ECOLECLAIRE FONTAINE OCTOBER 2018
AUTUMN Features
HALLOW EEN Dirt!
GIVING Water collection
2018 / Volume 3 / Issue 2
CO N T EN T S October 2018 p2
Contents
p3
Calendar
p4
Bir thdays
p6
Fr iendly Reminder s Autumn Moods of the Month Lice!
p8 p10 p12
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p13 p14 p16
Shake It! Geology Sensor y
p18 p20 p22 p23 p24
Pr int Making For the Love Ger ms! Halloween Par ade ~ Who are they? Backpacks for Children Adver tise with the ECF Community
CA L EN D A R Ecole Claire Fontaine
Sun, 4 Nov, 2am Daylight Savings Time Thu, 8 Nov Bir thday Celebr ations Mon, 12 Nov SCHOOL CLOSED Veter an's Day Thu, 15 Nov Journée Mondiale du Recyclage Fr i, 16 Nov, 5pm- 7pm Thanksgiving Potluck Thu - Fr i , 22- 23 Nov SCHOOL CLOSED Thanksgiving Break
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BI RT H D AYS We celebrated
Alexi- Jax Ethan Evelyn Har per Joel Sawyer
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November We are celebrating Oliver Sydney William
The bun's in the oven for November bir thdays! Remember, these are children- only celebr ations with singing, fun & school- made treats. 5 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
GENTLE REMINDERS
* Billing questions: Billing@LAClairefontaine.or g
*All other inquir ies: Bonjour @LAClairefontaine.or g
Find a wealth of infor mation www.LAClairefontaine.or g 6 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
* Cough or sneeze into your ar m if you have no tissue & wash your hands frequently.
* Take extr a Vitamin C. * Sleep early.
* Mor nings are chilly near the ocean. Please dress your children war mly, with closed shoes & have a change of clothes in their cubby.
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AUTUMN The Time isUpon Usfor Halloween, Hay and the SlantingSun
Take
care crossing the streets with your children now and always, here and ever ywhere. We see car s failing to heed red lights and stop signs, while other s still enter crosswalks while pedestr ians are in the midst of passing.
render s our vision impaired at this time of year.
an autumn har vest, the air is fresh while the children's ener gy is matched by the bounty.
There?s a certain slant of sun, on autumn Out for the annual afternoons, that blinds Halloween Par ade, the eyes while driving, Claire Fontaine?s own like a camera set to zoom. goblins, pr incesses and promenaded Next door to school we bunnies Abbot Kinney frequent "the chickens," on ghosting aka the Cook?s Garden. Boulevard, Is it just poor manners? Using a gum ball along the sidewalk.(see p22) We wonder. machine, the children ECF children are seen Perhaps it is due to the are able to spend a and heard in our Crepuscular Ray quar ter to buy nibbles neighborhood as they filter ing through the for the egg- laying hens. exude the fullness of the clouds that tempor ar ily Sur rounded by hay and season. 8 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
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MOODS of the MONTH The Month at a Glance and
pigs." The child thought this was hilar ious!
The haunted house is fr ightening and even the In a single week in the birds, immobile on the garden, we counted 17 br anches, have listened pomegr anates. Chayote to the seasonal stor y, is growing; four have lear ning about ghosts been har vested for and winds that blow lunch. We planted kisses of love. Dur ing hand washing lettuce, basil and beans, and are tr ying our luck time, a child asked, "Why do you have fur with late cor n. The elder children there?" pointing to a prepared the Halloween teacher 's ar m. "Because potluck reunion; all I'm an animal," came the sor ts of spider s invaded reply, "We are mammals, like monkey's, cows and
"Are you cold?," another child was asked. The sincere response with a stroke of his ar m, "Nope, I've got my fur."
Autumnal
ener gy is electr ifying the children?s hear ts, bodies and minds.
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the classrooms gardens.
Friday field trip to the park!
