WOYC21: ARTSY THURSDAY- We made Crayons!! Here's How...
It was a gorgeous, perfect day today… Most of our time was spent enjoying the outside and celebrating the good weather!
But your Common Ground Office Friends had a silly, fun, totally “Artsy Thursday” inspiration that we absolutely had to act on.
We decided to turn our GIANT TUB of broken, old crayons into new, tie-dye crayons in totally whacky shapes!
Ms. Mimi had seen the idea during one of her Teaching courses last week, and we LOVED it! Ms. Liz ran out to Michael’s to get some fun molds and we went to work! See below for pictures of our process and results!
Peel the crayons. If you want to make this process go a little faster, soak them in water! the wrapper comes right off.
Chop them up! They don’t need to be uniform. We used scissors (poor scissors!) and made a bunch of tiny chunks. Leave some of the chunks bigger, we’ll explain why later!
We used silicone molds with all sorts of different shapes! They can go in the microwave, the oven, and the freezer, so they’re perfect.
Place a layer of crayons in the molds. fill it up! When they crayons melt, they’ll shrink. Since these will completely melt and mix together, we advice complimentary colors.
Place in the microwave. 1-2 minute intervals should do it.
Once the wax is completely melted, place one of the larger chunks in the center of each mold shape. It will create a marbled look with the other colors you added. This color can be as different from the other colors as you like! You can also add another layer instead.
Put it into the microwave for a little bit longer, and then when you’re satisfied put it into the freezer until it’s firm and cool.
We got a uniform back onto the crayons by melting one or two colors into cups and then pouring a layer of wax into the molds once they had firmed up a bit in the freezer.
The result is, dare we say it, ADORABLE and totally functional! We gave them out to all of our students, and we have so many leftover crayons we plan on letting them make their own combinations in the future! It was such a bright, happy way to recycle our old crayons that no one seemed to want. Some of our kids did not even want to color with them! We had a couple of our Honeybee Students play with their robots like toys.
WOYC21: Our Playful Pandas are Living it Up
All week we have been celebrating “Week of the Young Child” with the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and it has been a TOTAL BLAST.
Ms. Pinky and Ms. Simi in the Playful Pandas have really taken this opportunity to flex their incredible teaching muscles and show the world how much education really happens in play-based learning.
On Music Monday, Mr. Josh stopped by to play a little concert for each class. The Pandas got to play instruments and sing along to practice rhythm, patterns, and cause and effect! They also got to sing their heart out and dance the morning away.
On Tasty Tuesday our Pandas Teachers went above and beyond! Ms. Pinky and Ms. Simi presented their students with all different fruits. the kiddos got to touch and taste each one, then they took turns placing them into the blender. They even got to press the little blender button, much to their surprise and delight! Afterwards they placed the smoothie mix into little popsicle makers. While these froze a little more, the pandas got to try their concoction. At the end, they got to eat popsicles they made themselves. It was a step by step, multi-sensory science experiment that ended in a tasty treat!
Work Together Wednesday was quiet, cold, and rainy. But our Playful Pandas teachers had their kiddos build large, technicolor castles together. At the end, they all picked up the mess one piece at a time. Teamwork, patience, social practice. All these essential building blocks to emotional resilience and independence can come from something so simple.
Artsy Thursday is maybe my absolute favorite, and a perfect example of why kids’ art needs less guidance and more trust from teachers. Ms. Simi and Ms. Pinky put out paint, string, and paper. Then they stepped back and waited. The result was absolutely incredible. These one year olds stepped up, picked up the yarn, and began goofing around together. They splashed colors around, they shared, they made art. If we had walked them through step by step, it would have been a project. It would have been uniform. This was creative expression. This was pre-writing, fine-motor work, and independent experimentation. This. Was. Brilliant.
PLAY TO LEARN. LEARN TO PLAY. LEARNING IS JOY. Thanks for celebrating with us, Pandas!
Stay tuned for more wonderful ways our classes celebrated this week!
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
BOLD GOAL: affordable, quality care for ALL VA families by 2030
Advocacy is becoming our middle name here at Common Ground and we need you to add your voice too! Quality care and early childhood education, like the kind that you receive for your children, shouldn’t be a privilege for only those who can afford it (or even just barely afford it!), it should be a right, granted to all children. Quality early childhood programs support a strong economy in
It’s EASY, just click the link below!
