Charter Colony Express
Volume: 2
February 2017
A Note from the Administration…
Inside this issue:
All you need is love!!! Happy February to all of our RSCC
families. It’s hard to believe it’s actually winter out there
with all of this mild weather. Even though it would be nice
to see a little bit more snow, most of us are anxiously awaiting the summer
months. Here at Rainbow Station Charter Colony, we are starting to get all
of our summer camp information ready for our parents. We will have three
fun and exhilarating summer programs that will be offered. Camp Blue Sky
is a summer camp for school aged children ranging between 5-13 years of
age. The camp will offer team building, science and nature, sports, swimming, field trips and much more. We will also partner with our sister school,
Rainbow Station at Wyndham, for lots of fun events. Our expo for this
camp will be on March 2nd 6:30pm-7:30pm. Please see the attached flyer
in this newsletter for more details. For our youngest group, we offer Camp
Little Cloud. Camp Little Cloud serves are children from our infant hallway
through our Blue Room. These children experience fun weekly themes that
offer camp challenges, water play, events and in house field trips and
more. Last but certainly not least, our Pre- Kindergarten experiences a
unique program that merges Camp Little Cloud with Camp Blue Sky.
Camp Blue Sky Pee Wee offers weekly themes, water play, field trips, a
nature trail, BRAINWORKS and more! If you have any questions regarding
any of the three summer camps, please see either myself or Megan
Bowman.
Note from the
Administration
1
Important Dates
1
Nurses Note
2
Curriculum
Highlight
3
Birthdays
4
Notes From the
Front Desk
4
Camp Blue Sky
Expo
5
Vendor
Information
6
January 30th
February 6th
February 14th
Chesterfield County Schools
Spring Activity Supply Fees
Valentine ’ s Day
Closed
Applied
February 17h
February 20th
March 2nd
Chesterfield County Half Day
Chesterfield County School
Camp Blue Sky Open House
closed
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Learn Early. Live Well. Lead.
Charter Colony Express
Volume: 2
February 2017
Nurse’s Note: Pinkeye
Matilde Badillo, R.N.
Conjunctivitis, commonly called pinkeye, is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, the clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids. Pinkeye can be alarming because it may
make the eyes extremely red and can spread quickly. But it's fairly common and usually causes no longterm eye or vision damage. Still, if your child has symptoms of pinkeye, it's important to see a doctor. Some
kinds of pinkeye go away by themselves, but others need treatment.
Causes
Pinkeye can be caused by many of the bacteria and viruses responsible for colds and other infections, —
including ear infections, sinus infections, and sore throats. Pinkeye also can be caused by allergies. These
cases tend to happen more often in kids who also have other allergic conditions, such as hay fever.
Symptoms
The different types of pinkeye can have different symptoms, which can vary from child to child. One of the
most common symptoms is discomfort in the eye. A child may say that it feels like there's sand in the eye.
Many kids have redness of the eye and inner eyelid, which is why conjunctivitis is often called pinkeye. It
can also cause discharge from the eyes, which may cause the eyelids to stick together when a child wakes
up. Some kids have swollen eyelids or sensitivity to bright light. In cases of allergic conjunctivitis, itchiness
and tearing are common symptoms.
Contagiousness
Pinkeye caused by bacteria and viruses is contagious; cases caused by allergies or environmental irritants
are not. A child can get pinkeye by touching an infected person or something an infected person has
touched. Kids diagnosed with contagious conjunctivitis are excluded from class until they have been on prescription antibiotic eye drops for 24 hours. After the 24 hours, they may return to class. The Get Well Place
nurse is more than happy to continue administering the eye drops when your child returns to school. Please
remember that ALL PRESCRIPTIONS BROUGHT TO THE GWP MUST BE IN THE ORIGINAL PACKAGE
AND MUST HAVE THE PHARMACY LABEL.
Preventing Pinkeye
To prevent pinkeye caused by infections, teach kids to wash their hands well and often with warm water and
soap. Be sure to wash your own hands thoroughly after touching an infected child's eyes, and throw away
items like gauze or cotton balls after they've been used. Wash towels and other linens that the child has
used in hot water separately from the rest of the family's laundry.
