Febuary 2009
Letter from the Director
Key Dates to Remember Feb 4 Feb 13 Feb 16 The second month of the year is turning out to be the busiest so far! You can link to (and order copies of) the pictures of the children singing at the Christmas Program at http://lakesidechildrencenter.shutterfly.com/ password: stonestown To see the children singing again is the best way to ring in a New Year! Speaking of New Year, we have already celebrated Chinese New Year with the traditional lion dance. The PVO sponsored Lion Dance performance is a crowd pleaser every year. The Jing Ma dance troupe includes male & female, young & old performers. There are drums, swords, and of course, the dragon! It was an exciting time for everyone! No less exciting, but a little more ‘cozy’ was Pajama Day at Lakeside! As the director, I was privileged to eat waffles and pancakes for ‘snack’ almost four times a day - two days in a row! It is a good thing my pajamas have an elastic waist! Speaking of eating, January was also the first Child/Guest dinner. It was a rousing success. February’s “parent meeting” is the AM classes’ Child/ Guest dinner on Wednesday, February 4 at 6:00PM. Therefore, if you attended the first dinner, there is no need for you to attend this event – your attendance at last month’s dinner will fulfill your ‘parent meeting requirement’ for February. Likewise, AM parents who attend this dinner will receive credit for the January parent-meeting requirement. Also in February, the center will be closed on Friday the 13th for a teacher in-service day and Monday the 16th for Presidents’ Day. Speaking of dates to know, the deadline has passed to turn in your form indicating your schedule preferences for next year. We guarantee your child the same schedule he had last year, but if you want to increase or decrease his schedule, those requests are handled on a first come, first served basis. Many of you remember the excitement surrounding enrollment at Lakeside Children’s Center. Families who have their child’s name on the Wait List are anxiously waiting to hear the good news that they have been accepted. With your ‘Schedule Request Forms’ in hand, we are using that feedback to determine how many new slots we will have available. These slots are specifically designated per age group, per classroom, and per two, three, or five-day schedules. Next, we go to the computer and begin to match the available slots to the requested schedules. To match, children must be potty-trained, the correct age, and their desired schedule must match the available slot. Then, ‘matched’ children are notified (beginning in March) that they have a slot reserved for the upcoming school year. Sometimes, an eligible child turns down a slot because they are not yet potty-trained, their plans have changed, etc. In that case, the next family on the list is notified. Consequently, the road to the first day of school is a long one. However, I think we can agree that once at Lakeside - it is all worth it! Happy Valentine’s Day! “Mrs. E!”
THE LAKESIDE NEWSLETTER IS GOING DIGITAL!
Ms. Kerry & Mrs. Chao’s Classes
February is the month of Valentine's Day and the friendship and "love" we share for one another. We "love" having your children in our care and we "love" the way that they have grown so much in all areas. It is amazing that February is actually upon us. We have been so busy since we came back from the holidays. We enjoyed a unit on winter and then roared into "Dinosaur Week." Our dinosaur buffet was a huge success. The children had fun telling us if they were "meat-eating" or " plant-eating" dinosaurs. Everyone had a delightful time drinking hot chocolate and eating delicious waffles during our pajama days. It was such fun being "warm & cozy" in our p.j.'s with our favorite stuffed animals and blankets! For Chinese New Years and the “Year of the Ox”, the children enjoyed making some festive Chinese New Year decorations to adorn the halls of Lakeside. The early visit by the Lion Dancers was the highlight. “Gung Hay Fat Choy”! An important date to remember is the Child-Guest dinner for the A.M. children on Wed., February 4th at 6 pm. We ask that each child bring only one guest, as space is limited. Invitations will be sent home with your children. We look forward to sharing a fun-filled evening. Our Chinese New Parties will be on February 7th and 8th so watch for snack sign-ups. This is the "Year of the Rat"! We look forward to making some festive Chinese New Year decorations to adorn the halls of Lakeside and the visit by the Lion Dancers will be the highlight.
Please note that Friday, February 13th is a teacher-in-service day and Monday, February 16th is President's Day. There will be no classes on either of these days! Both the A.M. and P.M. classes will continue working on "Me Book" pages and also their individual Alphabet pages. The PM class is having great adventures with “Hunter” bear and having fun creating their journal pages. They will also be practicing rhyming words, opposites, same and different, which are all pre-reading skills. The A.M. class continues to make great strides in gaining more self-confidence in talking within a large group and expressing themselves. They are taking turns and listening attentively to what each other has to say. We have had some wonderful class discussions! They are also enjoying taking "Elly the Elephant" home and making entries in Elly’s journal. Thank you all for bringing in such nutritious snacks for the children and for signing up so promptly to bring items on party days. QUOTE OF THE MONTH: Happy Valentines Day!
