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Friday, February 17, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
Calendar
2/20 President’s Day – School closed, no childcare
2/21-2/24 Winter Break – School closed, childcare by prior registration
4/22 School Auction 2 pm
BE SURE THE SCHOOL AUCTION IS ON YOUR CALENDARS
April 22, 2006*
2:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Sequoyah Country Club
Tickets will be available for online purchase on March 10th.
*Please note the date change
HOLIDAY AND WINTER BREAK
Remember, Monday, Feb. 20 is the President’s Day holiday. There will be no school or childcare. The rest of next week there is childcare by prior registration only.
THE EMOTIONAL LIFE OF AN ADOPTED CHILD
A CONFERENCE
How do adoptive parents and professionals truly understand children’s inner lives, and how do we help them when they are struggling with difficult emotions? Join therapists, adoption attorneys, adoption agencies and other parents for an all day conference on March 4th from 9:30 am to 4 pm at the Head Royce School in Oakland. Pact, An Adoption Alliance members will receive a discount on their ticket. Register by phone (510-243-9460), fax (510-243-9970), or online at www.pactadopt.org.
PENNIES FOR PATIENTS
Here are the breakdowns of what the classes have raised this week for Pennies for Patients:
Camellia - $1.93 Mulberry - $1.41 Ginkgo - $3.74
Magnolia - $13.47 Jacaranda - $44.37 Live Oak - $19.58
Juniper - $47.28 Redwood - $63.34 Total: $195.12
We will continue collecting change (and bills!). Remember, the class that raises the most $$ is treated to a pizza party!
SOUND OF THE WEEK There is no Sound of the Week next week due to Winter Break. The following week the sound will be “U” as in Us, Umbrella, and Uncle.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS ON ASTHMA
The following picture books for children come highly recommended by Iris Greenbaum, a consultant with the school, who has done work with the staff on grief, loss and special medical needs:
“The Lion Who Had Asthma” by Jonathan London (1992)
“Brianna Breath Easy: A Story About Asthma” by Virginia Kroll (2005)
TAKE A BREAK
Forms for the Friday lunch program covering March and April have been distributed to all Parent Pockets/Cubbies (there are additional forms in each classroom and office). It is a good idea to mark the dates you’ve signed your child up for on your calendar at home.
Also, volunteers are needed to help with the lunch on Fridays, between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Please call the school office in you would like to help, 510-836-4313.
CINDERELLA’S GLASS SLIPPER
The East Bay Children’s Theatre, in association with the Oakland Museum, present “Cinderella’s Glass Slipper” at the James Moore Theatre on March 18 and March 25, 2006. Tickets are $7.00 per person, $6.00 per person for 5 or more tickets per show. Children under 2 are free. The theater is located at 1000 Oak Street, in Oakland at the Oakland Museum. For more information call 510-655-7285.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
CLASS NEWS
REDWOOD (ELEMENTARY)
The elementary children had a great Valentine's Day. We had a taco, beans, and rice lunch which Charlie, Brea, Kennedy, Zoe, Clare, and Zachary made. The taco filling was made from ground beef, paprika, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and finely chopped onion. The ingredients for our beans were vegetable broth, onion, garlic, bell pepper, salt, pepper, and seasoned salt, while the rice was made with onion, garlic, and tomato sauce. Yes, everything was made from scratch! The children who did not cook this time were our clean-up crew. They also did a magnificent job cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen. We then shared our Valentine's cards with one another. Quite a few children made their own cards and they were quite unique! During the afternoon we wrote Valentine's Day stories in groups of three. Prior to the children writing their stories, I had given them each a strip of paper with a sentence written on it. They had to somehow incorporate each of their sentences into their stories that they wrote. Cystal, Zachary, and Nacalah wrote the following story:
“The large, green snake slithered across the heated, dry rock in search of some shade and food. Slithering quickly down a hill the large snake tripped and began to roll. Then, the snake followed its nose and found itself in the kitchen of a house. The aroma of a chocolate heart shaped cake filled the room. Happily, the snake slithered up the table and gobbled the cake up and was off to a shady place. After slithering for a few seconds the snake found a tree and went to sleep. The end.”
