A Message From the Principal’s Office:
Dear Chesterbrook Families:
It seems that each month as I sit down to write another newsletter my thoughts go immediately to the weather. March certainly came in like a lion, and has exited like a lamb (at least compared to the previous 4 months)! We welcome Spring and April with showers, and I gather that all of us are looking forward to those May flowers and warm, sunny days ahead! We have a busy month ahead of us so be sure to refer to the Calendar and Upcoming Events (listed below).
Our bi-annual Scholastic Book Fair will arrive later this month and we are pleased to be able to offer our families the opportunity to pick-up a few new books for your children with the BOGO (Buy one, get one Free) offer. The book fair will run Friday, April 17th-Friday, April 24th. If you find a book that is sold out, please let us know and we will be happy to place an order for more! Scholastic usually has a quick turn-around for fulfilling these requests.
April is also when we celebrate our students, during the Week of the Young Child. This year our celebration will take place during the week of Monday, April 13th through Friday, April 17th. We have many fun and exciting events planned for our families including the St. Jude’s Trike-a-Thon, Spring Hat Parade to New Seasons, and Family Pizza & Sing-a-Long Concert with Peter Moses Night. We will be sending out an RSVP for the Family Pizza & Concert so that we may plan accordingly. The event will be free to our families! You may refer to our Calendar of Events and the Week of the Young Child flyer for a listing of daily festivities.
We will then celebrate Earth Day with our Annual Ladybug Release and School Spirit Day on Wednesday, April 22nd. Our students will be learning about life cycles and the important role that ladybugs play in helping our gardens grow. We will commence our celebration with a picnic (al fresco – weather permitting).
Our Early Bird Registration has wrapped-up and we are looking forward to continuing your child’s early childhood journey with you! Thank you to all of our families for your continued commitment to our school. We will be drawing the winner of the Early Bird Raffle for one free week in September on Friday, April 17th during our Family Pizza & Concert. Be sure to join us!
We are also making preparations now for Summer Camp and will be sending home the summer camp forms this month. As a reminder, we do offer a Parent Referral discount for referring families. See the For Parents section below for further details. Many thanks to all of our families that have and continue to refer their friends and families to us for the early childhood education and care needs. You are an invaluable lifeline to our school and we greatly appreciate your commendations!
Over the next several months and beyond, we will be focusing our efforts on our Middle States Reaccreditation. This is school-wide community effort and we will be asking our families to help support us as direct stakeholders in our school community to gather data as part of our self-study and improvement process. Stay tuned for further details to be shared in the upcoming weeks and months ahead. We appreciate and value your input and involvement so that we may continue to serve our students, families, and staff better. Please note that there may be stakeholder/parent surveys that will be shared with you separate from the Parent Survey that our corporate office distributes (as referenced above). Your response to each of these surveys play a vital role in helping us to assess and evaluate our progress and future improvement goals.
Happy Spring!
Jenell Hilton
Upcoming Events:
- Monday, April 13th – Friday, April 17th: Week of the Young Child Celebration
- Monday, April 13th: Morning Breakfast Treat
- Tuesday, April 14th: Bubble Celebration/Plant A Seed with your Child
- Wednesday, April 15th: Garden Box Prep/Playground Clean-up
- Thursday, April 16th: St. Jude’s Trike-a-Thon (Bring your trike/bike/scooter & a helmet)/Nursery Rhyme Time with Kindergarten
- Friday, April 17th: Spring Hat Parade (4pm) and Family Pizza & Concert with Peter Moses (5-6pm)
- Friday, April 17th – Friday, April 24th: Scholastic Book Fair (BOGO)
- Wednesday, April 22nd: Earth Day/Ladybug Release & School Spirit Day! Wear your Red & Black! Ladybug Picnic Lunch
- Thursday, April 30th: Bird Dog Marketing Bottle Cap Testing (age qualified – permission forms will be sent home)
From the Education Department
Appreciating the Wonders of Mother Nature
Spring is here and Earth Day is right around the corner, providing a wonderful opportunity to connect children with nature and reinforce the importance of preserving and protecting the world around us.
Our Links to Learning curriculum uses hands-on activities to cultivate a deeper connection to the earth and foster academic, physical and social skill development.
Below are activities we implement in our classrooms to get children excited about nature, as well as activities and books to read with your child at home.
INFANTS/TODDLERS:
- In the classroom: Our teachers provide natural objects, such as leaves, pinecones and flowers for the children to see and touch. We help children associate words with the concrete objects they represent.
