Newsletter: November 2024, #2
Hello Common Ground Community,
We have a lot to be Thankful for this season, mainly YOU, our wonderful families and community members! We have a lot of exciting news to share, hence the second newsletter this month! But first, we would like to take a moment to share our appreciation and gratitude in how you have all stepped up to help with both our fundraiser for Miss Mimi and our Thanksgiving Boxes for Cornerstones. Both were wonderful successes!
Teacher Bonus Fund
We are happy to announce that we used reserve funds to go ahead and pay our teachers their bonuses prior to Black Friday shopping. We are still accepting pledges for the bonus fund to pay back those reserves. As a reminder, teachers and staff are not allowed to accept any gifts from families that are not hand made/home baked. The best way to show your appreciation is through a donation to the bonus fund. Please make your pledges here: https://commongroundchildcare.org/teacher-bonus-fund
As a reminder, donations do not need to be made immediately, you are able to spread them out between 2024 and 2025.
Thanksgiving Week - Closed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Thank you for letting us know your attendance plans for next week! This is incredibly helpful, as it allows us to not waste either food or funds during times where we may have lower than normal enrollment. To help us plan for December, please utilize the absence form to let us know if you are taking any time off in the coming month.
https://commongroundchildcare.org/absence
If you are remaining in town, we suggest heading over to the Town Center Holiday Parade! It was ranked as one USA Today’s top ten holiday parades in the country in 2022 and we are currently raked number 6 this year! You can vote here: https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-holiday-parade-2024/leaderboard/
New Years Eve-Eve Party
We had a great 2024 here at Common Ground and are excited for an incredible 2025! We will be hosting our second annual New Years Eve (eve) party here at Common Ground on Monday, December 30th from 5 to 6pm with a 5:45pm “Ball Drop”!
If you didn’t attend last year, imagine Times Square at New Years Eve, but on a mini scale, here at Common Ground! We will have music, dancing, and professional lights (courtesy of Liz’s husband and his professional lighting gear!). If you did attend last year, use your imagination to remember it like a mini Times Square!
To attend, you just pick up your child(ren) and head on over to the grass patch to join the party! We will have New Years hats, noisemakers, and an apple juice toast when we do our countdown ball drop!
Common Ground will close at 4pm on New Years Eve proper, so please plan accordingly.
Mimi Fundraiser Update
Mimi’s situation highlighted the fact that Common Ground needed a way to help employees when emergencies arise. Our community mobilized and though the gofundme and the yard sale, we raised a little over $7000 to help support Miss Mimi in her time of need. We have distributed $7000 to Miss Mimi.
With the remainder (about $300), we are excited to announce the creation of an Employee Assistance Fund at Common Ground Childcare, designed to provide financial support to our team members during times of unforeseen emergencies or personal tragedies. This fund reflects our commitment to fostering a supportive and compassionate workplace, ensuring that our staff have a safety net when faced with unexpected hardships, such as medical emergencies, natural disasters, or other significant challenges. We recognize the vital role each of you plays in our community, and this initiative is one way we can come together to take care of one another in difficult times.
This fund will be accessed through application and the vote of an independent committee made up of parents, teachers, and board members, that will be created with each application we recieve.
Lead Testing - Waiting List
We want to inform our families about our commitment to ensuring safe, clean drinking water for all children at Common Ground Childcare. As required under Virginia Code 22.1-289.057, licensed child care centers must conduct water quality testing to identify any potential lead contamination. We are currently on the waiting list for the grant that covers this testing, and we will keep you updated on the timeline once we receive more information regarding when our water test will be conducted and when we can expect results.
We want to reassure you that, given our building was constructed after the 1986 lead ban, it is unlikely that we have any lead contamination in our water. However, we are committed to meeting this requirement to maintain transparency and the highest standards of health and safety for your children. Thank you for your continued support and trust!
Tuition Increase
Please check your brightwheel documents to see the increase in tuition for current families that goes into effect on February 1. If you child moves classrooms between December 1 and February 1, you will be charged the new tuition rate for that room.
We have published our external tuition rates on the website here.
Thank you so much for being a part of our community!
Love,
The Common Ground Team
Upcoming Events:
Newsletter: November 2024
Hello Common Ground Community!
We have had two amazing events over the last two weeks and we are so grateful for all of the help and support to make them amazing!
First, our Trunk-or-Treat was incredible! Extending the Halloween fun for a day was a ton of fun. Thank you to all of our volunteers that came with trunks to hand out candy. Hopefully the event helped you get rid of more of your Halloween candy than collect more!
Our YARD SALE this weekend was also an incredible success! We have raised $2035 plus the donations from our gofundme to assist with Miss Mimi’s medical bills! We will continue to update https://commongroundchildcare.com/mimi with information about how she is doing and other fundraisers in the future! At this time, we are still working on selling some of the donations on Facebook Marketplace and donating the clothing on to the Forest Edge clothing drive. The Yard Sale was such a success that we will have a spring yard sale as a fundraiser for the school!
Teacher Bonus Drive
It’s time again for our semi annual teacher bonus drive! Please see our request and make your pledge here: https://commongroundchildcare.org/teacher-bonus-fund
Staff Updates
Miss Kiara’s last day with us was Thursday, November 7th. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.
We would also like to officially welcome Miss Dezi and Miss Hadania as Teachers Aides in our program! They have been a welcome addition to our school. Miss Dezi is working in our infants and toddlers program and Miss Hadania is working with Team Lantern!
Fundraising
Our restaurant fundraisers are not just a wonderful opportunity for families to get together, but they have become an important part of our fundraising initiative. Each one has brought in around $250! We have the following events coming up:
We are working to increase our non-tuition revenue moving forward. This includes from donors, grants, and additional funding sources.
We have a specific need for an additional $20,000 in January and June, as we feel that it is important that our teachers not take a pay cut this year. For the past 3 years, our teachers have received the VQB5 grant from the state in the amount of $3,000 (paid as $1500 in January and $1500 in June). This year the state has halved the amount of the VQB5 grant to $1500 total, two payments of $750.
If you’d like to assist in our fundraising efforts, please reach out! We know that there are large donors out there, we just need to find them!
Last Call for Saturday Hours!
Make sure you sign up for this weekend’s Saturday Hours by tonight! You can view all of our Saturday Hours events here: https://commongroundchildcare.org/saturday-hours
Thanksgiving Boxes
We still need some items for Thanksgiving Boxes! So far we have 5 boxes pledged of the 15 we usually donate - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4FACA723ABFF2-52723163-thanksgiving#/
Upcoming Closed Days
Our closed days can be found on our website. We are closed the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. That is one day that can sometimes catch families off guard!
Thank you for being a part of our community!
love,
The CG Team
Newsletter: October 2024
Dear Common Ground Community,
Happy Fall and Happy Friday! We have a lot of exciting information to share in this newsletter.
Miss Mimi
We have created a place on our website where we will keep you updated on how Mimi is doing: https://commongroundchildcare.org/mimi
We have scheduled a Community Yard Sale fundraiser for November 9th to help raise funds to help with her medical and related expenses. Please see that information here: https://commongroundchildcare.org/mimi/2024/10/23/yard-sale-fundraiser-1192024
We are asking for donations of items to sell AND your time to help run the event.
Fall Week - October 28 to November 1
We are excited to have a center wide activity week next week! It’s FALL WEEK! Our classes will be rotating through different, fun, fall themed events with Trunk-Or-Treat being our grande finale on Friday afternoon!
Monday: Apple tasting - we will be trying a variety of different apples!
Tuesday: Fall ‘sink or float’ - where we test a lot of fall items to see if they sink or float!
Wednesday: Pumpkin exploration - we will be opening our pumpkins, emptying them, and getting ready to carve them!
Thursday: Pumkin carving and Halloween! Your children are welcome to wear or bring costumes!
Friday: School Agers will lead art projects for the younger kids and Trunk-or-Treat! (we still have spaces for trunks!) Your children are welcome to wear or bring costumes!
Illnesses - Pneumonia is on the rise
We have had two children (in unrelated programs) that are out with pneumonia. We were told by several pediatric practitioners that pneumonia is on the rise.
