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CALENDAR
DECEMBER
Monday, 12/20 - Friday, 12/31 Holiday Break, School closed
JANUARY
Monday, 1/3 School re-opens
Tuesday, 1/25 Board Meeting, 7:30-9:30pm
Thursday, 1/27 School Pictures, 9:00am-1:00pm
Room 5 (Terrific 2s &3s) Update
Hello from Room 5 teachers. The children are starting to feel comfortable with the environment and our daily routine. They had been busy exploring the environment, some children have been busy dancing to music, others enjoy exploring different art projects, listening to books, the housekeeping area has been busy with pretend cooking, eating, and dressing up.We do our best to keep the environment healthy by washing tables with bleach solution, washing our dress-up clothes, handwashing for children and staff, etc.
The cold weather is here, please be sure your child has a jacket or sweater to wear outside, we play outdoors every day (unless it’s really raining). Also, keep extra warm clothes in their cubbies.
Please don’t hesitate to talk to a teacher if you have any questions.
We hope everyone has a happy and healthy holiday break.
ROOM 6 (Thrilling 3s and 4s) UPDATE
It’s December and Winter is finally here! It’s been great fun for the children to watch the changing colors of the fall trees, and to feel the leaves crunching under their feet. We’ve had many art projects where the children got to use the different colors of fall. At circle time we talk about the changes in weather and how, in the winter, the weather gets colder and in California we have rain but up in the mountains there is something fun to play with called snow.
The winter months are filled with many different winter celebrations. Although we do not celebrate one specific holiday in the classroom, we encourage the children to share about their own experiences at home. Parentws are invited to share their holiday traditions with our class. Please ask a teacher about a convenient time-the children would be glad to hear about your unique experience!
We are happy that so many families were able to come to our Thanksgiving Feast. The children had a lot of fun learning and performing the Thanksgiving songs, and your support was greatly appreciated. We remind you all that school will be closed from December 20th through December 31st and wish you a wonderful and peaceful December.
- Room 6 - Laura, Irina, and Jeff
Referral Program Winner
Congratulations to Hedi Bahar, our October Referral Program Winner. As a reminder, our Referral Program works like this: for each parent that you refer to our school who comes in and does a visit with the office, your name will be entered in a raffle. At the end of the month, a name is drawn and the winner receives a prize! It’s as easy as that.
December the prize is a $30 gift certificate to Armadillo Willy's.
Room C (Fabulous 4s & 5s) Update
A big Hello! to all the wonderful parents in Room C. Thank you for your ongoing support. The holiday season is here. We know how busy you are during this time of year and if we can support you in any way, please let us know.
The children are having a terrific time in school and the teachers are working on a variety of learning skills including cutting, drawing, tracing, matching, counting, one to one correspondence, memory games, pencil grips, following directions, and social skill building. The children are learning new songs and fingerplays as well as playing new boardgames. in addition, “Table Time” is now presented in the morning and afternoon. The children are responding very well to this experience. They are very eager to learn and enjoy the new projects.
Please remember that shring week is the first full week of each month. We discourage children from bringing toys in on days sharing is not offered. Children get very upset if other children want to play with their toys. Also, toys get lost and that upset them too! Thank you in advance for your cooperation regarding sharing.
December is a fun and stressful time of year. We try to keep the children calm with appropriate activities-we plan a fun and interesting curriculum and if you would like to share your holiday celebration, please speak to a teacher. Room C teachers with you a very happy holiday season.
- Ada, Iris, Lynn, and Chris - - -
Young Fives
We have had another wonderful month. The group is really bonding and working well together. We enjoyed our unit called the Election Connection. We talked about voting, read stories about elections and voted on just about everything last month from what to name the fish to what to have for snack. We also graphed our responses.
Thanksgiving brought lots of holiday stories and discussions about how we each celebrate the holiday, being thankful, harvest, healthy nutrition, and helping others. Our kindness jar is almost filled with "gnomie stones" which the children earn by being especially kind or helpful to each other. When the jar is completely filled we will celebrate with a small party or special treat. I'm sure that we will be voting on what we want to do!
In addition to all our special activities, including attending the Feast at Children's Corner, we continued with our Zoophonics (letters G, H, and I - Gordo Gorilla, Honey Horse, and Inny Inchworm) and continued exploring more shapes and numbers. Shapes really encouraged block play and the children have been doing a lot of it this past month. We discovered that this group is especially fond of dinosaurs and have added this to our curriculum for November and December. Josette, with her anthropology background, is our resident dinosaur expert and has been sharing her love of the topic with the children. She has brought in many books to share, a wonderful collection of toy dinosaurs that have been added to the block play, and even real dinosaur fossils! The children are fascinated with her treasures and knowledge.
