Our Space

Week of January 21, 2020

Hello Parents,

Remember, there will be no school on Monday, January 20 for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In looking ahead for our 100^th day of school on Monday, February 3, we will need some volunteers to help with various activities throughout the day as well as volunteers to bring food or other items for the activities. There will be a sign-up on track-it-forward coming out sometime this week end. Please keep your eyes out for it.

Re-Enrollment for current students for next year is happening now!

If you are planning for your child to attend MMA next school year, please re-register your child NOW! Just log on to ASPIRE to do this. Open enrollment will be happenings soon.

We will continue our study on Antarctica and learn about the life cycle of a mammal. We will continue to track the weather as we learn more about it. In art we will introduce Henri Matisse. The children are progressing in their individual lessons and many of them are even progressing in their motivation to do their challenging work. Way to go kids!

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the extra time with your family. Thank you for your continued support.

Ms. Martha & Ms. Valerie

Week of January 13, 2010

Hello Parents,

Remember there is no school for students Friday, January 10. It is a work day for teachers.

This week we will continue working on habit 4 (Think Win, Win) by finding ways to make everyone happy. We will look more closely at the mammals that live in Antarctica as well as learn some of the parts of a mammal. As we continue to learn more about the weather, we will also watch and record the weather. In art, we will learn about the element of shape.

Snacks– I will put the snack sign-up for the remainder of the school year on trackitforward. It only let me put it up for six months. Until further notice, we DO NOT need any more dry goods (pretzels, crackers, popcorn, etc.). We have plenty of those items. However, we do welcome fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, hummus, etc.

Dress code- As a reminder, please have your child dressed appropriately for the weather. We go outside every day except in extreme weather conditions. Also, remember your child should have a pair of indoor shoes that they will change into daily. They should also be in a solid color, collared shirt; and in clothes that are free from holes. We ask that you keep in their backpack, a zip-lock bag with a change of clothes in case of an emergency.

Morning class pick-up– We will try again to leave recess for pick-up from the recess gate. Please read the following carefully-

Morning class parents,

Beginning on Monday January 13^th we are hoping to start using the gate to exit the playground instead of going through the building.  We need your help to ensure that this runs smoothly and the children exit safely.  Parents and caregivers have 3 responsibilities at pick up

–        If you are waiting outside of your vehicle for your child, or you need to exit your vehicle to buckle your child you must park in a parking stall

–        If you are walking with your child in the parking lot, you must use the crosswalk

–        PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pull forward as soon as your child gets in your vehicle.  Once you are pulled as far forward as possible you can stop to allow your child to buckle.

As one final reminder we ask that parents and caregivers NEVER call a child out into the parking lot.  You must come and get them.   If you have any questions, please ask.  If your child is picked up by someone other than yourself, we would ask that you pass this information onto them.

Ms. Jen, Ms. Jess, Ms. Martha, Ms. Valerie

Thank you and have a great week!

Week of January 6, 2020

Hello Parents,

Happy New Year to you all! It is hard to believe we are already in the year 2020. We will begin the new year with many new themes. First off, we will start by focusing on habit 4 from Sean Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, which is “Think Win-Win”.  In this habit we will be moving from the private victory to the public victory.  Our first 3 habits were all about bettering ourselves and improving our own lives.  With “Think Win-Win” we will learn about 4 outcomes that are available when you interact with someone else; win-win, win-lose, lose-win, and lose-lose.

Win-Win- “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us.” People who search for solutions that make them happy and at the same time make others happy. People in this category have both the courage to say what they want and the consideration to work toward mutual benefit.

Win-Lose- “I am going to beat you no matter what”. People who fit in this category are only concerned with themselves they want to win and make others lose. They have the courage to say what they want but are low on consideration. With win-lose you think of competition, comparison, power, and position.  This is actually a very common interaction in our society.  As parents we naturally have position over our children and sometimes put our agenda over theirs.  We must remind ourselves to constantly be on guard for situations in which we can change a win-lose to a win-win when interacting with children.

