Newsletter: April 27
Dear Parents,
We are excited to have our picture day rescheduled for THIS FRIDAY morning! We are putting together an end of year project that we will be using the photos for, so we will be taking photos of everyone for that - including those kids that will arrive in the afternoon (don’t worry! We will clean them up for pictures!).
But before pictures, we have KONA ICE coming this afternoon! We love being able to bring the Kona Ice truck out to CG to give our kids a little treat. In fact, we have already booked a few dates for them to come over the summer. You can see those dates on our Calendar.
Our birthday month is coming to a close… but we have saved our favorite event for last!! There is still time to sign up your kids’ favorite toy for our SPRING STUFFY SLEEPOVER! You can read more about it and sign up in the blog post below.
Speaking of what’s coming up - next week is Teacher Appreciation Week! Our families do a great job of showing our teachers appreciation year round. I get at least one email a week from a family that is looking to bring a treat in or sponsor a lunch or coffee, which has allowed us to do something like that nearly weekly since we re-opened in July! Since we don’t want to over load our teachers bellies, we will be collecting funds, which common ground will match, for an end of the school year bonus for the teachers - similar to the holiday bonus! You can contribute to that fund here or by emailing me (Liz) and I can invoice you for the donation.
We are going to make next week special with something planned everyday.
Parents, please click here!
(Teachers, please do not click that link, it will spoil your surprise!)
While it is (mostly!) all fun and games here at Common Ground, your teachers have been hard at work taking classes to learn more about children and continue to provide the quality care you depend on. One of the classes we all went through gave us some amazing tips on healthy eating that we are happy to share with you! See our post below.
Newsletter: April 21
Happy Earth Week, Common Ground!
26 years ago, on Earth Day, I (Miss Liz) visited Reston for the very first time. I remember Reston feeling like a garden. The azaleas and daffodils were blooming, and there were several earth day tree plantings happening in the neighborhoods that we were looking at! Last week we started to get our garden boxes ready and we have seeds ready to be planted by our kiddos in the coming weeks!
We are also excited to share that our Nando’s Peri-Peri fundraiser was an amazing success! We raised over $375 from their generous donation! We hope you enjoyed our Peri-Peri dinner, and we hope to do another spirit night there soon.
Speaking of fundraisers - our birthday celebration is far from over. We are so excited about our Spring Stuffy Sleepover - make sure that you sign up so that your Stuffy can sleep over at Common Ground and then get dropped off by the Common Ground Bus!
We also wanted to officially welcome back Miss Susie, Miss Gitti, and Miss Hui Hui! They have joined Miss Nana, Miss Marita, and Miss Patty in our infant rooms!
We have also hired a new teacher - Mr. Stephan! He will be training as our inclusion specialist. This will allow Common Ground to be able to include children of all abilities in our program. He will be training in the Dancing Monkeys Classroom through the end of May and then will transition to the Honeybees Classroom in June.
We also are waiting on a new picture day date. We are hoping that it will be not on a Monday, and will let you know as soon as we have that! With non-Mondays in mind, do you have a local business that you just LOVE? We’d love to get in touch with them and possibly feature them on the “Friends of CG Friday” blog series!
With that, we hope that you are able to spend some time outdoors enjoying our earth!
Love,
The CG Team!
Newsletter: April 13
Dear Common Ground Community,
First things first - Jess Parry is BACK for our Spring School Portraits! She will be onsite, outside using her amazing gift to capture our beautiful kiddos on MONDAY, APRIL 19th! We are so grateful to have such a talented photographer in our parent pool! If you have talents that you would like to share with the center, let us know and we would love to put you to work!
Next up: Our Week of the Young Child celebration is in full swing! All Smiles Saturday was another amazing success! We hope that you have enjoyed our two Saturday events so far, and we look forward to finding some additional weekends where we can make that work! We celebrated Music Monday with concerts from Mr. Josh! He stopped by each of our younger kids classrooms before performing in the great hall for our Rising Stars, Honeybees, and Owls - then moving his second set outdoors! You can check out the videos on our YouTube Channel!
Today is Tasty Tuesday! Each class has a tasty activity planned and we will be popping popcorn this afternoon for the whole center! We are excited to keep celebrating our young kiddos all week!
