From the Principal’s Office
Dear families,
I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed some great family time and of course some wonderful food. We here at Chesterbrook are thankful every day for the opportunity to spend time with you and your children, and I am thankful for the hard working staff that we have here every day who always go above and beyond for their children.
We continue the Holiday spirit as we roll into December. I can’t believe that the end of 2017 is already upon us. Our children are busy working on their songs for our Holiday performance on December 15th and we look forward to seeing you all there, at Spring Valley High School .Once again, we are participating in ‘Families helping Families’ and have adopted some local families to help them to have a wonderful Christmas. If you would like to help, please see the display in the lobby that has details regarding what the families have a need for. We are all so fortunate here and we love teaching the children about the gift of giving to those less fortunate than ourselves.
Please make sure that you read the December calendar of events as we have a lot going on this month. If you misplace your paper copy, it is always available on the Website and it is displayed in the lobby.
As the weather is getting colder, please make sure that your children have appropriate outdoor clothing. We do still try to take the children out every day, even when it is cold. Label hats and gloves so they can be returned to their owner when we find them on the playground or on the classroom floor (we all know that it is going to happen).
As a quick reminder, should any of your contact information change, please do get that to us as quickly as possible so that we can update our records here. It is vital that we have accurate contact information for you and for any emergency contacts in case we need to get hold of you. We do need to make sure that all accounts are clean and up to date at the calendar year ends so that your tax statements will be a true reflection for you. We shall have those ready for you early in the New Year.
Let me take this time to wish all of you a very happy Holiday season however you and your family celebrate. Time together with our tiny humans is surely the very best gift of all.
As always, thank you for your continued support of our very busy school.
Regards,
Helen
- 1 – N.U.T (No Uniforn Today) – with donation to help benefit WIS TV Families Helping Families.
- 1 – Food Share Orders are due ($21).
- 4-9 – Lil’ Shoppers Shoppe – bring your child to the multi-purpose room for them to “shop” for people on their holiday list. Items range in price.
- 6 – Macy’s Believe Day!
- 6 – Families Helping Families gifts are due.
- 6 – Food Share Box Delivery Day.
- 11-15 – Make a Wish Week!
- 11 – Purchase a “Star” for Make a Wish Foundation!
- 12 – Polar Express Day! Put your PJ’s on and buckle up for the train ride! Purchase train tickets for $2.00 (proceeds go towards the Make a Wish Foundation).
- 13 – Disney Day! Dress as your favorite Disney character or wear your Disney gear!
- 14 – Grinch Day! Wear GREEN (or Grinch gear). Make sure to write a meaningful message to make the Grinch’s heart grow!
- 15 – Santa visits the school (9:30am – 11:30am).
- 15 – Holiday Parties @ 2:30pm.
- 15 – Food Share Orders are due ($21).
- 15 – “My Favorite Things” Holiday Program at Spring Valley HS auditorium.
- 18-29 – Winter Break (for Elementary aged children).
- 19 – PreK “Christmas Around the World” stations in the multi-purpose room (volunteers are needed).
- 20 – PreK “Holiday Fun” stations in the multi-purpose room (volunteers needed).
- 20 – Food Share Box Delivery Day.
- 21 – First Day of Winter!
- 22 – PreK “Holiday Fun” stations in the multi-purpose room (volunteers needed).
- 25 – School Closed – Christmas Day!
- 29 – Food Share Orders are due ($21).
- 29 – Links to Learning Folders Go Home.
- January 1 – School Closed – New Year’s Day!
