Flashback to the Back to School Picnic

Our schools and recreation programs held back to school picnics with yummy food, fun for the little ones and great memories with our families and children at Rainbow Station. The Chick-Fil-a cow made a special appearance at our Hanover school. Here are some some fun pictures from our picnic.

Outdoor time with the babies

Our Infant Room class spent some time outside in the warm weather. You can usually find them on the nursery playground "basking" and spending some quality time with their teachers!

Woodworking with Preschoolers

Our children gain benefits by working in the woodworking center. They include: eye hand coordination, self confidence, fine motor development, just to name a few. Here's the Gold Room exploring this outdoor center!

Play is important for children

The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds

Kenneth R. Ginsburg, MD, MSEd and the Committee on Communications and the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health

Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth. Play also offers an ideal opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children. Despite the benefits derived from play for both children and parents, time for free play has been markedly reduced for some children. This report addresses a variety of factors that have reduced play, including a hurried lifestyle, changes in family structure, and increased attention to academics and enrichment activities at the expense of recess or free child-centered play. This report offers guidelines on how pediatricians can advocate for children by helping families, school systems, and communities consider how best to ensure that play is protected as they seek the balance in children’s lives to create the optimal developmental milieu.

Tracing the letters in my name

Ms. Frances Dodson and her group of three year olds become familiar with the letters in their name through this appropriate fine motor and cognitive/language activity. After they are done "tracing" the letters they will make a friendship chain by connecting them together.

We made a flag!

Today I decided to venture out into the lobby of our school and make a flag with our children. The infants, toddlers, two's and three's helped me get red and blue handprints all over the paper. The Pre-K classes helped with the stars. They cut them out all by themselves. I was so proud of them!
- Gina Ivey, Director at Rainbow Station, Hanover Medical Park

First Day of School!

We like to call it the first day of school because our children start in brand new classrooms and some teachers do as well. After workday our schools are transformed into new places for the children to enjoy on their first day back. School always "starts" the day after labor day. Here are some snapshots of our first day!

Workday 2008

It's almost a whole week away and still recovering! We had some great, productive, yet, long workdays last week. Our teachers worked and worked. Over the course of two days you can find teachers cutting out their new laminated posters and pictures, scrubbing shelves, applying goo gone to walls, and a whole bunch of odds and ends. The first teacher reported Thursday morning (the first official work day) at 6am! And the last one left at 9pm! Wow! Here is one teacher we caught cleaning and working it! They definitely worked hard, making way for a brand new classroom for a fresh new start on the school year. GOOD JOB GUYS!

Teacher Inservice Days This Week

Just a reminder that Rainbow Station will be closed on Thursday & Friday due to teacher inservice days. Rainbow Station will also be closed in observance of Labor Day on September 1st. Please call your specific Richmond site if you have any questions.

Hanover 804-730-1010
Three Chopt 804-747-0100
Boulders 804-272-0641

Gearing up for a new school year

Our teachers are gearing up for a new school year! August is a time for all our preschool and recreation teachers to step it up and full it into full gear as they prep for their new classrooms and to welcome new families to our school. Workday is coming up soon where the teachers are provided with two inservice days to get their new classrooms ready and to attend the annual Rainbow Station Convocation. This year inservice days are scheduled for August 28 & 29. The first day of school is September 2, 2008!

Rainbow Station and Fall Training

Each summer our Rainbow Richmond sites host a fall training that consists of teambuilding, curriculum boosters, and assorted topics that help the teachers prepare for the new year. Here are some snapshots of the Hanover Preschool and Village participating in Large and Small Muscle Activities for Children. We had tons of fun!

Rainbow Station Wins at the Employer All-Stars Awards

Rainbow Station wins the 2008 award for Workforce Development! The award recognizes employers whose workforce practices have generated significant results, benefits, and solutions to the professional and/or technical development of its employees, or individuals pursuing job training/retraining for either future employment or transitioning into anticipated skills needs with their current employer. Among the events attendees were Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Dominion Resources, Snagajob.com, VCU Health System, HCA, LandAmerica, Capital One, Anthem and many more! The breakfast was hosted downtown at the Greater Richmond Convention Center by Richmond Human Resources Management Association (RHRMA) on May 7, 2008. Pictured (left to right) Bridgette Cox, Elyse Johnson, Courtney Kesler, Louie Bodenheimer, Karen Bowen, and Gina Ivey.

Is It Time to Buy a Franchise?

Is It Time to Buy a Franchise?
When the economy slumps, franchising tends to become more popular. Here's what to know about the industry before buying in

Rainbow Station Offers Sick Child Care

Rainbow Station offers sick child care services to all families in our community. Get Well Place®, an infirmary for mildly ill children, is unique to Rainbow Station and to the communities it serves. The Get Well Place is one of only approximately 300 emergency backup facilities in the United States.

Sick days and missing work are a thing of the past. Take these three easy steps and your child has a comforting place to stay while they get better and you can return to work.

1. Call us anytime to reserve your spot or talk to a nurse about your child's illness
2. Obtain your child's most physical and recent immunizations record and bring it with you
3. Come on in!

Pre-registration is not required but is encouraged. It can save you time on those busy mornings.

We can also help answer some of your questions about your child's illness on our website:

http://rainbow.pediatricweb.com/web184/

You can also visit us at:

www.rainbowstation.org for more information.

Rainbow Station Celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation Week was held May 5-9 at our school this year. Our parent advisory board and administrative teams helps with the planning of this event every year. We come up with fun ideas that show the teachers and staff at our school how much we love them and appreciate what they do everyday. Here some of the great ideas our teams came up with. Some are little to no cost.

• Make posters for each classroom with the teachers pictures on them and have people sign their compliments on them all week.
• Potluck breakfast provided by the parents
• Small potted flowers/plants with a pencil sticking from it with a little note "tacked" into the eraser that says "Thanks for helping me grow!"
• Candy bars wrapped with a nice "Thank You" greeting
• A catered lunch
• Dinner To Go- A brown bag filled with a box of spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, 2 baguettes, 2 canned drinks and 2 bags of cookies
• Guessing Jar- fill a jar with candy like skittles or M&M's and have the teachers guess how many are in the jar. Whoever gets the closest without going over wins the jar. You might want to do this one a couple of these throughout the week since they're pretty cheap! They turn out to be so much fun!
• Raffles- Put teachers names in a jar. Collect money from parents and buy gift cards for daily raffle drawings. Winner is picked daily.
• Redecorate the teacher's lounge for a more relaxing atmosphere.