Friday, November 3, 2006
Calendar
11/6 All-school assembly in Magnolia 10 am – “The 4 Winds”
11/7 Journey of Discovery in Live Oak 5:30 - 8 pm
11/8 Journey of Discovery in Jacaranda 5:30 - 8 pm
11/8 Core meeting 5 pm
11/10 Veteran’s Day – school closed, no childcare
11/14 Journey of Discovery in Ginkgo 5:30 – 8 pm
11/15 Journey of Discovery in Magnolia 5:30 – 8 pm
11/16 Journey of Discovery in Juniper 5:30 – 8 pm
11/22 – 11/24 School closed for Thanksgiving, no childcare

PLEASE HELP FIND WINNIE A NEW HOME
Winnie, GLM’s bunny, is retiring and in need of a quiet home. Many of you noticed that she had been enjoying spending days on the grassy area in her pen. Unfortunately, the neighborhood cats discovered her, and we are not able to leave her outside during the day any longer. If you can provide a safe, comfy home for her, where she can play in the grass and snuggle with your family members, please contact the school office. Her hutch, water bottle, food, treats, and a lot of Timothy hay are included.

VETERAN’S DAY
Next Friday, Nov. 10th, GLM is closed in honor of Veteran’s Day. There will be no childcare.

TUFF TUMBLERS
Attention Parents: Tuff Tumblers has started its New Session on Wednesday, October 25th and Friday, October 27th!!
Our class times are 3:00, 3:45, and 4:30pm. Tuition is $48.00 for a 6-week session. If you would like to enroll your child in Tuff Tumblers, please fill out a registration form and leave a check in the office. Please call the office for more information.
PLEASE NOTE: Next Friday, 11/10, school is closed for Veteran’s Day. Friday Tuff Tumblers will have their session on Wednesday, 11/8, in their usual time slots.

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 “I” as in Igloo, Ink, and Inch.

GLM ENROLLING TODDLERS
GLM is currently enrolling toddlers for the summer and 07/08 school year. Please call the business office at 510-622-0259 if you need an application.

HALLOWEEN PHOTOS
Magnolia parent, Alex Schoenfeldt, took many wonderful pictures during our Halloween celebrations. You can view them at:
http://www.schoenfeldt.com/GLM_Halloween_web/
Thank you, Alex!

CHILDCARE NEEDED
I am looking for childcare for two days a week (Tuesday and Thursday) for my two daughters, ages 5 and 9. Both have after-school activities and would love to have a fun, caring person with a car take them to their activities. The hours would be from 3:30pm to 6pm. Please contact Celeste at crgrinage@yahoo.com if you can help or have a referral.

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.


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CLASS NEWS

REDWOOD (ELEMENTARY)
The children had a wonderful El Dia De Los Muertos lunch on Wednesday! Zachary and Clare made the pinto beans, Nacalah and Kai made the Spanish rice, Charlie cooked the meat, Camille and Angelina took care of the tortillas, and Zoe and Grant handled the condiments. Those children who didn't cook this time helped to clean-up and next time they are in charge of the cooking. We had a picnic style lunch outside. We also made mini altars and sugar skulls to commemorate the day and carved our gigantic pumpkin for Halloween. The children were very excited about Halloween day!
The first years are learning to multiply and divide fractions by whole numbers. They have already learned how to add and subtract fractions with common denominators. They also enjoyed an introductory lesson of nouns. They had to find something that doesn't have a name...everything has a name! Nouns are names and they are some of the oldest things in the world!
The third years are working on map reading, including longitude and latitude. They have been studying our large map on the wall and finding various locations around the world. Angelina is working on long division with three digit divisors, Charlie is working on dividing decimals, and Kai is working on adding and subtracting mixed number fractions with different denominators.
The fourth years have been reading multicultural myths and legends. They have read two Greek myths, a Native American myth, and a Persian myth. They are also working on invertebrate worms and learning about their parts.
The fifth years are busy learning about the Declaration of Independence, and they are learning the binomials formula! If you need help with it, please feel free to come in and ask them!
This week Charlie and Nacalah made some delicious cheese biscuits and we also started our worm bin. The children are busy planning their canned food drive as well. Please watch for the flyers that will have the dates and location of the drop off.
Today we bid a fond farewell to Mr. Brown who has accepted a full time position in the corporate world. We all wish him much luck and happiness!

JACARANDA
• Remember the upcoming Journeys of Discovery starting next week. Each classroom will be hosting a night of discovery and discussion about your child's continuing Montessori experience. Dinner will be served. Danny Tien and Faye Owens will offer free childcare (RSVP only- no drop ins.)
• As the families begin their observations, remember that our goal is to support the children in their work. As an observer, you will watch your child work in small groups, large groups or alone, all the while surrounded by the concentration and focus of the others in the environment. Adults sit in the classroom to observe in an objective way in order to be able to decide which work to guide the child to next.
• In the classroom, you will see and hear children asking for a "lesson," or for an introduction to a work on the shelves. As part of the "freedom with limits" in the Montessori environment, a child can choose from the shelves works for which he or she has had a lesson. The children are set up for success this way: if the child has had lessons only on the works that matches their ability and temperament, then they will repeat the work until they reach mastery.

