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PACIFIC CAMPUS
Toddler 1 Class
Ms. Verise & Ms. Merle
Dear Toddler 1 Parents,
This month, some of the students are working on writing their names in free hand without the use of the tracing paper! The younger students are working on mastering their pencil holding skills.
Everyone is improving with math and some of the students are learning to use the 100 board with the numbers 1 through 30. This board begins with the number 1 in the top left corner and goes all the way to 100 in the bottom right corner. The children have a master board to check their work.
 There has been a lot of illness in the classroom this month so we have been washing our hands as soon as we come into the classroom from home or from the outdoor yard and after using the bathroom and before and after eating.
Letter sounds this month are "v," "h" and "r." Please have your child bring something to share from home whose name begins with one of those letter sounds so that we can reinforce our learning.
 The students are using the metal insets to learn their shapes. We have been going on many short walks this month so that we will soon be ready to take walking field trips to the library and the park.
Thank you to all of the parents who assisted with the field trip to Twirl. We appreciate all of your help.
Thank you,
Ms. Verise & Ms. Merle
Dear Pre-Primary Families,
We are springing forward into this school year, and the children are moving steadily along in their class lessons and adventures. We ended the month of February with a lesson on what a leap year is, and that there February 29th only occurs every four years. We learned that if you are born on February 29th, then you get to pick what day you want to celebrate your birthday, either February 28th or March 1st. We also learned that the reason that there is a leap year is to align our calendar with the solar calendar, and that it actually takes 365 1/4 days for the earth to make its journey around the sun. This extra time gets added together every 4 years, to create an extra day (February 29th)!
 We had a wonderful music presentation from Steve and his friend, Manjeev Singh, who played the Indian Tabla drums. A Tabla is a pair of drums that consists of a small right hand drum called a Dayan, and a larger metal one called a Bayan. We also practiced the sounds that the different drums make.
We had a fun and exciting circle time where the children learned that we have a new unofficial member of our class,,,and it's a baby living inside Ms. Zoe's belly! We took the time to view pictures from a human development book where we got to see how the baby is growing. We had another fun and exciting circle time in which all the students made predictions on the gender of the baby. The class then received the news that the baby is, in fact, a girl!! This brought upon many interesting stories from the students about their own siblings. How wonderful!
 On March 2nd we celebrated the birthday of Dr. Seuss. We learned all about his life, read his stories, and played games that explored the use of rhyming language.
We have begun our journey to the continent of Europe where we are learning about the animals, land and artists of the continent.
Thank You to Steven Kuntz-Katheria for putting up our cabinets in both bathrooms, and to the Goldin Family for installing our new blinds in the classroom.
Thank you,
Ms. Mari and Ms. Zoe
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TAYLOR CAMPUS
Toddler 2 Class
Ms. Porshia & Ms. Sara
Dear Toddler Parents,
100 days of school was a celebrated event in our classroom on February 24th. Time has gone by fast! It was exciting as the children attempted to do one hundred of a variety of tasks but only made it up to twenty or less. They tried to stamp inside 100 squares, tape 100 rose petals, count up to 100 by sorting out stickers and jumping 100 times. Their efforts were greatly appreciated and beautiful to watch.
During Maria Montessori week we shared images of her, read some of her quotes and looked at pictures of the school she attend and worked at.
Children enjoyed preparing and making pasta. They measured ingredients when cooking and later measured different works in the class room: the longest red rod, shelves and their arm.
 Our absolute favorite audio book of the month is "Pete the Cat 4 Groovy Buttons," by Eric Litwin and our letter sounds of the month are k, w, and z. All students continue to learn more letter sounds and associate objects beginning with that letter sound. Some students are also writing their name without using their name card and some are building their name with the movable alphabet!
The children created beautiful art canvas this month. Please make sure to look above the property spaces to see their display.
The children are improving their skills in various practical life work, such as shifting flour, draining water with a funnel and pouring water into a pitcher by measuring it to the blue line outside the pitcher.
 We have been taking some short walks around the neighborhood. Children really love the outdoor environment around the school. Some were even able to recognize restaurants and shops that their families eat and shop at. The children were looking forward to their field trip to the fire house for many weeks. They were asking questions and had questions for the firefighters but were absolutely speechless once we arrived. The children saw the sleeping quarters, training room and gym area in the fire house and then climbed inside the fire truck! They were awestruck.