- At-home activity: Allow your child to experience different textured fruits, such as an orange, watermelon and cantaloupe. Talk about what he sees, smells, tastes and feels.
- Recommended reading: Colors from Nature from PlayBac Publishing and The Earth Book by Todd Parr
BEGINNERS (Ages 2-3):
- In the classroom: Around age two, children begin to understand interdependencies in nature. For instance, they learn that ladybugs feed on insects that are harmful to gardens, trees and shrubs. On Earth Day, many of our students have the opportunity to release ladybugs to help local gardens.
- At-home activity: Take a walk outdoors with your child and play a game of “I Spy.” Ask him point out objects found in the springtime, for example a red flower, a blue bird or a colorful butterfly.
- Recommended reading: Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration by Alyssa Satin Capucilli & David T. Wenzel and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
INTERMEDIATES (Ages 3-4):
- In the classroom: As our Intermediates gain a greater understanding and appreciation for how living things grow, the class may adopt a pet such as a fish or bunny. Students develop math, science and language skills by measuring the pet’s food, observing the pet’s behavior and habitat, and learning new vocabulary. Research shows that when children have the opportunity to care for animals, they practice nurturing behaviors that help them interact in gentle ways with people also.
- At-home activity: Create a small garden and allow your child to help you plant and water seeds, either outdoors or indoors. Ask him to predict what the plant will look like by drawing pictures in his journal. Check the plant regularly so he can observe and measure changes in growth. Discuss the importance of watering and caring for the plant.
- Recommended reading: Our Earth by Anne Rockwell and the poem “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out!” by Shel Silverstein
PRE-K/PRE-K 2 (Ages 4-5):
- In the classroom: Teachers encourage our older preschoolers to reuse recyclable materials in fun and unconventional ways. For instance, our students use cardboard boxes to create a castle, milk jug lids to sort and match, and plastic bottles to create beautiful, unique artwork.
- At-home activity: Set up a recycling station using cardboard boxes, and label each box with the words “metal”, “plastic” and “paper”. Throughout the month, ask your child to help sort your family’s recyclables by placing the items into the correct box. Explain that recycling is just one way that we can be kind to the earth. Ask him to name a few other ways, such as conserving electricity, picking up litter and planting a garden.
- Recommended reading: A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry and The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
We create a path for lifelong learning by providing numerous opportunities for children to study and explore nature. These hands-on experiences lead to growth in all areas of development as students transition into elementary school and beyond.
Lauren Starnes, PhD- Manager of Curriculum and Instruction
For Parents and Teachers
With the start of a new school year, it can be challenging to remember all of the things, we as parents need to do. Here are a few important reminders to be aware of:
- Tuition is due on Friday for the upcoming week. Let us help make life a little easier, and save yourself from writing checks by signing up for the Automatic Payment program. We have forms available at the front desk for those interested.
- Please sign your child in and out each day at the front desk. If you are not sure what to do or where to look, please do not hesitate to ask.
- Please do not hold the door open for individuals you do not know or recognize. Anyone who is supposed to be here will understand and thank you for it!
- Check your child’s mailbox/folder at the end of each day for important notes and information coming home.
- Our two in-service days of the year are on Election Day and President’s Day. Our school will be closed on these dates for our staff to attend required training.
- Tune into 6ABC.com or Channel 6 News for information on school closings and delays. Please refer to the For Parent and Teachers below as well for further details.
- All children are required to have an updated and current physical on file. Children up to the age of 2 years are required to have an updated Health Assessment Form completed at each well visit. Children 2 years of age and older are required annually. Forms are available at the front desk and on our school website under Forms and Policies.
- Enrollment paperwork will be required to be updated periodically to remain in compliance with our state regulations and licensing. Be aware of information coming home of forms that need to be updated. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation to make sure that we meet and exceed the requirements.
- In addition to all the efforts we are making to ensure a year of tremendous growth for the children, we are striving to make life easier for parents! We encourage you to check out our school website for updates. On this site you will find our school calendar, menus, newsletter and more.
From the Desk of Donna Miller, Executive Director:
Spring 2015
Dear Infant Parents.
Chesterbrook Academy Schools are the industry leaders in providing strong early childhood programs for their children. We are constantly evaluating our current operational practices and identifying new ways to continue to keep our children safe and healthy.
