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CNS May 2025 Newsletter
Dear CNS Families,
As we quickly approach the end of the school year, we pause to reflect on the immense growth of our children over these past several months. They have gained independence, formed friendships, and learned to be open and curious about the world around them.
The transition from school to summer is a big change filled with excitement and new experiences. Routines begin to shift, and preschoolers often feel the change in energy. As summer begins, the relationships and rhythms built during the school year still matter. Rereading books, sharing memories, and staying in touch with friends can help children feel secure. Summer offers a balance of freedom and familiarity, giving our children the space to grow, rest, and get ready for the next big step in their learning journey.
We hope you also look back on this school year and see growth in your community; the connections made at CNS will strengthen our children throughout the years to come. We’re so grateful for your commitment to the CNS co-op experience. Together, we have built more than a school - we have created an extraordinary, nurturing village. Thank you.
What’s New
A Successful Great Give
Thank you to everyone who donated to CNS during The Great Give. During the 36-hour giving event, CNS raised $8,360! The Great Give was the start of our first Capital Campaign, which will raise funds for our new classroom. The new classroom will allow us to teach 15 additional students per day, as well as provide a handicap-accessible learning environment.
CNS’s 2024-2025 Annual Report
We’ve had a wonderful year! Please take a moment to read our 2024-2025 Annual Report.
Dr. Jen Scoggin’s Final Parent Literacy Workshop
This year CNS was lucky to work with Dr. Jen Scoggin, a literacy consultant and author, to develop our literacy curriculum. Dr. Scoggin’s final workshop focused on four key areas that guide a child’s literary development: print concepts, phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and phonics.
Reading aloud is by far the most powerful way to help your child grow in all four of these areas. Additionally, the best ways to support learning print concepts include pointing out your child’s name in print, occasionally pointing to words you are reading aloud, and pointing out common signs. Phonological awareness involves identifying sounds and counting syllables, and games that prompt children to clap out syllables or rhyme help to develop this. Alphabet books or puzzles are great tools to strengthen alphabetic knowledge, which is knowing letter names, shapes, and sounds. The most advanced area of knowledge is phonics, which begins to be a focus in kindergarten. Benchmarks to look for include making primary sounds for consonants, knowing long/short vowel sounds, and reading high frequency words.
Dr. Scoggin recommends numerous books to support our children as they grow in each area of early literacy, shown below. If you’re interested in learning more about Dr. Scoggin’s work, please visit https://trustingreaders.com.
Volunteering at the Little Folks Fair
Get ready for Little Folks Fair! Held on Saturday, June 7, it's our only annual event where everyone works together to create a fun day for the community. Here's what you need to know:
Arrival: Please make sure you’ve heard from your team captain! They will let you know what time to arrive on the green. (If you have not received an email from your team captain, please email Amy Johnson at amyjohnsoncns@gmail.com.)
Sign In/Out: Check in and out at HQ with the LFF chairs or assistants. This helps track volunteer hours.
Schedule: Expect to stay until the Green is cleared, usually around 4:30-5 pm. (Except Set Up/Clean Up Crew.)
Food & Drinks: Bring water and snacks! Food trucks might have long lines.
What else to bring? LFF shirt, sunscreen, phone charger, and a portable power bank.
Making it a Success:
We need everyone to show up on time, stay for the duration, and work hard! This ensures we can continue with the one-adult-per-family requirement in the future, instead of the two-adult-per-family requirement from previous years.
Why it Matters:
While dedicating a Saturday can be challenging, it's rewarding. It's a chance to work with other parents, bring joy to children, and support a great cause.
A Big Thank You!
Huge thanks to our LFF Chairs Amy Johnson and Chrissy Toner, and all the booth chairs and others who helped to make LFF possible!
Questions?
Please email Amy Johnson at amyjohnsoncns@gmail.com.
Spring Painting Clean Up Rescheduled for June 21
The rain continues to foil our painting plans! The spring cleaning and painting party will now be held June 21st (rain date June 28/29th). Unfortunately, anyone who previously signed up will have to do so again using the link below. There will be plenty of other things to do in addition to painting, so please consider joining us! As a reminder, all families must send one parent to one school clean up per year, equal to four hours of work.
