Monica Ros School

September 11, 2007

Once upon a time an Australian woman named Monica Ros started a music school up the block on Grand Avenue. Upon her husband’s death in 1939, Mrs. Ros traveled to Cuba to visit his family for nearly a year. When she returned to Ojai she continued to teach music lessons.  Thereafter she was encouraged to expand her school and in 1942 she began the Ojai Nursery School, she later purchased the property on McNell.  Mrs. Ros wished for “children to have good and right beginnings, an education that reflects not only an appreciation of surroundings, and of the things that the child learns, but good values, and good relationships, and the responses brought about by all that beautiful music, of all kinds, conveys, so that an inward experience takes place which carries over into later years.”  She went on to say, “I just thought that a natural setting was a great place for the little ones to learn.  They didn’t feel so much as though they were away from home then.”    We believe that Mrs. Ros would have been proud to be here last Thursday night as we sat in her house and spoke about your children.  We take pleasure in the fact that we strive today, some 65 years later to provide the “right beginnings” she spoke about.  We expose your children to dance, music, Spanish, drama and art while at the same time, providing an environment that is emotionally safe and intellectually stimulating.   

Thank you for coming out to Open House.  It is sometimes difficult to arrange to leave our children at home and we appreciate your support.  We played a DVD movie compiled of digital photos of your children in action.  If you’d like to check out the DVD, the sign out sheet and DVD will be in the classroom on the Parent news board above our computer.   I will continue to photograph the class and will share this with you at our parent/teacher conference in November.

You of course know, that by “signing up” for the six year Monica Ros experience, this is the longest time in your child’s academic career that he/she will remain at the same school.  Unless of course they pursue their doctorate degrees, go to law school and or become teachers.  It really is true, when you looked around the classroom at the other parents present; these are the people that will be a part of your life for the next 15 or so years.  Your children will attend the same dance classes, art classes, music lessons, taekwondo, soccer, baseball and softball games.  Enjoy your relationships with each other. 

At Monica Ros, we think reading is important……see the attached flyer.  Did you know that the greatest predictor of intelligence is a greater vocabulary? 
The average vocabulary of a                        fifteen month-old child is 185 words
                             “                               “      two year old child is 295 words
                             “                               “      five year old child is 3000 words (more than half the amount of words as an adult, 65% of the words they will use for the rest of their lives)
                            “                                 “        an adult is 5000 words
                             “                                “        Shakespeare, a 23,000 word vocabulary.

In the spirit of vocabulary enrichment, thank you for completing that first “homework” assignment.  The assignment required you to list the names of family members and pets.  Most children learn to recite the alphabet at a young age by singing the ABC song.  Then they learn the shapes of the letters made familiar by learning the letters of their names.  Readers must understand that a letter is a symbol that represents one or more sounds.  An even more complex level of understanding comes with knowing that these symbols can be grouped together to form words and that words have meanings.  I will use the completed homework assignment to create your child’s vocabulary cards.  Each child will have a set of words unique to his/her interests.  The set of cards will grow as the year progresses.  I will send home simple assignments about twice each month.  Please return the envelope by the following Friday. 
I would like to thank Wendy_Thurston and Elizabeth_Moore for volunteering to be our Room Parents.  They will be working closely with us as we plan special events all through the year, beginning with Fiesta.  A Sign-up sheet for the Carnival is on our front door.  Please sign up if you haven’t yet had the opportunity.  There are many ways all of you can help in the classroom, and we welcome your involvement.  Please let us know if you have a special interest you would like to share with us.  Reading to the class, cooking, sharing your interests or career with the children are just a few ways you can become involved. 

Thank you to Ryan and his family for bringing in the beautiful dragon fly so we could examine it up close.  Thank you to Noelle and her family for the delicious cow shaped sugar cookies, yum and thank you for Kate and her family for Bird sitting Joey and Rootbeer over the Labor Day weekend. 

