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CALENDAR
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
February
Saturday, 2/5 Work Day, 9:00am-2:00pm
Monday, 2/14 Valentine Potluck, 11:30am -12:30pm, Families invited!
Monday, 2/21 President’s Day, School Closed
Room 5 (Terrific 2s &3s) Update
Happy New Year! It’s already 2005, our first few months of school went by so quickly! At calendar time, we have counted 74 days that we have been in “Big 5’s”. December was a busy month learning about our five sense, dinosaurs, and holiday traditions. We introduced the letter “Jj” (Jerry Jellyfish) and reviewed the other zoo-phonics letters and animals. In math, we reviewed the numbers 1-10 and shapes. A highlight of our Friday sharing time was when Ainsley performed several Irish dances (some with mom). What fun we had watching, listening, and clapping along! We also filled up our kindness jar with gnomies stones and celebrated all the children’s kind words and deeds by taking a walking field trip to McDonald’s. We want to say a very special thank you to Tejas’ grandmother, Elenora, who went with us to McDonald’s and treated all of us to ice cream cones. McDonald’s also gave each child a pencil, pencil topper, and an eraser. We ended the month of December with a special pizza lunch - yum yum!
In January, we will be continuing our letters by introducing Kk (Kayo Kangaroo), Ll (Lizzy Lizard), and Mm (Missy Mouse). Our themes will include winter/New Year celebrations, artist Paul Cezanne, Martin Luther Kind, and rocks, fossils, and minerals. This month we plan to take a field trip to the rock shop to learn more about rocks and fossils. As you can see, we have another busy month ahead of us!
- - - Sharon, Josette,
ROOM 6 (Thrilling 3s and 4s) UPDATE
Happy January! We wish you all the best in the New Year! We come back to school after wishing Teacher Irina well and sending her off to her new home in Maryland. She promised to write and we told her we would send cards and letters to tell her what we are doing!
We appreciate your efforts keeping sick children home. We work really hard washing hands often at school to kill those “germs”. Often times children need extra rest and quiet time so their bodies can recover faster. Thank you for your help with this.
We have really been working on expressive language with children. We are reading rhyming books, rhyming words with names, asking open-ended questions and gently encouraging the children to express their thoughts and ideas. It’s so rewarding when you see the look on children’s faces when their language grows and they are socially successful.
Circle times have been busy and fun. The children have been working in attending skills and have been enjoying yoga, memory, games, songs, stories, flannelboard stories, and dancing. We vary the activities so all learning styles are represented.
Thank you for all your gifts, cards, and best wishes. We hope you all had great fun during the holidays. We know 2005 will be filled with lots of learning and good friends.
- - - Room 6 Teachers
Referral Program Winner
The winner of the November Referral Program Raffle was Terese Ellerbruch.
Congratulations!
The prize for January is a gift certificate for a one-night stay at The Grand Hotel in Sunnyvale. You can hire a babysitter and have a special Valentine’s Day getaway!
Room C (Fabulous 4s & 5s) Update
Room C Update
First of all, we have a number of thank yous.
Thank you to Sarah Strong and her family for the tangerines, David Lopez and his family for the playdough and foam shapes, William Schubert and his family for the paper, Amanda Ornest and family for the wooden shapes, Albert Kutsyy and his family for the batteries for the cash register, Jonathan Arias-Martinez and his family for the persimmons and raisins, Clarissa Daniel and her family for the oranges and lemon bread, and Richa’s brother Ashwin for playing his guitar for us.
In January, we will welcome the children back with sharing the first week of January. Please remember to leave toys at home when it is not sharing week. We will be continuing our table time activities such as writing, cutting, gluing, etc. The children are doing well and having fun with their accomplishments.
We will be continuing our discussions about winter, friends, and family during January. We hope you had a wonderful break and look forward to seeing everyone in 2005!
- - - Room C Teachers
Young Fives
Happy New Year!
