ECOLECLAIRE FONTAINE DECEMBER 2018
ENJOY!
TRUST YOUR CHILDREN Holiday Songs WATCH YOUR W ORDS Nap time for the TV 2018/ Volume 3/ Issue 4
CO N T EN T S December 2018
Cover and Birthday art created in Print MakingWorkshop
p2
Contents
p12
Tr ust Your Childr en
p3
Calendar
p13
In Conver sation
p4
Bir thdays
p14
Shh, the TV is asleep
p6
Winter Music
p16
Watch your Wor ds
p8
Hanukkah & Chr istmas Tr eats
p18
Winter Childr en
p20
Adver tise the Season
2 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
CA L EN D A R
Ecole Claire Fontaine
Fr i, 21 Dec Last Day School for 2018 Winter Potluck 5- 6:30pm
Campusesclose at 5pm on Fridays UPCOMI NG Wed, 2 Jan Fr i, 4 Jan Thu, 10 Jan Mon, 21 Jan
School Resumes Le goรปter de la Galette des Rois - children only Januar y Bir thday Celebr ations - children only Dr. Mar in Luther King, Jr. Day - SCHOOL CLOSED 3 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
BI RT H D AYS December Alice Eleni Fennel George Kitty Mathis
January Eitan Emil James Jackson Keaton Marton Made with Foam Plates during SPARC Print Making Workshop 4 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Niara
At Ecole Claire Fontaine birthdays are shared in a monthly celebration between the children and their teachers. On party day treats are prepared at school, singing is in the mix and a special visit is expected from Mr. Steve and his magical machines. Acrylic Plates 5 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Special thanks to Alison, Crystal, Maria & Marisa for organizing the holiday fund for Staff & Teachers, and to all of the parents for donating. Your gifts are very much appreciated.
Throughout
the season we are saving our wrappings and ribbons. They can be reused or re-purposed for craft projects. Let us keep the landfills free of holiday debris. Merci, nosamis! 6 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Vive le vent
Dr eidel
I have a little dreidel
Vive le vent, vive le vent
I made it out of clay
Vive le vent d'hiver Qui s'en va sifflant, soufflant
And when it?s dry and ready
Dans les grands sapins verts
Oh dreidel, I shall play
OH! Vive le temps, vive le temps
Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel I made you out of clay
Vive le temps d'hiver
And when you?re dry and ready
Boule de neige et jour de l'an
Oh Dreidel we shall play
Et bonne année grand-mère ... Sapin , sapin
HOLIDAY MUSICAL Ven t f r ais, ven t du m at in Vent frais, vent du matin
Sapin, sapin Sapin, sapin, quand tu clignotes Tu éclaires mes papillottes Que le matin je grignote.
Soulevant le sommet des grands pins Joie du vent qui souffle* , allons dans le grand?
Vent chaud, vent du midi Vent qui souffle au sommet des épis Joie du vent qui souffle allons dans le grand?
Vent froid, vent de la pluie, Vent qui souffle jusqu'au bout de la nuit, Joie du vent qui souffle allons dans le grand vent.