Family Spotlight
The DeLucias
We’re Catie and Derek DeLucia, parents to Josie (4), who is in the afternoon class with Ms. Sullivan, and Ani (2).
We moved from Hamden to Guilford in 2017, because we love the sense of community here! Our time as CNS has been such a positive experience for similar reasons. Our co-op participation role has been the "Rides" booth chair for the Little Folks Fair. Derek, or "Coach D," is the PE teacher at A.W. Cox, but was previously at Jones. He also coached soccer in town for many years. Catie is a School Psychologist at Lakes Elementary. Our family hobbies include spending countless hours outside and at the beach. We love building forts and trying new restaurants, and we’re excited for our upcoming family trip to Ogunquit!
Classroom Corner
The year is almost over, and our toddlers have grown so much! There are three toddler offerings at CNS; PreK2, Nature Explorers, and Co-op playgroup. These programs give children the opportunity to become familiar with school alongside their parent or caregiver. In September these little friends look so young, but by May they are so grown and capable!
Rachel Daniels, CNS Director
Upcoming Events
Past News & Announcements
CNS April 2025 Newsletter
Dear CNS Families,
Since 1956, Community Nursery School has transformed the green into an imaginative play space for children and families. We will showcase many interactive booths that feature games, activities, animal encounters, rides, process art, and much more! Every year we work hard to evolve and engage our children! New this year will be CNS gear printed on demand and an “Adopt a Pet” (a.k.a. stuffy) booth! The most incredible part of the Little Folks Fair is that it is planned and put on completely by parent volunteers (you!). This is just another amazing way that CNS brings our school and community together. This year is so special as we are celebrating Community Nursery School's 70th year!
All proceeds benefit Community Nursery School. The event is the school's primary fundraiser and fully supports our financial aid program as well as many special programs throughout the school year. If you haven’t yet signed up, please do so using the link below. We couldn’t do it without you!
Amy Johnson & Chrissy Toner, 2025 Little Folks Fair Directors
What’s New
Spread the Word - The Great Give is May 7-8
The Great Give is just around the corner! Held May 7 and May 8, this 36-hour online giving event supports many local nonprofits, including CNS. Please mark your calendars and share the event with your family, friends, businesses, and employers!
This year, The Great Give is extremely important to CNS because it will be kicking off our Capital Campaign to raise funds for our new classroom. This will be the first Capital Campaign for CNS, making it even more special and important, and we are asking for 100% community involvement.
Teachers will be providing gifts to families who raise the most funds, and board members have already been busy taking advantage of matching opportunities that their employers offer.
You can help us have a successful Great Give by doing the following:
Share the event! The CNS Great Give fundraising page, where you can donate and find more information about the campaign, is linked below. Each time you share, you can place your child's name in a box (located at the top of the stairs) to enter a raffle. Email the event to family, friends, coworkers, and/or take a flyer to hang at your favorite coffee shop or put in your neighbors' mailbox.
Look into matching opportunities that your employer may have
Frequently visit The CNS facebook page on days leading up to The Great Give to see reminders and ways your community is getting involved.
Stop by our coffee station on May 7 after drop off to donate and attend the raffle drawing!
CNS’s New Building Update
As many of you may have seen, we had some big excavators on our property recently! As part of the planning for our new building, we were required to designate a secondary location for a backup septic system. The sanitarium has approved our plans, and we’re now awaiting final approval from the town, which we expect in the coming weeks.
Next step: breaking ground! We’re so excited to see this vision coming to life and are incredibly grateful for your continued support—none of this would be possible without you!
Taryn Doran-Kelly, CNS Board President
Spring Painting Clean Up May 17
Despite the rainy weekend, we had a very successful work party in early April. Thank you so much for everyone's efforts and hard work! We worked hard to do some general spring cleaning such as making sure flower beds are cleared of leaves and weeds. Additionally we patched the art studio's leaky roof, prepped surfaces for painting, and moved the sugar shack to give the kids some more playground space.
