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Friday, March 05, 2004
Calendar
Mar. 8 Elementary & primary assembly 9:45 am - dance performance
Mar. 17 Core Group Meeting 5 pm
AUCTION UPDATE!
As the May 22nd GLM Auction Fundraiser, “A Night in Venice”, approaches, be thinking about items or services of your own to donate, or use your own personal networks to obtain donations. Every year, the best donations come from parents and their friends. Keep your eye out for future communications regarding how to make donations and start working that network now!
We are sending a second plea for volunteers to help with organizing mystery door prizes for the event and the raffle. Please contact Gigi Orta at gigiorta@yahoo,com to help with the mystery bags, or Denise Slattery at slatterysf@yahoo.com to help with the raffle. Check with Ms. Aima (Brown Cottage) and Ms. Leck (Jacaranda) to help with set-up, decorations, food prep with the chef and clean-up. There will be time slots for parents to sign-up for specific tasks. Mr. Tien (Juniper) will be the volunteer coordinator.
And be sure to check your Parent Pockets regularly for auction updates, additional communication and raffle tickets!
BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION
Box Tops for Education is a simple, small but steady fundraiser for schools. All you do is collect the coupons from General Mills products, put them in the collections containers and envelopes around campus, and our school gets MONEY! The containers are in both school offices, as well as the area outside Juniper class and near the stairs by the Live Oak and Ginkgo classes. Envelopes will be in the Magnolia and Jacaranda class, and the kitchen in the Brown Cottage. Check out the website (boxtops4education.com) to see other ways to participate such as shopping online or obtaining a VISA card. Please bring your coupons in ASAP, as the next deadline for submission is this month! If you have questions, or would like to help collect and bundle the coupons, please contact Cindy Fressola at Fressola@msn.com or 510-839-9412. Following is a partial list of products that have coupons:
Cheerios, Chex, Wheaties, Total cereals; Pillsbury biscuits, dinner rolls, pie crust and bread sticks; Yoplait yogurt, Go-gurt, Yumsters; Progresso soups, Hamburger/Chicken/Tuna Helper; Old El Paso products; Pillsbury frozen breakfasts; green Giant frozen veggies and entrees; Gold Medal flour and Bisquick mixes; Betty Crocker cake and cookie mixes.
SOUND OF THE WEEK Each Wednesday your child is encouraged, with your help, to find an object at home (preferably not a toy) that begins with the sound of the week. Put it in a labeled bag to share with your child’s class. The LETTER for next week is “ X”. To make things a bit easier you can go by either the “X” sound, as in X-Ray, or the “Z” sound as in Xylophone.
PENNIES FOR PATIENTS
The children raised $721.50 to send to the Leukemia Society’s Pennies for Patients fundraiser! Good work! Thank you all for your generosity!
LOST AND FOUND ITEMS
Over the Winter Break FOUND items multiplied, especially in the Lake Park campus. If you are missing an item of clothing, please check the fence around the asphalt playground. All pieces of clothing left after Friday will be donated to charity.
KID TALK
You may have noticed the construction our maintenance person, Tom Payne, has been erecting on the stairs between the Brown Cottage play area and the Jacaranda/Juniper classes. Two children were passing the construction and one child queried “What is he making?” The other child, William Dalton of Jacaranda, put his hands on his hips and stated with conviction, “Actually, it’s a roof”.
PARENT PARTICIPATION HOURS TURNED IN WITHOUT NAME
Someone turned in a Parent Participation timecard without a name on it. The activity was making Play-dough on Feb. 3. Please call the office if this is yours.
PARENTS NIGHT OUT
Ms. Leck is hosting a Parents Night Out on Saturday, March 6th, from 6-11 pm. Children should come to the Jacaranda classroom in their pajamas, and bring their sleeping bags. A snack, crafts, and movie will be provided. The cost is $35.00 for one child, $55.00 for two. Children must be at least 2.5 years old. Please call Ms. Leck at 510-663-8770, or email her at sidleck@earthlink.net. Advance payment reserves your spot! This service is not affiliated with Grand Lake Montessori.
NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS:
Marni Hunter, Campbell’s mom (Campbell is in Ginkgo class): marnihunter@sbcglobal.net
ELEMENTARY ACTIVITIES
The following is a partial list of activities the elementary students will be participating in:
~ A trip to Pt. Richmond
~ Continued library trips
~ Spring dance performance
~ Attend Theatre Works USA production of Ramona Quimby
LOST JACKET
During Silent Journey childcare. Red quilted LL Bean jacket with blue corduroy collar. Labeled with child’s name, LUCY. Please contact Kate Faust or the school office.
MISSING COAT
Angela Harris is missing her Mickey Mouse jacket. It is black and gray. Please return it to the office or the Live Oak class if you find it. Thank you in advance!
CLASS News
LIVE OAK - MS. CHURCH
Rain! Rain! Rain!
Rain coats are great, extra socks are wonderful, but rain boots are the BEST! Rain coats protect the children to and from school during rainy weather, but we don’t often have the opportunity to use the coats during the day as we stay inside while it is raining. What is the most helpful, and valued, are rain boots (LABELED!). On the asphalt playground large puddles accumulate and the children are drawn to the mini lakes. Please send your child with rain boots on rainy days, so they may be encouraged to “explore” the puddles.
Thank you to Grace Creech’s family for shopping for and caring for the mice over the Winter Break!
Thank you to Mario Starc, Antonia’s dad, for reading to the class on our rainy Monday.
Mr. Hoffman brought an Australian instrument to share with the children. It is made out of Eucalyptus trees that termites have hollowed out. The end result is a giant flute-like instrument that produces a deep, monotonous tone. It is called a digeridoo. He also demonstrated a coronet, a small trumpet, which is made out of brass that originated in Europe. Both are examples of wind instruments because you use your breath to blow through them to make the sound.
GINKGO – MS. NITONDE
Please welcome a new student and her family to the Ginkgo class: Alice Chu, and parents Judy Li and Gordon Chu! Be sure to add their information to your school directory:
Home address & phone: 56 Monticello Ave., Piedmont, CA, 94611 510-653-1188. E-mail addresses are judywhli@hotmail.com and Gordon_Chu@hyperion.com.
We celebrated Lily Wool’s 3rd birthday, and mom, Catherine, brought books as a gift to the class; a set of books about Little Bear, and “Where the Wild Things Are”. She read the latter to us and gave us each a cupcake. We also got to meet Lily’s cousin, Katherine from Washington, who came to visit. Happy birthday, Lily and enjoy your time with Katherine!
Thank you to Finn’s mom, Denise, for doing an art project with the class, and to Tammy Brown for reading to the children during last week’s storm.
Thank you to Madeleine Tilin for doing Yoga with our class. Two of the poses she taught us were the Tree pose and the Mouse, or Child’s pose. The Tree pose involves balancing on one leg, which is the “root” into the ground, as the upper body forms the trunk and branches up toward the sky. The Mouse pose has the child sitting curled up in a ball, head down, with arms at sides. The child becomes quiet and listens to his/her own breath.
We watched and marveled at the hail last week and had a discussion about how hail forms. It begins as falling rain, several miles up in the clouds. When an updraft develops and holds the rain aloft, it moves it upward instead of allowing it to fall. As the rain rises, it freezes because of the colder temperatures in the upper atmosphere. Drops of super cooled water hit these frozen pellets and freeze onto them. The mass of ice may fall and be lifted again several times, each time getting larger as more water freezes on it. When the hail is so big that the updraft can’t hold it aloft any more, it falls to the ground. We saved a container of hail for the children who may have missed it. Unfortunately it did what hail does; it melted.
MAGNOLIA – MS. OLIVARES
Rain, rain, go away! We certainly had some wet weather last week. The children still go outside between storms so please make sure that your child has extra clothes in their cubbies in case they get wet, as well as RAIN BOOTS.
Zeke Idelson celebrated his 3rd birthday with the class. He shared a tasty Jello snack and gave the class a book called “Mama Do You Love Me?”
The children have been playing Spanish Bingo, which is introducing them to a vocabulary of household objects, and opposites.