On Wednesday our class went to the Mormon Temple to watch a Lunar New Year celebration performance that was put on by Pacific Rim School. It was really nice. The performance went into explanation about the various aspects of Lunar New Year: the lanterns, spring flowers, dragons, drumming, etc. They had more than 100 children in their school performance and most of the children were 4 and 5! It was amazing!
JACARANDA
Valentine's Day in the Jacaranda class was a day of sharing and not too much sugar- we sent that home with the kids! Thanks to those families who baked for the children's tea party on Tuesday; they enjoyed tea cakes and cookies and each other's company as they ate. Later, everyone sat in a circle and placed their bags before them while their friends dropped cards in each bag. Remember how long the children are able to sit, if they are interested and if the behavior is being reinforced in the group setting? This situation is harder to recreate at home, but if the children are given real work with accompanying respect, they will usually willingly work toward a defined goal.
Wolfgang Ettenreich, Montessori intern from the AMI Training Center in Mountain View, has been especially helpful this week while Ms. Leck has been sick. Mr. Ettenreich has a quiet, calm presence as he gives lessons to the children in the Jacaranda classroom. Mrs. Saleem, Mr. Keating and the children are especially appreciative of his help this week with Ms. Leck away.
Both David and Zander celebrated their fourth birthdays with the class in the past week. Thank you for introducing us to your grandparents, Zander, and for your gift to the class. Thanks to David and his parents for the wooden puzzle and the Spanish book.
Thanks for your continued support of Sound of the Week, for which Tangerines, Tiger, Tambourine, Tape, Table and Ticket made appearances on Wednesday.
When we read "If You Could Travel to the Moon," the children were intently listening to a story about space travel to a place without air or water. We talked about the basic needs of a human, mammal or living thing, and appreciated how the earth is able to provide for us.
Carolyn Baird, Gavin's mom, has begun to actively recruit for her replacement for guinea pig cage cleaning for next year. Come spend some quality time with everyone's favorite guinea pig and help the class, too (and earn valuable Parent Participation Hours).
JUNIPER
The children in Juniper will be exploring and developing many virtues and personal characteristics throughout the school year. During the month of February, we are focusing on the themes of Love, Compassion, Respect, and Kindness. In pursuit of this, the children have made cards for each other, played cooperative games such as motor boat and basketball, and sung songs including "We All Live Together" and "We Shall Overcome" (or, as the children call it, "We'll Walk Hand In Hand").
Next week, we have a parent coming to read to the children and the children will be working together to create a story.
Thanks goes out to Ruthie Bolden for her kindness and generosity in providing many of the delicious treats that the children enjoyed on Valentine’s Day.
We look forward also to Mark Cota, a San Francisco Police Officer and father of two Juniper children, visiting our class to teach us about safety.
GINKGO
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day party. Marni Hunter brought in Apple cider for our special snack, and stickers and beads. The Ginkgo teachers brought the children strawberries, bananas and whipped cream. After snack, the children passed out their Valentine's Day cards. A special thank you to the parents who came in to the classroom to help. Gigi Curry's mom and dad (Nicole and Mark) did cookie decorating with the children. Rory Reiser's mom, Nina, helped the children make bracelets and necklaces, and Mintra El Boghdadi’s mom, Lisa, read books to the children about love and families.
Black history month: Ms. Mc Clindon told a story about Martin L. King, sharing the story about peaceful marches and how he used words and not violence to communicate his feelings. We also listened to a story called "A Sweet Smell of Roses" by Angela Johnson. The story is about two young girls who went across town to where men and women were gathered, ready to march for freedom and justice.
The sound of the week was "T". Children brought in a Teddy bear, Truck, Teapot, and "Talk".
We wish everyone a wonderful winter break and look forward to seeing you all Monday, February 28!
LIVE OAK
Valentine’s Day was a great success! Thank you all so much for your donations and lovely contributions. The children felt very loved and our feast of blueberry muffin hearts and strawberries with fresh whipped cream was awesome.