Mrs. Wardell’s Kindergarten
February 2008 has arrived and brings a flurry of activities to keep the Kindergartners busy all month (all 28 days!) We intend to bring in The Year of the Ox in style-Gung Hay Fat Choy! We will be making cherry blossom pictures to brighten the winter season as we celebrate Chinese New Year. We love showing off your children’s creative works of art on our bulletin boards for all to see.
Appropriately enough, our theme for the month is friendship. We will explore friendship through the stories, poems and songs that we will learn. After being together for close to 100 days, the children’s relationships take on new facets. More like siblings than classmates, there may be some friction that erupts in negative ways. This focus on friendship gives us an opportunity to reaffirm our old friendships and welcome new ones. Arnold Lobel’s stories about Frog and Toad and James Marshall’s George and Martha characters touch on many aspects of what it takes to be a friend. Our new “rap” for the month is as follows: ABCDE
It’s time to show how friends should be We will continue to refine math skills introduced earlier in the year as well as counting on, number conservation, greater than/less than, and counting by 5's and 10"s. The children will be given opportunities for independent work, yet we will begin more whole group activities to familiarize them with oral instruction. It is more tedious, requiring patience and focused attention-a difficult skill for young people to master. A good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast/lunch will set the tone for the school day. We also appreciate your efforts in arriving to school on time, especially since our group time is one of our first activities. Fresh air, opportunities to expend energy and engaging in gross motor skills are important elements of our Kindergarten program, but it can be very cold in the yard, so please make sure your child has a warm layer to wear. If you sign up to bring in snack, please list what you are bringing on the sheet so we have a record of it for our licensing agency. Signing just your name does not give us the information we need to fulfill our licensing requirements. Please check the allergy list, also. There are two school holidays this month-Friday, February 13, is a teacher in-service and Monday, February 16, is President’s Day. There will be no classes on those days so please mark your calendars. If you have given me a school application form and have NOT received a confirmation form that it has been submitted, please let me know immediately. Deadlines are fast approaching and I want to make sure all the paperwork is completed. The conferences were, I felt, very productive and gave me further insights about your children. Thank you for your time and thoughtful comments. Your support and positive feedback is affirming. I am confident the rest of the year will bring continued growth and development. Molly Wardell Miss Michele, Ms. Lupita & Miss Megan’s Classes
It is hard to believe that February is here. We have been very busy since we came back from Christmas break. The children had a delightful time drinking hot chocolate and eating delicious pancakes during our pajama days. February is going to be a fun month with lots of parties. On February 4th we will have the child-guest dinner for the A.M. class. We will be preparing for our Valentine's celebrations on February 11th and 12th. Every child brings 24 valentines that are signed but your child, but UNADDRESSED (no names on the envelopes). If your child comes everyday they will need to bring 48 valentines since they do the party thing twice. We assist the children in passing out the envelopes. Both P.M. and A.M. classes will continue working on their "Me Book " pages. Both the classes will continue focusing on different letter and number activities. Every day our children are learning more and more. They are so proud of
the new things they can do. Until next month. Miss Michele, Ms. Lupita, & Miss Megan Ms. Lupita’s PM Class
Welcome February! I want to thank all of our families once again for your overwhelming generosity at Christmas. your thoughtfulness will long be remembered in my heart. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful community of supportive and caring parents. I hope everyone had fun at The Child Guest Dinner in January. We loved seeing all the children dressed up and enjoying the company of their special guest. Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!! We are ready to celebrate all the special friends in our lives. February is going to be a wonderful month. We are going to have a lot of activities to show how much we care for each other. We will have our Valentine's party on February 11th and February 12th. This month we are going to celebrate our 100th day of school. This is an exciting day for our children because they have been anxiously waiting and preparing for the big number 100. We will be counting by 5's snd 10's with their 100 items. The children will also be counting other children's items, which extends their interest and their practice. We will continue working on our letter books and we'll enjoy a Dinosaur week. Ms. Lupita Extended Care program
