November 2011

Room 002- Sheela Dharmarajan

November 2011

“The child is both a hope and a

promise for mankind.”

-Dr. Maria Montessori

·         October was another fantastic month, Thank you so much to all of the families who attended our Fall Festival—it was a great success!

·         A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who ordered from the Small Hands Montessori catalog. Your orders will be arriving before the holidays.  We’ll keep you posted.

·         Thanks to all the parents for attending Parent-Teacher Conferences. It was a pleasure to meet with you and share your child's progress.

·         During the month of October, the children spent a lot of time learning about Insects, Spiders, and The Layers of the Earth.

The month of November will be dedicated to learning about the continent of North America. As usual, please bring anything that you have around the house that relates to our theme. This includes postcards, photographs, books, and souvenirs.

We will also start our study of the vertebrates by learning everything about Fish and learn a little about Thanksgiving.

·         School will be closed for Thanksgiving- November 23rd through the 25th. Enjoy this time with your family, and remember how many things we have to be thankful for!

 Reminders

• Scholastic Orders due by Nov 8^th, please note that you can order and pay for the books online.
• Walk-A-Thon for Primary Montessori at 11:15 am.
• No School on Nov 9^th, CPR and First-Aid Training for Teachers
• No School on Nov 10^th – Assessment Day and Nov 11^th for Veteran’s Day
• Thanksgiving Luncheon Nov 16^th at 11:15 am for our students
• Thanksgiving Break from Nov 23^rd to Nov 25^th

Have a wonderful November!!

Ms. Sheela, Ms. Kelly, and Ms. Meilan

October Newsletter

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Parent/Teacher conferences are set for the third week of October.    Please use this link to sign up for conferences.

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/13RyMOW5evCiQzF2zC7rfjj66vCwPaQn5Z1MOz8KO1vU/edit?authkey=CJbd8MIO&hl=en_US&authkey=CJbd8MIO

Conferences will be 15 minutes long, so we are all going to have to be on time and stick to the schedule.   If you are unable to come to conferences during the scheduled times, please let me know and we can set a time before or after school.   I look forward to talking with all of you.

In class we have been talking about:

Insects/Butterflies

Seasons/Fall

Continents and Oceans

Apples

 Label EVERYTHING!   Please be sure to label every item that goes to school with your child or risk losing it into the black hole of lost items!

Cooler Weather:

As the weather starts changing, it would be a great time to check your child’s bag of extra clothes to be sure that their clothes are weather appropriate!  Please also make sure that your child has outerwear appropriate to the weather

United Nations Day

We will be having an United Nations Day Celebration coming up on Monday, October 24 at 3:00 pm.   All parents are welcome to attend.   Details to come as the event gets closer.

Montessori Services Fundraiser

We are going to participate in the Montessori Services Holiday Fundraiser again this year.   Montessori Services is a material supplier to Montessori families and classrooms.   The fundraiser will begin soon.   Depending on our total order, the participating classrooms will receive between 10% and 15% to spend on materials for their classrooms.   I  will also be posting wish lists, if parents would like to purchase materials for their child’s classroom.  

Thank You’s

Bella for taking care of our laundry every week.

 Amie, Clair, Jennifer, Cheryl, Allie, and Caden for coming in to listen to our students read.

Important Dates:

Oct 18, Oct 20, Oct 24 and Oct 25 Conferences

 Oct 28-Oct 31 Fall Break

Lincoln Elementary Montessori

Primary Class, #002

September 5, 2011

The school year begins with simply following the routine of the school day at a pace that allows each student to take in the new experiences. There are classmates and teachers to get to know, routines to figure out (e.g., sitting on the green line, singing songs, waiting for a turn), lockers to find, and new activities to discover and even the younger students soon enjoy the routine. The simple consistency builds their confidence and independence. This is what Dr. Montessori referred to as "normalization" - the transition of the child into the responsibility, productivity and joy of the school day.

