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Thursday, May 04, 2006
Calendar
5/6 Work Party 9 am – 2 pm
5/14 All-school assembly – Chinese Acrobats 10 am
5/24 Elementary Graduation 5:30 pm
5/29 Memorial Day – School closed, no childcare
5/30 Toddler transition meeting 4:30-6 pm
5/31 GLM Earth Day
6/2 End of Year all-school picnic at Lake Temescal
6/9 Last day of school!
RACK UP THOSE PARENT PARTICIPATION HOURS THIS SATURDAY, MAY 6TH
AT THE GLM WORK PARTY 9 AM – 2 PM
4 HELP WITH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Fill water barrels, inventory supplies/shopping lists, check 1st aid kits, pitch tents/ensure all intact, pack emergency supplies.
4 GARDENING PROJECTS
Transfer potting soil to beds, digging, planting.
BRING TOOLS – CLEARLY MARKED WITH YOUR NAME
RSVP TO THE SCHOOL OFFICE 510-836-4313.
COFFEE, JUICE, BAGELS PROVIDED
CHILDREN WELCOME!
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
If your child has an infectious disease listed on the GLM Exposure Notice (Chicken pox, strep, German Measles, Measles, Mumps, Slap Cheek, head lice, pin worms, Pink Eye, Coxsackie disease, impetigo) please call the office to report it. We are required to submit a report to Licensing any time we have 2 or more cases of one of the above on the campus, including date diagnosed, child’s class, number of children in the class and their age range, parents names, and home phone.
Your cooperation is appreciated.
SOUND OF THE WEEK Each Wednesday your child is encouraged, with your help, to find an object at home (preferably not a toy) that contains the sound of the week. Put it in a labeled bag to share with your child’s class. The sound for next week is “CH” as in CHicken, CHurch, and CHocolate.
MS. CAROL OF TUFF TUMBLERS
Ms. Carol of Tuff Tumblers had a personal emergency on Wednesday and was unable to call her office or GLM to inform anyone. She is all right, thankfully.
We will schedule make-up classes and inform parents of the date.
SUMMER MOTHER’S HELPER AVAILABLE
Tired of scrubbing your shower? Bored with sitting next to the shredder, feeding it secret documents? Not into kneeling in your yard, pulling weeds? Want to get a pedicure without your preschooler? Samantha Aima, 13 years old, is very responsible, a hard worker, and available this summer to do various household chores. Pay is negotiable. Please contact Mary Aima in the Brown Cottage if interested, 510-622-0258.
BOX TOPS COORDINATOR STILL NEEDED
Position entails the following:
· Encourage GLM families to cut out the Box Tops for Education coupons found on packages of General Mills cereals, Ziploc products, Betty Crocker and other food products from General Mills. And, NEW for 2006—Kimberly-Clark paper products such as Kleenex, Scott, Viva, and Cottonelle.
· Spread the word about the locations of coupon-collecting containers placed all around the GLM campus.
· Periodically collect the coupons, count them, and send them to General Mills. General Mills sends a check to our school twice a year! It’s CASH—not some kind of corporate scrip.
Additional, optional duties:
· Visit the classrooms and tell the kids about this way to raise money for our school. Visits could include showing the children pictures of the coupons, so they can make sure the coupons don’t end up in the recycling bin at home. Or perhaps, an art project such as a coupon collection envelope to stick on the refrigerator at home.
· Encourage use of the Box Tops for Education website (www.boxtops4education.com) as a starting point for online shopping, which would bring in additional money for our school.
· Boost the Box Tops Booster Club!
This volunteer job counts toward your Parent Participation Hours. The amount of time you put into it, and the scheduling of the hours, are very, very flexible.
Please contact Cindy Fressola for more information.
Email (preferred): Fressola@msn.com
+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
CLASS NEWS
REDWOOD (ELEMENTARY)
This week the elementary children have been celebrating Yom Ha Sho-Ah, which is a holiday on May 4th that memorializes the six million Jewish people who died during the Holocaust. In Israel the children are told of the disaster and memorial services are held throughout the country. We have been making tissue paper flowers and adding tags to them with thoughts about how we can be more respectful to each other as our own little mini-memorial. The flowers look beautiful on the Quiet Table.