Wednesday, December 6th
Children’s Theatre
– Room 8
– Cost is $6.00 per person
– Leaving at: 8:30am
– Wear navy Chesterbrook logo t-shirt
Thursday, December 7th
Children’s Theatre
– Room 7
– Cost is $6.00 per person
– Leaving at: 8:30am
– Wear navy Chesterbrook logo t-shirt
Friday, December 8th
Edventure Museum
– Room 6
– Cost is $6.00 per person
– Leaving at: 8:.30am
– Wear navy Chesterbrook logo t-shirt
Holiday Cookie Recipes
Santa’s Belly Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 package (16 oz) Pillsbury™ Ready To Bake!™ refrigerated sugar cookies
- 24 large marshmallows
- 1 container (1 lb) vanilla creamy ready-to-spread frosting
- Red, yellow and black gel food colors
- 48 white vanilla baking chips (for Santa’s suit buttons)
1. Heat oven to 350°F. On ungreased cookie sheet, place dough rounds 2 inches apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Meanwhile, slightly flatten marshmallows.
2. Remove from oven, and top each cookie with marshmallow. Return to oven, and bake 1 to 2 minutes or until slightly softened.
3. Remove cookies from cookie sheets; cool completely on cooling racks. Meanwhile, separate frosting into 3 small bowls, using 1 1/4 cups to make red frosting, 1/4 cup for yellow frosting and 1/4 cup for black frosting. Add food color to each, and mix to get desired colors (red, yellow and black). Frost and decorate cookies to look like Santa’s belly, using photo as a guide.
———————————————————————————————————-
Christmas Cookie Trees
Trees
- 1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated sugar cookies
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 containers fluffy white whipped ready-to-spread frosting
- Yellow paste food color
- Green paste food color
Decorations
- Yellow sanding sugar
- Red and white candy sprinkles
- Coarse sugar
Steps
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper. In medium bowl, knead cookie dough and flour until combined.
- On floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. With 11/4-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out 5 stars. With flower-shaped cookie cutters in 5 different sizes (3 1/2, 3 1/4, 2 3/4, 2 1/4 and 1 1/2 inch), cut 25 cookies, 5 of each size.
- Place stars and smaller flowers 1 inch apart on one cookie sheet. Place larger flowers 2 inches apart on second cookie sheet. Bake smaller cookies 6 to 8 minutes, larger cookies 8 to 10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 10 minutes.
- In small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the frosting with yellow food color. Frost star cookies with yellow frosting; sprinkle with yellow sugar. Set aside.
- In medium bowl, mix remaining frosting with green food color. Spoon frosting into resealable food-storage plastic bag; cut off one corner of bag. To assemble each tree, pipe green frosting on one large flower cookie; stack with 4 cookies, largest to smallest, piping frosting on each cookie. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Decorate with candy sprinkles. Top each tree with star cookie.
———————————————————————————————————-
Snowman Cookie Pops
- 1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated sugar cookies
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 26 craft sticks (flat wooden sticks with round ends)
- 2 rolls Betty Crocker™ Fruit Roll-Ups® chewy fruit snack (any flavor), cut up as desired
- 1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
- 26 miniature marshmallows
Steps
- Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in 1/4 cup flour until well blended. Remove half the dough. Sprinkle work surface lightly with flour. With floured rolling pin, roll dough 1/4 inch thick.
- With 1-inch, 1 1/4-inch and 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutters, cut dough into 16 rounds of each size. On ungreased cookie sheets, place largest rounds on middle of wooden stick ; layer each with medium round and smallest round, slightly overlapping each other leaving half of the stick uncovered. Reroll remaining dough as needed, and cut small 1-inch triangles from scraps. Place on cookie sheet, overlapping smallest round, for snowman’s hat. Repeat with remaining half of dough.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately decorate with fruit snack for caps and scarves, chocolate chips for eyes and buttons and marshmallows on caps as shown.
RECIPES COURTESY of PILLSBURY.COM
School Spotlight
Friday, December 15th
Spring Valley High School Auditorium
6:30pm
What is a Fresh Food Box?
A REAL box of food filled with top-quality fruits and vegetables.
12 to 15 varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables in each box.
Cost: Each Fresh Food Box costs $21.00
Next delivery dates are December 6th and 20th.