It’s already 2005, our first few months of school went by so quickly! At calendar time, we have counted 74 days that we have been in “Big 5’s”. December was a busy month learning about our five sense, dinosaurs, and holiday traditions. We introduced the letter “Jj” (Jerry Jellyfish) and reviewed the other zoo-phonics letters and animals. In math, we reviewed the numbers 1-10 and shapes. A highlight of our Friday sharing time was when Ainsley performed several Irish dances (some with mom). What fun we had watching, listening, and clapping along! We also filled up our kindness jar with gnomies stones and celebrated all the children’s kind words and deeds by taking a walking field trip to McDonald’s. We want to say a very special thank you to Tejas’ grandmother, Elenora, who went with us to McDonald’s and treated all of us to ice cream cones. McDonald’s also gave each child a pencil, pencil topper, and an eraser. We ended the month of December with a special pizza lunch - yum yum!
In January, we will be continuing our letters by introducing Kk (Kayo Kangaroo), Ll (Lizzy Lizard), and Mm (Missy Mouse). Our themes will include winter/New Year celebrations, artist Paul Cezanne, Martin Luther Kind, and rocks, fossils, and minerals. This month we plan to take a field trip to the rock shop to learn more about rocks and fossils. As you can see, we have another busy month ahead of us!
- - - Sharon, Josette, Gini
Wish List
Room 5 would like boxes of tissues (Kleenex) and unscented wipes.
Room 6 would like 35mm film (400ASA) and a Little Tykes Cozy Coupe Car
Room C would like 35mm film (400 speed) and 11” x 14” construction paper in any/all colors
Big Fives would like buttons.
Director's Corner
The passage of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments
of 1997) by Congress gave children with disabilities (children who require some form of
special care due to physical, mental, emotional, or health reasons) and developmental
delays the right to an appropriate education at no cost to parents. Federal and state
legislation requires local education agencies (in our community it is the public school
district for children 3 and older) to conduct free, multi-disciplinary evaluations for all
children with suspected disabilities. A child who is classified with a disability must
receive special education and/or related services in the “least restrictive environment”
which is defined by federal legislation as “To the maximum extent appropriate, children
with disabilities ... are educated with children who are not disabled ... and special classes,
separate schooling, or other removal or children with disabilities from the regular
educational environment occur only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child
is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services
cannot be achieved satisfactorily.” Inclusion is often considered the least restrictive
environment and all programs are required by law to include all children whenever
possible.
This law presents additional responsibilities for early childhood educators because
we are in a good position to identify children with suspected delays and inform parents of
our concerns. Because we know that early intervention provides the best opportunity for
success for children, collaborative behavior observation in both the classroom and the
home is more likely to promote appropriate evaluations, planning, and programming for
the child and family.
Children’s Corner has always supported inclusive programming whenever
possible and our philosophy is to accept each child where they are developmentally and
work with each child establishing individual goals. Our philosophy by definition is very
inclusive. To further support our desire to provide individual attention to all children, 6
of our teachers have just completed an Inclusion Class at Mission College and both
Children’s Corner and the Young Fives Program are involved in Inclusion Training
provided by the Local Planning Council in Palo Alto and the 4 C’s (Child Care
Coordinating Council) in San Jose. The goal of both of these programs is to help teachers
further develop their teaching skills so as to be able to better identify children who might
have special needs and to provide excellent developmentally appropriate programming to
all children.
An estimated 18% of children (1 in 5.5) have some kind of special health care
need. We believe all children are unique and have unique needs whether they have an
identified disability or not. Diversity in children’s backgrounds and abilities enhances
and enriches their learning experiences. In addition to benefiting children with special
needs, the benefits of inclusion for typically developing children include learning to
accept others as they are and accepting each other as people, not as a label. They also l
earn to notice how they are similar, not just their differences. They develop patience,
kindness, and compassion and they learn to help and respect others — all wonderful skills
to learn early in life. We have also discovered that parents learn to accept their own
child’s strengths and needs and share common experiences.
Overall, inclusion benefits everyone. It helps all of us develop an awareness that
all people have unique needs and to create an enriched environment to encourage
understanding and flexibility in including all children.
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LA-MVCC
Newsletter
Newsletter
Current Quote
"Tis education forms the common mind;
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."
- Alexander Pope
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(650) 948-8950
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