Don't miss

See you at The Rhinestone Round-Up, Monica Ros School Annual Art Auction, March 8, 5:30-9:00, at The Thacher School.

For more information, click here!

"I saw above me an endless skyway."

The Kindergartners sing Arlo Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land "at their Songs of America assembly.

It's Hard to Keep Up With All the Good News At Monica Ros!

At Monica Ros, we treasure our homey, relaxed atmosphere. Our teachers are masters of blending a calm demeanor with an exciting classroom. Research shows, without a doubt, that's what works. Children need to feel attached to their teacher and that can't happen when their teacher is a whirlwind. Our teachers, then, have to be preparers par excellence. After a fun-filled and fulfilling day in the classroom, they must devote time to making the next day, week, month work in the same way. And, make it look easy. You think they wouldn't have time for professional development. But, take a look at the story below and you'll see that they can't get enough! That's good news.

Susan Hardenbergh
Director

More good news! Our work on the Annual Fund has paid off in a technology grant. Of course, other considerations went into the award as well, but it helped, I'm sure, that our entire community has made a show of support for our mission. What will we do with that technology? See the side pane to the right to learn about our current plan. Before we embarked on this project, Board of Trustees members, Molly Perry and Lisa Wallmark, interviewed each teacher to determine their current use of technology. The results of that survey confirmed what I already knew, many of us at Monica Ros are a bit leery of technology in the classroom. We understand the value of face-to-face interactions and collaborative work. We want our students to be watching and learning from the world around them, not the narrow screen of a handheld device. We cannot sacrifice the development of the human to develop a skill. But! We also recognize that individualized learning styles are accommodated in many ways by technology. Technology also frees collaborative efforts from the confines of geography. That has to be good. But! What happens to society when our relational intelligence shifts from a deep understanding of a select few to a shallower understanding of large and diverse groups? Maybe that makes us less willing to have real connections, to give real empathy, real loyalty. real devotion. But! Maybe it helps us understand more clearly the universality of humanness. Who knows. We're going to start experimenting.

I read many periodicals regarding education. The call for the last several years has been for integration of subjects. For instance, a history class might require a paper regarding the pop culture of a certain era or a Spanish class might explore the Spanish civil war with help from a history teacher. Connections, connections, connections. They allow students to sort through information they hold in their memory and combine facts or ideas in a new (to them) way. When that happens, dopamine is released through neurotransmitters in the brain and we experience our very own, natural, "feel good" drug. When the cycle of connection gets to be second-nature, the fun begins and independent, engaged learners develop. The good news here is that our classrooms are always busy integrating subjects. It's a natural way to create an intellectual experience for non-reader or readers whose intellectual capabilities out run their reading levels. That's everyone until graduate school, I think! In second grade and kindergarten, the classes have science "journal-ed" all year using the knowledge the students gain in preschool when the teachers help them make journals by recording fictional and true-life stories with a beginning, middle and end. The Blue Room's Arts Month fairy tales were a great example of this technique. Now they are adding scientific knowledge to previously developed literacy skills, connecting fiction know-how to non-fiction projects. Kindergarten is embarking on their Chicken Project during which time the students will watch and record in their own journals the development of a chick from the laying of the egg to its hatching. You'll be able to see the journals (and the newly hatched chicks) at next month's Science Fair. The second grade keeps a science journal all year. Each is filled with facts, observations, and beautiful illustrations of flora, fauna, and geological formations. Now, high school lab reports won't be so tricky! See below for more about the kindergarten chick project.

As you can tell, I'm thrilled to be on this path with Monica Ros. See you at the Rhinestone Round-Up! SIncerely, Susan

Faculty Enjoys Broad Range of Professional Development

Bringing the latest findings and best practices to our cozy nest.

Our professional development this year has encompassed reading instruction, technology integration, learning styles, handwriting, educational philosophy, best practices for kindergarten, and music theory. Wow!

