A Message From the Principal’s Office:
Dear Chesterbrook Families:
I am hoping it is safe to say that Spring has sprung and gather that all of us are looking forward to those May flowers and warm, sunny days ahead! We have a busy month and a half ahead of us so be sure to refer to the Calendar and Upcoming Events (listed below).
Calling all of our Chesterbrook Moms! Please join us for “Muffins with Mom” on Friday, May 8th during your child’s morning drop-off. Come start your day with your kids and a smile! We will have morning refreshments for you to enjoy with your child(ren). Please note: “Mom” can be an aunt, grandmother, guardian, etc. We look forward to celebrating with you!
Just a quick reminder that our Spring Picture Days are coming up!
-
Tuesday, May 12th: Infants, Toddlers, Beginners, Intermediates and Siblings
-
Wednesday, May 13th: PreK, PreK 2, Kindergarten (including graduation photos); All Class Photos will be taken.
If your child does not attend on the designated day for their class, they can be photographed on the opposite day. Please be sure to inform your child’s teachers. Forms have been sent home. Please bring them to picture day, or you may return the form to your child’s teachers.
We are also making preparations now for Summer Camp and kindly request that you return your summer camp registration and swimming (elective/4+) forms this month. Camp Calendars and T-Shirts will be distributed at the beginning of June.
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.
Congratulations to the Neibauer Family for winning the Early Bird Raffle Drawing of One Free Week of Tuition in September for one child!
Stay tuned for more information to come regarding our End of Year/Spring Concert & Art Show on Friday, June 5th at 5pm!
Happy Spring!
Jenell Hilton
Upcoming Events:
- Monday, May 4th – Friday, May 8th: Teacher Appreciation Week
- Tuesday, May 12th: LifeTouch Picture Day-see school for details
- Wednesday, May 13th: LifeTouch Picture Day – see school for details
- Monday, May 25th: Memorial Day – School Closed
- Friday, June 5th: End of Year Concert and Art Show/Auction – 5pm
- Thursday, June 11th: Kindergarten Graduation
- Friday, June 12th: Move-up Day/Last Day of 2014-2015 School Year
- Monday, June 15th: First Day of Summer Camp
- Friday, July 3rd: School Closed in observance of Independence Day Holiday
From the Education Department
Developing Writing Skills in Young Children
– From Crayons to Concepts –
In the early preschool years, writing starts with practicing fine motor skills and progresses to include concepts such as vocabulary, sentence structure and inventive spelling. Our curriculum builds the foundation for writing beginning with our infants. Our teachers not only instruct students how to write, but they also help instill a love of writing and self-expression.
Below are activities we implement in our classrooms to get children excited about writing, as well as fun activities to try with your child at home.
INFANTS/TODDLERS
In the classroom: Our infants and toddlers practice picking up and placing objects into containers, building hand strength and coordination.
At-home activity: Give your child plastic cooking utensils, such as spoons and spatulas, along with a large bowl. Place appropriate finger foods in the bowl, and encourage your baby to pick up the utensils and use them to move the food around. Choose utensils with different sized handles so your baby learns how to grasp and hold objects in various ways.
BEGINNERS (Ages 2-3)
In the classroom: During imaginative play, teachers provide pens, markers and crayons to encourage students to practice writing. For instance, they pretend to own a restaurant and write food orders, and pretend to be doctors and take notes about the condition of their stuffed animals.
At-home activity: Incorporate writing activities during playtime. Bring sidewalk chalk outdoors and ask your child to write what they see. Don’t correct spelling or proper letter formations. Show enthusiasm in any efforts he makes, as this is how children learn that words are powerful and have meaning.
INTERMEDIATES (Ages 3-4)
In the classroom: Different writing tools and surfaces make writing more interesting for children. Our Intermediates use chalk on a chalkboard, form letters using modeling clay, and finger paint on canvas.
At-home activity: Three year olds enjoy mimicking adults in their daily activities. Allow your child to engage in a new writing activity with you, such as writing a grocery list or a thank you card. Explain to him what you are writing and the purpose it serves.
PRE-K/PRE-K 2 (Ages 4-5)
In the classroom: Teachers make writing fun for our older preschoolers by creating a classroom post office and asking the children to write and mail letters to each other. Through this activity, students practice communicating thoughts and ideas on paper, using proper grip, writing first and last names in correct case, and writing words independently by using inventive spelling. Inventive spelling encourages a love for writing and reinforces phonics. Traditional spelling is encouraged as students move into more formal writing in early elementary grades.