JUNIPER
*Are those hands clean?*
Here's a little experiment Ms. Koerber did with the children to show the right and wrong ways to clean your hands
1) Rub a little vegetable oil on your hands, then sprinkle with cinnamon "germs and dirt" while explaining that real germs are too small to see.
2) Wash hands without soap and notice that the "germs and dirt" won't come off.
3) Wash hands again with soap and watch the "germs and dirt" disappear!
*All About the Senses*
Young children absorb the world through their senses. Adults often become inured to this fact because we are so used to input from our physical senses, we forget to notice when things are rough, smooth, soft, hard, slimy, cold, hot, etc. The Montessori classroom, however, aims directly at informing the senses with materials such as the rough and smooth boards (tablets of sandpaper graded by roughness), the sound cylinders (cylinders graded by different grades of sound), and the baric tablets (tablets of different materials that can be graded by weight). In addition to this direct instruction of the senses there is something very easy we can do to help the children's growing awareness of the sensorial world: Talk! When we use lots of adjectives to describe the interesting features around us, we help the children focus in on the details and give them vocabulary for organizing their many experiences.
*Halloween was a scream!*
Thank you to all of the parents in Jacaranda and Juniper who helped make our Halloween celebration a success. The children had a great time with a minimum of anxiety and sugar!
*Rain, rain*
The rain has arrived, so here's a quick reminder of how to prepare your children for inclement weather.
- Raincoats and rain boots are encouraged.
- Make sure your child has a change of clothes in their clothing bag just in case!
- Please, no umbrellas. They are cumbersome and apt to be used as pretend weapons of various sorts.

LIVE OAK
Calling all Live Oak Parents!!!!!!! Please RSVP (510-836-4313) for dinner and free childcare to attend our second get together, next Tuesday, November 7. Come learn and play with the materials in the classroom as we socialize and have some fun together.
Observations and conferences are around the corner. Please sign up for an observation time on the clipboard.
With the holidays here, we’d love for you to come to our class to share a craft or a story. We will be learning about the first Americans by region. (Northwest, southwest, plains, southeast and northeast) We will be looking at homes, clothes, food, dance and art. We will also be learning about amphibians and the parts of the frog.
We thank you all so much for helping us have a great and successful Halloween party. It was a huge success, with the children saying, ”That was the best Halloween party ever!”

GINKGO
The Ginkgo class would like to thank all the parents who helped with the Halloween Celebration on Friday. The children had a wonderful time and wore fun, tasteful and age-appropriate costumes. We would also like to thank Tyler Hunter for the Halloween treat he pasted out to his friends.
On Monday, October 30, we had a 5th birthday celebration for Elliott Rosenberg. Elliott’s mom Felix came in, showed pictures and told the story of Elliott’s life. We also enjoyed a special snack of “boo chips” (potato chips shaped like ghosts) and grapes. As a present to the Ginkgo class Elliott gave us a book entitled “You Can Name 100 Dinosaurs!” Thank you!
Thank you to GiGi Curry for bringing in lemons from her tree at home. They are big! We are going to use them for a baking project for next week: Lemon bread!
On Tuesday, Ms Dia came to the Ginkgo class and worked with the children on French. The children are beginning to learn animal names. She also left a Bingo game in the classroom so that the children can practice.

MAGNOLIA
We had a wonderful Halloween celebration last Friday. A huge thank you to all the volunteers for helping us out - it would not have been successful without you.
This week with Mr. Moody the children learned some Native American dances with rhythm instruments. They also practiced yoga-like poses when he showed them pictures from nature (i.e eagle, bear, and tree).
In the next few weeks we will begin reading several different versions of the book “Stone Soup”. If you have a version at home to share with the class we would greatly appreciate it. On Monday, Nov. 21st, we will have our friendship feast, where the children will prepare stone soup as well as many other yummy things. We will need some help prior to this day, making place mats and decorations for the feast. Be on the look out for an email from Ms. Olivares.
It is slipper time! Please make sure that your child has a pair of slippers that fit him/her for the classroom (no super heros). Many of the children have already outgrown theirs.

MULBERRY
Friday’s Halloween celebration was a great success. Thanks to all the parents who helped to make it so much fun.
This week has been a busy week and the rain is here. Please send your child with raincoats and boots so we can go out for walks or play in the rain. Children love to find every small puddle possible to step in. Also make sure your child has a warm change of clothes in case they get wet.
This week’s sound was "H" and the children brought in a Hanger, a Hair brush, a Helicopter and a Hat. We also played I-spy with Hassan and Hayden. Next week is the "I" sound; ice cube, ice cream, and ink.
On the clipboard is a sign up sheet for observations in the classroom. I ask that each parent sign up to observe before conferences the beginning of December. This gives you a chance to see what your child is doing in the classroom. Also on the clipboard is the sign up to observe the primary classrooms, so if you have a preference of classrooms for your child you can let Mrs. Aima know and we will try to put your child in one of your first two choices. Hurry and observe because time is running out.
Song of the week:
Three little monkeys swinging in a tree,
Teasing Mr. Alligator, “You can't catch me.”
Along comes Mr. Alligator, just as quiet as can be,
And snatched that monkey right out of that tree.
(Two little monkeys...... One little monkey......)

CAMELLIA
Wow, October was a very busy month. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the parents who helped with the Brown Cottage Halloween celebration. All the children enjoyed doing the activities, especially the cookie decorating (and eating!).
There's a sign up sheet on the clipboard for November observations in the classroom. You will come in the classroom and from a corner observe your child; what they do doing their time here and how they interact with others. The observations will be followed at a later date in November with parent-teacher conferences. If you have questions from your observation, ask Mr. Tien or save them for the conference.
This weeks sound was "H", and we shared Have, Hammers, Horses, Heart, Harmonica, Hats, and Heating pad. Next weeks sound "I", as in Ink, Ink pad, and Ice-cube.
Song of the week:
(Clap your hand, or do different hand movements)
Do as I'm doing,
Follow, follow me.
I can do it fast or slow,
I can do it high or low.
This song is about movement and about opposites (for example tall and short, big and small, happy and sad).  ¶ 4:06 PM