MCH News and Announcements

January 31, 2008

Dear Parents,

We wish all the families Happy New Year!

                                     May it be peaceful, and prosperous!

FRIENDLY REMINDER

• There will not be school on Monday February 18, 2008

    In honor of Presidents’ Day!

• Antonia Steinberg left us and went back to California with her family.  We will miss Antonia and we wish the family well.  For those of you who would like to stay in touch with the family, their address is:

The Von Furstenberg & Steinberg Family

2332 North Catalina Street

Los Angeles, CA 90027

(323) 664-4071

(323) 899-3583

January Birthdays

We would like to wish HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all the children that celebrated their birthdays this month. 

Rosalie Martin, Kathleen Fahey, John Samos, Celine Wehbe, JC Poirier, Catherine Abrams, Grace Collins, and Elizabeth Clurman.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, AND THANK YOU!

The school received a check for the amount of $10.10 from recycled ink cartridges.

We want to thank all the parents that have been taking the time to bring in their box tops, empty cartridges, and Eastside Marketplace receipts to school.  I want to thank Kate Lohman, Jack’s mom, for taking care of counting and sorting…it’s a big help for me (Nicole) and I thank her from the bottom of my heart!

 

The money raised from recycling will be used to buy educational materials for the classrooms. 

• The First Grade would like to thank Elias Martinez-Daniel and his family for donating to the class, World Continents and The Solar System Learning Kits.  Thank you so much for your generous donation. We also would like to thank June Daniel for the delicious treats she sent for the teachers.

• Thank you to Scott and Tetiana Johnston, Hadley’s parents, for donating to the school some art supplies.  We appreciate your generous donation and we’ll make sure it’s put to good use.

• The staff would like to thank Sandra & Richard Fahey, Kathleen’s parents, and, for the wonderful treats they showered us with.  They were welcomed with a big smile! Thank you for always thinking of us!

• We would also like to thank Kathleen Fahey for donating a book to the Preschool Library entitled, A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy. Thank you Kathleen for your thoughtful donation!

• We would like to thank Genevieve Allaire and Peter Johnson, Lucas’ parents, for donating money to the school, which will go towards the purchase of educational materials from the teachers’ wish list.  Thank you so much for your generous donation and we’ll make sure it’s put to good use!
• The teachers would like to thank Matilda and Georgette Wehbe for the special treats they brought in from their recent trip to Lebanon.  We would also like to thank the Hamilton’s for the special coffee they brought back for us from their recent trip to Hawaii.  Thank you so much for always thinking of us!

• Malina and Ciara O’Brien showed their classmates a beautiful Zulu basket, love letter necklace, and wooden sculpture from South Africa.  Their grandmother visited South Africa and brought back these authentic crafts. This was a great way to begin our study of the Zulu and Ndebele and the country of South Africa.
  
• Claire O’Neill brought in a beaded Ndebele doll to show MCH students.  This artifact comes from a collection from Claire’s grandparents who lived in Africa.

Many thanks to the O’Brien’s and Claire for sharing these artifacts with us.

• Benny Stonefield donated The Spiderwick Chronicles series by Toni Diterlizzi and Holly Black, to the Junior Class Library.  Thank you so much Benny for your generous donation!

 

News from Pre-K & K

Dr. Paul Kerner, Ben and Adrianna’s dad, visited our classroom to talk to the children about bones.  Paul brought a model skeleton and explained that bones are what holds up our bodies and gives it its shape.  The children were surprised to learn that we have about 200 bones.  Paul encouraged the children to point out the different parts of the body on the model skeleton.  The children saw several x-rays and one in particular showed a heel repaired with several screws.

The highlight of the visit was putting a cast on Ann’s arm (after many children refused to volunteer).  Paul demonstrated how the cast starts soft then hardens to create a strong support for the fractured bones.  He then showed us the “tickle” saw and used it to cut the cast.  We have the cast in class where all the children can see it.

Thank you Paul, for taking the time out of your busy schedule, to talk to the children.  We enjoyed having you in class.

Trip to the Planetarium

On January 17, the First Grade and Junior Class visited the Cormack Planetarium and Museum of Natural History in Roger Williams Park.  We left school on a cold morning and entered the Museum of Natural History where the planetarium is located. We sat in complete darkness and learned about our Solar System.  The planets and sun were projected on the ceiling above us, which looked like the night sky. After the presentation, students attended a workshop.  First, ten students were chosen to hold the sun and each of the planets, which were represented by plastic balls. Then all of us learned about the color, size, and composition of each of the planets.  We also learned about comets and constructed a model comet complete with a tail.  The First Graders wrote the following sentences from information learned on our trip.

• Pluto is the planet that is farthest from the sun.   Miles Hamilton
• There are 9 planets and 1 star in the Solar System.   Camilla Ledezma
• Uranus spins sideways.  Lena Patrick
• Venus is the hottest planet.  Olivia Hamilton
• The sun is the only star in our Solar System.  Abbie Woo
• The sun blows out hot air.  Ryan Wehbe
• There are 4 planets with rings: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.  Elias Martinez-Daniel
• There is a storm on Jupiter called the Great Red Spot that could suck up the earth two times.  Sadie Caccia
• Meteors are space rocks that crash into planets. J.C. Poirier
• Saturn has more than 30 moons.  Claudine Abrams
• Neptune and Uranus are called the twin planets.  Celine Wehbe
• Saturn’s rings are made of rocks, ice, and dust.  Kalila Mier
• Earth is the only planet with H2O.   John Samos

Junior Class Invention convention

The Junior Class held their annual Invention Convention on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 in the Junior Classroom.  Many parents as well as teachers were present at the event.  The students demonstrated their ingenious and really well thought-out devices.  The objectives of the inventions were to improve the lives of people, animals and plants.

Mr. Rose came to school this month and he brought with him Cockroaches from Madagascar. Do you remember some facts about the animals Mr. Rose brought in? Draw a picture of them in the box.

Office Wish List

We are looking for a good digital camera if anyone is interested in donating one.  Our old camera is ready to retire!

Read All About It!

Students and teachers have begun preparing this year’s issue of the school newspaper, The Montessori Sun.  Jean Drew and Nicole Gabriel Nasser help publish this newspaper once a year. There will be children’s written work, some artwork and stories written by our students. Look for them in the upcoming issue of The Montessori Sun.