Director’s Message

FEBRUARY 2012 NEWSLETTER AND

REGISTRATION INFORMATION 

DATES TO REMEMBER:

February 11:                           Growing Tree’s Valentine Party (10-11 a.m.) 

February 17 and 20:        Presidents’ Days – no school 

March 5-9:                             Registration for currently enrolled families 

March 12-16:                         Registration for families on waitlist for current

                                                      school year 

March 19-23:                       Registration for all new families 

March 30:                              Summer Camp info/registration forms e-mailed out    

April 2-6:                                Spring Break – no school

 April 9:                                   Summer Camp registration begins 

May 17:                                    School Picnic  (5-7 p.m.) 

May 28:                                  Memorial Day – no school 

June 15:                                  Last day of school 

June 19-August 3:            Summer Camp 

 Happy New Year and Happy Valentine’s Day to all of our Growing Tree families!  We can’t believe we’re already halfway through the school year!  The children are having so  much fun making their Valentine projects:  The Two’s love covering their art (and themselves!) with lots of stamps and glitter – The Two’s motto:  More is better!  The Three’s like using “all the Valentine colors” and are very creative when decorating with crayons and stickers.  The Pre-K kids are becoming experts at cutting out hearts and writing the word “LOVE”, and you never know what is going to happen when the T-K kids drink their “love potion”!  Of course, all the classes love their Valentine exchange!  We have many children with allergies so, PLEASE, NO CANDY in your valentine cards!

Our Valentine’s Party is Saturday, February 11 from 10:00-11:00.  Lots of activities for the children and siblings!  Cookie decorating, card making, face painting, necklace lacing and, of course, the family photo are all on tap for the big event!  Hopefully, you will all be able to join us! 

REGISTRATION INFORMATION! 

Registration forms (2012 – 2013 school year) for all currently enrolled families and siblings (of course!) will be in cubbies the week of February 20^th.  They can be returned beginning Monday, March 5th at 8:00 a.m..  No registration forms will be accepted prior to March 5^th.

To alleviate confusion and frustration, we have established a time line and procedure for the next school year.

March 5-9 2012 - all currently enrolled families and siblings register.

March 12-16 2012 – all currently registered children and those on our active waiting list are placed into age- appropriate class.

Children currently in our younger two’s program will move up to either the older two’s or the younger three’s, depending on their birthdate. Generally, all other classes move as a group to the next age appropriate room.

Beginning March 19-23 2012 - any available spaces will be offered to new families. Enrollment applications may be brought to the school and spaces will be filled on a first come basis starting the morning of the 19th at 8 am.

Some points to remember:

-         All children and siblings are guaranteed spaces in September.

-         If you want specific days, turn your form in sooner rather than later!

-         Please select your days carefully.  We ask that you keep, for September, thenumber of days you initially signed up for.

-         If you are thinking about the T-K program, please sign your child up for Kindergarten as well.  Children

           change and grow so much between March and August.  You may opt for Kindergarten at that time!

As we near the end of the school year, the children take “fieldtrips” to the class into which they will be graduating.  They get to meet the teachers, and the “big” kids show them all the great stuff in their classroom!

Wow!  Where does the time go?!

Terri, Linda and Lysbeth

NEWS FROM CYNTHIA AND BARB’S TWOS

January has been a very busy, fun month in our class! We have talked about animals that hibernate, made cute penguins and polar bears, and learned a lot of winter themed songs and fingerplays. Here are some of the highlights! One day at circle time, Miss Cynthia talked about how bears hibernate in a den, frogs and toads go deep in the mud, and ducks and geese go flying south. Bella then yelled out “I like to hibernate with my mommy!”  Another fun conversation was about my shoes. Grant looked down and pointed to my shoes and said “Miss Barb, I love your shoes!”  Reese said “Look at MY shoes! They sparkle and light up!” Ellen than wanted everybody to notice her shoes, and she told us “They are nice warm brown boots.”  When circle time is over, we often see Eloise sitting in our teacher chair conducting her own circle for her friends! Quite a crowd of kids gather around, and sing along with her.  It is very cute!

Dylan couldn’t have been more excited this month, when Cynthia brought in her CD from the Cars movie. As soon as it started to play, he ran around the room telling everyone “It’s Lightening McQueen, its Lightening McQueen!!”  The car/train table continues to be a big draw especially with the boys, as is the art table. Leah is our expert finger-painter, and Luke loves to paint anything that is put out!

Our annual P.J. party was a big hit.  Clara Shei  couldn’t wait to come to school and have what she called ” a pajama pancake birthday party!”. She made sure that we put syrup on her pancakes, too! Grant told us that he loved the chocolate chips in the pancakes!  Nolan wore his Thomas P.J.s and brought in his stuffed Thomas to match, and Max was very excited to bring in his toy Curious George. He set George on a small chair, and gave George a book to look at, while he sat next to him with his book!