Thank You to the Margitay-Becht and Guzman families for the washcloths, the Del Rosario, Tuguldur, Eloi and Malick-Rich families for cleaning our laundry and the Guzman family for hanging hooks, Thank you to the Solarz family for ziplock bags and the Longfield family for supplying the whole coffee. What would we do without our community? Thank you!
We are still in need of the following items: small indoor plants for the classroom, an adult size backpack used or new, whole coffee beans, and a Dreamland CD.
Primary 3 Class
Salutations Primary 3 families!
We have had an exciting month! February 24th marked our 100th day of school. We celebrated by doing 100 exercises, 100 seconds of silence, counting 1-100, writing from 1-100, walking 100 steps, sharing 100 belongings, and answering the question "if I had $100 I would buy..." We finished our paper link chain, and counted together by 10 to create a 100 scoop ice cream cone. It was a very fun day!
The children love the works on the Practical Life shelves lately. We have added carpentry to the class room, with a child size hammer and roofing nails. The children enjoy hammering the nails into a log. We added smaller pitchers and cups to our water works as well. The children have been poking out flower shapes with a push pin and cutting out a spiral shape. We have also been practicing folding clothes with the new shirt folding work on the shelf. The children have been working on their concentration and pincer grasp with the 50 Marble Transfer using tweezers.
We are continuing to do extensions with our Sensorial materials. The favorite one this month is making a pyramid using the Red Rods, Number Rods, and Colored Cylinders. And not a day goes by without the Brown Stair and Pink Tower coming off the shelf. We have also been working with the Power of 2, Binomial Cube and Trinomial Cube. The children are also making geometric shape books using our Geometric Cabinet. We have added Color Box III to the shelf. The students love seeing the color gradation from darkest to lightest.
Several Math works are also becoming favorites in our classroom. We continue to do work with our Number Rods, 10 Board, Addition strip Board, and Addition with Counters. We continue to work with the decimal system using the Gold Beads, Stamp Game, and Bead Frame. The children absolutely love to write the numerals from 1-100, at anytime there's always at least 1 child writing them. We have added the Multiplication Bead Board to the shelf and the children are very excited about this new work.
 We have been working on the letter sounds "u," "k," "g" and "v." They love matching an object to the correct letter sounds. We have also been working on sound blends to assist with expanding reading abilities. We continue to do word building with the Moveable Alphabet and pink series cards. Some children are building words without the word guide. The children continue to work with the Metal Inset extension cards. An exciting new work is the Bob Book Making, we read the book then recreate it by writing the words and drawing the pictures. We have added a rhyming work to the shelf where the children are matching rhyming words together. It has been very Suessical in the classroom! The children love the story "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein.
We are now in our Europe cultural unit. We have been talking about places and people in Europe and reading books about Europe. We learned how to count from 1-10 in Portuguese. When we do jumping jacks out on the play ground we now count in Portuguese! We have also been creating our own flags of different European countries.
Science has also been a favorite. We made a volcano in class and watched it erupt by adding vinegar and baking soda. We have added a vinegar and baking soda chemical reaction work to the shelf. It is messy but very fun. We learned how water travels through flowers by adding food coloring to the water and waiting for the results. The children loved coming in daily to see the changes in the flowers. They also learned about being patient and that some things would need some time to pass before beautiful things happen.
Spring is right around the corner and we have been talking all about flowers! We have an Orchid, Ranunculus, Viola, Pansy, and Marigold in the classroom. Students have been working on recognizing and identifying each flower. We have added pictures of the flowers to the shelf and children match the correct flower to the picture.
On Tuesday, we went to the Farmer's Market to buy our own snacks as an introduction to our lesson about money. We also went to the West End Library to get some books about Europe. We are planning a field trip to the Oakland Zoo in April, so please check your Parents Folders right outside of the office for an authorization form if you have not already done so. We also need more drivers, so if you have the time, please volunteer. It is going to be a FUN day.