Joanna gave our class a great book entitled, “Chew On This” by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson. It is a book all about what we don't want to know about the fast food industry. It gives a history about who invented the first hamburger and explains how the fast food industry has changed the meat market of the United States over the past several centuries. Thank you, Joanna!
The children have been studying beats and rhythms with Mr. Hoffmann. He has been teaching them clapping rhythms that they can do individually or in small groups. They have gotten very good! They have also been studying rhythmic dictation.
This week we also planted some melon seeds and mini plants on the rolling lawn. The children are very excited about the fruit that will be here to greet them during opera camp!
JACARANDA
This is the time of year when some children are talking of upcoming changes, either in the summer or for the next fall. The class sometimes has a discussion of impending changes, whether of a friend who is joining or leaving the classroom or other changes in a child's life. We follow the child's interest in dealing with change. "Yes, your friend is five and a half and will be joining the elementary program in the coming months."
Recent all-school assemblies have entertained the children with laughter and ancient Greek themes. When a Chinese clown visited last week, some were laughing so hard they were crying at the sight gags and wry humor. We fondly recalled her role as the school's opera soprano last year. Box Tales, a regional troupe who tells stories from around the world followed Odysseus on his travels through the ancient world.
The Jacaranda children have planted three kinds of corn, including seedlings sprouted in the elementary class, and three kinds of pumpkins in the last week. The entire campus has a comprehensive gardening plan and is planning on using the different gardens to their fullest potential this spring, summer and fall.
Please see the new hooks on the Jacaranda deck when looking for your child's coat at the end of the day, if your child has not replaced his or her coat on the hook inside the classroom.
Sunscreen should be applied at home at your discretion. Sunscreen is available for the children after lunch for all children.
We practiced our earthquake drill again last week. "EARTHQUAKE, EARTHQUAKE!" the teachers say and clap with the syllables. The children find a table and hold a leg with one hand and cover their head with the other hand. Remember, too, the school has an earthquake safety committee that is planning school-wide for the eventual major earthquake in the region's future.
JUNIPER
Interview with an Elementary Student
Name: Angelina
Age: 8 1/2
Title of Book: "Beware of the Bears!" by Alan MacDonald and Gwyneth Williamson
Juniper: Why did you come to the Juniper classroom this morning?
Angelina: I was assigned to read to the Juniper class on Mondays.
J: Why did you choose to read "Beware of the Bears!"?
A: Because this book has a lesson. The lesson is you shouldn't touch other people's things. Like going into other people's house.
J: Do you like to read?
A: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Because I don't always want to stop my activity.
J: How do you feel about reading to the Juniper class?
A: I have a good feeling because I feel like when I was in the primary class two years ago. I really look forward to reading again on Monday, May 8th.
This week, Juniper children began learning a Chinese poem about a silly little mouse who tasted a drop of delicious oil and ended up being too full and fell down the stairs. The children liked the rhyme in Chinese and enjoyed moving like a little mouse. If you see your child acting funny at home, this might be why!
Also in Juniper this week, two children have been busily playing the bank game. They pretended they were customers and that they were employed as scientists. They decided that they were making a lot of money and that they would deposit different amounts in the bank each week: $1905, $3573, and $2798. They said, "We like lots of money!"
GINKGO
On Monday, Olivia Theut's mom, Jennifer, came into the classroom and made "taco maracas" with the children. They were made out of paper plates, colored tissue paper and, for sound, beans.
On Tuesday the children enjoyed a Boxtales Performance. We noticed that the children were able to remember a lot of details from the story.
The weather was so beautiful that morning we had an outdoor snack. Children served to each other and had interesting conversations. We overheard one about the sun (now that it is shining).
This year for Earth Day, the Ginkgo class will celebrate South America, and this week we started to study the continent. The topic of the week has been the Amazon Rainforest, located in Brazil.