Unfortunately, we were not able to paint the surfaces that we prepped, so we are having another spring cleaning and painting party on May 17th (rain date May 18th). There will be plenty of other things to do in addition to painting, so come join us for the fun! As a reminder, all families must send one parent to one school clean up per year, equal to four hours of work. You can sign up for the spring painting clean-up at the link below
Mark Your Calendars for the CNS Spring Picnic
Please join us for the CNS Spring Picnic! This is a great chance to enjoy the warmer weather and our awesome CNS community, plus it serves as our annual meeting. Pizza, snacks, and drinks will be served. If you haven’t yet RSVPed, please do so using the link below. If you have any questions, you can email Christina Daly at christinabullard@gmail.com.
CNS Spring Picnic
When: Saturday, May 3rd @ 12PM-2PM
Where: Bittner Park
It’s Tick Season - Tips for Tick Bite Prevention
With warmer weather comes ticks, and we suggest that checking your child should be part of your every day routine. Tick bite prevention starts with sending your child to school prepared:
Wear light colored clothes.
Tuck pants into socks.
Use insect repellent.
Tick checks after school are recommended:
Examine clothing and gear for ticks
Put clothes in dryer on high for 10 minutes to kill ticks.
Do a full body check for ticks, paying attention to in and around hair, under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, the backs of the knees, between the legs, and around the waist.
Order Your CNS T-shirts for the Little Folks Fair
If you do not already have one, please remember to order your CNS T-shirts for the Little Folks Fair! Everyone volunteering at the fair is required to wear a CNS shirt, and the deadline to order is May 7th. Please reach out to Agata at agatarzucidlo@gmail.com with any questions.
Family Spotlight
The Caviolas
Hello from the Caviola Family!
We’re Jon and Caitlin, proud parents to our two sons, Remy (3) and Jules (9 months). Remy is currently enrolled in PreK 2’s and Outdoor Explorers with Ms. Sullivan, and we’re so excited for him to move up to PreK 3’s in September!
Jon and I moved to Guilford from our hometown of Greenwich, CT in 2016, and we love living on the Shoreline. Together we run our own small business, Eastwoods Organics, where we grow and sell rare and ornamental trees, fresh eggs, maple syrup, and other seasonal homemade products. As a family, we love spending time in our vegetable garden, tending our flock of thirty chickens, and hiking local trails. Our happy place (besides our backyard) is St. Andrews by the Sea, New Brunswick, where we visit every summer.
We’re so grateful to be part of this lovely community and look forward to many happy years at CNS!”
Classroom Corner
These last few months of school are so wonderful because we have watched children grow into such great friends. Building and maintaining friendships is such an important part of the learning that takes place at CNS. This past month we have spent a lot of time talking about ways to enter play, how to speak with one another about play choices, and even how to decline an invitation to play. Talk to your children about how they ask friends to play at school, if they sometimes like to play alone, or how they navigate play choices.
Rachel Daniels, CNS Director
Upcoming Events
Past News & Announcements
CNS March 2025 Newsletter
Dear CNS Families,
As we look ahead to the 2025-2026 school year, the CNS Board is proposing amendments and additions to the Bylaws, which fall into three broad categories; (1) corporate compliance and governance; (2) more clearly defining the roles, duties, and obligations of the Board of Directors; and (3) establishing compensation guidelines for staff and faculty.
As members of our CNS co-op, you will be able to vote on the acceptance of these bylaws at the Annual Meeting & Spring Picnic, which will be held May 3 at Bittner Park from 12-2pm. A summary of the proposed changes is below, and the full bylaw changes can be reviewed here.
Corporate Compliance and Governance. Additions include language codifying the prohibition on engaging in any and all political activities and an expansive Non-Discrimination Policy.
Fiduciary Obligations of Board Members. The amendments and additions in this category address more clearly setting forth the general fiduciary duties owed by members of the board, including sections addressing conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and the codifying the authority of board members to bind the school and what is required for them to do so.
Staff and Faculty Compensation Guidelines. This section more clearly sets forth the Board's role in establishing staff compensation, as well as providing safeguards against the arbitrary reduction in staff compensation and a guaranteed annual cost of living adjustment.
If you have any concerns or questions about the proposed Bylaw changes, please feel free to reach out to any board member, or email theboard@guilfordcns.org.
Johnny Fendt, CNS Board Vice President
What’s New
Dr. Jen Scoggin’s Second Parent Literacy Workshop
This year CNS is working with Dr. Jen Scoggin, a literacy consultant and author, to develop our literacy curriculum. Dr. Scoggin’s second of three workshops focused on nuturing young readers through the practice of reading aloud.