This celebration is all due to the National Association for the Education of Young Children who started the event 50 years ago. This morning, I had the pleasure of speaking with a senior public policy analyst at NAEYC this morning about the possibility of sharing Common Ground’s story nationally as part of our advocacy work. It’s though this work that we can be a part of stabilizing the child care, not just here at Common Ground, but the industry as a whole! We would love for you to get involved too. Here is an opportunity to join a parent advisory group and another (easier) opportunity to show your support by making this promise.
While our advocacy work it taking place at the state and national level, it’s important to share what we are doing RIGHT HERE to make a difference. Please see this important notice about tuition and how we are caring for your teachers here.
And with that, it’s time to stop reading this news letter, focus on enjoying the beautiful weather, and maybe shop our book fair for something more enjoyable to ready when the spring showers roll in!
As always, we appreciate your participation in our community!
Love,
The CG Team!
Newsletter: April 6
Happy Spring, Common Ground Community!
Today Common Ground celebrates 49 years! We filed our very first State Corporation Commission documents on April 6, 1972 and today we celebrated in every classroom with a birthday party! But the fun doesn’t stop with today. We will be celebrating ALL SPRING! You can check out this post on how you can help us celebrate 49 years of quality care and education!
Did you know that today is also ‘California poppy Day’? Well, according to the internet, it’s true! The California poppy is also the state flower of California, where as here in Virginia both our state tree and state flower is the flowering dogwood tree.
Why all this talk of flowers and trees you ask? Well, our classrooms will begin to work together on our garden boxes over the next month! Our Owls kicked it off yesterday with a Dino-dig in our newest garden beds and with the potatoes that they planted in bags by the picnic table. The rest of our class rooms will contribute a week from tomorrow on Work Together Wednesday during our Week of the Young Child celebration. Then the Honeybees will take over with a longer unit on things that grow, now that they have returned from exploring outer space!
Here’s what we have in store for you during The Week of the Young Child, kicking off this Saturday - don’t forget to sign up for our Saturday Hours!
We are also happy to announce that Miss Hui Hui is BACK! She has returned to our infant team as we are so happy to welcome 4 new families into our community!
Thank you all for being an important part of making our community a great place to be!
Love,
The CG Admin team
Newsletter: March 30
Happy Almost April!
We have been counting the days until our birthday on the sixth, and it is finally almost here! Speaking of that…
OUR NANDO'S SPIRIT NIGHT IS TOMORROW!! Please consider ordering amazing Nando's Peri-Peri for dinner in order to support us! From 4-8PM TOMORROW if you order from our Reston location (12120 Sunset Hills Rd #103, Reston, VA 20190) and let them know it's for us, we get 40% of the funds!!! WOW!! It's a great way to say bye to March and KICK OFF our Month Long BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION in April.
Other ways you can celebrate our birthday with us:
Participate in our Book Fair with our local bestie, Scrawl Books! It’s a super-easy, 24/7, all online book fair where you can buy books for anyone (including yourself! Get your ‘summer reading’ started early). Later this week we are going to put out a “Staff Recommended Books” for PARENTS’ enjoyment, since we have so many recommended lists for kids.
RSVP for All Smiles Saturday HERE on Saturday, April 10th as part of our “Week of the Young Child” Celebration. 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!
Sign up for our SPRING STUFFY SLEEPOVER on April 30th! What is a Stuffy Sleepover? Read all about it in our blog entry below!
Now that we have gotten all the exciting items out of the way, we have some HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS. Parents! Please log into your brightwheel and update any information that’s out of date. This includes providing a current picture of your child for their profile picture.
That’s All! Happy Tuesday!
- Your CG Family
Newsletter: March 23
Dear Common Ground Community,
Thank you for making our first ever Saturday care hours a success! We had a lot of fun having a ‘party day’ with your kiddos. In fact, because it put smiles on so many faces, we have decided to call our next Saturday care day: “All Smiles Saturday”. Mark your calendars for April 10th, as our Saturday care hours will wrap up our “Week of the Young Child” celebration! You can sign up here.
Speaking of marking your calendars, Common Ground will be hosting a MASSIVE donation event. Read about it HERE. We will be collecting bags of soft items (clothing and linens) and boxes of household items for our FUNdrive. Please mark your calendar for June 5 and 6, as those are the collection days. This event is more about quantity than quality, as we are paid in donation by the number of bags/boxes. So save what you are spring cleaning, and bring it to us in June!