Terry Sandoval, Joseph’s mom, has contacted parents regarding volunteers for special projects and chores. If you can help, please e-mail Ms. Olivares directly.
Thank you!
CAMELLIA – MS. ALLEN
Last week the children enjoyed a Mardi Gras celebration introduced by Colleen, Zora’s mom, from the Mulberry class. The children danced to “shake the Ya Yas out” and received beaded necklaces. We were treated to a special snack called “King Cake” in which one piece of cake contained a small baby doll. The child lucky enough to get that piece of cake was crowned King or Queen for the day!
On his latest visit, Mr. Hoffman brought a trumpet and a long tube instrument that made a bull horn sound. The children had fun singing, appropriately, “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”, and “Sally Go ‘Round The Sunshine”.
The big thrill for children and adults, alike, was the spectacular hail storm last week! The children were very excited to watch the hail fall and delighted to collect the little balls.
Our Room Parent, Sarah Sharman, has distributed notices in the Parent Pockets offering ideas for the class auction projects. Parents are being asked for other ideas so the Camellia class can begin preparing for our project.
Thank you to Sarah for the large bouquet of Camellia flowers. The children loved helping arrange the flowers in different sized vases. And thank you, again, Sarah, for the bulletin board located at the bottom of the Brown Cottage kitchen entrance. The board will have information posted for parents regarding events, help needed, etc.
MULBERRY - MS. AIMA
E-mail trouble: Parents have been having difficulty getting e-mails to Ms. Aima. Please check to make sure you are spelling Mulberry with one L, not two.
Thank you to Colleen Floyd-Carroll for coming in to celebrate Mardi Gras with both of the toddler classes. She taught the children about Fat Tuesday and how to get their “Ya Yas” out (dancing and shouting with arms in the air)! She also passed around beaded necklaces, the famous symbol of Mardi Gras. After the wildness, we ate a special cake with a small doll hidden inside. The person who finds the doll is crowned King and chooses his Queen. Caleb found the doll, but didn’t want to be King, so he gave it to Zora who chose Lucas as her King.
Mr. Hoffman came in and sang during our lunch. He made up songs about the food the children were eating.
Thank you to Tania Rankins, Jacquez’s mom, for the beautiful orchids she gave the class.
A special thank you to Gigi, Sophia’s grandmother, for coming in on Friday mornings to be an extra lap and pair of hands in the classroom. The children are enjoying her visits!
JUNIPER - MS. KOERBER
We’ve had many birthday celebrations this year with great birthday treats and wonderful class gifts. Thank you to all the students and parents for these celebrations.
Michael Fernandez-Melone, Caramia’s dad, came and read to the class. One amazing book, “The Enchanted Creatures”, by Marcy Daws Lee, is an imaginative presentation of a well-known Filipino story about what folklorist call “Lower Mythology”. The beasts are not portrayed as hideous, bad monsters, but as lovable, funny characters. “Filipino Children’s Favorite Stories”, by Liana Romulo was also read.
As we celebrated the legacy of African-Americans, we dined on a marvelous soul food lunch prepared by the children, teachers, and parents. We had green beans, fried chicken, rice rolls and apple pie. Special thank you to Ms. Owen and Heidi Hudson (Kai’s mom)! Our lives have been touched many ways by African-American inventors: the fountain pen, invented by William Purvis in 1890; fire escape ladder by Joseph Winters in 1878; the electric heater by Ebert Stallworth in 1928; the fitted bed sheet by Bertha Berman in 1959!
This Friday we are anticipating a surprise Korean lunch, provided by Julia’s mom, Sunny. We are all looking forward to it!
JACARANDA – MS. LECK
The Jacaranda classroom has a toaster oven in the snack area which the children use to toast different breads for their snacks. After carefully picking up the bread or bagel with tongs, to and from the toaster and their bowls, the children spread their choice of cream cheese or jelly. The entire set-up is very civilized! So, we need a parent volunteer (you knew this was coming!) to purchase bagels, milk, and muffins once a week. The school will reimburse every shopper for his or her expenses.