Reading aloud has numerous academic and social emotional benefits, such as increasing empathy, developing attention span, improving problem solving skills, building vocabulary, and reducing stress. Dr. Scoggin also spoke about ways to support reading comprehension while reading together with our children. Asking open-ended questions, talking about the characters’ feelings, asking your child to make predictions, and reading expressively are all excellent ways to strengthen the reading experience.
If you’re interested in learning more about Dr. Scoggin’s work, please visit https://trustingreaders.com, and be sure to join us for Dr. Scoggin’s last workshop on May 6!
Sign Up Now For The Little Folks Fair
The Little Folks Fair is approaching - it will be on Saturday, June 7! Since 1956 CNS has hosted the fair on the Guilford Green. The fair transforms the Green into a playground for children and families, creating memories that will last a lifetime. The Little Folks fair is not only a wonderful event, but one of our biggest fundraisers of the year, which helps to fund our financial aid.
This fair could not happen without the support and commitment of our amazing CNS families, and now is the time to sign up for your volunteer position. Below is a link to the sign-up sheet, where you can choose which booth you would like to be a part of on fair day. If you have any challenges signing up, please email one of the Little Folks Fair Directors - Amy Johnson at amyjohnsoncns@gmail.com or Chrissy Toner at chrissy.milanese@gmail.com.
We’re so looking forward to the 2025 Little Folks Fair; seeing parents working together to support our school, our community and our children is priceless!
Thank You to the Guilford Fund for Education
This past fall we received grant funding from the Guilford Fund for Education (GFFE) to build a sugar shack and send home tree tapping supplies with families. This month our sugar shack was built and children tapped trees at school and at home, boiled sap, and made their own maple syrup! We are so grateful for the support from the GFFE and our school community; this will be an amazing memory for the children at CNS.
Mark Your Calendars for these Spring Events
Nature 3s Parent Coffee Chat
Who: Nature 3s Parents
When: Wednesday, April 2 @ 9:15AM
Where: The Red Barn at CNS (front playground closed)
Contact: Irene Baker: ireneo@gmail.com
Toddler Meet-up
Who: Toddler Families
When: Sunday, April 6 @ 9:30-10:30AM
Where: CNS back playground
Contact: Paige Keefe: pkeefe16@gmail.com
CNS Parent Night Mixer
Who: All CNS Families
When: Wednesday, April 23 @ 7:00PM
Where: Stony Creek Brewery
Contact: Connie & Michael Bakutes: conniemottola@aol.com
Take a night off from bedtime routines and join us for a fun and relaxed evening out with your fellow co-op participants. It’s the perfect chance to unwind, mingle, and maybe even win a prize or two! There will be raffles and lots of laughs! If only one partner can make it—divide and conquer—come solo and enjoy a well-deserved night out. Want to donate a raffle basket? We’d love your support! If you’d like to contribute a basket for the raffle, please email me at conniemottola@aol.com. Come connect, relax, and enjoy a fun evening with your amazing co-op community—we can’t wait to see you there!
4s Meet-up
Who: 4s Families
When: Saturday, April 26th @ 10AM
Where: CNS back playground
Contact: Lily Prioreschi: LilianPrioreschi@gmail.com
CNS Spring Picnic
Who: All CNS Families
When: Saturday, May 3rd @ 12PM-2PM
Where: Bittner Park
Contact: Christina Daly: christinabullard@gmail.com
Reminder to Join the CNS Spring Grounds Clean-Up
CNS’s spring grounds clean-up is right around the corner. If you’re able, please join other CNS families on April 5 to tidy up the grounds. All families must send one parent to one school clean up per year, equal to four hours of work. You can sign up for the spring clean-up at the link below!
Family Spotlight
The Lefkins
We are the Lefkins - Dave, Brooke, Chase and Harper! Chase is 2 and is in PreK2s with Ms Sullivan, and Harper is only 3 months old. You may hear from Brooke as she coordinates grounds clean up this spring! We moved to Guilford in 2020 from Brooklyn, NY, but Dave went to high school here too. Brooke is lucky enough to work from home as a Senior Program Manager at Noom, and Dave is a full time Musician. He plays locally all the time in case anyone loves to dance! We spend most of our time playing outside with our dog Aria, going on walks or hikes, playing music and building magnetiles. Our favorite place is Block Island, where we spend most of our time in the summer!