As a reminder, all of our practices are designed to mitigate the spread of illnesses. These practices include, but are not limited to:
cleaning and disinfecting regularly
handwashing
open air practices and outside time
masking when appropriate
illness policies that are designed to keep the most children in care as possible
If your child becomes ill, it is important to keep them home until they meet the return criteria for their diagnosis AND for you to alert the office, via a brightwheel admin message, as soon as a diagnosis is made.
Thanksgiving Boxes
It’s time for our Annual Thanksgiving Box drive to support Cornerstones. Our classrooms will decorate the boxes and talk about the importance of giving as part of their Thanksgiving conversations. Please see our blog post for more information: https://commongroundchildcare.org/blog-1/thanksgiving-boxes
Or sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4FACA723ABFF2-52723163-thanksgiving
Vision Screening with the Lions Club
Grandparents of one of our students are members of the local Lion’s Club and they will be onsite for a non-contact, vision screening using a photo screener. More information about the screening can be found here: https://www.lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/resource-center/vision-screening
We will be sending out a waiver to those who do not have one on file from our previous screening, however, we will be screening all students over the age of 11 months, unless you inform us via brightwheel admin message that you would like to opt out.
Blacktop: Open at 5pm on Wednesdays
Our school aged program has exclusive use of the blacktop until 5:30pm. For the safety of our younger students, we cannot allow younger students who have been checked out by their parents to play on the blacktop until the school aged program has moved. We understand that the blacktop area is a desirable play space for the younger kids, but we have to make sure all of the children in our care are safe and have an appropriate place to play.
In order to compromise, we are able to open the blacktop at 5pm on Wednesdays for children who have been checked out to play!
As a reminder, please make sure that you clear everything that was used from the blacktop when you are finished.
Thank you so much for being a part of our community and for reading our newsletter!
love,
The CG team
Newsletter: September 2024
Hello Common Ground Community!
Our website is back up and fully functional! Thank you so much for bearing with us while we worked through the difficulties with that. We have a lot of information to share with you, as we have just kicked off our 2024-2025 school year! In this newsletter, we will cover:
Upcoming Events and Bluey Days
communication - how to get in touch
Brightwheel check-in/check-out proceedures
Extended Hours and Late Pick Up Fees
Our Curriculum
Fundraisers
Saturday Hours
Upcoming Featured Events
Communication: How to reach us!
Teachers:
The best way to get in touch with teachers for general, non urgent questions is through the ‘Staff & admins’ message chain in Brightwheel. They may not answer in real time, as they are focused on working with the kids, but they will answer when they have time.
Admin:
If you have something that is urgent, would like to set up a time to speak with teachers in person, need to drop off early or pick up l or have questions for the admin team, you have options:
- Brightwheel ‘Admins only’ message chain
- Email: commongroundadmin@commongroundchildcare.org
- Phone: 703-437-8226
Brightwheel Check-In/Check-Out
It’s important for our records that parents check their children in and out each day. If you do not have your device, you can memorize your 4 digit code and ask an admin to pull up the kiosk so that you can check out using just your code. If you plan to play with your kids on site, we still ask that you check your children out when they are no longer in the care of our teachers.
Check In:
Please check your child in to our school on your way to their classroom. This will ensure that they are checked in by you to our roster when you drop them off with their teacher
Check Out:
Please check your child out AFTER you have collected them from their classroom. This ensures that your child is on our roster until they are in your care.
We have added QR codes outside of the classrooms to help facilitate this process!
Extended Hours and Late Pick Up
Sign up:
Here is the link for extended hours. Please try to sign up in advance so that we can staff appropriately for both early drop off and late pick up. If you need a last minute early drop off or late pick up, please use the ‘Admin only’ message chain in Brightwheel.
Late fees:
Up until now, we have been very lenient with late fees, only charging them after the 3rd or 4th late pick up. However, beginning in October, we will begin charging late pick up fees per our policy.
If you are not signed up for late pick up and have not messaged prior to 4:30pm, you will be charged $3 per minute per child beginning at 5:31pm up to $15. Remember, this means that your children are in your possession and you have checked them out of Brightwheel.
If you are signed up for late pick up you will be charged $3 per minute per child beginning at 6:01pm with no limit.
We understand that sometimes a late pick up is unavoidable, please make sure to communicate with the center if you know that you will be late.
New Year, New Curriculum and Curriculum Updates
STREAMin3:
This year the center has moved from the Creative Curriculum to the STREAMin3! STREAMin3 was developed by the University of Virginia and in a partnership with the Virginia Department of Education, was made available to us a no cost. We piloted the STREAMin3 Curriculum in our Fireflies program last year and were so impressed by the approach that we decided to adopt in center wide because it aligns well with the Virginia Quality Program (VQB5) and the CLASS tool that is used for Observations done by the state.
Here’s more information about our new curriculum: https://streamin3.org
STMATH:
Our preschool programs, beginning with our 3 year olds (Bees and Bugs start in October!), will continue on their journey with JiJi the penguin in STMath. STMath was developed by the MIND institute as a Spacial-Temporal Approach to learning math concepts. The game has no words or instructions and encourages children to learn through trial and error. Our classes have the opportunity to do STMath for 10 minutes, at least 3 times a week. Once your child has completed their password journey, you can let them do JiJi at home by using this link: https://play.stmath.com/raft/id/2.2.26/#/picture-password However, it is recommended not to do more than 15 minutes at a time.
Social Emotional:
Mr. Josh is back with an additional Social Emotional lessons for our classes. He will send out a note each week outlining what they have been working on. His lessons are based on the Second Step SEL Curriculum. This supports the Social Emotional aspect of the STEAMin3 Curriculum.
Our center also practices Conscious Discipline. Last year we opened the 10 hour training to parents. We are happy to send the training to parents if you wish to take it! A great introduction to Conscious Discipline this episode from their podcast on Potty Mastery.
Fundraisers
Restaurant Nights: See our Calendar for details
Playground: we are still taking donations for our new playground that was installed in Ethan’s memory. As of September 27, 2024 we have raised $8388.36 of the over $52,000 it cost to put in our new playground. You can continue to make donations through our PayPal giving fund: https://paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1778362
School Portraits: Order your school photos and we will get a portion of your purchase!
Saturday Hours
Our next day for Saturday Hours is October 26th. You can sign up here: https://commongroundchildcare.org/calendar/2024/6/15/saturday-hours-2eay9-xk9t6
View all of our Saturday Hours here: https://commongroundchildcare.org/saturday-hours
Thank you so much for being a part of our community!
Newsletter: April 5
Happy Spring, Common Ground Parents and Caregivers!
We have a jam packed newsletter for you with a LOT of upcoming information for the next month! Make sure to read every section and don’t forget to check out our calendar for all the upcoming important events!
Eclipse Plan - Indoor activities
We will be keeping our children indoors during the eclipse, which will begin in the area around 2pm, during nap, and end around 4:30pm. We will be keeping Preschool and under indoors until 4:45pm on Monday.
Our teachers may do some indoor eclipse related activities, but to protect our little ones eyes, we will remain vague on the timing of the eclipse, so that we don’t have kids trying to “see” the eclipse and staring at the sun after it is over.
School aged children will be sent home with eclipse glasses today, since they will be picked up from elementary school during the eclipse. Please leave them in their backpacks for Monday.
Next Week is Week of the Young Child
Next week is also the Week of the Young Child! We are excited to celebrate our young learners with the following activities:
Music Monday - during school, Mr. Josh will be sharing music with all of our classrooms.
Tasty Tuesday - during school, the preschoolers will be making fruit and oat milk smoothies for all of our children who are old enough to participate!
Work Together Wednesday - during school, our school agers will work with the rest of the classes to beautify our school!
Artsy Thursday - during school, the infants and toddlers will set up some art projects for all the classes to complete
Family Friday - after school, at 5pm, families are invited to BYOD - Bring Your Own Dinner to Common Ground! We will provide some light snacks, water coolers, and lemonade from 5-6:30/7. Make sure to bring your own
Parent Cell Phone Usage/Calls and Parking Lot Safety
We have had some safety concerns arise during pick up when parents are completing calls and trying to pick up at the same time. In order to keep everyone safe, we will no longer be able to release children to parents who are actively on phone calls during pick up. If you have an urgent work call, that you must remain on, please message through brightwheel, and we will have a staff member help escort your children to your car. Thank you for your assistance in helping to keep our kids safe.
