De-Clutter and Support Your School!
Spring Cleaning is such a transformative experience.
Who knew that thinning a bookshelf or tackling that front hall closet you avoid could feel so powerful? At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic I channeled my anxiety into cleaning and reorganizing the house. I set out to conquer “the creep” that tends to take over corners and closets during the daily bustle of kids and jobs. I wanted my home office back! I wanted to not feel guilty about buying new workout clothes! I wanted to feel like we were moving forward in an uncertain time.
The world is opening again, and rather than “going back to normal,” most of us have embraced the fact that it will be a WHOLE NEW ERA. A totally new definition of normal.
The best way to make that “new normal” a WAY BETTER normal than to start out with an old favorite, Spring Cleaning.
Here at Common Ground, we are doing just that! We are emptying our old storage units and thinning out our book collections (have no fear! We support child literacy more than ever before, we just don’t need 18 copies of “The Foot Book” floating around in the back of our closets).
What will we do with all this STUFF? Some of it is quite beloved and well taken care of, some of it is barely used but we certainly do not need it taking up space.
On our quest to REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, we found a company called FUNDrive. Their incredible business model encourages groups of people and schools like us to get together and collect gently used items to donate!
Our drop-off date is not until June 5th, but ‘Spring Cleaning’ is happening as we speak! Save up those donation items and you will only have to do one drop-off.
Instead of trying to find different places to donate all of your myriad items, just bring them straight to us.
1. The donations will cost you nothing!
2. You are giving your house a spruce up!
3. You are helping your community recycle perfectly fine items instead of creating waste, and offering quality goods to people at more affordable prices.
4. You are helping your school by helping us raise funds through no cost to you.
We are looking to raise $1000 by cleaning out your closets and cabinets of GENTLY USED items. Help us get to our goal by helping us collect AT LEAST 120 full 33 gallon size bags and 100 small boxes. (there is no limit! I think we can blast through that number, but let's have a baseline) Ask your friends, neighbors and coworkers to do the same and make your pledge today!
DATES TO DROP OFF ITEMS:
Friday, June 4th from 7:45 AM-6:00 PM
Saturday, June 5th from 8:00AM-12:00PM
Drop off will be at Common Ground Childcare: 1700 Wainwright Drive, Ste 2, Reston VA 20190.
ITEM PICK UP DATES:
TBD: If there are enough people interested in this, we may schedule a “pick up” for items before our time slot on June 5th.
If you need help with lifting bags/boxes, please let us know: lj@commongroundchildcare.org
**IF NONE OF THE ABOVE DATES WORK FOR YOU: Please contact LJ Donnell: 703.498.9073/lj@commongroundchildcare.org. We will find a way to help you, store your things, et cetera.
SAVE THE DATE (June 4th and 5th). SAVE YOUR STUFF (clothes, accessories, small household items, books). SAVE THE WORLD (every little bit counts).
Love Love Love,
LJ and your Common Ground Family
CG Birthday: Celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd
April is not just our birthday month! It’s the month we celebrate our incredible home: The Planet Earth.
What is the History of Earth Day?
April 22nd, 1970 was the very first Earth Day! Proposed in 1969 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day was celebrated all over the nation in a collaborated effort between grass roots groups and their local governments. Elementary schools did trash-pickup and anti-litter movements. Flowers were planted. People swept their streets. Mothers protested the pollution destroying their children’s air quality.
Did it work?
By the end of 1970, the Nixon administration had established the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air Act.
Environmental justice gained momentum in New York especially.
Activists increasingly emphasized “environmental racism,” or how toxins and lack of green spaces in poorer neighborhoods disproportionately affected communities of color.
In the 1980’s El Puente and WE ACT formed to oppose environmental hazards like sewage plants and other pollutants that contributed to health disparities, including high rates of asthma.
Many observers have invoked the threat of climate change and pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have pointed to falling pollution levels in cities, as certain industries are on hold and transportation has slowed.