Pet it papa Noël
Petit papa Noël Quand tu descendras du ciel Avec des jouets par milliers N'oublie pas mon petit soulier. Mais avant de partir Il faudra bien te couvrir Dehors tu vas avoir si froid C'est un peu à cause de moi. 7 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
FOOD FOR CELEBRATING
Golda'smother, Rabbi Lori, reads the Hanukkah story
Hanukkah Latkes To mark the oil that burned in the menorah for 8 days
ingredients 2 lar ge Russet potatoes (about 1 lb), cut lengthwise into quar ter s 1 lar ge onion, peeled and cut into quar ter s 2 lar ge eggs ½ cup all- pur pose flour 2 tsp coar se kosher salt (or 1 tsp fine sea salt), plus more for spr inkling 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper Olive Oil for fr ying (or r ub on & bake 425 degrees) 8 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
PREPARATION
Gr ate the potatoes &
onion. Squeeze out liquid with cloth or use a salad spinner. Tr ansfer the mixture to a lar ge bowl. Add eggs, flour, salt, baking powder & pepper, and mix until the flour is absorbed. In a medium heavy- bottomed pan over medium- high heat, pour in about 1/4 inch of the oil. Once the oil is hot (a drop of batter placed in the pan should sizzle), use a heaping tablespoon to drop the batter into the hot pan, cooking in batches. Use a spatula to flatten and shape the drops into discs. When the edges of the latkes are brown and cr ispy, about 5 minutes, flip. Cook until the second side is deeply browned, about another 5 minutes. Tr ansfer the latkes to a paper towel- lined plate to dr ain and spr inkle with salt while still war m. Repeat with the remaining batter. Ser ve with sour cream and applesauce.
Christmas Gingerbread Baked by Lyn's father, Chef Christophe, and the children of the Camper Campus
SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS 230 gr s butter (room temper ature) 260 gr s r aw brown sugar 60 gr s milk 12 gr s baking powder 6 gr s salt 14 gr s spice (7 gr s cinnamon & 7 gr s ginger powder) 450 gr s flour
Gingerbread
figur ines can be tr aced back to the 15th Centur y, however it was the Amer ican fair y tale that precipitated their cur rent popular ity. Based on the European stor y of the r unaway pancake, The Gingerbread Man, was fir st published in the May 1875 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine.
Mix the butter and r aw sugar in the mixing bowl of a kitchen aid blender. Then pour the milk and add all powder, salt and flour. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes.
9 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Ariana's Mother Jill is a Master Baker
CUPCAKE CHEF!
10 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Ariana's Mother is a Master Baker
11 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
TRUST YOUR CHILDREN
Enjoying Learning in Life
Our
families and teacher s have completed two spectacular weeks of communication dur ing Parent- Teacher Conferences. The children are doing well at their tasks of lear ning, playing and socializing. As parents we are always str iving for our children to do and have the ver y best they can. Dur ing this holiday season, we remind us all to tr ust our children. They are clever, cur ious and wonder ful, lear ning to cooper ate and create together. This world is a magical place. The children know it 12 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
as fact; our hope in the New Year for all of us adults is to remember that as we face the difficulties of life. Enjoy. Children feel our ener gy, fear s and wor r ies, just as they are delighted by our joys and the sparkle in our eyes as we smile into their s. They want to please you. Let them.
Children do not like to be in a hur r y; they need the freedom to be unscheduled. Let us all get cozy, rejoice and rejuvenate dur ing this winter break as we enter the season of hiber nation .
ALWAYS IN CONVERSATION
One Person - One Language
L anguages
are the humanity for children.
roots
of
Like with seeds, establishing their roots is the fir st thing a child does. The youngest children in gardening class sing: "When we water the plants it's like the rain, they grow up and grow down..." The seed fir st grows down, sending roots into the soil for nutr ients before a sprout shoots up and out toward the sunshine. We find this to be tr ue of children, as well. Each language they lear n will create
more roots that are able to reach out and find nutr ients from additional sources. It is the work of the gardener to make sure the soil is r ich enough to nur ture this growth. Young children have a vast capacity to lear n languages. Ecole Claire Fontaine subscr ibes to the OPOL (One per son, One language) Method. Some posit that if a caregiver engages in language- switching, instead of the consistency of OPOL, a child will develop a type of dyslexia as if tuned to the static between r adio stations. 13 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
TURN OFF THE T.V. In the Rain We Study the Sea
Rainy
intensity piercing the soul and br ain through a child's wide eyes. It takes sever al hour s before children who watch screens retur n to themselves. They simply do not have room left while processing all that has What do we advise doing at home?: tr anspired. Tur ning off the television, cover ing it Children who watch before school with a nice cloth, and infor ming the children that it needs its rest. There is are not able to be fully engaged with their fr iends and teacher s. Those who so much else to do. watch before bed spend their REM Children already live in adventures, sleep dreaming of stor ies not their discover ies, make- believe and the own. unknown. Star ing at screens at once It is fine to have empty time - given bombards the child and dulls the the oppor tunity, children will fill it! senses. There is extreme visual days and Mondays, and Wednesdays & Thursdays, do not get us down. What do we do? At Ecole Claire Fontaine we study the sea, snails and yoga.