Drop Off Reminders
With spring, springing, we thought it would be a good time for some drop off reminders!
Car Line
Car line will be open on fair weather days, when we have enough staff for it. You will know if car line is open or closed based on the gates/presence of staff. If the gates are open and staff are outside, then car line is open, if the gates are closed, please walk your child to their classroom.
The handicapped spaces and concrete pad are only open for drop off parking when car line is closed.
Brightwheel Check in
Please check your child into brightwheel FIRST, on your way to dropping your child off in their classroom/pulling into car line. This helps our classroom counts to be correct for our licensing records, staff planning, and just helps us know who we have in each room!
Parking Lot ETIQUETTE
Please make sure that you are:
driving slowly and carefully in our parking lot
walk with your child(ren) in the parking lot and do not allow them to run ahead
please be very careful backing into spaces and backing up
the handicapped spaces and concrete pad are only available for drop off when car line is closed
No cell phone usage in our building
Please be present when dropping your children off. This helps us keep everyone safe while moving through the parking lot and into our classrooms.
Pick Up Reminders
Brightwheel check out
Please pick up your child FIRST before checking them out of brightwheel. This allows us to know who is still present in our classrooms. We had an instance when a child was checked out by a parent, and the parent received a work call and wasn’t able to pick up immediately and we miscounted the children in a classroom group, since we use brightwheel to track the children in our care.
No Cell Phone USage at Pick up
Just like during drop off, we ask that you are present when you pick your children up. They are excited to see you and the teachers may need to communicate something about their day with you.
If you need to finish a work call, please park on Wainwright Drive and complete your call. The children begin to watch the parking lot and know their cars. They can get upset when they are not picked up quickly after your arrival.
We will no longer be able to release children to parents who are actively on phone calls, due to safety concerns regarding the parking lot. We have had too many children run into the parking lot without their parents. If you must remain on a work call during pick up, please message us through brightwheel and we can arrange to have a staff member help escort your children to your car safely.
Parking lot Etiquette
When our classes are outdoors, there is no driving through the ‘car line’ area in front of the fence. That area will be blocked off with cones and turtles, so this is just a reminder.
Please make sure that you are:
driving slowly and carefully in our parking lot
walking with your child(ren) in the parking lot and do not allow them to run ahead
please be very careful backing into spaces and backing up
the handicapped spaces and concrete pad are only available for pick up on rainy days when we are inside
Saturday Hours
We have the following dates scheduled
No Saturday hours in July
Saturday, August 24th
Teacher Appreciation Week and Summer Teacher Bonus Drive
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6th through 10th! We have quite a bit planned to spoil our teachers and we are looking for parents to take the lead the morning of Wednesday, May 8th! Please sign up here and be on the lookout for another action item next week!
We are also beginning our drive for End of School Year Teacher Bonuses. Please make your pledge here.
As a reminder, our staff are not allowed to accept any money, giftcards, or store bought gifts from families. You may, however, give cards with heartfelt words, homemade projects, and baked goods directly to our staff members.
Playground Usage
We are so excited to see families stay and play on our playground after pick up! Here’s how to stay and play:
Before 5:30pm, you may join your child’s class in their section of the playground and let them continue playing with their classmates
OR you may bring your child to an open area of the playground that does not have another class on it
If you have children in different classroom groups, you must have both of your children in the same are that you are in
Once you have picked up, you are responsible for the supervision of your children.
After 5:30pm, you may play on any section of the playground
Please remember to put away any toys that your child gets out, especially if they are played with on the blacktop!
Thank you so much for being a part of our community!
Love,
Your Common Ground School Family!
Newsletter: January 9, 2024
Hello Common Ground Parents and Caregivers!
Happy New Year! Thank you for making 2023 an incredible year at Common Ground. We are excited to continue to care and grow in 2024. We also wanted to express our sincere appreciation for your participation in our staff bonus fund! We were able to meet our target for the first time since the winter of 2021! The next round will open in May, but we are always open for donations, year round though our PayPal Giving Fund or directly by e-mailing Liz!
Brightwheel CHECK IN/CHECK OUT
It important for us to have accurate ratios in our classrooms at all times, and to know which children are in our direct care, so we ask that you:
CHECK IN AND OUT:
check your child IN to brightwheel BEFORE dropping them into their class.
check your child OUT of brightwheel AFTER you have received your child from their teachers
Absences:
Unplanned: Please make sure to communicate through brightwheel when your child will be absent and use the absence report form
Planned: use the absence report form to communicate planned absences
Parking Lot Reminders
Please make sure that you drive slowly and carefully through our parking lot at all times.
Car Line/morning drop off:
car line is from 8am to 8:30pm
do not get your children out of the car without a staff member there to receive them. We are doing the best we can to move the car line quickly, but are also dealing with staff shortages, so some mornings may take a little longer than others.
please only drive through the car line if you plan to have staff members get your child(ren) out of the car. If you plan to park and walk your children in, please pull into the parking lot and park. There is only one lane of traffic through car line, to the left of the driveway.
if you walk your children into the building, we ask that you try to limit your time in the classroom to less than 8 minutes. This helps:
mitigate spread of illnesses
allows teachers to have the time to greet each child for the day
helps ease the child(ren)’s transition into school
If you would like time to speak with the teachers, we are happy to set up a time during naps
please check your child in ON THEIR WAY to their classroom
Pick Up:
please drive slowly and carefully through our parking lot
please pick up through the office, unless you see your child(ren)’s class or an admin outside
remember to check your child out AFTER you have received them into your care
Upcoming Events
We have quite a few upcoming events and are always adding more! Make sure to check out our CALENDAR for all of our center events!
Kindergarten Information
Fairfax County Public Schools will be sending information out about kindergarten registration shortly. We will update you with all the information we receive from them as well! For planning purposes, we can usually serve all of the Reston schools. Here’s some helpful information for Lake Anne and Forest Edge
Spanish Immersion at Lake Anne Elementary: https://www.fcps.edu/registration/dual-language-immersion-programs-registration
Place based on Child Care Hardship (Forest Edge Elementary): https://www.fcps.edu/registration/student-transfer-information#child-care-hardship-k-6
We will also be running a private kindergarten for the 2024-2025 school year. It is a great option for children who might benefit from a smaller class size for one more year. While most children who attend our kindergarten, enroll in kindergarten the following fall, children who are 6 by September 30, 2025 who complete our private kindergarten could be eligible for either kindergarten or first grade in the fall of 2025.
Check Out our BLOG
Our blog has lots of amazing information for families about child development and updates about upcoming events!
Staff Updates
We are excited to announce that Miss Kiara has officially moved from our Infants team to our Preschool team after filling in during staff absences. She will primarily working with Miss Yolanda and the Love Bugs.
We have also hired a new teacher, Miss Bethany, to join the Little Penguins classroom. We are excited about these changes and think they will have a positive impact on our school.
Since our last newsletter, Miss Wendy also joined our staff in the Rising Stars Classroom and we’ve had quite a few of our summer college kids stop by to work over their winter breaks!
In the coming weeks we will have some more high school students joining us in the afternoons as well. But not to worry, they are always paired with a full time teacher!
Summer Camp information is coming soon!
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Please reach out with any questions, comments, or suggestions via email or brightwheel admin message.
Love,
the CG Team
Newsletter: November 7th
Dear Common Ground Community,
We have a jam packed Newsletter to share with you! Make sure to subscribe to get the Newsletter delivered to your email inbox, as well as our share through Brightwheel!
Halloween Success
A BIG thank you to all of our staff and volunteers that made our Trunk-or-Treat a magical one for our kiddos! We were rewarded with wonderful weather and it was a treat to see all the kids dressed up in their costumes! Mark your calendars for next year’s Trunk-or-Treat on Friday, October 25, 2024.
Teacher Bonus Drive
It’s time for our Winter Teacher Bonus Drive.
Twice a year we ask for donations from you to give our staff a bonus as a show of your appreciation for their hard work. Common Ground matches, 100% of the funds donated by parents, plus the cost of the taxes for these bonuses, so that you know every dollar donated goes to our teachers. We budget based on an average donation per family of between $300 and $500, twice per year. If we ever receive an excess to the budgeted amount, those funds will continue to be allocated to staff appreciation year round.
