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The Quailblazer Times is the monthly newsletter for Children's House Montessori School.
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JANUARY 16, 2014
Volume I, Issue #4
KOREY'S CORNER

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and the new year is beginning swimmingly. Speaking of swimming, our Auction theme this year is the ocean, and the children and I are very busy making some incredible auction projects. For me, the auction means ART, ART, ART and spending my days with your children making fabulous work. I REALLY hope that all of you can make this year's auction on March 8th. It is sure to be a fun night, as always. We are getting excited about seeing all the wonderful donations that you will be bringing in. Each year, they surpass our wildest expectations. You guys rock. Many thanks and again, a happy and healthy 2014!!

<3 Korey
         We hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Break! It is great to see your children again back at school and we are amazed by how much they have all grown in such a short time! We have been so busy at school this week starting all of our auction projects. Tori's twin sister Elizabeth came into the classroom this week and taught your children how to draw fish for one of our auction projects. They turned out amazing! We cannot wait to see the finished projects!
~Primary Classroom




Journal Adventure        
           The kindergarten class is beginning a new "journal adventure". Journals are now on the shelf, and can be chosen as work once each day! We now have crayons, pens, or colored pencils to choose from for our journal pictures. When the picture is complete, words are written by your child! As a beginning transition, we have small papers available for dictation to a teacher, with your child copying the words into their own journal, with a "writing pencil". The next transition, which has already begun for some children, is to, eagerly and happily, "phonetically" write their own words! You may look at this writing and see only the misspelled words, incorrect grammar, and an unintelligible story line! Please close your eyes and look again! Ask your child to read to you what they wrote! 99% of the time, they will happily & confidently be able to do so! You may see amazingly inventive & creative choices of words and spelling! When you take that second look, or maybe just close your eyes and listen, I hope that you will take a moment to ponder the miraculous transition that is occurring right before your very eyes and ears. Your child, who learned to talk and to understand your words as a toddler, is making another huge leap in his/her use of language... the ability to put words and thoughts down on paper, to be shared with others, or to be remembered on days far into the future! This is truly another of those exciting moments in kindergarten! The entry above is by Hannah Redd
~Kindergarten
RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Fruit Kebabs with Fruit Dip

Mix 1 cup low-fat sour cream and 2 tablespoons each brown sugar and lime juice; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Thread fruit onto skewers; serve with the dip.
Recipe from Foodnetwork

We would love to share your recipes in The Quailblazer Times! If you have any to share, please send them our way.
Lower Elementary- Still Mentoring!
Every months end, each Lower Elementary student creates and shares a project about a chapter book he or she read that month from a genre category. January’s genre is an ‘Award-Winning” book (or a book a child believes deserving of an award). We have become very good at using projects to teach about books. This month we will teach this skill to our friends in Primary and Kindergarten by reading an award-winning picture book with a younger friend and teaching them to make a simple project about the book’s characters, settings and/or plot.
 
On Thursday, January 30th, we will view the January Award-Winning Picture Book Projects (hosted by the Primary & Kindergarten students) at 1:45 in the Primary classroom, followed by the January Award-Winning Chapter Book Projects (hosted by the Lower Elementary students) at 2:15 in the Lower Elementary classroom. Parents from all classrooms are invited to attend. We hope you can make it!
~Lower Elementary

Lice On the Head
Tom:
why are you scratching your head?
Harry: I've got those arithmetic bugs again
Tom: arithmetic bugs-what are they
Harry: well, some people call them head lice.
Tom: then why do you call them arithmetic bugs?
Harry: because they add to my misery, subtract from my pleasure, divide my attention and multiply like crazy
SWEET DREAMS
•Is your child getting enough sleep?
•Does your child often fall asleep during short trips in the car?
•Do you have to wake him up nearly every morning?
•Does she seem cranky, irritable or overtired most days?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your child may be getting less sleep than he or she actually needs.
Children between the ages of 18 months to 3 years typically need 12 to 14 hours of sleep in each 24 hour period. Sleep is especially important for children as it directly impacts mental and physical development.
In a recent study, researchers followed 11,000 children beginning at 3 years until age 7 to measure the effects of bedtimes on cognitive function.
Researchers found,
" Irregular bedtimes at 3 years were associated with lower scores by age 7 in reading, math and spatial awareness in both boys and girls."
Other recent studies have shown that poor sleep quality in children are associated with a host of problems including academic, behavioral, developmental and social difficulties, weight abnormalities and other health problems.
Establishing a regular bedtime is the easiest way to be sure your child is getting enough sleep for his or her developing brain.
You can help your child's sleep quality and quantity in several ways,
• Set limits that are consistent, communicated and enforced.
• Maintain a daily sleep schedule and a consistent bedtime routine.  
• Create a relaxing bedtime routine that ends in the bedroom where your child is expected to sleep.
• Make the bedroom environment the same every night and throughout the night. The bedroom should be cool, quiet and reasonably dark.
May you and your child enjoy the gift of happy sleep in 2014!
~Toddler
Continuing our annual tradition of honoring Dr. King and his message, we cordially invite all families to join us on Friday, January 17 at 2:00 pm, in the Primary classroom, for a series of performances in remembrance of this great leader.