What it is: The Virginia Promise Partnership is a coalition of leading organizations who believe all children deserve a strong start and a promising future, beginning with access to quality child care.With this vision in mind, they have established a bold goal—ensuring all Virginia families have access to affordable quality child care by 2030. The Virginia Promise Partnership seeks to achieve this goal by pushing for the long-term policies and resources needed to give all of our children access to the programs they need to realize their full potential.
What you can do: Sign the promise for the Bold Goal at https://www.vapromisepartnership.com/ as an individual or as an organization!
After signing on as a Promise Maker, they will:
• Keep you informed of Virginia Promise Partnership efforts
• Extend invitations to Virginia Promise Partnership events
• Feature your company / organization logo
on the Virginia Promise Partnership website
and material
• Promote your company / organization through social
media as a leader in standing up for Virginia’s children
and families
Here is a link for a one pager with more information: MORE INFO
Temporary Expanded Child Care Assistance Eligibility
The Child Care Assistance and Referral Program may be able to help with child care expenses.
Applications received through July 31, 2021 are eligible for the following expanded eligibility criteria:
Families with at least one child under the age of five (kindergarten eligible age) with an income that is at or below the 85% of the State Median.
Maximum Yearly Income up to:
Families currently looking for work may also qualify during this expanded period.
Families must live in Fairfax County, City of Fairfax or City of Falls Church.
Additional eligibility requirements may apply.
Click on the images or this link to access the PDF.
Picture Day is Monday, April 19th!
Parent, Jessica Parry of Sempreverde Studios, will be donating her time and talents again for our spring portraits!
You will be able access your prints on my website in your password protected family gallery, where 100% over the cost of the prints will be donated back to Common Ground!
So dress your kids up for some super cute school pictures, or let them shine in their natural state - either way, the photos will be BEAUTIFUL!
An Opportunity for Parents to Get Involved
We received the following request, passed along through NVAEYC, as an opportunity for parents of young children to get involved. If you would like to participate, please use the form under the request:
I’m reaching out to see if you can help VECF build a parent advisory group that will advise the Virginia Promise Partnership and its bold goal of ensuring access to quality, affordable child care for all families in Virginia by 2030.
We are committed to ensuring that parents of young children, birth through five, from diverse geographic, socioeconomic, racial, and linguistic backgrounds have the opportunity to inform this important work. And, while we have been grateful to have received nominations from some parts of the state, we want to be sure that parents in the communities you serve also have a voice.
The ask: To participate in an advisory group which would entail a commitment of an average one two-hour Zoom meeting a month (schedule to be determined) to help inform and shape policy decisions and development as we push for an equitable, accessible child care system for all Virginia parents. VECF would provide appropriate compensation for their time and contributions.
Can you think of a parent or two that you would recommend for this important task? If possible, it would be super helpful to have the following information about each recommended parent to make sure we are meeting our diversity goals: name, email address, region/community, race/ethnicity, home language, and number and age range of children/grandchildren. We’d love to have a list from which we can reach out to a selection of parents by April 16.
Feel free to send your suggestions my way! I have also copied Kathy Glazer on this email in case you have questions she could answer about this request. We’re hoping to get this group of parents together in the next couple weeks, so we would very much appreciate receiving your suggestions soon.
Thanks so much!
Alyson
________________________________________________
Alyson Williams, Ed.D.
Community Liaison for Mixed Delivery Grants
Virginia Early Childhood Foundation
1703 North Parham Road, Suite 110
Richmond, Virginia 23229
alyson@vecf.org
804.358.8323 ext. 103 (While our office is currenty virtual, this number will forward to my cell phone.)
VECF is redoubling our efforts to listen, learn, and act with intentionality to dispel racial injustice and economic disparity, internally and in all aspects of our work building equitable and durable early childhood systems. We ask that our partners and investors hold us accountable for these commitments.
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!
Paleontology and Potatoes
When it comes to Child-Led Learning, Full-Body Play, and Play-Based Curriculum, our Owls Teachers are really DINO-mite.
