Monica Ros School

February 19, 2009

Dear Parents,

Enclosed please find your re-enrollment forms.  Next year is calling…

It’s telling the rising third graders to meet Mrs. Buddhu and Mrs. Kirkmire at the 3rd Grade bat cave for flashlights and chapter books. The United States wait to be explored, owl pellets wait to be dissected and mouse skeletons to be reassembled. The publishing wall waits to be filled by third grade poets and essayists. Multi-digit numbers long to be multiplied and divided. The wax museum awaits it exhibitors and the student council its leaders.
 A low rumble is coming from 2nd Grade, it might be an earthquake! New second graders will love exploring both the natural and social world with Mrs. Roe (and all her jokes and giggles). Our world comes first, our valley with our civic infrastructure, our agriculture, and our mountains; then, the small world of a flower and the big world of shifting tectonic plates and exploding volcanoes. Their first grade skills gain strength as they learn to count money, tell time, and recognize spelling patterns. They’ll also spend lots of time in their inner-world.  A well-ordered story packed with details leads to a well-supported essay!
Swish! First graders enjoy the encouraging smiles of Mrs.Ricasata and Mrs. Stovesand as they slide into their first desks for reading, writing, adding, subtracting, word gems, American heroes, poetry, punctuation, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and a myriad of other subjects. Ceremony is a big part of 1st Grade: haircuts hullabalooed; #2 pencils awarded; birthday boys and girls cherished; jobs well-done applauded; kindnesses considered; extra effort recognized; tender care for a hurt friend noticed; parents, friends and teachers honored. Why? Celebrating good work, good deeds, and our affection for one and other develops appreciation and respect for each other and ourselves. Through ceremony, community is enhanced and understood. We are laying the seeds for leadership.
Those students ready for Kindergarten must be hearing the soft cheep of a new born chick. Before they visit the incubator and the chicken coop, Mrs. Fiore and Mrs. Krout take them to the ocean, Antarctica, the chocolate factory, the rain forest, the Museum of 100, the spider web, and other exciting places, both scheduled and serendipitous. Hatching and raising a chicken is the highlight. While the scientific method is introduced, careful and patient observation gives way to gentle handling. Under the sway of the chicken and the egg, scholarly motivation develops! With a language arts, math, and science curriculum explored through fun and wonder, students learn to love learning. Last stop—the opera house! You can’t imagine how those kindergartners can sing.
Next year is calling all preschool students to play! Preschool students in the Blue Room and the Red Room will enjoy lots of creative free play under the knowing eyes of Mrs. Luboff, Mrs. Klimbal, and Mrs. Laszlo. Unstructured play allows the greatest opportunities for the development of creative and verbal skills. Creative play enhances social and academic problem-solving abilities.  There is time for an introduction to academic matters, too, and writing centers get more attention at this age. Colors, shapes, letters, numbers, and new vocabulary help children decipher and identify the world around them.  Empathy is fully explored through the many opportunities that arise!
Trikes whistle, swings sing out inviting the Green Room students to join in. As our three- year-olds begin their early childhood education, they experiment all year with play and, occasionally, its limits!  Mrs. Drury and Mrs. Winbury are there to help.  Exposure to both the natural and academic worlds is plentiful. Their biggest lessons: teachers are wonderful people, classmates have good ideas, too, and school is their place. 
No matter which classroom your child will enjoy next year, it will be full of art, music, dramatic play, and Spanish. Kindergarten and gradeschool students also enjoy PE. Gradeschool students serve on student council on a rotating basis. Everyone is welcome to stay for an afternoon of old-fashion outdoor play or afterschool classes.
Can you hear the papers rustling? We are starting to prepare now. Re-enrollment forms are due March 24th.   Financial aid forms are available in the office and are due April 20th. Join the fun.  It’s the only way to learn. 