During our spring fundraising round, parent donations fell short by 50% of the budgeted amount, but we were able to cover the difference with excess CARES grant funds. This year, however, the amount of the bonuses awarded will be directly correlated with the donations received from families.
Donations made to this fund are tax deductible and may qualify for donation matching from your company.
Please see this page for how to make your pledge: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/teacher-bonus-fund
As a reminder, teachers are not allowed to accept gifts directly from families, other than homemade or home baked items.
Meet JiJi the Penguin!
We are excited to announce that we have begun rolling out STMath with our preschoolers!
You can learn more about STMath here: https://www.stmath.com/how?hsCtaTracking=17ac1579-3838-4668-90cb-9ce4576ac329%7C5c60d7ba-408d-4e43-b1c7-821a20ef9932
Preschoolers will be doing 30-50 minutes per week of JiJi here at the center. 30-50 minutes per week is plenty for this age group.
However, once kids know their passwords, you can have your kids sign in here using their picture password: https://play.stmath.com/raft/id/2.1.3/#/student-sign-in-options Please limit game play at home to 15 minute sessions at a time.
Thanksgiving Boxes
One more week left in our Thanksgiving Box Drive!
Each year Common Ground pledges to donate Thanksgiving food boxes to support Cornerstones. Please see our blog post about this event, and make sure you sign up!
https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blog-1/2022/10/25/thanksgiving-boxes-n6m7d
Sign Up Here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4FACA723ABFF2-45180570-thanksgiving#/
Our kids have such a great time decorating and packing the boxes, and learning about giving back! Thank you for supporting our community at large!
Save the Date for the Hot Chocolate Playdate
Saturday, December 2nd, join us for a playdate on the playground with hot chocolate from 10-11:30am. Come mingle with other parents and let your kids play!
Sign up to help us plan for the hot chocolate: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4FACA723ABFF2-45725986-hotchocolate
Vacationing? Let us know!
As we get closer to the holidays, we like to be able to accommodate as many staff requests for time off as we can. Please let us know if you plan to be out by filling out our attendance form.
Thank you so much for reading our Newsletter and being a part of our community!
love,
The CG Team
P.S. make sure to check out all of our upcoming events below!
Newsletter: October 17th
Dear Common Ground Community,
We have even more exciting updates for you this week!
REMINDER: Wear ORANGE tomorrow for Unity day!
We have just a few shirts shirts left for purchase today! We look forward being a “sea of orange” tomorrow!
The Weather is Changing - Layer your Kiddos!
We recommend that kids dress in layers so that they are warm at the beginning and end of the day, but don’t overheat during during late morning outdoor time! It’s a good time to check and make sure that your kid has two, weather appropriate back up outfits in their backpacks as well.
We are also accepting donations for extra clothes, coats, hats, gloves that we can lend out. Please bring donations to the office!
Brightwheel Fee Change
Brightwheel sent notice of a fee change beginning November 1. You can read that information here: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/policies/2023/10/16/brightwheel-fee-changes-and-ach-information-effective-november-1-2023
If you would like to avoid the fees charged by brightwheel, please return this form to enroll in our ACH that runs on the first of each month.
Call for Halloween Volunteers
It’s not too late to volunteer for a trunk for “trunk or treating” on 10/27 or to create/run a carnival game on the blacktop for our Halloween Carnival!
Make sure to sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4FACA723ABFF2-44615579-halloween#/
Timeline:
4pm - Blacktop opens for set up
4:30pm - Carnival opens on blacktop for both children in care and those that have been picked up
4:45pm - 5pm - Preschool trick-or-treating in the village, hosted by the school agers!
5:30pm - Center closes for care (no extended hours) and Parking lot closes for Trunk-or-Treating
5:30pm-6pm - Parking lot is closed for Trunk-Or-Treating, we will block the entrance so that it is safe to walk around
6pm until we finish - Carnival continues on the center grounds!
It’s time for Thanksgiving Boxes!
Each year Common Ground pledges to donate Thanksgiving food boxes to support Cornerstones. Please see our blog post about this event, and make sure you sign up!
https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blog-1/2022/10/25/thanksgiving-boxes-n6m7d
Sign Up Here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4FACA723ABFF2-45180570-thanksgiving#/
Our kids have such a great time decorating and packing the boxes, and learning about giving back! Thank you for supporting our community at large!
Absence Report Form
We ask that you use our absence report form anytime your child will be out for any reason.
When your child is sick:
Using this form helps us track symptoms and illnesses within each classroom group. With this information, we are better able to make decisions about mixing certain classrooms together, even before there is a diagnosis of a communicable illness!
For vacations and pre-arranged absences
This helps us plan center events! We like to have everyone here for things like class parties and field trips, so knowing when your child will be out is incredibly helpful for our teachers. It also helps with teacher time off planning. Unlike public schools, our teachers work year round, without set breaks for winter/spring/summer vacations. Knowing when our families will be on vacation helps us to know how many staff we can grant time off to during the holidays! Do you already have travel plans? It’s never too early to let us know!
TACO THURSDAY
It’s a JAM PACKED week as we have our On The Border fundraiser on Thursday evening! We can’t wait to see you there for some tacos and FUN!
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter! We’re so excited for everything we have coming up here at Common Ground!
love,
The CG Team
Newsletter: October 5
Happy October, Common Ground Families!
We are into the swing of our school year with lots of fun and exciting events coming up and some updates for you! We had our first community board meeting since the before the pandemic and were able to vote to make the first of many recommended changes to our bylaws. These changes don’t affect the day to day operations of the center, just the overall management structure. You can see the update here.
We also have the following financial updates and reminders:
we are CLOSED on Monday for a teacher work day
the 2023-2024 tuition update was approved
the $150 yearly registration fee will be charged to families due November 1
Halloween Carnival on Friday, October 27th
We are so excited for our Halloween Carnival on Friday October 27th! Here’s the schedule of events:
Timeline:
4pm - Blacktop opens for Carnival set up
4:30pm - Carnival opens on blacktop for both children in care and those that have been picked up
4:30pm - Village closes for School Agers to set up preschool trick-or-treating!
4:45pm - 5pm - Preschool trick-or-treating in the village, hosted by the school agers!
5:30pm - Center closes for care (no extended hours) and Parking lot closes to vehicles for Trunk-or-Treating
5:30pm-6pm - Parking lot is closed for Trunk-Or-Treating, we will block the entrance so that it is safe to walk around
6pm until we finish - Carnival continues on the center grounds!
Please sign up for either a carnival activity or a trunk (or both!): https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4FACA723ABFF2-44615579-halloween#/
It’s Illness Season
We have already seen some cases of Hand Foot and Mouth in some of our classrooms, but we know with weather changes comes more illnesses. We urge you to keep your children home if you believe that they are coming down with something, as our goal is to keep as many well kids in care as possible and to keep our classrooms open.
While it is not currently the prevailing illness that we have seen, there does seem to be an increase of COVID cases in the area. We ask that you perform an at home COVID test if your child develops any new symptoms that could be attributed to COVID and report the results to the center immediately. We have plenty of COVID tests to provide and you can also order more free tests here: https://www.covid.gov/tests
Please note that expiration dates on COVID tests have been extended past the date on the packages. Information about that can be found here: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests#list
As a reminder, children are excluded from care with the following symptoms and return criteria:
a fever of 100.4, return criteria: fever free 24 hours, clock starts 6 hours after last dose of fever reducer medication if used
recurrent vomiting (2 or more instances), return criteria: 24 hours vomit free
recurrent diarrhea (2 or more instances of un-contained loose stool/fecal accident of loose stool), return criteria: 24 hours diarrhea free (exception: loose stool caused by medication or diet changes)
new COVID symptoms that wouldn’t otherwise exclude from care, return criteria: negative COVID test
rashes, return criteria: physician evaluation and guidance
red or pink eye, with or without discharge, return criteria: 24 hours after beginning antibiotics
strep throat, return criteria: 12 hours after treatment, provided they meet the other criteria
This list is not exhaustive, but is a guide. When in doubt, we always recommend consulting with a child’s physician to provide a return to care plan when there is a question about an illness.
