A full day childcare center & preschool for infants, toddlers & pre-kindergarteners

Spring  has sprung and we are in full bloom around here.  Over the last several weeks we have observed so any beautiful changes in our neighborhood.  The trees and grass are turning green and many of the spring flowers have bloomed.  The vegetable garden has been prepared for planting and during the month of May we will be adding our veggies and herbs.

Mr Vice and I have been very  busy over the last three weekends cleaning and preparing the playgrounds.  Toys and equiptment have been checked and cleaned, the sand boxes have been washed and refilled and brand new mulch has been spread.  Please be sure to take a peek at our brand new Infant/Toddler playground.   The old swings have come down and in their place we have added a new climber, brand new playhouse , new sandbox, two new picnic tables and a new infant swing and slide.  The children and teachers are so happy with their new outdoor space and they are all especially enjoying outdoor play time each day.

MOTHER’S DAY CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Mother’s Day is right around the corner and we will be doing our Mother’s Day continental breakfast again this year.  Please sign up to come in on Wed, Thur, or Friday of next week between 7:00-8:30  to have a quick bite to eat with your child  and read a book together  before rushing into your busy day. We wish all of our Mom’s and Grandma’s the happiest Mother’s Day ever!

COMMUNITY SERVICE NEWS

Thank you all for the tremendous response to our Adopted Family for Easter.  Together we were able to provide them with  food and gift cards to help feed and cloth their family this Spring.

Thanks also to everyone who donated books to help start the library in Sri Lanka.  Between what we were able to collect at our center and throughout our community we collected well over 1,000 books for this cause.

Our last community service project for this year will be a Muscular Dystrophy Hop A Thon.  The toddler/two’s and our pre K children will be participating in this event rain or shine on Friday May 18th.  Donation envelopes will be coming home soon and need to be returned on or before that day.

KINDERGARTEN INFORMATION

As we turn our attention towards the end of this school year we are excited and happy to see our of our children doing so well.  We are of course also a little sad to see so many of our Pre-K students graduating, but we know that they are ready for all the fun and challenges of elementary education ahead. If you do have a child heading off to Trumbull Kindergarten next Fall please see the attached information to your email regarding the brand new full day program that the town of Trumbull is providing.

WELCOME

Please help us welcome the Rosenzweig Family, baby Abigail, mom Rebecca and dad Jeremy.

We are also so happy to welcome back Micah Houston with his brand new baby brother Silas, mom Melissa and dad Zachary.

Please also help us welcome back Connor Fulchino and Family. Connos younger sister Clare will be starting in our toddler classroom in mid-May.

PRE-K FIELD TRIP

Our preschool classroom will be taking a Field Trip to Trumbull Nature Center on Thursday May 31st.  We will be taking the bus and all children are invited to attend even if they are not enrolled on that day.   First Student Bus company has seat belts for every child.  If you would like your child to use their car seat as well, please send it in that morning, clearly labeled with your child’s name on both sides of the seat.

SUMMER VACATION INFORMATION NEEDED

At this time we are finalizing our summer children’s and teacher’s schedules.  Please let us know if you have a scheduled vacation planned so that our teachers can finalize their summer vacation plans as well.

We realize that children, whose parents are teachers and are out for the summer, will most likely need care prior to September4th.  Please let us know the dates that you will need head back to school so that we can be sure to adjust our end of August children and teachers schedules accordingly.

A FEW QUICK REMINDERS:

*Sunblock, hats, warmer weather attire and closed toe sneakers are needed for outdoor play each day

* May 28th Closed for Memorial Day

*June 21 Preschool Graduation 4 PM

*June 29 Last day of Fall/Spring program

*July 2 First day of summer session

*July 4 Closed 4th of July

*August 23 & 24 Closed Teacher In-service

*August 31st Last Day of sumer program

*September 4 1st day of Fall/Spring 2012/2013 program

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

MARCH 2012

PARENT NEWS AND NOTES

February flew by as usual.    Love was in the air and the children enjoyed sharing stories with us about all those they love and love them so dearly.  Our Valentine’s Day celebrations was filled with delicious and healthy goodies from our wonderful parents and everyone had a great time singing and playing Valentine songs and games.   In addition to learning about our hearts and our feelings, the children also enjoyed learning about how their bodies work and what they need to do to help keep them healthy.

