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February Newsletter
Feb, 2011 |
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 Dates to Remember |
1st: Parent Night 5-6 Weather permitting 3rd: Chinese Lunch: $3/child 4th: 1:00 Dismissal Staff Workshop 14th: Valentines Day 21st - 25th: No School Feb. Break March 2nd: Dr Dr. Seuss' Birthday Wear Pajamas to school and bring your favorite book! March 4th: 1:00 Dismissal Staff Workshop March 15th: Parent Night 5-6 |
| A Special Thanks To |
Steve Gernhardt for making pancakes with the children
Deb Mosier-Dunn for helping in the office
Leah Booth and her father, The Dunn Family, and eveyone else who helped out at the Winter celebration.
To all the families who donated gifts for the classrooms over the holidays. |  Extra Curricular Classes |
Aux 3 Poome is starting foreign language classes at CTMS for more information contact Sylvia at 203-773-0616 or email at aux3pommes@sbcglobal.ne t and join then at the open house Sat. 2/21/09 10-12
Jen Taylor's dynamic Om-Fly Circus School is forming additional classes for the young and young at heart! Contact her at 860- 575-1166, via email at jen@circusyoga.com or visit her on the web at www.circusschoolxenz.com Piano lessons are forming during the school day with Sylvie a certified suzuki piano instructor. Please contact her at 860-434-3409 to get your little one tickling the ivory! Miss Karin's Just Dance offers classes for toddlers to adults. Contact her at 860-608-9073
Fun With Miss Jen during Feb. Vacation:
Miss Jen will be offering a Flying Yoga Circus Camp during Feb. Vacation. Please call her for the details. 860-575-1166 |
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 Click on the links below
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| Greetings! |
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I hope you find the newsletter to be enjoyable and informative. |
| School News |  Valentines Day:
Each class has a Valentine making station set up. The students are making cards for their friends, families, and the senior citizens. The elementary class will be delivering the valentines to our grandma/grandpa friends at Gladeview Convalescent home on Friday the 11th. This year each classroom will also be making a cooperative snack of home-made strawberry shortcake. A shopping list will be sent home via your child's mailbox this week. On this special day we ask that the children wear red/white/pink clothes. Please do not send in store bought valentines. The children will have plenty of activities in class. Thank you.
Cleaning Help:
We are looking for anew cleaning person to being after Feb. break. If anyone is interested in this barter position or knows of someone please let Marci know.
 Re-Registration: It's is re-registration time. You should have received a packet in your mailbox. Please fill out the paperwork for the 2011-2012 school year. Talk to Marci is you have questions or need the paperwork.  Summer Camp:
This year our camp schedule will be for six weeks. The camps will be run by teachers, assistants, and volunteers. The themes and times are listed on the flyer which is available online, in the office or at the front desk.
Open Houses: We will be hosting several open houses this season. Please let your friends know all about it. Sat. Feb. 5th from 1-4 as well as Wed. Feb. 9th 5pm-7pm. For more information talk to Marci. Make sure your friends let us know you referred them.. You will receive a $50 credit for anyone who registers using your name. Please label your child's belongings: Please label everything; lunch boxes, shoes, coats, mittens, hats.... If they are not labeled we may label them for you. We end up with so many unlabeled items in the lost and found each month.  Together we can cut down on lunch time waste: Please consider reducing the amount of lunchtime waste your family generates. Think about what you can do to cut down on waste. Here are a few suggestions for getting started. - Pack a cloth napkin instead of a paper napkin.
- Pack stainless-steel utensils instead of using disposable plastics.
- Pack a reusable drink container instead of disposable juice boxes, juice pouches, cans, and plastic bottles.
- Pack lunch items in reusable containers. Laptop Lunches work well because they allow for an appealing horizontal presentation. Avoid using plastic wraps, plastic bags, wax-paper bags, and aluminum foil.
- Avoid purchasing pre-packaged items. Buy foods in larger containers and leave them at home for recycling.
- Pack lunches in a lunch box or backpack instead of relying on paper or plastic bags.
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Earn Cash for Our School! |
| Scrip update: to date we have earned over $800 with scrip in four months. That is with only 5 families ordering. Get involved it is so easy and so rewarding for the school www.shopwithscrip.com You can also buy scrip cards from the office. We have Stop and Shop, A&P and others avalible.
Stop and Shop: If you haven't already register your Stop and Shop card a www.stopandshop/aplus.com We have earned almost $90 from that program to date. Set you browser to www.goodsearch.com we earn 1 cent every time you use their search engine and more when you shop through them. Good Search.
Save Box Tops: Over the break we recived a check for over $100 for Box Tops for Kids. Keep a baggie on your fridge to remind you. They are free and on so many everyday items. There is a box in the entry way to collec them.