Speaking of Rootbeer, our beloved parakeet of 5 years, some of you may have noticed, she has developed a tumor in her sinus cavity.  The tumor has caused a large blood clot on her beak and one eye is now all but shut.  I took her to a Veterinarian who specializes in aviary study two weeks ago and he recommended she be “put down”.  She has continued on eating, playing and interacting with Joey without any obvious stress since our appointment.  The decision to take it day-by-day has been a difficult one but at the same time an optimistic one as well.  I tell you this because the day will come that she will no longer be with us and a classroom discussion will ensue.  We have watched her through this process and cheered her along.  If you have any concerns or questions, please let us know.  We are planning to replace Rootbeer with possibly another Cockatiel as we want Joey to have a mate. 

We have set aside Wednesday as Sharing Day.  Sharing time provides your child with an opportunity to bring an item from home to share with classmates.  Please encourage your child to bring in an item that is special to him/her.  Photographs depicting a family vacation, a stuffed animal or favorite rocks are all appropriate.  We discourage bringing toys in; when they are lost or broken your child may have a difficult time dealing with the loss.  Sharing items will be shared with the class directly after circle time and they will be kept in your child’s cubby for “safekeeping”.  Please encourage your child to bring things from home only on Wednesday. 

This week we will also begin our first  Chapter Book.  An afternoon “teacher read” session happens each day at 1pm.  We began reading the Magic Treehouse series featuring two inquisitive children Jack and Annie.  The first book in the series is “Dinosaurs before Dark” I look forward to enjoying this time each afternoon with your child.

We are working with intentionality with your child as we approach our goal for the day.  We want your children to be investigators and to be challenged as risk takers in their considerations of all materials presented.  We look forward to witnessing each child’s development as they solve problems and learn to manage their time.  Their discoveries are the gems we treasure.  Thank you for giving us this opportunity to nurture your child.

Two summers ago, I had the sheer pleasure of transcribing Mrs. Ros’ personal memories.  She fortunately left us several documents which included her childhood memories, her thoughts about beginning a school and her vision for the school.  She was also a collector of newspaper articles and photographs.  Going through these school artifacts was like taking a peek into our history and affirming where the school is today.  Below is a quote from a newspaper article.  Watch our newsletters as we share some of these memories with you from time to time.  

Excerpt from a newspaper article in The Ojai, June 28, 1946 written by Ethel_Bret_Harte as she describes an outdoor performance:

“I was especially struck by the feeling of cooperative enjoyment between grown-ups and youngsters, and thought to myself what lucky little children these are to have such an auspicious start in life”.

Lucky indeed and still 60 years later, we feel the same!

Fondly,

Mrs._Smith

October 2007
Dear Parents,

Well, we are off and running in the Second Grade!  September blew right by us and we are anxiously awaiting the start of Theme Week this month. We have been working hard in all areas of the curriculum.

In math, we have wrapped up our math fact unit and are studying place value (i.e., ones, tens place) and number recognition (spelling numbers and identifying order - first, second, third, etc.) Thank you for your help with studying math facts as part of the daily homework assignment. The time spent memorizing these crucial facts will be time well spent as we start 2 and 3 digit addition/subtraction. We are reinforcing these facts in class through our Marcy Cook tile work, timed tests, and math games.

In Language Arts, the children have been mastering the “rotation”. They are becoming independent and self-motivated to work through their seatwork and center work. In grammar, we have studied compound words and are now focusing on contractions. In the weeks ahead, we will be identifying the parts of speech.

Science has been action packed this month. The students enjoyed numerous experiments to test their senses of sight, touch and smell.  We enjoyed our field trip to Ojai Olive Oil Co. Mr. Asquith was a wonderful tour guide and taught us many interesting facts about olives, olive oil, and the history of olive trees in our beautiful Ojai Valley. (A special thank you to our drivers!)  In the weeks ahead, we’ll be studying the body systems (skeletal, muscular, and nervous). Dr. Brooks will be speaking to the students on Thursday about these systems.  We will also be having a “casual” reader’s theater presentation of “The Case of the Spreading Germs”. A very simple presentation will be given for parents this Friday afternoon (Oct. 5) at 2:30. (This is a science learning experience more than a drama experience).  We hope you can join us!

