| February Newsletter |
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Dear Parents, I would like to take this opportunity to wish a warm welcome to all of our beautiful families - we feel as if you are all part of our families. Welcome to a fabulous new year! May 2010 bring an abundance of blessings and prosperity to all! What a busy and exciting month this is! Ms. Julie's daughter had a baby girl "Kendra Ann" (6 lbs- 9 0z) on Feb 1st, Ms. Sara's baby is due on Feb. 6th and my sweet Ms Stephanie will be having her daughter on Feb 11th!!!!! What a wonderful month! Ms. Bri will be filling in for Ms. Stephanie during her maternity leave. She will probably be asking for identification until she is familiar with all the families. Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding, as your child's safety is our number one concern. I will be taking a few days off to help Stephanie, however, I will only be a phone call away and I will be checking in constantly. If you need to talk to me about anything please have Ms. Bri add you to my call back list. Attached you can read a wonderful piece from DA N H O D G I N S about play and children. ****Please remember that all tuition is due on Monday of each week. If your tuition is not turned in by Wednesday, your account will be assessed a $25 late fee. You may, however, post date a check for Friday, just make sure to get it in the box by Wednesday so you don't receive a late fee. Easy ways to help the center... *Save Campbell's soup labels and other Campbell's product labels and deposit them in the receptacle by the front door. *Save Hollywood Market register receipts and deposit them in the box by the front door. Your support is greatly appreciated. Be sure to check out Rochester Hills Babes in Toy land on FACE BOOK. I have created a page that displays all of the photos from each month in a photo album. I have too many great pictures to put on this newsletter so I thought that this would be a great way for you to see a lot of the wonderful activities. Grandparents and friends can check them out too. I hope you enjoy. Remember my door is always open for any thoughts or concerns you may have! Looking forward to an exciting month! Ms. Sue Graf |
| NURSERY NEWS Dear Parents, Happy First Birthday Quinn! February is going to be such a fun month! We will enjoy celebrating Valentine's Day during our classroom party on February 12th (don't forget to bring in your Valentines for your friends). Our theme this month is "Out in Space". We will be reading about planets, astronauts, rockets, etc. We will also continue to introduce new Nursery Rhymes, songs, and finger-plays (as well as doing the ones we have already learned). We also constantly tell the infants words that rhyme, as rhyming words help to teach young children how to read... you can never start too early! Baby yoga, baby sign language and counting will be worked on as we do each month. Repetition is key. TODDLER NEWS Dear Parents, During the month of February, the theme will be "Out in Space". We will be turning our room into the Milky Way - using paint and glitter techniques! This months yoga pose is the Cat, our new sign language sign will be "again", and out song of the month is "10 Little Valentines". Play Doh will be used frequently this month to help to strengthen our small muscles. We will continue to work on our jumping skills by doing jumping jacks, and jumping to music! Please make sure to bring in snow-pants, boots, a hat, water-proof mittens, and a warm coat for your child to insure that your little one is nice and warm/dry during our outside time each day. Please bring in a shoe box for your child by February 4th. This will be used for the children to make his/her Valentine Boxes. Our class Valentine party will be held on February 12th. Please send 10 Valentines in for your child to pass out to his/her classmates. A party sign-up sheet will be posted shortly. NURSERY RHYMES... A child's ability to hear distinct sounds within words is critical to the process of learning to read. This skill is called phonological awareness. You can help develop phonological awareness in your child through the use of rhymes. Rhymes pair words with similar sounds, like "dock" and "clock" in the classic Hickory, Dickory, Dock. This helps children understand that words are made up of separate sounds. Use nursery rhymes, songs, and finger-plays to help your child hear the different sounds that make up words. This type of word play will help your child later in the transition from hearing sounds to reading them. (Nursery Rhymes, Songs, and Fingerplays Booklet, developed by the West Bloomfield TWP Public Library) Sincerely, Nursery & Toddler Staff |
TRANSITION NEWS Dear Parents, This month we will be enjoying the theme "Out in Space". This is a very enjoyable theme. If your child ever has any books that go along with our themes they are welcome to bring them in to share with the class... we would really enjoy it! Some activities we will be doing will include counting down from 10 (as if we were in a rocket ship), and looking at a real telescope! This month we will also touch on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln's birthday's. Please make sure to bring in snow-pants, boots, a hat, water-proof mittens, and a warm coat for your child to insure that your little one is nice and warm/dry during our outside time each day. The children will begin working on their Valentine boxes... if you have any small boxes (for example a shoe box) that you could bring in it would be appreciated. CHILD DEVELOPMENT... Children develop at different rates and all have unique characteristics and needs during each stage of development. Our number one goal is to provide a safe environment to prevent and reduce injuries. For each stage of growth we emphasise what is important for the children's development. As a professional in our field of Early Childhood Development, we also provide physical and emotional security for each child and help each child to know, accept and take pride in him and herself a to develop a sense of independence. We understand to bring that joy of learning and excitement... can last a lifetime. We are constantly being sure we are not missing an opportunity for a teaching moment -- may it be social, emotional, or cognitive. We also learn at a higher level about our children by listening to their concerns and interests. Sincerely, Transition Staff |
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER: Feb. 12th Class Valentines Parties UPCOMING EVENTS: March 6th: Savory Cookie Dough Fund raiser March 14th: Daylight Savings Time |
| PRE-SCHOOL NEWS Dear Parents, February is Dental Health month! We will be exploring the mouth and discussing important ways we need to take care of our teeth. During the month, we will be learning about Outer Space and the wonderful and mysterious planets that are in our solar system. We will be discussing astronauts and space travel. Our class Valentines Day party will be held on February 12th. Don't forget to have your child bring in Valentines to pass out to his/her classmates! A class list will be available on February 1st. Special projects for the month include, painting a special Valentine canvass bag and creating an exciting Groundhog Day project. DURING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY... During the month of February we will be discussing Valentines Day, love, friendship and kindness. In preschool we focus on developing social skills and it all begins with our families. If you have a special "family tradition" that you share in your home; please respond to our, "My Family Tradition Sheets" that will be available on February 1st on top of the children's cubbies. They will be shared that day during our afternoon circle. Sincerely, Pre-School Staff |
| PRE-K NEWS Dear Parents, To go along with this month's theme, Out in Space, we will be doing a variety of activities to teach the children about astronauts, rockets, the sun, the moon, and the planets. We will also continue our graphing, sorting, and counting exercises. As well as working on writing our names and learning the sound that the letters of the alphabet make. This month we will also start learning our phone numbers and how to tie our shoes. Our class Valentines Day party will be held on February 12th. A class list will be sent home during the first week of February so your child can write out his/her Valentines. Also, the Party Treat Sign-up will be posted on the classroom door during the first week of February. YOUNG READERS... Young children develop as readers as they begin to pay more attention to the print around them. They start to be able to recognize words and to read easy books with the support of adults and other children. Pre-schoolers/Pre-kers: -Hold books correctly and turn the pages -Are able to write some letters in their name -Pretend to read their own "writing" and books -May be able to show where to start reading a book -Can tell the difference between pictures and print -May know some letter names and can find them in a story -Begin to read STOP signs and business signs (McDonalds) -Play with language through songs, chants, and invented words -Can tell what a story is about and what they liked or disliked Sincerely, Pre-K Staff |
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