Dear Families,
We have so many activities scheduled for our community – I hope you will read this newsletter to stay in the loop! Our Newsletter also starts with a discussion of one aspect of our Teaching Approach - in a continuation from the September and October Newsletters.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. We are thankful for our Peppermint Tree families!
Sincerely,
Miss Val
Valerie Frost-Lewis, MS Ed.
Owner/Director
As I have been writing in our last two monthly newsletters, our program is designed to assure each child gets a rich foundation of nurturing, brain building experiences. Our approach is to provide learning experiences in a Balanced Framework of Best Practices:
· Nature Connection
· Early Academics and the Arts
· Social Emotional Learning
· Creating Community
In this month’s newsletter, I am going to write about our focus on Early Academics and the Arts.
Based on the Creative Curriculum, children at Peppermint Tree are provided guided opportunities for discovery learning, process art, music and dramatics, as well as open-ended play. These intentionally planned activities spark critical thinking, curiosity, and creativity which prepares them for kindergarten and beyond.
Our program focuses on the development of problem-solving and reasoning skills to lay the foundation for strong critical thinking and life-long learning. We support this by:
modeling problem-solving
encouraging thinking before responding
teaching the difference between knowing and guessing
fostering categorization skills
This is where school preparedness begins. Reasoning, analyzing, making inferences, and making decisions to solve problems are important skills across all content areas and thus critical for school success.
Each day, we provide many creative opportunities for children. Creative activity requires the brain to do something different than passive consumption. The arts do more than enhance creativity, they enhance thinking. Early academics and the arts help build the critical thinking children need for future success.
As you may know, Peppermint Tree participates in the state of New Jersey’s Preschool Quality Rating and Improvement program, called Grow NJ Kids. We are proud to have been awarded a 4-star rating since the inception of the rating system in 2017. We get “re-rated” every three years. This rating includes the state vetting the educational credentials and ongoing professional development of our teaching staff, a review of our health and safety efforts, family engagement, and lengthy observations in the classrooms to assure the environment, curriculum and interactions promote nurturing care and appropriate learning. This rating gives you the assurance that our program meets high quality standards set forth by the NJ Department of Education for preschool children.
Thank you for reading about our Teaching Approach. The rest of the newsletter is all about our bustling community and the many activities we are offering our children and families.
We are currently running an online Fundraiser, from misschocolate.com. Please look for the flier sent home in your child’s backpack and by email.
This is a completely virtual fundraiser – with a variety of items you can purchase to fill your holiday gift list, food items, etc. All orders are placed online, and shipped to either the school or to you. You are also able to share a special link with your friends and family who may live far away – to ask for their support. We will use the proceeds to help offset the cost of our Spring “chick hatching” event. We are asking for your support!
Announcing: We are running a Food Drive for Local Families in Need
Please consider donating non-perishable food items (No Glass please), please also tell your child about your donation, you can give the items to your child’s teacher right at drop off. The food drive ends on Friday, November 20th. Thank you for contributing to our community, and helping us to teach our children about the importance of giving to those in need. (We donate to the Toms River non-profit organization, “Your Grandmother’s Cupboard”, that distributes food to local needy families.)
NO CLASSES November 5th & 6th, Toms River Schools are closed.
We will be open for childcare only, for those children who have signed up for the “Peppermint Tree Calendar” which includes school holidays. If your child follows the Toms River Schools calendar and you need care on those days, please contact the office to arrange it. This is available first come first serve on a space available basis, and there will be an extra cost for those who don’t have these days already worked in to their monthly tuition. Please prepare your child that they may have different teachers and be in a different room on these days, as we combine Preschool with Early Learners in one room, and both PreK’s and School Agers in another room on these days.
Our next Parent Group Meeting will be held on Tuesday, 11/17/26, at 8:00 p.m. via Zoom.
We will continue to discuss the workshops for parents and activities for families that we are planning, as well as other services we can provide our community. It’s a chance to connect with each other and help to make Peppermint Tree the warm and nurturing community that we all want for our children. The Zoom link will be sent out by email. Please mark your calendar now.