Thank you to the Biggs family, Siv family, Sadauskas family, Adams family, Hu family, Mullins family, and the Thong family for donating classroom supplies! Thank you to the Sadauskas family, Thong family, Tomosulo family, Rodgers family, and Hu family for volunteering to take our work rugs washing clothes home for the weekend to wash.
Thank you,
Ms. Nina and Ms. Nicole
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ENCINAL CAMPUS
Primary 1 Class
Ms. Alondra & Ms. Kwang
Dear Primary 1 Parents,
We are now focusing on the continent of Europe, if you have items or books related to Europe please share them with our class. It will enrich our class discussions. In addition to discussing the continent of Europe, we are now studying amphibians. Children are learning what makes an animal an amphibian and learning the parts and life cycle of the frog.
In celebration of the 100th Day of school there were multiple works in the classroom related to 100. P1 students counted to 100, completed the 100 Board, skip counted by 10 to 100, and discovered what was inside our three mystery containers each holding 100 items. The highlight for students was sharing their individual 100 items with the class. Thank you for bringing your little one to school with 100 items.
 P1 students walked to our local Fire Station. We got a tour met the Fire Chief and learned quite a bit about what fire fighters do. Ask your student the difference between a fire truck and engine and if fire fighters do anything else besides fighting fires.
We have a lot of new Practical Life works in the class. Students favorites include: table washing, soap grating, and of course the coffee grinding work. Ms Kwang will begin gardening projects with students. Please bring any seedlings you may have.
 A humongous "Thank you!" to Dimple Patel for agreeing to be P1's Room Parent. Thank you Marion Sigg for reading to our class in English and French. What a delight. Thank you to the Cameron family for the delicious muffins and yogurt. A big "Thank you" goes to he Manjhi for making hummus for our class. Thanks you Natasha Andrade for your never-ending supply of coffee beans for our coffee grinding work.
P1 has a wish list above the sign-in. Ms. Kwang and I are truly humbled by your support and generosity.
Thank you,
Ms. Alondra & Ms. Kwang
Primary 2 Class
Mr. Joseph & Ms. Isabella
This month, the students are improving their skills using the Practical Life works such as polishing metal, shoe tying, sifting rice and sand, table washing, jar opening and practicing opening different types of containers. They are also making Cherry Blossom branches from carnations and tree branches.
We are all enjoying the Sensorial jobs like making geometric shapes out of clay, making paper sail boats out of primary shapes and using the Smelling Bottles to guess the scents inside the bottles and matching them to the appropriate pictures.
The students are doing a Phone Exercise by memorizing their home number or parent's number. They are also learning statistical number odds by rolling a die to see what number it lands on the most. Students are improving in their subtraction skills with the Golden Beads as an introduction to fractions.
 The children enjoy hole punching letters in preparation for writing and doing sound substitution, for example: "What is the middle sounds to CAT, BAT, MAT?" The children discover the similarities to certain words that are all missing the same sound. They are also working on ending sounds and finding the ending letter to words.
This month, we are learning the parts of the flag using the flags of Europe. The children are also completing a mammal puzzle, the Horse puzzle and learning the map of Europe. Next week, we will be making personal pizzas and learning the parts of the flower.
During our Spanish time, we celebrated the 100th Day of school using picture cards naming their first 100 words in Spanish. The students were very excited to realize how many words they could identify and pronounce. Also, the children learned about the farm in Spanish. Most children did not know how food gets to their home from the farm. Now they have a better idea how we grow vegetables and fruits and what food items we get from the cow, the hen and the sheep. Using Spanish food vocabulary, Miss Isabel introduced the verb "like" ot "me gusta." The children were very engaged taking turns and communicating what they like and don't like. The students also enjoyed singing "El Viejo Mc.Donald tiene una granja".
 The continent for this month is "Europa" so the children are leaning the principal highlights of different European countries; like the different languages that are spoken in Europe, their food and wildlife. They also learned about the bird and the Spanish names of their body parts. They made a bird collage with paper and feathers. As part of Grace and Courtesy, Miss Isabel explained the importance of greeting each other every day. "Hello" and "goodbye" are more than polite words. These greetings are one of the basic functions of communication. These words help us connect with other people and maintain friendships for life, no matter the language spoken.
