September Newsletter
Dear Families,
Our school year is off to a fabulous start: the children are making new friends, learning their new routines, and enjoying the lessons and classroom activities.
Please read this newsletter to stay “in the loop” about our upcoming activities, announcements, and reminders. September activities are included in this newsletter – please mark your calendar. We also have an events calendar on the website, so you can refer to that at any time.
https://www.pepperminttree.com/events
We will be sharing a bit each month about our educational philosophy, and what your children will be getting out of our program. I hope you will take the time to read it through to connect with our mission and the educational journey we are creating for your child. Thanks for reading. I would love to hear your feedback.
Let’s have a great School Year together.
Valerie Frost-Lewis, MS Ed. (“Miss Val”)
Owner/Director
The 2026-27 School Year is a very exciting year for Peppermint Tree.
This year we have made it our goal to take the time to explain our special program, and why we have built it the way we have. We will work to communicate to you, our families, community members and all who will listen – what we know to be important experiences for young children. Early Childhood is a time of rapid brain growth – so early childhood education matters. Please keep an eye out for these communications-to connect you with our vision and mission.
Here is a start…
In Peppermint Tree’s over 50 years serving families with young children, we have continuously evolved and honed our program to meet the current needs of children and families. And as always, times are changing. Today, children are growing up in a much more digital world than children even a decade ago. So, we have been researching and reflecting on what the children of today really need, now more than ever. And the most significant finding in the research is: Children need regular, intentional Nature Connection.
So, in our program, Nature Connection is in balance with Early Academics, Social Emotional Learning, and Building Community, as best practices, to create a well-rounded early childhood experience.
When children can get instant answers to questions by asking an adult to google and have access to a vast world of movies, cartoons, and an endless world of digital games, they can learn a lot – but they also would be missing a lot if these experiences are not kept in balance with foundational hands-on discovery learning experiences that build their brains and bodies for problem solving, critical thinking, decision making and curiosity. Technology is amazing – in and of itself, it is not bad. It just needs to be in balance, and especially for young children. If they can get instant answers and amazing images all the time, their brains will not be challenged to be creative, think critically and problem solve-which is needed for success in the world,
To assure your child gets a rich foundation of brain building experiences, our approach is to provide learning experiences in a Balanced Framework of Best Practices:
Nature Connection
Early Academics
Social Emotional Learning
Creating Community
In each of the next few newsletters, I will focus on one area of our “Balance of Best Practices”. Here is my first entry:
Nature Connection at Peppermint Tree
Even before I took over the school more than twenty years ago, Peppermint Tree always offered extended outdoor play on our park-like playground. The opportunity of the outdoor space attracted me to the property when I first toured it.
We added the raised garden beds that host our annual edible gardens in 2014. This has provided authentic study of seeds, plants and learning where our food comes from. Our Family Garden Planting party is one of our favorite annual events, that includes our families in the learning and the celebration. We are excited when our classroom seedlings can finally be planted outdoors!
Over the past few years, we have been adding to the outdoor space to deepen children’s connection with nature. We now have an Outdoor classroom, allowing the learning to continue as children breathe fresh air and explore the world around them. Over this past summer, we have also added new garden beds right on the playground, so children can learn about plants and connect with nature daily. Watch for more playground enrichments to come!
Providing educational content to stimulate children’s questions about the world around us is also important. We are excited to have been the pilot school for Earth Friends, a curriculum developed here by Peppermint Tree parent, Janna Hockenjos. This program has lessons that span the entire school year, teaching children all about our fascinating planet-about our animal friends, plant friends, and where our food and things come from, as well as all about the weather and energy. (Did you know that the Earth Friends program is now being taught to pre-service teachers at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)? It is so exciting and rewarding that the work we do here is being recognized and accepted as best practice!)
“Miss Janna” has now joined our team as Earth Friends Teacher and Outdoor Educator, and will be visiting the Early Learners, Preschool and PreK classrooms each Tuesday and Thursday, and also taking them outdoors for intentional outdoor experiences. The teachers will also be following through with activities and lessons throughout the week.
Miss Liz is our Internal Coach for Nature Connection in the classroom, and she will be working with all the teachers to keep Nature Connection going every day! We will also be keeping you in the loop with information for families on what we are learning in Earth Friends, so you can extend the learning at home.
Why is Nature Connection so important for young children?
A lot happens in your child’s brain outside in nature that does not happen indoors.
Here are just a few of the brain building reasons:
Decision-making increases. Outdoors presents constantly changing variables. Kids have to adapt. That adaptation builds executive function.
Sustained attention develops. Studies found that children with ADHD scored higher on concentration tests after a walk in nature. The greener their everyday experiences, the more manageable their symptoms.
Problem-solving engages. How do I climb this? What does this plant grow? What happens if I try this? Real-world problems require real-time solutions.
Memory improves. Researchers at UC Berkeley found that children experience a significant increase in memory span after nature walks.
There is so much more---such as mood and physical fitness advantages, as well. We are excited to share the impact nature connection has on children, (I am sure many of you already know and agree with this) and we hope it becomes more and more evident to you as your child progresses through our program.
I could go on…but we have a lot of information for you on our activities, also - so that is what follows.
Activities and Calendar Updates:
Two Optional Afternoon Activities are being Offered!
Soccer Shots on Wednesday afternoons at 2:00 p.m., and Wee Can Dance on Thursday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. are both wonderful options if you are looking to add special activities to your child’s week. Both programs have been Peppermint Tree FAVORITES through the years – and we are excited to offer both of these great activities for your children. Both programs are offering online sign-ups. Here are the links. Sign up today to save a spot for your child:
Soccer Shots:
Wee Can Dance:
https://app.thestudiodirector.com/weecandance/portal.sd?page=Login
Classes for these programs start the week of 9/14/26.