When we began our study one child asked "So what's so important about the Rainforest anyway?" We explained that the rainforest contains more plant and animal species than any other habitat. We depend on the rainforest for food, shelter and medicine. The rain forest provides rubber, coffee, and cacao for chocolate. Another important fact is that the rainforest helps control the earth's temperature and rainfall by absorbing carbon dioxide (a gas that traps the sun's heat) and captures water in the atmosphere.
This week sound of the week was "BL". Children brought in blue blocks, blue eggs, a "blossom", and also thought of words like bless, blood, and blind.
We wish you all a wonderful weekend!
LIVE OAK
This week we celebrated Nalubale’s, Keiley’s and Kaya’s birthdays. They are now glorious fours.
Our classroom is busy preparing for our work/gardening day this Saturday. We have lots of work for you and the children! If you still need parent hours please come help us with gardening and emergency preparedness from 9 am – 2 pm. It’s vitally important we be prepared to care for your children in case of an emergency.
In the classroom we are studying Australia. We are learning the names of the animals, the language, and the different regions of land, and of course, about Aborigines. This will be the last cultural study this year.
We are also learning about insects. The younger children are matching pictures and learning names, the older children are reading the labels. They love it.
MAGNOLIA
It has been another busy week in the Magnolia classroom. We planted some herbs in the alley outside of the classroom. GLM staff members are working on an all school garden in which each class is taking on a part. The Magnolia class portion is planting and maintaining an herb garden. Thank you, Andrea Horvath, for getting the herbs to plant and Megan O'Leary for assisting the children in planting them in the pots.
Thank you Katie Anderson and Marianna Capanigro for helping with our Cinco de Mayo art projects. The children enjoyed painting and making the pinata. We will be breaking open the pinata on Friday, as well as making some guacamole to go along with our special snack.
Happy 3rd Birthday to Jack Anderson. After taking 3 turns around the sun and sharing some pictures with us, we all had some bagels. Thank you, Jack!
MULBERRY
Mulberry children have really been enjoying the warm weather. There has been lots of water play and bubbles. Nacalah, from elementary, visited our class this week and helped the toddlers scrub the outside shelves. There were soap bubbles everywhere!
Please check your child's basket to ensure that they have a complete change of clothes, weather appropriate.
Andrew Damon, Luke's dad, came in and read books. He read one of our all time favorites, “Where The Wild Things Are”.
Friday we will have little burritos to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. If anyone would like to share a story about the event, please let us know.
Song of the week:
Sunflower, sunflower,
Yellow and round
You are the prettiest flower I’ve found.
Tall, thin, full of grace
I love the sight of your bright shiny face.
Quote: Discipline works in a strong relationship. Does your discipline come out of love for the child or out of your own problems and frustrations? The relationship should be one of many positive, pleasant interactions throughout the day, with little discipline here and there as needed. Unfortunately, in most homes parents hardly interact with their children until the child gets in trouble. Everyone needs attention. Our loved ones need daily attention. As a minimum, be certain to have one-on-one time with each member of the family sometime each day. There are times that a certain child will need more of your attention. A baby or a child with a special need may require extra attention every day. This is not unfair. We respond to each child as he or she needs.
CAMELLIA
If you still need Parent Participation Hours, or just want to help and have fun, this Saturday, May 6, there will be a work party at GLM, from 9 am to 2 pm. Children are welcome! Please come and join us. Contact the office for more information (510) 836-4313.
Camellia class celebrated Tyler’s 3rd birthday this week. He brought some books for the classroom and a delicious blueberry muffin for snack. Thank you!
Campbell, Tyler’s sister, read the class a book, "Pigs Don’t Fly" by Jackie French and illustrated by Matt Cosgrove. Thank you, Campbell. She can come back anytime to read stories to the class!
Remember, next week’s sound is "CH" as in chalk, cheese, and checks. Please continue to encourage your child to bring something to share with the class.
Cinco de Mayo is May 5, 2006. If parents want to come in to talk about the celebration or share a special dish, please let the Brown Cottage staff know.
