Where: The Ken Caryl Ranch House

7676 S. Continental Divide Road
Littleton, Colorado 80127

What: Our most important fundraiser of the year! 100% of the proceeds benefit MSKC!

Who: MSKC families, friends, and neighbors

Where: Pizza Doodle (303)442.2940

 6830 S. University Blvd.

Centennial, CO 80122

What: An MSKC fundraiser – Dine in or Take out. Mention you are with MSKC, and we receive 15% of the evening’s profits!

Who: MSKC families, friends, and neighbor

Re-enroll for Fall 2012-13, with the first month’s tuition deposit required (non-refundable, applied towards September 2012 tuition) due May 1st, 2013.

Workbond/materials fees are due per semester not annually.  This is a revision to previous years’ fee schedule.

Please check your email or with Ms Jenelle for 2012-13 tuition.

NOTE: All deposits are non-refundable

Hello Teachers,

The 41 international Fulbright scholars (International Educational Exchange Program) showed up last weekend to volunteer and work in the four gardens, re-potted the classroom plants, painting the building, re-organized the Children’s Library and covered both playgrounds with 3.5 tons of new tire mulch.  They worked endlessly and smiled thru it all…I’m sorry if things are not put back where they should be but I hope we all can be so happy with the progress that a few mishaps won’t scar the weekend’s progress.

A few things to notice:

The plants throughout the school were divided and re-potted in many, many pots.  I cannot guarantee that your plants were returned to your room, feel free to look around all the rooms if you’re missing a particular one.

There may be drops of paint or remnants of tools/buckets, etc around…I apologize, we tried to get everything picked up but may have missed something.  They only got the west side of the building painted a nice shade of blue but it’s a start.  Also, they were able to hang up all the portable playground shade covers.

The front garden has strawberry plants growing in it, please take note.  A lot of sweat went into these projects but they continued to tell me they were happy to work outdoors instead of study in the library for a part of their weekend.  A few of the men said they’d forgotten how much they miss working with soil like they do back home.

I hope everyone is pleased with the work and progress of the maintenance.  I know your rooms were admired and MANY photos were taken of your materials and classroom…just wait ’til you see the pictures.

Last but not least, Ms Melisse & Ms Michelle & Ms Lana, I hope you don’t mind but the scholars wanted to leave a piece of them behind and as such, marked a red dot on your world map in the classroom.  There was a scholar from Kabul and he had 3 boys awaiting him (7,4, and a new 3 week old whose birth he had missed) so he obviously took a liking to my three sons. Of course, my heart bled for his homeland so upon departing he thanked me for playing with my children and naturally, I wished his family peace back home…it was,…well, you can just imagine.

These men and women are here for their elections and a mini-conference; all told me this was their favorite part of their 4-day trip.  They loved your classrooms and many of the women (particularly one from Egypt and one from Vietnam) were especially sad not to see students here in the classrooms.  Several scholars are also educators in their homeland and wanted to be able step foot inside a school setting again.  They all told me as they left to THANK YOU ALL FOR CHANGING THE WORLD.  They were quite adamant about this. You should know that you make a profound difference even when you’re not here in the building.  Brought tears to my eyes…Ms Jenelle

The Aspen Room continues to be a very busy place.  We had a great time at the Tiny Tots concert and are now practicing rhythm band activities at line time a couple times a week.  The rhythm band instruments are tambourine, rhythm sticks, hand drum, cymbal, maracas, and triangle.  We are not ready to go on the road, still working on one person playing an instrument at a time.

Valentines!

Valentines Day is tomorrow – we will be decorating bags and exchanging Valentines.  Please bring 15 cards with your child’s name – no need to address them individually.

Show and Tell

We will be sending the show-and-tell bag (green with polka dots) home again starting February 15.  Please help your child choose “something special” to put in the bag and bring to school the following day.  If the “something special” is living, please do not put it in the bag, make arrangements with Miss Michelle.

Hello Everyone

Work that children are enjoying:

Tangerine peeling, stickers, shape puzzle, peg board, put and takes, books and transfer work.  We went for a walk on Wednesday the 8^th.

If you didn’t know, we have eleven toddlers in this classroom: 7 girls & 4 boys.  You may have noticed that it is common to find your child wearing different clothes when you pick-up in the afternoon because they are all so enthralled with the sink and all the water works.  The other day, one of the toddlers placed his hat down over his face and walked around the playground just feeling with his hands all the equipment, the kids, and how to maneuver walking down the one inch step onto the mulch.  Talk about adventure.  What a curious spirit!

The kids have been enjoying dancing to “Shoe Fly, Don’t Bother Me” and insist on hearing an oldie but a goodie:  “Three Little Ducks” every morning.  You may have heard a few of these tunes lately.  If you want to learn the words, stay put in our room for a moment or two to listen to the chorus so that you, too, can join along when your child pipes up.

Circle time has included lessons on how to “catch your cough in your elbow” and how to use Kleenex for blowing our noses.  Always good reminders, right?

It’s been a joy to see how well our toddlers eat.  It truly makes a difference in their energy and behavior throughout the day.  We can tell that their lunches are packed with care.  The variety has included such items as steak ‘n pasta, fresh blueberries, quesadillas, kiwi, fettucine alfredo and broccoli, rice buns…all the things that make our mouths water with envy!

