Illness Policy Reminder An ill child will not be permitted to enter the classroom. If a child becomes ill at school, the parent will be contacted to arrange for the child’s care. The child must be picked up by the parent or authorized person within 30 minutes of notifi-cation. Any child who has been sent home with a fever, diarrhea, persis-tent cough and/or discolored nasal drainage will not be allowed to return to school until the child is symptom free for a complete 24 hours. Also, any child who has contracted an infectious or communicable disease will be required to submit a doctor’s release in order to return to school.

Check In/Out Key Pads Please…Please… remember to check your child in and out daily at our computerized key-pad!! Please keep in mind you must enter finish twice in order to properly log in and out. This is a legal document and must be completed by a parent or guardian of the student. Thank you. Also, please keep in mind school starts promptly at 8:45 AM or 9:00 AM. Please have your children here on time.

Holiday Programs Our school-wide Holiday Program will begin at 10:30 AM on Wednes-day, December 16th, prior to our International Potluck. The performance will be held on the big playground. Rooms 5, 6, and 7 will also be performing separate holiday shows on Thursday, December 17th starting at 5:30 PM. These performances will be held in the classrooms.

The children have been busy preparing for these special events and we are all looking forward to having you all attend. Everyone is welcome to join us for the performance and potluck! International Celebration Our International Cele-bration will be taking place throughout the month of December culminating in a school- wide International Pot-luck on Wednesday, December 16th. During this time of year, we like to have the children focus on their family’s heritage. We encourage everyone to take some time and discuss your family’s lineage with your children. We encourage the children to share with the class a traditional snack on their snack day. We would also like to have the children share, with the class, traditions celebrated during this time of year. If any parent would like to come

Montessori of Ladera Ranch

December 2015 Newsletter

into the classroom to discuss a holiday tradition, please let your child’s teacher know and we will be happy to have you.

Spark of Love One of the favorite holiday traditions at Montessori of Ladera Ranch is the toy collection sponsored by the South Orange County Fire Department. Collec-tion bins will soon appear in our lobby and we ask your help in filling them with new, unwrapped toys. On Friday, December 18st, represent-tatives from our local fire house will visit and all the children will have the opportunity to hand a firefighter one of the toys. That day will also be our last Spirit Day of 2015. All children are invited to wear their jammies to school, enjoy treats, and a holiday-themed movie!

Winter Recess Reminder School will be closed from December 21st through January 1st. We will return to school on Monday, January 4th. We will be offering Winter Daycare by signups only. Please be sure to turn in your request form to the office. We wish you all a very Happy Holiday Season!

Room 1

Ms. Karen, Ms. Veronica, Ms. Perla and Ms. Lois

I won’t go on and on about the swift passage of time, but this school year has literally zoomed by. We’ve had a great start thanks, in part, to the support of our wonderful parents. First of all, thanks to everyone who signed up for the seemingly endless round of potlucks. As a recap, our Harvest Feast was delicious and you would be surprised by the amount of children who at least tasted or actually chowed down on the Stone Soup. (Moral of the Story: children are more inclined to eat what they have a hand in preparing.)

Welcome to our two new students, Gia Boni and Brielle Balooch. And we sadly say goodbye to Yuri Minoda, who will be leaving us in December to spend time at home with Mom and her brand new sibling. In the spirit of the season, we would like to give back by providing lunch for the children on Tuesday, December 15th. We will prepare a main course as part of our monthly cooking project and fill in with extra goodies provided by the teachers. No lunchbox will be needed that day! Yeah! One less thing to do! On Wednesday, December 16th, we will have our International Potluck. I will post a signup sheet shortly and ask that you bring items that reflect your family’s heritage. This will be a tasting menu, so there’s no need to bring huge catering pans of victuals. It’s just a nice opportunity for the children to taste different food! All students, regardless of their schedule, are invited to class on that day from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