Resources
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK!! We invite you to “like” our page at www.facebook.com/ChesterbrookAcademy where we’ll be providing our fans with regular educational tips for children from preschool to 8th grade and the opportunity to network with fellow parents. We would love to have your participation in this forum and encourage you to continue to check our school website for local updates specific to our own school. We look forward to having you as part of our Facebook community!
Open House: Invite a family member or friend to come to our Open House on Saturday, January 20, 2018 between the hours of 10am-1pm. This is a great opportunity to meet the staff, tour the facility and see first hand how Chesterbrook Academy makes a difference in the lives of children!!
Chesterbrook Academy & Queensboro Apparel Company: If you are interested in ordering Chesterbrook Logo apparel for your child(ren), please view our online store. You may notice all the wonderful colors available, but please keep in mind that Chesterbrook Academy uniform colors are Navy, White and Forest/Dark Green.
Reminders For Parents
Tuition: Parents, please understand the importance of paying your tuition & paying it on time! Payments are due every Friday for the coming week. Late fees will be applied at 12 noon on Monday following the due date. Unpaid tuition, more than a week past due, will result in immediate dis-enrollment. If you have any questions, please see Helen, Melissa or Andrea in the front office. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
Field Trips for the 2017-18 School Year: Please be reminded that students must wear the Chesterbrook logo navy t-shirt on field trips. All monies for field trips are to be paid at the front desk. Turn in signed permission slips to your child’s teacher.
Automatic Payment Program: Parents this is a very easy way for you to not worry about writing those checks every week and avoiding late fees. APP can be used to pay tuition only invoices or all invoices (tuition, registration & activity fees). Please see Helen, Melissa, or Andrea in the front office for details and information on getting signed up or you can print the form from the link on the school website. In addition, you can also set up online bill-pay through your bank.
Contact Information: Please be sure that all home, work, cell and pager numbers and any other contact information is up to date in your child’s file. This helps the staff at Chesterbrook have every available option to contact the parent(s) in the event of an emergency.
E-Mail Addresses: Please update your email addresses with the front office in order to receive important information about upcoming and/or emergency events from the school. We can send email notifications to more than one email address.
School Operating Hours: This is a friendly reminder that Chesterbrook’s hours of operation are 7:00 am – 6:00 pm, Monday thru Friday. Half day hours of operation are 8:30 am – 11:30 am. The late pick up fee is $15 per child for the first 15 minutes and an additional $15 per child for each quarter hour after the regularly scheduled pick up time. Also parents, if you are running late and its close to closing time, please be sure to give the school a courtesy call.
Entry & Exit Doors: ** DO NOT USE THE BACK DOOR FOR ENTRY TO THE SCHOOL!!!** As you all know there is a code required for entry to the school. Please be sure to limit the code to family members and/or friends that are picking up your child(ren) on a regular basis. Do not give the code to your child(ren). In addition, everyone should use the front entrance for drop off and pick up. We advise strongly not to let individuals in the side entry door, as this person may or may not be a Chesterbrook parent or other family member. The side door is to only be used as an exit. This guarantees the safety of Chesterbrook Academy students and staff. Thanks in advance for your cooperation in this matter.
Parent Ambassador Program: Spread the word about our school and save on your child’s tuition! Refer a new family to our school and you could earn a free week of tuition. For more information on our Ambassador Program, see your school’s principal. The current referring Chesterbrook family will receive a discount after the referred child has attended full time for 3 months. Discount applies to the tuition of the oldest child in the referring family.
For Parents & Teachers
NUT FREE SCHOOL: We have several children enrolled at Chesterbrook Academy with severe nut allergies. Please do not send your child to school with food containing any type of nut products.
Prescription Policy for Chronic or Allergic Conditions:
** WE CANNOT ADMINISTER OVER THE COUNTER MEDICATIONS TO YOUR CHILD**
Medication may be brought in for chronic or life threatening medical conditions. All medications must be in their original container with the prescription label attached to include the proper administering time(s) and dosage to be given. For the use of a nebulizer, a letter or note will be required from your child’s doctor’s office stating time(s) to be administered and the tubule dosage to be given. In addition, an “Authorization to Administer Medication Form” must be completed and turned in by the parent. Please see Helen, Melissa, or Andrea in the front office if you have any questions or concerns.
