing a few of our policies and procedures to better serve our families. We are hoping to unveil these over the next couple of months so be on the lookout for the new documents!
Our first update for the New Year is our New Version of Procare (You know it as our check in and out software).
Procare allows our center to have advantages over other centers because it automates a lot of our back office processes and allows us to focus more of our time and efforts on our children.
We will be asking everyone for new log in information and also doing fingerprint scans to upgrade our security. Please be on the lookout for this and also schedule a bit of extra time at drop off and pickup to create the new log in.
Thanks!
PS - CONGRATULATIONS to Ms Amy and her husband on the birth of their baby boy, Carson James on December 26th! He was born 8lbs and 3 oz. and measured 21" long. Both mommy and baby are home doing well.
Screenings and Assessments: Update!
The results are in! We were extremely happy with the mastery of skills each child has accomplished. We are proud to announce that we had several children that scored extremely high and every child was within the chorological age limits in almost every area examined.
We will have a signup sheet in each classroom for any parent who wishes to discuss their child's findings further. During these parent-teacher conferences, we will review the tool used to assess your child and the skills they have mastered and the emerging skills being practiced. We will also supply you with examples of ways you can help your child reach their next target goals.
If you do not feel a conference is necessary at this time, but would like examples of ways to help strengthen a particular area of development, please see our Director, Ms. Jackie, and she will supply you with the necessary information to do so.
Building stronger partnerships with parents, helps better prepare us for caring for your child. Thank you for all of your support!
VPK Assessments
We will perform the mid-year assessment on all VPK students during the month of January. You can expect to receive a letter depicting your child's progress this far. This letter will have the scores from the beginning of the year assessments as well so that you can compare the growth of your child's educational accomplishments.
Please feel free to request a conference at anytime to review your child's progress.
Cuddle Up & Read Program
Fun was had by all with the visit from Ol' Saint Nick himself. The children were very excited to have the opportunity to sit on Santa's lap and share their Christmas gift requests.
We also had many books available for the families to read with their children.
This month's Cuddle Up & Read is scheduled for January 5th. This month's theme will be Cultural Awareness. Please make plans to joins us.
ACA Parent's Night Out
How would you like to go to dinner and a movie? Maybe catch up with some old friends? Babysitters are hard to find - especially ones that you can trust. ACA heard parents and their concerns. We are offering the opportunity for parents to enjoy an evening out or just relax. Every 3rd Friday of the month, from 6:00pm - 10:30pm, we will care for your children, feed them dinner, create a special craft, and then watch a movie until you arrive.
The cost for this service is $25 per child with a discounted rate of $65 for a family of 3. This month's event will be on January 20th. Look for the sign-up sheet in the office a week prior to the event.
"The Outdoor Classroom" - Update
During our One for Books fundraiser, we raised $166. Yipee! But, we are sad to report the Thirty-One fundraiser did not do was well as we hoped. We only collected two orders. A big shout out to Jennifer Brown, the Thirty-One consultant, for making an additional donation to bring our total to $150. Please be on the lookout for fundraiser board. (Anyone who would like to help Jackie with this, please email her)
Therefore, we are still asking for your help to make the Outdoor Classroom a reality for all the children of ACA. You can make a donation anytime. See Ms. Jackie to do so.
Also, if you have an idea of a fundraiser that we could hold to help us reach our goal, please let Jackie know.
20 Healthy New Year's Resolutions for Kids!
The following New Years tips are from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). For additional resources from the American Academy of Pediatrics visit their website at www.aap.org. Click to read more.
Child Care Challenges: Biting
How to manage biting behavior in children. Click to read more.
Giving Good Instructions to Children
Does getting your child to do something feel like an impossible task? One of the reasons may be the way in which you are asking. Click to read more.
If you see value in these articles remember to share them on Facebook, Google + or share them via email!
We hope you all had a safe and happy holiday! Hopefully, it was filled with family and friends and warm wishes throughout! We would like to thank all of our thoughtful parents for their gifts and cards for Christmas. We appreciate your kindness during the holidays.
Welcome to 2012! Happy New Year to all of our wonderful families! December was an exciting month for our infants. They enjoyed working on Christmas activities such as the holiday gifts for our parents!
We are all excited to start the New Year with the babies as they continue to grow and learn from everything around them.
By Ms. Destiny, Ms. Kathryn & Ms. Jacy
This has been a wonderful month! The children really enjoyed the holiday season, which meant fun Christmas crafts, Christmas songs, and of course waiting for Santa to come! All the toddlers had a blast shaking up the paint while marble painting our candy cane artwork. We hope Santa's reindeer gobbled up all the reindeer food we made for them.
This month, we will be learning about the color purple. While at home, you can help your child practice learning his or her colors by using everyday items in your home. You can even give your child a purple bubble bath with colored bubbles you can buy at Wal-mart!
January is going to be a very fun filled month! Martin Luther King's birthday is celebrated this month. We will create a Peace Unity Hand Wreath as a class to celebrate the peace and unity that MLK Jr. has brought to our society. We will also be celebrating Chinese New Year with crafts and a classroom parade.
Remember, parents are always welcome, feel free to stop by and visit anytime!
Itsy Bitsy Spiders (Twos)
We will be ringing in the New Year with lots of fun and learning! December brought us great cheer but now its time to move on with the New Year. This month, we will be focusing on New Year's, Cultural Awareness, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Chinese New Year. We will participate in many fun activities that surround these concepts.
Our letters for January are Ii, Jj, and Kk. We will practice with words beginning with each letter as well as each letter's sound. The numbers for this month are 7 and 8. We will work on counting up to these numbers and recognizing each number when we see it.