Today I would like to address lunch and lunchbox options for your child. Every day we, as teachers, see what the children bring for lunch and I would like to take this opportunity to remind you all of our lunch policy at GLM.
We have a low sugar, no candy policy. We offer the children soy or cow milk and water for lunch. We would prefer you not send sippy-cups or water bottles or juice.
Each day a child should have something to eat from each of these following areas. I have included some suggestions.
Protein: soup, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, tuna, hard-boiled eggs, slices of beef or chicken, tofu. Please do not send large containers of yogurt. The children never finish them and please don’t send the high sugar yogurt like “go-gurts” and the like. They really are just a lot of sugar.
Vegetables: anything raw or slightly cooked or made into a soup. Please think about adding greens to your children’s lunch with or without dressing. Children this age love edamame and it’s loaded with good stuff.
Breads and Grains: rice, whole wheat bread, crackers, breadsticks. Please do not send butter crackers or sweet biscuits, etc. The children really need a good hardy carbohydrate.
Fruit: they are filled with natural sugars and are needed for energy. They make good desserts. I often see children with a variety of berries, bananas and apples, etc. It is always very inviting.
As a note to close I am acknowledging and thanking Tina Manuel. She has hooked us up with a great book resource for our studies of animals and continents. Also to Felicia Hall, Naima Hart and Nicole Johnson for helping us celebrate Black History Month. On Friday we will be celebrating with stories, crafts and food.
MAGNOLIA
What a busy week we had in the Magnolia classroom. A huge thank you to all of our parent volunteers who helped out on Valentine's Day (Kendra Collins, Heather Hood, Teresa Butner, Adrienne Hogg and Amy Hiett). The children enjoyed a snack of muffins, fruit and heart shaped Jell-o provided by Adrienne Hogg and Amy Hiett. Then they passed out their special Valentines to each other. Some of the children had some very creative and festive handmade Valentines.
Congratulations to the Mueller family – Hannah is now a big sister to baby Charlotte who was born on Thursday, Feb. 16. Charlotte weighs 8 pounds and 2 oz!
We will begin working on our class auction projects in March. If you have an hour or two to spend one morning let Ms. Olivares know - she would love your help with these art projects.
We are having beautiful weather these days! Please make sure to label all of your child’s sweaters and jackets (please label EVERYTHING if you want to be sure to get them back). The children peel off their layers as the day warms up.
MULBERRY
This has been a busy week for the Mulberry class. Lots of children have been bringing in books to share so we've been listening to stories a lot.
The sound of the week was "T" and we've been playing lots of Eye-Spy with my little eye something in my hand that begins with "T". The children love this game and it is something you can do at home.
Tuesday we celebrated Amina's birthday and Valentine’s Day. All the children decorated bags to put their Valentines in, and some also decorated frames and a cookie to take home. We had a special snack of sliced fruit, scones, and cream cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches, washed down with sparkling cider.
Song of the week:
The tiny caterpillar crawled upon a leaf spun a little chrysalis then fell fast a sleep.
While she was sleeping she dreamt that she could fly.
Later when she woke up she was a butterfly.
CAMELLIA
Thank you to all the parents who helped with our Valentine's celebration. The children were busy as bees, decorating cookies, and decorating picture frames. They especially enjoyed the fruit salad and mini sandwiches. Yummy! Also, thank you to Ella and Alexandra Gonzales’ dad for reading two wonderful books to the class; "Ella Sarah Gets Dressed" by Margaret Chodos Irvine and "Song of Night" by Katherine Riley Nakamara.
Remember, next week’s sound is "U" as in Umbrella, Underpants, and Umpire.
Something to share:
Did you know.... from birth to age three, the child is in the state of the unconscious absorbent mind. The child takes into the mind a wealth of information. They also take it into their bodies. The unconscious mind means taking everything into the mind and into the body. At no other stage of development will the child grow as rapidly as during this time. This information is from the “Infants and Toddlers” magazine, Volume 4. Available for parents to peruse in the Brown Cottage.
A little reminder: class starts at 8:45 a.m.