This communication is to make you aware of two initiatives that your school will be implementing in the upcoming months. The first initiative is to educate our families on recent information and trainings associated with safe sleep practices. We will then share the Safe Sleep Practice that Chesterbrook Academy is adopting. The other initiative is one that will improve our current bottle feeding practice.
The Safe Sleep initiative is in place for all of our new infant families as of April 2014. They will be educated on the Safe Sleep Practice at the time of enrollment. They will also be asked to sign the document which shares that they understand and will adhere to the expectations of the Safe Sleep Practice. All of our infant staff were trained on the procedure and have a certificate of completion on file. New infant teachers hired after April will be trained on both the Safe Sleep Practice and Bottle Feeding and Labeling System. Our safe sleep practice includes the elimination of any and all soft items in the crib. Soft items would include stuffed animals, dolls, mobiles, bumpers, blankets and lovies. Our rooms are kept at temperatures that are warm enough for the babies. However, if you would still like your child to have some type of outerwear, i.e. blanket, the Association of American Pediatrics recommends a sleep sack. Your teachers and management team will be providing an orientation over the next month or so and the expectation is that by the end of June our current families will be managing by the new practice as well.
The second initiative is to add a color-coded labeling system to our bottle feeding procedure. Your child will be assigned a specific color. Their cubby tag, crib label, daily sheet and bottles will also be identified by that color. We will begin by purchasing the materials and then assisting you with the labeling process when you drop off. Our ultimate goal will be to pass onto you that responsibility when you are comfortable. The labeling system supplier that we are purchasing from will be provided to you, so in the event you may want added supplies beyond what we give you, there is an avenue to do so. We will also have breast milk labels available for all families so those specific bottles can be identified.
As with any major initiative, we are looking for your compliance and assistance in implementation to provide the best care for our children and families. Please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions with your school management team so that we may better meet your needs as we roll-out this initiative.
Sincerely,
Donna Bonfiglio-Miller
Closings & Delays
Dear Chesterbrook Families and Staff,
For your reference, we thought it would be helpful to remind our families and staff of how to find out about our school delays and closing information. We do our best to maintain our regular operations, but occassionally there are times when we need to open late, close early, or possibly close the school due to extreme weather and/or school conditions.
Please tune to ABC 6 for our school delays and closings. You may also find this information on the ABC 6 website at: www.6abc.com and on any wireless device with internet access. In addition, you have the option to sign-up on the 6 ABC website for email alerts, dismissals and delays that are posted. We will be listed as Chesterbrook Academy – Chalfont.
For your reference:
If school is delayed one hour, CBA will open at 7:30 a.m.
If school is delayed two hours, CBA will open at 8:30 a.m.
As a reminder, please do not leave your vehicle running unattended with or without children. This is a serious violation and safety hazard that we want all of our families to avoid. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation. Your safety and that of your children and our staff is important to us.
For Parents
Parent Referrals
Dear Chesterbrook Academy® Community: If there’s one thing parents love to do, it’s talk about their children’s successes.
When friends ask you about your child’s experiences at Chesterbrook Academy, what type of success stories do you share? Do you mention the personal and educational discoveries your child is making thanks to our advanced curriculum? Do you talk about the new levels of self and social confidence your child has gained thanks to our encouraging atmosphere?
Whatever glowing reports you deliver about how your child is growing with his or her education, we couldn’t be more appreciative. In fact, we’d like to show you just how thankful we are for your endorsements. Now when you tell other parents about our school, you can become a Chesterbrook Academy Ambassador.
For every new child you refer who enrolls at our school for three months, you’ll receive an Ambassador Certificate for one FREE week of tuition for your child*. (Part-time enrollments will receive $100 tuition credit)
It’s our way of saying thanks for doing what comes naturally – singing the praises of your child and sharing your experiences with the Chesterbrook Academy difference.
If you have any questions about how you can become a Chesterbrook Academy Ambassador, or if you’d like any additional certificates or flyers, please don’t hesitate to call me directly at 215-997-9085.
P.S. – All parents want the very best education possible for their child. If you think your family has that, spread the word and become a Chesterbrook Academy Ambassador. Thank you to all of our families who have referred our school to new families!
