ARTS & CRAFTS lucky shamrocks

Spring starts this month, and that means facing the annual obligation of spring cleaning and organizing.  So, if you're like me and looking for a great way to procrastinate these chores and keep your kids busy, here's a crafty idea.  It's fun, it's "green" and it might bring your family a little extra luck (even better than clean baseboards)!  Get directions for these toilet roll shamrocks from the creative folks at Childmade, An Idea Place.

Photo from Childmade

Contributed by Danyelle, Fairmont Private Schools

FRIDAY FOLDER march 9

Highlights From This Week

Upcoming Events 
Character Counts Workshop: Bullying  
Tuesday, March 13, 7pm-8:30pm
Fairmont Edgewood Campus 

Fairmont's Edgewood Campus is pleased to invite all Fairmont parents to a special Character Counts workshop on the topic of bullying. Fairmont believes in teaching students good character skills that will help them be positive contributors to our global society. We want to help our students learn how to interact in appropriate ways and to maintain our respectful campus environment.  

As part of this Character Counts program, we've invited Mr. Mike Dreiblatt, author of  How to Stop Bullying and Social Aggression and national speaker, to speak with our parents about bullying and show us how to address potential challenges. You'll leave with a better understanding of what bullying really is and some great tips for promoting good character in your home. Click here to RSVP. 

Chalk Talk: How to Parent Your Kids (Without Losing Your Mind)
Tuesday April 3, 2012, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Fairmont Edgewood Campus

If you've ever dreamed of being a better parent or educator, this is the event for you! Learn how to make the most of your parent/child/school relationship from acclaimed speaker, Scott Peebles, M.A., MFCC, H.B. Scott was one of the youngest licensed Marriage, Family & Child Counselors in California, and he has been deemed one of the most exciting and entertaining parenting speakers in the country. Scott calls his method "Slightly Off the Wall Parenting." We think you'll call it amazing! All Fairmont parents, faculty and friends are welcome! 
Click here to RSVP

Fairmont Parent Survey 
Look out this coming week for an email with the annual Fairmont Parent Survey. Your feedback is valuable and we appreciate you taking the time to provide it to us. When you take the survey, you will be eligible to win $1,000.00 off tuition discount good for the 2012-2013 school year. One winner will be drawn from each campus and all survey participants will be eligible. 

Open House Season 
Open House season is well underway at Fairmont. Our Anaheim Hills and Edgewood campus events were huge successes, and we are looking forward to Mable and Citron's Open Houses this month. Please be sure to join us at the Mable Campus on Friday, March 9th from 6pm-8pm and at the Citron Campus on Friday, March 16th from 6pm-8pm. For tips on how to make the most of Open House, check out this blog post. 

Weekly E-Newsletters 

Anaheim Hills Campus 

Citron Campus 

Edgewood Campus 

Mable Campus 

March Lunch Menus 

AH Preschool-1st Grade

AH 2nd-8th Grade

Citron

Edgewood Preschool-Kindergarten

Edgewood 1st-8th Grade 

Mable 

Contributed by Alyssa, Fairmont Private Schools 

ARTS & CRAFTS baby bird nest

Baby Bird Nest

This nest of baby birds is a cute and simple way to celebrate springtime.  Here are the how-tos compliments of Parents magazine.

Make it: Cut a paper plate in half and staple the rims together (leaving the top of the "nest" open). After your kids paint it brown, help them glue shredded brown paper onto the front to add texture. Create the birds by gluing three blue pom-poms to the ends of Popsicle sticks. Add googly eyes and orange paper beaks for a little personality. Have your kids slide the ends of the Popsicle sticks between the plates so the baby birds can rest inside their new nest -- and even pop up when they get hungry!

Photo from Parents

Contributed by Danyelle, Fairmont Private Schools

FAIRMONT FIVE raising readers

Reading is a skill that many of us take for granted.  It's easy to forget how important it is to cultivate a "reading lifestyle" at home that supports classroom learning and fosters academic achievement.  Statistics show that parents who provide reading materials in the home--books, newspapers, magazines--and who read daily to their children can greatly enhance their children's reading skills and overall academic success.  Here are a few simple tips to make sure reading becomes a healthy habit in your home:

1. Read with your child daily.  Just 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose children to more than a million words of text in a year. All of those words add up to greater reading comprehension, improved fluency and a stronger vocabulary. 
2. Become “regulars” at your local library. For kids today, visiting the local library is something of a novelty.  You might be surprised by just how much fun they can have browsing the shelves for books, perusing the kids' magazines and wielding their own library cards.
3. Turn off the TV, computer, gaming device, etc. There's nothing wrong with screentime in moderation, but most kids get too much of the aforementioned electronic media.  Consider setting aside one day a week when you "unplug" and encourage your kids to play a board game, work on a craft project or read.
4. Engage in activities and experiences that require reading. This recommendation comes direct from Fairmont's Director of Education Sandy Cosgrove.  When she cooks with her first grade granddaughter, she encourages her to read the recipe.  If questions come up in discussions with her grandchildren, she employs the classic teacher answer, "Look it up!"
5. Model it! Here's another tip from Sandy. Parents, don't forget that you are your child's first and constant teacher. When you read the morning paper, pick up a magazine or join a book club, you are modeling behavior that says reading is a fun, informative and vital part of your life.

Photo from Microsoft Office photo gallery

Contributed by Danyelle and Sandy, Fairmont Private Schools

BOOK REPORT dr. seuss' sleep book

Sleep Book

By. Dr. Seuss

Kudos to my mother-in-law for introducing my kids and I to what has become one of my all-time favorite Dr. Seuss books.  It's a lesser known tome when compared to Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham, but it's really worth looking up at your local library if you haven't yet read Sleep Book.  What better time, considering that this month commemorates Dr. Seuss's 107th birthday!  All of the zany rhyming  and crazy characters you'd expect from Dr. Seuss are here, in spades.  The book starts off with a yawn...

A yawn is quite catching, you see. Like a cough.

It just takes one yawn to start other yawns off.

What follows is a run down of how that yawn spreads from "the County of Keck" to "Culpepper Springs" to "Finnigan Fen" and well beyond.  Hundreds and thousands and millions and billions of strange creatures are finding themselves very, very sleepy.  The hope is that this yawn will even spread to your own home by the conclusion of the book, bringing the "sleep number" to "Ninety-nine zillion/Nine trillion and three."  I've tried a lot of sleep training methods in my time, but this one is by far the most fun!

Book jacket image from Barnes and Noble

Contributed by Danyelle, Fairmont Private Schools

SHORT STORY happy birthday dr. suess

Friday, March 2nd is a special day indeed

Especially for those kids who especially love to read! 

It's the birthday, you see 

Of one masterful he

Who weaved rhymes into tales 

About loraxes and whales!

Dr. Suess, of course, is the man we speak of

For whom we all have lots of love.

Our preschoolers helped celebrate his birthday

In an extra special, bookish way!

Contributed by Alyssa, Fairmont Private Schools 

FRIDAY FOLDER march 2

Highlights From This Week

Orange County Spelling Bee Results!
Yesterday, the OC Register announced the top fifty-six spellers from across Orange County who have been selected as Spelling Bee finalists. These students will square off Saturday in the final of The Orange County 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The winner will head to Washington, D.C. for the national championship in May, an event televised on ESPN. We are pleased to congratulate our very own Liza M., Lauren L., Nicole K. and Sherry X. for making the finals! We wish them the best of luck on S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y!  

Anaheim Hills American Cancer Society Relay Recess 

The Anaheim Hills campus is excited to be hosting the American Cancer Society's Relay Recess the week of March 5-9.  The American Cancer Society Relay Recess brings education and community service to your child's classroom in a fun and exciting way that allows students to help save lives from cancer. Through our Relay Recess program, your child will learn about cancer and steps they can take to reduce their risk of developing the disease and stay well. Learn more in the Anaheim Hills newsletter. 

Peer to Peer Days at Fairmont Prep 
On Friday, March 9th (Anaheim Hills) and March 16th(Mable & Edgewood), our 7th grade students will visit Fairmont Prep for Peer to Peer Day. Our students will get a taste of the high school life as they sit on a class, tour the campus and enjoy themed "Around the World Days" activities. Check the weekly newsletters below for the full schedule. Please be sure your student's permission slip has been signed and returned to make sure he or she can attend Peer to Peer Day.

Weekly E-Newsletters 

Anaheim Hills Campus 

Citron Campus 

Edgewood Campus 

Mable Campus 

March Lunch Menus 

AH Preschool-1st Grade

AH 2nd-8th Grade

Citron

Edgewood Preschool-Kindergarten

Edgewood 1st-8th Grade 

Mable 

Contributed by Alyssa, Fairmont Private Schools