Classroom Corner
This month we celebrated Holi in the PreK4s class. Learning about different cultural celebrations is an important and special part of our curriculum. Holi is a Hindu festival that celebrates colors, love, and spring. After reading books and learning about the holiday, the children celebrated outside. It was a very colorful morning!
Rachel Daniels, CNS Director
Upcoming Events
Past News & Announcements
CNS February 2025 Newsletter
Dear CNS Families,
As some of you may know, this coming year is Community Nursery School’s 70th Birthday! It is incredible to look back at our deep history of providing quality education to children, and it is such a privilege to be a part of its future.
The Board is excited to announce that the vision of a new school house is finally coming to fruition - we have partnered with Porticoni Industries and will break ground next month!
This new school house will allow CNS to expand our nature school programming, welcome more families into our community, and continue the legacy of our founders. Our administration has already secured over $100,000 in donations and grants to jumpstart this exciting project. In addition, we are launching a Capital Campaign to raise funds from the broader Shoreline Community.
In light of these exciting activities, we are looking to form three new committees to support work related to our 70th anniversary, Capital Campaign, and New School Building. If you would like to be involved in any of these committees please fill out this form. Current families, alumni, and community members are welcome to join any committee.
I am personally so grateful that you have chosen to be part of CNS and for everything you bring to our school community. I’m looking forward to celebrating this milestone year with all of you and showing just how much we “Love School!”
Taryn Doran-Kelly, CNS Board President
What’s New
Be a Part of the CNS Spring Grounds Clean-Up
CNS’s spring grounds clean-up will be happening April 5, and we need your help! Three times a year, families organize to rake or blow leaves, remove vines from the fence, and otherwise tidy up the grounds. As a licensed facility, CNS must maintain a certain standard of cleanliness on our school grounds, and your participation saves us thousands a year in landscaping fees.
All families must send one parent to one school clean up per year, equal to four hours of work. If you are unable to make a clean up, there are tasks that can be done on alternate days. You can sign up for the spring clean-up at the link below!
Maple Sugaring at CNS!
Thanks to a generous grant from the Guilford Fund for Education, CNS will be tapping trees, collecting sap, and making maple syrup this year!
The Nature Kindergarten class has been hard at work learning more about maple trees and how maple syrup is made. An expert on maple sugaring from the Yale School of the Environment spent a morning with the class, answering questions about tapping and maple syrup production, and helping the class tap four trees around the CNS campus. The class will begin to check the buckets daily and collect and store the sap until they’re ready to boil it down into maple syrup.
In addition to tapping CNS trees, we’re excited to offer the chance for CNS families to tap trees at home. The school has enough supplies to lend 1 bucket, cover, and spile to any CNS family that is interested in sharing in this experience at home. If you’d like to participate, please fill out this form and supplies will be sent home with your CNS student. Tapping supplies will be loaned out for 1-2 weeks (depending on the weather). The sap that you collect each day should be stored in your refrigerator and then brought to CNS at the end of the week to add to our weekly sugaring boil.
We’re looking forward to the next steps in this maple syrup adventure!
Enroll Now for Summer Sessions
It’s time to enroll your child in summer sessions at CNS! There are still openings, especially in the full-week sessions, but spots are filling up fast. Fill out the applicable summer enrollment form below to get started. Full-week sessions are open to any child up to 8 years old who has completed a year of PreK3s, and there are also sessions for nature programming, art & artist exploration, and a theater program.
Last year, CNS summer program students were able to apply for financial aid courtesy of a $2,000 grant awarded by the Youth Advisory Grant committee (advised by The Guilford Foundation). We encourage families who need support to apply.
Upcoming Parent Literacy Workshop with Dr. Jen Scoggin
This year CNS is working with Dr. Jen Scoggin, a literacy consultant and author, to develop our literacy curriculum. The second of three workshops with Dr. Scoggin will be held virtually on Tuesday, March 4 at 7:30 pm (Google Meet link to come).
In this session, we will explore various routines and purposes for reading aloud with your child, highlighting what you can do to prepare your reader for future success with understanding stories and informational text. In addition, we will talk about the vital connection between reading and writing and some tips for supporting early engagement with writing.
