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Friday, December 02, 2005
GLM news 2005
Friday, December 2, 2005
Calendar
12/2 Silent Journey 6 pm
12/7 Auction meeting 5 pm
12/12 All-School Holiday Sing-A-Long 6 – 7 pm/Food drive
12/14 Core meeting 5 pm
12/19-12/29 Holiday Break – School closed, childcare by prior registration
12/23 & 12/30 School closed – no childcare
1/11 & 1/12 Elementary Operation Warm Coat donation drive
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
(THANK YOU TO HEATHER HOOD)
GLM will begin putting information gathered by Heather Hood, and others who participate in a Chetwood St., Mariposa, Vernon, and Santa Rosa Ave. Neighborhood Emergency Committee in the weekly newsletter.
There is no way to anticipate where one will be during and after a quake or emergency. Therefore, it is a good idea to have several kits of emergency supplies; One for your house, your car, your workplace. Some people buy garbage-size storage cans and fill them with their supplies, storing them outdoors, in a garage, etc.
First aid kits should include the following: Bandages, dressings. moistened towelettes, antiseptics, disinfectants, sunscreen, hot and cold packs, thermometer, scissors, tweezers, latex gloves, over-the-counter and prescription drugs (month's supply).
If you or someone in your household requires special medication, keep a 14-day supply.
Keep an empty medication container with prescription label or photocopy of prescription.
Also keep a supply of aspirin, vitamins, antacids, laxatives.
In the event of an emergency, if you smelled gas, AND ONLY if you smelled gas, you would need to turn off your gas. Find your gas turnoff valve TODAY. The vertical position allows the gas to flow through the pipe, and a quarter turn to the right so that the knob is horizontal stops the gas flow. In preparation for an emergency, you can buy a cheap tool at Ace to turn the gas off (ONLY IF NEEDED). Tape the tool to the pipe. We are making a big deal about turning off the gas ONLY IF NEEDED, because once the gas is turned off, it could take quite awhile for PG & E to come out and turn it on again.
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 “L”, as in Lamp, Leopard, and Library. Remember, the sound can also be in the middle or at the end of a word: f-e-L-t.
CHECK YOUR PARENT POCKETS
Please check your parent pockets/cubbies/folders frequently. They contain important information from teachers and the school offices (TAB forms, childcare calendars, correspondence, occasional refund check…just to name a few). There are deadlines involved with lots of the paperwork that goes out to parents. Thank you.
OPERA DVDS & PHOTOS
The Opera DVDs are in. there is a small glitch in the credits (volume decrease, freezing) but the show itself can still be enjoyed. We will be getting “perfect” copies after the holidays. There are still photos from the opera that can be viewed on-line at:
http://wallinstudios.com/opera-2005.html.
TAKE A BREAK (TAB)
Forms for the Friday lunch program (December through February) were distributed last week. If you need a form there are extras in each class and both school offices. Children need to be signed up by the Wednesday before the Friday you wish your child to participate, as the pizzas have to be ordered in advance. If you send your child to school on Friday without a lunch and without signing him/her up for TAB, you will be charged double for that week. It is a good idea to mark on your calendars at home which days you signed up for.
LUNCH WEBSITE
There is a terrific website that offers great lunchboxes and lunch ideas on the internet. The website is:
http://www.laptoplunches.com
Thank you to Tina Manuel for sharing this with us.
TUFF TUMBLERS
The new classes beginning the week of Dec. 5th are filling up quickly. Please be reminded that we may not be able put your child in a particular class as scheduling is based on first come-first served, and according to age and skill level. If you turned a check only in to the office you must still complete a registration form. Forms are available in all classes and both school offices.
CLASS NEWS
REDWOOD (ELEMENTARY)
The children had a really nice “thankfulness feast”. They made placemats with leaf decorations (thank you to Kai for the templates), using either pastels, watercolors or both. We then laminated them with a background of construction paper. They were really creative...some were overlapping, others were superimposed, etc… We began our celebration by saying one thing we were thankful for this season. Our feast included: teriyaki chicken, white rice, corn on the cob, garlic bread, "elementary punch", and brownies. The children made everything from "scratch". Charlie and Michael peeled and chopped the garlic and ginger. Brea and Eric washed the chicken pieces while Clare helped put the remaining ingredients together for the sauce! It was delicious!
Our class spent some time before the holiday really reflecting on the "real" first Thanksgiving and feeling thankful to the Native Americans who helped the pilgrims and other early settlers during those first years. The holiday of Thanksgiving actually did not become a national holiday until 1863. It was during the time of the Civil War and Lincoln thought it would be a great way to show patriotism to the warring country. Before Lincoln, Washington had set aside several days throughout the year for thanks-giving but the official holiday was not declared until 1863. Washington's idea of giving thanks throughout the year was actually adopted from the Eastern Native Americans yearly autumnal harvest celebrations that they had been observing for years.