Quick reminder that NEXT WEDNESDAY, March 31 (is March already almost over!?), is our Nando’s Peri-Peri Spirit Night! from 4:00PM-8:00PM if you order takeout from Nando’s and let them know you’re there for Common Ground, we get 40% of the sales. Please share our flyer and our facebook event so that we can get as many people supporting us as possible!
With warmer weather moving in this week, our kids will be spending more time outdoors! You have received or will be receiving our sunscreen and bug spray form via adobe sign. Please return those as soon as possible.
Staying protected from the sun is just part of the fun of warmer weather, we will also be having our friends are Kona Ice North Fairfax popping in from time to time for a special treat!
Thank you again for being an amazing part of our community!
Love,
The CG Team
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Newsletter: March 16
Dear Common Ground Community,
We hope that you have enjoyed the extra hour that our center has been open! We think it has worked out really well with the time change!
A reminder - this Saturday is ‘Spring Clean Saturday’ at Common Ground! That means that we are open for care from 9:30-2:30. Please make sure to REGISTER HERE.
Common Ground’s birthday is right around the corner! We were founded on April 6, 1972 and to celebrate our 49th anniversary, we have a BIG GOAL to raise $10,000 to go into a fund for staff education! While our staff have all been trained by working in the classroom and apprenticing with our legacy staff members, there are some formal certifications that we would like to help our younger staff achieve. The funds raised in this cycle will go towards providing tuition assistance to our staff and will start the ‘kitty’ for a future scholarship fund that any Early Childhood Educator could apply for!
We have several fundraising events coming up in April, and many of them involve our dear friends at Scrawl Books. You can read about all of the wonderful things we have done with them over the years in our “Friends of CG Fridays” post below! In the meantime, make sure to Save the Date for the week of April12th-April19th because we will be hosting a BOOK FAIR with them! There will also be a Spring Stuffy Sleepover, since the last one got such rave reviews, so keep your eyes peeled for that announcement as well.
While you are spring cleaning your house, be sure to save up your old clothes, accessories, books, and small household items! Our June fundraiser involves helping YOU get rid of unwanted stuff, putting it in the hands of others who need it, reducing our community’s carbon footprint, and earning money for us! It’s a win-win-win-win! Read more about it below.
Finally, don’t forget to wear green tomorrow! Though we don’t support pinching, we always love a chance to celebrate!
Love,
The Common Ground Team
Newsletter: March 9
Dear Common Ground Community,
This newsletter has a theme! This week we are all about gaining hours! This weekend we spring forward as we set our clocks for the beginning of daylight saving time. While I know the time changes can mess with kids sleep schedules, we gain a wonderful hour of daylight to play outside in the evenings!
You will also be gaining an hour of care in the evenings! That’s right, we are ready to phase in extra hours in the center. Beginning on Monday, March 15th, Common Ground hours will be 8-5:30pm. Did you miss our announcement of the extra hour last week on the blog? If so, make sure you subscribe so that you can see posts as they happen, instead of waiting for our Tuesday Newsletter!
The gift of hours keeps coming with the kick off of Common Ground’s Birthday Fundraising Campaign! We’re excited to continue to give time, this time by giving families the gift of 5 hours on Saturday, March 20th! That’s right, Common Ground will be open for all currently attending families from 9:30am-2:30pm for “Spring Clean Saturday” on Saturday, March 20th! This is a FREE event with a suggested donation. Want to attend? Sign up right here!
Housekeeping Items:
1) Miss LJ has been going over our records to make sure that they are up to date! You can help us out by:
returning anything she has asked for, such as:
emergency care forms sent via adobe sign
providing updated immunization records whenever you take your child for a well visit where they receive immunizations
keep your eye peeled for any emails from Miss LJ requesting things!
logging in and updating you child’s profile on Brightwheel:
add a recent photo of your child’s face, if they do not already have one
add your own photos to account
ensure that all information is filled out, relevant, and correct.
2) Clothing:
Potty Training Classrooms: It is important that your child wear separates (no jumpers, rompers, or onesies) so that they can learn to undress and re-dress themselves as they use the potty! This is an important lesson in independence.
Layers for the Weather: We also ask that your child have layers so that they can enjoy their time outside when it is cooler in the mornings and warmer in the afternoons!
And with that we thank you again for being a part of our amazing community!