A free demo of Soccer Shots is being offered starting at 10:00 a.m. for each classroom on Wednesday, September 9th, and a Free Demo of Wee Can Dance is being offered to each classroom starting at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 10th.
Music Visitor: Miss Lisa from Peas and Carrots Music will be visiting on Monday, September 14th
Our “house” Music visitor, Mr. Scott the Music Man is once again on a break, to have his second knee replacement completed this Fall. He will be back this winter. In the meantime, we have booked the warm and wonderful Miss Lisa to visit each classroom once a month this Fall, to share music, movement and fun!
Please join us for Our First Parent Group Meeting: Tuesday, September 15th at 8:00 p.m. via Zoom
We invite all parents/guardians to attend our Parent Group Meeting via Zoom. (Zoom link to be sent later.) This is your opportunity to meet with Miss Val every month, and to meet other parents to work together to create the community we want for our children and families. We plan activities, parent workshops, and provide valuable feedback to the school director to assure we are meeting your needs.
School Portraits are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, September 23rd & 24th
The photos will be taken outdoors. If the weather is not good, we will have a make-up day. If your child does not attend on a Wednesday or Thursday, and you would like to have their picture taken, please call the office to set up a time for you to bring your child in for a photo. If your child attends both days, we will plan to get the photo done on the Wednesday. The photo sitting is free and there is no obligation to purchase photos. The proofs will be available within a few weeks of the photo shoot, and you will be provided information to place your order online if you would like to purchase any photos. We will take sibling groupings and classroom group photos in addition to individual portraits.
Toms River Schools are Closed on Monday, September 21: There is no school at Peppermint Tree for those following the Toms River Schools calendar.
On many of the days Toms River Schools are closed, for those of you who are registered for our Peppermint Tree calendar, we are open and we will be expecting your child to attend. We will be combining children from the two PreK classes with any school age children who attend, into one group on these days. We will also combine Early Learners and Preschool class children.
If you follow the Toms River Schools calendar, we will not be expecting your child on these days. But, if you need childcare, please call the office and we can arrange to care for your child, on a space available basis. You will be billed for the care on a per day basis.
Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore will be visiting on Wednesday, 9/30/26.
The Girl Scouts will be visiting the Preschool and PreK classes to provide a fun activity for the children and will provide information for families about their organization. We love to have various community visitors throughout the year!
Please join us for Back to School Night – Thursday, October 1st, 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Parents, students and siblings are welcome to attend!
We will start on our playground! We will bring small groups at a time into the classroom for a visit. If it is rainy, we will limit classroom visits to 15 minutes to limit the group size at one time.
Sign Up to Bring in Lunch Time Milk for your Child’s Class
As you may know, we serve water all day, and milk with lunch. We ask the parents to take turns sending in the lunch time milk for their child’s classroom. We ask for a gallon of 1% organic milk to be sent in when it is your turn. We have an online sign-up form, and send the link out to families via email. Please sign up, if you have not yet done so! If your child does not drink cow’s milk, we don’t expect you to participate in sending in milk, but please do send in an alternate type of milk for your child each week or two, that we can keep for your child in the refrigerator. Please label it with your child’s name.
Introducing The Pyramid Model and Peppermint Tree’s “Overall Expectations” for our community members (children, staff and families)
Peppermint Tree is proud that we are the only center in Ocean County to have been selected by the State of NJ to work with Montclair State University to implement The Pyramid Model at our center, which is an approach to develop and build children’s social and emotional skills and capacities. Our staff has in depth training on how to prepare the classrooms and teach children about their emotions, how to be a super friend, and how to solve problems.
As a part of our Pyramid Model Implementation, we have adopted “Overall Expectations” that we teach the children, and base our classroom rules upon. You can use them at home, too, if you agree, which will help give your child a consistent experience between home and school.
Overall Expectations:
We are Safe
We are Kind
We are Respectful
We are Problem Solvers
Each of the classroom rules, tie back to one of the expectations - for example: “We use listening ears because we are respectful”. Our classroom rules are posted with visuals in each classroom. At home, you can use this concept, too. For example, “We share with our siblings because we are kind.”
Flu Shots
Every child attending preschool in the state of NJ must have a flu shot before November 30th each school year. Please send in your child’s immunization update when this is completed. (This year, the State of NJ shortened the deadline to get the shot to November 30th- so please make your child’s appointment now!)
Accident Report Procedure
Please note that if your child gets a bump, bruise, or scrape, etc., we will note it on an accident report, and ask the parent to sign it at the end of the day. Parents only should sign this report, unless the parent has provided alternate permission. If there is any bump to the head or face we will call or message you via ProCare at the time of the accident, as well.
Reminders:
Please do NOT park in front of our building where the curb is painted YELLOW. This is an active bus stop – we have school busses that come and go all day!
Please return all paperwork, including medical forms, etc. if not already completed
Please check your child’s backpack each day and remove papers and art work sent home from school.
Please send your child to school wearing sneakers on their feet…these are the safest on the playground.
Please drive SLOWLY in our driveway and parking lot.
Label everything: backpacks (on the OUTSIDE – in LARGE PRINT), lunch bags (on the OUTSIDE), jackets, sweaters, all clothes, etc.
Send in an extra set of clothes, including socks (More than one set of clothes and sneakers if child is potty training.)