The children also did a creative writing assignment to celebrate the season of thankfulness. They each wrote a poem or story about what they are thankful for and created a leaf for our redwood tree on the door of our classroom. Each leaf is truly unique. They are hanging on the door of our classroom...please do stop by and see the children's work!
JACARANDA
0n December 12, 2005, all the GLM classes will gather in the church sanctuary and sing holiday songs as a school, then return to the individual classrooms for each classes' celebration. Please have your child in the Jacaranda classroom by 5:45 pm Monday evening. At 6 pm, the entire school will meet in the church for singing and celebration. See the sign-up sheet for your sweet or savory potluck contribution when we celebrate in the classroom.
Other holiday activities this month in the classroom: cookie baking and gift making. There will be volunteer sign-up sheets for these opportunities, or you can talk to Ms Leck.
Thank you to Beth, Nico's mom, for helping the Jacaranda children on Thursday string candy cane beads on wire to make candy cane holiday ornaments.
As part of the geography curriculum in the Jacaranda classroom, we have labeled the four directions on the walls. When the children lay out their puzzle maps of the world or of the individual continents or countries on their rugs, the top of the maps are oriented to the north.
One of the works on the Sensorial shelves in the Jacaranda classroom is the triangle box, with which the child can construct isosceles, equilateral or scalene triangles. One of the five year olds assembles the four triangles together to make one large equilateral triangle, which shows spacial awareness and geometric problem solving.
A three year old approached an adult in the classroom and said he had a "bad dream". As always, the adult asked a neutral question: "Would you like to talk about it?" The child said, so seriously, that he dreamed that "all the works in the classroom were gone!" Truly a nightmare!
JUNIPER
Juniper's Thanksgiving feast was wonderful! The children helped make stone soup, cornbread muffins, and apple pie. They helped set up the room, lay the tablecloths, and set the table. Then they enjoyed eating their meal family style around one big table, engaging in conversation, and giving thanks for all of the wonderful things in their lives.
Hola! Every Tuesday, 6-8 Juniper children will spend 45 minutes learning Spanish in a mixed class that includes children from Magnolia, Jacaranda, and Juniper. The first class occurred on Tuesday, November 29, and the Juniper children had a great time.
LIVE OAK
Winter in California…..it does get cold…..and very wet…. Thank you for dressing the children appropriately. We really enjoy taking them outside and breathing that beautiful fresh air. It really helps when the children have raincoats and boots. We would like it if every child had water boots and a pair of slippers for the classroom. You can imagine the mud and mess when the children wear their boots inside. Up to this point we have been letting them wear their socks but slippers are warmer and more appropriate for the weather. Also, now that the weather is changing please check the backpacks to see that your child has a complete change of clothing suitable for the weather.
On another note, while some of you were great and sent in napkins with holders, I was negligent and have a pile of napkins and don’t know who they belong to. They will be at the entrance of our class and if you would be so kind to mark you child’s name on it with the pen supplied it will help us help the children get ready for lunch. Also if you didn’t send in a cloth napkin with a ring please do so now as we are practicing table manners with inside lunch.
The classroom work is really busy. It seems we can’t keep up with how smart all our children are! The older children are counting the cubes and squares of numbers with the chains, the middle children are learning processes of arithmetic using the golden bead materials and at the same time learning complex numbers. The younger children are all busy polishing, learning their sounds and singing lots of songs. Children are quickly learning sight words, the phonogram sounds (sh, ch, ph) and the parts of a turtle. We are also learning the names of turtles and other reptiles.
Please watch the clipboard for Holiday pageant activities and possible craft activities over the holidays.
GINKGO
This week we started practicing our song for our performance on December 12. The children enjoyed going upstairs to see where we are going to sing. One child asked, "Can we sing tomorrow?" They are so excited!
Sound of the Week:
The children brought in a lot of items for sound of the week: Kiwi, Kitten, King "of hearts", frog "Kit", Koala Book, and Keys.
With the holiday season here we asked children to bring in Holiday books, in celebration of the holiday their family celebrates. Please write your child's name in the book, or label it some way.
The Live Oak Class gave our class a book called "All About Snakes." The children are very interested in this subject and have been talking about the book for two days! Thank you Live Oak!
MAGNOLIA
Welcome back everybody. We hope all of you had a great holiday. The children had a great time preparing for their Friend’s Feast. We had a busy two days preparing food and making decorations. A big thank you to all of the parents who helped us on our feast day.
