ACA Photos from June 2011

By A Child's Academy

A very helpful note from a parent last month has changed how we present photos now. Below in each of the classes we have put class related photos so that it saves all of our wonderful parents time going through the entire schools photostream. Thanks for the helpful tip!

Successful Fathers Day Luncheons

By A Child's Academy

This year was another successful "Father's Day Lunch", celebrating our favorite ACA Dads!  As you can see from the class photos, it was so special to have our dad's all to ourselves at lunch so we could say "thank you Dad and you mean to world to me"! 

We had a great turnout with a booming 21 Dads and 2 Moms who came to celebrate with us. The feedback was tremendous with everyone saying, "it was so great to celebrate our favorite dads!  We hope to hear more from you dads throughout the year, and we would love to have wonderful stories to submit via our upcoming newsletters or on our website or blog from our dads including a picture of you with your son or daughter and a quick quote expressing what you love most, or the greatest lesson you've learned since you've become a dad, or even a great story that you've shared with your little guy or girl that you would like to share with our ACA Family. 

Please email your name and student(s) name, along with a photo of you all together and your story, quote or anything you would like to say to celebrate being an amazing Dad.  Please email them to: jackie@achildsacademy.com.

What is a Dad?
A Dad is a person who is loving and kind,
And often he knows what you have on your mind.
He's someone who listens, suggests, and defends -
A dad can be one of your very best friends!
He's proud of your triumphs, but when things go wrong,
A dad can be patient and helpful and strong.
In all that you do, a Dad's love plays a part -
There's always a place for him deep in your heart.
And each year that passes, you're even more glad,
More grateful and proud just to call him your dad!
- Anonymous

Screen on the Green Success

By A Child's Academy

We had a ton of fun with our very 1st "Screen on the Green movie"!  We hope to do these more often throughout the year and we hope to see you all there with not just your family, but your friends, church members and neighbors too! 

We have so many new exciting developments under way that we will just tease you with for now, but our goal is to help create more family focused and fun experiences that we can get our entire community behind and participating in.  So we are good to need your help in order to grow these family fun events.  You can help by circulating flyers via email, Facebook or other places of business throughout our community and as well as your place of church or work. 

If you have event suggestions, or movie suggestions, or vendors that you think might like to partner with us to promote their business we would love to here all these types of suggestions from you.  If you would like to email your suggestions or feedback then please feel free to do so at becky@achildsacademy.com.

See for yourself some of the fun moments from "ACA's Very 1st Screen on the Green"...

Five overpriced kids products and their bargain alternatives

By A Child's Academy

Having kids is costly. According to a 2009 estimate by the US Department of Agriculture, a parent will spend $160,000 to $369,000 based on income level, to raise a child from birth to age 17.

Click Here to read the rest at our blog.

Roli Polies (Infants)

By Ms June, Ms Sabrina

 As summer is in full swing - so are the exciting activities we have planned for the month of July. No summer would be complete without the joys of swimming and we will have loads of fun doing just that.

Every Wednesday is our water day. Be sure to take a look at the pictures we have posted of your child taking the big plunge! They have had a blast and will continue to do so this month as well.

We will also experiment with other sensory activities such as pudding painting, jello fun and whip cream smearing. All of these experiences serve a purpose beyond just the fun. Your infant will discover the different textures - sticky, slimy, cool, and wet, etc., the different tastes associated with each, and improve their gross and fine motor skills as they squeeze, squish, pull, push, and smear the foods.

You can help your child broaden his language and make the most of these types of experiments by discussing with your child how something feels or tastes, and pointing out the names of the objects.

As, always, please feel free to stop by the room anytime!! Have a fantastic month!

Click Here to see photos from our June Activities!

Busy Bees (Toddlers)

By Ms Gail, Ms Samantha & Ms Lydia

 Our summer time fun continues into the month of July with the many exciting projects we have planned.

The month will kick off with an Independence Day picnic on July 1st. You are more than welcome to bring a blanket and come join in the celebration. Please also share your picture of celebrations you may have over this holiday weekend. The children love to see pictures of themselves and their loved ones. This connection with home is of such value to a toddler.

In continuing with the Independence Day theme, the children will also have fun making paper rockets, learning the Yankee Doodle Dandy song, and creating a red, white and blue collage. 

Of course, we will also continue with all the joys that come along with water day each Friday. Please make sure you check out the pictures of the water days we had in June. Each child is different and while some of them were a little intimated by the water and the excitement of the other children, for the most part the kids absolutely had a blast!!

You can contribute to the fun and excitement by bringing your child to a fireworks display and talking about the different colors and sounds you experience.

Thanks for all you do and for all the fathers that participated in our Father's Day Breakfast. We know the children really enjoyed having their dads there to share this day with them.

