Preschool Term 3 2011

Volume 3, Issue 3 (Term 3) SY 2011-2012

Mentari Preschool Grand Surya 11th January to 24 March 2012

Theme : Weather ,Seasons and Climate

Crack! With a flash and a bang, a bolt of lightning splits a tree in half. Hurricanes bring the ocean onto the land and carry houses away. Torna-does pick up cars and throw them through brick walls. Floods turn roads into rivers. What do all these extreme events have in common? They’re all examples of weather. Usually the weather is less extreme. Maybe you listen to the weather forecast in the morning. You want to know whether it will be cold enough to wear a sweater or jacket, or warm enough to wear shorts. Weather is important for many things that you do.

Hot and cold temperatures, wind, rain, and snow are all part of the weather. WHAT MAKES WEATHER? Weather comes from the Earth’s atmosphere and the Sun’s heat. The atmos-phere is made of air. Wind is moving air. Heat from the Sun makes the air move around. Hot air rises, leaving a space behind. Cooler air flows into that space. Air is always moving around Earth. The moving air carries clouds along with it.

Dear Preschool Parents, Happy New year! Let us welcome year 2012 with a bang! I hope you had a fun holiday with lots of new memories about events with your child and loved ones. I had a good vacation in my hometown , Manila in the Philippines . Reunions and tradi-tions came back to life especially in the most important season for most Filipinos—Christmas. Twinkling Christmas lanterns, dawn masses and lots of food and exchanging gifts always mark this special season in my country.

New year is always a fun time to start resolutions, plans and expectations. This is a good time to start traditions with your fam-ily in case you have not done it yet. With all the new memories you have made, you and your child could make a scrapbook of the year that was.

We hope you are now enjoying the personalized calendar we sent out.. It’s a fun reminder about your child’s fondest memories from school .

We start the 3rd term with a timely theme about weather , seasons and climate. It’s an appropriate theme to discuss as your kids are really experiencing the changes in weather these past month and the moths to come . Please feel free to share your memories of what different kinds of weather you have experienced .

Lastly, in case you are cleaning the house , and have materials you think your class teach-ers can make use of (old and new calendars, boxes, containers etc..) please feel free to send it over .

Again, welcome back to school !

Happy New Year! Selamat Tahun Baru !

Teacher Melanie

WHERE DO CLOUDS COME FROM? Clouds come from air that is warm and full of water vapor. Water vapor is water in the form of a gas. It gets into the air when the Sun heats water in lakes, rivers, and oceans. The water evaporates, or turns to water va-por. As the Sun heats the air, the warmer air rises. But it’s colder higher up, and the water vapor turns to tiny water drops or bits of ice. The water and ice make clouds in the sky. The particles of water or ice are so small that they float in air. Some clouds are white and fluffy. Some clouds are dark and gray. Some clouds are close to Earth. They lie across the sky in sheets. Some clouds go up high like mountains. Watch out for dark clouds. They could mean a storm is coming. WHY DOES IT RAIN OR SNOW?

Rain can fall from clouds when the air temperature is above freezing. Sometimes water va-por in clouds cools and becomes raindrops. The drops get bigger and heavier until they fall from the cloud. If the temperature is below freezing, tiny bits of ice called crystals form in a cloud. The ice crystals can fall. Snowflakes form from ice crystals. The ice crystals stick together to make snowflakes. Rain and snow are important for life on Earth. Rain brings water to plants so they can grow. Rain and snow put water back in lakes, rivers, and oceans. WHAT CAUSES A STORM? Swirling winds and warm and cold air make storms. In some places, the air is warm. In other places, the air is cold. Cold air and warm air running into each other make storms.