Ink Cartridges: Please recyle your empty ink cartridges here. We recive $2 for evey cartridge in staples credit. On average these cartidges are earning the school about $80 a month. That pays for the copy paper we use each month |
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| Yellow Room News from Miss Rachel and Miss LIbby | |
The Yellow Room has had a mellow January. The extra days off from school, combined with absences from illness and children on vacation have contributed to a very quiet classroom. As teachers, we have taken advantage of the relaxed atmosphere and have had the chance to give some really great lessons. The younger children are now really expanding their concentration and ability to do longer and more challenging work. The older children are more comfortable with our expectations of them and they are tackling new material with ease. 
Everyone was excited to learn about Antarctica and the animals that live there. On our early dismissal on Wednesday the 26th, Miss Ashley led a group of 10-15 baby penguins around the playground in the snow. They were adorable waddling around after her, and they showed off their knowledge of penguin behavior too! Along with penguins we have been studying birds in general. Miss Brooke shared an interesting work with us that showed that birds have different types of beaks to eat different foods. The children were very interested in this lesson and enjoyed experimenting with different tools to pick up different food items.
We will begin February with a week of Chinese New Year crafts and traditions. We will make lanterns, dragons, red envelopes, rabbits (for the year of the rabbit) and "Gong Hay Fat Choy" cards. We will also be cleaning the classroom in preparation for the New Year. Thursday the 3rd we will have our Chinese New Year Luncheon. All morning children are invited to stay for lunch.
The second week in February, we will focus on Valentine's Day and doing kind deeds for others. We will be making and collecting cards and heart shaped pillows for the elementary students to distribute at Gladview. On the morning of the 14th both primary classes will be making strawberry shortcake as a special treat. We will be mixing dough for drop biscuits, slicing strawberries, and making fresh whipped cream. We will be asking the children to bring in ingredients from home for this communal snack. Look for a notice in your mailbox next week which will tell you what ingredient your child should bring to contribute.
HERE'S TO NO SNOW DAYS IN FEBRUARY!! |
| Elementary News from Miss Jesse |
The Elementary Class has been busy despite the many snow days this year. The children had researched different reptiles and decided upon anoles as the most appropriate choice for our classroom. They are very excited and have made close observations of their behavior. It seems we may have two males and a female! The children are searching for eggs and have begun researching how anoles reproduce. The Demilles provided a space age ant farm for the class and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the ants.
We joined the Kindergarten class for a tour of Stop and Shop this month. It was interesting and provided an opportunity for us to revisit the food pyramid and discuss nutrition. The highlights of the trip were the lobsters and cookies at the Bakery!
The children have all begun corresponding with a pen pal from The Montessori School of the Berkshires. Letters have been mailed and some of the children have already received a response. The children are thrilled with the idea and are anxious to send another letter already!
We will continue to study Antarctica and are beginning a class research project on space with the initial focus being the moon, sun, and stars. The snap circuits have generated a lot of interest in electricity. Thank you Tuckerman for bringing the radio you built from home and teaching the class about it! Thanks also to Julian and Miles for bringing in your snap circuit extensions for us to experiment with. |
| Red Room News from Miss Brooke and Miss Jodi |  This month we traveled to the continent of Antarctica. We talked about the animals that live in Antarctica focusing on the penguins. We learned the names of the different types of penguins that live in Antarctica and talked about their life cycle.
In January we studied birds in our science area. We learned the names of native birds to Connecticut. We observed birds through our binoculars and identified birds that visited our new bird feeders. As part of our study we made bird nests, pine cone bird feeders and sculpted and painted eggs.
We came back to school after our holiday break to lots of snow! On our art shelf we had snowflake making work and snowman cutting. We also learned songs and poems about snowmen.
We love to cook and continued to enjoy making french toast and English muffin pizzas for snack in January.
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| Orange Room News from Miss Ashley and Miss Pam | |
 We have had a great start to the New Year in the Orange Room getting to know our new friends and some old friends! The children have been making friends and working together to learn much of the work in the classroom. Food prep has been very popular; we have been giving lessons on chopping carrots, cantaloupe, and toasting. Our returning children have been more than happy to help out their new friends and have adjusted very well to their new classroom. The practical life and sensorial areas have been very busy so far. The children have been learning about pouring, scooping, putting gloves on, practicing their colors, and experimenting with differentiating size. In math, the children have been practicing their counting skills and matching numeral to quantity and in the language area we have been giving many lessons on the letters and reading works.
We have had a great time studying Antarctica. The favorite lessons in the classroom have been learning about types of penguins, iceberg work, and watching snow melt to see what had been frozen inside. We have also been practicing songs such as 10 Little Penguins and Antarctica, Antarctica.
We are looking forward to more food prep work in February, new practical life works, and starting our exploration of Africa on our cultural shelves.
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Thank you again for all of your support. Please remember my door is always open. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to bring them to my attention. You can reach me via email at ctmontessori@aol.com or on my cell phone at 860-227-2588
Sincerely,
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Marci Martindale
The Children's Tree Montessori School
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