Happy July!!

Click Here to see photos from our June Activities!

Itsy Bitsy Spiders (Twos)

By Ms Ana & Ms Jenna

 Foremost, we wanted to thank all of our fathers for joining us in celebrating Father's Day. It was a joy to have all of you there. Ok...onto upcoming events...

All Aboard! Is everyone ready to take a ride on the circus train? Let's go! Chuga chuga choo choo!

The month of July will take us on a new journey with a trip to the circus including the Big Top. We will learn about the circus animals and the contributions each one makes in the life of the circus family. We will also make and EAT ice cream cone clowns - yummy!, sort animal crackers, and design clown hats.

Please feel free to join in on our fun!

Have a fantastic month!

Click Here to see photos from our June Activities!

Creative Caterpillars (Threes)

By Ms Destiny

Our trip has been very exciting so far! We've traveled to England, Egypt, India and China. The kids had a great time making sun tea and participating in tea and trifles while in England, constructing pyramids on our trip to Egypt, creating Diwali Diyas (candles) as we passed thru India and designing Chinese pottery.
 
On our quest around the World, this month we will make four more stops.

First we will travel back to the states to celebrate Independence Day! Set off the fireworks!! 

Next stop, Japan! We will learn about the Star Festival and chow down on some yummy Japanese Cuisine.

Then off we go to Africa where we are going to paint with mud and make African Jewelry.

Last stop, France! Get ready to celebrate the French version of Independence Day and sample French baguettes.

It is going to be a very fun and educational month!

Click Here to see photos from our June Activities!

Brilliant Butterflies (Older Threes

By Liz

This summer has been a blast. Passports are made and the children really enjoy "getting on a plane or boat" and going to a different country.

While in England, we visited Queen Elizabeth and tried to make the palace guards laugh. As funny as it was, it didn't work. On our way to tea with trifles, we stopped to test our art skills by drawing England's flag. Then it was time to get on a plane and fly to Egypt.

While in Egypt, we saw pyramids and the tombs of Pharaohs. We also learned how to write our name in hieroglyphics. It's been a lot of fun!

Our next stop was India. We had a lot planned for our trip...from making a storytelling tree to an Indian cuisine.

Then we finished off the month with a trip to China where we learned about fashion, experimented with pottery, and constructed a Gu.

During July, we will begin our quest here at home in the Grand Ole US with a celebration of our Independence; then it is onto Japan, Africa and France.

Please take a moment and check out the pictures of the children taken during the month of June. There were all very proud of their accomplishments.

Click Here to see photos from our June Activities!

Fours and Up!

By Ms Vickie

We're traveling "Around the World in 80 Days" (actually 54 days)! First we flew to London, and boy, were our arms tired, to see the Queen, I mean, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Then we traveled to Egypt to see the pyramids and to learn about the Pharaohs and hieroglyphics (learning to read in Kindergarten is sure to be much easier).

Our visits to India and China were also very exciting.

July 4th is Independence Day, so we'll come back home to celebrate the grand United States of America with Food, Fun and Football.

Then, it's back to the skies to visit Japan. What fun we'll have as we experiment with Japanese origami, create a stained glass masterpiece, celebrate the Star Festival with Japanese cuisine, and assemble and decorate a Wishing Wand and Windsock. Making a Japanese fan will certainly come in handy during these lazy days of summer with 100+ temperatures.

Next stop will be the culturally-rich continent of Africa. We will construct an African mask and shield, build an African drum, create an African "mud painting," experiment with African weaving and craft an African collar necklace and a Zula beaded headband.

Oh, to be in Paris in the summer-time! In France, we will celebrate Poisson d'Avril and create Fish Art, construct a color (in French) matching game similar to dominoes, celebrate Bastille Day with firework art, and sample French baguettes. And no trip to Paris would be complete without climbing the Eiffel Tower.

Don't worry; we'll take plenty of pictures!!

Bonjour, Sayonara, and Tot Siens,
Ms. Vickie

Click Here to see photos from our June Activities!

Want to capture those summer Memories? 

Summer is here and that means sun, vacations, and outdoor fun! Think of all those memories that will be captured by photography this summer.

 Learn & Master Photography is the newest course in an award-winning line of Learn & Master courses produced to take those flat, dark, blurry photos and make them come alive!

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 activites or stop by to eat lunch with us!

Reminder #2: Tuition

A friendly reminder that all tuition is due on Mondays even if your child is out.

Reminder #3: Air Conditioning

A friendly reminder to quickly enter or leave the classrooms without holding the doors open.

Because of record breaking heat and no relief from daily rain showers we are trying to keep cool air in the classrooms! Thanks in advance for your help.