Weather Policy: In the event of severe weather, we will make every effort to open on schedule and to remain open during the course of our regular hours of operation. In the event that severe weather requires us to close our school, delay our school or close early, parents will be notified initially by e-notify. Please make sure we have your most current email address and that you have added us to your address book so our message does not go to spam. In the event that your employer will not allow you to receive email at work, please provide us with an alternate email address for you. Parents may also call the school’s voicemail at 803-699-9988 and listen to the prerecorded message by 5:30 a.m. for information regarding the operating hours. Information will also be posted to the school’s website which is http://Wildewood.ChesterbrookAcademy.com. You can also tune into WIS channel 10 and/or WLTX channel 19 for closing and/or delay information.
**Chesterbrook Academy DOES NOT follow the schedule of Richland School District 2 during weather delays or closings**
Illness Policy
A parent of a child that is determined to be ill shall be notified immediately. The child must be picked up within an hour of notification. No child shall be allowed to remain at school with the following conditions:
- Elevated Temperature (100 degrees or higher)
- Vomiting and/or Diarrhea
- Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye)
- Head Lice
- Other Communicable Diseases (ie. chicken pox, strep throat, etc.)
- Student Pick-Up
Student Pick-Up: Parents, please be sure to inform the teachers and/or front office if another family member or friend will pick up your child. This applies to names that are on your list as well as names that are not. If it will be the first time the family member or friend picks up your child, please remind them to bring in their drivers licensewhen they come in. This is very important to insure the safety of your child(ren).
Student
- 2 – Joshua Junious
- 8 – Lukah Pinson
- 9 – Maren Hill
- 9 – Ali Ploetzke
- 12 – Ashritha Banala
- 14 – Keaton Egger
- 17 – Ashlyn Adeyemi
- 19 – London Garvin
- 19 – Avery Williams
- 20 – Allie Fields
- 27 – Stephen Glover
- 27 – McKenzie Williams
- 31 – Devanney Mitchell
Staff
- 14 – Abigail Rhode
- 28 – Sharon Knight
From the Education Department
The holiday season is a time when we celebrate community, diversity, and the universal joy of giving. In the classroom, we introduce children to holiday traditions observed around the world by singing songs, making art, and tasting favorite local seasonal foods, as well as those from other countries. You can continue[.....]
Read More »
– Lauren Starnes, PhD – Director of Early Childhood Education
December Newsletter
From the Principal’s Office
Dear families,
I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed some great family time and of course some wonderful food. We here at Chesterbrook are thankful every day for the opportunity to spend time with you and your children, and I am thankful for the hard working staff that we have here every day who always go above and beyond for their children.
We continue the Holiday spirit as we roll into December. I can’t believe that the end of 2017 is already upon us. Our children are busy working on their songs for our Holiday performance on December 15th and we look forward to seeing you all there, at Spring Valley High School .Once again, we are participating in ‘Families helping Families’ and have adopted some local families to help them to have a wonderful Christmas. If you would like to help, please see the display in the lobby that has details regarding what the families have a need for. We are all so fortunate here and we love teaching the children about the gift of giving to those less fortunate than ourselves.
Please make sure that you read the December calendar of events as we have a lot going on this month. If you misplace your paper copy, it is always available on the Website and it is displayed in the lobby.
As the weather is getting colder, please make sure that your children have appropriate outdoor clothing. We do still try to take the children out every day, even when it is cold. Label hats and gloves so they can be returned to their owner when we find them on the playground or on the classroom floor (we all know that it is going to happen).
As a quick reminder, should any of your contact information change, please do get that to us as quickly as possible so that we can update our records here. It is vital that we have accurate contact information for you and for any emergency contacts in case we need to get hold of you. We do need to make sure that all accounts are clean and up to date at the calendar year ends so that your tax statements will be a true reflection for you. We shall have those ready for you early in the New Year.