Today was the last day of Spring Break, and we wanted to do something extra-special for the Owls. They spent last week solving fairy riddles, sewing their own stuffed animals, and just enjoying each other’s company. Being a whole class of hybrid learners, we knew what they really needed was a technology detox. The one drawback to last week was that it was pretty cold each day! But today is pretty mild, and we wanted to get the kids outside as much as possible before school restarted…
There is no greater grand-finale to a no-tech week than a prehistoric dinosaur dig!
The idea came from last summer, where we had noticed some of the kids were digging, looking for “dino bones” in the mulch. We thought to make it an actual activity for our spring break, so it was time to get our hands dirty! The owls prepared for our dino dig outside in our garden patch with Miss Liz! After the fun dirt patch was all set up and the owls went in for snack, something strange happened… suddenly the dirt was filled with small dinosaur skeletons and a scattering of gorgeous jewels! The students were absolutely delighted. They gathered around the patch with spoons and plastic baggies, carefully sifting through the new dirt to find “long-forgotten” treasures. The children had a great time observing the various rocks and minerals they had found. What we were delighted to see was, rather than being a total free-for-all, they began helping EACH OTHER find dinosaur skeletons amongst the dirt. They all took turns scooping and combing through soil, feeling for a fossil, bones or rocks. When some students found more dinosaurs than others, they made an effort to re-hide the skeletons and guided their friends to find it for their keeping.
This activity was an absolute delight for everyone involved. Not only did they get to experience a “paleontology dig,” but they practiced working on their socializing, patience, fine motor skills and problem solving. These social-emotional tools are as essential as any reading/writing practice, and the events have spurred their imagination for future games and projects. At the end of the day, everyone went home happy and with great treasures, a truly wonderful way to end the spring break at Common Ground.
This was just the first digging project. We have a lot of planting to do in April, especially during Week of the Young Child.
The Owls class has shown their love of digging and playing in dirt, so we figured a little Spring Break Gardening would partner nicely with our Dinosaur dig. Every so often you end up with a sprouting potato or two in your kitchen. That is an excellent and easy way to start growing your own and teach about nature and sustainability. We started with 6 sprouting potatoes, provided by a family member who started scrap gardening during the pandemic, and a google search https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/potato-grow-bag-instructions/7099.html. The class got to see the sprouting potatoes whole in the classroom and learned that seeds are not the only way things can grow. We purchased soil and two potato planting bags. With good quality Dollar Store spades, the kids took turns and worked together to get the base layer of soil down. We planted our chunks and took turns again to cover them up. The bags are placed on the grassy patch by the main entrance which is perfect for us to be able to monitor when we go out for recess and then add more soil when the sprouts outgrow the top layer.
As you can see, the best memories do not have to take too much effort. This is an afternoon they won’t soon forget! We encourage you to go on outside and get your hands dirty! You won’t regret it.
Easter Candy: Ingredients and Allergens
Hello Everyone!
We have Easter Egg Hunts going in our Honeybees Class, our Rising Stars Class, and our Dancing Monkeys Class! Inside these colorful plastic eggs we will be having Jolly Rancher Jellybeans and classic Marshmallow Peeps.
We will send these home to be doled out at parents’ discretion. If you want to see the nutritional facts, we have them here!
Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans Nutrition Facts
Marshmallow Peeps Nutrition Facts
Here are some other classic Easter Basket Candies!
3 Musketeers Nutrition Facts
Twix Bar Nutrition Facts
Russel Stover Chocolate Bunny Nutrition Facts
What are you favorite Easter Candies!? Put them in the comments and we will add them to our list!
Love Love Love,
Your Common Ground Family
CG Recommendations: Top Ten Strollers for Spring Walks
Hi! Spring is in the air and we are SO EXCITED to see so many of our parents walking up with their strollers to pick up their kids.
Reston is one of the most walkable cities in America. The local Reston nature trails are phenomenal and we are right on the W&OD Trail.
Do you want to walk to the Reston Farmer’s Market at Lake Anne? EASY! Did you want to take the W&OD trail to downtown Herndon? Vienna? No problem.
You could walk the Lake Thoreau Loop in South Reston, admire the incredible scenery, and stop to play at three playgrounds minimum with very little detour.
There are so many amazing spring ways to make memories right in your back yard! No travel or indoor activity Covid-19 risk required. While we urge caution and social distancing, we are also right on Metro’s Silver Line. If you wanted to take your family to walk among Washington DC’s gorgeous Cherry Blossoms (peaking until April 10th, 2021), you could get there without having to take a car at all!