What can you do?
You can educate yourself:
Know what legislation is affecting the environment all the way from your backyard up
Be aware of how climate change is affecting the earth
Read Read Read! Read to your kids too!
Enchanting Science and Nature Books for Kids from Scrawl Books
Over and Under the Rainforest (Hardcover) By Kate Messner, Christopher Silas Neal
Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest (Hardcover) By Peter Wohlleben
I am the Wind (Hardcover) By Michael Karg, Sophie Diao (Illustrator)
Chase the Moon, Tiny Turtle: A Hatchling's Daring Race to the Sea (Hardcover) By Kelly Jordan, Sally Walker (Illustrator)
Baby Botanist (Baby Scientist #3) (Board book) By Dr. Laura Gehl, Daniel Wiseman (Illustrator)
Weird, Wild, Amazing!: Exploring the Incredible World of Animals (Hardcover) By Tim Flannery, Sam Caldwell (Illustrator)
Over and Under the Pond (Hardcover) By Kate Messner, Christopher Silas Neal (Illustrator)
Start Now!: You Can Make a Difference (Paperback) By Chelsea Clinton
Baby Oceanographer (Baby Scientist #1) (Board book) By Dr. Laura Gehl, Daniel Wiseman (Illustrator)
Volcano Wakes Up! (Paperback) By Lisa Westberg Peters, Steve Jenkins (Illustrator)
You can donate to non-profits that you trust to support concrete improvements. CHARITY NAVIGATOR is a pretty excellent place to check a non-profit’s rating.
Environmental Defense Fund
Mission: The Environmental Defense Fund is perhaps the most wide-ranging organization on this list, working to provide solutions under the broad categories of climate change, oceans, wildlife and habitats, and health. The EDF works with other organizations, businesses, government, and communities to create incentives for positive environmental actions; help companies become better environmental stewards; influence policy; and keep tabs on emerging issues
Top Programs: Climate and energy, oceans, ecosystems
Percent of expenses spent on programs: 79.1
Charity Navigator Score: 94.48The Nature Conservancy
Mission: The Nature Conservancy protects ecologically important lands and waters around the world with the help of more than 500 staff scientists.
Top Programs: Climate change, fire, fresh water, forests, invasive species, and marine ecosystems
Percent of expenses spent on programs: 71.2
Charity Navigator Score: 84.35Natural Resources Defense Council
Mission: The Natural Resources Defense Council seeks to protect the basics—air, land, and water—and to defend endangered natural places, with an eye toward how these long-term decisions affect humans.
Top Programs: Climate, land, wildlife, water, oceans, energy, food, sustainable communities
Percent of expenses spent on programs: 83.6
Charity Navigator Score: 96.35American Rivers
Mission: American Rivers protects wild rivers, restores damaged rivers and the wildlife they support, and conserves clean water for people and nature, with an eye toward recreationists as well.
Top Programs: River restoration, federal river management, clean water supply
Percent of expenses spent on programs: 74.9
Charity Navigator Score: 88.18Sierra Club Foundation
Mission: The Sierra Club Foundation is the fiscal sponsor of the Sierra Club’s charitable environmental programs, and promotes efforts to educate and empower people to protect and improve the natural and human environment. The Sierra Club is the principal, though not exclusive, recipient of SCF’s charitable grants.
Top Programs: Beyond Coal, Chapter and Group Education Project, Our Wild America
Percent of expenses spent on programs: 88.5
Charity Navigator Score: 94.08
How you can celebrate at home
Animal Exercises to do at home with your kids ALL MONTH.
Stock up on reusable bags and try to go a month without using plastic ones!
Plant pollinator friendly local plants in your garden
Walk whenever you can or take public transportation (Keeping in mind Covid-19 precautions)
Use blankets or open windows rather than cranking up the Heater or AC
Pick up trash when you can! Even one piece can make a difference.