Let me take this time to wish all of you a very happy Holiday season however you and your family celebrate. Time together with our tiny humans is surely the very best gift of all.
As always, thank you for your continued support of our very busy school.
Regards,
Helen
Wednesday, December 6th
Children’s Theatre
– Room 8
– Cost is $6.00 per person
– Leaving at: 8:30am
– Wear navy Chesterbrook logo t-shirt
Thursday, December 7th
Children’s Theatre
– Room 7
– Cost is $6.00 per person
– Leaving at: 8:30am
– Wear navy Chesterbrook logo t-shirt
Friday, December 8th
Edventure Museum
– Room 6
– Cost is $6.00 per person
– Leaving at: 8:.30am
– Wear navy Chesterbrook logo t-shirt
Holiday Cookie Recipes
Santa’s Belly Cookies
Ingredients
Steps
1. Heat oven to 350°F. On ungreased cookie sheet, place dough rounds 2 inches apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Meanwhile, slightly flatten marshmallows.
2. Remove from oven, and top each cookie with marshmallow. Return to oven, and bake 1 to 2 minutes or until slightly softened.
3. Remove cookies from cookie sheets; cool completely on cooling racks. Meanwhile, separate frosting into 3 small bowls, using 1 1/4 cups to make red frosting, 1/4 cup for yellow frosting and 1/4 cup for black frosting. Add food color to each, and mix to get desired colors (red, yellow and black). Frost and decorate cookies to look like Santa’s belly, using photo as a guide.
Christmas Cookie Trees
Ingredients
Trees
Decorations
Steps
———————————————————————————————————-
Snowman Cookie Pops
Ingredients
Steps
RECIPES COURTESY of PILLSBURY.COM
School Spotlight
Friday, December 15th
Spring Valley High School Auditorium
6:30pm
What is a Fresh Food Box?
A REAL box of food filled with top-quality fruits and vegetables.
12 to 15 varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables in each box.
Cost: Each Fresh Food Box costs $21.00
Next delivery dates are December 6th and 20th.
Resources
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK!! We invite you to “like” our page at www.facebook.com/ChesterbrookAcademy where we’ll be providing our fans with regular educational tips for children from preschool to 8th grade and the opportunity to network with fellow parents. We would love to have your participation in this forum and encourage you to continue to check our school website for local updates specific to our own school. We look forward to having you as part of our Facebook community!
Open House: Invite a family member or friend to come to our Open House on Saturday, January 20, 2018 between the hours of 10am-1pm. This is a great opportunity to meet the staff, tour the facility and see first hand how Chesterbrook Academy makes a difference in the lives of children!!
Chesterbrook Academy & Queensboro Apparel Company: If you are interested in ordering Chesterbrook Logo apparel for your child(ren), please view our online store. You may notice all the wonderful colors available, but please keep in mind that Chesterbrook Academy uniform colors are Navy, White and Forest/Dark Green.
Reminders For Parents
Tuition: Parents, please understand the importance of paying your tuition & paying it on time! Payments are due every Friday for the coming week. Late fees will be applied at 12 noon on Monday following the due date. Unpaid tuition, more than a week past due, will result in immediate dis-enrollment. If you have any questions, please see Helen, Melissa or Andrea in the front office. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
Field Trips for the 2017-18 School Year: Please be reminded that students must wear the Chesterbrook logo navy t-shirt on field trips. All monies for field trips are to be paid at the front desk. Turn in signed permission slips to your child’s teacher.
Automatic Payment Program: Parents this is a very easy way for you to not worry about writing those checks every week and avoiding late fees. APP can be used to pay tuition only invoices or all invoices (tuition, registration & activity fees). Please see Helen, Melissa, or Andrea in the front office for details and information on getting signed up or you can print the form from the link on the school website. In addition, you can also set up online bill-pay through your bank.
