GLM/casa news 2004
Calendar
May 11 Boxtales Performance 3:00-4:00 pm
May 11 Family Night for Ginkgo
May 15 GLM Clean up Day 10 am – 1 pm
May 17 All-school assembly -Circus Performer 9:30-10 am
May 19 Family night for Juniper
May 19 Parent Core Meeting 5 pm
May 22 Auction! “A Night in Venice”

SUMMER REGISTRATION
Please turn in your summer registration forms ASAP. We need to plan for summer staffing and allow staff members to plan their own vacations. Thank you!

SPECIAL ALL-SCHOOL ASSEMBLY
Tuesday, May 11, we have a special after school assembly from 3:00 – 4:00 pm. Young Audiences of the Bay Area will present the ensemble “Boxtales”, performing Jambo Watoto: Tales & Rhythms from Africa. This show is a loving homage to the rich and wonderful cultures of Africa featuring stories and traditional rhythms from many different regions. These rhythms are played on bells, djlembe and djoon djoon drums. Incredible masks and energetic movement accent this collection of stories and African music. This special performance is open to all the children and there is no childcare fee for those attending.

AUCTION UPDATES
DONATION DROP-OFF REMINDER
LAST DROP-OFF DAY BEFORE THE AUCTION
This coming Wednesday, May 12th, is the last campus drop-off for the auction. There well be a table at the Lake Park parking lot to accept items including gift certificates and promises to provide services. Get creative! How about donating your architect consultative services, a great bottle of wine from your cellar, prepare a picnic lunch, give financial planning services, cooking classes, babysitting, etc. If you have any question about the drop-offs or are unable to bring your items on the appointed day, please do not hesitate to contact Gigi Orta or Mary Aima (who can take items at the Brown Cottage if necessary).
Auction Tickets
the rush and get your payments in to the office for the auction. Tickets are $30 per person, and the deadline to purchase tickets is May 10. If you still need an invitation they are available in both school offices.
Auction Volunteers needed
Volunteers are needed to help clean up after the auction on the 22nd. Please sign-up at the drop-off table or contact Mary Aima at the Brown Cottage.
Raffle Tickets
There’s still time to sell tickets! Please return any unsold tickets you may have in to the office so that others may have the opportunity to sell them.
Auction Night Childcare Available
Childcare is available with Ms. Church and Ms. Nitonde at the school (elementary classroom) for children 2.5 years and older. The cost is $40.00 per child, or $60.00 for one child and a sibling. Children should arrive in pjs with a sleeping bag or blanket. There will also be childcare available for children under age 2.5. Please contact the school office for more information.

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 sound for next week is “PL” as in Plant, Plaid, and Pluto.

GLM CLEAN UP DAY
We need parent volunteers to help spruce up the campus and complete tasks from our teachers’ Wish List, from 10 am – 1 pm on Saturday, May 15. Lunch and lemonade will be provided. This is a great opportunity to meet other parents, wrap up those Parent Participation Hours (time is running out), and make our campus lovely for the GLM auction!Please bring rakes, sanding equipment, paint brushes, shovels gardening tools, and a keen sense of humor! Look for sign-up sheets in the sign-in books/clipboards.

POTTY TRAINING FOR BEGINNERS
Meg Zweiback, author of Keys to Toilet Training, returns to BANANAS for a workshop on “toilet training for the first time.” Meg will discuss the ins and outs of beginning toilet training for young children and some of the common problems that can happen. The workshop will be on Tuesday, May 25, 7-8:30 pm. Pre-registration is required. Call 658-7353 for more information.

MUSICAL NOTES
From Mr. Hoffman:
On Musical Enrichment Days, besides learning songs, we’ve been learning some musical terms and seeing a wide variety of instruments. I will be sharing with you some of these each week through the newsletter.
MUSICAL TERMS
Tempo: We learned that we can speed up or slow down a song. When we do that we are changing the tempo.
INSTRUMENTS
Bodhran: This is an Irish drum. Like all Gaelic words you don’t pronounce it like it’s spelled. You say “BOW-ran” (bow, like a dog’s bark). The bodhran is a frame drum where the diameter of the head is greater than the width of the frame the head is on. This one is made of traditional materials: wood frame and goat skin. It is played with one hand in the drum, dampening the head and moving up and down to change the pitch, while the back of the other hand, or a “tipper” or “beater” strikes the drum up and down.
Bones: These are the oldest known not-of-the-body instruments (not vocal chords or clapping hands. Two ribs are played by holding them against each other in one hand and wiping that hand back and forth to get a clacky-clack sound.
Mr. Hoffman teaches private lessons in his home, or for an extra fee in yours. You can get more information by visiting his web site www.erikhoffman.com, calling him at 510-444-4397, or e-mailing him at erik@erikhoffman.com.