Calendar
2/20 President’s Day – School closed, no childcare
2/21-2/24 Winter Break – School closed, childcare by prior registration
4/22 School Auction 2 pm
BE SURE THE SCHOOL AUCTION IS ON YOUR CALENDARS
April 22, 2006*
2:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Sequoyah Country Club
Tickets will be available for online purchase on March 10th.
*Please note the date change
HOLIDAY AND WINTER BREAK
Remember, Monday, Feb. 20 is the President’s Day holiday. There will be no school or childcare. The rest of next week there is childcare by prior registration only.
THE EMOTIONAL LIFE OF AN ADOPTED CHILD
A CONFERENCE
How do adoptive parents and professionals truly understand children’s inner lives, and how do we help them when they are struggling with difficult emotions? Join therapists, adoption attorneys, adoption agencies and other parents for an all day conference on March 4th from 9:30 am to 4 pm at the Head Royce School in Oakland. Pact, An Adoption Alliance members will receive a discount on their ticket. Register by phone (510-243-9460), fax (510-243-9970), or online at www.pactadopt.org.
PENNIES FOR PATIENTS
Here are the breakdowns of what the classes have raised this week for Pennies for Patients:
Camellia - $1.93 Mulberry - $1.41 Ginkgo - $3.74
Magnolia - $13.47 Jacaranda - $44.37 Live Oak - $19.58
Juniper - $47.28 Redwood - $63.34 Total: $195.12
We will continue collecting change (and bills!). Remember, the class that raises the most $$ is treated to a pizza party!
SOUND OF THE WEEK There is no Sound of the Week next week due to Winter Break. The following week the sound will be “U” as in Us, Umbrella, and Uncle.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS ON ASTHMA
The following picture books for children come highly recommended by Iris Greenbaum, a consultant with the school, who has done work with the staff on grief, loss and special medical needs:
“The Lion Who Had Asthma” by Jonathan London (1992)
“Brianna Breath Easy: A Story About Asthma” by Virginia Kroll (2005)
TAKE A BREAK
Forms for the Friday lunch program covering March and April have been distributed to all Parent Pockets/Cubbies (there are additional forms in each classroom and office). It is a good idea to mark the dates you’ve signed your child up for on your calendar at home.
Also, volunteers are needed to help with the lunch on Fridays, between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Please call the school office in you would like to help, 510-836-4313.
CINDERELLA’S GLASS SLIPPER
The East Bay Children’s Theatre, in association with the Oakland Museum, present “Cinderella’s Glass Slipper” at the James Moore Theatre on March 18 and March 25, 2006. Tickets are $7.00 per person, $6.00 per person for 5 or more tickets per show. Children under 2 are free. The theater is located at 1000 Oak Street, in Oakland at the Oakland Museum. For more information call 510-655-7285.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
CLASS NEWS
REDWOOD (ELEMENTARY)
The elementary children had a great Valentine's Day. We had a taco, beans, and rice lunch which Charlie, Brea, Kennedy, Zoe, Clare, and Zachary made. The taco filling was made from ground beef, paprika, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and finely chopped onion. The ingredients for our beans were vegetable broth, onion, garlic, bell pepper, salt, pepper, and seasoned salt, while the rice was made with onion, garlic, and tomato sauce. Yes, everything was made from scratch! The children who did not cook this time were our clean-up crew. They also did a magnificent job cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen. We then shared our Valentine's cards with one another. Quite a few children made their own cards and they were quite unique! During the afternoon we wrote Valentine's Day stories in groups of three. Prior to the children writing their stories, I had given them each a strip of paper with a sentence written on it. They had to somehow incorporate each of their sentences into their stories that they wrote. Cystal, Zachary, and Nacalah wrote the following story:
“The large, green snake slithered across the heated, dry rock in search of some shade and food. Slithering quickly down a hill the large snake tripped and began to roll. Then, the snake followed its nose and found itself in the kitchen of a house. The aroma of a chocolate heart shaped cake filled the room. Happily, the snake slithered up the table and gobbled the cake up and was off to a shady place. After slithering for a few seconds the snake found a tree and went to sleep. The end.”