Lose-Win- “I always get stepped on”. People in this category have lots of consideration for others but they lack the courage to express and act on their own feelings and beliefs.  Too much time in this category creates the victim mentality and people who just follow the crowd.  They may bury a lot of their feelings, have no demands or expectations of others, and they are quick to please others even at the expense of themselves.

Lose-Lose- “If I’m going down, you’re going down with me.”  People in this category are low on courage and consideration they envy and criticize others.  They put themselves and others down.  This situation can be the long-term result of a win-lose.

In class we will talk about ways to make situations a win-win, we will think of cooperation, communication, and seek for mutual benefit.

We will also begin the introduction of our new continent study (Antarctica); our new biome study (Polar); and our new vertebrate study (mammals). In science we will learn more about weather and will keep a log on the weather this month.  The element in art that we will be learning about is shape. And to go along with shape, the artist we will study is Henri Matisse. 

We look forward to seeing your dear children soon. 

Ms. Martha & Ms. Valerie

P.S. We need help in gathering items for our GALA basket. Our room parents emailed the follow to you, but just in case it did not reach you, I copied and pasted the information to include in this blog. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Here it is-

 Hello Families of Ms. Martha’s Class!

We hope you all have been enjoying this holiday season with your friends and family! In March, MAPA will be hosting the Gala Fundraiser for MMA, which is another great way that fundraising is done for the school. Each class has been asked to put together a basket of goodies and items to be auctioned off at the Gala. Our assigned basket theme is “1st Grade Here I Come”. Myself and the PM class room parent, Kami Johnson will be working thru the months of January and February to put together an amazing basket. We will be looking for donations of new items to put in our basket. Some ideas of items that we can include are: books, games, a lunch box, a backpack, puzzles, art supplies, flash cards, first day of school props, and school supplies, etc. We will also need a nice sized basket or school type container to hold all our items. We are open to any suggestions of other items or ideas that you all think would go great with our theme. Here’s the part where we need your help: with the Christmas holiday just ending, there will be some great sales going on or maybe even some great items that our little ones got gifted doubles of. Maybe even things that we purchased and forgot where we hid them, so they never got wrapped and put under the tree (me!). Perhaps you have connections with a business in our community that would be willing to donate an item or experience that is on theme. We greatly appreciate anything that you are able to donate and these items can also count towards your volunteer time for the year. Please reach out to myself (Andrea McMahan) or Kami Johnson with any questions or any donation items that you are able to give. We will be creating a spreadsheet to keep track of all the items and can make arrangements to get the items from you at drop-off/pick-up or the classroom. Thank you all so much for your help and support!

Andrea

Ms. Martha’s AM Class Room Parent

Andrea McMahan                                                  Kami Johnson

(951)634-7566 (text)                                              (702)355-5238

almcmahan01@yahoo.com                                   kami.leah.johnson@gmail.com

Hello Parents,

Wow!  The end of the calendar year is quickly coming to a close. We will have just four short days with the children before the Winter Break. Remember this week the children will come only Monday through Thursday with Tuesday through Thursday being early release days for Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC). AM children will come from 8:30-10:30 and PM children will come 11:00-1:00 on the early release days. If you have not had a chance to sign up for PTC please do so. Here are the links:

We will continue to reinforce Habit 3 Put First Things First. We will learn about the people living in the grasslands of North America and continue to do more air experiments in physical  science.  We will have a special story and dessert on Wednesday.  The week will go by fast, but should be enjoyable for us all. We look forward to meeting with each of you during our PTC.

Thanks

Ms.Martha & Ms. Valerie

Hello Parents,

We will continue to emphasize Habit 3- “Put First Things First” and encourage the children to do their challenging work first Challenging work usually includes writing, reading (language arts) and math, but could also include other work that is challenging for them and that takes more effort and concentration. We will also learn about the plants and animals that live in the grasslands of North America. In botany, we will focus on edible stems; and for science we will continue to do different air experiments.