The toddlers in Room 1 will be joining the preschool and elementary classes in the Holiday Program on Wednesday, December 16th at 10:30 AM on the preschool playground. We will be singing not only songs of the season, but a few classics, as well. After the show, the teachers and children will be retiring to Room 1 to enjoy our International Potluck. All of the teachers have been hard at work transforming our class-room into a mini Winter Wonderland. We are suspending our Color of the Month and Book of the Month curriculum to leave more time to explore ALL the colors and the books of the season. We will don festive headgear and sing tons of holiday favorites including “The 12 Days of Christmas,” “Jingle Bells,” “The Dreidel Song,” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” We will continue with our Song of the Month from November (“Over the River and Through the Woods”) because it is such a favorite with the toddler crowd! Our friends will be busy exploring the seasonal work (jingle bell

pouring, the holiday open/close work, the Father Frost and toy soldier nesting dolls, lighting the menorah, and decorating our own small holiday tree) and we ALL have been hard at work on a special gift for Mom and Dad! Happy Birthday wishes go out to Gage and Pierce! Have a safe and healthy holiday!

Room 2 Ms. Nataly & Ms. Isabelle December is here! Thank you for all your help making the Thanksgiving Feast and Stone Soup incredibly enjoyable and fun for the children! Our travels through North America were wonderful and the children have enjoyed learning about the continent they live on, along with the surrounding countries and the different wonders of each. They are amazing me every day with their ability to memorize what we are learning!

Brrrrrr It’s Cold - Winter has taken over Room 2! We will be traveling to Antarctica this month. One main focus will be the difference in climate compared to the continents we have studied previously. Exploration of the different holidays cele-brated will be discussed through our Winter Around the World unit. In correlation with our Winter Theme, Parts of a Penguin will be studied in Zoology. We will learn about the different animals that live in Antarctica and how they survive the freezing weather. The artist of the month is Jackson Pollock. The children will be creating art using paint and marbles. I hope you have enjoyed viewing your child’s masterpieces outside of Room 2. We have such artistic children! This month we will also be learning about our different heritages, and celebrate with an International Potluck on December 16th. Each child will get the chance to create a poster about their heritage and share it with

the class. This can include anything related to your child’s country (ies) of origin. Keep in mind that with the seasons changing, so do our little immune systems. Please remember to bring a jacket for your child and a set of WARM extra clothes. Happy December Birthday to Adeline Wilson!

Have a happy and wonderful holiday season

Room 3 Ms. Genesis & Ms. Zyerie

The month of November is now behind us and we welcome the month of December. This is personally my favorite month and I am thrilled for the holidays! I would like to start off by thanking all the parents who came to Parent/ Teacher Conferences. We would also like to thank you for participating in our Thanksgiving Feast

and for contributing to our Stone Soup. It’s wonderful to see all of us come together and create a soup out of the magical ingredient of sharing. The kids had a blast and it’s always wonderful seeing their reactions to such fun events. The month of December is going to be full of holiday cheer. It is also a month devoted to the childrens’ heritage. I will be sending home a white poster which your child can decorate and present to the classroom reflecting your family’s cultural roots. We would love to know where your child comes from, the foods that are popular in that country and any other pertinent facts. We are so excited for the holiday festivities. We will have our school-wide Holiday Program on Wednesday, December 16th. This will be followed by an International Potluck where the children will get to taste different foods from their classmate’s cultural back-ground.

This month we will be studying Parts of a Whale and the continent of

Antarctica. We will also be listening to holiday music during work time, learning about musicians who created famous holiday songs, and discussing the major holidays that are celebrated during the month of December, including Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas. Lastly school is closed from December 21st to January 1st. Daycare is offered for those two weeks, so please ask for a slip at the front desk. Happy Birthday to Ian and Lizzie!

Room 4

Ms. Megan & Ms. Diana

December is already here!? This year has been moving along incredibly fast! I want to thank you all for your participation in our Harvest Feast, as well as our creation of Stone Soup. The children really enjoyed both activities.

As we move through December, we have many exciting units for the children. We will continue our exploration of the seven continents with the introduction of Antarctica. This will include an in-depth look at many of the fascinating Arctic animals. We will be discussing the Parts of a Bird, by focusing on a penguin. We have prepared materials and activities to reinforce these exciting units of study! We will also be learning about some land and water formations, specifically island and lake. I want to give the children a good understanding of each formation and we have wonderful Montessori materials that will allow the child to visually see the difference between the two. For music this month, we will continue to learn about some American artists, including Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. We will also be listening to holiday music throughout the month. The artist we will be studying is Jackson Pollock.