Although the days have been chilly outside, the kids still like (and need) to go out and play.  Sofia and Annelise cooked up a great “cherry pie” in the sandbox, and proudly brought it over for me to taste – Thanks girls, it was delicious! Will decided to whip something up, too, and baked me a wonderful “carrot cake”. Very yummy

We will start off  February learning about insects, and then Valentine projects, and will end the month at the circus! It should be another fun-filled time for all. 
Dates to Remember: Valentine’s Day Class Party: Monday the 13th and Tuesday the 14th.

Parents, please have your child bring in 17 unaddressed cards that are signed with their name to pass out to their friends. Please DO NOT include candy with the cards. 
We will have a sign up sheet out the week before, if anyone would like to bring in a treat for either of the days. 

School Valentines Day Party is Saturday February 11th from 10am- 11am. Please come and be part of the fun.

HAPPY FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS TO:
Sierra, Liam, Grant, Ellen, Jonah, Jocelyn and Emery

CONGRATULATIONS TO ELOISE’S FAMILY!  They’ve welcomed a new baby, Ben,  into their home!

Barb and Cynthia

 

 

Director’s Message

Dates to remember:

December 19 – January 2, 2012: winter break, no school

January 16: Martin Luther King Day, no school

February 11: Valentine Party 10:00-11:00

February 17 and 20: Presidents’ Days, no school

March 5-9: Registration for all currently enrolled families

March 19-23: Registration for all new families

April 2-6: Spring break, no school

It’s hard to believe, but come January, registration for next year will be just around the corner! Registration for existing Growing Tree families is March 5-9. This is your opportunity to enroll in the days of your choice on a first come basis prior to our acceptance of any new families! Registration forms will be put in your child’s cubby prior to registration. Our Tots and Young Twos classes have been combined into “Tots ‘n Twos” with an age range of 20 mos. to 2.4 years. Children turning two before September 1^st will go on to the Young Threes the following year, while children turning two after September 1^st will move on to the Older Twos class. The age ranges listed for all classes this year have been coordinated with the changing kindergarten age ranges. We will continue to monitor the local school districts’ policies in this area so that our programs continue to coordinate with the public school system.

The holidays are upon us and your children are feeling the excitement of the season! They love sharing their family traditions – We get to hear all about the different grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that they get to spend time with over the holidays!

Besides family, we are always thankful for our friends and celebrated with our annual “friendship soup” the week of Thanksgiving. The children were pretty evenly divided between those who wouldn’t even try it and those that at least asked for a bowl. Then there were the few adventurous among us that even asked for seconds. Of course, like so many traditions, the preparation and anticipation were the best part! Everyone was so excited about bringing in and cutting their vegetable, and even if they wouldn’t eat it, they loved to point at the soup and exclaim, “There’s MY vegetable!”

Now that the school year is well underway, we love to watch the shape that friendships take at different ages. While the twos often play happily together, they haven’t quite gotten the whole cooperation thing down yet. If someone has a toy that they want, they simply grab it and run. The threes understand the ideas of sharing and cooperation…at least in concept. If they want someone else’s toy, they still grab it and run but at least they wait until the teachers aren’t looking. The Pre-k and T-kers understand that at this point, cooperation and sharing are really expected of “the oldest “ Growing Tree children and no one wants to be accused of not being a good friend. As a result, many long debates ensue about just WHO wasn’t sharing or WHO wasn’t taking turns. The good news is they all understand that sharing, cooperation and being a good friend are valued traits and they’re all working very hard to get there…aren’t we all!.

We wish you, your family, and your friends a wonderful holiday season filled with fun and loving memories!

Terri, Linda and Lysbeth

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NEWS FROM EVELYN, SENIA AND BEV’S TWOS

The weather is getting cold… but inside our room the children’s smiles are warming up the environment . It is nice to see how much they are learning, and how they have been perfecting some skills and developing new ones. This past month we had fun talking and learning about the five senses and body parts. We played with magnifiers, which according to RYAN  “makes everything bigger”. We played with different color palets, we learned about different textures, we smelled different scents, and the kids had fun sharing their experiences with us. When we talked about our eyes, we asked them, ” What can you see with your eyes?” DYLAN, taking a look around, answered,” I see a book.” VIVIENNE answered, “Fish”;  of course, we know she likes fish! LUKE told us, “I see my shoes.”  How about your hands? What can you do with them? MAX knew the answer,” We hold cupcakes with our hands and eat them.” “And we can play instruments with our hands, and play with cars,” added SAM V. KRISH knows that “with our feet we can march”, and JULIETTE added that we can ” jump and dance”. ANNA SOFIA added, “dance Hot Potato!” SAM S. wanted us to be quiet ” Shhh…” he said while he touched his ear, “I hear the dolphin splashing the water.” We all enjoyed our Friendship Soup; the kids had fun looking for the veggie that they brought from home. TYLER got so excited when Miss Senia pointed to his potato in the soup. HANNAH B. pointed to the soup saying ” I don’t see apples” and after a short pause she added, ” I know… I see apples at my house.”