5/6 Work Party 9 am – 2 pm
5/14 All-school assembly – Chinese Acrobats 10 am
5/24 Elementary Graduation 5:30 pm
5/29 Memorial Day – School closed, no childcare
5/30 Toddler transition meeting 4:30-6 pm
5/31 GLM Earth Day
6/2 End of Year all-school picnic at Lake Temescal
6/9 Last day of school!
RACK UP THOSE PARENT PARTICIPATION HOURS THIS SATURDAY, MAY 6TH
AT THE GLM WORK PARTY 9 AM – 2 PM
4 HELP WITH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Fill water barrels, inventory supplies/shopping lists, check 1st aid kits, pitch tents/ensure all intact, pack emergency supplies.
4 GARDENING PROJECTS
Transfer potting soil to beds, digging, planting.
BRING TOOLS – CLEARLY MARKED WITH YOUR NAME
RSVP TO THE SCHOOL OFFICE 510-836-4313.
COFFEE, JUICE, BAGELS PROVIDED
CHILDREN WELCOME!
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
If your child has an infectious disease listed on the GLM Exposure Notice (Chicken pox, strep, German Measles, Measles, Mumps, Slap Cheek, head lice, pin worms, Pink Eye, Coxsackie disease, impetigo) please call the office to report it. We are required to submit a report to Licensing any time we have 2 or more cases of one of the above on the campus, including date diagnosed, child’s class, number of children in the class and their age range, parents names, and home phone.
Your cooperation is appreciated.
SOUND OF THE WEEK Each Wednesday your child is encouraged, with your help, to find an object at home (preferably not a toy) that contains the sound of the week. Put it in a labeled bag to share with your child’s class. The sound for next week is “CH” as in CHicken, CHurch, and CHocolate.
MS. CAROL OF TUFF TUMBLERS
Ms. Carol of Tuff Tumblers had a personal emergency on Wednesday and was unable to call her office or GLM to inform anyone. She is all right, thankfully.
We will schedule make-up classes and inform parents of the date.
SUMMER MOTHER’S HELPER AVAILABLE
Tired of scrubbing your shower? Bored with sitting next to the shredder, feeding it secret documents? Not into kneeling in your yard, pulling weeds? Want to get a pedicure without your preschooler? Samantha Aima, 13 years old, is very responsible, a hard worker, and available this summer to do various household chores. Pay is negotiable. Please contact Mary Aima in the Brown Cottage if interested, 510-622-0258.
BOX TOPS COORDINATOR STILL NEEDED
Position entails the following:
· Encourage GLM families to cut out the Box Tops for Education coupons found on packages of General Mills cereals, Ziploc products, Betty Crocker and other food products from General Mills. And, NEW for 2006—Kimberly-Clark paper products such as Kleenex, Scott, Viva, and Cottonelle.
· Spread the word about the locations of coupon-collecting containers placed all around the GLM campus.
· Periodically collect the coupons, count them, and send them to General Mills. General Mills sends a check to our school twice a year! It’s CASH—not some kind of corporate scrip.
Additional, optional duties:
· Visit the classrooms and tell the kids about this way to raise money for our school. Visits could include showing the children pictures of the coupons, so they can make sure the coupons don’t end up in the recycling bin at home. Or perhaps, an art project such as a coupon collection envelope to stick on the refrigerator at home.
· Encourage use of the Box Tops for Education website (www.boxtops4education.com) as a starting point for online shopping, which would bring in additional money for our school.
· Boost the Box Tops Booster Club!
This volunteer job counts toward your Parent Participation Hours. The amount of time you put into it, and the scheduling of the hours, are very, very flexible.
Please contact Cindy Fressola for more information.
Email (preferred): Fressola@msn.com
+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
CLASS NEWS
REDWOOD (ELEMENTARY)
This week the elementary children have been celebrating Yom Ha Sho-Ah, which is a holiday on May 4th that memorializes the six million Jewish people who died during the Holocaust. In Israel the children are told of the disaster and memorial services are held throughout the country. We have been making tissue paper flowers and adding tags to them with thoughts about how we can be more respectful to each other as our own little mini-memorial. The flowers look beautiful on the Quiet Table.