ELEMENTARY ACTIVITIES
The following is a partial list of activities the elementary students will be participating in:
~Continued library trips
~Spring dance performance
~A Giant’s game
~A visit to MOCHA
~End of year camping trip!
~Swimming at Lake Temescal

PUPPY FOUND
Beanbag Dalmatian found on upper play area in front of Brown Cottage. Contact Joanna in the administrative office.
LOST COAT
Alexis Scalzo is missing a baby-blue hooded coat with red stripes on the sleeves.
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
We’ve had a very busy week, working on projects and enjoying many activities.
We met Sparky, our friend in the Marcus family who is a “spokes-dog” for the Second Step program. Sparky is a Yorkshire Terrier who helps children with communication issues and he visited us with Sam’s aunt Becky, all the way from Washington!
We also had a lesson during Circle about sharing. We talked about how sharing is an important friendship skill that requires cooperation. We discussed what could be done when two children want to play with the same thing. Some children suggested asking if the child would share. And there are times a child may not want to share and perhaps play alone. In that instance a child can say “I want to play alone right now”. Sharing, taking turns, and trading are play skills that require practice and reinforcement.
Parent Night on Wednesday was a big hit in Live Oak! The children were proud to show off their work and classroom! They were so focused and respectful that at many moments you could hear a pin drop. If your child missed the evening please come by after school (3:00 pm). Check with a teacher to be sure the room is available.
Angelina’s mom, Mariana, made May Baskets with the children on Friday! Everyone loved them! She also donated art supplies to the class. Thank you, Mariana!

GINKGO – MS. NITONDE
In our Second Step lesson we talked about taking time to listen when someone is expressing a thought, and we asked, at home, how do you let mom or dad know you are listening to them? The children replied with “I look them in the eyes” and “I nod my head”. They all noticed that body language is very important when you are listening to another person’s message.
Happy belated birthday to Kennedy and Morgan Mason who turned 6 on April 4th! We enjoyed the strawberries they shared with the class, and thank the Mason family for the gift check to use to purchase things our classroom needs!
Happy birthday also to Finnegan Michener, who turned 4 on May 2nd. We celebrated with him this week and thank him for the popcorn and strawberry snack he brought.
The children have been learning a French song called Frere Jacques. They were thrilled to have Mr. Hoffman accompany them on the guitar.
Thank you to Glynis Mason for helping the children paint flowerpots, and to Marni Hunter for reading to our class!

MAGNOLIA – MS. OLIVARES
Thank you to everyone who attended our Family Night last week. The children were very proud and excited to show their special jobs to their parents, and to sing the songs whey have been practicing for months! Special thanks to Leah Van Ness (Scott’s mom) for bringing the delicious cookies and juice for our snack that evening.
The children have been very busy this week making their moms a special Mother’s Day surprise!
We have also been working on one of the auction projects with Ms. Owens; a mirror decorated with dry flowers.
Our other auction project involves collage frames of the children “at work”. Thank you to Henry’s dad, Josh, for coming in to take the photos of the children!

CAMELLIA – MS. ALLEN
During the past week the children continue to enjoy the warm weather water activities. A most popular activity is using water as paint and pretending to paint the playhouse. The water table is getting a lot of use, also.
During outdoor time the class (and teachers!) have been having fun pretending to be fire fighters, donning red fire helmets and waving a foam hose.
During class time the children have been decorating butterflies with tissue paper and working on a Mother’s Day project. Many thanks to Nina Reiser (Niorline’s mom) for donating the use of a Polaroid camera, and giving us film for the project!
Thank you to all the parents for the great team work on the auction project!
Please bring in weather appropriate change of clothes, labeled with your child’s name.

MULBERRY - MS. AIMA
Happy Mother’s Day! Hope all our wonderful mothers take time to relax.
We have really been enjoying the hot weather. To help the toddlers through these scorching days, a water mister has been installed in the ceiling of our outdoor covered area! The children squealed with excitement the first couple of times we turned it on. Zora couldn’t get wet enough! In light of the children getting drenched on a regular basis, please be sure the have a complete change of clothes, including shoes!
Ms. Kebede gave the class a battery operated bubble machine! Talk about FUN! The children absolutely love chasing the bubbles. Thank you Ms. Kebede.