On Wednesday our class went to the Mormon Temple to watch a Lunar New Year celebration performance that was put on by Pacific Rim School. It was really nice. The performance went into explanation about the various aspects of Lunar New Year: the lanterns, spring flowers, dragons, drumming, etc. They had more than 100 children in their school performance and most of the children were 4 and 5! It was amazing!
JACARANDA
Valentine's Day in the Jacaranda class was a day of sharing and not too much sugar- we sent that home with the kids! Thanks to those families who baked for the children's tea party on Tuesday; they enjoyed tea cakes and cookies and each other's company as they ate. Later, everyone sat in a circle and placed their bags before them while their friends dropped cards in each bag. Remember how long the children are able to sit, if they are interested and if the behavior is being reinforced in the group setting? This situation is harder to recreate at home, but if the children are given real work with accompanying respect, they will usually willingly work toward a defined goal.
Wolfgang Ettenreich, Montessori intern from the AMI Training Center in Mountain View, has been especially helpful this week while Ms. Leck has been sick. Mr. Ettenreich has a quiet, calm presence as he gives lessons to the children in the Jacaranda classroom. Mrs. Saleem, Mr. Keating and the children are especially appreciative of his help this week with Ms. Leck away.
Both David and Zander celebrated their fourth birthdays with the class in the past week. Thank you for introducing us to your grandparents, Zander, and for your gift to the class. Thanks to David and his parents for the wooden puzzle and the Spanish book.
Thanks for your continued support of Sound of the Week, for which Tangerines, Tiger, Tambourine, Tape, Table and Ticket made appearances on Wednesday.
When we read "If You Could Travel to the Moon," the children were intently listening to a story about space travel to a place without air or water. We talked about the basic needs of a human, mammal or living thing, and appreciated how the earth is able to provide for us.
Carolyn Baird, Gavin's mom, has begun to actively recruit for her replacement for guinea pig cage cleaning for next year. Come spend some quality time with everyone's favorite guinea pig and help the class, too (and earn valuable Parent Participation Hours).
JUNIPER
The children in Juniper will be exploring and developing many virtues and personal characteristics throughout the school year. During the month of February, we are focusing on the themes of Love, Compassion, Respect, and Kindness. In pursuit of this, the children have made cards for each other, played cooperative games such as motor boat and basketball, and sung songs including "We All Live Together" and "We Shall Overcome" (or, as the children call it, "We'll Walk Hand In Hand").
Next week, we have a parent coming to read to the children and the children will be working together to create a story.
Thanks goes out to Ruthie Bolden for her kindness and generosity in providing many of the delicious treats that the children enjoyed on Valentine’s Day.
We look forward also to Mark Cota, a San Francisco Police Officer and father of two Juniper children, visiting our class to teach us about safety.
GINKGO
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day party. Marni Hunter brought in Apple cider for our special snack, and stickers and beads. The Ginkgo teachers brought the children strawberries, bananas and whipped cream. After snack, the children passed out their Valentine's Day cards. A special thank you to the parents who came in to the classroom to help. Gigi Curry's mom and dad (Nicole and Mark) did cookie decorating with the children. Rory Reiser's mom, Nina, helped the children make bracelets and necklaces, and Mintra El Boghdadi’s mom, Lisa, read books to the children about love and families.
Black history month: Ms. Mc Clindon told a story about Martin L. King, sharing the story about peaceful marches and how he used words and not violence to communicate his feelings. We also listened to a story called "A Sweet Smell of Roses" by Angela Johnson. The story is about two young girls who went across town to where men and women were gathered, ready to march for freedom and justice.
The sound of the week was "T". Children brought in a Teddy bear, Truck, Teapot, and "Talk".
We wish everyone a wonderful winter break and look forward to seeing you all Monday, February 28!
LIVE OAK
Valentine’s Day was a great success! Thank you all so much for your donations and lovely contributions. The children felt very loved and our feast of blueberry muffin hearts and strawberries with fresh whipped cream was awesome.