We will continue to have hot chocolate for our practical life work. However, we just finished the canister of hot cocoa. I have set up a request for more hot cocoa on trackitforward. Here is the link- https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/515393  This has been a favorite work for the children. One table has been reserved for this work. The children get to invite a friend to join them and they prepare the cocoa for themselves and a friend and can visit while sipping on their hot cocoa. It is a time when they can practice “Grace and Courtesy” (manners) and teaches many good social skills.

There will be a “Box Top” store on Tuesday. Please have the box tops ready by cutting them right on the lines. If you have a lot of box tops it will help if you have them counted out and mark the number of box tops on the baggie or envelope or whatever they are held in.

Thank you for your support,

Ms. Martha & Ms. Valerie

Week of December 2, 2019

Hello Parents,

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed the extra time with your family! It is hard to believe that we are moving into December already. This month we will continue our studies of North America, but the biome we will be studying is grasslands. We will focus on Habit 3- “Put First Things First” taken from The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, and will strongly encourage those in  kindergarten to begin their work cycle by doing at least one challenging work right away. In botany, we will learn about stems and their purpose in plants, and we will do some air experiments for physical science. We also would like to learn about different ways people celebrate this time of year. If you have special traditions you would want to include in our cultural studies, we would love to hear about them and how we can incorporate them in our classroom. Please email or talk to us about them.

Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC) 

Remember we will be holding PTC on December 17-19; if you have not had the chance to sign up yet, I have provided the links to trackitforward below.

Tuesday, December 17- 17-  https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/512179

Wednesday, December 18-

https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/512153

Thursday, December 19-

https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/512178

Thanks,

Ms. Martha and Ms. Valerie

Hello Parents,

Just a reminder that there we are now on Thanksgiving Break. We will return December 2. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the extra time with your family!

Looking into December we would like to have some holiday activities on the shelves. Please feel free to share some of your holidays traditions with us. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, St. Lucia Day or something else, we would love to hear about them.

Thanks,

Ms. Martha & Ms. Valerie

Hello Parents,

My PTC sign ups are now on trackitforward. They will be held December 17-19. Please sign up for one time slot.

Tuesday, December 17-

https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/512179

Wednesday, December 18-

https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/512153

Thursday, December 19-

https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/512178

Thanks,

Martha

Hello Parents.

Remember we still have two Mondays in November to help our school. It is spirit night at Pizza Pie Cafe tonight and next Monday. If you mention our school, they will give us 10% of your total purchase. ”

We will be making “Root Soup” on Wednesday. Please have your child bring in one root vegetable to add to our soup

On Thursday, our school will be hosting a Gratitude Feast for our community helpers. Please sign up and help us say thanks to our wonderful community! Follow the link here:

https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/511621

Thank you,

Ms. Martha

P.S. I  should have sign ups for PTC up soon. Please look for them in the next few days.

Week of November 18, 2019

Hello Parents,

A BIG THANK YOU to all who helped in any way toward our Thanksgiving Feast. It was a wonderful celebration and the children enjoyed being able to help prepare food and take part in the play and sing songs for you. They were so excited to share this special day with you. Without your generosity we cannot do these types of events.

We will read another couple of books to help reinforce the idea of Habit 2- Begin with the end in mind. Afterwards each class will help in writing a mission statement that will become part of our morning routine and something we will live by. We will learn about some of the plants and animals that live in the deserts of North America. We will continue our study of rocks and will learn about Ansel Adams as the artist of the month. As we study roots, we will meet with Ms. Jen’s class and make some root soup. Please have your child bring one “root” food to contribute to our soup on Wednesday.

One more thing, the office has asked us to post the following-

Thank you again for all your support. We have great children because they have great families! Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Martha & Ms. Valerie