Watch Our Planet or Planet Earth to get your kids excited and curious about Earth
Remember everyone, we all share ONE COMMON GROUND. Our little blue planet is precious, and we have to take good care of it.
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
CG Birthday: Book Fair List for Week of the Young Child
Our Book Fair is Live!! You can access it Here. Any of the books on the website will contribute to our fundraiser so long as you follow the directions on our book fair page.
Not sure what you want to read? No worries! We will be posting excellent book lists all week.
JUST LIKE THIS ONE! See below for recommendations of excellent children’s books for celebrating Week of the Young Child with us.
Music Monday:
Acoustic Rooster and his Barnyard Band
One Love: Music Books for Children
Music: A Foldout History Book
Music Board Book
Tasty Tuesday:
Kids in the Kitchen — A whole Scrawl Books catered book list about cooking with kids.
Work Together Wednesday:
The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room
The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Chores
The Berenstain Bears: Patience Please
I Just Forgot
Art Thursday:
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Red: A Crayon’s Story
Anywhere Artist
A Parrot in the Painting: The Story of Frida Kahlo and Bonito
Family Friday:
Daddies Do
Love Makes a Family
Llama Llama Gram and Grampa
Grandpa Grumps
Grandma, Grandpa and Me
Between Us and Abuela
Just like Mama
All Smiles Saturday:
CG Birthday: How to Celebrate with Us!
We are turning 49 on April 6th, but we are celebrating ALL MONTH LONG!!
Normally this would warrant one of our excellent all-school events with food trucks, moon bounces, a giant cake, maybe a carnival…
But since we can’t do that, we are finding a ton of new, exciting ways to celebrate, and we want to tell you how you can join us from your own home.
Sign up for our Spring Stuffy Sleepover!
Our featured author Andrea Lamont will be doing a reading of her new book “The Friendship Rock” for the stuffys and their kiddo friends at home. This event is a total blast that we really think is a perfect way to celebrate together while apart.
Participate in and Share our Book Fair!
From April 12th-April19th, 24/7, you can participate in our Online Book Fair with Scrawl Books! There will be readings, book recommendations, and wish lists! Whether you are supporting your classroom, buying your kids’ new favorite book, or finding your next “relax by the fire pit” Spring read, any book you buy supports our fundraising efforts to raise money for our Non-Profit mission. The best birthday present you can give Common Ground is helping us raise money for our educational efforts.
Host your own Fundraiser on Facebook!
Our Non-Profit missions benefit our students, our teachers, our outreach, our support of much needed educational reform. By supporting our beloved school, we are also supporting our community! Helping us raise money to support those efforts is an AMAZING WAY to help us celebrate our birthday.
Here is our Our PayPal Donation Link where anyone can donate! Thank you for widening our impact.
You can Celebrate “The Week of the Young Child” with us!
We have several activities we are doing with all of the children at the center, but here are some ideas for how to celebrate at home!
Music Monday: Instead of turning on the tv when you get home, turn on the stereo and have a dance party!! Show your kids your favorite songs, and let them show you theirs, make a big Youtube playlist of your favorites, dance your heart out!
Pro Tip: Eighties Pop makes great Dance Music, here is our Owl’s Spotify List.
Struggling to come up with songs? Check out our Mister Josh Rock at the Blocks series on Youtube!
Tasty Tuesday: THROW YOUR OWN COMMON GROUND BIRTHDAY PARTY!! We know putting together something complicated on a Tuesday night feel like it’ll take more energy than you have, so you can always save this for a free weekend day. Whether you decide to try it on a weeknight, or a weekend, this does not have to be over the top to be special with your kiddos. Big Bird has a super easy Banana Bread Recipe! Make healthy banana bread “cupcakes,” stick candles in them, sing Happy Birthday, and chow down!
Work Together Wednesday: At school we will be planting our new class gardens!! We encourage you to plant local, pollinator-friendly plants with your kiddo so they can contribute to a healthy environment. Every little act brings great goodness to the world, and if your kid learns that early with you, they will be more confident and ready to do more and more each day.