Today I would like to address lunch and lunchbox options for your child. Every day we, as teachers, see what the children bring for lunch and I would like to take this opportunity to remind you all of our lunch policy at GLM.
We have a low sugar, no candy policy. We offer the children soy or cow milk and water for lunch. We would prefer you not send sippy-cups or water bottles or juice.
Each day a child should have something to eat from each of these following areas. I have included some suggestions.
Protein: soup, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, tuna, hard-boiled eggs, slices of beef or chicken, tofu. Please do not send large containers of yogurt. The children never finish them and please don’t send the high sugar yogurt like “go-gurts” and the like. They really are just a lot of sugar.
Vegetables: anything raw or slightly cooked or made into a soup. Please think about adding greens to your children’s lunch with or without dressing. Children this age love edamame and it’s loaded with good stuff.
Breads and Grains: rice, whole wheat bread, crackers, breadsticks. Please do not send butter crackers or sweet biscuits, etc. The children really need a good hardy carbohydrate.
Fruit: they are filled with natural sugars and are needed for energy. They make good desserts. I often see children with a variety of berries, bananas and apples, etc. It is always very inviting.
As a note to close I am acknowledging and thanking Tina Manuel. She has hooked us up with a great book resource for our studies of animals and continents. Also to Felicia Hall, Naima Hart and Nicole Johnson for helping us celebrate Black History Month. On Friday we will be celebrating with stories, crafts and food.
MAGNOLIA
What a busy week we had in the Magnolia classroom. A huge thank you to all of our parent volunteers who helped out on Valentine's Day (Kendra Collins, Heather Hood, Teresa Butner, Adrienne Hogg and Amy Hiett). The children enjoyed a snack of muffins, fruit and heart shaped Jell-o provided by Adrienne Hogg and Amy Hiett. Then they passed out their special Valentines to each other. Some of the children had some very creative and festive handmade Valentines.
Congratulations to the Mueller family – Hannah is now a big sister to baby Charlotte who was born on Thursday, Feb. 16. Charlotte weighs 8 pounds and 2 oz!
We will begin working on our class auction projects in March. If you have an hour or two to spend one morning let Ms. Olivares know - she would love your help with these art projects.
We are having beautiful weather these days! Please make sure to label all of your child’s sweaters and jackets (please label EVERYTHING if you want to be sure to get them back). The children peel off their layers as the day warms up.
MULBERRY
This has been a busy week for the Mulberry class. Lots of children have been bringing in books to share so we've been listening to stories a lot.
The sound of the week was "T" and we've been playing lots of Eye-Spy with my little eye something in my hand that begins with "T". The children love this game and it is something you can do at home.
Tuesday we celebrated Amina's birthday and Valentine’s Day. All the children decorated bags to put their Valentines in, and some also decorated frames and a cookie to take home. We had a special snack of sliced fruit, scones, and cream cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches, washed down with sparkling cider.
Song of the week:
The tiny caterpillar crawled upon a leaf spun a little chrysalis then fell fast a sleep.
While she was sleeping she dreamt that she could fly.
Later when she woke up she was a butterfly.
CAMELLIA
Thank you to all the parents who helped with our Valentine's celebration. The children were busy as bees, decorating cookies, and decorating picture frames. They especially enjoyed the fruit salad and mini sandwiches. Yummy! Also, thank you to Ella and Alexandra Gonzales’ dad for reading two wonderful books to the class; "Ella Sarah Gets Dressed" by Margaret Chodos Irvine and "Song of Night" by Katherine Riley Nakamara.
Remember, next week’s sound is "U" as in Umbrella, Underpants, and Umpire.
Something to share:
Did you know.... from birth to age three, the child is in the state of the unconscious absorbent mind. The child takes into the mind a wealth of information. They also take it into their bodies. The unconscious mind means taking everything into the mind and into the body. At no other stage of development will the child grow as rapidly as during this time. This information is from the “Infants and Toddlers” magazine, Volume 4. Available for parents to peruse in the Brown Cottage.
A little reminder: class starts at 8:45 a.m.
