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!

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!