Our in-school visitor dentist Dr. Kalendara, a former parent of one of our graduates, was here with us to do a child centered workshop on Dental Health.  She came with her dental hygienist and did a great job introducing the children to the importance of caring for the teeth. She sent home lots of goodies.  I am sure your children have shared some of what they learned with you already.

We had a wonderful turn out last month for Anne Meade’s presentation, “Helping Children Develop Intrinsic Behaviors”, she was amazing and we all walked away with a number of great tips to help children deal with their feelings.  We will definitely be inviting her back again soon.

March is such an exciting month.  With spring around the corner there are so many great learning experiences.  In our Pre-K classroom the children will be learning about wind, rain and rainbows.  The infants and toddlers/two’s curriculum is centered on the changing weather as well.  Lots of outdoor science experiences are planned.  Please don’t forget to send in rain boots and coat as needed.

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

This month we have a few very important community service projects to work on.  The first thing that we will be doing is putting together an Easter Basket for a family in need.   Items needed range from food and grocery store gift cards to clothing for the family that we are helping.  Please sign up to send in a gift item or gift card from the list in your child’s classroom.  Donations go directly to our good friend Sister Tremblay who runs the Daughters of Charity preschool, food bank and numerous other community service outreach programs.  Donations must be in by Monday April 2, 2012.

I am also going to be sending home a flyer that I just received in the mail with information about a fundraiser dance that will be coming up on March 23^rd at the Italian Club in Bridgeport that will be held to raise funds to help Sister Theresa continue to provide child care to the neediest families in Bridgeport through the summer months.  The cost is $35.00 per person and includes dinner, dessert, wine, beer and soda.  You can’t beat that!  I will be putting together a table and we would love to have as many of you as possible join us.  This woman is a true angel who relentlessly works to help those most in need and with our help she can accomplish even more. 

Another service project that we are collecting for over the next two months is books to start up a library in Sri Lanka.  My daughter’s boyfriend is from there and has people he knows working on building a library for the many unfortunate families of the area.  We will accept all book donations.  Children, adult books, fiction, nonfiction, educational and basically any genre of literature.  Gently used and new books of all kinds are needed.

And finally, Miss Eleanor, and her husband Dr. Garvey, have recently returned from Haiti where they went to prepare for his visit to perform surgeries next week.   They have asked if we could please let our families know of the tremendous need that still exists in Haiti and if they can count on our help to donate some desperately needed items.  The items collected will be shipped to a remote village in Haiti next month and will be used to put together “Birthing Kits”. The following items needed are:

          2 gallon zip locks bags

          Small bars of soap

          Small packs (10count) wipes

          New or like new newborn size knit hats

          New or like new newborn tee-shirts (onsies sleeveless or short sleeve only)

          Flat sheets any size, color or pattern

          Wash cloths

          Receiving blankets

          Newborn size diapers.

The people of Marbial will be so grateful for anything you can give!  Please do whatever you can to help with this cause.  We will be accepting donations through the month of March and can be dropped off in our front hallway in the box labeled “Birthing Kits for Haiti”.

ENROLLMENT:

We are presently winding up enrollment for the upcoming school year.  I will be sending home confirmation of your child’s enrollment for that time based on the paperwork that you have provided to us.    Please look it over carefully and let me know right away of any changes that need to be made. We are doing another open house this weekend.  If you or someone you know is interested in placing their child with us for the summer and fall/spring of 2012/2013 please let them know that I will be here on Saturday from 11-3.  At this time we have very limited availability in our infant/toddler classrooms and have only a few full time openings left in Pre K.

A FEW QUICK REMMINDERS:

MONDAY APRIL 2 LAST DAY FOR FAMILY EASTER BASKET DONATIONS

CLOSED FRIDAY APRIL 6 GOOD FRIDAY

Don’t forget today and Friday are picture day! Check your email for details on the children who will be photographed each day!