At-home activity: After a family outing, invite your child to write about his day in a journal. Encourage him to use uppercase and lowercase letters. If he asks for help writing more challenging words, have him attempt to spell them by sounding out the word and writing the letters that make that sound. Invite him to read his journal entry to you.
We provide many opportunities for our preschoolers to develop and practice their writing skills. By setting this foundation, they will be better prepared to communicate thoughts and ideas through writing in 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.
May News
A Message From the Principal’s Office:
Dear Chesterbrook Families:
I am hoping it is safe to say that Spring has sprung and gather that all of us are looking forward to those May flowers and warm, sunny days ahead! We have a busy month and a half ahead of us so be sure to refer to the Calendar and Upcoming Events (listed below).
Calling all of our Chesterbrook Moms! Please join us for “Muffins with Mom” on Friday, May 8th during your child’s morning drop-off. Come start your day with your kids and a smile! We will have morning refreshments for you to enjoy with your child(ren). Please note: “Mom” can be an aunt, grandmother, guardian, etc. We look forward to celebrating with you!
Just a quick reminder that our Spring Picture Days are coming up!
If your child does not attend on the designated day for their class, they can be photographed on the opposite day. Please be sure to inform your child’s teachers. Forms have been sent home. Please bring them to picture day, or you may return the form to your child’s teachers.
We are also making preparations now for Summer Camp and kindly request that you return your summer camp registration and swimming (elective/4+) forms this month. Camp Calendars and T-Shirts will be distributed at the beginning of June.
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.
Congratulations to the Neibauer Family for winning the Early Bird Raffle Drawing of One Free Week of Tuition in September for one child!
Stay tuned for more information to come regarding our End of Year/Spring Concert & Art Show on Friday, June 5th at 5pm!
Happy Spring!
Jenell Hilton
Upcoming Events:
From the Education Department
Developing Writing Skills in Young Children
– From Crayons to Concepts –
In the early preschool years, writing starts with practicing fine motor skills and progresses to include concepts such as vocabulary, sentence structure and inventive spelling. Our curriculum builds the foundation for writing beginning with our infants. Our teachers not only instruct students how to write, but they also help instill a love of writing and self-expression.
Below are activities we implement in our classrooms to get children excited about writing, as well as fun activities to try with your child at home.
INFANTS/TODDLERS
In the classroom: Our infants and toddlers practice picking up and placing objects into containers, building hand strength and coordination.
At-home activity: Give your child plastic cooking utensils, such as spoons and spatulas, along with a large bowl. Place appropriate finger foods in the bowl, and encourage your baby to pick up the utensils and use them to move the food around. Choose utensils with different sized handles so your baby learns how to grasp and hold objects in various ways.
BEGINNERS (Ages 2-3)
In the classroom: During imaginative play, teachers provide pens, markers and crayons to encourage students to practice writing. For instance, they pretend to own a restaurant and write food orders, and pretend to be doctors and take notes about the condition of their stuffed animals.
At-home activity: Incorporate writing activities during playtime. Bring sidewalk chalk outdoors and ask your child to write what they see. Don’t correct spelling or proper letter formations. Show enthusiasm in any efforts he makes, as this is how children learn that words are powerful and have meaning.
INTERMEDIATES (Ages 3-4)
In the classroom: Different writing tools and surfaces make writing more interesting for children. Our Intermediates use chalk on a chalkboard, form letters using modeling clay, and finger paint on canvas.
At-home activity: Three year olds enjoy mimicking adults in their daily activities. Allow your child to engage in a new writing activity with you, such as writing a grocery list or a thank you card. Explain to him what you are writing and the purpose it serves.
PRE-K/PRE-K 2 (Ages 4-5)
In the classroom: Teachers make writing fun for our older preschoolers by creating a classroom post office and asking the children to write and mail letters to each other. Through this activity, students practice communicating thoughts and ideas on paper, using proper grip, writing first and last names in correct case, and writing words independently by using inventive spelling. Inventive spelling encourages a love for writing and reinforces phonics. Traditional spelling is encouraged as students move into more formal writing in early elementary grades.
At-home activity: After a family outing, invite your child to write about his day in a journal. Encourage him to use uppercase and lowercase letters. If he asks for help writing more challenging words, have him attempt to spell them by sounding out the word and writing the letters that make that sound. Invite him to read his journal entry to you.
We provide many opportunities for our preschoolers to develop and practice their writing skills. By setting this foundation, they will be better prepared to communicate thoughts and ideas through writing in 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