Love,
The Common Ground Team
Newsletter: March 2
Dear Common Ground Community,
It’s hard to believe that we have been living inside of a global pandemic for a year now. Without diminishing what this trial has taken from us, I like to think of the community that we have built here as a bright spot in otherwise darker times. Common Ground was able to survive through a 3 and a half month closure, keeping our employees paid through a great majority of that.
We were able to safely re-open, navigate a spike in COVID cases, and get our staff completely vaccinated, all while mitigating the the spread within our community. We did all of that that because of the participation of each community member!
The support from our community has been instrumental. By standing by our community pledge, donating additional funds, and sticking with us through limited care hours you have kept Common Ground Childcare alive.
Even with all of that, however, COVID relief funding, specifically money set aside for child care centers, has been essential to our survival. In fact, the pandemic has brought the longstanding childcare crisis into the spotlight.
This weekend I attended (virtually) the NAEYC Public Policy Forum (read more about that here) and later this week I will be meeting with Gerry Connolly, Mark Warner, and Tim Kaine on the federal support that is necessary to recover from the pandemic (passing the $1.9T American Rescue Plan relief package that is to be voted on in the Senate this week that includes $39B set aside for childcare), and a sustainable and substantial investment into child care for the future (supporting/co-sponsoring the bipartisan Child Care for Working Families Act). I will make sure to keep you informed as Common Ground grows in our advocacy efforts!
Blood Drive this FRIDAY!
Common Ground is co-sponsoring, with St. Anne’s, the Inova Blood Drive that is happening here on Friday from 12-6pm.
To help make it easier for you, Common Ground will be open extended hours, from 4:30-6:30pm in exchange for a donation of Blood (or money)!
Register for the Blood Drive Here. There are only 7 appointments left!
You must SIGN UP in order order to leave your kids on Friday: https://www.commongroundchildcare.org/blood-drive
Say Thank You!
We are still treating our staff to coffee or lunch from time to time! Sign up here to get on the list! Sponsoring a “coffee” is about $100, and a lunch is between $200-250.
All you have to do is Sign Up! You will then get an email/invoice when it’s your turn for your tax deductible donation! And don’t forget to see if your company matches!
Alright! With that, please have a wonderful first week of March. We hope to see you at the blood drive this Friday!
Love,
Your CG Family
We are always DOING THINGS!
We are ADVOCATING. We are FUNDRAISING. We are PLAYING IN THE SUN and EATING DELICIOUS FOOD! If you don’t want to miss out on any the Common Ground Fun, sign up for our weekly newsletter!!
CLICK THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON! That way you aren’t left thinking ‘Aw man…’
Newsletter: February 23
Dear Common Ground Community,
It’s the last week of February and hopefully the last week of severe winter weather. We’re so thankful that you have been so adaptable to our ever changing plans as we navigate weather and vaccination hiccups!
Speaking of vaccination hiccups, Inova - our vaccination partner, had not yet emailed us to schedule the second doses for our staff. I spent a large part of yesterday calling every number I could find, waiting on hold, and getting information that contradicted what was published on their website. So I left for INOVA Fairfax this morning once I made sure that Miss Mimi and Miss LJ were set for the day to see what could be done. Fortunately, we got a “yes” answer! We will be taking ALL of our remaining teachers to get their second shot on Thursday, February 25th.
This does mean that Friday, February 26th, the following classrooms will be closed: Little Penguins, Playful Pandas, Dancing Monkeys, and Rising Stars! Thank you so much for your patience. With your help and flexibility we will have a FULLY VACCINATED STAFF by the end of the week! That is an amazing accomplishment and could not have been done without our community support.
Even with the hiccups in scheduling, we could not have been happier to work with INOVA. That’s why we jumped at the opportunity to partner with INOVA and Saint Anne’s for the upcoming blood drive on March 5th. You can see more information about that in our blog post below!
Even with the winter weather, we are bursting with plans! We have Miss Janette’s “Magic of Colors” lesson series, info meetings on our summer camp, and a new Spirit Night with Nando’s Peri-Peri in our calendar!! We have gathered all of the event info and registration links into one helpful blog post below! So make sure to add it all to your calendar.
And with that, we are off to put our Thursday Vaccination plan together!
Have an amazing day,
Miss Liz
Newsletter: February 16
Dear Common Ground,
February seems to be the month of the 4 day work week! We hope everyone is off to a great start on this Tuesday!
