Dear Parents,
We did it! Parents, children, teachers, and staff have succeeded in preparing Broad Bay Manor School for the new school year. We are off to a wonderful start! Our open house introduced you to your child’s teacher and provided insight on your child’s classroom. We sincerely appreciate your support and commitment to this school year here at Broad Bay Manor!
Charlynn and I are excited to move into our new roles as Director and Assistant Director. Here is a little more about us. This will be my 10th year at Broad Bay Manor; first as a 3’s Teacher and then as the assistant director for the last 8 years. I have a degree in education from Longwood University. I fell in love with Broad Bay Manor first as a parent when my daughter, Molly, started in the 3’s and then my son Will, in the 2’s. I quickly joined the Broad Bay Manor Team. My kids have since moved on to continue their educational journey to Trantwood Elementary and now Great Neck Middle School. I truly love seeing the children develop their love of learning. It brings me so much joy.
Thank you so much for sharing your children with us. We look forward to building strong relationships with all the students and families.
Brightwheel for Manor School Payments and Communication
September 2023
Charlynn has been with the Manor Schools since 2013. An alumus of Broad Bay Manor, she lives in
Virginia Beach with her husband, their son Noah, and dog Jules. She loves to travel and spend time
outdoors with her family. In her time here at BBMS, she has graduated from Old Dominion
University, double majoring in Human Services and Psychology. She has cared for every age group,
from elementary to, most recently, our 2 year olds. She has a true passion for working with children,
and she is eager to begin her role with BBMS as assistant director.
This year, we are excited to continue using Brightwheel! We will be using Brightwheel for all invoices (tuition, reader purchase/rental charges, workbook charges, lunch fees, etc). We will also use Brightwheel for all communication between administration and parents. Some teachers will use Brightwheel as well to communicate with parents. Please make sure your Notification are turned on in the app so you don’t miss any important messages. We think you will find this system provides a simple, efficient way to pay and communicate. You should have already received an email to set up your account.
– Invoices will be emailed to parents each month for tuition
– Add on invoices (books, lunches, extra hours) will be emailed as needed
– Parents can set up autopay
– Parents have access to save/print invoices for their records
– There will be no fees for payments made by e-check (credit card payments may have some fees)
Please remember, The Manor schools will NOT be providing a regular lunch service this fall. All
students are expected to bring their lunch from home Monday – Thursday. At the end of every week
we will have Pizza Friday! You have the option to buy pizza for your child that will be delivered to the
school or bring in a home lunch on Fridays. We supplement fruit, veggie, cookie, and milk. The cost
of the pizza lunch is $5. We will invoice you at the end of month as needed.
September promises to be a beautiful and exhilarating month. The teachers are just as excited and eager as the children and have planned their activities carefully. There are so many things to teach and ways to teach them. Many of the projects your child brings home will have served several purposes. Often, we are more interested in the process rather than the product. The teachers’ goals are to teach the children how to follow oral directions, to locate top and bottom, and move from left
top right across the page. If you are ever distressed by what you perceive as a lack of creativity or too little “hands on” in a project, please don’t hesitate to call your child’s teacher or me. Remember –our goals are the same- a confident child with a positive self-image who loves learning and school.
As many of you now know, the standard response to “What did you do in school today?” is, “Nothing.” Often young children cannot separate the many different activities in which they participated. They remember their preschool hours as one when they “played.” Each classroom has a tremendous variety of teaching equipment so the children are learning as they play. Most of them can remember snack time, but for all of them it is difficult to deliver a blow-by-blow on the way home. Our monthly newsletters are to inform the parents of what is happening so you can more easily share in your child’s learning experience. Each teacher has prepared “units” for the children to study. Art, music, snacks, and papers will reflect a particular unit.
During this month our two-year old classes look at themselves in a unit we have named “It’s All About Me” (of course it is). They look closely at themselves from head to toe. They will learn how they relate to their environment by consciously exploring it. For many of these children this is their first experience away from home. We plan to make it a fun and positive one. Their days are filled with many sensory experiences as they look at themselves and talk about their eyes, hair, muscles, etc. We have updated the curriculum, so in addition to individualized papers and art projects, there are activity days too. These are the times when the teacher works with each child on fine and gross motor skills such as how to do puzzles or lace a shoe. Although every day may not produce a craft or paper, be assured their teacher works individually with each child on various activities.