During the President's vacation, Mrs. Ricasata, Ms. Mico, Mrs. Pease, Mrs. Luboff, Mrs. Klimbal, and I attended a Learning and the Brain seminar focused on reading, dyslexia, and what preschool practices can aid in the acquisition of fluency.

Ms. Zonic took in a choral music conference that she found very inspiring.

Before the break, Ms Hon, Mrs. Griffee and I attended i Pads in the classroom seminars where we were introduced to recommended apps, the application of apps in the classroom, the integration of i Pads and interactive boards, creation of student portfolios and more! We can't wait to get started.

In February, Mrs. Garst and Mrs. Carbajal attended a Handwriting without Tears Conference. Being able to wield a pencil with automaticity is a must for developing complex thoughts. Remember what Mary Poppins said, "Well begun is half done!"

At Thanksgiving, Mrs. Luboff and Mrs. Klimbal traveled to Washington D.C. for the Annual NAEYC (National Assoc. for the Education of Young Children) Conference where they fell under the spell of storytelling in the classroom.

In the fall, Mrs. Ricasata, Mrs Griffee and I went to a Super Kids Seminar regarding direct instruction.

At the very start of school, I was lucky enough to attend a John Hattie conference on Visible Learning, a meta data analysis on the efficacy of classroom practices. Guess what? Direct instruction is at the top of the list below the most important factor in school success-a good strong relationship with your teacher!

All year we participate in Education through Music, an annual course that teaches how to use traditional American folk songs to help students regulate behavior and develop phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest units of sound. Without the development of phonemic skills, reading is next to impossible.

COMING UP! Kindergarten is off to the annual California Kindergarten conference.

Students "Bring it!" to Afterschool Olympics

Rory takes her turn with the "Olympic" torch.

While American athletes were competing in Sochi, Russia, Monica Ros students gave it their all in our own version of the Olympics! They ran the torch, ice-skated on the cement, rode in wagons like they were luges, and learned about other winter sports while enjoying the warm Ojai atmosphere. They worried about the snow melting, too!

At the end of the week, there was a medal ceremony, of course, where all the athletes were individually lauded for their efforts and sportsmanship. Each participant was happily cheered as he or she made a final lap to mark the closing of the quadrennial event at Monica Ros.

Thanks go to Ms. Garcia and Mrs. Hawkins who thought it up and made it happen.

100 Days Fly Quickly By

Kindergarten Art projects celebrate the 100th day of school. Understanding the base ten nature of mathematics and zero as a place holder in mathematical notation are important kindergarten concepts that are explored all year. A student needs to have a firm grasp of both to succeed at math. It's not as easy as you might think!

Our kindergarten makes it especially fun and meaningful by creating a One Hundred Museum, making snack packs of one hundred, singing about 100 daily, counting by tens, and on the 100th day of school, Zero the Hero visits. (Thanks, Kevin Griffee!)

Seen and Heard on the Playground!

What's going to happen next? Aaron built a barrier that he's demolishing with a basketball. How long will Hudson wait? Will flying cones knock him off his bike? Mrs.Weston was making sure everything would go smoothly, and it did, without a word from her. Aaron quickly lowered the basketball. With the help of Bo, they opened a lane for Hudson. Luckily, Hudson was long gone before the cones went flying!

Sleep is NOT Overrated

Get some NOW!

Here are some interesting factoids from a Time magazine article (March 26, 2012) on the need for sleep, "Please, Please, Go to Sleep":

Studies show that 60% of a child's growth hormone is secreted during sleep.
Getting too little sleep appears to have a role in obesity. One Israeli study found the effect in babies as young as 6 months.
Australian children sleep almost a full hour per day more than American kids, who sleep less than kids in nearly all other countries.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends 14 to 15 hours of sleep for babies, 12 to 14 for toddlers, 11 to 13 for preschoolers, and 10 to 11 for elementary schoolers.

So...go to sleep! Easier said than done.