Vaccine Update: At this point we should be getting the emails to schedule our staff for their second shots this week. We are still waiting for those, but if all goes well, the rest of our staff will receive them at the end of this week and all classrooms except the Owls and Honeybees will be closed on Friday. We hope to have an update by tomorrow morning! If the weather is predicted to stay bad, then we will push it to NEXT WEEK!
THURSDAY WEATHER WATCH: There is a chance for severe weather on Thursday with the possibility of 5-8 inches of snow and ice rolling in. We will continue to watch the weather and will wait to make a call. Hopefully, we will continue with the good luck that we have been having and we will be able to remain open!
Transitions: Beginning tonight we will be having our short transition meetings for some of our kiddos that are ready to move to the next level in their learning! We are excited to answer any questions and let you get to know the new teachers.
Finally, Miss Liz has been accepted in the the Northern Virginia Association for the Education of Young Children Advocacy Leadership Training Program. This competitive program is the first step in helping to give Common Ground a voice in the state and national legislature. This voice will help guide the programs that our new government leaders have promised!
Thank you all for the continued support of our Center! We are incredibly grateful for the amazing community that we have all worked to cultivate.
Love,
The CG Team
Newsletter: February 9
Dear Common Ground,
It’s Valentine’s Week here at Common Ground and our classrooms will be celebrating this week since Valentine’s Day falls over the long weekend this year! We have our Baskin Robbins SPIRIT NIGHT tomorrow to celebrate Miss Adella’s 31st birthday!
Most classes pare partying on Friday, if you wish to address Valentine’s Day Card individually, you can access the class lists here.
The Honeybees Class has an EXTRA long weekend, since they will be CLOSED on Friday, February 12th so that teachers can receive and recover from their second dose of the COVID vaccine! You can read about Miss LJ, Miss Victoria, and Miss Liz’s experiences here.
After a winter dry spell, it looks like February has decided to deliver with three snow storms coming in over the next week or so! With igloo blueprints in hand, we are really hoping its safe enough to open! As a reminder, we will communicate our status via Brightwheel and the website! When we do open in snowy weather, please make sure that you send your kiddos with plenty of winter gear.
In fact, snow pants make great “outdoor pants” on cold days! Especially since we are still trying to spend as much time outdoors as we can!
Finally, we have several meetings this week on Zoom:
TONIGHT: Kindergarten Update Meeting
TOMORROW NIGHT: Camp Interest Meeting (this is more for people with kids entering FCPS in the fall and not already at CG)
Have a great week!
The CG Team
Newsletter: February 2
Dear Common Ground Community!
Happy February! I feels like we were just celebrating the New Year and we are already having interest meetings for our SUMMER and FALL programs (these are just for kiddos who are heading into kindergarten and up next year)! But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t focus on being present in the moment and enjoying the final weeks of winter. We even got to enjoy a little bit of snow this weekend!
We celebrated a few milestones in January, including getting 100% of our staff vaccinated! We are so proud of our teachers for doing this! There are some impacts to the February schedule for shot two though: Friday, February 5th the OWLS class will be closed, Friday, February 12th the HONEYBEES will be closed, and we are hoping that we can get the other teachers scheduled for the 18th, which means that the rest of the classes will be closed on Friday, February 19th.
A new month also means a new lunch menu - that can be accessed here.
Thank you all for bearing with us through the first real snow that we have had a in a long time!
-Common Ground
Vaccination UPDATE
short story: 100% of Common Ground Teachers have received their first dose of the COVID-19 Vaccine!
long version: What a week!
On Monday we published a vaccination plan that we shared (and has now been removed) that would have 100% of our teachers fully vaccinated by the end of March. It was exciting and we were so proud of our staff for being willing to get vaccinated in the first place.
However, later that afternoon we were informed that all of our appointments after Jan 25th, we canceled! Luckily, Miss Simi had her appointment already set for the 25th.
This left us in limbo until yesterday, we we received a new link to join a waiting list to schedule our appointments. We quickly signed up the remaining 9 staff that needed to get their first dose, not knowing when we would be invited to schedule…. until last night! At nearly 7pm, every staff member was invited to schedule their first shot and we were very lucky to get them all in TODAY! (Thank you so much for dealing with the inconvenience of the early pick up today)
This was AMAZING LUCK because it will actually move our “fully vaccinated date” up about a month!