Weather forecasters call moving cold air a cold front. They call moving warm air a warm front. Storm clouds can form when fronts meet. Tall clouds make thunderstorms. Rain pours down from the cloud. Sometimes balls of ice called hail come down from the cloud. Lightning flashes across the sky. The spark of lightning going through the air makes the crack of thunder. WHAT ARE TORNADOES AND HURRICANES? Sometimes powerful, swirling winds called tornadoes drop down from thunderstorms. Tornadoes can do a lot of damage. They can flatten houses. They can tear trees out of the ground. Huge storms called hurricanes form over the Atlantic Ocean. They have swirling winds that blow very hard. Sometimes hurricanes reach land. The high winds can do a lot of damage. The heavy rains can cause floods. Hurricanes over the Pacific Ocean are called typhoons. FORECASTING THE WEATHER It is not easy to forecast the weather. Meteorologists—scientists who study weather—use many kinds of tools. They study the kinds of clouds that form in the sky. They measure how fast winds are blowing. They send up weather balloons to measure temperature and humidity (moisture in the air) up high. They use satellites to take pictures of clouds and storms swirling around Earth. All of this information goes into computers. Computer programs tell weather forecasters what might happen. You listen to your radio or televi-sion weather forecast to learn whether you should carry an umbrella or wear a jacket. Sometimes the weather forecast is right and sometimes it is wrong. Mete-orologists are always looking for better ways to predict the weather. Also in Encarta Kids Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Montessori Work “Little children, from the moment they are weaned,

are making their way toward independence.”

For the children in Nursery to K2, the Montessori classroom is an interesting environment. It gives them a chance to do decisive actions and this fosters independence. There are lots of materials to manipulate with those tiny fingers. There are materials in the different areas of learning (Practical Life, Sensorial Arts, Language , Math and Cultural Arts area) that will aid in developing their concentration skills. Little by little, the children will learn that working is fun! We look forward to working in this class. material enriched environment !

Promoting Independence

A key task of parenting is raising independent, self-motivated children who are able to ap-propriately use the support of parents and friends as they grow. You can help your child develop a healthy sense of independence. Independence is an important aspect of your

child’s development. From the age of two, children strive for more independence. From this age, you should encourage your child to make simple choices about their lives.

The degree of independence you can expect form you child must appropriate to their age and abilities and varies with each different situation. Children may be more independent in some situations than others.

It can be a common pitfall for busy parents to do things for children that children are capable of doing themselves. Though it may actually take more time initially for parents to support children to do age-appropriate tasks for themselves, your child's self confidence and independence will grow as a result.

Ways to encourage appropriate independence Allow your child to make simple choices from a range of options you are prepared to accept. For example, allow your children to have a say in which clothes they will be wearing each day, even if this is limited to basic colour selection.

Let children make mistakes and support them to learn from them.

Let children participate in household chores, such as vacuuming, dusting and making beds.

Develop a responsibility chart so your children can keep track of the household chores they have completed.

Let children know you are interested in their thoughts and ideas. Ask their opinions on things that are to do with them.

Respect your child's decisions wherever possible.

Help children to understand the impact of their choices.

Teach children problem solving skills – encourage them to think about what they could do to fix the problem rather than telling them what to do.

Provide positive support for your child in situations that may be challenging.

Encourage and praise children’s attempts to do things for themselves no matter what the outcome.

Provide age-appropriate toys so that children can learn to play by themselves for short periods of time.

Help children take responsibility for packing up their toys.

Teach older children to use a watch and incorporate time in some directions you give. For example "You can go next door to play, but I want you to be home by 4:30."

SPECIAL EVENTS OF THE TERM

:

20 January 2012 (Friday ) Imlek in Mentari preschool

Welcome the year of the dragon with a bang.

The preschool will welcome the coming Chinese new year with special activities . Remember to let your child wear his/ her Chinese costume. Details to be announced later .

How do we celebrate Imlek?

It is a time to get together with your family and wish everyone good luck in the com-ing months. In China everyone cleans their houses thoroughly to get rid off any back luck and to make room for all the good luck that the new year might bring. Fresh flowers are brought into the home to symbolise the coming of spring. The Chinese also like to wear red at new year because it is considered a lucky colour.

Field Trip postponed to term 4

An educational field trip is planned for the 3rd term , but the rainy weather is expected to last until march . The field trip will thus be postponed to early 4th term to assure that we would have a fun time during this trip.

14 February 2012 (Tuesday ) Valentine’s day at the preschool

Will you be my valentine? Valentine is a day to celebrate love and friendship so pair off / have triads with your child’s classmate and let them be dressed up in the same attire (red/ [pink or blue )as . Crafts, games and a little party will mark this important day !

2nd Parent teacher conference—For the last week of this term (March 16, 2911 ) we invite you to come and talk to your child’s teacher to find out about your child’s progress. A letter will be sent to you a week before this event.