If you child is diagnosed with something, please make sure to send an admin message so that we can post any required notifications to help mitigate any spread of diseases. We keep the names of children diagnosed confidential in our notifications.
We also recommend that every eligible Common Ground Community member have a conversation with your physician about getting any immunizations that can help keep our community safe!
Mr. Josh is BACK!
We’re excited to welcome Mr. Josh back to Common Ground! He began implementing the Second Step social emotional curriculum this week and we look forward to adding some musical programming in the coming weeks!
Observations
As part of the Virginia Quality Program and the state’s participation in the preschool development block grant, our teachers have been or will be observed this month by representatives from the state. They use the CLASS tool, developed by the University of Virginia, to measure the quality of teacher/child interactions. A high frequency of quality interactions in early childhood has been shown to be the best predictor for later academic success. Our teachers have been scoring incredibly well and have been very appreciative of the coaching they have received through these observations!
It’s amazing that the observers are seeing the same high quality program that we see on a daily basis!
Upcoming Events
Make sure you check our our calendar for upcoming events and sign up to participate with us! Our unity day shirts will be here next week and we should have a few extra if you haven’t ordered yours yet!
Thank you for being a part of our amazing community!
Love,
The Common Ground Team
Newsletter: September 14
Hello Common Ground Community,
We are in the swing of the school year with exciting additions and changes to our program offering!
We are excited to welcome back both Miss LJ and Miss Vanessa to our staff! Miss LJ is leading our new Fireflies, mixed age preschool classroom, while Miss Vanessa has joined the Rising Stars classroom team. With the opening of a new preschool classroom and the start of the school year, we are adjusting staffing within teams to make sure that we are meeting the needs of the children within our programs.
On September 21st, we invite you to come to our back to school open house from 5pm to 6:15pm to meet the teachers and see your child’s classroom.
Today is also the LAST DAY to order school photos and have them count for our fundraiser! You can order at preschoolsmiles.com using our school code and your child’s unique code. If you need that, please send an ‘ADMIN’ message in Brightwheel.
Upcoming Events:
Please mark your calendars for the following:
Back to School Open House: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/calendar/2023/9/21/back-to-school-open-house
School Aged Sleep Over: (this event is for children attending FCPS public school and have attended our summer camp or school aged programs only) https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4FACA723ABFF2-school
Board Meeting with the Community: Saturday, September 23 9:30 to 10:30, childcare available with sign up
September Saturday 23rd - Saturday Hours (must sign up before Monday at midnight)
Fundraising night at MOD Pizza, September 26th
October 9th, CLOSED for a teacher work day on the federal holiday
Light the Night at Reston Town Center, October 13th
As a reminder, all of these events (AND MORE!) are on our Calendar!
Order your ‘Unity Day’ T-shirt to show your Common Ground Spirit
Unity Day is October 18th and is a day where we all wear orange to support kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. You have the opporunity to order t-shirts for your entire family from toddler sizes, youth sizes, and adult sizes to wear orange to stand up against bullying!
Order your shirts here: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blog-1/2023/9/12/unity-day-t-shirt-order
Pick Up and Parking Lot Reminders
We LOVE that families are conversing and hanging out at pick up! It’s part of what our community so special. If your child would like to stay and play on the playground, we still need you to check your child out and then remain with them in the playground area they are playing in. Due to safety reasons, there will only be certain areas open.
We also ask that you be prepared to pick up your child when you pull into our parking lot. If you have work to do, we ask that you pull off to the side of Wainwright Drive and finish up before pulling into our lot. Since we are outside, a lot of children recognize their parents’ cars and get up set when the see the car, but don’t see their parents get out to pick them up.
We also remind you to:
drive SLOWLY after turning into our parking lot from Wainwright Drive
remain aware when pulling in and backing up
exit their car ready to pick up after pulling in.
refrain from driving through the ‘driveway’ area in front of the playground fence. (this is the morning car line area)
We have been lucky to only have had a minor fender bender in our parking lot, but with small children around, we need to make sure that everyone is extra careful!
Thank you!
We will be sending out periodic newsletters to keep you up to date on everything happening at Common Ground. We welcome and appreciate your involvement in our community!
love,
The CG Team
Calendar Events:
Newsletter: May 1
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
It’s TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK! Thank you to all of our parent volunteers that have helped to plan little surprises for our teachers this week. You can show your appreciation by making a donation to our spring Teacher Bonus Fund drive. This drive happens twice per year - in the Fall for a winter holiday bonus, and in the spring for the end of the school year bonus. Please remember that our teachers are not permitted to accept any other gifts from parents, so this is the BEST way to show your appreciation!
Hat Fundraiser!
Show your love for Common Ground and support us by with this super cute hat! Preorder this super cute hat for $35 and show your love for Common Ground! Hat’s not your thing? Sponsor a teacher with a donation!
This hat is a BOCO Gear Technical Trucker, combining style with performance!
Hats will be available for pick up in July! Just in time for summer FUN!
It’s time to sign up for some MAY events and remind you of others:
Picture Day is tomorrow, May 2nd
Saturday Hours will be on Saturday, May 20th: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-maysaturday
On The Border will be on Thursday, May 25th: https://www.groupraise.com/events/251713
Teacher Workday - Common Ground CLOSED, Friday, May 26th
Memorial Day - Common Ground CLOSED, Monday, May 29th
A couple of reminders…
1) Please drive slowly and carefully in our parking lot at all times, but especially during drop off and pick up. We still are noticing cars pulling in WAY TOO FAST and not being careful enough while backing. We also ask that you:
do not pull into the driveway/fire lane in front of the fence during pick up
park in actual parking spaces during pick up, do not park on the concrete pad or in the fire lane
finish your business prior to picking up your child, so that you can be present for them.
2) Please remember to use the absence report form if your child is out for any reason. We are required to track all illnesses, not just covid. Please let us know if you need any more covid tests, we have plenty to give out. And thank you for keeping your kids home when they are sick!
3) Make sure you are signing up for extended hours when you need them. We plan our staffing based on sign ups. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-fall#/
Thank you for being wonderful members of our community!
-the CG team!
Newsletter: April 17th
Dear Common Ground Community,
Spring is springing and we have a LOT to share. We have been trying out a more spaced out approach to our newsletter so that you all don’t feel like you’re reading the same information week to week, but that you still feel informed through our brightwheel messaging. As a reminder, our calendar is always up to date with events.
This week we have the following information to share:
Masks are optional for all students, staff, and parents
On the Border night is THIS THURSDAY
Saturday Hours are THIS SATURDAY and the last day to sign up is TODAY!
Reminder about extended evening hours
Pick up reminders
Playground Updates and Plans
Masks Optional
Beginning today, Monday, April 17th, masks are optional for all well students, staff, and parents.
The board made this decision following the lead of area hospitals and other institutions that have recently lifted their mask requirements. We are committed to the health and safety of our population and may require masks during times where health department guidance recommends it or when we feel there is a high transmission of respiratory illnesses, either in the center or the community.
It is your right as a parent to request that your child still be masked. You can make this request each day during drop off. Some of our teachers may also choose to remain masked. We are supportive of the individuals right to choose to continue to mask. As stated above, we will continue to use masking as a tool when appropriate.
To help us out, please use this form when your children are absent for any reason.
On The Border this THURSDAY!
It’s time to have dinner together at On The Border! Sign up today so that they know who to expect! This is a really fun event for the community that helps us raise some funds for Common Ground at the same time!
Saturday Hours
April Saturday Hours are THIS WEEKEND. You have until midnight tonight to sign up. We are low on available staff due to the religious holiday this weekend, so we will not be able to accommodate late sign ups.
You can sign up for future Saturday Hours Here:
There are NO Saturday hours in July
Extended Hours - sign up for evening hour if you need them!
In general, we can accommodate early drop last minute without an issue. If you need to drop your child off early, and have not signed up ahead of time, just send a brightwheel message.
However, we staff our closing teachers based on evening hours sign ups, so please make sure that you are signing up when you need extended evening care and only on the evenings that you need care. We have yet to charge for late pick ups since re-opening in July of 2020, but are starting to notice that parents are taking advantage of that kindness.