So here are the classroom CLOSURES for February:
Friday, February 5th: OWLS (Liz, LJ, and Victoria)
Friday, February 12th: HONEYBEES (Adella, Mimi, Josh - and Simi goes on Saturday, so the panda’s aren’t affected)
Friday, February 19th: BUBBLE BUDDIES/LITTLE PENGUINS, PLAYFUL PANDAS, RISING STARS, and DANCING MONKEYS
Of course, this is IF we can coordinate appointments on the 18th or the morning of the 19th. We will keep you up to date as we know more!
This feels like one SMALL STEP towards getting back to a more normal life! Thank you again for your support!
Newsletter: January 26
Our last newsletter of January! We hope your first month of 2021 was as fun and eventful as ours. February may be our shortest month, but each week has something going so KEEP YOUR EYES ON OUR CALENDAR! We have info meetings on Kindergarten, Summer Camp, and we will be talking a lot about Kindergarten Readiness!
Several teachers will be getting the second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, so watch for notifications on early pick ups and closings in your classroom. All of our other amazing teachers are ready to schedule their first dose as soon as there are more openings, so we will keep you posted!
One last little thing: We scheduled our SPIRIT NIGHT for Wednesday, February 10th at Baskin Robbins! A cute little icecream date as a family is just the way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, so we hope you will join us (and tell your friends!)
Camp Registration is Live
We are having a CAMP INTEREST MEETING on February 2nd from 7:00-7:30PM! Please join us to hear about our upcoming summer plans, ask your questions, and dream of warmer weather!
Let us know if you want to participate so that we can send you a zoom link by
WE ARE ACCEPTING NEW STUDENTS TO OUR PRIVATE KINDERGARTEN CLASS OF 2021-2022!
Our next Kindergarten interest and info meeting for RISING KINDERGARTENERS will be on February 9th!
Send us an email if you would like to attend so that we can send you a zoom link!
POTTY TRAINING BLUES?
Ms. Janette has put together a wonderful FAQ about potty training that we recommend for any parent of young kids, especially our 2s and 3s!
We also have several kids books all based around potty training that we have done “READ ALOUDS” of on our Common Ground Youtube Channel!!
POTTY TRAINING YOUTUBE PLAYLIST
This includes:
1. It Hurts When I Poop
2. Bloop! Bloop! Goes the Poop
3. Potty
4. P is for Potty!
5. Where’s the Poop?
6. We Poop on the Potty
7. Dash’s Belly Ache
KINDERGARTEN READINESS— What you need to know
We are starting a whole series on Kindergarten Readiness. What is KINDERGARTEN READINESS? When does it start? What does it entail? We are going to take a deep dive into all of these questions and more, and we want you to join us.
Our First Entry is HERE. Ask questions! Comment your experiences! Learn and grow with us.
As always, if you want to read anymore information or updates, check out our featured blogs below!
Love Love Love,
Your CG Family
Newsletter: January 21
Hello Everyone!
It is Wednesday and we are hustling through January here at Common Ground! We had our first Kindergarten interest meeting last week and we could not be more excited! Especially because we are welcoming Ms. Janette is back as well to help us with it!! HURRAY!! She is instrumental in our planning meetings, and we have already made so much progress.
We will have another meeting soon, in the meantime, if you have any questions or are interested in our Kindergarten program, EMAIL US!
We are also working tirelessly to make sure all of our teachers are vaccinated against COVID-19. Classrooms may close for a vaccination/recovery day as necessary and we will do the best we can to notify you as early as we can. We have posted more about this below, and we encourage you to read our experience, talk to your personal physician, and get as educated as you can.
In the meantime…
Summer Camp Registration is Live and we are so excited!
We have our list of weekly themes and prices here!
Register or get more information here!
*If your child is currently enrolled in Honeybees or our School Aged program and you plan to continue through the summer, your tuition will remain the same and you will have access to all hours that we are open.
For Honeybees, we will communicate with you to help place your child in the most appropriate camp environment for them!
You are our family, and we want to protect you all!
Which is why we are working at Common Ground to get as many of our teachers vaccinated as we can! Ms. Liz, Ms. LJ, and Ms. Victoria got their first round of Covid-19 Pfizer shots last Thursday, and we documented our first few days!
Read and watch our journey here!
We are thinking of our teachers’ comfort as well. Because people do feel rundown, especially after the second dose, we will give them the option of staying home the next day. We will notify each classroom as the teachers get vaccinated in case we need to close the room.
