Friday, September 29, 2006
 
Calendar
10/9 Indigenous People’s Day – School closed, no childcare
10/10 All school assembly – Birds of the World 10 am
10/14 Family Fun Day, Scholastic Book Fair 10 – 2
10/23 Staff Inservice Day – School closed, no childcare

FAMILY FUN DAY & SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Saturday, October 14th, is a special day at GLM. This is the day that the campus is transformed into a circus/carnival, and we hold the Scholastic book fair. There will be games, face painting, circus performers, food, activities and books! Mark your calendar and bring the whole family! Don’t miss these fun events (from 10 am – 2 pm). Volunteers will be recruited to help with set-up, booths, food prep and clean-up. Watch for the sign-ups lists.

WINGS OF ADVENTURE
Wings of Adventure is a presentation from Wildlife Encounters. Educators will showcase live birds from around the world and talk about their survival, natural history, geography, natural behaviors and conservation education. This is an all-school assembly, Tuesday, Oct. 10th, at 10 am in the Magnolia classroom.

SCHOOL PICTURES
The photo sessions went beautifully! You should get your proofs and an order form by the end of next week. If your child missed getting his/her picture taken, or you are not happy with the proofs, you are invited to make an appointment at Dennis Geaney Studio to have photos taken. You can reach Dennis or Amy at 510-465-2131.


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. Next week’s sound is “D” as in Dragon, Dollar, Dance.

NANNY AVAILABLE
Our wonderful Nanny is available now that our children are in school. Our nanny, Betty, has been with us for 4 years. She raised our 4 and 1.5 year old daughters who are now at GLM.
She treats our children as if they are her own, giving them lots of love and attention. She took our daughters out almost every day, typically going to the library and the park, walking around the lake, feeding the birds, going to MOCHA and many other activities. She is reliable and shows up on time.
She is available from 7:30-6:00 M-F. She does not drive, so she prefers to be with a family or a share that is easily accessible, as we are, from public transportation. We live near Lake Merritt on the Oakland/Piedmont border. Betty is English speaking and can be reached directly at 510.206.9702. I am sure that you will be happy that you found her. I (Kara Kelly) can be reached at kara_g_kelly@yahoo.com. should you have questions or need a reference.

SEEKING NANNY
Two GLM families are seeking a part-time nanny to share for their two 10-month old girls. We are looking for a loving, caring person who has experience working with two infants at the same time. The hours would vary and are somewhat flexible, between 8am and 3pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday out of our Crocker Highlands/Glenview homes. Spanish speaking, CPR and first aid instruction would be great! Please contact Danielle at danielle.n.hayes@comcast.net or Meghan at meghan@meghanoleary.com

AFTERNOON CHILDCARE NEEDED

We are looking for part time afternoon childcare for our two children, ages 4 and 7. It is a four-day a week position in the afternoons, Mondays through Fridays except Wednesdays, from approximately 3-6pm (start time somewhat flexible). Responsibilities include picking the kids up from school, transitioning them to home, preparing a healthy snack and vegetable and helping out with light school work and afternoon art projects etc. You do not need to own a vehicle, but a safe driving record is a must. Child CPR certification preferred. Please reply to bob@roberthouser.com.

HOES DOWN HARVEST FESTIVAL

Come to the 19th annual Hoes Down Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 7th at Full Belly Farm (Capay Valley, Yolo county – north of Vacaville) where you can experience more than twenty workshops ranging from orchard pruning to egg laying (we'll teach you how!) with blacksmithing and engines chugging on the side. Learn how to felt and dye yarn, milk a goat or cow or just plain ol' relax under the blue October skies. There will be horse wagon rides giving short tours of the farm, a huge corn maize for adventurous kids and pumpkin carving contests for the young at heart. Great organic food and great music fill out the day, but wait! Don't forget the 19th annual Manure Pitch Off to test your fork flipping skills with the best of them! There will also be Sunday activities in the area and car camping is available. Please go to the website for more information: http://fullbellyfarm.com/hoesdown.html


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CLASS NEWS


REDWOOD (ELEMENTARY)