Parking Lot/Pick Up Reminders
Since the weather has gotten nicer and most of our classrooms have been outdoors during pick up, we would like to remind all parents to
drive SLOWLY after turning into our parking lot from Wainwright Drive
remain aware when pulling in and backing up
exit their car ready to pick up after pulling in. If you need to finish a work call, we ask that you do so before your child can see you pull in.
We were lucky last spring that we only had a minor fender bender, but with small children around, we need to make sure that everyone is extra careful!
Playground Updates
We recently had new boarders, mulch, and rubber surfacing installed on our playground! While that installation was happening, it was discovered that our 40+ year old swings needed to be removed. We are in the process of figuring out how to best use the space that we have on the playground where the swings were. In the meantime, we have added some new moveable play items, to create a preschool level “adventure playground.”
You can read about adventure playgrounds here, but don’t worry, we are keeping the materials safe for our preschoolers!
Thank you all for being a part of our community!
-The CG Team
Newsletter: February 3
Dear Families,
Happy February! We have a lot of fun events coming up and our calendar has been updated, so make sure you check it out.
Last Call for February Saturday Hours!
Our February Saturday hours will be on the 11th. Please make sure to sign up before midnight on Monday, February 6th.
Please also let us know if you make the donation through PayPal, or if you need us to invoice you.
Valentines Day Celebration Numbers
Many parents have asked about class numbers and lists for Valentine’s Day coming up. We will send our class lists of names via brightwheel, but the enrollment numbers for each class group are as follows:
Bubble Buddies - 7
Little Penguins - 7
Playful Pandas - 9
Dancing Monkeys -9
Rising Stars - 8
Love Bugs - 18
Busy Bees - 12
School Age - 14
Each classroom will send out a message about what they will be doing (if anything) to celebrate.
FEBRUARY TACO NIGHT!
We had so much amazing feedback from our January fundraiser at On The Border, that we scheduled one for February 16th as well! Please make sure to sign up here: https://www.groupraise.com/events/242597
These are not only fun, but a great little fundraiser for us!
This fundraiser is open to the community, so please share it out with your networks as well!
I will call ahead of this event to make sure they staff a little bit better this time!
MORE SATURDAY HOURS!
Make sure to sign up for these, as we usually pause Saturday hours during the summer months!
Families with School Aged Children and Rising Kindergartners:
We will be reaching out with summer camp information next week, as we are waiting for Fairfax County Public Schools to finalize the school year calendar for next year.
If you are in the Busy Bees Classroom, your child will automatically be enrolled in our Rising Kindergartener Summer Camp at the same rate as preschool program! This is the benefit of a year round program. Please remember we need 30 days notice if you do not intend to have your child attend over the summer.
Fairfax County public schools will be finalizing their calendar on February 9th, so that is when we will have all of our details!
Thanks for reading our newsletter and participating in our events!
-the CG team
Newsletter: January 10
Dear Parents, Caregivers, and CG Community Members,
Happy New Year! 2023 is off to an amazing start here at the center. Our children and staff have been able to remain mostly healthy through the holidays, due to our community’s health protective mindset, even as we have all resumed “normal” activities. We can’t thank you enough for your participation in keeping your kids home when they are sick, continuing to test, keeping lines of communication open, and adhering to our mask policy. The hope is that we will be able to amend the mask policy once we see overall illness rates reduce, not just at the center, but in the area.
If your child will be absent for any reason, please make sure to use our absence form here: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/absence
We have a lot of amazing things coming up this month, so read on for our January activities:
In the Center:
The Busy Bees are kicking off our 2023 goal of ramping up a center wide recycling program with their recycling unit! We are phasing in our sustainability efforts, so that we can build a sustainable habit that lasts, and improves, as time goes on. The Busy Bees will be going around the entire center to help every classroom make sure their recycling makes it to the right dumpster.
Phase 1: paper, cardboard, and cans: single stream recycling picked up in our recycling dumpster
Phase 2: the addition of mail away recycling programs
The Love Bugs are doing their clothing exploration unit. The winter is a great time for this, as the kids will learn about weather appropriate clothing, sizes, and of course, how to express themselves through what they wear!
We will be opening a second two year olds classroom later this month. We will send individual messages about transitions in the coming weeks.
Our infants and toddlers have done amazingly well with their transition into new classrooms, as we prepare for some new little ones to join our center!
Staff Updates:
Mr. Jordon has joined us full time as part of the twos program, in addition to his bus driver duties with school age
It’s been wonderful having Miss Elise back over winter break. She will remain with us through the end of next week before going back to school
Mr. Zach and Miss Elizabeth have switched rooms for the new year. Mr. Zach is now in the Love Bugs and Miss Elizabeth is with the Busy Bees!
Upcoming Events:
We are closed on January 16th in observance for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
Our next On The Border fundraiser is on Thursday, January 19. We need to have RSVPs in prior to the event, so please make sure to sign up here: https://www.groupraise.com/events/236435
Saturday Hours this month will be on January 21st. Please make sure you sign up before January 16th and if you pay via PayPal, please send us a note. Donations not made prior to the event will be billed the Friday before the event: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-january
Our teachers are participating in a step challenge for the next 8 weeks! We use an individual approach to this, so that everyone can feel successful! Teachers set their baseline during the first week, then work to improve upon their personal baseline OR maintain if they are already in the habit of getting more than 10,000 steps per day.
This webMD article “Turns Out There Is Something Special About 10,000 Steps Per Day” says it perfectly. This wellness challenge is a fun way to improve the overall health and wellness of our teachers and a great goal for the new year!
We have plenty of COVID tests available and have been seeing COVID infections that don’t test positive until a day or so after symptoms, so we still recommend daily screening when new symptoms arise until they begin to resolve.
Thanks for being a wonderful part of our community!
-The CG Team
Newsletter: November 22
Dear Common Ground Parents and Caregivers!
We had such a wonderful time last week at On the Border! We raised over $446 from our event. We can’t wait for the next one in January!
Today is our last day before the Thanksgiving Holiday, but we have some EXCITING events coming up when we return!
The Scholastic Book Fair starts MONDAY with the Stuffy Sleepover!
Get ready! This year's Book Fair is going to be epic! We've turned up the volume with more fun, more choices and more excitement, so kids will arrive curious and leave bolder, prouder, and stronger than ever before. Here's what you need to know about our upcoming fair:
Monday Stuffy Sleepover - please sign up here, we had an issue with our original sign up, so we need you to register again!
Every dollar you spend will benefit our school directly
We will have evening book fair showing hours on Monday and Friday!
Save these dates and view our school’s Fair site:
Fair Dates: November 28th to December 2nd
Book Fair Homepage: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/commongroundcdc
We can’t wait to see you and your child at the Fair!
Giving Tuesday and the Teacher Bonus Fund
Giving Tuesday is November 29th and it’s the perfect day to make a donation to the Teacher Bonus Fund! As a 501c3, donations made to Common Ground are Tax Deductible! There’s no better way to see your donations in action than by supporting Common Ground.
We are still behind on the target parent donation portion that we would like to be able to match for our teachers. To date we are $16,000 short based on just the donations that have been pledged/made to the PayPal Giving Fund. Please make your pledge or donation by following the instructions here: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/teacher-bonus-fund
We have gone ahead and awarded a very generous bonus to our teachers in time for holiday shopping this weekend, so we are counting on the generosity of our families for their portion!
If you have submitted any donations for a match from your company, please let us know, so that we can include that in the parent portion for the Common Ground Match.
Action Item: Other Ways To Give
We have several other ways that you can support Common Ground passively while you do your regular shopping. Sign up for:
All three of these programs support Common Ground and help us provide for our teachers, as they provide quality care for your kids!
COVID Test Kits
We have COVID kits available for every family that wants them at pick up today. The expiration date has been extended on these kits to the end of April 2023.
Thanks for taking the time to read our Newsletter! Have a safe and fun Thanksgiving!
-the CG Team
And don’t forget to sign up for our December Saturday Hours: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-december
Newsletter: November 15
Happy Tuesday Parents and Caregivers!
We would like to remind you that we need your child’s ASQ form returned to us ASAP. If you still need the form, please stop by the office and we can give you yours. We will be reaching out for short parent teacher conferences later in the month.
On The Border, This THURSDAY!
