It's the Little Things In Life...

See more construction progress in the slideshow below!

It was a week of little, but important, things. We spent a great deal of time on the site and made choices and changes. Here is a brief, but incomplete list:

1. We chose the paint colors- it is a surprise, but we think that you will love the finished product.

2. We chose the hardware - who knew there were so many doorknob choices??.

3. We figured out the "key map." That is a complicated task when you think about five buildings.

4. We worked out the "electrical map." That means things like outlets and switches.

5. We realized that one building only has windows on one side overlooking the dumpster. So... we added some windows and moved some others.

6. We added some more windows in the Middler Building.

7. We rerouted a part of the fence.

8. We chose the roofing tiles.

We hope that you have had a chance to visit the site. What you are seeing is the Administration Building closest to the road that is roofed and sided. The big building in back is the Preschool Building. Between those two buildings is the location of the Kitchen and Gross Motor Room. The Kitchen Building will begin to be framed this week. On the left side of the campus as you look at it from the road is the Middler Building. Still missing is the future Infant Building. It will be right in the middle close to the road. It will be the last to be completed.

We had a long conversation with the builders about our timing and they are saying that we can begin to landscape in October. We should receive what is called a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, or a TCO in November. We can begin to load supplies into the building once we have our TCO. We are expecting a Certificate of Occupancy, or a CO in December.

Our plan is to have our currently enrolled children begin to move over to the new campus for "try outs" in December. We will open the new campus on Monday,
January 4,2010 to all new students.

WE WILL GIVE YOU A NOTICE OF OFFICIAL ENROLLMENT DATE AS SOON AS WE HAVE RECEIVED TCO. Please wait to receive that from us before you give notice. We don't want anyone to give notice at their current schools until we know 100% for sure that we are ontime.

UPCOMING EVENTS
September 27th – Back to School Night from 4 – 6pm. This is a parents only event. We will begin with a large group meeting to talk about the new building and the transition as well as discuss the children’s portfolios. Everyone, including families who have not yet joined us is welcome to come for this portion. After, our current parents will be meeting with their child’s teachers for a classroom activity.

October 23rd – Fall Festival and Bonfire The Fall Festival will begin at 3:30 and will be for our currently enrolled children. We would love for everyone, including new families, alumni, future families, neighbors to join us for the bonfire that night. We will begin gathering around 6pm down at the field.

December 5th- Open House We will open up the current school from 10:00-12:00 for a meet and greet. Our HOPE is that we are able to take everyone interested on a walking tour of the new campus from 12:00-1:00. We won't be able to confirm that until we are closer to the date. This is an open house for current families, friends, and future families. We can't wait to see you all there.

Glimpse: This week's glimpse is a look into the Little School. We were sitting on the floor in the Toddler Room with a group of six children and their group leader. One of the children is newer to us and she is still very shy. Another of the children is new to us, but she has been around the school since her birth and she is not only comfortable, but rarely shy anyway. We were handing out crackers and the shy child had retreated but was watching intently as the others all came to take their crackers. We were still watching when our not-shy child walked over to us and thrust her free hand out to us with the most serious look on her face. Stuck by the boldness of her physical assertion, we giggled and handed her another cracker. She toddled herself right across the room and very gently handed the shy child the cracker. She then placed her free arm on the other child. The smile from the shy child was immediate and broad. She ate her cracker in her corner and was so pleased. We were so moved by the simple and beautiful gesture that we just knew that it had to be this week's glimpse for you. What a wonderful way to spend the day.

HAPPY EVERYTHING!

The Half-Day Program is a Success!
We are so pleased to report that we had a fantastic first week in our half-day program. Both Miss Rachel and Mr. Sean have reported that they are in love with their children who did a great job becoming a part of their new classrooms. We each had several opportunities to be in the classrooms and on the playground with our new half-dayers and were so blessed to see so many smiles, receive so many hugs, and witness such a smooth transition. One of our new children wore a dress this week that read: HAPPY EVERYTHING! That pretty much sums up our wonderful week 1!

On site we have had an equally successful week. We now have 3 buildings- some with walls, others with walls and siding, and one with walls, siding, and windows! It is just thrilling for us to drive by and see the changes happening daily.

We also purchased our commercial kitchen equipment this week! We took Chef Nate on a field trip and watched him as he explored the equipment and machinery and utensils. It was not that different than watching his sweet son explore his new classroom as he became a Preschooler recently. Like father, like son and so much fun to be a part of their lives. We just can't wait for Nate to be a daily component of the school.

Glimpse:
September 27th – Back to School Night from 4 – 6pm. This is a parents only event. We will begin with a large group meeting to talk about the new building and the transition as well as discuss the children’s portfolios. Everyone, including families who have not yet joined us is welcome to come for this portion. After, our current parents will be meeting with their child’s teachers for a classroom activity.