This week we celebrated Camille's sixth birthday! She shared a wonderful timeline of her life from birth to the age of six. We also enjoyed some delicious popsicles and, as the weather was extremely hot, they were a very much needed treat.
The first years did a geometry lesson this week on similar figures. They made large sized posters of similar figures they found in our classroom. They also made posters of invertebrates from the Cambrian period. They followed this by their first research project. They are hanging in our room right now.
Charlie and Kai are very focused on castle research right now. They are studying castles and knights of the Middle Ages. They have been doing comparison research of the different types of castles around the world.
Zachary and Kennedy have started their study of cells. They have been learning the parts and what they're for. They are also working on diffusion experiments as well.
The fourth years are busy planning a “going out” to an oyster farm. They are completing their study of mollusks and are very excited about seeing how oysters are farmed.

JACARANDA
Children in the prepared Montessori environment are constantly made aware of their surroundings; "Go to the Practical Life shelves and find the table washing work." The child carries a map of the classroom in his or her head and turns toward the shelves.
The children enjoy making a game of finding the changes in the environment, which is part of training their visual sense. "Look around the classroom. Raise your hand if you notice one change." Eager hands are raised as they share their awareness of the smallest changes on the shelves. The children enjoy sharing with you, as children tell parents about a new plant or work on the shelves.
Thank you for the eggshells for the eggshell composting work on the indoor and outdoor classroom shelves. Your children appreciate the contribution. When she was told of how the parents had received a reminder of the need for eggshells, one child told Mr. Keating that he should send an email reminder to himself to bring in eggshells from his home!
Please notice the easel outside the Jacaranda classroom where the Jacaranda teachers will post notices, like the Sound of the Week and other reminders.
As the Jacaranda teachers presented at the Back to School night, language development continues every day with developmentally-appropriate lessons on sandpaper sounds, I spy and movable alphabet.
The Jacaranda classroom celebrates the changing of the seasons with fall celebrations: Fall Equinox with the leaf crowns that the children have been wearing, Mrs. Saleem began celebrating Ramadan this week, and we look forward to Ariel, Ruby's mom's, Yom Kippur celebration on Friday.

JUNIPER
September is coming to a close and Juniper is moving along. The children continue to enjoy learning about trees, land and water forms, living and non-living, vertebrates and invertebrates, and geometric shapes. They also continue to practice controlling their bodies with activities like yoga and walking on the line. All of these activities will continue in addition to the many Math, Language, Sensorial, Practical Life, and Science lessons. For October, Juniper will focus on the continent world map, the fundamental needs of humans, the parts of a flag, and the varieties of fish, just to name a few.
On the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, a special meal is prepared. Sweet foods such as honey, raisins, carrots, and apples are eaten in the hope that the new year will be filled with sweetness. We thank the Cota family for leading Juniper's Rosh Hashanah celebration on September 25 and teaching us about their Jewish culture and heritage. We encourage all Juniper families to share the holidays and cultural elements that are important to them as these concrete learning experiences help the children to expand their view of the world.
Thanks go out to Ms. Dia for shopping for Juniper, Caroline for leading some dancing with the all-day Montessori children in the afternoon, Terri Burge for buying crickets for our frogs, and to all Juniper parents for your continued support.
Items each child needs to bring to class by October 6:
- Shoe Box
- 1 Magazine
Ms. Koerber will purchase the poster board needed for each child.

LIVE OAK
Flu season has arrived at our school.....Yuck....Please encourage your children to wash their hands any time they change an activity (for example, coming in and going out, before school and after school, etc). Let's see if we can't beat the flu this winter.
There's a great dinosaur exhibit at the Academy of Science in San Francisco. It would be a fantastic family outing.
Our class was busy with recycling this week. We now have a worm farm that Ms. Cheney will help the children with and a wonderful new song about recycling. It goes like this:
Three, it's a magic number, yes it is, it’s a magic number.
Because two times three is six and three times six is eighteen and the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R.
We've got three Rs were going to talk about today.
We’ve got to learn to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…(4x)
If you’re going to the market to buy some juice
You’ve got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce
Your waste.