The three-year olds usually settle into the routine of school very nicely. Because apples, school, teachers, and September seem to go together, the threes begin the year with a quick look at apples. They will learn about Johnny Appleseed, eat, paint, and color apples. It is an extremely fun unit and gives the children a chance to experiment with many different mediums. This will be followed by an in-depth study of shapes and colors. The grand finale will be a Shape and Color Hunt (Similar to an Easter Egg Hunt only we hunt shapes, not eggs).
The four-year-olds devote September to the alphabet – Sounds boring, but not the way we do it! This first month of letter and sound identification is an introduction for some and reinforcement or even review for others. The four-year olds’ parents will receive a detailed calendar of events for the month of September. This kind of unit provides tremendous opportunities for music, poems, foods, gross and fine motor experiences. Try to help your child remember bubble (B), glitter (G) and Ice cream (I) day. If you missed the snack sign up sheet, call your child’s teacher. Leigh and Dorothy have outstanding ideas and would appreciate the help.
Pre-Kindergarten classes will also be doing a quick review of the alphabet and consonant sounds. One of the advantages of beginning the year with an alphabet overview is the opportunity it gives the teacher to assess fine motor skills and strengthen cutting and gluing abilities. Ms. Moesta and Ms. Withers can’t wait to show the alphabet in a whole new way!
The Kindergarten classes spend most of September studying the history of transportation. The unit is divided into three areas – land, sea, and air. Of course, once we blast off into space, we have a wonderful astronaut party complete with “space” food! For those of you new to Broad Bay, I might as well let you know now- we are definitely a party school. It is one of our ways to keep learning a wonderful and memorable experience.
I want to thank each of you for being so pleasant and cooperative. As this month progresses, we will be observing the children closely to see they are properly placed both socially and academically. Our primary concern is always the total wellbeing of your child. If we all keep that as our goal, this year should be fantastic.
Each year brings fresh new faces, many of whom we do not yet recognize. Until we are familiar with you, we will check your ID against the names given on the registration form during pick up.
You will soon find information regarding the Manor Schools September fundraiser coming home. You are under NO OBLIGATION at all. If you do not wish to participate that is okay, although obviously we would appreciate your support. All money earned will be used toward the purchase of outside equipment. The grand prize this year is one month’s tuition for the top seller in all four schools. The top seller at each school will get half off tuition.
Some 1- 2-
3- 4-
If you (757)
quick notes to help the school year start off smooth…
Morning preschool class starts at 8:45, with a drop off no earlier than 8:30. Only children enrolled in our all-day program or before school program may arrive before 8:30
Mid-day pick-up is from 11:45-12:00, this is for children leaving after the morning class. Please have the large card with your child’s name clearly printed on it. Place the card in your windshield as you pull in the front parking spots.
Hopefully sometime during your time with us, your child will arrive home with his/her PHONICS book, followed several months later by a reader!!! Each workbook will cost $16.00. In addition, math workbooks will be used in the four-year old, prek and kindergarten classes. You can rent our readers for $45/school year (this will carry over to summer as well)
We need to know by 10:00 if your child is having pizza lunch on Friday. If you have not already dropped off by then, please call the school to order your child a lunch if needed.
ever have any questions, concerns or just want to chat about your child, please feel free to call 496-0000.
Sincerely,
Betsey Cremin
Dates to Remember
September 1 & 4 October 25, 26, & 27 November 7 November 10 November 24-25 December 12,13, &14 Dec 18-Jan 2 January 15
January 29
February 19
April 1-4
May 1, 2, 3
May 21
May 29
June 14
June-Aug
…………………….. Labor Day (School Closed)
…………………….. Pumpkin Patch Parade
…………………….. Parent Conferences (schools open for ALL DAY students only)
……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. ……………………. …………………….
Veteran’s Day (SCHOOL CLOSED)
Thanksgiving Break (SCHOOL CLOSED) Winter Programs
Winter Break (SCHOOL CLOSED)
MLK Day (SCHOOL CLOSED)
Staff Inservice (SCHOOL CLOSED for students) President’s Day (SCHOOL CLOSED)
Spring Break (SCHOOL CLOSED)
Spring Programs
Parent Conferences (schools open for ALL DAY students only) Memorial Day (SCHOOL CLOSED)
Last day of school for the 2023-2024 school year
Summer session