Sincerely,

Susan Hardenbergh
Director

Hi Families,  Three things and an extra:

1. A Day in the Life-Thursday, Jan 22, 5:30-6:30, report to your child’s classroom with your child.  At 6:00 you will give up the comfort of the familiar and move into new territory (the next classroom up)—good luck.  I assure you that kind, competent, and polite children will await you there.  This is a great moment to let all our students know how important (and fun) school is to you.
2. Family Hike organized by the Parents’ Club (Thank you, Chairs, Joy_Golbere and Donna_Pope)
Sunday Feb. 8th.  – Save the Date
Meet at MRS parking lot.10:00am.
Carpool to the Gilbreth’s barn.
We will do the Gridley trail hike from there.
It is a moderately strenuous hike.
Hot dogs and drinks will be served after the hike at the barn.
Please bring water on the hike.
Should be lots of fun!
3. CONSTRUCTION ON  GRAND  AVENUE between Gridley and McAndrew,  January 26, 27, 28 (next Mon, Tues and Wed).  They will be recycling and relaying the road surface.  It may take a few more days.  There will be only one lane and we can expect delays up to 20 minutes.  There will be traffic control.
4. Today the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Graders watched the inauguration of our 44th President in the 3rd Grade classroom using an internet connection and a projector.  Everything was life-size, at least, and it felt like we were standing on the dais ourselves.  The children were spellbound through the introductions-Diane Feinstein and Rick Warren were captivating, Aretha Franklin breath-taking-they loved the hat.  You could have heard a pin drop during the quartet.  Joe Biden’s oath went off alright.  When it was time for President Obama-they started off giggling about the step stool.  They recovered however when they were asked to stand during the oath-they shot up.  After about 15 minutes, one second grader claimed in a hushed, but desperate whisper, “This is the longest thing I have ever listened, too!”  Another wanted to know “When are they going to do the “Pledge of Allegiance?”  They had to be satisfied with singing the National Anthem at the end which they all did with confidence and happiness.  Whether their delight was because of the occasion or the end of the occasion, I can’t say.

See you Thursday night!  Susan

Susan_Hardenbergh
Director
Monica Ros School
Ojai, CA 93023

805-646-8184
805-646-2708 (fax)
www.monicaros.org

January 2009 News
Language Arts: We continue to focus on grammar, specifically verb usage and tenses. We begin our unit on Poetry in honor of Poetry Night (Tuesday, February 10th). The children will learn and author a variety of different styles of poetry and in the weeks ahead will publish a book with their original projects. Spelling and our phonics series, “Explode the Code” continue to be an integral part of our daily language arts work. Please remember to study our outlaw and classroom words for Friday’s Quizzes. Also, please remember to sign and initial your child’s reading log nightly (the required number of minutes of reading has increased to 20 minutes) as part of their homework assignment. Reading aloud and to themselves for part of the time is a crucial piece of mastering fluency. We encourage you to ask your child questions about the story they are reading to check comprehension, especially with “how” and “why” questions. For example, “Why do you think the main character made that choice?, Or “How do you know the main character was feeling sad or happy?” As always, we appreciate your continued support in these areas.

Math: We move from all things Money to Telling Time. As we mentioned earlier, they will not only be brushing up on reading an analog clock but learning the terms, “half past”, “quarter after”, and “five ‘til” to name a few. If your child owns an analog watch, now is the time to encourage them to wear it on a regular basis and practice these terms at home.

Science: In science, we will continue to focus on Simple Machines. We will learn how machines make work easier and discover how all machines are made of one or more simple machines. We will explore the uses of the six types of simple machines: lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, screw and wedge.

Just a few dates to mark on your calendar:

Monday, January 19th
Martin Luther King Day (No school)
The children are invited to join us at Libbey Park to sing songs they have rehearsed with Mrs. Zonic. If you are in town, we’d love to have you join us. Monica Ros students (preschool and grade school) go on stage at 11:30am.

Thursday, January 22nd 5:30-6:30pm
“A Day in the Life of a Monica Ros Student”.
This is your chance to join your child and experience a typical day in the second grade. Then you are invited to meet next year’s teacher, Mrs. Buddhu and spend some time in the third grade.