FLASHBACK OF THE SECOND TERM

October 28,2011 United Nations International Friend-ship celebration OHH!! WHAT A FUN CELEBRATION WE HAD ON THIS DAY . EVERYONE CAME IN COSTUMES TO CELE-BRATE FRIENDSHIP AMONGST NATIONS.

PTC (Parent Teacher Conference) October 2011

The preschool parents had their first parent teacher conference for the school year. They were informed of their child’s perform-ance in class. Thanks for coming to the conference !

Halloween party – October 31. 2011

Halloween was celebrated last October 31 with costumes and trick or treat celebration. Boo!

December Concert Let’s Rock it to Outer Space—The Holiday Show for 2011

It was an awesome program to end the term. The preschoolers sang and danced with gusto! We had twinkling Toddler stars, magnificent Nursery moons , lovable aliens and zooming rocket ships from the K1 kids and of course ever proud and brave astronauts from K2 who performed for a captive audience at the Mentari audito-rium. What a blast-off it was! Bravo preschoolers!

Christmas Class party –

December 16,2011 Red and green and lots of Christmas cheer!

That was what the preschool celebrated to end the term and to celebrate the holidays ! HO! Ho! Ho! Of course it was always a treat to have a visit from Jolly St. Nick , more famously known as Santa Claus .

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

After school Activities are still continuously offered every month for English Conversation , Reading and Math

for Nursery , K1 and K2 levels. These classes run for 8 sessions ( 30 Minutes each). Please talk to your Head

teacher or Teacher Melanie for further inquiry New sessions begin this week

Homework Cards: Homework reading and

Phonics cards as well as math sheets are

sent every week. The nursery will be pro-

vided simple homework too, starting this

term . Kindly help your child work on these

so they can develop good study habits as

early as now.

TIPS to raising a BILINGUAL CHILD It's absolutely true. No matter what age your child is, or whether you speak one language or several, you can raise your child bilingual. While you can probably already envision some of the advantages your child will enjoy once she can speak two languages, it might be motivating to know that learning two languages, in and of itself, will be hugely beneficial to her. Research shows that children who are being raised bilingual enjoy language, academic, and cognitive advantages, from increased abstract thinking and problem-solving abilities to improved school per-formance, even in math. Children who learn a second language are also more culturally aware. Here are seven tips to get you going. Start as early as possible While adults can and do learn languages, the brain is more receptive to language learning during childhood. You may not realize it, but at birth, your child's brain is pre-wired to learn all of the languages of the world, regardless of what language or languages you speak. Know that whether you are bilingual or monolingual, you can raise your child bilingual. Nearly every child can learn a second language. Indeed, throughout the world, bilingualism is the rule and not the exception. Define the level of proficiency you'd like your child to achieve. Before beginning, it is helpful to under-stand what it means to be bilingual. This can be explained based on levels of bilingual proficiency. The first level is the ability to understand a second language. (This is sometimes referred to as passive bilingualism because it does-n't involve actively speaking it.) The second level is being able to carry on conversation, more or less fluently, in the second language. The third, and final, level is the ability to read and write as well as speak that language. Identify and prioritize your bilingual goals for your child — and for your child to aim for greater proficiency — as each level is a solid stepping-stone to the next. Look for outside support to keep you going As with any important and long-term parenting goal, support is necessary and crucial when teaching your child a second language. Weekend language schools, tutoring, and play groups can help you connect with other families who are raising their children to speak your language and help up the "language input." Write down a "weekly bilingual plan." Having a "weekly bilingual plan" that lists different types of activities you'll do in your language, such as reading to your child, watching a movie, or playing a computer game, and when you'll do them, helps you ensure that your child gets the right amount of language input to match your bilingual goals. Take advantage of the Internet. Try visiting the webpage of the public television station in the country where your second language is spoken. Like our PBS, it probably offers free, age-appropriate, educational yet fun activi-ties for kids. HAVE FUN! Parents who take the plunge and raise their child bilingual find it is so much more than teaching their child to speak, read, and write in two languages. It's a family adventure, a gift that you are passing on to your child, and an opportunity for her to learn about another culture and be proud of her identity. It's a fabulous and enriching journey. Enjoy it!