Artsy Thursday: Draw chalk art on your sidewalk. Send postcards to family members you haven’t seen awhile with pictures from your kids. Let your kids paint with ice cubes or paint rocks to leave on your local trails. Any little art project that you do with your kid is time spent creating something lovely in the world, no matter what your skill level is. This is also a perfect opportunity to show teacher appreciation: If you want to make your teacher’s day, have your kiddo make an art project for them telling their teacher just how much they matter.
Family Friday: Movie Night! Family Walk! Shadow Charades! Board games! If you want to make it Common Ground themed, this is a fine night to throw the CG Birthday Party! You can also do a “name that teacher” guessing game.
All-Smiles Saturday: Sign your kids up for our Saturday Session on April 10th! While your kids are partying it up with us, you can relax, go on a date, do some much needed yard work, finish that 1000 piece puzzle you’ve been saving, anything that makes you smile!
HOWEVER: If SPRING CLEANING without interruption is what really makes your Saturday perfect, we highly suggest saving any gently used clothing/linens, small household appliances, personal accessories, and books for our JUNE FUND-DRIVE DONATION EVENT! By cleaning out your houses and freeing up your space, you could earn your school BIG MONEY. It’s our favorite type of “fundraiser,” because it is a WIN WIN WIN. You get a cleaned out bureau and don’t create more waste, we get much needed funds for our various educational objectives, and someone gets much needed “new to them” items for an affordable price from UNIQUE without creating more waste.
Whatever you do to celebrate, however you do it, please send us pictures. We would love to make a huge birthday picture collage for the center to show all the ways we honored Common Ground Childcare. Show us your cakes, your decorations, your art projects and gardens! Whatever it looks like, it was done with love, and that is everything to us.
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
P.S. Let us know how you plan on participating on Common Ground’s Birthday in the Comments!
Birthday at CG: Book Fair
One of the best events that can happen at any school is A BOOK FAIR!! What is a more wholesome way to support your school than to get kids excited about reading?
This CG Birthday Book Fair is being hosted by our local friends SCRAWL BOOKS and it is COMPLETELY ONLINE! Which means it goes 24/7 from Monday, April 12th to Monday, April 19th. You can shop together at home. You can share with your friends and family all over and help them find their new favorite book WHILE earning money for our educator support funds.
All week we will be featuring books with recorded readings, so check out our Facebook and YouTube to see which books our kids like best!
We also have wish lists for each classroom as well as the weekly Summer Camp themes, so check those out as well if you would like to directly support your classroom!
OUR BOOK FAIR IS LIVE! CLICK HERE!!
How does it work? Simple! You can see our recommended book lists on our Book Fair site HERE, but you can also just go to https://www.scrawlbooks.com/ and shop ANYWHERE on the site!
How do we get credit? Easy. Read the instructions below. These are also available on the Book Fair webpage.
Checkout:
Checkout as you normally would, but please note the following:
1. Use COUPON CODE: In order for Common Ground to receive credit for your purchase, you must use COMMONGROUND.
2. SHIPPING METHOD: Choose Common Ground Book Fair.
3. ORDER COMMENTS: Note the name of the student and grade where books will be delivered. If your books are presents and you want them held in the library for pickup please make a note of that (wrapping on book fair orders is not available). Families with multiple children are asked to choose one classroom for order delivery OR place separate orders for each child.
Delivery:
All books purchased through the Common Ground School Book Fair will be delivered to the classroom specified in the order comments, 1-2 weeks after the Book Fair ends.
Please let us know if you have any questions. We are so excited to do this with our favorite local bookstore! Supporting us in the Book Fair is also supporting them, which is amazing, especially during the pandemic.
HURRAY BOOKFAIR!
— Mrs. LJ and your CG Family
P.S. Do you want MORE recommendations? We wrote a fantastic Earth Day post HERE with ten amazing Biology/Environmental books for clever youngsters.
