Sorry for the delay in the newsletter! We’re all settling in to the new year and hopefully the majority of sicknesses id behind us! I am happy to welcome Jennifer Marsh to our staff. Miss Jennifer will be working in the Quails classroom along with Miss Salli. We are very happy to have her join us. Caption describing picture or graphic. We will be having our annual Open Board Meeting on March 7th at 5 PM at the school. February 2013 Desert montessori From the director’s desk February Birthdays Important dates Lily 3 February 15th is a school day! Liam 10  February 15th : Reenrollment forms due Damian 16 Hannah & Sophia 17 Will 18 Alex 27 Ms. Raquel 14  February 18th : No School Many thanks! We are very happy to have received a terrific donation from the folks at The Focal Point and Guy Grogan. They gave the school three printers, a scanner, and other office supplies! Now I just need to figure out how to work them! Well, I got one up and running, but I’m getting help for the others next week! I am trying my best to manage the new Windows 8 Operating system. I just need to figure out how to get it to like one of our existing printers, but hopefully my helper on Monday will be able to set it up! Road Runners: Miss Page & Miss Elise 2013 has gotten off to a great start! We welcomed Miss Salli’s son, Javier, to our room this month as well as Catarina Underwood. All our other children came back from winter break with smiles and excitement and they have been loving the new materials we put out. They have all really enjoyed doing our pinpushing work (they use a large tack-like pin to poke holes along a dotted shape. This activity helps to strengthen their fingers for holding pencils and eventually learning to write). This month we also worked on making texture books to help increase the children’s language. February is going to be a very busy month for us! We will be focusing on dinosaur life and ocean life and will be making coloring books for both topics. We will be celebrating Liam’s 3rd birthday on February 12th and we will have a special Valentine’s Day card exchange on February 14th. We will be asking all of our parents to either make or buy Valentine cards for all 10 of our children and Miss Elise and I will give them special bags in which to collect their cards. We will send reminders the week of Valentine’s. IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER: JANUARY 28TH LETTER J JANUARY 31ST SHOW AND TELL J FEBRUARY 4TH LETTER V FEBRUARY 7TH SHOW AND TELL V FEBRUARY 11TH LETTER I FEBRUARY 14TH SHOW AND TELL I FEBRUARY 14TH VALENTINE’S DAY EXCHANGE NO LETTER WEEK OF FEBRUARY 18TH (NO SCHOOL FEB 18TH) FEBRUARY 25TH LETTER F FEBRUARY 28TH SHOW AND TELL F ALSO: We want to send out another reminder to please ensure that your child comes to school with the appropriate winter gear. This means waterproof gloves/mittens, waterproof snow boots, hats, snow pants, and appropriate winter coats. We have been keeping snow pants at school and this has helped tremendously but we still often find that one or more children come to school without a warm coat, waterproof boots, etc. (Javier, Noah, and Perrin have snow boots that stay permanently at school for winter. Please let us know if you would like us to keep a pair of winter boots at school for your child). Though the snow has melted around the rest of town, our playground retains snow until the warm, late spring days. During the recent warmer temperatures, the playground has become very wet with large puddles and mud. We do go outside whenever the weather allows so please help us out by making sure your little one has gear that won’t get them soaking wet when we are outside. Thank you so much for your cooperation! Kit Foxes: Miss Daisy & Miss Melia February is here and the children are settling in nicely. The children are working very hard as always and are getting stronger in all areas of the classroom. In cultural, we continue our studies of North America, the United States, the four groups of reptiles and flowers. This month we will celebrate Valentine’s Day with a Valentine exchange on Thursday, February 14. We have 20 children in our class. If you choose to participate, please make sure your child has a Valentine for everyone in class. The children are getting ready for Parent Day.Your child will be your teacher! We ask that no siblings attend Parent Day, as this is your child’s opportunity to show off their skills and knowledge to you. There will be two Parent Days; March 30, 4:30-5:30 pm and April 13, 4:30-5:30 pm. Ten children will present on each of the Parent Days. Your child will bring an invitation to you! We would also like to thank all the parents for their support. Upper Elementary February News 2013 I hope all of you have had a chance to review the calendar of due dates and events sent home in mid-January. I will include it again at the end of this news update. In reading and math our lessons are continuing, but we are adding a bit of Egypt to them. In reading, one of the groups is reading The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. In math we are learning about the Ancient Egyptians use of the Eye of Horus for sacred fractions and their system for everyday fractions. In writing the children are learning a little about hieroglyphics and making a cartouche. In Social Studies, the children have researched a deity or pharaoh and written a first person presentation based on the facts they have learned. They have also researched an aspect of Daily Life in Ancient Egypt and are now learning to use an outline to write a multi-paragraph report. Along with the written report, the children will be creating dioramas showing how Ancient Egypt looked and what the people did. The materials for the diorama are due in class on February 4. In science, partnerships of children are researching a specific human body system, organizing their information and then they will demonstrate what they have learned. In this project, children will create models of the systems, conduct experiments demonstrating aspects of the system, plan and teach a lesson to their peers, and learn a song about their human body system. Our most recent “Time for Kids” magazine had an article about positive attitudes and achievement in school. Besides being happier, children with a positive attitude also do better in school. The article gave five suggestions for daily practice in creating a more positive outlook on life. These 5 daily practices are:  Smile more often (at least five more than usual time)  Perform a random act of kindness  Get exercise (preferable outdoors for an hour)  List three things for which you are grateful Take two minutes to focus on your breathing several times a day The article discussed the changes which take place in your brain upon doing any one of these things and equated the brain to a muscle that can be strengthened with practice. E-3 is trying to train our brains to be more positive. February 4 Bring all materials to school for the diorama 6 Final typed copy of Daily Life in Egypt due 11 Begin monument drawing at home 12 Assistance Dogs of the West visit E-3 15 Regular school day—No Skiing 18 No School—Presidents’ Day 25 Begin Human Body models for science at home March 1 Last Ski Day 5 Egypt Program—time TBA (probably evening) 11 Human Body model due 18 Spring Break begins—rest up for a busy, exciting Spring Term