Friday, January 30th 11:00am
Founders Day Celebration
This is a whole school morning program to celebrate Monica Ros’ birthday. Each class from preschool through 3rd grade will present for the school and parents on the black top. Afterwards, please enjoy our art exhibit in Meyer Hall, a culmination of our art projects from the month and of course birthday cake to celebrate Mrs. Ros!

We are grateful and honored to teach your children. They continue to inspire us with their perspectives, stories, creativity and unique personalities. Thank you for your continued support at home with studies and reading.

We wish you a very Happy New Year!

Mrs. Roe Mrs. Ricasata

We are well into our school year, and WOW what a year so far. I have taught at many schools, and I can assure you none compare with Monica Ros. What a whirlwind of activities, something for everyone! I have enjoyed your children so much and it has been a gift to spend five days each week with them. The children are interacting superbly and their social skills have developed quite nicely. We have had a few spats but they are learning to communicate their emotions well with each other.

Our Theme for this month is Love and Friendship. We are sharing with each other, what we like best about our classmates and have compiled our comments into a book. Each child will have a page in the book in which we describe what we like best about him/her. We wrote discussed what makes a friend and charted our answers. The children dramatized the correct and incorrect way to act in different situations in order to make a friend (your friend has a toy you’d like to play with it or you’re playing with your friend and he/she doesn’t want another friend to join in) and they are doing quite well with these scenarios.

We are singing Skinnamarink with hand motions, and during art time we created “I like you caterpillars” to hang up in the classroom. Each heart of the caterpillar contains a quote of what we like most about each child. We also created string painting hearts. During our discussions, we have shared our thoughts on what love is and what we love; and I must say we have some great quotes from the children.

Thank you to all of our parents for your support us this school year. Thank you, Ashley_Brown for putting together the art auction bench. Thank you, Kristen_Currier for your help with field trips and auction basket. Thank you, Joy_Golbere for the auction basket. You are all wonderful parents.

March will bring a new focus on science and we will study the Solar System. If any of you have a special interest this topic, we would love for you to share it with us. Just let me know.

I will be teaching several Afterschool craft classes which run from Feb 25th-April 1st after school on Wednesdays at 12:45. We will make picture frames, fancy flower pots, personal stationary, ceramic heart magnets, and decorating and filling plastic Easter eggs. Check with Isabel about class availability, I am looking forward to these opportunities; it should be a lot of fun.

Our study of the Alphabet has taken us all the way to the letter U. The students are doing very well learning the letters and sounds of the alphabet. Their writing skills have improved since the beginning of the school year. I am very proud of all of them.

Please remember to sign in and out every day on the official sign in sheet at the gate. If your child is staying for daycare, it is very helpful when you note that as well.

Sincerely,

Kristy_Laszlo

Dear Parents,

     Can it be February so soon?!!  I have a few items of interest for the month ahead.

     Our big evening this month is Poetry Night on Tuesday, February 10th at 7 p.m..  The children should come to the classroom by 6:40.  Dressy clothes are not necessary, but play clothes are probably not fitting for this evening.  If your child has not brought a copy of his or her poem to school—I would be grateful to have one this week.

     A note is included on the homework sheet concerning the “Peace Pole” contribution from the first grade to the Art Auction.  If you have any questions, please contact Donna_Pope, who is in charge of this donation.

     A large red box is on the back counter of the first grade for any donations for our class basket.  Stacey_Wood is chairman of this project.

     Our class Valentine party will be held on the afternoon of February the 13^{th.  Unfortunately, I will not be at school that day (Jury duty).  The children will be in the capable hands of Mrs. Stovesand.  Megan_Carney and Shea_Davis are planning the party which is always great fun for the children.  I do have a special request when your child prepares Valentines.  Names of classmates should NOT be put on envelopes.  Just have your child sign his or her name on the card.  Delivery is much smoother this way.  Your child should bring 15 cards to school in a plastic bag on the morning of the 13th.}     Lillian and Rhett are class reps and are planning, with other members of Student Council, special activities for the month.  I will keep you posted.

     Happy Ground Hog Day!  Mrs. K.