Join us for On The Border this Thursday night!
STEP 1: Sign Up to attend the event before 11/12/22 https://www.groupraise.com/events/237524
STEP 2:
You can participate in this fundraiser by:
Dine in
Take out
Pick up
In addition to dining in, you can participate in this fundraiser in several ways:
Phone Call
Storefront Walk-in
Please read the instructions below, so that On The Border knows you are with the GroupRaise Meal for Common Ground Childcare, and your group will get 20% of your meal’s price donated back!
PHONE CALL
Call 5714857929 and mention that you are with Common Ground Childcare before placing your order.
STOREFRONT WALK-IN
Visit the location at 11880 Spectrum Ctr., Reston 20190 and they will take your order from their storefront for take-out. Mention that you are with Common Ground Childcare before placing your order.
Winter Vacation Planning
Each year we ask that families share their known winter vacation plans with us so that we can allow our teachers to take time off as well. You can find that form on our blog, here: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blog-1/2022/11/10/winter-vacation-plans
Teacher Bonus Fund
It’s time to make sure your pledge for our teacher bonus fund. Our teachers are not allowed to accept gifts from families, so a donation to this fund is how you will show them your appreciation this holiday season. We have budgeted to give the teachers a wonderful holiday gift, but our match portion only makes an impact if it is matched with parent donations. Please visit this page and make your pledge: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/teacher-bonus-fund
Make sure that EVERYTHING is Labeled!
With cold weather (finally?) here, our kids need more items of clothing - coats, hats, mittens, extra boots - so please make sure that everything has your child’s name on it. We recommend waterproof permanent labels, like those from Mabel’s Labels (shop our fundraiser here, search for Common Ground Childcare - Reston) or these from Amazon (it’s an affiliate link that we can earn money from).
Please label it ALL. Each glove, every hat, coats, backpacks, shirts, pants, underpants… bottles including tops, cups and tops, toys… everything! It helps us send the correct things with the correct children, and track down missing items.
The Stuffy Sleepover is back! This time, at the Book Fair!
We are bringing back our FAVORITE Fall event, with some of our favorite people! Miss LJ and Mr. Josh will be joining us for the Stuffy Sleepover at the Book Fair! This is our kickoff to our Giving Tuesday Campaign and a fundraiser for Common Ground!
It’s easy to participate and attend:
Sign up here: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blog-1/2020/11/17/givefundsgivetime-the-stuffy-sleepover-np826-98jak-569gf
drop your stuffy to stay the night on Monday, November 28th
tune into YouTube or Facebook for a LIVE story, and to catch the replay anytime your kids need a dose of their Common Ground teachers!
Pick up your stuffy at school on Tuesday morning and shop our Book Fair all week!
Every dollar you spend directly benefits our school
shopping will be available Monday through Friday, with evening hours on Thursday!
Book Fair Homepage: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/commongroundcdc
Saturday Hours:
We have to schedule staff based on sign ups for Saturday hours, so sign ups close the Monday before. We usually cannot accept late sign ups, especially for younger children where the ratio is lower, so please make sure to sign up for our December Saturday Hours: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-december ASAP!
All of our scheduled Saturday dates have sign ups posted, so please sign up in advance for all of them!
Thank you so much for checking out our newsletter and being a part of our community!
-The CG Team
Newsletter: November 7
Dear parents and caregivers,
Thank you for making our Halloween event so much fun last week! Here’s a password protected album where you can view and upload photos from the event. You will receive the password in the brightwheel message where you found this link! You should be able to download the photos for free using the download button.
Today is also the LAST DAY to sign up for Saturday Hours this weekend. Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-november
Ages and Stages
We began handing out the Ages and Stages Questionnaire on Friday. We have them available for everyone who did not get theirs on Friday.
If you did not get your child’s questionnaire on Friday, please make sure to ask for it at either pick up or drop off this week.
These questionnaires need to be completed and returned by Friday, November 11th. We will be setting up short parent/teacher conferences via zoom during nap time the week of November
You can read up on this screener here: https://agesandstages.com/about-asq/why-screening-matters/
Thanksgiving Boxes
While we have the due date set for tomorrow, we can actually accept donation through THURSDAY!! Here’s our blog post about it: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blog-1/2022/10/25/thanksgiving-boxes
We still have a lot of items that need to be signed up for to make some complete boxes! Please check out the sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-thanksgiving1
The Scholastic Book Fair Returns in time for HOLIDAY Shopping!
Get ready! This year's Book Fair is going to be epic! We've turned up the volume with more fun, more choices and more excitement, so kids will arrive curious and leave bolder, prouder, and stronger than ever before. Here's what you need to know about our upcoming fair:
Every dollar you spend will benefit our school directly
We will have evening book fair showing hours on Monday and Friday!
Save these dates and view our school’s Fair site:
Fair Dates: November 28th to December 2nd
Book Fair Homepage: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/commongroundcdc
NEW THIS YEAR: The Stuffy Sleepover will be happening on Monday, November 28th, and will be returned to your child at school on Giving Tuesday, November 29th! Please be on the lookout for more information on this event on our Blog!
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter!
-the CG Team
Newsletter: October 26
Dear Families,
We have a lot of news to cover this week!
First up, after searching high and low, we have finally found the perfect Playful Pandas teacher from within our own staff! Miss Patty will be taking on the lead teacher role in the Playful Pandas classroom. Miss HuiHui and Miss Gitti will be stepping back up to co-lead the Little Penguins, while Miss Samra will be moving over from the Pandas to the Penguins. Since the Bubble Buddies and Little Penguins have thrived being able to connect through the laundry area, we will even be completing a minor renovation to install a doorway between the Penguins and the Pandas classrooms. This will not only allow teachers to continue to function as a cohesive team, but will also facilitate smoother transitions for our kids when it comes time!
We are also happy to welcome Miss Saima back to the Common Ground staff! Prior the the pandemic, Miss Saima was one of our infant teachers, but now she is joining our twos program! She started last week, so you may have seen her on the playground in the afternoons.
Illnesses are on the rise
The New York Times just reported about a “Tripledemic” this winter with influenza already on the rise, high rates of RSV, and rising COVID cases. Common Ground has recently been hit with a wave of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease that was very difficult to contain because it, atypically, didn’t present with a fever at the beginning of the infection. Children were just slightly out of sorts and a little more tired than usual, sometimes presenting with a low grade fever, but nothing that would necessarily exclude them from care. About 3 days later, the spotted rash would develop inside and around their mouths, with occasional spots on their hands, feet, and bottoms. We have also heard reports from the public schools in the area about rising influenza, a gastrointestinal bug, and a covid/flu negative, influenza like illness.
While we may all feel fatigued from the endemic pandemic and we can’t prevent all illnesses, we have the tools to help mitigate the spread of all illnesses within our center. Here’s how you can help:
Keep your child home if they are sick or if you think they are coming down with something. As we saw with Hand, Foot, and Mouth spreading through out several classrooms, sometimes children who aren’t quite themselves are coming down with something that can be spread. We know that this can be difficult and that you need care, but if we can prevent illnesses from spreading, it can keep more kids in care, more often.
Report illnesses and absences to us. This is especially important when they are diagnosed with something by a physician. We are required to give exposure notifications to classmates and track illness, so that we can report them to the Health Department if we experience an outbreak. Here’s the list of reportable illnesses.
Screen using rapid COVID tests. While we are seeing other diseases on the rise, COVID numbers are also increasing and the current variant (omicron and it’s sub variants) are still the most transmissible virus ever. The chances of spreading it once you catch it are incredibly high. We have plenty of rapid tests to supply, so please just ask for them. Screening your child and your family can help keep everyone in care.
Evaluate your own Risk/Benefit ratio. As we head into cold and flu season, with COVID still here, it makes sense to evaluate your family’s personal risk when deciding what to attend and what to miss out on. If you can’t risk having your children miss out on care due to work, you may want to skip indoor or crowded activities. However, participating in things has benefits, so that’s where evaluating your own ratio comes in.
Use mitigation tools. Masks, fresh air, social distance. These are all things that can help mitigate the spread of all illnesses.
I know it can seem like this is just “the new normal”, but these winter respiratory illnesses (flu and RSV) can be dangerous for children, especially those under the age of 3.