14 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Dur ing our r ainy December days students studied sea life in Oceanogr aphy and relaxed and rechar ged in Yoga. Teacher s Aisling and Mar ina led a pop- up class on the snails found throughout the garden dur ing the r ainiest of times. The children engaged in lively discussion over clay shapes of the cr itter s. Fr iends or foes? Fr iends of cour se. They are as impor tant a par t of nature as anything else. It is decided that we should share the abundance of the garden, even if it means a few plants end up a bit nibbled.
In the Rain We Play with Trains The Gardens are Happy
15 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Parents
design their child's world with their words. Mind what you say - if you say it, they will do it. Children are forever tr ying to please their parents. If you expect them to behave well, they will because they want you to be r ight about them, whatever it is.
WATCH YOUR WORDS The youngest
of children do not have the neurological connections to necessar ily under stand abstr act concepts, nor do they have all of the vocabular y to express themselves.
Your
child
feels
your
thoughts If you feel fear, they will lear n about fear If you take them to a lab, they will lear n about science If you take them to a libr ar y, they will lear n about books If you feel compassion, they will lear n about compassion If you feel love, they will lear n about love 16 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Put the Command in the Positive Children do not see or hear at your level as their br ains are in multiple processes at once. You say: Don?t touch this machine. What is the last word they hear ? Machine. So they think, "I guess I had better touch this machine! " Better : Look, this is what this machine does. One, 2, 3 oops, ouch. Would you like me to help you? Less effective: Don't slam the door. Better : Close the door gently. Et, voila. You get what you want and they lear ned how to get it r ight.
17 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
HEALTHY WINTER CHILDREN COLD
Keep Hair Dry & Feet Warm
has entered the air. It per meates the garden via the deep recesses of the damp ground and the fuzzy air of fog. Mor nings are par ticularly cool even if by after noon the sun has war med us up. It is best to wear socks and sweater s daily.
We all need: Extr a doses of sleep, vitamins and veggies.
Please refr ain from washing children?s hair at night and in the mor ning before school. Instead, wait for a weekend when they can stay war mly indoor s or go out in the early after noon sun for the hair to fully dr y.
With Solange the children discover the flavor s of vitamin- packed seasonal fr uits and vegetables: pomegr anates and all kinds of car rots.
18 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
It takes four hour s for the center of a str and to dr y; the blow dr ier will reach the outer scales, but the hollow inner tube remains full of water. It takes time.
Erupting volcanoes & painting rocks with Graham's father, Dr. Mike, from NASA.
19 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
A D V ERT I SE O U R CO M M U N I T Y W IT H
For rates please contact Media@LAClairefontaine.org
Bread Art isan Bakery delivers t o school Order Here by Wednesday for next week pick-up
ORGANIC
$35/box includes a dozen eggs Order Here by W ednesday noon for M onday delivery
PRODUCE
20 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
December 20-23 7:30 pm ? 11 pm Dec 20th ?Kid Safe" 7:30?9pm Sorting and packaging books, food & toys for 2,500 families in need. DOORS OPEN 7:30 - 11pm. Register online, have a copy on your phone to show at the door
Helping Babies, Kids & Adults Thrive www.GillespieApproach.com
ECF parent NICOLAS sells
HOMEOPATHIC
2510B Main St. Santa Monica
medicines for children
LOVE
We them
21 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
©EcoleClaireFontaine2018