We talked about winter and the changing season: “The trees are red,” said JENNA. “Seasons are changing to red,”  added MATTEO, “The trees are red at home, too.”  What do we need to wear in winter? ” Hats and Jackets,” said HANNAH SAGE and added, ” I go to snow.” They had so much fun talking about winter clothes and dressing up our little flannel friend with warm clothes. We also learned how important it is to brush our teeth every day. Next month we will be talking about winter animals and hibernation. Don’t miss our TEDDY BEAR PAJAMA PARTY week, details to follow.

Don’t forget: School will be closed for winter break from December 19 to January 2.

See you in the new year!

Evelyn, Senia and Barb

NEWS FROM CYNTHIA AND BARB’S TWOS

This past month was a great month of exploring for the children. They loved painting in fall colors, creating different harvest art projects and observing the changing of the trees. When mixing colors one morning during circle, Bella expressed, “The colors are so pretty.” Grace and Reese excitedly pointed out the colorful trees as they ran around on the playground. During circle, Jocelyn said, with a big smile, “The trees are so pretty! They are red and orange now!”

The aroma of vegetable soup filled our room. Grant was especially happy to try it, and happily expressed how “yummy” the soup was as he picked around the vegetables to get to the pasta. Anisha enjoyed the cornbread we made with the soup so much that after she was done said with a big smile, ‘That bread was yummy bread!” and Sierra responded, “Yes it is!”

The children get very excited when we ring the bell in the morning for circle time. Aria and Aida often attempt to ring it themselves! Pierce and Luke run over to pull out the carpet squares, while Avery sings the “make a circle” song to get us in the mood. Emery likes to sing the “clean up” song and direct traffic towards the circle. Dylan and Griffin always try to find a way to sit together for circle and often walk hand-in-hand over to sit as Jonah hurries over to sit next to his sister, Ellen. Jeffrey loves to say his colors and Max sings all of the songs with a BIG smile on his face.

Free choice is a great time to observe the children at their best. As they have settled into the school year, they all play so well together now. One morning Annelise, Will, Gus, Sofia and Sam were putting on their own circle. They had pulled out the carpet squares, and all of the children were sitting while Gus read a story to them. ~ Too cute!

Liam loves to place the cars in the cart and push them around the room while Nolan pushes the trains on the table yelling ‘Choo-Choo’! Eloise makes dinner for everyone in the playhouse and puts the babies to bed.

Art has a great following in our room. From painting to gluing, all of the children have their favorite activities. Clara Shei and Leah really enjoy coloring and painting, especially at the easel. Trent sat so calmly just running the brush strokes up and down his ‘canvas’ and said, “My grandma is going to love this.”

Time seems to be passing by so fast as we move into the holidays and a new year. Our moments with the children are truly cherished as we watch them grow. Their brains are like sponges as they soak up information so quickly. Our next month will focus on friendships, hibernation, as well as introducing facts about winter animals. Be prepared for some great new art projects as well as our annual teddy bear pajama party.

As the weather gets colder, please remember to label your child’s jacket with their name. This makes it much easier for the teachers, as well as any confused children, when it comes time to go outside. We will also be going through all of the ‘changes of clothing’ and sending home any ‘summer’ outfits so that you may replace them with warmer clothing.

Have a great Holiday Break!

Cynthia and Barb

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NEWS FROM SANDY AND SHARYN’S THREES