Box Top News & Chesterbrook Academy Logo Wear
- Help Support our school with Box Tops! Collected Box Tops can be left at the front office or in the Campbell Soup bin by the front desk. To learn more, go to the following link: http://www.boxtops4education.com/
- We are very excited to announce the launch of our new NLCI logo wear online portal through the Queensboro Shirt Company. The Queensboro Shirt Company is our preferred vendor for all logo wear, apparel, and accessory needs and is a one-stop-shop for all NLCI branded items. As an NLCI parent, you are invited to purchase items through the exclusive Chesterbrook Academy – Queensboro website and take advantage of our very special pricing plan. Simply follow this link, follow the instructions, and place your order: http://chalfontcb706.qbstores.com Your order will be shipped directly to your school.
April News
A Message From the Principal’s Office:
Dear Chesterbrook Families:
It seems that each month as I sit down to write another newsletter my thoughts go immediately to the weather. March certainly came in like a lion, and has exited like a lamb (at least compared to the previous 4 months)! We welcome Spring and April with showers, and I gather that all of us are looking forward to those May flowers and warm, sunny days ahead! We have a busy month ahead of us so be sure to refer to the Calendar and Upcoming Events (listed below).
Our bi-annual Scholastic Book Fair will arrive later this month and we are pleased to be able to offer our families the opportunity to pick-up a few new books for your children with the BOGO (Buy one, get one Free) offer. The book fair will run Friday, April 17th-Friday, April 24th. If you find a book that is sold out, please let us know and we will be happy to place an order for more! Scholastic usually has a quick turn-around for fulfilling these requests.
April is also when we celebrate our students, during the Week of the Young Child. This year our celebration will take place during the week of Monday, April 13th through Friday, April 17th. We have many fun and exciting events planned for our families including the St. Jude’s Trike-a-Thon, Spring Hat Parade to New Seasons, and Family Pizza & Sing-a-Long Concert with Peter Moses Night. We will be sending out an RSVP for the Family Pizza & Concert so that we may plan accordingly. The event will be free to our families! You may refer to our Calendar of Events and the Week of the Young Child flyer for a listing of daily festivities.
We will then celebrate Earth Day with our Annual Ladybug Release and School Spirit Day on Wednesday, April 22nd. Our students will be learning about life cycles and the important role that ladybugs play in helping our gardens grow. We will commence our celebration with a picnic (al fresco – weather permitting).
Our Early Bird Registration has wrapped-up and we are looking forward to continuing your child’s early childhood journey with you! Thank you to all of our families for your continued commitment to our school. We will be drawing the winner of the Early Bird Raffle for one free week in September on Friday, April 17th during our Family Pizza & Concert. Be sure to join us!
We are also making preparations now for Summer Camp and will be sending home the summer camp forms this month. As a reminder, we do offer a Parent Referral discount for referring families. See the For Parents section below for further details. Many thanks to all of our families that have and continue to refer their friends and families to us for the early childhood education and care needs. You are an invaluable lifeline to our school and we greatly appreciate your commendations!
Over the next several months and beyond, we will be focusing our efforts on our Middle States Reaccreditation. This is school-wide community effort and we will be asking our families to help support us as direct stakeholders in our school community to gather data as part of our self-study and improvement process. Stay tuned for further details to be shared in the upcoming weeks and months ahead. We appreciate and value your input and involvement so that we may continue to serve our students, families, and staff better. Please note that there may be stakeholder/parent surveys that will be shared with you separate from the Parent Survey that our corporate office distributes (as referenced above). Your response to each of these surveys play a vital role in helping us to assess and evaluate our progress and future improvement goals.
Happy Spring!
Jenell Hilton
Upcoming Events:
From the Education Department
Appreciating the Wonders of Mother Nature
Spring is here and Earth Day is right around the corner, providing a wonderful opportunity to connect children with nature and reinforce the importance of preserving and protecting the world around us.
Our Links to Learning curriculum uses hands-on activities to cultivate a deeper connection to the earth and foster academic, physical and social skill development.
Below are activities we implement in our classrooms to get children excited about nature, as well as activities and books to read with your child at home.
INFANTS/TODDLERS:
BEGINNERS (Ages 2-3):
INTERMEDIATES (Ages 3-4):
PRE-K/PRE-K 2 (Ages 4-5):
We create a path for lifelong learning by providing numerous opportunities for children to study and explore nature. These hands-on experiences lead to growth in all areas of development as students transition into elementary school and beyond.
Lauren Starnes, PhD- Manager of Curriculum and Instruction
For Parents and Teachers
With the start of a new school year, it can be challenging to remember all of the things, we as parents need to do. Here are a few important reminders to be aware of:
From the Desk of Donna Miller, Executive Director:
Spring 2015
Dear Infant Parents.