GINKGO
On Friday we had a birthday Celebration for Louis Whitaker who turned 4 years old. His dad, Richard, came in and told the story of Lou’s life. Then we enjoyed a special snack of blueberry muffins. Lou brought the class plants as a special present to the classroom. Thank you!
The children helped make “smelling bottles”. A group went to Mrs. Campbell’s garden to pick fresh rosemary, lavender, and sage. When the children came back to the classroom, they shared their findings with their friends. They waited a day for the leaves to dry and then filled the smelling bottles with the leaves.
Because of the change in weather, some of the children have been experiencing nose bleeds. If your children has a nosebleed before school please let Ginkgo teacher know at time of drop-off. When nosebleeds happen at school we pinch the bridge of the nose and have the child lean forward with an ice pack on the back of the neck until the bleeding stops. A parent is called following treatment. We also have a registered nurse on staff.
The children have finished their studies on parts of a tree. On Wednesday the afternoon group went outside to look at different trees and noted the variations of sizes of branches when comparing them to another kind of tree. We also picked leaves to prepare for our studies on parts of leaves. October is the time when leaves began to change colors.
Thank you to all the children for bringing their sound of the week items. This week’s sound was “C”.
Reminder: The Ginkgo class is having a potluck picnic on Saturday October 7, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm at the south end of Lake Temescal. Please contact the Ginkgo Room Parents, Joanne Yoshimura (tysem@earthlink.net) or Bernadette Chi (bschi@comcast.net), to sign up to bring a dish and for directions. This is a non-school event hosted by the Ginkgo Families.

MAGNOLIA
We had a wonderful Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) celebration on Monday. The children chopped apples and we dipped them in honey to symbolize a sweet new year. We also "broke bread" together with each child tearing off a hunk of challa bread. The children made festive crowns as a reminder to treat each other like kings and queens.
This week we have begun learning a new song called "Green Is Our Garden", composed by our Montessori consultant, Sanford Jones.
In Spanish we have been focusing on the vocabulary of plants, weather, parts of the body, and numbers.

MULBERRY
Wednesday was our picture day. The photographer had quite the challenge but he was determined to photograph all of the children. After attempting to have the children come and have their picture taken he went outside and took candid shots.
For Sound of the Week Blair brought in cards and candles. We had Cauliflower, Corn, Carrots, a Car, a Cup, a Cat and Camellia. Next week’s sound is "D". Please encourage your child to bring in an item from home.
On Wednesday we had our first educational evening on Taking Montessori Home and had a very enjoyable evening. Our next educational evening will be on setting limits. We will let you know as soon as we have the date so you can plan to join us.
Reminder, the sign up sheet for Family Fun Day is on the clipboard. The Brown Cottage will be running the snow cone booth.
Now that cooler weather is here please be sure to label your child's coat/jacket.
Song of the week:
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it then your face will surely show it.
(If you’re sad and you know it shed a tear...
If you’re mad and you know it stomp your foot....
If you’re sleepy and you know it give a yawn....
If you’re silly and you know it laugh a lot...)

CAMELLIA
Thank you to Paul's dad, Kevin, who came in and read to the children. Feel free to come to read or do a project with the children; just let the teachers know in advance, or just sign up on the chalkboard.
Camellia teachers have been giving group lessons on how to sit on our behinds. We don't sit on our knees or stand up while we are eating or working on a project. It is easy to fall when we sit on our knees on a seat. Teachers are also showing individual and group lessons on how to use your words instead of your body. For example when a child takes something away from another child, we say "That's my work and I don't like it when you do that", instead of grabbing it back from the child.
Again, thank you for encouraging your children to bring something for Sound of the Week. They really do enjoy showing their objects to their friends. Next week’s sound is "D" as in donut, dime, and daisy.
REMINDER: CHILDCARE LICENSING AND GRAND LAKE MONTESSORI REQUIRE THAT PARENTS MUST SIGN IN AND OUT EVERY DAY.
 
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