JUNIPER - MS. KOERBER
I hope you have reviewed the letter distributed explaining the “Traffic Light” eating program we’ve been discussing with the children. We’ve made a game out of the program, where the children determine which food group (Green, Yellow or Red Light) real food or photos of food belong. I will be using the letter to indicated Red Light foods that are in your child’s lunch box, and passing these out on the next two Mondays (May 10th & 17th). If you have questions or comments please see Ms. Koerber.
We had a wonderful visit to the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) this week. The children participated in an interactive art lesson lead by Mr. Jackson (artist and guide). We worked with clay, paints, glue and paper to form human bodies. There were three stations set-up for us and the children were very busy at all three. Thank you to Terry Burge for planning the trip and driving, and to Jeanette Dong-Chan, Lisa James, Terry Staples, Michelle Meyers and Leah Van Ness for also driving. HUGS AND KISSES!
Thank you to Caleb Simmons’ family for sharing their family history. We found out that Caleb’s great, great, great grandmother was American Indian, and his great, great, great grandfather was French, and his father was born in Africa! Caleb shared five generations of pictures and a favorite family dish of bread pudding.
Thank you also to Allison Givens for sharing Taylor’s cultural background. She shared a book about the rainbow colors of African-American people, and another about Jazz music. We listened to Jazz music and colored how the music made us feel on paper that Allison provided.
Thank you to Ella and mom, Michelle, and Zoe and mom, Jeanette for keeping our class towels clean!
SUMMER BOOK SALE FORMS DUE MAY 10TH. Place them in Ralonda Cunningham’s Parent Cubby.
Happy Mother’s Day to all our wonderful moms!

JACARANDA – MS. LECK
The days grow warmer and longer and the Jacaranda vegetable garden thrives under the attention and care of the Jacaranda classroom. The children also planted nasturtium seeds in a flower garden outside the classroom. We track the days until the hardy little seeds germinate!
An outdoor water work using a wading pool and plastic pipes has been very popular lately. The older children make gravity-fed pipe constructions, and it is always magical to see the younger children copy the older one’s designs!
We hope everyone enjoy Family Night in the Jacaranda classroom on Wednesday. Each child very carefully chose his/her works and anticipated having family in the room as special guests.
The class celebrated Cinco de Mayo and enjoyed chips and hot sauce (“Spicy!”), quesadillas, and guacamole (or “rockamole” as one child called it).
Thank you to Kasha for bringing her “Princess Stories”, a book containing stories from around the world. The children were entranced one afternoon by the Chinese story, “Moon Maiden”, another day a South African story, in honor of Ms. Leck. One child stated the story felt very short, even though Ms. Leck had read for 45 minutes! The children are always welcome to bring books from home to share, but please check with the teachers to make sure the books are age and content appropriate.

REDWOOD – MS. RANKINS
The class has completed the sketch of the Gondola for the auction. The next step is to paint it. The children are very excited to be a part of the auction decorations process!
We have all been working very hard on our Spring Performance play, dances and songs. Please be sure to mark your calendars with the date of the event: May 27th at 2:30. We are in need of extra help with the scenery, so if you have some spare time and would like a project you can take home, please let us know.
The second years have completed their Stanford-9 testing! Congratulations! The fifth years are testing this week.
Thank you to everyone for remembering the re-usable containers! We have a lot less garbage and recycling! The children are having fun showing one another their “Tupperware”.
As the weather have become quite warm the children have been doing P.E. on the upper yard as opposed to the asphalt. While on the upper play area they have become reacquainted with the sandbox and waffle blocks. Some of the children built amazing chairs/thrones with the blocks while others created a mini city in the sand!
Congratulations to the first years for completing another research project. They all chose various reptiles and wrote at least a page about the animals. They had to follow a research outline and find the information in fact file!
The fourth years are moving on from the skeletal system to the muscular system. They have been introduced to some of the myths ancient people had about the muscles, and are learning the names and locations of the muscles in the body.
The second years have completed their study of vertebrates. We have now begun learning about invertebrates, and are currently studying the external body parts of mollusks (snails, octopus, squid. etc).
The entire class is very excited about the Giant’s game next week and we are counting the days! We suspect we won’t make it back to school by 3:30,so please schedule your child’s pick-up between 4:30 and 5:00 pm that day.
We learned about Cinco de May and the older children educated the younger ones about how some countries have gained their independence. We than celebrated the occasion with chips and salsa!
















































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