Thanksgiving Boxes
Every year, Common Ground collects Thanksgiving Boxes for Cornerstones. These boxes provide Thanksgiving meals for those in our community that are less fortunate. Please see our blog post about this project: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blog-1/2022/10/25/thanksgiving-boxes
Last year we were able to donate 21 boxes with a much smaller number of students, so let’s see if we can beat last year!
Or skip straight to the sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-thanksgiving1
The Imagination Library is in Reston!
The RoSigle Foundation has brought Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Reston. They have a goal to get every eligible child in Reston (children ages 0-5) enrolled to receive a free book, once a month! This book comes addressed to the child, which is incredibly exciting! Reading to your child is the best thing that you can do to ensure future success! Leaders are readers!
Please sign your children up now: https://imaginationlibrary.com/check-availability/?#selectedCountry=US
The Scholastic Book Fair Returns in time for HOLIDAY Shopping!
Speaking of books! Get ready! This year's Book Fair is going to be epic! We've turned up the volume with more fun, more choices and more excitement, so kids will arrive curious and leave bolder, prouder, and stronger than ever before. Here's what you need to know about our upcoming fair:
Every dollar you spend will benefit our school directly
We will have evening book fair showing hours on Monday and Friday!
Save these dates and view our school’s Fair site:
Fair Dates: November 28th to December 2nd
Book Fair Homepage: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/commongroundcdc
We can’t wait to see you and your child at the Fair!
November Saturday Hours
We had a blast on Saturday and it’s less than 3 weeks until our next Saturday at Common Ground! Sign up to attend here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-november
And as a reminder, we are still at the beginning of our Teacher Bonus Fund drive! Make sure to make your pledge here: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/teacher-bonus-fund
We thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter!
Yours, The CG Team
Newsletter: October 18
Happy Tuesday, Parents, Caregivers, and Community Members!
This might be the most JAM PACKED newsletter that we have had in recent months, so please make sure to read all the way through so that you don’t miss anything!
WEAR ORANGE TOMORROW FOR UNITY DAY
Tomorrow is Unity Day, a day that we wear ORANGE to show unity for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion and to send a visible message that no child should ever experience bullying. Please dress your children in orange tomorrow and you will see the teachers sport a VERY COOL orange shirt!
Best of all, Mr. Josh will be stopping by for an afternoon “Unity Day Concert!”
TONIGHT: Flu Shot Clinic
Don’t forget to stop by and get your flu shot tonight! This clinic is open to the public and CVS can give flu shots to anyone aged 4 and up. Please share this information out with your community, as we are able to take walk-ins tonight!
TRUNK-OR-TREAT on Halloween!
Halloween is on a Monday this year that also happens to be an FCPS closed day, so our school aged kiddos will be here to celebrate as well! Our Trunk-Or-Treat need parents volunteers to happen. We ask that you sign up to either decorate your trunk (or a table) and hand out treats to our kids. We have approximately 80 kids that will trick-or-treat. You can sign up here.
We will also NOT be having after care hours on Halloween, so all Children will need to be picked up no later than 5:30pm.
The event will take place in our driveway and on the blacktop.
Parking Lot and Pick Up Reminder
Please make sure that you do not pull into our parking lot until you are ready to pick up your child. It can be very distressing for our kids to see your car parked in the lot, but to have to wait to be picked up. You can either park along Wainwright or in our upper lot if you have business that you need to finish up in the car.
And PLEASE drive slowly and carefully in our parking lot. We are still having an issue with parents driving too fast and backing in to spaces that are closer to the building when other parents are trying to get their kids to the car.
Illness Reminders
We have seen an increase in both COVID and non-covid communicable diseases in our community. Please make sure that you are doing a morning health check before you drop your child off at the center. Our teachers do a daily health check as well, but in order to keep illnesses from spreading, we need to ensure that sick children remain home. A lot of childhood illnesses are more contagious during the first few days when symptoms are starting.
We want kids to be in care as much as possible, but the only way that we can accomplish that is by keeping everyone as healthy as possible. We currently have Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in two classrooms, so please familiarize yourself with the symptoms and how it spreads: https://www.cdc.gov/hand-foot-mouth/about/transmission.html
Fundraisers
Please make sure you are checking out and participating in our fundraisers. We currently have our Little Caesar’s Pizza Kit Fundraiser going on. Coming up next, we have a Restaurant fundraiser at On The Border! They can all be found on our Calendar.
We have a lot of FUN events planned that will help offset our rising costs. And please plan to make your Teacher Bonus Donation for our winter bonus before the end of December. We budget based on our families being very generous, as Common Ground matches dollar for dollar.
Thank you for all you do for Common Ground!
-The CG Team!
Newsletter: October 13
Happy Thursday Everyone!
I hope everyone is doing well this rainy Thursday. As you probably saw, we posted an COVID outbreak notification for the whole school. The classroom that has the outbreak in it was notified as well. Please note at an outbreak is defined at 3 cases of COVID within one group within a 14 day period without another known exposure.
We have also seen an increase in covid-negative respiratory illnesses within our population. Please remember that the best way to keep our community healthy is to stay home when sick. We also ask for clear communication when communicable illnesses are diagnosed by physicians, as we have notification guidelines for communicable illnesses in addition to COVID. We have plenty of at home COVID tests that we can provide to families, so please continue to use those as a screening tool.
Vaccination remains our best defense against serious illness caused by COVID. Everyone aged 6 months and up are encouraged to get fully vaccinated and remain up to date on their vaccines. There are immediate appointments for the bivalent booster available at My Doctor’s Pharmacy in Herndon. If your child has been vaccinated against COVID and we do not have a copy of their card, please email it to us at info@commongroundchildcare.org.
Fall Flu Shot Clinic
We finally have our fall Flu Shot Clinic scheduled! It will take place on Tuesday, October 18th at 5:30pm. CVS will be on site and can give flu shots to anyone aged 4 and up. This clinic is open to students, parents, and community members, so feel free to share the information far and wide! You can sign up here or we can accommodate walk-ins as well! You will need a consent form that you can download here or fill out on site.
We encourage everyone within our population to get a flu shot as children younger than 5 years old– especially those younger than 2– are at higher risk of developing serious flu-related complications. Please see this CDC page for more information about the flu and how you can help protect our community!
October Saturday Hours are almost here!
Make sure that you sign up by Monday, October 17th for our Saturday hours on October 22nd!
We love being able to provide these for our parents. Our kids love it, our teachers love it, and we hope that you love it too!
Sign Up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0f4faca723abff2-october
And make your donation here: https://paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1778362
We have a few re-scheduled events:
curriculum night is being re-scheduled as observations will be done this month as well, so we’d rather not over-load our teachers during this time.
the love bugs pumpkin patch field trip is being rescheduled for 10/19, since it is raining today
Teacher Bonus Fund
We are starting to plan for our Holiday Bonus for our staff. Please remember that staff are not allowed to accept gifts from parents other than small homemade food items. Instead, we ask that you donate to our Bonus Fund. Common Ground matches parent donations ‘dollar for dollar’ to make this bonus extra meaningful for our teachers. You can see the details here and make your pledge here.
External Observations This Week
As part of our participation in the VQB5 program, all of our classrooms are observed by certified CLASS observers from our area and certain classrooms are also observed by external observers from Teachstone, the company that created the CLASS observation tool. This week several of our classrooms had an external observation. This observation gives us valuable data about the overall quality of the interactions within our program.
Over the next month each class will be observed, some classrooms for a second time by our local observers. After local observations, teachers will have coaching sessions based on the observations.
Pizza, Pizza
We have a pizza kit fundraiser during the month of October! Please order some pizza kits and share out this link to help us with our fundraiser! You can read about our day long pizza party last year on our blog.
You can order pizza’s here: https://fundraising.littlecaesars.com/fundraisers/support/533cc6b5-12c3-4f82-8d89-4db230d53715
Or sign up to be a seller and order your own through your own link here: https://fundraising.littlecaesars.com/login/join-fundraiser/be7d51b2-f939-4b22-8925-6e5c27fe16e8
The parent that sells the most pizza kits gets our eternal gratitude AND a free Saturday!
Thanks for reading our newsletter!
-The CG Team