September ’25
Director’s Desk
Dear Parents,
We did it! By working together, we (parents and teachers) have succeeded in getting Greenbrier Manor School off to a wonderful start. Now you all know what your child’s classroom looks like and you had the opportunity to meet your child’s teacher through our Open House. I am sure our first few days of school will go well. Drop off and pick up are an especially challenging time. Your patience allows us to follow all procedures without error. Thank you so much! All students who are with us after 11:45am will need to bring a nut-free lunch from home. The children will have an option to buy pizza lunch for $6.00 every Friday. You will be invoiced through Brightwheel for lunch fees.
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 than in the product. The teachers’ goals are to teach the children to follow oral directions, to locate top and bottom, and to move from left to 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 do not 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 when they “played.” Each classroom has a tremendous variety of teaching equipment so that 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 to Mom on the way home. Our monthly newsletters are sent at the beginning of the month via Brightwheel and are used 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 that specific unit.
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 that 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 may not recognize. When you visit the school please come to the front door and introduce yourself. Until we are familiar with you, we will check your ID against the names given on the registration form. For security reasons, the doors are locked and we are naturally suspicious of strange faces peering in the windows. Remember—USE THE FRONT DOOR AND BRING IN YOUR ID.
You will receive a packet regarding Greenbrier Manor School’s September fundraiser (due back October 3rd). We never like distributing this right at the beginning of the school year, but because of the seasonal aspect of gift-wrapping paper, we have little choice. You are under NO OBLIGATION whatsoever. If you do not wish to participate that is okay, although obviously we would appreciate your support. All money earned is used toward the purchase and upgrading of school equipment. We have been able to do this because of the terrific support we have received from our fundraisers. The grand prize this year is one month’s free tuition for the top seller of gift-wrap in all four schools. Each school will also offer 50% off one month’s tuition for one child in the family selling the most amount of gift-wrap in that school.
Sincerely, Jackie
Reminders
**We will conquer drop-offs and pick-ups with your help and patience. We will ID anyone that we do not recognize.
**All tuition payments are due on the first of each month. You should have received an invoice for September from Brightwheel.
If you ever have any questions, concerns or just want to chat about your child, please call us. I can be reached at 757-548-9292.
LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT
• All children staying past 11:45 will need to bring a lunch from home with the EXCEPTION of Friday. Every Friday, you have the option to buy cheese pizza for $6.00. We supplement with a fruit, a vegetable, milk and a cookie. Lunch fees will be invoiced through Brightwheel at the end of each month.
• CHILDREN WHO BRING LUNCH NEED TO HAVE THE CHILD’S NAME AND DATE WRITTEN ON THE LUNCH TAG THAT WE PROVIDE.
•Please write your child’s name in hats, jackets, sweaters, lunch boxes, bookbags, etc.
•WE ARE NOW COLLECTING HALF-GALLON MILK CARTONS AND PRINGLES CANS. THANKS!
•Please remember we are a peanut and tree nut free school. Do not send in food with your child that contains nuts or peanuts. We also ask that you check label every time you purchase something that will be shared at school to make sure it does not contain nuts.
Brightwheel for Manor School Payments
We will be using Brightwheel for all invoices (tuition, reader purchase/rental charges, workbook charges, lunch fees, etc). We think you will find this system provides a simple, efficient way to pay. You should have already set up your account and September’s tuition invoices have been sent.
– Invoices will be emailed to parents each month for tuition
– Add-on invoices (books, lunches, extra hours) will be emailed
– 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 fees)
– Parents are able to print all receipts and tax information from their account
You can access your
tax information on
Brightwheel!
GMS Tax ID: 87-3864717
What we are learning
2’s-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 wonderful, 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. In addition to individualized papers and art projects we have included activity days. 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 that your teacher works individually with each child on various activities.
3’s & PreK- The three-year old’s 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 children will paint, cut, color, and eat in a variety of shapes and colors. The grand finale will be a Shape and Color Hunt. (Like an Easter egg hunt only we hunt paper shapes, not eggs).
4’s- The four-year-old classes devote September to the alphabet—Sound boring? —Not the way they do it! This first month of letter and sound identification is an introduction for some and reinforcement or even a review for others. The four-year-old parents should have received a detailed calendar of events for the month of September. If you did not, let us know. This kind of unit provides tremendous opportunities for music, poems, foods, and gross and fine motor experiences. Try to help your child remember bubble (B), glitter (G), and ice cream (I) day.
Michelle’s 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.
K – The kindergarten class spends most of September studying the history of transportation. The unit is divided into three areas—land, sea, and air. Toward the end of the month, you should look for a transportation book that your child has worked on all month! Our kindergarteners will also make stop signs and rubber band-propelled boats…it’s a very busy month!
Save the Date
- September 2 – October 3 ……… Charleston Wrap Fundraiser
- October 1 & 2 ……………………. Individual Pictures
- November 4 ………………………. Conference Day (school open for all-day students only)
- November 11 …………………….. Veteran’s Day/School Closed for Holiday
- November 26– 28 ………………. Thanksgiving/School Closed for Holiday
- December 22 – January 2 ……. Winter Break/School Closed
- January 5 …………………………. School resumes