The children are growing, their minds alight with thoughts and feelings, expression comes in many forms. The children develop an awareness and respect for all. Sonal sweetly offered a place to her pal Riley. Zayden generously allows each pal to touch his special sharing. Bowie brought us all to giggles, “Please do not be fussy! Just be nice!”. Olivia reminds us, “Everyone will get a turn!”Sloane patiently calls each peer to guess her sharing, acknowledging each with a smile. Nolan and Brody help energize us. Nolan directs us, “Stretch big!” Brody, smiles, “Breathe the air!” Grace B., shares her finest story with everyone each day. Every child brings joy to our day.
Jackie told us, “It is sunny, but it is cold, Brrr!” Thomas added, “the clouds are making us cold!”We then practiced our sign language to communicate cold. All of the children enjoy learning to use sign language to tell about the weather. The changing of the seasons promotes many different learning opportunities as we take our nature walks. Our topics, The Native Americans and the Early Settlers of America, brought alive a sense of how different life was for people who lived long, long ago. Cade and Kylie were excited as we found a large acorn tree, Cade told us, “We can find a lot of food here.”Kylie guided everyone, “We have to cook it first!”The children all were amazed to touch and to hold the acorns, Addie alerted us, “Squirrels eat those!”We had a lesson on the way the early people gathered and grew their food.
We searched for ways to make shelter and we observed some of the natural lavender and rosemary plants flowering in the garden, Max told us, “My Mommy has this as we smelled the lavender.”, Sevan smelled the rosemary, then smiled, ” It smells, my Mommy makes dinner with it.”Noah and Robert found the big Redwood trees, ” We could sleep over here.”Robert told us. Noah added, “It is cold. You need a blanket!”Shawn excited said, “I have a lot of warm blankies!”. We have found the children are able to learn about our history through our hands – on science experiences.
Our Friendship soup taught the children the pleasures in preparing food with friends.
Rocco was so excited, “I am going to help you guys, Okay!”Eddie was thrilled to help stir the cornbread dough, “It smells so sweet, Miss Sandy!”.Robert, Lucy, Grace Olivia E., Lola, and Jefferson along with a couple of big girl helpers spent the whole morning preparing the veggies. , We see the future chefs of their families. The children were dear as we shared our feelings of thankfulness for all we have. This season our topics include . . . Family Traditions, Winter time foods, Teddy bear party, Winter Solstice.
In January we will begin our study of the Arctic and the Native people, animals, and environment. We will learn about the life in the Antarctic. We look forward to continuing our language lessons, math practice, math games, geography, history, science, dance, music and the sharing experience.
The circle of family that surrounds each child is the foundation upon which they grow and evolve, our lessons and discussions about family traditions evoked their wonderful thoughts.
With my family . . .

Addie- With my Mommy I love to make Mac n’ cheese.
Bobby- I give kisses to Daddy and Mommy.
Bowie-Grandma and Grandpa tell me funny stories.
Brody- We make pirate chocolate cupcakes, for us.
Cade- I make roads with my Daddy.I make art with my Mommy and Avery. I make cookies with Grammy
and Nona
Eddie- I go to visit my family. We fly on airplanes to see my Grandparents, my aunts and my Uncles and my cousins.
Frankie- I tell serious learning stories with my Grandpa.With Grandpa Bob we play tickle.

Grace B.-Ilike to paint with Mama, play ball with Riley, and read with my Dadda.
Grace Olivia E.-With my Momma, Daddy, my brothers, my Grandma, my Cookie, my Grandpa and grande we pray for pancakes.
Jackie-We have super duper playtime all of my family, my Grandmas and my Grandpas, too!
Jefferson-My Mama, my Daddy, my Brooke, my Nama, and my Papa we like to play games.
Kylie-We are happy together.
Lola-Gigi, Grandpa, and Grandma and Grandpa, and Mommy, Oscar, and Daddy we go to the park and fly like butterflies.
Lucy – I like to read stories and to drink milk with my family.
Max-I fly and go on trips.
Noah- We play at the park together.
Nolan – With Grandma, and Grandpa we go on the trains. With Papa and Grandma Shindle we swim.
Olivia-I go to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s for holiday dinner. I see my Grammy, too!
Riley-We go to church, we love each other!
Rocco- We go to the park to feed the birds, Grandma Barb and Grandma Pam love to come!
Sevan- We make apple pie. My Grandmas’ give me hugs. My Grandpa hugs me, “always.”
Shawn- With Mommy, Daddy, Dylan, &Reese we make faces and laugh.
Sloane- We spin and dance!
Sonal- I like to do puzzles with Grandma, and Grandpa reads to us.
Thomas- Bebe, Baba, Mama, Dada, Daddy, Mommy and Charlotte, we play!
Zayden- I love my family. We share together.

We wish you a holiday filled with wonder and joy!

Miss Sandy and Miss Sharyn

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NEWS FROM VICKI KAREN AND MEGHANS THREES

November has been such a busy month in the older threes class. We spent the first week learning about fall and decorating our room with fall projects and colors. “The leaves are kind of different and they’re kind of different and they’re kind of green and yellow,” Melissa observed. “All the trees get cold ‘cause it gets colder,” continued Lauren. “All the leaves fall and then we can collect them,” said Estella. “And there’s things that just turn different colors like leaves,” added Piper. “We can collect leaves and they fall down the trees,” Ana told us. “The leaves fall down and they’re orange and yellow and purple,” added Emily. “There’s purple on the trees and yellow,” agreed Maddie. “There’s purple leaves and yellow leaves,” explained Grace. “And the leaves change colors like purple and blue,” agreed Paxton. “We collect leaves ‘cause we need to give it to the class down the hill, ‘cause they changed colors,” Gabriel told us. “Leaves fall down and the leaves fall on the ground and in three more days then it’s Thanksgiving,” said Ella. “And when it’s winter the fall’s done,” Madeline finished up.

