February Was All About Science!

February was Science Month at CFNC!

Children, families and staff embarked on an exciting field trip to The Smithsonian's
Air and Space Museum and CFNC held its Annual Family Science Day. Read on to find out more and see photos of CFNC's many scientists!

This month we also celebrated the academic achievements of two of CFNC's teachers who were nominated for membership in The National Society of Collegiate Scholars at Northern Virginia Community College. We're very proud, but certainly not surprised--CFNC students excel because of the hard work and commitment of our teachers! Learn more below.

Science discovery, top-notch teachers, and the many other award winning services that CFNC offers could, of course, not be possible without the continued support of our community. This month CFNC received a contribution from runner extraordinaire Brooke Curran and her RunningBrooke Fund. We thank Brooke in a short segment below, and feature two of the great photos that we took during her visit.

As always, please be in touch, stop by for a tour or stay connected with us on Twitter, Facebook and our website. We look forward to hearing from you.

CFNC Visits The Air and Space Museum

On Friday, February 11, CFNC students from all 10 classrooms, as well as parents and staff members, enjoyed an exciting field trip to The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. CFNC is extremely grateful to PNC Bank's Grow Up Great Program for making the field trip possible, and for connecting CFNC with the patient and nurturing staff at the Museum who made the field trip such a success!

The morning began with a 10 AM private showing of One World, One Sky in the Museum's planetarium. The 20-minute planetarium show follows Sesame Street's Big Bird and Elmo as they explore the night sky with Hu Hu Zhu, a Muppet from the Chinese co-production of Sesame Street. Together, they take an imaginary trip from Sesame Street to the moon, where they discover how different it is from Earth. Children attending the show interact as they watch, drawing constellations and counting the time it takes the sun to set. The show aims to nurture a child's natural sense of wonder about the night sky, and it clearly did just that for CFNC's students as they laughed, clapped and sang along. Many seemed to be in awe of the planetarium format, which makes you feel as if you are moving along with the characters in the show. Children squealed in delight and one exclaimed: "That was so much fun!"

The field trip continued as children made shadow puppets and explored science
concepts throughout the Museum. When buses picked up children at 12:30 PM, CFNC students were full of new questions, ideas and lessons learned, many that teachers will continue to build and expand upon back in the classroom.

"It was a truly wonderful day for all involved," noted CFNC's Director of Education,
Sharon Shackelford. "Visiting the Air and Space Museum was a unique experience for CFNC's children and families and we greatly appreciate PNC Bank for the opportunity to expose them to science concepts in such a hands-on and exciting way."

To see more photos from the field trip, please visit CFNC's Photo Gallery.

Family Science Day

...And if they didn't get enough science at the Museum, more than 28 students and their families enjoyed CFNC's annual Family Science Day held on February 12. Children and their parents learned science concepts together by visiting a variety of stations to touch, feel, inquire, explore and experiment. Students received a participation prize for each experiment they completed.

Some of the favorite activities and experiments of the day included learning about sound vibration, making rubbings of animal figures, playing with light reflection and bubbles! The experiment that brought about the most excitement, giggles, and sometimes squirming was the Feely Touch Box. Children were required to put their hands in the box to determine what it was they were touching (for example, shells and blocks) and then draw their perceptions on paper. The drawings truly reflected the vivid imaginations of CFNC's students!


As the event drew to a close, it was wonderful to see children and parents reviewing the day's exciting activities and new learnings together...many to be continued at home, we are certain!

To see more photos from the Family Science Day, please visit CFNC's Photo Gallery.

CFNC Teachers' Academic Achievement

CFNC is proud to recognize two of its Lead Teachers, Arnita Willis and Tiffannie Carey, who both were nominated for membership into The National Society of Collegiate Scholars by Northern Virginia Community College. Both teachers are working towards an Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education and maintained a 3.6 GPA or higher and a ranking among the top 20% of their class, which are requirements for membership into the Society.