Contact Information: Please be sure that all home, work, cell and pager numbers and any other contact information is up to date in your child’s file. This helps the staff at Chesterbrook have every available option to contact the parent(s) in the event of an emergency.
E-Mail Addresses: Please update your email addresses with the front office in order to receive important information about upcoming and/or emergency events from the school. We can send email notifications to more than one email address.
School Operating Hours: This is a friendly reminder that Chesterbrook’s hours of operation are 7:00 am – 6:00 pm, Monday thru Friday. Half day hours of operation are 8:30 am – 11:30 am. The late pick up fee is $15 per child for the first 15 minutes and an additional $15 per child for each quarter hour after the regularly scheduled pick up time. Also parents, if you are running late and its close to closing time, please be sure to give the school a courtesy call.
Entry & Exit Doors: ** DO NOT USE THE BACK DOOR FOR ENTRY TO THE SCHOOL!!!** As you all know there is a code required for entry to the school. Please be sure to limit the code to family members and/or friends that are picking up your child(ren) on a regular basis. Do not give the code to your child(ren). In addition, everyone should use the front entrance for drop off and pick up. We advise strongly not to let individuals in the side entry door, as this person may or may not be a Chesterbrook parent or other family member. The side door is to only be used as an exit. This guarantees the safety of Chesterbrook Academy students and staff. Thanks in advance for your cooperation in this matter.
Parent Ambassador Program: Spread the word about our school and save on your child’s tuition! Refer a new family to our school and you could earn a free week of tuition. For more information on our Ambassador Program, see your school’s principal. The current referring Chesterbrook family will receive a discount after the referred child has attended full time for 3 months. Discount applies to the tuition of the oldest child in the referring family.
For Parents & Teachers
NUT FREE SCHOOL: We have several children enrolled at Chesterbrook Academy with severe nut allergies. Please do not send your child to school with food containing any type of nut products.
Prescription Policy for Chronic or Allergic Conditions:
** WE CANNOT ADMINISTER OVER THE COUNTER MEDICATIONS TO YOUR CHILD**
Medication may be brought in for chronic or life threatening medical conditions. All medications must be in their original container with the prescription label attached to include the proper administering time(s) and dosage to be given. For the use of a nebulizer, a letter or note will be required from your child’s doctor’s office stating time(s) to be administered and the tubule dosage to be given. In addition, an “Authorization to Administer Medication Form” must be completed and turned in by the parent. Please see Helen, Melissa, or Andrea in the front office if you have any questions or concerns.
Weather Policy: In the event of severe weather, we will make every effort to open on schedule and to remain open during the course of our regular hours of operation. In the event that severe weather requires us to close our school, delay our school or close early, parents will be notified initially by e-notify. Please make sure we have your most current email address and that you have added us to your address book so our message does not go to spam. In the event that your employer will not allow you to receive email at work, please provide us with an alternate email address for you. Parents may also call the school’s voicemail at 803-699-9988 and listen to the prerecorded message by 5:30 a.m. for information regarding the operating hours. Information will also be posted to the school’s website which is http://Wildewood.ChesterbrookAcademy.com. You can also tune into WIS channel 10 and/or WLTX channel 19 for closing and/or delay information.
**Chesterbrook Academy DOES NOT follow the schedule of Richland School District 2 during weather delays or closings**
Illness Policy
A parent of a child that is determined to be ill shall be notified immediately. The child must be picked up within an hour of notification. No child shall be allowed to remain at school with the following conditions:
Student Pick-Up: Parents, please be sure to inform the teachers and/or front office if another family member or friend will pick up your child. This applies to names that are on your list as well as names that are not. If it will be the first time the family member or friend picks up your child, please remind them to bring in their drivers licensewhen they come in. This is very important to insure the safety of your child(ren).
Student
Staff
From the Education Department
8 Multicultural Holiday Books for Children
Read More »
– Lauren Starnes, PhD – Director of Early Childhood Education