Thank you,
Ms. Isabel and Mr. Joseph
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MESA
Ms. Fatma & Mr. Maharaj
Dear MESA Parents,
The children recently attended a wonderful performance of "Rumpelstiltskin." It was followed up with a group project about this famous character. The project was chosen by and under the supervision of one of our very own students, Che Harmon. All the children were so enthusiastically involved in this project.
This month, the older children were introduced to multiplication on the Checkerboard. Younger students were introduced to the Small Bead Frame. Working on the Long and Short Bead Chains continues to assist the student's in their counting practice and also allows them to become more familiar with the concept of skip counting.
Children were able to research and learn about the calculations behind the leap year and we are planning some follow up activities on this topic as well.
 Children enjoyed researching some of the most famous African American inventors last month and we had a wonderful time listening to Mr. Emmanuel Enyinwa engaging presentation where he shared many items such as pictures, currency and books from Nigeria.
We have been slowly introducing grammatical symbols and concepts and the students are also having lessons about how to write and edit their own writing. We have started reading a few new books that were added to our library, such as: "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, "Little Leap Forward" by Guo Yue, "Clare Farrow," by Helen Cann, "Odesseus" by Huge Lupton, Daniel Morden and Christina
Finn and "At Clee Point" by Richard Knight and Giovanni Manna.
 The children are working on a new piece of music with Steve; they learned a song for our end of the year performance. We ask for your help and support in encouraging your child to practice at home in order to memorize their roles in the play as well. Special thanks to Sheri Smith and Paul and Michelle Liotsakis, Lorrie Ranck, Marion Ross, March Liao and Emmanuel Enyinwa for all of their help this month.
We need a volunteer to help the children create costumes and props for the upcoming performance and an individual to help us connect the printer to the computer in the class.
Can anyone donate: - A Timer (not a digital one) - A clock for the class room - Velcro - Glue gun - Story starters - The book of the - Towels for dusting and cleaning the class - Erasers - Coloring pencils
Thank you,
Ms. Fatma and Mr. Maharaj
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Music with Mr. Steve
The MESA music class has added a few new songs into the mix. They'll be singing these new songs during the play. They have been busy learning to project their voices for the play, as well as improving their singing. Moving the play to May also gives them plenty more time to fine tune their ukulele skills on "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing".
The music demo this month was really exciting. My friend and ex-student Manjeev Singh came with me to each campus to demonstrate the Tabla drums. These are Indian drums used traditionally in Indian classical music.
Tablas have also made their way into western pop music after The Beatles used them on their album "St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band." Manjeev played a traditional Indian piece and then we played a Beatles song, "With a Little Help From My Friends,"to show the students how these drums can be used in western pop music (although The Beatles did not use them on that particular song). The students were especially excited when Manjeev played quick rhythms on the tabla drums.
Thanks,
Steve
www.stevesdrum.com
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BEST OF PARENT'S PRESS 2016
VOTE FOR TCU TODAY!
Dear Parent, Relative or Friend of The Child Unique & MESA,
We hope that you will vote for The Child Unique Montessori School and Montessori Elementary School of Alameda (MESA) in the appropriate categories of Parent's Press Best of Alameda 2016.
Voting requires several steps, so please take a moment and go through this process to vote! Here
is the link.
Please vote for us in the following categories: Childcare, Preschool and Elementary School
* Before you can vote, you MUST create and confirm your log-in info. (This is for Best Of nominating and voting only and is separate from parentspress.com).
* For each category, please write in the name of business you would like to vote for if it is not listed. As more and more voters vote for the same business, the business name will appear making it easier for successive voters to simply click on their name to vote.
* The FIRST ROUND OF VOTING takes place from March 1 - March 31 for each category.
* The FINAL VOTE will take place from April 2 - April 30 for each category.
1) Click on the link.
2) You MUST register first. All you have to do is put in your name & email address & then create a password
3) You will receive a confirmation email - open your email and confirm by clicking on the link in the email
4) It will take you back to the voting page - vote for best preschool
5) Then go to 'next' and vote for best elementary school. You do not have to vote for all of the categories for your vote to count.
6) Send this email to others! We want the most votes! You do not need to be a resident of Alameda County to vote, so please forward this email to everyone in your email contact list.
Each and everyone one of you and your children are what makes us the best so THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE!
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