Family Spotlight
The Fritch-Stalsburgs
Chuck Fritch and Brittany Stalsburg are parents to Della (4s, Mrs. Cruz) and Dylan (toddlers), as well as a CNS alum, Dean (age 6, in Kindergarten at Cox). Brittany and Chuck met in New York where they lived until Dean was 6 months old, at which time they moved back to Connecticut to be closer to family and have more space. They found the CNS community in 2019, when Dean began the toddlers classes. Enamored by CNS's welcoming, friendly, and inclusive vibe, Brittany and Chuck have been active parent volunteers as all 3 kids have gone through the program. Brittany served on the Board and also directed the Little Folks Fair in 2023. Outside of CNS, Brittany runs a market research consultancy and Chuck manages an AirBNB property. They are also involved in local non-profits including the Community Dining Room and Lasagna Love. As a family, they love traveling (Chuck is from California!) spending time at their beach house in East Haven, and taking advantage of all the fun activities and events on the CT Shoreline.
Classroom Corner
This month the three year old classes put on their Winter Art Show. This special exhibit of winter related art has been an event at CNS for years! The children created process art and filled the barn with their creations. Children engaging in process art learn to explore different materials and express themselves without conforming to a specific outcome or product. This is a great way to build confidence in children as they see the value that lies in creating. Thank you to our teachers for facilitating this wonderful event and our families for supporting our little artists!
Rachel Daniels, CNS Director
Upcoming Events
Past News & Announcements
Spring Clean Up Sign Up Information
The second School Clean-Up is scheduled for Sunday, April 21st @ 10:00am-2:00pm. There are 25 family slots available for this clean-up. If this date/time works for your family please sign up (one slot/family) using this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0848ABAE2DA1FBC25-48721720-cnsspring
Each family is required to send one parent to one school clean-up this year, unless your co-op job requires extra clean-up attendance. There will be other clean-up opportunities. This event is child-friendly, it can be a great opportunity for us to model for our children a community at work. Please keep in mind if you do decide to bring your children that you are responsible for keeping an eye on your child and ensuring their safety during the clean-up!
As we get closer to the date I will send out a Google Doc sign up to the 25 families that have signed up for this clean up. This Google Doc will list the tasks that we plan to complete during the clean up, as well as the tools/equipment we will need you to bring for each task. If you sign-up for this clean up, please look out for that email prior to the cleanup date.
Thank you!
Carly Wysoczanski (Luke's Mom)
P.S. This email address is a shared account to send all-school emails. If you would like to reply to me, email Carly.wysoczanski@gmail.com
Welcome to CNS families from the director!
Hello Families,
I hope you are all having an amazing summer! We are so excited to start a new school year with you and your child.
Over the summer there are several important things that need to be done before your child can begin school in September.
Submit your child’s medical forms, including flu shot records. Allergy and asthma documentation must also be provided, if applicable.
Complete your background check and fingerprinting
Set up your BrightWheel billing (checking account preferred)
Sign and return the Parent Permission Form (attached)
Sign and return the Family Handbook, photo release form, discipline policy, and Co-Op Participation Agreement, once they are made available
Ready your child’s school supplies
Medical Forms
Before the start of school I will need an updated medical form for every child. Your child's pediatrician has the form, but for reference, here is the form
The first page is for parents/guardians to fill out and sign, the remaining pages are for the physician to fill out and the immunization record must be attached.
If your child has asthma/allergies I will also need additional forms please let me know so I can make sure you have the correct paperwork.
A few additional details about immunizations.
Flu shots are required for children in preschool. Your child will need a flu shot by 12/31/23 to return to school in the new year. A reminder that there is no longer a religious exemption for vaccines, only approved medical exemptions. If your child has been vaccinated for COVID (not required) please be sure that is indicated on the immunization record.
Background Checks/Fingerprinting
The state requires all family members participating in a preschool classroom to be background checked and fingerprinted. If you completed this last year, there is no need to do it again.
There will be a communication coming asking for your full name, DOB, zipcode, and preferred email address. After I get that information I can check to see if you are in the system. If you are, GREAT! If you are not, I will use that email address to invite you to begin the background check process.