Future Work: The next theme is Transportation.  This will include puzzles, books, sorting, picture cards and etc.

Reminders: Please bring snow pants and boots so your child can explore the snow without getting too cold or wet.

Yearly Auction is February 25^th from 6 to 10pm

Thank you for sharing their days with us.  They continue to make us smile as they grow and shine.

Quote:

The adventure of life is to learn

The purpose of life is to grow

The nature of life is to change

The challenge of life is to overcome

The essence of life is to care

The opportunity of life is to serve

The secret of life is to dare

The spice of life is to befriend

The beauty of life is to give

The joy of life is to love

Author unknown

Welcome to February! Since we are now experiencing winter, please send your student to school with full winter gear for outdoor play. Boots are a must if your child wishes to play in the snow and snow pants, hats and mittens keep your children warm and dry. Very few children can resist the opportunity to roll in snow!

Inside the classroom we are preparing for Valentine’s Day. We will be having a Valentine card exchange in the morning on Tuesday, February 14th. Each child is asked to bring a small valentine for each of the class members (9 minus themselves). Please have your student sign the cards (or “help” them if needed) but addressing them to each child is optional. If you wish to do so, please see the email containing the class list. Your student is to bring the cards to class the morning on the 14th. If your student will not be at school that day, he/she may bring them in on Monday. We will make sure that the cards will be passed out during the card exchange and that we collect their cards from the other students and save them for your child’s return. Tuesday morning we will decorate bags to collect Valentines in. Please note that we will not be having a party but will be discussing the origins and traditions of the holiday. This day provides everyone with the chance to let others know how much we care about them.

The days and year seem to be flying by. The students are really working hard. Many are doing regular sound lessons and beginning reading exercises. Our older students have started work on the decimal system. We have been focusing as a class on the world map, learning the names of the continents and some of the animals and famous places found on each. They are really enjoying geography and several have started learning the names of the territories in Australia.

One final note; there is no school on Friday, February 17 for a staff in-service day and Monday, February 20 for Presidents Day. Have a wonderful 4 day weekend with your children!

Peace, Ms. Melissé

Finally! The Blue Spruce Infant Room is now open!

From grasping and tummy time, to rolling over and crawling, the new infant room is a place for all  babies to flourish and grow.

The classroom is set up with the infant child in mind. Each material is beautiful and easy to grasp.  The room is filled with natural light and calming music. Each infant is cared for according to his/her needs at the time.

All furniture is at eye level for the infant to touch and explore.  Maria Montessori called the infant classroom the “Nido.” This means “The Nest.” Much like in the womb, the infant should feel warm, safe, and healthy in the classroom.

Here is a list of a few works that will be in the infant room

-Transfer works (placing balls in a cup)

-Posting rings

-Puzzles

-Gross motor materials (Push cart, pull-up bar)

-Sensory materials (texture boards, balls, grasping mobiles)

-Mirrors

-Rattles

-Small infant chairs and tables (this allows the child’s feet to touch the floor)

-.Teething objects

-Objects for stacking (aid in fine motor development and eye hand coordination)

-Soft areas for lying down, rolling over, and crawling

The materials in the Infant Classroom are given to the child with the development for a particular function in mind.

The Montessori Infant classroom allows the infant to fully develop with nurture, love, and independence!

- Miss Lauren

Greetings from the Maple Room!  We are amazed at how fast time passes.  Our class has been busy punching out maps of the world and North America, working on our beginning word sounds, creating ways to build, combining the different sensorial materials, and sharing our “All About Me” books.  These books are a big hit with the children.

We talked a lot about musical instruments in preparation for the Tiny Ttots concert.  The highlight was when Cora’s father came to play his cello for us.  He and his wife brought a violin, viola, and cello to show us.  It was a musical and educational treat! After the concert, Tegan brought in a melody harp to donate to our class, and the children have really been enjoying playing it.

We have been waiting for a non-snow day to go outside to introduce “biomes”.  Next Wednesday for sure!  The children will discover what makes up a biome by seeing, feeling (perhaps tasting, but not on purpose)  air, energy, water, soil, plants and animals.

We are starting to do a Spanish lesson at one of our line times so that they hear Spanish daily. Ask your child about pequeno, mediano, and grande.

Show and Tell is now on Tuesday because that is the one day that all of our children attend.  We appreciate your support in this area!!!  It has been so fun to see the amazing objects the children bring.  Show n tell for the next four Tuesdays are:  2/14 – “h”    2/21 – “i”  (short vowel sound)  difficult to find, please start looking!,     2/28 – “g”  and     3/6 – “c” (k sound)

This Tuesday is also Valentines Day!  We will exchange valentines.  Please have your children bring 15 signed, but not addressed valentines.  At line time, the children will drop a valentine in each of the children’s bags.  Please do not send candy.

Quote of the month:  A child asked me, “Where is Miss Lucy?”  I told him that she had gone home for the day.  He looked at me in disbelief and said, “Teachers live at the school.”  The things they say and a little hug can really make our day!!!  Thanks for sharing them with us!

Miss Kathy, Miss Lucy, and Miss Amy

Tell your friends, bring the in-laws, this promises to be a fun nite!

MSKC 2012 Auction & Casino Night Invitation