Newsletter: January 12
Dear Common Ground Families,
It’s been an exciting second week of the new year and it is only TUESDAY! This week we have received the following announcements:
Fairfax County is ready to begin vaccinating teachers (including childcare providers) - we will continue to share our plans and details as we receive information from the Health Department
Governor Northam has announced his plans to support Early Childhood Education, which includes using tax money from the legalization marijuana specifically to support Early Childhood Education
We have an information session for families with Rising Kindergarteners on Thursday evening - register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pcOyrrzMvH9YPjV5dLGQ1nvMlxlRIbz85
And Friday is HAT DAY!
We are still a long way from the end of the Pandemic, but there is starting to feel like some relief is in sight. We thank each and every one of you for your continued support as we keep our community safe.
Next week, we will be closed on Monday in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., however we will be OPEN on inauguration day.
Please, as always, reach our if you have any questions or concerns! Now on to the FUN STUFF!
-Liz
2021 is flying by and our teachers are starting off the year in style.
Our classrooms are in full swing with their January curriculum! Check out these clever little washing machines the Rising Stars made as Ms. Petty and Ms. Vanessa guide our kiddos through the “Clothing Unit” of Creative Curriculum! Our teachers are so fun, they make the winter months breeze by.
Our Playful Pandas and Dancing Monkeys are learning ALL ABOUT about winter and cold weather animals while our Honeybees power through the ball unit with curiosity and a hunger for answers that we just love to see. Make sure to ask your kids all about what they learned, you might just learn something yourself!
PANERA SPIRIT NIGHT IS THIS WEEKEND!!
WHERE: 460 Elden Street, Herndon, VA 20170
WHEN: Sat, Jan 16th FROM 4:00pm - 8:00pm
HOW: SHOW THIS FLYER, mention you’re there for us when you order!
The fun part? ANYONE you know can support us when they go to Panera bread that night! Family, friends, neighbors, anyone! Tell them to go out, get warm soup and comforting bread bowls and vibrant salads, and mention our name! Support has never been so easy (and so delicious)
Miss the Holidays? Don’t worry, we have you covered…
Friday, January 15th is HAT DAY! All of us here at Common Ground will be wearing our favorite hats, and we want you to join us! Send your kiddos to school in they’re silliest, funniest, comfiest, most favorite hats, and wear yours too! Who says kids get to have all the fun?
Afterward send us your pictures. We can make a “Hat Day” collage that will show how together we are, even apart…
CALLING ALL PARENT VOLUNTEERS!
We are looking for parents who are willing to be on an “on-call” substitute teacher list. This would provide an opportunity for our teachers to be able to vote in all elections or schedule doctors appointments.
For more information on this, read here
Curious about what to do with your rising kindergartener?
Will you have a rising kindergartener NEXT year?
We are having an interest meeting on Thursday, January 14th from 5:30PM-6:00PM! We would love to answer your questions, talk about milestones, and discuss the benefits of a play-based curriculum.
Email Ms. Liz for more info!
Check out our blog for more goings on! If you have any questions please contact us! We love hearing from you.
Love,
Your CG Family
Newsletter: Happy New Year!
Happy New year!
We are excited to kick the new year off and begin to rebuild from a globally challenging 2020. As we move into this new year, we are looking forward to so many things:
vaccination
more outdoor play
a focus on the implementation of our curriculum in a more physically active way
recovering from the trauma of the global pandemic
opening a NEW Kindergarten program for 2021-2022
As a reminder, with cases rising, we ask that every family continue to do the amazing job that we have all been doing to keep our community safe! Miss LJ has some really fun spirit nights planned with local businesses, and we have a couple of fun "in school” theme days coming up as well! We are taking them directly from this “Every Day’s a Holiday” calendar if you’d like to get a copy for your home and celebrate every day with us as well!
We look forward to every day within our wonderful community!
Please, as always, reach out if you need anything!
Love,
Miss Liz
(now on to the fun stuff!)
Our January Menu Is LIVE!
You can also check the menu in Brightwheel by clicking the lightbulb! And it’s available on our calendar page!
Happy New Year! We are in our first week of the new year here at Common Ground and we have already hit the streets running!
We have two “CG Challenges” going and we are encouraging our families to join us! One is a “mile a day” challenge for exercising our bodies, and one is a “Winter Reading” challenge organized by the Fairfax County Libraries for exercising our minds! Beat the winter chill by finding a little joy every day. Read more about those below, and be on the look out for our Book Recommendation/Wish Lists for instant-classic books that help your child learn.