In Social Studies, we begin our unit on Community, focusing on our school and the greater community of Ojai. Unfortunately, our trip to Mano Farms was cancelled but we look forward to mapping our town on the Ojai Trolley in the weeks ahead.  Also, keep an eye out for our Second Grade “Ghost Community”. We’ll be creatively renaming our local community workers into ghoulish characters with interesting job descriptions. We may need some parent participation in the mornings for our Ghost Town. Please let us know if you can help.

We are thoroughly enjoying our time with your children. They are a wonderful, considerate, hard-working, thoughtful class and we are delighted to be their teachers. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Roe

Mrs. Ockerman

Kindergarten Newsletter
October 2007

The children are adjusting well to their Kindergarten environment and enjoying new experiences, friends, and teachers.  We are excited to begin our all school theme week.  We will be exploring Inventions.  James Dyson, designer and engineer and inventor of the cyclone vacuum cleaner, said  “At school you are taught English, math and science, but imagine if you had the good fortune to attend lessons in inventions.  Inventions come down to a curious mind, determination, and creativity-things that we all have”.  Stay tuned for the exciting adventure. 

Math:  In math we have been working on recognizing attributes and sorting everything imaginable.  We are spending considerable time patterning which is said to be the foundation of all mathematics. We will closely examine patterns all around us: in our classroom; in print; and even on our clothing. We will be playing many math games which increase conceptual understanding since children learn best through everyday, playful activities.

Language Arts:   One of our primary concerns in the Kindergarten program is reading readiness. The children learn that letters work together in a systematic way to connect spoken language to written words.  This understanding is the foundation for reading.  We have been working on letter recognition, letter formation, and sound introduction.  We will write letters in many different ways, on chalk boards, in salt trays, and on magic slates.   The children are happily singing songs, learning rhymes, playing fun alphabet games, and illustrating their journals.

Research in Action
Phonemic awareness is the ability to think about the sounds of words as distinct from their meanings.  Because sensitivity to rhyme comes quite easily to most children, rhyme play is an excellent first step toward capturing children’s interest in the similarities and differences in the sounds of individual words.  (Marilyn Jager Adams, author, Open Court reading)
 
We’ve begun reading a favorite children’s chapter book, Charlotte’s Web, during the afternoons. 

We have begun working on “First-Step” stories.   First-Step stories are simple little books the children make. We want the children to understand that words and pictures go together in books and stories.   This experience provides children with meaningful “reading” experiences before they are actually reading on their own while increasing print awareness. Illustrating, narrating, and sharing their own stories with friends and family will give the children a sense of pride and allow them to practice the skills and behaviors of accomplished readers and writers.
Thank You:   We are so fortunate to have great parent support in our Kindergarten. Many thanks to the parents who accompanied us on our field trip.  A special thanks to Grandma Joyce for her help and support in the classroom.  We have had so much fun listening to stories read to us by Stacy_Davis, Anamaria_Schmid, and Donna_Pope.
We enjoyed singing fun songs with Doug_Day and meeting the well loved puffer fish brought in by Cullen_Robertson.
 
Reminders:

Shoes- We have P.E. on Friday afternoon please send your child in tennis shoes on that day.  In consideration of their safety they will not be able to participate in P.E. games and activities unless they have appropriate foot wear.
Library-   We will be going on Wednesday October 3rd.  The children will have a chance to choose a book in our Library and it will need to be returned any time before the end of the month.
Halloween-  We will be having our annual Halloween parade and party on Wednesday October 31st.  Please send your child to school in costume on that day. The children will change into their play clothes following the parade so please make sure that they come to school with a change of clothes.  Parents are welcome to join us for the parade we will begin at 8:45.
Pet Hen is our Kindergarten mascot.  She is excited to visit with each child in our class and get to know them.  Pet Hen has a journal and her stay with you can be documented.  The sky is the limit…..photos, stories, food, use your imagination and have fun with our friend.  Randomly, a child will get to take her home on Monday for the week and she needs to come back to share her adventure with the class on the following Monday morning!  Have fun!

Important Dates to Remember:

October 8th  –No school: Staff in-service
October 9th  –Theme week begins
October 22nd - Picture Day
October 31st –Halloween party and parade
                        (Parade 8:45)                                                

Kindergarten Teachers
Mrs._Fiore and Mrs._ Krout