Joanna gave our class a great book entitled, “Chew On This” by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson. It is a book all about what we don't want to know about the fast food industry. It gives a history about who invented the first hamburger and explains how the fast food industry has changed the meat market of the United States over the past several centuries. Thank you, Joanna!
The children have been studying beats and rhythms with Mr. Hoffmann. He has been teaching them clapping rhythms that they can do individually or in small groups. They have gotten very good! They have also been studying rhythmic dictation.
This week we also planted some melon seeds and mini plants on the rolling lawn. The children are very excited about the fruit that will be here to greet them during opera camp!
JACARANDA
This is the time of year when some children are talking of upcoming changes, either in the summer or for the next fall. The class sometimes has a discussion of impending changes, whether of a friend who is joining or leaving the classroom or other changes in a child's life. We follow the child's interest in dealing with change. "Yes, your friend is five and a half and will be joining the elementary program in the coming months."
Recent all-school assemblies have entertained the children with laughter and ancient Greek themes. When a Chinese clown visited last week, some were laughing so hard they were crying at the sight gags and wry humor. We fondly recalled her role as the school's opera soprano last year. Box Tales, a regional troupe who tells stories from around the world followed Odysseus on his travels through the ancient world.
The Jacaranda children have planted three kinds of corn, including seedlings sprouted in the elementary class, and three kinds of pumpkins in the last week. The entire campus has a comprehensive gardening plan and is planning on using the different gardens to their fullest potential this spring, summer and fall.
Please see the new hooks on the Jacaranda deck when looking for your child's coat at the end of the day, if your child has not replaced his or her coat on the hook inside the classroom.
Sunscreen should be applied at home at your discretion. Sunscreen is available for the children after lunch for all children.
We practiced our earthquake drill again last week. "EARTHQUAKE, EARTHQUAKE!" the teachers say and clap with the syllables. The children find a table and hold a leg with one hand and cover their head with the other hand. Remember, too, the school has an earthquake safety committee that is planning school-wide for the eventual major earthquake in the region's future.
JUNIPER
Interview with an Elementary Student
Name: Angelina
Age: 8 1/2
Title of Book: "Beware of the Bears!" by Alan MacDonald and Gwyneth Williamson
Juniper: Why did you come to the Juniper classroom this morning?
Angelina: I was assigned to read to the Juniper class on Mondays.
J: Why did you choose to read "Beware of the Bears!"?
A: Because this book has a lesson. The lesson is you shouldn't touch other people's things. Like going into other people's house.
J: Do you like to read?
A: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Because I don't always want to stop my activity.
J: How do you feel about reading to the Juniper class?
A: I have a good feeling because I feel like when I was in the primary class two years ago. I really look forward to reading again on Monday, May 8th.
This week, Juniper children began learning a Chinese poem about a silly little mouse who tasted a drop of delicious oil and ended up being too full and fell down the stairs. The children liked the rhyme in Chinese and enjoyed moving like a little mouse. If you see your child acting funny at home, this might be why!
Also in Juniper this week, two children have been busily playing the bank game. They pretended they were customers and that they were employed as scientists. They decided that they were making a lot of money and that they would deposit different amounts in the bank each week: $1905, $3573, and $2798. They said, "We like lots of money!"
GINKGO
On Monday, Olivia Theut's mom, Jennifer, came into the classroom and made "taco maracas" with the children. They were made out of paper plates, colored tissue paper and, for sound, beans.
On Tuesday the children enjoyed a Boxtales Performance. We noticed that the children were able to remember a lot of details from the story.
The weather was so beautiful that morning we had an outdoor snack. Children served to each other and had interesting conversations. We overheard one about the sun (now that it is shining).
This year for Earth Day, the Ginkgo class will celebrate South America, and this week we started to study the continent. The topic of the week has been the Amazon Rainforest, located in Brazil.