We learned about the pilgrims and how they lived a long, long time ago. “They sailed around on the boat to America,” said Tori. “The pilgrims were alive a long time ago and nobody was alive then when the pilgrims cut down the trees because it was a long time ago and just the pilgrims were alive then,” Marco told us. “They had tree houses from the forest and they get the wood from trees,” said Billy. “There’s apples in trees,” remembered. Kalei. “They chopped down trees to build a house with logs,” explained Annalise. ““They didn’t have a house and they had to build a log cabin,” agreed Jackson. “I just think it would be a little too hard to build a house and you need some wood,” thought Emma. “They could build a stove and a house,” said Olivia. “But they didn’t have no food,” worried Preston. “They look for food in the woods,” remembered Ryan Elizabeth. “They cook in the fireplace ‘cause they don’t have any stoves and they showed it to us to have popcorn,” Madelaine told us. “There’s no restaurants so they have to find something in the woods and cook in a fireplace because there’s no stove,” agreed Claire. “Pilgrim girls can’t wear pants. They wear long skirts and the hats are not construction hats,” explained Nicholas. “They wear funny hats and a long skirt and stockings,” agreed Henry G. “We make a house with graham crackers and cream cheese and logs and the logs were the pretzels,” remembered Joey. “I like the Pilgrims ‘cause I like to make the log cabins,” Mason told us. “The log cabin was yummy,” agreed Crosby. “And we were shaking a jar ‘cause there’s something in it that we need to make and make butter,” added Thatcher. “The jar, we were shaking it and it will be butter, but we will buy it really and cook it and put some sugar in it and some sausage in it and it will be good for you and you will eat it and grow up tall,” thought Juliana. “And we made popcorn from edemame,” Jake told us (we made popcorn from dried corn kernels, but they may have looked a bit like edamame).

We spent a very fun week learning about community helpers. We know that community is just a big word that means the area where we live, so community helpers are people who help us in our neighborhoods. Claire’s mommy, Mary Kay, told us about being a nurse and how nurses help us. Madeline Cooper’s daddy, Malcom, is a fire fighter and he told us all about how fire fighters help in our community. The librarian from Moraga came one day to read to us, do a puppet show for us, and sing with us. The veterinarian on our street, Dr. Kidd, came with a really nice dog named Spud to tell us what veterinarians to do help us help our pets. And two police officers came to tell us how the police help us. We thank everyone for their time and for helping us to have such a fun, interesting week and to learn about people in our community.

We all enjoyed our friendship soup, some by cutting vegetables, some by eating the soup and some by smelling the wonderful smells of soup cooking all morning. The soup was delicious and we thank everyone who brought a vegetable to contribute.

2011 is rapidly coming to an end, but before we leave for winter break there are still lots of good times to be had in the older threes room. Upcoming is a week of gingerbread fun, a week of learning about winter animals and a week of fun winter activities. We will continue to learn the name and sound of one letter each week, do more patterning, counting and practice the words we know in different languages. We can now say “thank you” in sign language, Swahili, Norwegian and Spanish.

The teachers in the older threes class want to wish all of you the merriest of holidays whether you are traveling to distant places or staying home to enjoy cozying in and relaxing. Enjoy the holidays with your very special children, and we’ll look forward to seeing everyone back at Growing Tree in January.

Vicki, Karen and Meghan

 

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NEWS FROM PAT, TONIA AND NIKKI’S PRE-K

Happy Holidays! We cannot believe how quickly the year is flying by! We are definitely in our routines and very comfortable with one another here in Pre-K!

We started off November learning about Harvest, and what Harvest means. The children were very receptive and knew that “after Halloween, comes Thanksgiving!” We were discussing our Thanksgiving plans and some kids shared with the class. Isabella offered, “We’re going to my grandma’s because my mom doesn’t know how to make turkey. She lives in Pebble Beach.” Gracie said, “We’re just staying home and my Aunties are just coming over.“ Arnav added, “I don’t do nothing. I don’t eat Turkey because I’m Indian.” And Avery W. chimed in, “I’m going toLodi and I get to sleep inLodi.” Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, wherever you are going to be!

Along with harvest, we discussed cooking and traditions and what they mean to us. We also got to participate in Growing Tree’s “Friendship Soup.” Thank you for bringing in so many vegetables! Each child got a turn cutting up a vegetable. During lunch they were offered to taste some. We had some mixed responses, but it seems as if everyone enjoyed the spirit of our soup.

Next came dinosaurs! This is always an exciting unit! We learned the different types of dinosaurs, how many of our footprints would fit in a dinosaur footprint, measured with a tape measure how tall and long a T-Rex is, and designed our own REAL dinosaur egg and built a nest for it! We had a special guest, Natalie’s dad, Darren, came into our class and talked about an exciting find he discovered as a child in 1973. He unearthed prehistoric bones here inOrinda! Turns out they were not dinosaur bones, but from a bear that originated inAsia. That means thousands of years ago it had made it’s way toNorth America. The original bones are in a museum, but he has replicas of the four bones he found, and shared them with the class. Thank you, Darren!

Another unit we had fun discussing was SPORTS! The kids were invited to wear any sport jersey during the week. What a variety of sports the class is interested in! There were soccer, baseball, basketball, and football jerseys and we even had a Tour de France shirt! During ‘Sports Bingo’ the kids were sharing what sports they liked the best. Clarke was very enthusiastic about football: “I like to watch football and play football. I have two favorite teams – Cal Bears and 49ers. I’ve been to 49ers and Cal. My dad doesn’t play football, but he plays water polo.” Adrian added, “I like to watch Oakland and I went to a Raider game with my daddy.” Luke answered, ” I like lacrosse. I play atLake Tahoe. I play with my brothers.”

Katie added that she likes “basketball. It’s fun. I play at home.”

Erin replied, “I play swimming. I got a trophy for swimming. I’m a good swimmer.” Avery J. said, “In the summer I swim on a swim team at Moraga Ranch. I like Freestyle. I’m fast, but I didn’t win any races.” Oliver chimed in, “I like swimming. I swim, but I’m not on a team and I swim without my vest.” Lucas had to add to that, “I like to swim at my house. I just wear a swim suit. No floaties!” Avery S. said, “I like to swim at the lake.” And Olivia ended the swimming conversation with, “Actually, I don’t play swimming. I like to watch swimming on my TV at home.”

We will finish the month with Gingerbread and Winter Celebrations. We cannot believe it is almost 2012!

Thank you to our VIP’s – Adria, Avery S., Hannah, and Kaila. Happy Birthday!! We love to see all of the pictures about our friends on their VIP boards and, of course, we all love the yummy treats for snack!

A big THANK YOU to Oliver’s dad, Stephen, for coming in and reading to our class at the end of the day. If you would like to come and read the class a favorite story of your child’s, you are welcome to do so! Please let one of us know and sign up on our calendar.

Again, we cannot express how much fun your children are. We are enjoying every moment of it!

Happy Holidays!

Pat, Tonia & Nikki

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NEWS FROM LAUREEN AND MANAL’S PRE-K

November has brought us some fun filled weeks of learning, playing, and exploring and just as all the leaves are changing, so are your children. They are bringing Manal and I so much pleasure. Manal and I are so pleased that all the children are so comfortable with school and enjoying it so much. They really are so caring and loving towards each other and are forming some wonderful friendships with their classmates.

The children are getting so independent–they are organizing themselves daily for a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. They love to change the words; sometimes silly things and sometimes opposites! The girls love to tap Princess, Princess, prince! The boys like scary words like Ghost, Ghost, Skeleton!

November proved to be a wonderful learning experience for us. During Dinosaur week, we traced and decorated Dinosaurs. We made a dinosaur skeleton out of spaghetti. We painted dinosaur eggs and made an edible nest! We also did lots of dinosaur puzzles and sorted colorful dinosaurs at the tabletop. Our theme of Fall and Nature had us looking for different shape and color leaves, creating a leaf mobile, making pumpkins with pumpkin seeds and raking the leaves in our playground to jump in. We had a lot of fun learning about nutrition and trying all kinds of new foods (some old favorites too!). All of us enjoyed participating in “Friendship Soup”, who knew vegetables could taste so good!! We also learned about each others families and traditions for the holidays!

During Sports week, the children wore their favorite shirt, hat or uniform to emphasize our theme. We enjoyed testing our skills on an obstacle course. We played catch with bean bags and practiced running the bases. During our cognitive time, we practiced writing our numbers by counting baseballs and measuring bats. We learned opposites by deciding what was an outdoor activity or inside activity. The children loved dressing up in all of our uniforms, helmets, gloves and even swim fins.

Our journal page for this month was what is our favorite game or sport:

We discovered that no matter what their favorite is…they like playing it or watching it with their mom and dad!!! Xander: likes Soccer because of the net; Caroline: says Go Bears Football; Zubin: likes football; Nikki: likes the Niners!; Jacob: likes to take tennis lessons when he is bigger; Jenna: likes Hockey; Erin: likes to watch Sean at Miramonte, he is really good!; Eav: likes the Niners; Xavier: likes Lacrosse, but doesn’t know how to play it; Sammy: Lacrosse!; Luca: 49ers or the Bears on TV; Jemima: Basketball; Natalie: Soccer, mom and dad love it; Reid: Hockey and Baseball; Ella: Football with Dad; Matthew: Football with friends; Nina: Baseball and Tennis; Livia: Tennis and football with dad; Mikaela: Football on TV; Carsen: Baseball to play and Hockey to watch with dad; Bianca: American Baseball on TV; Zachary: Soccer with Dad!

Alphabet Sharing continues to be an integral part of our Pre-K classroom. It allows your child to practice speaking in front of a group of peers while boosting their self-confidence. It really is a joy to see them get so excited about learning. Please refer to the sharing calendar to see when it is your child’s day and assist them in choosing the appropriate item for the letter of the week.

Lunch is also an essential part of our daily routine. We would like to support the children in becoming more self-sufficient at lunch. You can help too, by pre-opening some of the packaged items and using containers they can open/close by themselves, thank you! Also please check our coat rack. Many jackets get left each day. Please put names on anything that is brought to school.

Guest readers: If you would like to read to us, please sign up on our calendar. Guest readers read after lunch 12:20-12:35. If you have a hobby or profession you want to share with us, just let us know. We welcome all visitors to our class. Also we have our 2012 calendar if you would like to schedule your VIP.

December themes will be Winter holidays, Winter Fun, Gingerbread,Holidaytraditions and, of course, we will continue with our alphabet writing and sharing. If you would like to help us celebrate a holiday tradition or read us a story, just let us know. In January, our themes will be Polar Animals, Tool Time, Bears real and stuffed and Nursery Rhymes.

School will be closed December 19 – January 2, 2012 for our winter break See you in the new year!

Laureen & Manal

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NEWS FROM APRIL AND MITZI’S T-K

Fall is around us with winter just around the corner. The children are alive with the excitement the autumn and winter months have to bring. They have enjoyed creating festive Thanksgiving and winter holiday art to display in our classroom. The handprint turkeys came out darling! They have been especially busy creating a very special holiday gift for you, their families. It is amazing to see how much the children are capable of learning, and in such short time. It is hard to believe they have already become so well versed in almost half of the alphabet, including the sounds the letters make and many words beginning in each letter. The children are amazing at identifying so many words beginning in the letter we are focusing on each week, that we are hardly able to fit all of the words on our weekly chart! They have already learned three of our T-K chants in addition to many of the sight words associated with our chants. We are currently working on our Dec. chant, which focuses on the numbers 1-10.

The children are doing a wonderful job with their patterning and graphing skills – they have come so far. Their writing and drawing are really progressing beautifully. It is amazing to look back at the beginning of their Sept.-Oct. journals in contrast to the ending pages. They are such a bright group!

The class had great fun learning about Native Americans, especially how they used symbols to tell stories called pictographs. The children were so creative in putting together the different symbols to tell their own unique stories which we shared collectively. We also talked about the meaning of Thanksgiving with the children and asked them to tell us what they are thankful for…

Edgar: “ My sister.”

Gaetan: “My brother, Dante.”

Dylan; “My family.”

Max: “My home.”

Luke: “Life jackets.”

Tyler; “My bed.”

“So thoughtful!”

Friendship Soup was a great success! It is always a favorite activity amongst all of the children and teachers at Growing Tree. It is so lovely to walk in and smell that delicious aroma filling the entire school. I love to see the sense of pride and camaraderie the children experience when they bring a vegetable to contribute to our soup, and as they make such effort to carefully cut and prepare their veggies for our soup. Sofia whipped up our whole bowl of pumpkin corn bread all by herself! It was delicious, and went great with the soup! All of the children showed so much pride experiencing the finished soup, encouraging one another to try it. In T-K, since we are the “big kids” of Growing Tree, we encourage the children to at least take a small taste before deciding they do not like something. This was easier said than done for some, once all those floating veggies were spotted. It was so cute to hear the children coax one another to give it a taste! Yovela was one of the first to exclaim; “Uhm its good!” Nate suggested to the whole table, “Come on guys, we need to try it!” Reed was so funny! He finally succumbed to the peer pressure and said, “All right! I’ll try it!” Then he pinched his nose shut and took a tiny taste! Nicole excitedly said, “I see my green beans and parsley!” Nicklas added, “There’s my purple cauliflower!” Mia exclaimed, “Yum! I smell my onions and celery.” Madison added, “Ok I’ll try a tiny taste!”

We have had a wonderful time celebrating many Superstar days and birthdays over these past couple of months. It is always such a treat! We love learning new things about your children. For instance, we never knew Everett was so passionate about large earth moving machines. It was so cute when he showed the class his picture of a giant tractor “Mommy” took for him while visiting relatives saying; “Now I can see it whenever I want to!” Abby enjoyed showing us what a great big sister she is to Hannah. Abby shared how she loves to help “Mommy” take care of Hannah. Such a caring mini mama!. It was so fun to learn about Delaney‘s love of all animals, especially Dolphins, and that she wants to grow up to be a vet, adding; “I will take care of any animal”, “even bugs!”. Gina really cracked us up! Who would have known what a brave little player she is! She had no qualms about performing her dance routine for the class. Ryan did such an excellent job presenting his poster to our class. It was so endearing to see how proud he was to demonstrate all of our class “jobs” for his family. Ms. Mitzi and I really enjoyed the opportunity to visit with you, parents and family. And to give you a peek at the great work and strides your children are accomplishing. Our Super Stars really shinned! Mia, and Logan Celebrated their 5^th. Birthdays with the class, and we look forward to their special Super Star Days….“Phew! November is a busy Birthday month for T-k!”.