Program for the 2014 C.H.M.S.
“Reflections on the History of Civil Rights
and the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”


1. Introduction by Korey
2. “Siyahamba”... South African freedom song by the Elementary Student Choir
3. “The Sneetches"... Chorale play by the Kindergarten & L1 & 2 Students
4. “When You’re a Sneetch”... A song by all Students
5. “I, Too”... Langston Hughes poem recited by Lower El students
6. “Young M.L.”... Dramatic scene from the life of Dr. King by Level 3 Students
7. “Merry Go-Round”... Langston Hughes poem recited by Lower El students
8. “The Woolworth Sit-Ins”... Dramatic scene by Level 3 Students
9.“Words Like Freedom”... Langston Hughes poem recited by Lower El students
10. “Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott”... A dramatic scene by the Level 3 Students
11. “No Easy Walk to Freedom”... A song by all Students
12. “I Have a Dream”... A Speech by Dr. King recited by UE Students,
13. “We Shall Overcome”... A song by Elementary Student Choir
“About the Celebration of the Life of Dr. King”
 
At what age should children begin learning about the human history of prejudice and discrimination? In how much detail should it be presented? These are questions with which all early childhood educators must grapple. And in a Montessori classroom, where the concept of freedom is the daily guarantee of independent self-choice and self-direction, understanding the value and history of civil rights is vitally essential to the moral development of the child. Beginning in the Lower Elementary program, these important concepts in the story of the struggle for civil rights must be taught with sensitivity to create and develop understanding and awareness, but never guilt or shame. Stories of people of courage like Ruby Bridges, the Little Rock 9, Rosa Parks and many others serve to inspire us. In the process we broaden our perception of the term “unfair” and ask ourselves how we would respond if these were our stories. These are our goals in our studies of Dr. King and civil rights history.

from the Upper Elementary Students:

"Writing Prompts"
         This year, in the upper elementary classroom, we are putting a strong emphasis on the writing "process." This includes choosing a project (from the prompt box, or an independent idea) pre-writing, drafting, and editing. Once they have gone through all of the steps of the writing process and have a final draft, they can add it to their "Writing Portfolio." Portfolio entries may then be read at "Open Mic" on Friday, published in "The Quailblazer Times," or both!  These are the entries selected for publication this month.
Favorite Animal
by Ashley Rosilez
    My favorite animal is a chicken. My chicken's name is Sprinkle. I chose her because she is so nice and has white and brown feathers on her body and feet. She is so nice that I can pet her whenever I want.
    Sprinkle eats a food called crumble, scratch and pellets. She mostly likes watermelon. Sprinkle eats bugs too. Her favorites are earwigs and meal worms.
    Sprinkle lives with my other 28 chickens at my grandparents house in a really big chicken coop. It has egg boxes, perches, and a door for people and chickens to get in the coop. Sprinkle lays cream-colored eggs.
Flag Folding
by Makenna Pilg
    When you fold a flag it always comes to 13 folds. You feel like you are in a ceremony. You fold the flag in half, and never let it touch the ground, because if it does, the people folding the flag have to burn it. Everybody cares about the flag.
The Brain
by Finn Anderson
    The brain is the center of your nervous system. It has twenty-one parts. It tells you exactly what to do. More specifically, neurons travel up your spine to the brain then you do what the message says. The right frontal lobe is for thinking. For instance, 4 x 4 = 16. You just used your right frontal lobe.
Job
by Madison Thacher
    My job is "sales person". I sell the product, whether it is tea, ice cream or another product. My manager is Madeline Bobbitt, the boss of the sales job. We stay after school and sell the product to the school parents and other people who come and visit the school. I am the associate of the job.
Upper Elementary had a poetry workshop, and learned to think beyond rhyme when writing a poem. A poem can evoke emotions and help us to picture a scene through the sound of words, and the rhythm of the lines. Here are two historical person poems, plus a third poem, just for fun, that does rhyme!

A Brave Explorer

by Sophia Crescioli
She said I will be brave and explore.
We think she is very brave.
The Hidatsa Indians
Wanted her as a slave.
The Lewis and Clark expedition
Would not have gone well,
If Sacagawea was not there.
She gave inspiration to the world.
Hilary Clinton
by Vivian Hawkins
She said
I'm going to fight for our rights
We think she is brave
Some didn't want
The rights and laws
To be changed
She gave us
Good laws and rights
She did not follow footsteps
She made her own
I Can Fly
by Charlotte Graves
I discovered I could fly
By jumping off a chair
And when I started to cry
I was way up in the air
And then I started to drop
And I decided to pull my hair
But then it was too late
I landed on a gate
And then I started to
Wait and wait and wait
And when I was up there
I even gained some weight
And that is why I am a Hippopotagrate

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