During Virginia’s 5th birthday celebration March 3 we saw her photos and heard family stories. After lunch, beautiful cookies were handed to children to take home in their lunch boxes. We trust they exercised the appropriate restraint and the cookies made it home safely!
Another volunteer opportunity is for the class auction project. This would involve working with the children, sewing and buying supplies. Please email Jean Rubsamen, Vivienne’s mom, or talk to the Jacaranda teachers.
Please check your children’s extra clothes bags and replenish them. This is a parent/child responsibility.
Overheard during class, a 3 year old to a 4 year old: “You’re the best I’ve ever seen”.
REDWOOD – MS. RANKINS
Our class enjoyed a wonderful tea party with the kindergartners last week! The 5th years did a fantastic job baking the snacks and serving the children!
This is our last week of softball. It has been so much fun for the children, but it is time to start working on a new sport. Due to the uneven number of players Ms. Rankins has become a substitute player, while Ms. Mack-Keeles pitches. The children get very excited when they get Ms. Rankins OUT!
We have been working very hard counting all the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters that were collected for Pennies for Patients. The children have done a remarkable job, and really want to make a difference. The elementary child naturally believes in social justice and that has become very apparent with this project.
We discussed “Super Tuesday”, and followed up with our own election. The children voted whether we would like to go to an Oakland Athletics or S.F. Giants game. The Giants won. The children are going to pay for the tickets, food and transportation themselves by holding a class fundraiser, which will begin March 15th. To raise the money, the children will be selling “Biomats”: seeded gardening pads that you lay down and water. We will need parent chaperones for the game and would like to have as many parents as possible. The game is scheduled for May 20th at 12:35. If you are interested in attending, please let Celeste Grinage know ASAP, in order to purchase the tickets.
Congratulations to Michael Klein and Nacalah Gilliam for mastering dynamic addition (carrying) and dynamic subtraction (borrowing) with no math materials, to Kennedy Watson for mastering long multiplication, also with no math materials, and to Charlotte Abrahamson, Crystal Lee and Samantha Aima for mastering the 4 operations with negative numbers!!
Mar. 8 Elementary & primary assembly 9:45 am - dance performance
Mar. 17 Core Group Meeting 5 pm
AUCTION UPDATE!
As the May 22nd GLM Auction Fundraiser, “A Night in Venice”, approaches, be thinking about items or services of your own to donate, or use your own personal networks to obtain donations. Every year, the best donations come from parents and their friends. Keep your eye out for future communications regarding how to make donations and start working that network now!
We are sending a second plea for volunteers to help with organizing mystery door prizes for the event and the raffle. Please contact Gigi Orta at gigiorta@yahoo,com to help with the mystery bags, or Denise Slattery at slatterysf@yahoo.com to help with the raffle. Check with Ms. Aima (Brown Cottage) and Ms. Leck (Jacaranda) to help with set-up, decorations, food prep with the chef and clean-up. There will be time slots for parents to sign-up for specific tasks. Mr. Tien (Juniper) will be the volunteer coordinator.
And be sure to check your Parent Pockets regularly for auction updates, additional communication and raffle tickets!
BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION
Box Tops for Education is a simple, small but steady fundraiser for schools. All you do is collect the coupons from General Mills products, put them in the collections containers and envelopes around campus, and our school gets MONEY! The containers are in both school offices, as well as the area outside Juniper class and near the stairs by the Live Oak and Ginkgo classes. Envelopes will be in the Magnolia and Jacaranda class, and the kitchen in the Brown Cottage. Check out the website (boxtops4education.com) to see other ways to participate such as shopping online or obtaining a VISA card. Please bring your coupons in ASAP, as the next deadline for submission is this month! If you have questions, or would like to help collect and bundle the coupons, please contact Cindy Fressola at Fressola@msn.com or 510-839-9412. Following is a partial list of products that have coupons:
Cheerios, Chex, Wheaties, Total cereals; Pillsbury biscuits, dinner rolls, pie crust and bread sticks; Yoplait yogurt, Go-gurt, Yumsters; Progresso soups, Hamburger/Chicken/Tuna Helper; Old El Paso products; Pillsbury frozen breakfasts; green Giant frozen veggies and entrees; Gold Medal flour and Bisquick mixes; Betty Crocker cake and cookie mixes.