When we began our study one child asked "So what's so important about the Rainforest anyway?" We explained that the rainforest contains more plant and animal species than any other habitat. We depend on the rainforest for food, shelter and medicine. The rain forest provides rubber, coffee, and cacao for chocolate. Another important fact is that the rainforest helps control the earth's temperature and rainfall by absorbing carbon dioxide (a gas that traps the sun's heat) and captures water in the atmosphere.
This week sound of the week was "BL". Children brought in blue blocks, blue eggs, a "blossom", and also thought of words like bless, blood, and blind.
We wish you all a wonderful weekend!
LIVE OAK
This week we celebrated Nalubale’s, Keiley’s and Kaya’s birthdays. They are now glorious fours.
Our classroom is busy preparing for our work/gardening day this Saturday. We have lots of work for you and the children! If you still need parent hours please come help us with gardening and emergency preparedness from 9 am – 2 pm. It’s vitally important we be prepared to care for your children in case of an emergency.
In the classroom we are studying Australia. We are learning the names of the animals, the language, and the different regions of land, and of course, about Aborigines. This will be the last cultural study this year.
We are also learning about insects. The younger children are matching pictures and learning names, the older children are reading the labels. They love it.
MAGNOLIA
It has been another busy week in the Magnolia classroom. We planted some herbs in the alley outside of the classroom. GLM staff members are working on an all school garden in which each class is taking on a part. The Magnolia class portion is planting and maintaining an herb garden. Thank you, Andrea Horvath, for getting the herbs to plant and Megan O'Leary for assisting the children in planting them in the pots.
Thank you Katie Anderson and Marianna Capanigro for helping with our Cinco de Mayo art projects. The children enjoyed painting and making the pinata. We will be breaking open the pinata on Friday, as well as making some guacamole to go along with our special snack.
Happy 3rd Birthday to Jack Anderson. After taking 3 turns around the sun and sharing some pictures with us, we all had some bagels. Thank you, Jack!
MULBERRY
Mulberry children have really been enjoying the warm weather. There has been lots of water play and bubbles. Nacalah, from elementary, visited our class this week and helped the toddlers scrub the outside shelves. There were soap bubbles everywhere!
Please check your child's basket to ensure that they have a complete change of clothes, weather appropriate.
Andrew Damon, Luke's dad, came in and read books. He read one of our all time favorites, “Where The Wild Things Are”.
Friday we will have little burritos to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. If anyone would like to share a story about the event, please let us know.
Song of the week:
Sunflower, sunflower,
Yellow and round
You are the prettiest flower I’ve found.
Tall, thin, full of grace
I love the sight of your bright shiny face.
Quote: Discipline works in a strong relationship. Does your discipline come out of love for the child or out of your own problems and frustrations? The relationship should be one of many positive, pleasant interactions throughout the day, with little discipline here and there as needed. Unfortunately, in most homes parents hardly interact with their children until the child gets in trouble. Everyone needs attention. Our loved ones need daily attention. As a minimum, be certain to have one-on-one time with each member of the family sometime each day. There are times that a certain child will need more of your attention. A baby or a child with a special need may require extra attention every day. This is not unfair. We respond to each child as he or she needs.
CAMELLIA
If you still need Parent Participation Hours, or just want to help and have fun, this Saturday, May 6, there will be a work party at GLM, from 9 am to 2 pm. Children are welcome! Please come and join us. Contact the office for more information (510) 836-4313.
Camellia class celebrated Tyler’s 3rd birthday this week. He brought some books for the classroom and a delicious blueberry muffin for snack. Thank you!
Campbell, Tyler’s sister, read the class a book, "Pigs Don’t Fly" by Jackie French and illustrated by Matt Cosgrove. Thank you, Campbell. She can come back anytime to read stories to the class!
Remember, next week’s sound is "CH" as in chalk, cheese, and checks. Please continue to encourage your child to bring something to share with the class.
Cinco de Mayo is May 5, 2006. If parents want to come in to talk about the celebration or share a special dish, please let the Brown Cottage staff know.