Happy Birthday to Cooper Jacobus who turned 3. He shared a yummy treat of bread that was baked in the shape of an elephant and mice.
This week Ms. Olivares brought some of the children to the Jacaranda classroom to have a Spanish lesson with the children in Jacaranda and Juniper. We sang some of our favorite songs, “Buenos Dias” and “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”.
We also have been practicing some songs for our all-school sing on December 12th. We took an exciting "field trip" to the church sanctuary where the event will be held and had a practice session there.
Just a reminder to make sure to bring raincoats and boots on rainy days as we take the children out rain or shine.
MULBERRY
The Mulberry Thanksgiving feast really was a work of the children. They started on Monday by making their placemats. A group of children went for a leaf-collecting walk. Upon their return they each selected leaves to place on colored paper, which we then laminated. Another group made butter from whipping cream. We poured the cream in baby food jars and the children shook, and shook them until the cream turned into butter. In the afternoon they worked on centerpieces by filled bottles with sand, and decorating with painted hands, glitter and pipe cleaners. They also made banana pudding.
Tuesday morning was very busy! The children grated cheese, cut vegetables for salad, cut melon, made garlic butter for bread, sliced bananas for the pudding, and assembled the lasagna. When the feast was ready, one long table was set for 26 children! A big thank you to all the parents who helped with our feast – we couldn’t have done it without you!
This week we began singing holiday songs representing all the different holidays we celebrate. We started practicing the song we will present at the all-school Holiday Sing-A-Long on Dec. 12, from 6 – 7 pm, which is “Build a Little Snowman” (also the song of the week):
“Build a little snowman round and fat.
Find a carrot nose and an old straw hat.
Now my little snowman, won’t you stay?
Out comes the sun and you melt away.”
CAMELLIA
Welcome back! We hope everyone had a yummy and wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you to all of the parents who helped out with our Thanksgiving feast; it turned out great! The children helped Ms. Aima make lasagna. They spread cheese and sauce on the noodle layers. They also chopped cantaloupe and made a green salad with vegetables. It was an incredible feast – good food and great friends.
The weather is changing. Please be sure your child has appropriate clothing (and extras). Thank you. We encourage you to continue to help your child find and bring an item for Sound of the Week. Next week is the "L" sound – Leaf, Lemon, Lasagna.
Friday, December 2, 2005
Calendar
12/2 Silent Journey 6 pm
12/7 Auction meeting 5 pm
12/12 All-School Holiday Sing-A-Long 6 – 7 pm/Food drive
12/14 Core meeting 5 pm
12/19-12/29 Holiday Break – School closed, childcare by prior registration
12/23 & 12/30 School closed – no childcare
1/11 & 1/12 Elementary Operation Warm Coat donation drive
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
(THANK YOU TO HEATHER HOOD)
GLM will begin putting information gathered by Heather Hood, and others who participate in a Chetwood St., Mariposa, Vernon, and Santa Rosa Ave. Neighborhood Emergency Committee in the weekly newsletter.
There is no way to anticipate where one will be during and after a quake or emergency. Therefore, it is a good idea to have several kits of emergency supplies; One for your house, your car, your workplace. Some people buy garbage-size storage cans and fill them with their supplies, storing them outdoors, in a garage, etc.
First aid kits should include the following: Bandages, dressings. moistened towelettes, antiseptics, disinfectants, sunscreen, hot and cold packs, thermometer, scissors, tweezers, latex gloves, over-the-counter and prescription drugs (month's supply).
If you or someone in your household requires special medication, keep a 14-day supply.
Keep an empty medication container with prescription label or photocopy of prescription.
Also keep a supply of aspirin, vitamins, antacids, laxatives.
In the event of an emergency, if you smelled gas, AND ONLY if you smelled gas, you would need to turn off your gas. Find your gas turnoff valve TODAY. The vertical position allows the gas to flow through the pipe, and a quarter turn to the right so that the knob is horizontal stops the gas flow. In preparation for an emergency, you can buy a cheap tool at Ace to turn the gas off (ONLY IF NEEDED). Tape the tool to the pipe. We are making a big deal about turning off the gas ONLY IF NEEDED, because once the gas is turned off, it could take quite awhile for PG & E to come out and turn it on again.
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 “L”, as in Lamp, Leopard, and Library. Remember, the sound can also be in the middle or at the end of a word: f-e-L-t.
CHECK YOUR PARENT POCKETS
Please check your parent pockets/cubbies/folders frequently. They contain important information from teachers and the school offices (TAB forms, childcare calendars, correspondence, occasional refund check…just to name a few). There are deadlines involved with lots of the paperwork that goes out to parents. Thank you.