SOUND OF THE WEEK Each Wednesday your child is encouraged, with your help, to find an object at home (preferably not a toy) that begins with the sound of the week. Put it in a labeled bag to share with your child’s class. The LETTER for next week is “ X”. To make things a bit easier you can go by either the “X” sound, as in X-Ray, or the “Z” sound as in Xylophone.
PENNIES FOR PATIENTS
The children raised $721.50 to send to the Leukemia Society’s Pennies for Patients fundraiser! Good work! Thank you all for your generosity!
LOST AND FOUND ITEMS
Over the Winter Break FOUND items multiplied, especially in the Lake Park campus. If you are missing an item of clothing, please check the fence around the asphalt playground. All pieces of clothing left after Friday will be donated to charity.
KID TALK
You may have noticed the construction our maintenance person, Tom Payne, has been erecting on the stairs between the Brown Cottage play area and the Jacaranda/Juniper classes. Two children were passing the construction and one child queried “What is he making?” The other child, William Dalton of Jacaranda, put his hands on his hips and stated with conviction, “Actually, it’s a roof”.
PARENT PARTICIPATION HOURS TURNED IN WITHOUT NAME
Someone turned in a Parent Participation timecard without a name on it. The activity was making Play-dough on Feb. 3. Please call the office if this is yours.
PARENTS NIGHT OUT
Ms. Leck is hosting a Parents Night Out on Saturday, March 6th, from 6-11 pm. Children should come to the Jacaranda classroom in their pajamas, and bring their sleeping bags. A snack, crafts, and movie will be provided. The cost is $35.00 for one child, $55.00 for two. Children must be at least 2.5 years old. Please call Ms. Leck at 510-663-8770, or email her at sidleck@earthlink.net. Advance payment reserves your spot! This service is not affiliated with Grand Lake Montessori.
NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS:
Marni Hunter, Campbell’s mom (Campbell is in Ginkgo class): marnihunter@sbcglobal.net
ELEMENTARY ACTIVITIES
The following is a partial list of activities the elementary students will be participating in:
~ A trip to Pt. Richmond
~ Continued library trips
~ Spring dance performance
~ Attend Theatre Works USA production of Ramona Quimby
LOST JACKET
During Silent Journey childcare. Red quilted LL Bean jacket with blue corduroy collar. Labeled with child’s name, LUCY. Please contact Kate Faust or the school office.
MISSING COAT
Angela Harris is missing her Mickey Mouse jacket. It is black and gray. Please return it to the office or the Live Oak class if you find it. Thank you in advance!
CLASS News
LIVE OAK - MS. CHURCH
Rain! Rain! Rain!
Rain coats are great, extra socks are wonderful, but rain boots are the BEST! Rain coats protect the children to and from school during rainy weather, but we don’t often have the opportunity to use the coats during the day as we stay inside while it is raining. What is the most helpful, and valued, are rain boots (LABELED!). On the asphalt playground large puddles accumulate and the children are drawn to the mini lakes. Please send your child with rain boots on rainy days, so they may be encouraged to “explore” the puddles.
Thank you to Grace Creech’s family for shopping for and caring for the mice over the Winter Break!
Thank you to Mario Starc, Antonia’s dad, for reading to the class on our rainy Monday.
Mr. Hoffman brought an Australian instrument to share with the children. It is made out of Eucalyptus trees that termites have hollowed out. The end result is a giant flute-like instrument that produces a deep, monotonous tone. It is called a digeridoo. He also demonstrated a coronet, a small trumpet, which is made out of brass that originated in Europe. Both are examples of wind instruments because you use your breath to blow through them to make the sound.
GINKGO – MS. NITONDE
Please welcome a new student and her family to the Ginkgo class: Alice Chu, and parents Judy Li and Gordon Chu! Be sure to add their information to your school directory:
Home address & phone: 56 Monticello Ave., Piedmont, CA, 94611 510-653-1188. E-mail addresses are judywhli@hotmail.com and Gordon_Chu@hyperion.com.
