Community Support

An important part of a community is that it is there for support during major life changes. At CNS, we are a community. There are a number of ways we come together to support families as they encounter challenging times, organized by The Board. 

Major life changes may include:

  • Change in school or care provider 

  • Moving towns or houses

  • Divorce

  • Loss of a loved one

  • New siblings

  • A parent or guardian starting a new job

From meal trains to stepping up to cover your parent helper or work party obligations, there are many options available for the community to support you. Please email theboard@guilfordcns.org. You can request that your situation remain confidential or provide what you would like to share with the community.

It’s not uncommon for children to exhibit new behaviors while processing changes to their lives and routines. Toddlers are experiencing many life changes for the first time and are trying to understand how changes will impact their daily routines while also struggling to learn the life skill of emotional regulation. 

If there is something that might be affecting your toddler at home or at school, we encourage you to reach out to your teacher or the Director through BrightWheel. Communications through BrightWheel are visible only to your child’s teacher and the director. 

Your child’s teacher can work with you to make sure your individual situation is taken into account. Knowing what your child may be processing can also help teachers navigate classroom behavior.

Resources

BOOKS

FINANCIAL AID

LOCAL SERVICES

LOCAL THERAPISTS WITH TODDLER EXPERIENCE

You could help CNS save $9,000 a year!

Did you know❓

🚫 CNS spends over $9,000 a year on fees related to processing tuition payments by credit card

😎 You can help the school save by switching your auto-payments to your ACH or bank account.

👉 Instructions can be found here: https://help.mybrightwheel.com/en/articles/6321735-payment-methods-and-settings#h_fff3899c8b

💝🤝Alternatively, if you'd like to offset the 2.9% credit card processing fee, donations can be made online: https://www.guilfordcns.org/checkout/donate?donatePageId=63ee65f6e2eb506030bdb1b9

2023-2024 Family Directory

The Family Directory is now available on the CNS parent portal website.

  • Link: https://www.guilfordcns.org/cns-parent-portal

  • Password: loveschool

If your contact information or other details are incorrect, the Full Directory spreadsheet if fully editable and you can make any changes necessary yourself; you may also redact or remove your own details if you would like to opt-out.

This year, BrightWheel has added a Family Directory tab within the app. This information is not organized by class, so we will continue to create the Google Sheet; however, the BrightWheel directory is available if you would like to use it. Opt-out instructions are here: https://help.mybrightwheel.com/en/articles/8129695-using-the-parent-directory#h_af61d6f7c1

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. 

  1. Submit your child’s medical forms, including flu shot records. Allergy and asthma documentation must also be provided, if applicable.

  2. Complete your background check and fingerprinting

  3. Set up your BrightWheel billing (checking account preferred)

  4. Sign and return the Parent Permission Form (attached)

  5. Sign and return the Family Handbook, photo release form, discipline policy, and Co-Op Participation Agreement, once they are made available

  6. 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):

  1. Indoor shoes

  2. Nut-free snack

  3. A water bottle

  4. Appropriate outerwear, including outdoor shoes, and play clothing

  5. An extra set of clothes in a labeled bag

  6. 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:

  1. 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. 

  2. 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). 

  3. Please send your child to school with a labeled water bottle that they can open and close on their own.  

  4. 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

July 2023 Newsletter - School Calendar & More

Hello and welcome to CNS families new and returning! 

July is the start of a new academic year, though if you're like me, you're still in summer mode, possibly even enjoying the expanded summer programming at CNS this year. 

As we gear up for fall, we're excited to share the 2023-2024 academic calendar, available on the CNS Family Portal (password loveschool). The Family Handbook is still going through its annual revisions and will be released in August. Please be on the lookout for emails from Rachel Daniels, CNS Director, regarding required paperwork for the start of school.

We're entering into the 2023-2024 school year with so much momentum; CNS is fully enrolled with waitlists for every program--despite our expanded program offerings. We're also coming off two record fundraising years, putting us in an excellent position to act on our long term plans for the school.

This year, the CNS board has some big goals. We want to execute on many of the opportunities identified by last year's long term planning committee, including expanding our space to welcome more students and meet the need of the growing population of preschoolers in Guilford. We also aim to offer more programming options that will maximize the full use of our space. We’ll be rethinking what it means to be a member of the cooperative, and also the benefits of cooperative membership.

None of the above will be possible without the active participation of all of you, our cooperative members. Each of you have unique skills and passions; we welcome any ideas you have for applying your expertise to our school. CNS would not be where it is today for our children without the special skills dedicated by our past members. 

We hope you will join us in our work to improve the school for the generations of students to come, and for our local community. 

Sincerely,

Caitlin Garzi

President, CNS Board

PS. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Caitlin and I’m the president of the board this year. My daughter, Jane, is starting in the 3s program in the fall & my son, Robby, graduated last year and will be heading to Calvin Leete. We have so many dedicated board members steering the school; you can read about all our board memberson the websiteand you will be hearing from each member individually as the school year goes on.

CNS Highlights

Private Facebook Group

Each year CNS creates a private Facebook group for members to informally connect with each other.

Supplies Needed!

Looking for a concrete way to support CNS?

The school is in need of the following supplies to support Nature K. If you purchase anything, please mail or deliver it to the school and notify the director.

Upcoming Dates

Sept. 5 & 6: Meet & Greets

Sept. 7 & 8: The first days of school

Sept. 16: Guilford Parade

July 24: Book club Monday, July 24 at 7:00pm. Email to join.

Member Spotlight: Liz Kelly

This month we would like to spotlight Liz Kelly.  

Liz's dedication to CNS has played out in her thoughtful engagement with staff and her prolific work hiring many of the current teachers and aides at CNS. 

Liz served as board president for two years; this year, she is assuming the role of Secretary where she will continue to provide critical support to the school & the board, offering continuity and training to the new president & vice president.

Liz is the owner of Guilford's Mother Luna, which offers supportive programming for new mothers and their young children. Her son, Sam, is entering Nature K and her son Ben attends Melissa Jones.

Classroom Corner

Summer program is in full swing! The summer started with flower painting and stamping; last week children learned about pollinators and made dough bees out of turmeric and other ingredients.

Announcements

We're Hiring!

Please email Rachel Daniels if interested. 

Board Meeting Minutes

June board meeting minutes are available here. Going forward, all meeting minutes will be posted on the Family Portal.

Newsletter Idea or Suggestion?

Email theboard@guilfordcns.org