Calendar
9/8 Juniper Parent Night 6:30-8, Mulberry Parent Night 5-6:30
9/9 Camellia Parent Night 6-7:30
9/14 Core Meeting 5 - pm
9/26 All week - School pictures – schedule to be announced
9/30-10/1 Scholastic Book Fair
10/1 Family Fun Day

Regrettably, the following staff members were left out of the previous newsletter. Our apologies.

MONICA MAC DONALD – GUIDE (LIVE OAK)
Monica grew up in Asia as a military dependent. She was a residential drug counselor before being introduced to Montessori in India. Monica trained at the AMI Training Center in St. Louis in 1987. Since then she has taught primary, assisted the elementary, created a toddler program and owned her own school. She has one adopted daughter who had the privilege of a Montessori education from age 1 to 12 and is now an A student at Berkeley High. Monica moved to the Bay Area to be part of GLM. For recreation she enjoys quilting, travel, dancing and music.

GRACE MOLLEL – CO-TEACHER (MULBERRY)
Grace grew up in Arusha, Tanzania, in East Africa, with 4 brothers and 6 sisters! After high school she attending an accounting college, and worked as an accountant for a few years in Tanzania. She came to the U.S. in 1999 and worked as a nanny until joining GLM. When not at work, she enjoys reading, cooking, and music of all kinds.

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 “A”, as in Athlete, Attic, and Alphabet.

BOOK FAIR
GLM will hold it’s 2nd Scholastic Book Fair on Friday Sept. 30 from 3 – 6 pm and Saturday, Oct. 1st from 10 am – 2 pm. This is a chance to enrich your child’s home library, buy gifts for the holidays. Watch for flyers with more details.

FAMILY FUN DAY
Saturday, Oct. 1st, is also Family Fun Day! This is an event for the entire family, friends and neighbors. There will be games, BBQ, a mini-circus, jump tents and more! Don’t miss it!

TAKE A BREAK (TAB) RESUMES SEPT. 16TH
Most Fridays GLM offers parents a break from making lunches with Take A Break.
Parents sign up their children in advance to have a special pizza lunch with their class. It costs $5.00 per lunch. Lunch includes cheese pizza from Pizza Pazza on Piedmont Ave., baby carrots, and fresh melon or seasonal fruit.
The pizzas have to be ordered ahead of time so be sure to get your paperwork in to the office by the Wednesday before the Friday you wish your child to participate. Forms are distributed in parent pockets and extras are available in both school offices. Each form covers a 2 –3 month period.
Parents can help slice fruit, bag carrots, distribute trays to classes, and clean up between 10:30 am and 1 pm (you can help the whole time or just part of it). Sign up sheets for parent volunteers are posted around campus. Time spent helping with TAB goes toward Parent Participation Hours!

BROWN COTTAGE CONSTRUCTION
An area outside of the Brown Cottage is closed to traffic due to construction. The school is installing new bathrooms to the Cottage for the children to use when on the outside play areas. Thank you for your patience.

HEAD LICE WATCH
We have had one reported incident of head lice in a Lake Park classroom (exposure would have been the week of Aug. 29).
Head lice continue to be a problem in homes and schools. Most schools have a “no-nit” policy, where-in children with lice will be sent home with their parents. Parents can obtain guidelines about treatment from the school office, their physician or a pharmacist.
It is important to inspect all of the child’s hair, especially close to the scalp, at the neckline and behind the ears. Pillows, bedding, stuffed animals, etc., should be laundered or put in a sealed plastic bag for 2 weeks.
Permethrin or pyrethrins are the only compounds approved by the EPA and proven to be effective. Use the full amount stated on the label, but do not exceed the duration of application on the label without consulting a pediatrician. Treatment failures usually result from: 1. Not strictly following labeled directions, 2. incomplete combing of the nits (eggs attached to the hair shaft), 3. Not realizing it may take 8-12 hours for the lice to die, 4. or lice reinfestation.

ENROLLMENT FORMS & IMMUNIZATIONS RECORDS
Enrollment forms that are missing have been posted on the sign-in clipboards of each class. These forms must be submitted to the office by Sept. 16th.
Parents of pre-schoolers and kindergartners born between 12-3-99 and 12-2-00 will be receiving a letter regarding immunizations needed. Immunization documentation must be returned to school by Sept. 30th.
Childcare Licensing and the California Department of Health require schools to have the above information in children’s files. Children will not be allowed to return to school after Sept. 30th until all their paperwork is in order. Thank you for your cooperation.


MULBERRY
The school year is off to a good start. This week the children have been getting oriented to the classroom and routines. All of them seem to enjoy the snack routine! They begin by washing their hands, then serving themselves toast and fruit. Afterwards they wash their own plates.
Now that it is getting cooler we ask that children bring labeled jackets to school, or have your child wear layers of clothes.
Song of the week:
The tiny caterpillar crawled upon a leaf,
Spun a little chrysalis,
Then fell fast asleep.
While she was sleeping
She dreamt that she could fly.
Later when she woke up
She was a butterfly.

JACARANDA
Welcome to the Jacaranda classroom, to those families returning and those who are new to the class and GLM. Thanks to everyone who attended the Back to School Night. We hope everyone had a chance to meet others in the Jacaranda community and to have questions answered.
Thank you for your patience during these first weeks as the Juniper and Jacaranda classrooms learn the new drop off procedure, including the early morning arrivals, and all day Montessori.
This wee the children have continued to set up their lunch tables as they did all summer. We have added flower cutting and decorated vases to complete the table settings.