In the interest of starting our year off with joy and fun…
We are also scheduling more “Spirit Nights” this year, and celebrating some of our more “eccentric” Holidays!
See above for our Monthly Spirit Nights dates, and make sure to add them to our calendar!! What are spirit nights? They are a way to enjoy a delicious family dinner and support your school! Read more about it here.
Do you like to dress up your dog? Do you like to celebrate your love of popcorn, chocolate cake, and… green juice? SO DO WE! Be on the look out for our posts on silly holidays from every month! We will let you know when we are celebrating here so you can “celebrate” with us, whether that’s drinking a gourmet coffee or yodeling for your neighbors!!
Let’s be silly, have fun, and grow together. Hurray for Common Ground!
Love,
Your Common Ground Family
Newsletter: Goodbye 2020!
Dear Parents and Community Members,
WOW! What a year it has been for Common Ground Childcare! Even though we are a few days from the end of 2020, we are already planning for the happenings for 2021!
Starting in January we will be doing one SPIRIT NIGHT a month!
We had so much fun with our previous ones at Chipotle and On the order, we thought we would continue the trend!
Read more Here or below.
January 16th from 4PM to 8PM: Panera
February 10th from 6PM to 9PM: Baskin-Robbins
STAY TUNED FOR MORE!
Even though those winter winds are blowing, we are thinking SUNSHINEY SUMMER THOUGHTS!
Our Common Ground OUTDOOR Summer Camp is being planned as we speak, so keep your eyes out for registration to go live in the next month or two!
We had so much fun outside this past summer. It reminded us of the camps of yesteryear, of all the essential things we can learn from just being outside.
Friendship Bracelets
Capture the Flag
Nature Hikes
The smell of cut grass and sunscreen
Baseball Caps
Skinned Knees
and MORE Capture the Flag!
Read more Here or below.
We have had so much fun celebrating holidays at Common Ground, we are adding MORE!
We got a “holiday every day” calendar, and we are picking our favorites to celebrate with you! For instance did you know that January 23rd is National Pie day, AND January 27th is National Chocolate Cake day? So much for us giving up sweets…
Read more HERE or below to find out what we are doing for NATIONAL POLKA DOT DAY and NATIONAL DRESS YOUR PET DAY!
Thank you so much for making this wild year so memorable. You make us so excited for the next year. Let’s start 2021 off with hope, love, and OODLES of play time!
Warmest Regards,
Your CG Family
Newsletter: Happy Holidays
Dear Common Ground Community,
We did it! We are in the second to last week of the year 2020!
It has been such a unique twelve months. We have experienced a lot of fear and uncertainty. We have also experienced a lot of wonder and gratitude. We spent a lot of time outside, we brought the classic Common Ground spirit into a new normal, we banded together.
Please enjoy your 5 days at home, our staff greatly appreciates the extra time off with their families!
Love,
The Common Ground Team
From the bottom of our hearts, Thank You.
Thank you for your patience, your support, your adaptability. Thank you for participating in all of our new traditions and updated versions of our old ones. THANK YOU for helping our holiday season with your INCREDIBLY GENEROUS CONTRIBUTION to our Christmas bonuses.
The new year is coming, and while there is still so much uncertainty, we know that Common Ground’s community will stick it out together.
St. Anne's is offering its first Animals' Christmas: A Drive-Through Live Nativity!
This experience features our youth and a few furry friends (cow, sheep, goat, donkey, and camel)! This is an exciting opportunity for our children to safely share the Christmas story this year, and a wonderful experience for them and for our entire congregation as we delight in the Christmas season and the celebration of Jesus' birth. More Info Here! (you don’t have to register!)
New Years Resolution: Read more with the whole family!
Happy Winter Everyone! Even though it just started yesterday, it feels like it’s been cold and wet for awhile! Sometimes it’s hard to not turn on the tv to relieve the boredom when it really is too gross or too dark to go outside.
That’s why our teachers have come up with their list of ABSOLUTE FAVORITE books to read to kids of all ages!! Each teacher suggests at least three books we read here over and over. They come in all versions, including indestructible board books and the ever-flexible KINDLE versions! While it’s still a screen, Kindle books are much easier to read inside little pillow forts. Trust us… we know.
Check it out, and comment YOUR favorite books so we can compile a list of all time favorites!