Sometimes it can be a challenge to get kids to tolerate eye drops several times a day. If you're having trouble, put the drops on the inner corner of your child's closed eye — when the child opens the eye, the medicine will flow into it. Please feel free to ask Ms. Matilde to show you her tricks on how to hold a wiggling child
while administering eye drops! Using cool or warm compresses on the eyes may make your child more comfortable. Clean the edges of the infected eye carefully with warm water and gauze or cotton balls. This can
also remove the crusts of dried discharge that may cause the eyelids to stick together first thing in the morning.
Good luck! And be well!
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Learn Early. Live Well. Lead.
Charter Colony Express
Volume: 2
February 2017
Curriculum Highlight
By: Bridgette Cox, Curriculum Specialist
Can you believe the weather we have been having? I think we have covered all of the seasons in just one month. The children at Rainbow Station Charter Colony especially enjoyed our
snow days. Our classes built tiny snowmen, threw snowballs and had a blast having our sensory
tables filled with snow to play in while inside their classrooms. Rainbow Station was open for all of
our students, but some of our families stayed at home. This picture is of our purple room students
playing in their sensory table. Lots of shovels and food coloring brought smiles and cold hands to
the purple room children. This project is something you can do as a family at home. Try adding
food coloring and water to spray bottles and encouraging your child to paint the snow outside in your
own yard.
Our February curriculum includes Dental Health, Valentine’s Day, Community Helpers, and
Celebrating Dr. Seuss! Please take a moment to appreciate the bulletin board displays in your
child’s classroom. You will see art projects, pictures from classroom events and highlighted activities. It’s a great way to gain insight into the activities your child participates in each day.
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Learn Early. Live Well. Lead.
Charter Colony Express
Volume: 2
February 2017
Happy Birthday to Sophia B, Maddox D, Lilliana G,
Jacob S, and Liam V!
Notes From the Front Desk:

Activity Supply Fees will be applied to all accounts on February 6th– these
fees help us purchase supplies, toys, and activities for the classrooms.

As many of you know, one thing that makes Rainbow Station unique is our Get Well Place.
We are so fortunate to have a registered nurse on site each day to help our little ones when
needed. In the state of Virginia, all of our Get Well Places are licensed under a variance by
the Department of Social Service. Just like opening our school, things will arise that are out of
our control. With that said, we are still waiting on our variance and the Get Well Place is not
fully operational. What does this mean for you as parents? If your child receives medication
daily, they will still be able to do so and our nurse will make sure this happens. If your child
falls on the playground or in the classroom, they will still be brought down to Get Well to be
evaluated. The two largest changes you will see are as follows: we are unable to keep
stocked medication onsite without the variance. If your child requires an over the counter
medication (ie. Ibuprofen) you will need to provide the medication and fill out a 10 day
medication consent or have a doctor issue a note stating they can receive the needed
dose. The second change is we will be unable to admit sick children into the Get Well Place.
This means if you child gets sick while in attendance, they will be brought down to the Get
Well Place and you, as parents, will be notified. Just like our surrounding school systems, we
will be able to hold your child for 1 hour until pickup. The good news is, we have three other
local Rainbow Station’s (Wyndham, Boulders, and Three Chopt) that may have space to
admit your child if they are sick. We understand that this is a temporary setback, but we
wanted to make sure our school could still open in light of this. Please contact either Megan
Bowman ([email protected]) or Lauren Maggi
([email protected]) for further explanation or questions.
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Learn Early. Live Well. Lead.
Charter Colony Express
Volume: 2
February 2017
Your family is cordially invited to attend our
Thursday March 2nd 6:30pm-7:30pm
Please join us for a fun and exciting night that will include:
Camp Blue Sky Information Session and Q&A
· Free Pizza
· Activities
· Bounce House
· Raffles (including a grand prize of ONE FREE WEEK Summer Tui-
tion)
·
Community Members Welcome!
Please contact Lauren Maggi with any questions
[email protected]
804.594.0563
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Learn Early. Live Well. Lead.
Charter Colony Express
Volume: 2
February 2017
Don’t forget to sign up for
activities with our awesome vendors!
Dancing Little Stars
Fun Bus
Express Yourself Yoga
All the World’s A Stage Drama
Soccer Shots
Check the Lobby table for more information!
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Learn Early. Live Well. Lead.