American Heroes: Live Proud and Strong!

Paige, AKA Helen Keller, considers her performance. The dress rehearsal
was a smash! Don't miss the first grade play "American Heroes this Friday at 11:00. Everyone is welcome.

The study of American heroes is exciting and inspiring and sometimes a little bit frightening.

How thrilling to think of crossing the Atlantic in a plane, or the prairies in a Conestoga, or the atmosphere in a tiny space capsule.

How hard to imagine what it would be like like to be deaf and blind as was Helen Keller or away from your family and culture as was Sacajawea or to have found "10,000 ways that won't work" as claimed by Thomas Edison.

How frightening, though, to imagine a world without fairness. When they imagine brave Americans suffering because of the color of their skin...it's scary.

They easily grasp the inequity. As first graders, they know all about fairness; they know they deserve it; and, that the authority figures (parents, teachers) ensure they get it.

When they meet MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson and Ruby Bridges, they can see that someone else deserves fairness, too, but that they don't get it. In fact, not only is the treatment they get unfair, it's cruel.

Even the relatively gentle history they learn is so startling to them, I think it makes their hearts jump open. Maybe for the first time, they want fairness for someone else. Maybe a little tolerance and empathy will take root, ready to grow big and strong when their lives have need of it.

Don't miss the The Third Grade Wax Museum next week!

Jeremy as Martin Luther King, Jr.

The first graders painted portraits of their hero in art class

with Mrs. Fox.

Grant provides

Technology Update

Thanks to the Wallace Family Foundation, Monica Ros received a grant of almost $18,000 to provide new computers, projectors and accessories in the kindergarten and gradeschool classrooms. While our goals remain the same: to provide both collaborative learning experiences and the pursuit of individual curiosity; this technology will allow students to connect with the outside world and the inner mind providing new outlets for creativity and pathways for inspiration.

Kindergarten will receive an interactive projector with which they can explore the glories of their science curriculum: oceans, penguins, rain forests, chickens and butterflies. Of course, they'll enjoy exploring the Superkids Reading Program and Everyday Math in large format, too.

1st grade has been waiting! Now, the class can get up close and personal with rocky shores and sandy beaches; liquids, solids, gases and colloidals; Spanish videos, and, of course, the weather!

2nd and 3rd grade will undergo the biggest technology expansion. The Wallace Family Foundation grant provides both classrooms with i Macs and allows us to begin experimenting with i Pads in student hands. We'll be starting slowly, with carefully chosen apps and limited time frames. We'll also try

e books and movie-making leaving internet surfing to carefully monitored time at home!

What do we know about computers? A lot more now that we've been to i Pads in the classroom seminars-see below in the right column.

Troy and Makel mug for the camera! Again!

Kindergarten

Chick Project

Every year in early in March, the kindergarten carefully sets fertile eggs in an incubator and waits. They wait for 21 days, to be exact, and by the time the chicks hatch, the kindergartners can tell you every stage of development. They've seen it happen, everyday "candeling" the eggs and noting the changes they see. Watching a runny, sticky, gooey egg turn into a beautiful chick is probably the highlight of the Kindergarten year.

We begin with breaking open eggs and learning about fertile eggs. We learn about an incubator and the essential jobs of consistent heat, moisture and rotation. We count the days of incubation and begin to candle the eggs in our "dark" room, watching and observing the embryo development and blood vessels. Students record this development in their "Chick Journals" and write sentences about their observations. The study of Embryology... often considered a college level course is fun, rewarding, educational and a memorable experience.

After the hatch, swing on down to our kindergarten and see our kids Tara and Chicks

and chicks in action. You might find chicks being pulled in a wagon, flying off the ship, swinging, listening to sweet lullabies or even sunbathing on the lawn. Watching the students swell with pride as they care for and nurture their chick is priceless.

Monica Ros Olympians show their medals. To read more about the Afterschool Olympics, see above.

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