Common Ground Celebrates: Week of the Young Child
We are excited to celebrate the 50th annual ‘Week of the Young Child’ with NAEYC just one week after Common Ground turns 49!
The Week of the Young Child is a chance for us to spotlight how we impact early childhood experiences. From the work we do in our classrooms to our advocacy work, we are excited to share Common Ground far and wide!
Each day the week of April 10th we will be celebrating a center wide theme! The classroom teachers will put their own spin on how they celebrate in their rooms to keep our fun age and developmentally appropriate!
‘All Smiles’ Saturday - we will be open for care from 9:30am to 2:30pm, since we know that Saturday hours put a smile on our parents faces!
Music Monday will feature an outdoor concert from Mr. Josh
Tasty Tuesday will include in class treats, and a chance to pick up dinner when you pick your kiddo up!
Work Together Wednesday will focus on working as a team to plant our gardens on the Common Ground grounds!
Artsy Thursday will feature amazing art work from all classes.
Family Friday will highlight how families, not just the kids that attend, are what make the Common Ground Community special!
During this week, we ask that you participate by sharing your support on your social media channels by sharing what Common Ground (and quality early childhood education) means to your family. You can:
share our posts
share photos of your child enjoying our activities
share your participation in some of our fun “at home” activities that we will share with you that support our themes
purchase some of the recommended books from our book fair, since reading together is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child
If you’d like to register for our “All Smiles Saturday” care hours, please do so here. Like last time, there is a suggested donation of $25 per child, however we know that the value of a few hours off work with care could be worth 100x that, so please don’t limit yourself! Donations can be made here: paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1778362
Birthday at CG: Our SPRING STUFFY SLEEPOVER!
April is our Birthday Month! And to give it a GRAND FINALE, we are hosting another SUPER POPULAR SPRING STUFFY SLEEPOVER!
What is a Stuffy Sleepover? We are glad you asked!
Kids bring their favorite toy. It can be a stuffed animal, a doll, an action-figure, an excavator! They leave them in the loving care of our teachers for a night of music, books, and awesome activities. Kids can watch their favorite toys play with their best friends’ favorite toys from either Facebook Live or YouTube.
Basically, it is a heartfelt way for kids to be together without BEING together.
We had seen them before, Scrawl Books does an especially fun series of them featuring amazing children’s authors.
They are ridiculous fun for everyone involved. CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS FROM THAT NIGHT ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
STUFFY SLEEPOVER VIDEOS
On Friday, April 30th, the stuffies will come into Common Ground for a night of fun! This time, we are going to have our Mr. Josh sing-a-long around a CAMP FIRE! We will roast marshmallows, look at the stars, and read books about Spring. We will play outside, eat delicious snacks, and make something delightful for our kids at home. After that, we will camp out under the stars and dream of adventures with our Common Ground Family.
Our Featured Author is the warm-hearted, endlessly talented Andrea Lamont.
We will be reading her book “The Magic Friendship Rock,” a lovely story about imagination, art, and the absolute magic of friendship. The stuffys will bring home a copy of this book along with some other fun story-themed surprises to share with their friends.
The next morning on the First of May we will take all the stuffed animals (and other friends) home on the Common Ground Bus with a delightful goodie bag to share with their kiddo to remind them of all the fun things they did the night before.
Does this sound amazing? It does to us too. We could barely wait until Spring to party with all our magnificent stuffy friends again!
Sign Up Right Here!
$30.00 Donation to our COMMON GROUND BIRTHDAY Campaign gets you a ticket for the stuffy sleepover! It includes the goodie-bags, the fun, the live-videos, and more surprises!
Then you can drop your stuffed animal off on Thursday the 29th or Friday the 30th at the center (we will email you with the details when you register!) and it will be delivered home via the Common Ground Bus!
The money raised will go towards necessary educational initiatives at Common Ground Childcare.
In the spirit of OUR BIRTHDAY, since we cannot all BE together, at least we can celebrate together.