October 23rd – Fall Festival and Bonfire The Fall Festival will begin at 3:30 and will be for our currently enrolled children. We would love for everyone, including new families, alumni, future families, neighbors to join us for the bonfire that night. We will begin gathering around 6pm down at the field.

Two Upcoming Events!

Hello Everyone.

We have several very exciting dates to share with you.

On Sunday, September 27th we will be holding a back to school night from 4:00-6:00. This event will begin with a conversation about our fall and our transition to the Waterstone Campus. We will be using that time to introduce you to our leadership team, share our vision, discuss logistics, and talk about roles at the new school. We will also be talking about children's portfolios and observations and the importance of these to our school.

Our conversation will be followed with classroom events in each of the SIX classrooms at the school. How exciting to have the half-day families joining us for the first time!

Next, the fall festival/bonfire/photo day will all be held on Friday, October 23rd.

Families are welcome to sign-up for family portraits beginning at 3:00 on the 23rd. There will be a sign-up sheet posted on the door to the main school building a week prior to the event. Families who are new to us should know that we love LOVE David Gellatly who is returning to take our photos for his 4th year. He is wonderful!

The fall festival will begin at 3:30 and will conclude by 5:00. We always need as many parent/grandparent volunteers as possible. Please let us know as soon as possible if you will be available to volunteer to help out with this event. As we are holding this event the week before Halloween it is going to be focused on Fall this year and not Halloween. CHILDREN WILL NOT WEAR COSTUMES TO THIS EVENT. We will be exploring the sites, smells, tastes and sounds of fall with a series of activities. This is always a great event!

*Our MTW families are very much invited to join us for all of the events of this day.

We will end the day with our annual bonfire. This is by far the most wonderful night of our year. Here are some important details for you to have:
1. This is a potluck. There will be a sign-up sheet on the door at the main school.
2. This event is usually attended by 90%+ of our community. This is a great chance for you to meet other families and make some new connections.
3. The event ends at 8:00 but it is very often the case that many families will sit around the fire much later into the night.
4. We serve s'mores so come hungry because the children love making them even more than they love eating them.
5. Chairs and blankets are a great idea.
6. The community photo will be taken at this event.
7. We really encourage you to attend this event!

There will be more information about all of these events in the coming weeks. Please contact us if you have any questions or if you can volunteer to help out at the Fall Festival.

Thanks so much!

Christa and Jennifer

Week 2 A Busy Week Behind the Scenes

It has been a very busy week behind the scenes. We are meeting later on this afternoon with our complete team to discuss the upcoming construction schedule. We are meeting our grading contractor for the first time. It still surprises us to see so many faces sitting around the table at these meetings. We truly feel like the owners of a little school but our team implies that we have become much bigger. We have received many re-enrollment forms from our current families. It is amazing to us to look around and see all of the siblings coming into the school. We have seen the birth of fifteen future Little Schoolers this year ,and it is going to be so much fun to watch them grow with us.

Just as a reminder... The current families have until March 13th to return their re-enrollment forms. We will then send out the invitation to enroll to our Duke waiting list on March 16th. If you are a Duke family waiting, and you do not receive an email from us on that day please call the school in the afternoon and speak to Mary. Alternately,you can also send an email to: christaniven@thelittleschool.net and we will be sure to get you your invitation. We will begin our general enrollment on April 6th.

This was a very busy week for outside enrollment also. We gave several tours and took many phone calls from families hoping to enroll for the fall. It is so nice for us to be able to tell families that we can enroll them. It was always our goal to serve the unmet childcare need in our corner of Orange County. The truth is that we had no idea how great that need truly is. It is so hard to have to tell families who have been waiting to enter the school that we STILL don't have a spot. Please know that we are loving every minute of this time of saying "Yes, please join us!"

As we look to next week we will be waiting for our final approvals from the town. Once those have been received we will begin the site work. Our plan is to have a ground breaking party just after the grading is completed but before the foundation work begins. Please continue to read for updates on that.We want to start something new this week. We are going to call it a "Glimpse" and we will add one every week.

This week's Glimpse is: At the new school we will host community events one Friday per month from May-October. We are calling these get togethers "Family Fridays." We will hold these events on the courtyard of the Waterstone Campus. Current families from both campuses as well as prospective families and friends will be invited to join us. Our first Family Friday will be scheduled as soon as it is safe for us to be at the Waterstone campus this summer. We are planning to have live music and dancing at this first event. Chef Nate will prepare basket dinners in advance for families to pick up when they arrive.We see these events as opportunities for our families to get to know each other, and to continue our small school atmosphere even though our community is growing.

We get so excited even thinking about these events! Please send us any suggestions that you have for other Family Friday's. Some of our other ideas include: movies on the lawn, stories and shadow play, and our ever popular and favorite event of the year: the Fall Bonfire!

Thanks so much for all of your support and encouragement. We truly are the greatest school community ever. We can't wait until we are all together in the fall.

Christa & Jennifer