REDWOOD
Thank you to all of the parents who attended last Friday's Back to School Night!
The children have been busy having mini conversations in Spanish with Senora Roberston. They are also learning how to conjugate the verb (tengo) “to have” and they are using adjectives to describe body parts (Yo tengo pello corte. I have short hair). Some of the questions they are focusing on are: Como estas? (How are you?) Como te llamas? (What is your name?) Cuantos anos tienes? (How old are you?) They have learned the adjectives: dark hair-moreno; rubio-light hair; grande-big; pequeno-small; corte-short; largo-long.
The children have also been busy planning their bake sale fund-raiser for the Hurricane Katrina victims. The bake sale will be on Friday, September 16th. The children will be selling their baked goods from 2:30-4:30. They are very excited!
Please remember that your children needs their slippers and emergency backpacks by Monday! I am asking that the children have slippers with rubber soles on the bottom in case of a fire drill.
Ora Watson has agreed to be do the Scholastic book orders again this year! Thank you very much, Ora!
We are in need of someone to help with some light shopping duties. If this is something you are interested in please let me know.
We are headed for our first library trip of the school year on Friday! We are very excited that it will be cool weather!

GINKGO
The children have had successful first days of school with Ms. Mc Clindon and Ms. Nitonde.
We’re learning news songs, including “This Is My School” composed by Sanford Jones.
Ms. Campbell and Ms. Basom (a roving substitute who offers Clay Studio) have been in the classroom helping out. Ms. Smith was in an auto accident and broke her arm. We are glad that she is back in our class.
The children have been enjoying taking walks with Ms. Campbell to pick flowers for arranging in the classroom. All the children want to take flowers home, but we explained that they are school flowers for all the classes. Since the children are like “sponges” when it comes to new words we give them names: sage, snapdragon, sweet peas, daisies.

MAGNOLIA
We have had a busy and exciting first few days of school. Thank you everyone for being patient as we establish a drop off routine that works for all of the Lake Park classes. Ms. Olivares has set up some activities for the children in the alley outside of the classroom to help with the early morning rush. She is also stationed there to receive children from cars starting at 8:00 am and going through 8:45 am.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to come to the meeting on Wednesday evening. We hope most of your questions were answered, but as always, Ms. Olivares is available to answer any questions/concerns during her “office hours”, Wednesdays between 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm. It promises to be a wonderful year and all of the Magnolia teachers look forward to working with your families.

JUNIPER
The Juniper teachers would like to welcome all of the new children and parents to the new school year. The first two weeks have been full of energy and exploration as the children settle into their new environment and meet their peers and teachers.
Thank you to all of the parents who attended Back To School Night in Juniper on Wednesday. As a reminder, Ms. Koerber will no longer be available by phone during the day starting next week. If you need to reach her, please call the office and leave a message. Ms. Koerber will then return your call after 3:00 p.m. Ms. Koerber is also available by appointment on Wednesday and Thursday after 3:00 p.m.
Lunch Note: As of next week, please include a cloth napkin in your child’s lunch daily.
We have had a wonderful start to the school year and look forward to working with all of the children and parents as the year progresses!

LIVE OAK
First, thank you all so much for spending an evening of your week for parent night. It was great to hear your affirming voices about why you chose GLM and what you want for your children. If you were not able to attend please check your parent folder. It is in a box labeled Live Oak Parent Folders and will be located next to the check out clipboard. You will also find papers from the office there so check your folder daily as you sign out.
Our second week of school and the children are settling into the work nicely. We spent this week giving new lessons so the children will have some choices. Now we will spend our time helping the children make the choices using the lessons they have had. Fridays are days of capturing the week. No new lessons are given and the children will freely choose their whole morning. It gives us a glimpse on what and how they learned the new lessons given this week.
In practical life area the children are folding, carrying objects carefully and cleaning up spills. At home try to let them help you wipe down a table or sweep up a small spill. In sensorial area we are focusing on geometric shapes and their names. In language we are breaking words into sounds. Pig becomes pu-I-gu. You can play this game with any object around you as you set the table or give a bath. Ask what sound do you hear when I say water. Your child may only hear the first or the last sound and that is perfect. Always acknowledge that you hear it also. If your child is older he/she may hear all the sounds. We are also working on living/nonliving classification. Next week we will introduce the classification of plant/animal. We are also learning about land and water forms and the names of the continents.
As the weather turns colder we will be eating lunch indoors. If you haven’t sent it yet, please send a cloth napkin with an easily recognizable napkin ring for your child. We will send it home on Fridays for washing.
Have a great weekend.

CAMELLIA
Welcome to the second week of school! Everybody is so busy with their work; water play, pouring, spooning, and art. The children are achieving independence, caring for self, unpacking lunches, and setting the tables for lunchtime. In addition, they are enriching their vocabulary through songs, poems, naming games and Sound of the Week. We have a few new students who are still exploring the classroom. I want to give a big hand to my Camellia families for doing an excellent job by keeping the morning drop off short and sweet.
Please note: if you are late getting to class in the morning please ask one of the teachers to help your child with saying good-bye. We try to keep distractions to a minimum for the children involved with their work.
Thank you to Zayda, Logan's mom, for bringing popsicles for both toddler classes!