Miss LJ
Friends of CG Fridays!: SCRAWL BOOKS (With Exciting Upcoming Events!)
Scrawl Books over in Reston Town Center is a fabulous gem on Reston’s “Shop Local” Crown.
When I found out they were putting in a little bookstore right on the corner of Reston Town Center, I was absolutely delighted. It is within reasonable “Lunch Break” walking distance. It has an amazing selection, and whatever they don’t have they’re willing to order. They support local authors.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, their events promote early literacy and support several wonderful causes. In short? They’re just Good people. Good people doing Good things. And we love having friends like that.
When we contacted them a few years back to do live readings in their store, they were so supportive! They not only let us swipe their stuffy sleepover idea, but they donated items for the stuffy goodie bags!!
On Friday, March 26th, they’re actually doing their own Stuffed Animal Sleepover featuring Children’s Author Ethan Berlin! Children drop off their stuffies for a night of amazing activities, including a reading by Ethan Berlin himself of his new book I am not a Dog Toy.
Sign Up Here if you are interested.
And now, they are going to be doing a BOOK FAIR WITH US in April to celebrate Common Ground Childcare’s 49th Birthday.
When: April 12th to April 19th (LINK INCOMING, STAY TUNED). It is an online bookfair, so it goes 24/7 that entire week!
Where: Scrawl Books will have a page for us on their website, so we will post the link for that when it’s available.
How: We will have recommended books and classroom wishlists on our special link, but you can buy any of the books on the site once you have clicked through! It is not just for kids, stock up on your adult summer reading too!
Why:
- Books are brain food: For our birthday, we are promoting early literacy, consistent literacy, holistic literacy. Reading is good for everyone of every age, no matter what style of book you’re reading. Pick books out for you, your kids, your friends, your family, your school. Pick books out to donate to charity, or for your child’s classroom.
- #ShopLocal: You will be supporting a local business! Scrawl Books is a Reston treasure, and supporting them is supporting your whole town.
- Fundraiser Time: Scrawl books will keep track of how many books are purchased during our book fair and Common Ground will get a percentage of the proceeds! Is there a better birthday present that?
The Pandemic has hit all of our local businesses hard. Right now Scrawl Books is open for curbside pick up and delivery, and we hope that our Covid-19 numbers will go down and enough people will become vaccinated that we can all be together again. Until then, Scrawl Books has agreed to do live online readings for our classrooms on Wednesdays. They are partnering with us and supporting our school. The very least we can do is talk about how wonderful they are, and recommend them every chance we get.
THANK YOU, SCRAWL BOOKS!!
Love Love Love,
LJ and your Common Ground Family
Saturday Hours!? Yes PLEASE! (at least for one day)
Spring has sprung, and if you’re anything like me, it means that you have torn your house apart in an effort to clean up from a year of being at home. Also if you’re like me, it means that you haven’t quite gotten all the way through putting it back together again. Yet, unlike me, you have a valid excuse - kiddos at home - as to why you haven’t found the time to get it together.
That’s where Common Ground comes in! We are happy to announce that we will be open for 5 hours on Saturday, March 20th for our very first “Spring Clean Saturday!”
Bring your kids to enjoy a fun day at Common Ground from 9:30am to 2:30pm on Saturday, March 20th! We will have pizza, play outside, if weather allows, we will get out the moon bounce, and we are looking at some other fun treats!
This event is FREE for all currently attending families! We are asking for a $25 donation per child if you wish to contribute something, as this event kicks off Common Ground’s Birthday Celebration! Please donate through the PayPal Giving Fund linked here.
I got the idea when I was chatting with Miss LJ while she was in the car on her way to her parents house with the kids, so that her husband could “reset” their house for the week. With everyone really living in their homes during the pandemic, this seemed like a great way that Common Ground could give back to our families!
We hope that you enjoy this little gift from us, and if it goes well, we will do it again!
-Miss Liz and the Common Ground Team
SIGN UP HERE: