Words for Wednesday

Hello Rainforesters,
This has been a great week so far. Our trip to the San Diego Zoo was phenomenal. Kalli's mom, Rachelle was nice enough to load some pictures up to a smilebox, definitely worth viewing. I'm interested in putting all of the pictures up, so send them to me. Our small groups worked wonderfully.

A word of acknowledgment to our class chaperones: Joe, Jaime, Rachelle, Cheryl, Drisana, Roekmini, and Claudia. It is not ordinary that seven adults take time out of their lives and work schedules to attend a class field trip, it is extraordinary. Thank you for being extraordinary individuals and having a hand in creating our extraordinary classroom. The impact of your service was great!

Your Wednesday folders came home today, unfortunately, I don't think work samples made it in, so next week, there will be a lot of papers. Would you like me to tear out the math as well? It's not perforated, but we can find a way to make it work.

Pictures are next Thursday and so is our City Farmers Nursery field trip. A great day for them to be looking good! The City Farmers Nursery will kick off our garden project. Bring a sack lunch to enjoy. We do need chaperones and drivers. Desiree will be contacting you or contact her if you so wish.

Tomorrow, we will be presenting our 'All About Me' books to the class. This is a big deal, as I will be assesing them on their artistic expression, how well they followed the instructions, and speaking in front of a group, as well as honoring and respecting the speaker.

As you may have noticed, we have been working a lot on honoring and respecting the one who speaks. We have also been working on giving value to our words. Hence, saying our agreements in the morning and following through with them, gives us power and freedom in our lives. An excellent lesson for us all! You can talk to them on having our actions match up to our words and how we as individuals gain more freedom, power, and respect when we do so. We lose power, freedom, and respect when our actions don't match up with what we say we are going to do.


Some more key phrases: When you give, you get. As was highlighted by Jules giving Adriana her beloved zoo map. Minutes later Adriana gave her a bottle of water. Wow! That was unexpected. You can speak with your child of a time when you gave something out of friendship, love, joy, and the pure gift of sharing. When we do that, we almost always get back in ways that are often unpredictable.

Friday is Halloween. We will be dressed up and eating candy! Aaaaahhh! Stay away if you need quiet or order, because those will probably not be present on that day. We will also watch High School Musical, have Art, and Drama. A fun and crazy day!
I apologize to those who do not celebrate Halloween. Be sure to do something fun with your child and I will also speak with the other children about being sensitive to them. It's also an option to bring your child, undressed up, and ready to share about why they don't celebrate Halloween.

Once again, this class is amazing from the parents to the custodians to the grandmas! Thank you~

In Joy, Beauty, Vitality, and Love,
Meital





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Hello Rainforesters:

We have such an exciting week planned.  

Tomorrow:  the Zoo!  We have chaperones set and rides.   A lot of folks have not sent in the $6 for the bus.  Please do so.

Wednesday:  Half Day. Fun as usual

Thursday:  We have our class presentations of the All About Me book in the afternoon. Kids will be presenting their pages to the class.

Friday:  Halloween.  Come in your costumes, and yes, candy is allowed.  If you do not celebrate this holiday, you are totally excused to have a fun restful day at home.  However, we unfortunately do not have the extra staff to accomodate alternative programs.  

Okay stay tuned for more on Wednesday,

In Joy, Beauty, Vitality, and Love,

Meital

Forever Friday

How goes it Rainforesters?
We had a very powerful work. We have been working on the integrity of our classroom. What is working and what is not working. We have been finishing up our "All About Me" books and some of you will be working on them over the weekend. On Monday, your children will be presenting their pages to the class and being assessed.

Also, very important: on Tuesday, we are going to the Zoo! We are still looking for chaperones. So far we have Roekmini, Drisana, and Bill. So, we have room for at least two more.

Well, have a wonderful and rejuvenating weekend.

Don't forget, Halloween is coming up and costumes are allowed.

In Joy, Beauty, Vitality, and Love,
Meital

Feel all of your Feelings

Hi Rainforest Room,
Lately, in Social Emotional curriculum, we've been talking about feeling all of our feelings. I've been letting the kids punch and kick the pillows. Yesterday, during P.E., I took them out under the tree and gave each of them a try. Most of them seemed to really like it and get a good release out of it. We have been holding regular classroom meetings about some of the physical hurt that is not acceptable in our class. We have seen a nice turnaround.

Well, we have a lot going on in class. Our All About Me books are coming together. If you have not sent in pictures of your child as a baby and family pictures, please do so ASAP. This project will be assessed, it has criteria that I grade. And, we are presenting it in the Kroc Center Library.

Our next project will be the intergenerational garden. It will combine Humanities, Earth Science, Language Arts, Math, and Art. We are taking a field trip on Thursday of next week to kick it off.
Our field trip is to City Farmer's Nursery, which is fabulous! Mr. Tall is the owner and is very excited to have us. We will need drivers and chaperones. I was thinking of at least five volunteers. Any takers?

We also have a field trip to the San Diego Zoo on Tuesday. It costs $6 to ride the bus. Please send that money with your child to school. Also, if you wish to give more for other children who may not have the money, you may do so. It will go to me, and I will disburse it to the children in need. That would be very nice (and no, I won't be going shopping with the money). For the zoo field trip, the more chaperones the better, but we need at least five. The best way for them to get the most out of the zoo and the safest is to make small groups of two to three with one chaperone.

Well, it's been a great week so far. Thanks for all of your participation.

In Joy, Beauty, Vitality, and Love,
Meital

Marvelous Monday

Hi Rainforest Room,

We are back and had a marvelous Monday!

We tracked our B.C.'s (ask your child what that stands for). They each got to see how blaming and complaining can make us feel powerless, hopeless and just in the pits.  Tomorrow, we will be tracking our A.D.'s and will see how powerful, graceful, and happy we are when we are busy acting and dreaming.

DI Math and Language Arts are in full force.  Your child should be learning an incredible amount in a short time.  Ask them to read you something or to add something on a number line.  

Our recycling project is going well.  I am amazed at how table 3 is gaining on table 2.  They might just win the contest.  Help your child out by bringing in recyclables.  I have told them it's okay to ask neighbors (with your help) for their recyclables.  

We went on an observation nature walk.  We found a huge spider amidst the treetops in the K play area.  They also got a chance to sketch the details of the leaves, a caterpillar, and the trees.

What's needed:

1.  We could use some classical music, as you may have noticed I play classical music to start the day off.  Well, it's the same cd every morning.  So, if you are a classical music buff and felt like burning a cd or two of Rachmaninoff, Schubert, or the like.....that would be very welcome.

2.  We need more play.....toys that is.  If  you have old toys (appropriate for school) such as costumes or  items for dress up, legos, puzzles, etc. and wanted to donate them for the year, that would be splendid.

3.  Also, Adriana Grays is looking for a carpool.  She lives in Spring Valley.  What a great way to save gas and ensure you get to school on time!  Please contact me and I will connect you.

Well, that's it for now.  

In Joy, Beauty, Vitality, and Love,

Meital

Rainforest Room

Grade 1

Wonderful Wednesday!

Hello Rainforest Room!

We had a wonderful Wednesday! Our DI groups are working like clockwork, everyone is focusing, on task, and actively learning. Look for their work in the manila envelopes that were sent home today. Also, those must come back. They are to be used every week. The all school Pow-Wow was fun as usual and Genesis was brave enough to sing a song in front of the entire school.

On Tuesday, we worked on our All About Me books. If you could, please send in pictures, clips, or copies of your child's hobbies, family, and baby prints. Those are all needed. Prints are better than actual pictures as it will be pasted.

Thank you to Drisana who has been lugging the recycling to the station. We have made a whopping $8.00!!! So, I have encouraged our kids to be creative. Ask neighbors (with you of course) friends, relatives, and just be more conscientious in your homes of bringing in the recycling. Please if you could wash them so they are not juicy! Also, milk containers are not accepted.

We are coming up on the last week of October. It will be a fun week. We have two field trips and Halloween. On the Tuesday of that week, we will be going to City Farms in the afternoon to prep for our next project: the Intergenerational Garden. We need drivers. On Thursday, we are going to the zoo. We need chaperones. I am wanting 5 or 6 volunteers, so that we can split our class into groups of 3 and 4. We will have a fun and safe trip that way. On Friday (Halloween), kids can come in costumes and we will allow candy on that day. If you do not celebrate Halloween, you have the option of keeping your child home, we will not be doing much academia on that day, due to the disruptive nature of costumes and candy. If you don't celebrate Halloween, though and want your child to come to school, unfortunately, we don't have the staff to provide them with alternative activities.

If you are wanting to contribute, we need whiteboard markers (colors please) and Halloween candy.

The kids have been getting here on time and I appreciate that! We are having such a great time! If you wanted to come in and observe, please email me back or call and we can arrange a time, (858) 568-6335.

In Joy, Beauty, and Vitality,
Meital

Wild Wednesday!

Happy Monday!

Hello all!

Here we are in the middle of October.  We are learning, creating, and playing.  

We, as a class, need to improve a couple of things in order to keep the joy alive.

1. Please get your child to school on time!  We had eight people late today.  The mornings really set the tone for the whole day.  So, the smoother the better.

2.  Please please please please please send pictures or copies of your child's hobbies and interests, family prints, and baby pictures. Again, it is better if they are copies of the pictures. We are glueing them into a class book.

3.  Toys, magazines, scooters, etc. are quite distracting and I usually end up having to confiscate, unfortunately. So, please keep them at home.  I am acquiring quite a collection.  

We learned "life is our mirror" today.  Basically, it's the idea that what we love and admire in others is what we love and admire in ourselves.  It's a beautiful concept and very energizing.  Try it at home and in your lives!  

In Joy, Beauty, and Vitality,

Meital

Monday, monday!

Hello Rainforest Room:

Well, it's the beginning of a new week.  I love new beginnings and fresh starts.  We worked on our four class agreements:

I agree to listen to the teacher when he/she is talking.

I agree to be respectful.

I agree to speak giraffe.

I agree to keep my hands to myself and my stuff.

We also had some very good DI language arts and math hours today.

This is very important, please bring in or send with your child pictures of them as babies and pictures of your family.  Also, if possible send photocopies or extra prints because they are going into a classroom book.  Pleas do this ASAP.

We did some Earth Education on the interconnectedness of eco-systems.  

The class also had P.E. with Kim the 3,4,5 teacher.  We switched for P.E. for the next three weeks.  They have been playing kickball.

Thanks for tuning in.

In Peace, Harmony, and Play,

Meital

Whew!

Whew!
I got behind on my blogging there for a bit and I apologize. I will stay on top of it and blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
What have we been up to?
Well, Direct Instruction has been successfully launched into the learning atmosphere. The students are split into groups and are engaged in a fast paced lesson in Language Arts and Math in the mornings. We have also been continuing our work with "Giraffe Talk" or Compassionate Communication and our Eight to Great curriculum.

We are starting two new projects. A recycling project, and a classroom book. The recycling project is essentially a competition between tables to see who can collect the most recyclale materials (mainly plastic bottles and aluminum cans). We will graph and see which table raises the most money and they then get to choose how to spend the money. Jeremy's class is raising money to buy a play structure for the outside area so I'm hoping they'll donate to that. They can also opt to buy some fish for the classroom, pizza for a pizza party, toys, books, music or pretty much anything they decide on.

Our other project is a classroom book that will be presented in the library once complete. Each student contributes a page. In the page, there are four quadrants: baby pictures, family pictures, likes and hobbies, and dreams for the future and now. So, I am asking for baby and family pictures that are copied off (I don't want to use actual copies unless you have doubles). Also, if you have pictures of them in their hobbies that would be great to send as well.

I am looking for a room parent. Drisana (Jazmine's mom) has volunteered. If there is anyone that would like to work with here, please come forward.

We are working on being friends and friendly in our class. Please talk to your little one about teasing, maybe share a story from your childhood and how hurtful teasing can be even into adulthood.

Thanks so much for all of your support.

In Peace, Harmony, and Play,
Meital