Here is the news from our last Parent Group meeting:
Based on the results of the surveys and the input of the parents during the meeting, we decided we would like to offer the following activities to our community (all are being worked on, details and dates will be determined during the planning process): (Months listed below show the proposed timeframe for each activity)
Parent Workshops (one hour via Zoom on a weeknight):
Building Healthy Habits: Working with Picky Eaters (January)
Challenging Moments: Bridging the gap between home and School. (This would be a facilitated Parent Forum and Discussion on navigating daily challenges and finding solutions. Please watch for a Google Form to ask about the "challenging moments" you may wish to discuss during this event. We will be looking for parent input to create a night that meets your interests and needs. (February)
Kindergarten Readiness (March)
Family Events:
Family Garden Planting Party - this family event will need volunteers to send in food, and help with facilitating planting. The school organizes the rest. (April)
Peppermint Tree Prom - Parent volunteers will run this event, so there will be parent meetings to set up committees for decorations, activities and food. (early May)
Family Toy Swap, Ice Cream Social and Mr. Scott the Music Man event - This will be an end of the school year family celebration, run by the school, for all to enjoy. Each child who attends the event brings a toy they no longer play with, but think another child would like. All go home with a "new" toy! (late May)
So, we have a lot of planning to do, to make these fabulous plans a reality. We hope you will want to attend our Parent Group meetings to give your input and help with the planning! Our next Parent Group Meeting will be held on Tuesday, 11/17/26, at 8:00 p.m. via Zoom.
PreK Field Trip to Johnson’s Corner Farm is scheduled for November 19th.
Permission slips and payments are due November 9th and parents are invited to sign up to chaperone. This is for Miss Nikki’s and Miss Liz’s PreK classes. Chaperones are on a space available basis and we will be letting parents know by 11/12/26 about chaperoning.
We will be CLOSED for the Thanksgiving Holiday, Thursday and Friday, November 26th & 27th. No classes or childcare will be offered.
Enjoy yourselves!!
The Fun Bus is coming back! This is an optional activity for Tuesday afternoons at 2:00 p.m.
Soccer Shots will be ending for the season, just in time for the Fun Bus to roll in and provide Tuesday afternoon exercise and fun, beginning in December! (The bus does not move while the children are inside.) It is basically a gym in a bus! They do all kinds of activities and practice many skills, and it is so much fun!! Sign up information is being sent home by email. There will be a free Fun Bus Demo for the children on Tuesday 11/17/26 at 1:00 p.m.
Pyramid Model Connection
Each month we will be adding a section to our newsletter devoted to a new skill or activity we are introducing to the children through our Pyramid Model implementation. At school, we focus on our “Overall Expectations”, so everyone knows how to be a good member of the class. As a reminder, these are our overall expectations:
We are kind
We are safe
We are respectful
We are problem solvers
All of our rules tie back to these expectations. (“We use walking feet in the classroom, because we are safe.” Maybe they will be helpful at your home, as well! (“We take turns with our brother/sister, because we are kind.”)
This month, we are emailing home a resource on an important tool we use at school, that you can also use sat home: Visual Schedules. A schedule with pictures can be used at home to teach routines such as getting ready for school. These types of schedules teach children what is expected of them and what they should be doing.
Has your child had a flu shot yet this season?
All children in preschool in NJ MUST get a Flu shot each year before November 30. Please send in the updated immunization record after the shot is given. The Ocean County Health Department inspects our records each year, so we must have the updated record for each child.
Inclement Weather
In case of snowy or icy conditions, please check for a text from us through the ProCare App, or your email box for updates about school opening on these days. We also provide this information to WOBM radio “Storm Watch” program and change our outgoing phone message. We make every effort to be open, however the safety of our staff and families is our first concern. As a guideline, if The Toms River Public Schools have a delayed opening or are closed due to inclement weather, the earliest we will open is 8:30 a.m. This will give us time to get our driveway and walkways plowed, salted and sanded and determine if we will delay further or must close for the day. There are no refunds or credits for inclement weather closings. Toms River Schools has not built in extra snow days, so we also have not. There is room in the calendar to extend up to 3 days at the end of the year for possible snow days. There will be no additional make-ups for snow days if there are more than three.
Parent Reminders:
· Please- no necklaces or dangling jewelry. These can be hazards on the playground, and they are easily broken and lost at school.
· No toys from home. These can also be easily lost and children have a hard time sharing their own toys. We have plenty of materials for the children at the school.
· Check backpacks daily for information from the office or your child’s teacher and art projects from your child.
· Label everything, especially backpacks, lunch boxes, jackets and sweatshirts!
· Please change the extra set of clothes in your child’s backpack for the cooler weather.
· Please be sure to dress your child for the cooler weather. Packing layers is helpful at this time of year. We play outside every day as long as it is not raining or snowing or below 32 degrees F.
· No scarves, no gloves. Mittens only please (as it gets cooler)
· When dropping off and picking up your child, please do not park by the yellow curb, as we are an active school bus stop, and also please take care not to block our across the street neighbor’s mailbox. When dropping off from our driveway to the front of the building, do not pull up past the front edge of the building. Please leave the front of the driveway clear for people pulling in and out.