 NOTES & REMINDERS

Friday, Sept 16^th- No School

Monday, Sept 19^th – No School

Tuesday, Sept 20^th, will be a no school day for all Montessori Preschool children.    .

**Water Bottles

We would like all children to bring a water bottle to school on Mondays to use in the classroom during the week.   We will send water bottles home on Fridays to be washed and returned on the following Monday.   This is especially important during this hot, end of summer days.   We are trying to cut down on the paper cup waste we have.   Water in paper cups will still be served when your child is having snack.   The rest of the day, their water bottles will always be available to them.

**Arrival and Dismissal

Arrival and dismissal are going very well.   Thank you for your patience and support as we help our little ones adjust to the routines. 

**ECE Forms/Classroom Funds

Our three and four year old children must turn in all paperwork ASAP.   Our program is licensed by the state and it is a state regulation that we have this paperwork in your child’s file.   If you are missing any forms we will be contacting you at arrival/dismissal times.

Also, don’t forget that we ask parents of Kindergarten children to contribute $35.00 and parents of Preschool children to contribute $25.00 to the classroom fund for consumables and supplies.   If you haven’t sent this in yet please do so.

**Scholastic Books

We will be sending Scholastic book orders home with your child monthly.   Scholastic Books offers quality paperbacks at reasonable prices.   We enjoy the added plus that Scholastic offers bonus points with your orders to obtain books and materials free for the classroom.    

Thank you so much for all the book orders for this month, your books should be here in a couple of weeks.

**What is Show and Tell? For New Parents

Show and Tell is an oral language experience designed to give the children an opportunity to talk about an object they bring from home and to answer questions the other children ask. The children sign in on the Show and Tell book as they arrive in the classroom.  We will again be using the alphabet sounds to guide your child’s choice of items.   Show and Tell will officially begin on Tuesday, September 6th.   The sound for the first week is ‘a’ as in apple.   The sound for each week will be posted on our bulletin board.   We ask that you help your child choose an item that begins with the sound of the week.   Also, help your child think of clues such as what color the object is, or what the item is used for, as your child will keep their item hidden and give these clues to the children at Show and Tell.   The other children will then guess what the item is.  These items will be available to take home from the basket at dismissal.   If you have any questions, just give me a call or email me.

Thank you for your support as we begin this school year.   Please feel free to contact me at school anytime you have questions or concerns.   Dismissal times are good times to catch me or you can call and leave a message at school for me to call you.   The school’s number is (720)424-5990, and my email is sheela_dharmarajan@dpsk12.org

We are looking forward to a fantastic year!  Thank you again for your patience, help, and your understanding these first few weeks.

Peace,

Ms. Sheela, Ms. Kelly, and Ms. Mei-Lan

May 15th, 2011

Dear Parents,

Can you believe that we only have ten more days of school!!!    In the classroom we continue our planet studies and the study of birds. This is a wonderful group of very enthusiastic learners and we are looking forward to working with them these last few days.

Thank you so much for the lovely flowers, candy, cookies, muffins and cards that we received for Teacher Appreciation Week.

 

REMINDERS

 Summer Volunteers:

I need parent volunteers for a few summer jobs:

Washing our classroom rugs.

Taking a plant or two home to care for, over the summer.

Orange Bob our fish and Wigl our gecko need a home for the summer.

Important Upcoming Dates:-

·         Field Day – Friday, May 20^th- Please remember to apply sunscreen on your child, send a hat and a water bottle and hope for good weather.  

·         Classroom Play, “The Solar System”- Tuesday, May 24^th at 2:30 pm all parents are invited. This date is still not confirmed.

·         Kindergarten Continuation – Friday May 27th, 2:15 pm.

·         Last Day of School – Friday, May 27^th.

Thank You’s

          I’d just like to mention all the people who have volunteered their time this year to make our classroom the wonderful place that it is!  We couldn’t do all that we do without your help.