School Calendar, Parent Permission Form & Portal
For those who have not received a calendar, I will attach a copy to this email.
There is also a parental permission form attached that needs to be filled out and returned as well.
There is a Family Portal on the CNS website with a collection of forms and links if you misplace these, and the password is loveschool.
Billing & BrightWheel
At this point everyone should have received an invitation to join Brightwheel, our online platform for communication, billing, etc. If you have not, please respond to this email with the best email address to send the invite.
Once you are in Brightwheel, please fill out your child's personal information section. When you set up billing, please check to make sure that Sept. tuition was paid and that the security deposit was applied.
If you are setting up payment plans and do not have a preference between credit card and ACH transfer, please consider using ACH transfer as it saves our school a significant amount of money in absorbed fees.
School Communication
Please like and follow our school Instagram and Facebook page. We also have a private facebook group for current families. Families should use and interact with the private group as much as possible! This is a great way to coordinate and get to know one another.
Nearly all of the communication from the school will be done over Brightwheel, this is one of the few emails you will receive from me this year!
However, the majority of school activities are organized by parents and families. They will mostly use email to communicate with our school community. Please add theboard@guilfordcns.org and community@guilfordcns.org to your contacts to avoid emails going to spam.
School Supplies
For the first day of school, please make sure your child has the following (all labeled with the child’s name):
Indoor shoes
Nut-free snack
A water bottle
Appropriate outerwear, including outdoor shoes, and play clothing
An extra set of clothes in a labeled bag
Lunch, if staying for enrichment or a lunch program
A school bag will be provided at meet and greet.
If you need labels, please purchase them via Mabel’s Labels as a portion of the proceeds goes to CNS.
Clothes
Clothes should be school clothes. By which I mean play clothes. Play clothes need to be items that will get paint, dirt, water, and food all over them. Every day. Children are meant to explore and investigate the world around them and clothes need to make that possible, not be a barrier to that experience. Many of the art supplies we use are washable. Some are not. Some claim to be washable, but are not (I am looking at you, blue liquid watercolor). Please send your child to school in clothes that will allow them to have messy, sensory, and independent experiences. And that might mean you send them in high-end couture. That's fine! Just as long as you are comfortable with it coming home covered in blue liquid watercolor.
Shoes
The children will be wearing indoor shoes inside the building. These are soft soled shoes/slippers that they can put on themselves. This keeps our school cleaner, quieter, and helps foster independence and responsibility. Outdoor shoes need to be safe for climbing and playing outside. Rain and snow boots should be worn when the weather calls for it, as we do go outside in nearly all weather.
A few links for indoor shoes:
Accessories
Please limit the number of accessories worn to school. They can be distracting, lost, and sometimes hazardous.
Outerwear
Children spend time outside EVERYDAY. Unless the weather is dangerous, they will be outside. Time outdoors in nature is core to our mission, and children thrive in all weather. Please send your child with clothes appropriate for the temperature and predicted precipitation. Please label all outerwear!
Snack
All children eat snack at school, and snack is not provided by the school. A couple of pieces of advice:
Snack should be small! One or two items only. A granola bar. Strawberries and a string cheese. Fifteen course snacks are more than children can eat at that time.
We are fostering independence in our children. Snacks that they can open themselves are best. Many parents "start" the snack for their children (example: tearing the corner of the granola bar wrapper so a child can open it themselves).
Please send your child to school with a labeled water bottle that they can open and close on their own.
Our school is nut-free.
Lunch
If your child will be eating lunch at school, much of the same advice applies. Containers or packing that the child can open themselves (although teachers will always help!) Lunches are not refrigerated so cold packs work well if necessary.
Backpacks
This year we will be using cubby bags. This is a tote that will be given to your child so that they can carry everything that they need to and from school; their snack, lunchbox, water bottle, and artwork and projects home. We are switching from the type we used last school year. Your child will receive their bag at the meet and greet.
Dates
Teacher Meet and Greets - Sept. 5th and 6th. Invites coming in August!
First Day of School - Sept. 7th and 8th
There is a lot of information above, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions. There is also a CNS family handbook that will come later this summer, as well as details about cooperative participation.
Enjoy the summer weeks ahead!
Sincerely,
Rachel Daniels, CNS Director