We celebrated Lily Wool’s 3rd birthday, and mom, Catherine, brought books as a gift to the class; a set of books about Little Bear, and “Where the Wild Things Are”. She read the latter to us and gave us each a cupcake. We also got to meet Lily’s cousin, Katherine from Washington, who came to visit. Happy birthday, Lily and enjoy your time with Katherine!
Thank you to Finn’s mom, Denise, for doing an art project with the class, and to Tammy Brown for reading to the children during last week’s storm.
Thank you to Madeleine Tilin for doing Yoga with our class. Two of the poses she taught us were the Tree pose and the Mouse, or Child’s pose. The Tree pose involves balancing on one leg, which is the “root” into the ground, as the upper body forms the trunk and branches up toward the sky. The Mouse pose has the child sitting curled up in a ball, head down, with arms at sides. The child becomes quiet and listens to his/her own breath.
We watched and marveled at the hail last week and had a discussion about how hail forms. It begins as falling rain, several miles up in the clouds. When an updraft develops and holds the rain aloft, it moves it upward instead of allowing it to fall. As the rain rises, it freezes because of the colder temperatures in the upper atmosphere. Drops of super cooled water hit these frozen pellets and freeze onto them. The mass of ice may fall and be lifted again several times, each time getting larger as more water freezes on it. When the hail is so big that the updraft can’t hold it aloft any more, it falls to the ground. We saved a container of hail for the children who may have missed it. Unfortunately it did what hail does; it melted.
MAGNOLIA – MS. OLIVARES
Rain, rain, go away! We certainly had some wet weather last week. The children still go outside between storms so please make sure that your child has extra clothes in their cubbies in case they get wet, as well as RAIN BOOTS.
Zeke Idelson celebrated his 3rd birthday with the class. He shared a tasty Jello snack and gave the class a book called “Mama Do You Love Me?”
The children have been playing Spanish Bingo, which is introducing them to a vocabulary of household objects, and opposites.
Terry Sandoval, Joseph’s mom, has contacted parents regarding volunteers for special projects and chores. If you can help, please e-mail Ms. Olivares directly.
Thank you!
CAMELLIA – MS. ALLEN
Last week the children enjoyed a Mardi Gras celebration introduced by Colleen, Zora’s mom, from the Mulberry class. The children danced to “shake the Ya Yas out” and received beaded necklaces. We were treated to a special snack called “King Cake” in which one piece of cake contained a small baby doll. The child lucky enough to get that piece of cake was crowned King or Queen for the day!
On his latest visit, Mr. Hoffman brought a trumpet and a long tube instrument that made a bull horn sound. The children had fun singing, appropriately, “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”, and “Sally Go ‘Round The Sunshine”.
The big thrill for children and adults, alike, was the spectacular hail storm last week! The children were very excited to watch the hail fall and delighted to collect the little balls.
Our Room Parent, Sarah Sharman, has distributed notices in the Parent Pockets offering ideas for the class auction projects. Parents are being asked for other ideas so the Camellia class can begin preparing for our project.
Thank you to Sarah for the large bouquet of Camellia flowers. The children loved helping arrange the flowers in different sized vases. And thank you, again, Sarah, for the bulletin board located at the bottom of the Brown Cottage kitchen entrance. The board will have information posted for parents regarding events, help needed, etc.
MULBERRY - MS. AIMA
E-mail trouble: Parents have been having difficulty getting e-mails to Ms. Aima. Please check to make sure you are spelling Mulberry with one L, not two.
Thank you to Colleen Floyd-Carroll for coming in to celebrate Mardi Gras with both of the toddler classes. She taught the children about Fat Tuesday and how to get their “Ya Yas” out (dancing and shouting with arms in the air)! She also passed around beaded necklaces, the famous symbol of Mardi Gras. After the wildness, we ate a special cake with a small doll hidden inside. The person who finds the doll is crowned King and chooses his Queen. Caleb found the doll, but didn’t want to be King, so he gave it to Zora who chose Lucas as her King.