OPERA DVDS & PHOTOS
The Opera DVDs are in. there is a small glitch in the credits (volume decrease, freezing) but the show itself can still be enjoyed. We will be getting “perfect” copies after the holidays. There are still photos from the opera that can be viewed on-line at:
http://wallinstudios.com/opera-2005.html.
TAKE A BREAK (TAB)
Forms for the Friday lunch program (December through February) were distributed last week. If you need a form there are extras in each class and both school offices. Children need to be signed up by the Wednesday before the Friday you wish your child to participate, as the pizzas have to be ordered in advance. If you send your child to school on Friday without a lunch and without signing him/her up for TAB, you will be charged double for that week. It is a good idea to mark on your calendars at home which days you signed up for.
LUNCH WEBSITE
There is a terrific website that offers great lunchboxes and lunch ideas on the internet. The website is:
http://www.laptoplunches.com
Thank you to Tina Manuel for sharing this with us.
TUFF TUMBLERS
The new classes beginning the week of Dec. 5th are filling up quickly. Please be reminded that we may not be able put your child in a particular class as scheduling is based on first come-first served, and according to age and skill level. If you turned a check only in to the office you must still complete a registration form. Forms are available in all classes and both school offices.
CLASS NEWS
REDWOOD (ELEMENTARY)
The children had a really nice “thankfulness feast”. They made placemats with leaf decorations (thank you to Kai for the templates), using either pastels, watercolors or both. We then laminated them with a background of construction paper. They were really creative...some were overlapping, others were superimposed, etc… We began our celebration by saying one thing we were thankful for this season. Our feast included: teriyaki chicken, white rice, corn on the cob, garlic bread, "elementary punch", and brownies. The children made everything from "scratch". Charlie and Michael peeled and chopped the garlic and ginger. Brea and Eric washed the chicken pieces while Clare helped put the remaining ingredients together for the sauce! It was delicious!
Our class spent some time before the holiday really reflecting on the "real" first Thanksgiving and feeling thankful to the Native Americans who helped the pilgrims and other early settlers during those first years. The holiday of Thanksgiving actually did not become a national holiday until 1863. It was during the time of the Civil War and Lincoln thought it would be a great way to show patriotism to the warring country. Before Lincoln, Washington had set aside several days throughout the year for thanks-giving but the official holiday was not declared until 1863. Washington's idea of giving thanks throughout the year was actually adopted from the Eastern Native Americans yearly autumnal harvest celebrations that they had been observing for years.
The children also did a creative writing assignment to celebrate the season of thankfulness. They each wrote a poem or story about what they are thankful for and created a leaf for our redwood tree on the door of our classroom. Each leaf is truly unique. They are hanging on the door of our classroom...please do stop by and see the children's work!
JACARANDA
0n December 12, 2005, all the GLM classes will gather in the church sanctuary and sing holiday songs as a school, then return to the individual classrooms for each classes' celebration. Please have your child in the Jacaranda classroom by 5:45 pm Monday evening. At 6 pm, the entire school will meet in the church for singing and celebration. See the sign-up sheet for your sweet or savory potluck contribution when we celebrate in the classroom.
Other holiday activities this month in the classroom: cookie baking and gift making. There will be volunteer sign-up sheets for these opportunities, or you can talk to Ms Leck.
Thank you to Beth, Nico's mom, for helping the Jacaranda children on Thursday string candy cane beads on wire to make candy cane holiday ornaments.
As part of the geography curriculum in the Jacaranda classroom, we have labeled the four directions on the walls. When the children lay out their puzzle maps of the world or of the individual continents or countries on their rugs, the top of the maps are oriented to the north.
One of the works on the Sensorial shelves in the Jacaranda classroom is the triangle box, with which the child can construct isosceles, equilateral or scalene triangles. One of the five year olds assembles the four triangles together to make one large equilateral triangle, which shows spacial awareness and geometric problem solving.
A three year old approached an adult in the classroom and said he had a "bad dream". As always, the adult asked a neutral question: "Would you like to talk about it?" The child said, so seriously, that he dreamed that "all the works in the classroom were gone!" Truly a nightmare!
JUNIPER
Juniper's Thanksgiving feast was wonderful! The children helped make stone soup, cornbread muffins, and apple pie. They helped set up the room, lay the tablecloths, and set the table. Then they enjoyed eating their meal family style around one big table, engaging in conversation, and giving thanks for all of the wonderful things in their lives.
Hola! Every Tuesday, 6-8 Juniper children will spend 45 minutes learning Spanish in a mixed class that includes children from Magnolia, Jacaranda, and Juniper. The first class occurred on Tuesday, November 29, and the Juniper children had a great time.