Arnita is a Lead Teacher at CFNC's Charles Houston location. In addition to being a stellar teacher and a diligent student, Arnita is a dedicated mother and the wife (for 25 years!) of Louis Willis. Arnita loves teaching because she knows what an impact she is making on her young students by preparing them for successful futures.

Tiffannie is a Lead Teacher at CFNC's Cora Kelly location and has been with CFNC for 5 years. In her own words: "I am proud of this honor and what it means to me, my family and my career."

CFNC is very grateful for its talented and high quality teaching staff, many of whom, like Arnita and Tiffannie, are furthering their credentials. In fact, in 2010, CFNC's teachers completed on average 59 clock hours of professional development and training, far exceeding Virginia State Licensing Standards of 16 hours.

Congratulations, Arnita and Tiffannie!

The RunningBrooke Fund Supports CFNC

CFNC is honored to be one of five recipients of The RunningBrooke Fund. Runner extraordinaire and founder of the Fund, Brooke Curran, stopped by CFNC on February 24to present the contribution and take photos with students.

As always, Brooke brought her amazing and seemingly endless energy to CFNC and had a wonderful time visiting students on the playground and surrounding herself with children! "I just love the little ones," she said. "They bring so much joy."

Brooke's mission is to "Run Globally and Act Locally!" so she has committed to completing one marathon per month on every continent, in each of the 50 states and the five world majors (Boston, New York, London, Chicago and Berlin) while raising money to support Alexandria charities through her RunningBrooke Fund. So far, Brooke has completed marathons in 21 states, four of the five majors and on five continents, with Antarctica and Africa still on her to-do list.

In 2010, CFNC was also very fortunate to be the recipient of money raised through The RunningBrooke Fund and is thrilled about the progress that Brooke has made in 2011 towards her goal to raise $50,000. To read more about Brooke, where she's running next and how you can become a part of the race, visit her website at www.runningbrooke.com.

Moonlight on the Potomac: CFNC's 2011 Annual Spring Benefit! -

CFNC's 2011 Annual Spring Benefit--"Moonlight on the Potomac"-- will take place on Friday, May 13 from 7 PM to 10 PM at the lovely home of Jennifer and Jim Rooney. There attendees will enjoy delicious food, wonderful company and beautiful views--all in support of Northern Virginia's neediest children. Special thanks to the Freddie Mac Foundation for their continued support of CFNC’s work. For more information on ticket purchase and sponsorship, please visit our Events page.

New Year, New Learning Opportunities

Happy New Year from The Child & Family Network Centers!

The success and excitement of our holiday events created a momentum that launched us into the New Year with renewed energy and inspiration. Thank you for your
contributions to our successful holiday events--from coat drives to holiday parties, our year-end campaign and the "Adopt a Family" Program.

We are also thrilled to be kicking off the New Year with a field trip, made possible by our generous supporters at PNC Bank's Grow Up Great Program, to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Planetarium. Students, teachers and parents will enjoy a private showing of "One World, One Sky" and have time to explore the museum afterwards. It is a wonderful and unique opportunity and photos from the trip will certainly be a feature of our next newsletter. So stay tuned!

In the meantime, scroll down to read a tribute to a loyal CFNC supporter, meet our Volunteer of the Month, find out what runner extraordinaire Brooke Curran has been up to, learn new ways to support our cause and more! And, as always, please be in touch, stop by for a tour or stay connected with us on Twitter, Facebook and our website.

Honoring Robert Stufflebeam

On September 15, 2010, a long time CFNC supporter and friend, Robert E. Stufflebeam, passed away. Mr. Stufflebeam was 98 years old. A resident of Alexandria, he felt very strongly about CFNC's mission to help underserved children in his community and was a very loyal contributor and advocate for CFNC's cause. Mr. Stufflebeam will be greatly missed, but his legacy will live on through CFNC's work.

