Philadelphia’s Family Fall Harvest!

On September 30th, 2017 Brightside’s Philadelphia region held a Family Fall Harvest festival at the MLK Jr. Recreation Center. The festival offered pony and horseback riding, games, food, music and all around family fun. It also gave local families the opportunity to take that next step to quality childcare! We are grateful to all of the sponsors and vendors who joined our PHL team at this event. We had representatives from Temple University, Health Partners Plans, Special Education for Early Developmental Success (SEEDS), Consumer Satisfaction Team, CityLife, Resource for Human Development (RHD), the City of Philadelphia Fire Department, North Philadelphia Neighborhood libraries and several others.

We want to give a huge thank you to Jacquelyn Taylor, Philadelphia’s Marketing Director, and Colette Kliss, Regional Vice President of Philadelphia, our Family Service Coordinators and all of the PHL team for making this event such a success! Click here for more information on enrolling in a Philadelphia location near you.

Debra Greene, Pre-k Teacher at BSA nominated for PACCA Teacher Award!

We are so proud to announce that Debra Greene, a pre-school teacher at our Broad and Girard location has been nominated for the 2017 Pennsylvania Child Care Association (PACCA) Educator of the Year Award! The Educator of the Year Award honors outstanding service and accomplishments in the delivery of services to children. It is given to an individual at a PACCA member program who has contributed significantly to the direct care and education of young children (PACCA, 2017). This award is presented to a child care teacher or staff person who works directly with children and who is an excellent example for others.

The Educator of the Year:

• Creates and models a cooperative, caring environment
• Plans and implements a curriculum to enhance, support and assess development and learning
• Establishes positive relationships with each family to support the success of all children
• Strives to stimulate wonderment, curiosity and love of learning
• Fosters the positive growth of children in relation to others, themselves, and their environment

 

Eligibility


Each nominee must meet the following guidelines:
• Is employed by a PACCA member organization.
• Has taught in early childhood education for at least three years.
• Provides for the health and safety of young children

B&G’s Academy Director, Jackie Chaney submitted Debra for this award because she believe she exemplified all of the qualities of an outstanding educator. Jackie encourages her teachers to look for opportunities to be acknowledged for their hard work and thought that this award was perfect for Debra. Debra has been working for Brightside Academy since 1998, a total of 19 years! In order to be nominated, Jackie submitted a nomination letter to PACCA on behalf of Debra. In addition to this letter, Jackie included 10 references from families and coworkers whom Debra has impacted over the years. Debra is truly dedicated to her preschoolers and they appreciate all that she brings to them in class each and everyday. She is also a strong pillar of her community and attends her church faithfully. We have recently found out that Debra has been chosen as a finalist and winners will be notified on August 31st. The Awards will be presented at the Early Childhood Summit held on August 16th through the 18th in State College, PA. From everyone hear at Brightside, we wish Debra Greene the best of luck on winning this award!

 

Source: https://www.pacca.org/docs/2017Awards_Flyer.pdf

K&A Location Hosts Science Fair!

Brightside Academy’s K&A location at 1819 East Allegheny Ave in Philadelphia, hosted their very own Science Fair on Friday, August 11th! The science fair was held from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. and showcased the experiments the children learned to complete throughout the week. The children were taught how to make slime, snow using shampoo and flour and rain clouds using food coloring and shaving cream. In addition, there was a sensory station, a build your own bug station, and a color fizz station which included the household items baking soda and vinegar.

Parents and children were excited to walk away with easy experiments to do at home using cheap household items! We would like to give a huge thank you to the Academy Director, Aliyia Brown and the rest of the K&A staff for making this event such a success. Be sure to like Brightside Academy’s Facebook page to stay up to date on all of the events taking place near you!

Best Playgrounds in Philadelphia!

Playgrounds, Parks and Community Centers are a quick and easy way to allow your child to have some fun as well as remain active this summer. We’ve searched high and low to find the best parks and playgrounds in our communities and are happy to share them with you!! Read this article to find the best parks and playgrounds in Philadelphia. Some of the locations listed below are visited frequently by Brightside Academy for summer camp trips, field days, community events and more! If you spot us be sure to say hello. 

Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse
3500 Reservoir Dr, Philadelphia, PA 19121

 This 6 and ½ acre playground includes the Ann Newman Giant Wooden Slide, more than 50 pieces of play equipment and a 16,000 square foot playhouse! Our summer camp at the Broad and Girard location loves this playground and they know you will too! The playground also has a website where parents can schedule trips, rent playground space and much more!

Tarken Playground

6250 Frontenac St. Philadelphia, PA 19111

Located between North and Northeast Philadelphia, Tarken Playground is small local playground adjacent to Tarken Recreation center. The six to twelve year old class at our 6000 Castor location often enjoys all that the playground and park have to offer. This includes an ice rink, dance classes, gymnastics, football, soccer and tee ball!

Starr Garden Playground
600-44 Lombard St, Philadelphia, PA 19147

For a colorful yet traditional playground, grab the kids and head over to Starr Garden Playground in Center City! This playground has all the swings, slides, and monkey bars that you will see at any regular playground but has bursts of colors to amp up the fun! Next to it is an equally colorful recreation center.

Now, with this list in hand it’s time to get the kids and have some summer fun! Have a Philly park or playground that you think should be added to this list? Share with us in the comments below and be sure to find a Brightside Academy near you for our summer camp program.

 

 

BSA Philadelphia’s Staff Attend Concilio’s Hispanic Fiesta

As a part of the of PECO Multicultural Series held at the The Great Plaza at the Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, staff from our Southern Philadelphia Academies and Corporate Pittsburgh office attended the Concilio’s Hispanic Fiesta on July 8th and July 9th. The Hispanic Fiesta at Penn’s Landing is one of Philadelphia’s premier Latino events, drawing upwards of 15,000 people each day. The festival continues to unite and raise awareness of Latino culture and community through the celebration of music, dance, entertainment, ethnic foods and artisan crafts from nearly all Latin American countries. Brightside Academy is a proud supporter of diversity in our communities. Our staff in attendance at the event enjoyed meeting families, shared information about our programs, distributed giveaways, completed a Sand Art Activity, and even had a chance to get on stage! Brightside Academy would like to give a huge thank you to Jacquelyn Taylor, Jackie Chaney, Jessica Sosa, Melinda T-Toe, Tiffany Wilson and all others who helped to make this event such a success!


For more information on the PECO Multicultural and other Philadelphia events visit http://www.visitphilly.com/events/philadelphia/peco-multicultural-series-at-penns-landing/
and Follow : http://facebook.com/visitphilly | http://twitter.com/visitphilly

Contact your closest Brightside Academy in Philadelphia to enroll in a quality education program today! Have a community event you would like Brightside Academy to participate in? Please send all inquires to childcare@brightsideacademy.com