December also bring us to our Holiday Program. The children have been practicing their songs each and every day and really look forward to performing for all of you! The performance will be Wednesday, December 16th promptly at 10:30 AM. All parents and family are welcome. Immediately following our Holiday Program we will be having our International Potluck. This is a really wonderful opportunity for the children to share a variety of food from different countries. There will be a sign up on the door in early December. Now that it is getting cooler, please bring your child a jacket with his/her name on it. I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year! We will see you back at school on January! Happy Birthday to Grace and Filippo!

Room 5 Ms. Michelle &

Ms. Indigo Happy December! I can’t believe the holidays are here. We will be spending the next couple of weeks practicing hard for our school-wide Holiday Program, as well as our part in the evening performance with Rooms 6 and 7. The school-wide show will take place on Wednesday, December 16th along with our International Potluck. As in the past, we are asking that you bring a favorite dish from your country of origin. It is a very special day for the children and we would love it if you all could come. Please be looking for a card with your child’s name on it that I will be placing in their folder. On the card, I would like for you to provide a small picture of your child, your country of origin, your favorite food from your country, and your favorite holiday tradition. We will be sharing these in circle time and hanging them up for all to see. In regards to the elementary performance, it will be on the 17th of December at 5:30 PM. I will be sending more in-

formation regarding costumes in the next couple of weeks. For the month of December, we will continue our travels to the continent of Ant-arctica. For our listening enjoyment, holiday music will be playing and our cooking project for the month will be sugar cookies that the children will be able to decorate and enjoy at our party. Happy Birthday to our only December baby, Logan, and happy holidays to all!

Room 6 Ms. Bre & Ms. Megan

We cannot believe 2015 is already coming to an end. It has been a great year and thank you for making the past few months of school wonderful. We would like to thank all the parents who made the month of November special for the children. They truly enjoyed the

Harvest Feast and cooking the Stone Soup together. We will start our unit on Antarctica through the month of December. We already started rehearsals for our holiday show, “The Cat in the Hat” and we cannot wait to see the children perform! They have been busy learning their lines and singing the songs. Being that December is a short month, most of our days will be occupied with rehearsals for the show. Don’t forget to mark your calendar for opening night on Thursday, December 17th at 6:00 PM. Also, please keep an eye out for more information about the International Potluck that will be held on Wednesday, December 16th. Don’t forget to have your children to come to school wearing their PJ’s on Friday, December 18th. We will be having a movie day! Please do not hesitate to drop by or contact me through my email should you have any questions or concerns. Our door is always open for you.

Happy Birthday to Kamran, Zac, and Shaan!

We hope everyone has a warm, cozy and safe holiday season. See you next year!

Room 7

Ms. Neranja & Mr. Will Welcome to the frosty month of December! It is so hard to believe that November is over and the holidays are already approaching. Thank you to all the parents who helped contribute to our Harvest Feast. We are so lucky to have such supportive parents and the children really enjoyed having you there. December is such a short time, due to our winter vacation, so we will be only covering a few topics. To begin with, we will learn about World Holidays and the children will be discussing any traditions that they have as a family at home. The children will be bringing a

cultural project home to work on with the parents and the parents are welcome to present this with the children. This project involves a paper doll for the children to “dress” in the traditional clothing of their country or heritage. This is a great opportunity for children and parents alike to explore together how holidays are celebrated in one of their ancestral countries. Perhaps these traditions can then be incorporated into their own family celebration. In this way, children realize that all cultures can offer positive experiences. We are excited to announce our holiday show, “Hamlet in 20 minutes or so.” The play is an age-appropriate take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, with some silliness added in. The young thespians have been hard at work preparing for the performance and, with the diversity of talents and personalities in the classroom, this show will surely not be one to be missed. We will be sending an email regarding costume suggestions. Feel free to

borrow and share if you have extras. Wednesday, December 17th, Room 7 will participate at the school- wide Holiday Program followed by the International Potluck. The children are welcome to dress in costumes from their heritage if they would like. The Room 7 Holiday show will be on Thursday, December 17th at 6:30 PM. The program and the other details will be sent out in an email once all the finer details have been decided upon. Please be on the lookout for more details! Also, please stay tuned for the “International Potluck” signup sheet to be posted on our classroom door. Please be sure to enjoy these last days of the year 2015 and we hope that everyone has a warm and cozy December!