The key here, of course, is having the right stroller for your young family.
Here at Common Ground, we have seen (and tried!) them all. Umbrella strollers. Jogging strollers. Double umbrella and jogging strollers. Convertible strollers that match up with carseats. Strollers with three wheels, four wheels, eight wheels. We are here to give you our TOP TEN recommendations so that you don’t have to find out mid-memory making that a particular stroller is just not working out…
Single Stroller: Baby Jogger City Mini GT2 Stroller, Jet
Carseat Travel Stroller: Graco Modes Pramette Travel System
Best Convertible Carseat Stroller: Doona Infant Car Seat & Latch Base – Car Seat to Stroller
Lightweight, One-Hand Foldable Stroller: Babyzen YOYO2 6+ Stroller
Excellent Jogging Stroller: BOB Gear Revolution Flex 3.0 Jogging Stroller
BEST NEWBORN TO 50lbs UMBRELLA STROLLER: Summer 3Dlite Convenience Stroller
Amazing, Unstoppable Double Jogging Stroller: BOB Gear Revolution Flex 3.0 Duallie Double Jogging Stroller
Best Economy Jogging Stroller: Baby Trend Expedition Double Jogger, Centennial
Best Lightweight Double Stroller: Kolcraft Cloud Plus Lightweight Double Stroller
Classic Ultralight Inexpensive Stroller: Cosco Umbrella Stroller with Canopy
Do you have a stroller you absolutely love and want to recommend? Leave your suggestion in the comments!
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
Friends of CG Fridays: Kona Ice of North Fairfax!
Kona Ice of North Fairfax Facebook Page
Order “Kurbside” from Steve and Natalia of North Fairfax
Booking Requests for Kona Ice in Fairfax County
We do not have enough nice things to say about our Local Kona Ice Truck heroes, Steve and Natalia Hammond. Whenever we need them to make an event more magical (or just a hot day cooler) they show up ready to help us celebrate. Natalia even drives the truck herself over to see us in our parking lot to make sure we get the best care!
What is Kona Ice?
Kona Ice is a MOBILE DESSERT FOOD TRUCK that serves shaved ice in a variety of technicolor flavors! You can find them at events, you can invite them to YOUR event, and you can order curbside deliciousness from your local truck! We cannot get enough of it over here.
We have a lot of children and teachers with varying allergies, and Kona Ice makes sure we can include EVERYONE! They are Gluten-Free, Fat-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free, Lactose-Free. No GMO’s, No HFC’s. You can even get sugar-free if you need to! It really makes everyone smile, which is our goal here at Common Ground, and why we treasure Steve and Natalia’s steadfast commitment to customer joy!
We are writing about them TODAY specifically because, on this first truly warm Friday of Spring here at Common Ground, they came to celebrate with us!! They helped us make sure every and teacher got a tasty treat and did not break the bank! If there is a better way to ring in Spring break, I haven’t seen it yet… We hope to have them over many times this summer to make our camp days extra special.
Natalia, you are an absolute gem, we loved having you today and so appreciate all you and Steve do for us!
Help us support them! Look into booking a Kona-Ice truck for any of your socially distant activities, and recommend them to anyone around who could use a treat with a smile-guarantee.
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
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
Earth Hour: A Moment to Pause and Reflect
Saturday, March 27th at 8:30 PM local time is Earth Hour.
What is Earth Hour?
Traditionally, global skylines have gone dark and millions of individuals have turned off their lights for Earth Hour as a symbolic gesture to their commitment to preserving our planet.
EarthHour.Org encourages people to participate in the hopes to keep nature loss and climate change top of mind. It is that mindfulness and reflection that will encourage people of every generation to stop and reflect on the lovely fragility of this earth that holds the entirety of our past, our present, and our future.
The World Wildlife Post is hosting a meditative hour for peace and mindfulness Here. You can sign up for text reminders Here.
Reflection may be an important step, but it’s just the FIRST step. There are so many things you can do, even as an individual, to change the world for the better.