Chesterbrook Academy Schools are the industry leaders in providing strong early childhood programs for their children. We are constantly evaluating our current operational practices and identifying new ways to continue to keep our children safe and healthy.
This communication is to make you aware of two initiatives that your school will be implementing in the upcoming months. The first initiative is to educate our families on recent information and trainings associated with safe sleep practices. We will then share the Safe Sleep Practice that Chesterbrook Academy is adopting. The other initiative is one that will improve our current bottle feeding practice.
The Safe Sleep initiative is in place for all of our new infant families as of April 2014. They will be educated on the Safe Sleep Practice at the time of enrollment. They will also be asked to sign the document which shares that they understand and will adhere to the expectations of the Safe Sleep Practice. All of our infant staff were trained on the procedure and have a certificate of completion on file. New infant teachers hired after April will be trained on both the Safe Sleep Practice and Bottle Feeding and Labeling System. Our safe sleep practice includes the elimination of any and all soft items in the crib. Soft items would include stuffed animals, dolls, mobiles, bumpers, blankets and lovies. Our rooms are kept at temperatures that are warm enough for the babies. However, if you would still like your child to have some type of outerwear, i.e. blanket, the Association of American Pediatrics recommends a sleep sack. Your teachers and management team will be providing an orientation over the next month or so and the expectation is that by the end of June our current families will be managing by the new practice as well.
The second initiative is to add a color-coded labeling system to our bottle feeding procedure. Your child will be assigned a specific color. Their cubby tag, crib label, daily sheet and bottles will also be identified by that color. We will begin by purchasing the materials and then assisting you with the labeling process when you drop off. Our ultimate goal will be to pass onto you that responsibility when you are comfortable. The labeling system supplier that we are purchasing from will be provided to you, so in the event you may want added supplies beyond what we give you, there is an avenue to do so. We will also have breast milk labels available for all families so those specific bottles can be identified.
As with any major initiative, we are looking for your compliance and assistance in implementation to provide the best care for our children and families. Please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions with your school management team so that we may better meet your needs as we roll-out this initiative.
Sincerely,
Donna Bonfiglio-Miller
Closings & Delays
Dear Chesterbrook Families and Staff,
For your reference, we thought it would be helpful to remind our families and staff of how to find out about our school delays and closing information. We do our best to maintain our regular operations, but occassionally there are times when we need to open late, close early, or possibly close the school due to extreme weather and/or school conditions.
Please tune to ABC 6 for our school delays and closings. You may also find this information on the ABC 6 website at: www.6abc.com and on any wireless device with internet access. In addition, you have the option to sign-up on the 6 ABC website for email alerts, dismissals and delays that are posted. We will be listed as Chesterbrook Academy – Chalfont.
For your reference:
If school is delayed one hour, CBA will open at 7:30 a.m.
If school is delayed two hours, CBA will open at 8:30 a.m.
As a reminder, please do not leave your vehicle running unattended with or without children. This is a serious violation and safety hazard that we want all of our families to avoid. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation. Your safety and that of your children and our staff is important to us.
For Parents
Parent Referrals
Dear Chesterbrook Academy® Community: If there’s one thing parents love to do, it’s talk about their children’s successes.
When friends ask you about your child’s experiences at Chesterbrook Academy, what type of success stories do you share? Do you mention the personal and educational discoveries your child is making thanks to our advanced curriculum? Do you talk about the new levels of self and social confidence your child has gained thanks to our encouraging atmosphere?
Whatever glowing reports you deliver about how your child is growing with his or her education, we couldn’t be more appreciative. In fact, we’d like to show you just how thankful we are for your endorsements. Now when you tell other parents about our school, you can become a Chesterbrook Academy Ambassador.
For every new child you refer who enrolls at our school for three months, you’ll receive an Ambassador Certificate for one FREE week of tuition for your child*. (Part-time enrollments will receive $100 tuition credit)
It’s our way of saying thanks for doing what comes naturally – singing the praises of your child and sharing your experiences with the Chesterbrook Academy difference.
If you have any questions about how you can become a Chesterbrook Academy Ambassador, or if you’d like any additional certificates or flyers, please don’t hesitate to call me directly at 215-997-9085.
P.S. – All parents want the very best education possible for their child. If you think your family has that, spread the word and become a Chesterbrook Academy Ambassador. Thank you to all of our families who have referred our school to new families!
Box Top News & Chesterbrook Academy Logo Wear