Parents, continue counting with your children up to 20. We focus on specific numbers in class each month, so the children can learn to recognize the number and understand what each number represents. It is still important to continue counting as high as we can.
Also, parents are doing a great job working on potty training! Great job! Our two's are working very hard to master the potty and we are making great progress.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to come in and talk to your teacher. We welcome any parent volunteers and helpers!
Creative Caterpillars (Threes)
By Ms Monica and Ms Darlene & Ms Liz and Ms Ana
We hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! We are all looking forward to the New Year and all the great things it will bring! Our children really enjoyed December, especially singing in the Christmas show and sharing all the yummy treats at the Christmas party. They also had a great time creating their Christmas gifts for their parents.
This month, we will be working on a Welcome the New Year project. We are also working on a new behavior chart and a splatter paint activity. We will be doing the letters Kk, Ll, and Mm and the numbers 8, 9, and 10. We will also be discussing how to be kind to our friends by reading Amber Lamb stories like "Amber Shows Kindness."
Parents can help their child learn these concepts at home by pointing out words that start with letter Kk, Ll, and Mm. Also, remind your child how important it is to be kind to their friends.
Parents, we are in need of styrofoam balls and sequins to make a New Years ball art project. Thanks for your support and remember, parents are always welcome to stop by the classroom!
By Ms Vickie & Ms. Virginia, Ms. Kathryn & Ms. Jenna & Ms. Aimee & Ms. Pat
Ms. Vicki & Ms. Virginia
Happy New Year! May God continue to bless you and your family throughout 2012.
Last month the children made gifts (from the heart) to give to loved ones: wreaths, birdhouses, bookmarks, wooden stars, Nativity scenes, "candy" handprints, greeting cards and more! And what a celebration the children performed in the Christmas production!
We are entering the second half of the school year and the children have established some strong foundations upon which to build intellectually, socially, and spiritually. We will complete the introduction of letter names and sounds and by February, we will enter into the learning to read component of the curriculum, which will focus on fluency and sign vocabulary.
In numbers, we will continue counting to 30 and writing numbers 1-9. The rule of writing is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Writing practice will be an essential part of our daily routine. We will continue our Winter Wonderland theme with many activities that help us appreciate God's plan for seasons (even in Florida).
Home Activity: As your child gets ready in the morning, talk about the weather outside and the clothes he/she is wearing. Explain why your child is wearing a sweater/coat. If possible, check a thermometer near your house. Discuss how the temperature changes and that knowing the temperature helps us decide what clothes to wear.
Art experiences will allow them to create the world they see around them. Books help reinforce the concept that winter brings about changes in different areas of the world. Writing helps the children record the changes in the world around them and their feelings about the changing seasons.
We will also focus on Cultural Awareness, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and the celebration of the Chinese New Year.
Feel free to come by anytime!
Ms. Aimee and Ms. Pat
Welcome to the 2012 year! Where did all the time go? We had so much fun in 2011 and we plan to continue our fun and learning right into 2012. We hope everyone had a very blessed year!
December was a very eventful month for our class. We were not only busy learning our Christmas program, but also did some very fun Christmas crafts, like your children's gifts of Christmas wreaths with their pictures inside. We hope you enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed making them!
This month, will be doing some fun activities and projects to learn about our weekly themes of New Year's, Cultural Awareness, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Chinese New Year. We will also continue learning our letters from last mouth and review the letters we have learned so far this year. Also, we will continue to practice numbers 1-9 and counting to 30.
As we continue learning our letters and number, we also are working on our writing skills. Parents can help their children at home by having the practice writing any chance you get! They can practice writing numbers, letters, their name, etc.
Thank you so much for all your time in the classroom and the help with our parties, projects, plays, etc. This month we are in need of empty Pringles cans with lids for a project. If your family is a Pringle eating family, we would greatly appreciate it if you could save your cans and bring them to class.
Please feel free to come by the class anytime, my door is always open.
Ms. Katherine and Ms. Jenna
We hope the New Year finds you healthy and happy. The students worked really hard on the Christmas play, cards and gifts and we hope you all enjoyed their performance and your gifts!
Please continue to encourage your child to write his/her name as well as letters and numbers that we are working on in class. Practice makes perfect.
If you have any special winter books we would like to invite you to come into our classroom and read them at "Story Time" or send the books in with your child and we will read them to the class. Please be sure to write your child's name in the book.
Remember, we have an open door policy- please visit at anytime. If you have any questions about your child's progress, please call and we can schedule a time to discuss your child's present level of performance and set future goals.
|
January 2nd - Closed for New Years Day
January 5th - Cuddle Up & Read at 6pm
January 16th- Closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
January 20th- Parrent's Night Out
February 2nd - Cuddle Up & Read at 6pm
February 14th - Valentine's Day Parties
February 14th -Parents Night Out!!
February 20th - No VPK in observance of President's Day
Reminder #1 Parent Involvement
We always want to make sure parents know they are welcome at any time. We always need parents to read books to children, participate in our fun activities or stop by to eat lunch with us!
A friendly reminder that all tuition is due on Fridays for the following week even if your child is out.
(To avoid a late fee)
We are excited about our new increased security check in system.
Please remember to check in and out every day. This is very important for safety reasons in case of fire or other emergency and for security purposes.
Reminder #4: Parents Night Out
Each parents night out must receive a confirmed reservation for a minimum of 10 children otherwise it will be canceled.
We will notify parents in advance if this is the case.
|