Educate Yourself
Earth Hour has links on Nature Loss and Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Potential Solutions Here
World Wildlife Fund has several excellent links on what’s at stake, what needs to change, and how we can help Here
Nasa talks about the proof of Climate Change Here
COTAP.org talks about several ways to reduce your Carbon Footprint Here
The Rainforest Alliance offers tips on how to teach your kids about Climate Change Here
One Planet One Future has a video lesson series coming out that you can watch Here
SCRAWL BOOKS has a whole section on Science and Nature for Kids Here
Sign Petitions and Donate
Earth Hour has its pledge for educating others and finding greener ways to live Here
World Wildlife Fund has a ton of excellent petitions to go through Here and several ways to donate Here
GLOBAL DEAL FOR NATURE PETITION HERE
TWENTY GLOBAL NON-PROFITS PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT YOU CAN DONATE TO HERE
#GiveFundsGiveTime is a motto we came up with during our Giving Tuesday event last year, but we find that the concept behind it is one we want to keep top of mind ALL year long. If you don’t have the funds to donate, spend time educating yourself and others! Every time you pass on knowledge to someone, they pass it on to someone else. These good deeds ripple out. You may be one person, but one person spreading their love can change the world.
With Love,
Ms. LJ and your Common Ground Family
Friends of CG Fridays!: True Mover
HURRAY! IT’S TIME FOR OUR “FEATURED FRIENDS OF CG” FRIDAY!
This week we are bragging on someone who LITERALLY and FIGURATIVELY moved us with their professionalism, kindness, and flawless work ethic.
True Mover in Sterling — Chris and Robert will take care of you.
TrueMover is a small family of local movers born out of a passion for hard work. Their team was entirely raised in Northern Virginia, and everyone there has known one another since the days of High School sports. When asked if they enjoy the work, they said:
“It is a great blessing to be physically active every day with people that we love!”
True Mover serves all of Northern Virginia, but can and do move nationwide regularly. They offer full service moving and storage, and their warehouse is right down the street from us in Sterling, Virginia!
Our Story with True Mover
The year 2020 was stressful the world over. But here at Common Ground, the stress started a little earlier that year, and for reasons completely unrelated to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After a year-long experiment we realized we had to recombine the Common Ground Wiehle-Metro location and the Common Ground Wainwright location. Our Honeybee and Turtle Kindergarten classrooms suddenly had to be at home AND comfortable in the Great Hall, a space that had to be completely cleared and refilled every single week so that weekend groups could use the space.
We were tight on space, funds, time, and energy.
Enter our friends at True Mover.
They loaned us durable plastic storage boxes for all of our Wiehle-Metro classroom supplies.
Once everything was packed up and appropriately labeled they made quick work of emptying that center.
They took all of the essential classroom boxes to the Wainwright location and took all of the “storage boxes” into a very reasonably priced storage unit in Sterling.
They allowed us a week with the storage boxes to unpack all of our classroom items carefully in the Wainwright location.
The most incredible part was: they helped us every Friday night to empty out the Great Hall Room and reload it with all of the furniture in the right places on Sunday night. Every week. One company of movers basically solved 90% of our problems.
January and February of 2020 were really hard months. There was a lot to figure out, a lot of questions to answer, a lot of valid concerns on how we were going to make this work. Our teachers were steadfast and patient, our parents were open-minded and helpful, our children were resilient and optimistic.
Without the help of True Mover crew, it would have been impossible. We are eternally grateful and we will shout our recommendations of their work ethic and character from the rooftops.
Moving is one of the most stressful things you can do in your entire life. Hire a crew that you trust to really have your best interests at heart. Also, you know, moving with a U-Haul is really annoying.
www.thetruemover.com // chris@thetruemover.com - 703-577-6422 // robert@thetruemover.com - 571-777-0800
Movin' on Up!
We are happy to announce that Common Ground has officially been awarded the Virginia Quality Level 2 rating!
The Virginia Quality rating of Level 2 is all about staff education. We were able to earn this rating because our staff did the work to begin new educational opportunities, meet the requirements to renew expired certifications, and with my official appointment of director, we became eligible for level 2 again.
The last time Common Ground qualified for Level 2 was in 2017.
We won’t be stopping here though! Virginia Quality is being phased out by 2024, but it does give us until the summer of 2022 to obtain Level 3, which is all about curriculum, or maybe even Level 4. This will ensure that we begin under the new system at a higher rating level as well!
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