In Dec. and Jan. we will focus on the themes of “Holidays Around the World”, “Families and Giving”, “Gingerbread”, and “Winter/Polar Animals & adaptations”.

Winter Break will begin Dec. 19 – Jan. 2. Please look for information on our upcoming field trip shortly after our return to school.

We hope you have a joyful Holiday filled with love and happiness. Enjoy your sweet little precious babes. We will think of them happily as we are enjoying our holiday as well.

Ms. April and Ms. Mitzi

Director’s Message

DATES TO REMEMBER:

November 11:                                      Veteran’s Day (No School)

November 22 and 23:                           Friendship Soup Days

November 24 and 25:                           Thanksgiving Break (No School)

December 19 – January 2, 2012           Winter Break (No School)

January 16:                                           MLK Day  (No Schooll)

Listen!  It’s so nice to hear all the laughter and animated conversation!  No more crying!  Everyone is adjusting so well to the Growing Tree routine!   One of the most important parts of our day is “morning circle”.   It’s a time to greet each other, stimulate our thoughts and senses, and set the tone for the day….

The Two’s have learned what circle time is all about and it’s so cute to see them toddling or running over (depending on their age!) to join the group.  Many already have favorite songs and movement activities!

The Three’s circle times now include “jobs” and all the children  have a new sense of importance now that they’ve been given these new responsibilities!  The “Tapper” and “Weather reporter” are the most coveted jobs so far!

The Pre-Kers have the whole circle time thing down pat.  They know what to anticipate and so their jobs must be much more challenging…they love figuring out the calendar pattern as well as choosing the weather sight word.

The T-Kers’ math skills are further challenged at circle time with weather graphing and line leader, who counts all the children going outside and, hopefully, counts the same number when coming back inside!

We loved seeing all of you at Growing Tree’s annual Halloween Family Fun House.  Halloween is one of the children’s favorite holidays and their excitement is contagious!  Fantasy and make believe, dressing up and becoming an entirely different entity – We loved meeting all of their alter egos!

We’re receiving fewer reports of problems in the parking lot – Thank you for respecting our request that you not park in red or yellow zones and that you are patient and courteous in the parking lot.

On November 22^nd and 23^rd, the children will prepare our annual Friendship Soup and take time to be thankful for all of our new friends.  Most (…well, many!) of the children will at least try the soup, and can always point out the very vegetable they contributed!

We, at Growing Tree, are thankful for all of you, and we’re also thankful that everyone is happily settling into their Growing Tree routine!  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and to your families!

Terri, Linda and Lysbeth

NEWS FROM CYNTHIA AND BARB’S TWOS

Pumpkins and ghost and bats, oh my! What a fun filled month we have had in our class! Annelise, Avery and Leah loved making tissue paper pumpkins, making sure that the whole pumpkin was covered.  Will always sets his stuffed horsie next to him while painting, and Sofia  is always excited for art, no matter what we are making!

Circle time is one of the highlights of the day! Our Halloween songs have become favorites to sing! Dylan and Griffin like to sit next to each other at circle time and “Stir the Brew” ( A part from one of the songs), and Gus always lets out a big laugh when we say “Boo” at the end of the songs!

The Halloween party was a big success! The kids loved dressing up in their much anticipated costumes. They all looked so cute!

We have had some warm sunny days this month, and were able to bring out the water table several times.  Our water toys include very colorful  fish and fishing poles. Reese was SO excited when she caught a big orange fish, she said “Look! I caught Nemo!” Nolan loved  putting his Spider-man in the water! Liam prefers to find little cars and pretend they are floating on the water!

Outside play has something to offer for everyone. Trent has gotten really fast going up the climber, down the slide, then back up the climber again! Jocelyn and Jeffrey were having a great time the other day riding side by side in the coups. They were taking turns honking the horns and laughing, very cute! And of course the sandbox is the best place of all outside, everyone enjoys making (sand) birthday cakes!

We are continuing to practice learning our colors and shapes, and simple matching games.  We are also learning to share, and take turns, which is not always easy when you are two! The kids know the routine now, when the bell rings, it’s time to clean up. While this is a challenge some days, we are making some progress!

In November, we will be learning about fall and mixing colors. We will talk about all the things we are thankful for, and will be making some wonderful colorful art projects.

All the classes will be participating in making a “Friendship Soup” on November 22nd and 23rd.  Please have your child bring in one vegetable to add to our soup, if coming on those days.  The children will all have a chance at tasting it at our snack time, and being downstairs, we will also get to smell it cooking!!

Let another fun month begin!

Barb and Cynthia