·         Amie Durocher for taking care of all the library books we needed to support our studies this year.

·         Alicia Franklin for being an active Room Parent and a Reading Volunteer for our classroom.

·         Bella Francisco for washing towels every week and cutting all the pieces for our calendar

·         Munish Rajpal for taking care of our fish.

·         Crissy Horiuchi for being a Reading volunteer and buying crickets for our gecko.

·         Kebbie Stine for being a Reading volunteer.

·         Danielle McCarthy for buying supplies for our projects.

·         Jennifer Reynolds for helping with projects in the classroom.

·         Mel Moore for being a Reading Volunteer.

·         Bree Baretta for being a Reading Volunteer.

·         CJ for being a Reading Volunteer and helping clean the gecko cage.

·         Allie Liebgott for helping with various projects.

·         Nicole Pearce for helping in the classroom.

I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone, once again thanks to all of you that have helped with our requests and supporting us throughout the year.

It is so hard to believe that it is time to say good-bye to our kindergartners.  It has been a hectic year, and I have enjoyed every bit of it.  I will be emailing homework for the summer, just for the Kinders, instead of printing it, and you can decide whether you want them to work on it or not.

Have a wonderful summer!!

Peace,

Ms. Sheela, Ms. Cameo, and Ms. Kelly

February 2011

Reminders

·         Conferences will be held Feb 14^th to Feb 24^th.  Please use the Google link to sign-up for conferences; this is a live document that can be updated by any of you. Just remember to save and close when you are done signing up. 

Please email me with any questions or concerns that you would like me to address at the conference.

A Peek at our Month

·Groundhogs Day

· A study of Reptiles

· Asia

·Tea Pouring

· President’s day

Upcoming Events

• Valentine’s Day is coming up.  Please do not buy any Valentines or candy to pass out at school.  Each student will make one card at school, and then randomly draw them from a basket.  
• The Chinese New Year Parade will be on Fri, Feb 4^th, 2011 at 11:15 am, please join us and see our parade.

January 2011

Happy New Year!!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. A big thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the lovely gifts we received.

As we all know children enjoy a regular routine. We appreciate January because it’s typically a quiet month as students readjust getting back into a school routine.

In January we’ll learn about:

·         Asia

·         Landforms

·         Hibernating Animals

·         Amphibians

Winter Outer Wear

Winter weather is here.   We do go out everyday unless the weather is too wet or too cold. By too cold we mean when the temperature, including the chill factor, goes below 20 degrees. Therefore, children need to be dressed appropriately. Remember that handling hats, gloves, mittens, boots, coats, and scarves is part of your child’s Practical Life training at the Primary level. We will help your child learn to handle the extra clothing. If the weather is wet or there is snow on the ground, all children need to wear boots to school. It is not good for children’s feet to wear boots all day and our classroom floors don’t need the mess, so all children need a pair of shoes or slippers to wear in the classroom.  (Kindergarten and Full Day Fours need a pair of athletic shoes for P.E.  Slippers are too slippery on the gym floor.)   You may choose to have your child keep their shoes or slippers in their cubby at school or they can carry them back and forth in their bag

Dates to Remember:

Fri, Jan 14^th- No School

Mon, Jan 17^th- MLK day- No school

Out of the Mouths….

New Year Resolutions

Or

“What would you like to do in the New Year?”

Elena- Be nice to my brother

Linus-Care for my brother

Gabriella- Work hard

Jhaycob- Be nice to everybody

Scarlet-Work hard

Allison- Share with my friends

Campbell-Be nice to my sister

Grady- Do the laundry every ten days all by myself

Kiran-Help my mom and dad

Drew- Never lie

George- Be good to my parents

Max- Get math and language done everyday

Nicholas-Listen to my parents

Noah-Don’t eat too much candy

Sam-Eat whatever my family eats

Sachin-Eat more vegetables

Isabella-Eat more carrots

Wyatt-Don’t eat lots of sugar