January was an exciting month! We celebrated Chinese New Year, and in the spirit of the holiday, our classroom was decorated with colorful ferocious Chinese dragons and red envelopes with gold Chinese characters. Our older children even got to watch the Jing Ma dance troop perform different types of martial arts and a Chinese lion dance. Thank you to all the parents who helped out with our Chinese New Year party snacks. The children had a great time celebrating. Please remember to keep bringing those snacks in, and remember that you get 1 point per snack. February is going to be a busy month. To start the month off, we will be making various Valentine's Day projects. The children will also be making Valentine's Day cards to exchange and share with each other during our Valentine's Day parties. The latter half of the month will be dedicated to learning about good health and hygiene. We'll be making a clean hands collage plate and a healthy body class book. Be sure to visit our classroom to see these fun activities! Please remember that Extended Care is closed on Friday, February 13th for Teacher's In-Service and Monday, February 16th for President's Day. And a quick reminder – cold season is in full affect this year. If you think your child may be coming down with a cold, please do not bring him/her him or her to school. A few days of nursing the sick at home will help prevent "bugs" from spreading. Thank you! Melanie Turner, Michelle Dimapasoc and the Extended Care Staff PVO President’s Note
Dear Lakeside Parents: As you are now probably reading this newsletter on-line, I want to thank everyone involved for their efforts in making this happen: Tom Angsten, Kathleen Lunbeck, Caroline Bankhead, Denice Heath, Kerry Dolan Button and Janelle White. January was a busy month for our enrichment program. The children loved the Chinese Lion Dancers and were excited to have “good luck” by being hit by lettuce! The following week, the older children saw the “whale bus”, a program sponsored by the Marine Mammal Center that allows children to have hands on experiences to learn about marine mammals. Thank you again to Maureen McFadden for making this all happen! The first child guest dinner was again a success. Thank you to Bernadette Hurley and Joan Mulkerrins for the wonderful night. I hear the magician was quite a hit! Beyond the enrichment program and events such as the Child guest dinner, there is quite a bit of “behind the scenes” work that the PVO does. We are diligently working on the landscape design, with high hopes of completing this in the near future. The teacher’s have all compiled “wish lists” for their classrooms, which the PVO will help in funding. The parent survey has now been compiled and the results will be presented at the next PVO board meeting, which is early this month and occurs on Friday, Dec. 6th. Another area that the PVO has been addressing is school security and safety. We are hoping to get a group of parents on –board to continue addressing security issues that arose from the security report that the PVO paid for last year. Lastly, by the time you read this, you will hopefully be seeing crossing guards outside of school until 8:30. I was able to talk to the city about having the current crossing guards stay an additional 15 minutes. Thank you to the wonderful San Francisco City Department called “Livable Streets.” February and March will be busy months with our last child guest dinner; the PVO sponsored Book Drive benefiting the Children’s Book Project, the spring book fair and finally, our big Spring event on March 7. Please be sure to look at the information in this newsletter about this event and ways that you can contribute. This will be a fun night out and one of our biggest fundraisers that only happens every other year! Happy Valentine’s Day! Green Effort Update
At a time when we are not only inclined to think green but also save $, consider these work, home and school alternatives:
Janelle L. White-Farinacci Spring Fundraiser
Earn between 10 and 15 points by March 7th! Volunteering for this event is a great way to earn the points you still
need while having fun and getting to know other Lakeside parents. We will be having meetings on the following days from
10 – 11 am in the social hall - Feb 3, 10, 17, 24 and March 3.
All positions will be appointed on a first request basis. Please contact Diane Gutierrez at dianegutrz@hotmail.com, Sonali Herrera at sonaliherrera@yahoo.com, or add your name to the sign up sheet on the PVO board. |
For Valentine's Day, we will have lots of special "heart" activities.
Our Valentine's classroom parties will be on Wed., February 11th and Thurs., February 12th. We ask that each child
bring in 24 signed-but UNADDRESSED (please no names on envelopes)--Valentine cards. If your child comes to school
every day, they may bring in Valentine cards for each party day, since they will have two parties to attend. We will
assist each child in passing out the cards to their classmates. The children enjoy celebrating the friendships that
are so special to them. Please watch for party sign-ups. 
Since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner we will be making cards and a special stained glass paper heart. If your child
would like to bring in valentines for the class, please send enough for everyone, which is 16. The class party will be on
Thursday, February 12. Sign-ups for the class party will be posted soon if you would like to help with food, drink or paper
goods. Our parties are always so festive and delicious, thanks to your generosity.