In December, we will continue with dinosaurs, explore our five senses and December holidays, and be making gifts. We will also be introducing Jerry Jellyfish, and reviewing all our letters from A - J, and numbers from 1 - 10. It will be another fun and busy month. We hope that all of our families have a wonderful holiday season and two week of family time. See you in January.
- Gini, Sharon, and Josette
Need a Year-End Receipt?
Please call the office or sign up in the office if you will be needing a year-end receipt for your taxes.
DIRECTOR'S CORNER
Because we are nearing the December gift-giving season, I decided to reiterate Children's Corner's philosophy on the importance of play based learning, and to encourage everyone to think about this when they are selecting gifts for young children. Michael K. Meyerhoff, Ed.D., a former researcher with the Harvard Preschool Project stresses that having fun and learning are one and the same for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Young children are learning all of the time. Dr. Meyerhoff insists that children "are learning to learn - as they indulge their natural inclinations to explore, investigate and experiment through developmentally appropriate play, they acquire the fundamental concepts and capacities that allow them to absorb from and adapt to the ever-changing environment around them for the rest of their lives." Dr. Meyerhoff emphasizes that a young children who are "fully exposed to the power of play receive a lot of genuine and enduring advantages. First, a child has a chance to build strong educational foundations by developing a broad knowledge base and universal skills. Second, she has an opportunity to maximize her potential by developing an abundance of imagination and creativity. And third, the entire learning process becomes self-sustained because her natural love of learning is preserved and enhanced. Furthermore, along with ensuring her academic success, the power of play promotes her ultimate happiness by providing big benefits in the equally important areas of interpersonal relationships and self-esteem."
Why then do so many parents enroll their children in academically based programs? Probably because they are afraid that they are wasting valuable learning time or that their children will not be ready for elementary school. Research indicates the opposite. Jane Healy states in her book, Endangered Minds, that "children need experiences to attach words to." Children need time every day to do open ended, process oriented art projects, sing songs, read stories, squish and explore lots of sensory materials. They need time to play outside - running around, jumping, gardening, watching, touching, catching insects and reptiles, developing and playing games, and playing in the sand, mud and water. Research shows that what young children really need is time to explore, not table time dittos and worksheets or television. They need clay and dough to strengthen the muscles in their hands before they are expected to work with pencils and computers. Susan Black in her book, How Do Your Children Grow, explains that researchers have identified that around fourth grade one can easily tell in a classroom which children were in which kind of early school environment by watching the behaviors of the children in the classroom. The children who had been in rigid academic models are "stressed, high-strung, aggressive, depressed and don't want to be there anymore." On the other hand, children who had been in play-based, child-centered preschool programs "do better than their peers academically, are able to communicate with teachers and friends and are often creative problem solvers."
Occasionally one hears someone state, " In my day, we went to school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic." It was probably true, but they probably didn't start school until they were five or six years old, and had already had a lot of time to play in their neighborhood. Also kindergarten used to be more play-based and less academically oriented. Playing in their neighborhood used to be the way children got ready for school. Unfortunately, children today are not being given the same opportunity to develop at their own natural pace.
Back to gift giving. Think about what you loved doing as a child. What were your favorite toys, the ones that lasted? Usually these toys are ones that can be used creatively, not a toy that has only one use or that has a "right way" to do it. Consider toys that encourage your child to be outside, getting exercise and fresh air. Children need good toys for play, just as adults need good tools to do their work well. Good toys need not cost a lot and children do not need very many. Too many toys can overstimulate children and make it hard for them to chose something interesting. Buy only a fell toys, but select them carefully. Wonderful play materials and toys can be made from common household item. Your play material selection should include choices that provide experiences in a variety of areas:
SENSORY MATERIALS (e.g. sand, water, playdough, clay) develop children's senses through experimentation. Children begin to understand science and math through pouring and measurement.
ACTIVE PLAY EQUIPMENT allows for vigorous use of many muscles. Children who meet physical challenges develop confidence in their own abilities at other time too.
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS such as blocks and building sets help develop coordination and creativity.
MANIPULATIVE TOYS such as puzzles, beads, pegboards and lotto games help children develop hand and finger muscles, hind-eye coordination and concepts. These experiences help prepare them for later reading and writing.
DOLLS, ANIMALS & DRAMATIC PLAY give children a chance to try new behaviors and to begin to understand the world, and to work cooperatively with others.
ART MATERIALS are ideal for fostering creativity and for developing skills leading to reading and writing. Adult made models for copying and coloring books should be avoided because they do not develop creativity.
BOOKS AND RECORDINGS help develop appreciation for literature and music. Children who are read to and see the adults in their environment reading generally become better readers. We are fortunate to Linden Tree Children's Book Store in Los Altos. The employees are very knowledgeable about children's literature and are able to help make selections.
We hope that all our families have a wonderful December holiday season, and we will see you back at school on Monday, January 3, 2005.
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"Tis education forms the common mind;
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."
- Alexander Pope
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