**Volunteer of the Month**

Meet Camille Funn. Camille volunteers at CFNC's Birchmere 1 Classroom every Monday. She learned about CFNC's need for classroom volunteers on the Volunteer.gov website, and has been an active CFNC volunteer since 2007.

"I very much enjoy working with the students and teachers, and get a lot out of it," Camille says. Camille is always upbeat and eager to help out. CFNC feels very lucky to have such a dedicated volunteer.

Camille brings her love of reading to CFNC's classrooms as well as to the third grade classrooms of Charles Barrett Elementary School, where she also volunteers her time.

If you are interested in volunteering at CFNC, please contact Kristin Thompson at kthompson@cfnc-online.org or 703-836-0214 x234.

MLK Day of Service

On Monday, January 17, instead of celebrating the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday with a day-off, Burgundy Farm Country Day School hosted its second Day of Service.
Nearly 300 Burgundy Farm and Jefferson-Houston students and their families teamed up with Volunteer Alexandria and The Giving Circle of Alexandria to complete 22 service projects to benefit local, national and international non-profit organizations, including CFNC!

Among many activities, students assembled newborn baby kits for expectant mothers and created books on tape for Walter Reed patients. CFNC was the proud recipient of more than 200 dental kits--complete with toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and proper
cleaning information. Kits will be distributed to each family to encourage clean teeth and proper dental hygiene as part of CFNC's Family Services Program.

Alexandria Mayor William Euille stopped by and gave remarks, and Senior Advisor to the Secretary (Department of Interior) Dr. Robert G. Stanton was the keynote speaker.

The event garnered the attention of FOX and NBC news. Check out the footage and read more here.

Runner Extraordinaire and CFNC Supporter, Brooke Curran, in Washingtonian Magazine

CFNC supporter, Alexandria resident and runner extraordinaire, Brooke Curran, was featured in December's Washingtonian Magazine and CFNC was mentioned!

Brooke's mission is to "Run Globally and Act Locally!" so she has committed to completing one marathon per month on every continent, in each of the 50 states and the five world majors (Boston, New York, London, Chicago and Berlin) while raising money to support Alexandria charities through her RunningBrooke Fund. So far, Brooke has completed marathons in 20 states, four of the five majors and on five continents, with Antarctica and Africa still on her to-do list.

In 2010, CFNC was very fortunate to be the recipient of money raised through the RunningBrooke Fund and is excited about the progress that Brooke has made in 2011. To read more about Brooke, where she's running next and how you can become a part of the race, visit her website at www.runningbrooke.com

This just in! Brooke is currently recruiting 50 runners to participate in the National Half Marathon while raising money for the RunningBrooke Fund. Runners receive a training program and coaching from Brooke, team gear, a cheering station, an after-party (provided by Lululemon), race-day pace setters and more! Read the flier here.

Turn Your Old Gadgets into Cash for CFNC

CFNC is hosting an online "gadget drive" through Gazelle to raise money to support our programs. A gadget drive is a new way to fundraise that turns your used electronics (laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, video games and more) into cash to support a cause. Contributing to CFNC's drive is simple and free. Just visit our drive webpage at http://cfnc.gazelle.com, find the value of the gadgets you would like to donate, print out the automatically generated shipping label and send items to Gazelle. You will receive a confirmation of your donation by email and CFNC will be notified. Then, CFNC will be sent a check for the value of your donated items.

Please help us reach our goal to raise $2,000 by June!

Keep on Shopping for CFNC!

Thank you to the many of you who have shopped at Harris Teeter and Safeway using your membership cards to allocate 10% of the cost of participating items to CFNC! Please keep on shopping and encourage your friends and family to do so, too.

Harris Teeter's "Together in Education" Program runs through May 31, 2011. To link your Harris Teeter VIC card to CFNC, visit Harris Teeter's website here.

And, click here to link your Safeway card to CFNC's account. CFNC's Group ID is 500004246.

With the Super Bowl just around the corner, we hope you'll purchase your game-day snacks and treats at these two locations!