LIVE OAK
Winter in California…..it does get cold…..and very wet…. Thank you for dressing the children appropriately. We really enjoy taking them outside and breathing that beautiful fresh air. It really helps when the children have raincoats and boots. We would like it if every child had water boots and a pair of slippers for the classroom. You can imagine the mud and mess when the children wear their boots inside. Up to this point we have been letting them wear their socks but slippers are warmer and more appropriate for the weather. Also, now that the weather is changing please check the backpacks to see that your child has a complete change of clothing suitable for the weather.
On another note, while some of you were great and sent in napkins with holders, I was negligent and have a pile of napkins and don’t know who they belong to. They will be at the entrance of our class and if you would be so kind to mark you child’s name on it with the pen supplied it will help us help the children get ready for lunch. Also if you didn’t send in a cloth napkin with a ring please do so now as we are practicing table manners with inside lunch.
The classroom work is really busy. It seems we can’t keep up with how smart all our children are! The older children are counting the cubes and squares of numbers with the chains, the middle children are learning processes of arithmetic using the golden bead materials and at the same time learning complex numbers. The younger children are all busy polishing, learning their sounds and singing lots of songs. Children are quickly learning sight words, the phonogram sounds (sh, ch, ph) and the parts of a turtle. We are also learning the names of turtles and other reptiles.
Please watch the clipboard for Holiday pageant activities and possible craft activities over the holidays.
GINKGO
This week we started practicing our song for our performance on December 12. The children enjoyed going upstairs to see where we are going to sing. One child asked, "Can we sing tomorrow?" They are so excited!
Sound of the Week:
The children brought in a lot of items for sound of the week: Kiwi, Kitten, King "of hearts", frog "Kit", Koala Book, and Keys.
With the holiday season here we asked children to bring in Holiday books, in celebration of the holiday their family celebrates. Please write your child's name in the book, or label it some way.
The Live Oak Class gave our class a book called "All About Snakes." The children are very interested in this subject and have been talking about the book for two days! Thank you Live Oak!
MAGNOLIA
Welcome back everybody. We hope all of you had a great holiday. The children had a great time preparing for their Friend’s Feast. We had a busy two days preparing food and making decorations. A big thank you to all of the parents who helped us on our feast day.
Happy Birthday to Cooper Jacobus who turned 3. He shared a yummy treat of bread that was baked in the shape of an elephant and mice.
This week Ms. Olivares brought some of the children to the Jacaranda classroom to have a Spanish lesson with the children in Jacaranda and Juniper. We sang some of our favorite songs, “Buenos Dias” and “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”.
We also have been practicing some songs for our all-school sing on December 12th. We took an exciting "field trip" to the church sanctuary where the event will be held and had a practice session there.
Just a reminder to make sure to bring raincoats and boots on rainy days as we take the children out rain or shine.
MULBERRY
The Mulberry Thanksgiving feast really was a work of the children. They started on Monday by making their placemats. A group of children went for a leaf-collecting walk. Upon their return they each selected leaves to place on colored paper, which we then laminated. Another group made butter from whipping cream. We poured the cream in baby food jars and the children shook, and shook them until the cream turned into butter. In the afternoon they worked on centerpieces by filled bottles with sand, and decorating with painted hands, glitter and pipe cleaners. They also made banana pudding.
Tuesday morning was very busy! The children grated cheese, cut vegetables for salad, cut melon, made garlic butter for bread, sliced bananas for the pudding, and assembled the lasagna. When the feast was ready, one long table was set for 26 children! A big thank you to all the parents who helped with our feast – we couldn’t have done it without you!
This week we began singing holiday songs representing all the different holidays we celebrate. We started practicing the song we will present at the all-school Holiday Sing-A-Long on Dec. 12, from 6 – 7 pm, which is “Build a Little Snowman” (also the song of the week):
“Build a little snowman round and fat.
Find a carrot nose and an old straw hat.
Now my little snowman, won’t you stay?
Out comes the sun and you melt away.”
CAMELLIA
Welcome back! We hope everyone had a yummy and wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you to all of the parents who helped out with our Thanksgiving feast; it turned out great! The children helped Ms. Aima make lasagna. They spread cheese and sauce on the noodle layers. They also chopped cantaloupe and made a green salad with vegetables. It was an incredible feast – good food and great friends.
The weather is changing. Please be sure your child has appropriate clothing (and extras). Thank you. We encourage you to continue to help your child find and bring an item for Sound of the Week. Next week is the "L" sound – Leaf, Lemon, Lasagna.