Mr. Hoffman came in and sang during our lunch. He made up songs about the food the children were eating.
Thank you to Tania Rankins, Jacquez’s mom, for the beautiful orchids she gave the class.
A special thank you to Gigi, Sophia’s grandmother, for coming in on Friday mornings to be an extra lap and pair of hands in the classroom. The children are enjoying her visits!
JUNIPER - MS. KOERBER
We’ve had many birthday celebrations this year with great birthday treats and wonderful class gifts. Thank you to all the students and parents for these celebrations.
Michael Fernandez-Melone, Caramia’s dad, came and read to the class. One amazing book, “The Enchanted Creatures”, by Marcy Daws Lee, is an imaginative presentation of a well-known Filipino story about what folklorist call “Lower Mythology”. The beasts are not portrayed as hideous, bad monsters, but as lovable, funny characters. “Filipino Children’s Favorite Stories”, by Liana Romulo was also read.
As we celebrated the legacy of African-Americans, we dined on a marvelous soul food lunch prepared by the children, teachers, and parents. We had green beans, fried chicken, rice rolls and apple pie. Special thank you to Ms. Owen and Heidi Hudson (Kai’s mom)! Our lives have been touched many ways by African-American inventors: the fountain pen, invented by William Purvis in 1890; fire escape ladder by Joseph Winters in 1878; the electric heater by Ebert Stallworth in 1928; the fitted bed sheet by Bertha Berman in 1959!
This Friday we are anticipating a surprise Korean lunch, provided by Julia’s mom, Sunny. We are all looking forward to it!
JACARANDA – MS. LECK
The Jacaranda classroom has a toaster oven in the snack area which the children use to toast different breads for their snacks. After carefully picking up the bread or bagel with tongs, to and from the toaster and their bowls, the children spread their choice of cream cheese or jelly. The entire set-up is very civilized! So, we need a parent volunteer (you knew this was coming!) to purchase bagels, milk, and muffins once a week. The school will reimburse every shopper for his or her expenses.
During Virginia’s 5th birthday celebration March 3 we saw her photos and heard family stories. After lunch, beautiful cookies were handed to children to take home in their lunch boxes. We trust they exercised the appropriate restraint and the cookies made it home safely!
Another volunteer opportunity is for the class auction project. This would involve working with the children, sewing and buying supplies. Please email Jean Rubsamen, Vivienne’s mom, or talk to the Jacaranda teachers.
Please check your children’s extra clothes bags and replenish them. This is a parent/child responsibility.
Overheard during class, a 3 year old to a 4 year old: “You’re the best I’ve ever seen”.
REDWOOD – MS. RANKINS
Our class enjoyed a wonderful tea party with the kindergartners last week! The 5th years did a fantastic job baking the snacks and serving the children!
This is our last week of softball. It has been so much fun for the children, but it is time to start working on a new sport. Due to the uneven number of players Ms. Rankins has become a substitute player, while Ms. Mack-Keeles pitches. The children get very excited when they get Ms. Rankins OUT!
We have been working very hard counting all the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters that were collected for Pennies for Patients. The children have done a remarkable job, and really want to make a difference. The elementary child naturally believes in social justice and that has become very apparent with this project.
We discussed “Super Tuesday”, and followed up with our own election. The children voted whether we would like to go to an Oakland Athletics or S.F. Giants game. The Giants won. The children are going to pay for the tickets, food and transportation themselves by holding a class fundraiser, which will begin March 15th. To raise the money, the children will be selling “Biomats”: seeded gardening pads that you lay down and water. We will need parent chaperones for the game and would like to have as many parents as possible. The game is scheduled for May 20th at 12:35. If you are interested in attending, please let Celeste Grinage know ASAP, in order to purchase the tickets.
Congratulations to Michael Klein and Nacalah Gilliam for mastering dynamic addition (carrying) and dynamic subtraction (borrowing) with no math materials, to Kennedy Watson for mastering long multiplication, also with no math materials, and to Charlotte Abrahamson, Crystal Lee and Samantha Aima for mastering the 4 operations with negative numbers!!