Hand - made mask
Step by Step mask making requires patience and several class periods 11 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
LICE! LAClaireFontaine.org/LICE/
The cleanest child can contr act head lice. It can live on any r ug, car pet, fur niture, stuffed animal, piece of clothing or hat, but only for a day without feeding on blood. Lice do not jump or fly between people. We suggest that dur ing lice season you r ub a little tea tree oil behind your child?s ear s, on their temples and along the hairline, just as a preventative measure. Be careful of the eyes! As an additional precaution, tr y br ushing 12 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
their hair with a metal comb dur ing the autumn and spr ing seasons. If your child does contr act lice, it does not mean that any of you are doing anything wrong. What to do if you see it? Act immediately to prevent its spread. What we have lear ned that works is olive oil, washing, using a metal comb and tea tree oil. Cover the scalp and hair with olive oil. Leave it on for five hour s as it suffocates the live lice and dissolves the
substance that keeps the eggs stuck to the hair. Shampoo, condition and comb. Use a lice metal comb and go through ever y str and of hair to pull out eggs. Pick the lice by hand and have a dish of soapy water or alcohol nearby to put them in. When the hair looks clean, r ub the scalp with tea tree oil. Repeat the olive oil treatment a week later. To treat your home, wash ever ything in the hottest water you can or bag it for two weeks. Bon courage!
SHAKE IT! The Great California ShakeOut Earthquake Drill October 18, 2018 10:18 am
We
lear ned an impor tant lesson dur ing our annual Great Shakeout Ear thquake Dr ill ? Children are consistently great at climbing under tables! We are registered with Aler t.LACounty.gov and have lear ned how to extr act water from a tree? WATER COLLECTION Tr y this for a fun exper iment with your child at home: This evening, tie a plastic bag around a br anch with leaves on it. Cut a dime sized hole in the bottom of the bag and place a container under it for 24 hour s. The leaves of the tree will release oxygen and water (tr anspir ation). Et voilĂ , you have clean water. Remember your bar rels to collect r ain water as we eagerly await the fir st whiff of petr ichor. 13 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
DIRT!
ECF'sGeology ClassDigsDeep Taught by Parent & NASA Scientist, Dr. Mike
Dir t
is a building block of mountains, it keeps plants alive, and is what we walk on. Dir t can contain sand and miner als that when combined with pressure and time can for m rocks. ?Go get a handful of dir t!? Woo- hoo! The examination with magnifying glasses begins. What does it feel like? Smell? Taste? Sound? When the children sor ted their cups of dir t they found it to be full of all sor ts of things: pebbles, sand, leaves, bugs? Tr y this: Add glue to the dir t in the cup and after it hardens, you have created a conglomer ate rock. 14 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Magnifying & investigating dirt for a clearer view
Adding glue to dirt, building conglomerate rock
Sorting soil during an early morning Geology Class on the Abbot Kinney Campus 15 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
SENSORY
Sensory exploration isintegral to Ecole Claire Fontaine'scurriculum
Children
explore play dough with their finger s, rolling and cutting, stimulating their sense of touch. Tasting new fr uits awakens sensations of flavor and texture. Songs br ing music to their ear s. The smells from the kitchen delight the nose. The school day is a sensor y exper ience. For children challenged by sensor y integr ation, activities, lights, noises or tr ansitions can sometimes register as an overload to their systems. In the August 2018 issue of Venice Living, Deobr ah Groening- Rother, PSYD, MFT notes str ategies to soothe SI- challenged children, sever al of which are in pr actice at ECF in and out of the classroom. 16 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
?Finger paint, play dough, bubbles, and dirt, all of which provide a variety of textures to explore? Providing movement opportunities through sports, martial arts, cooking, music or dance? Practicing mindfulness slowing down, doing some deep breathing? ? In Sensor y Class children make tor tillas by hand to eat for goรปter, sur rounded by their baking smell. Teacher Pier rette adds how both calming and social the class is for the children. In the garden some for go utilizing a small shovel, favor ing their hands as tools to exper ience the tactile delight of soil.
Sensory from Latin sens- ?perceived?
Rolling clay between fingers & hands in Ceramics Class
D ancing, music, touching trees and breathing in the scent of herbs awakens & soothes the senses. 17 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
PRINT MAKING
Chopped vegetables make stamps to place in ink
Reproducing details to create one-of-a kind, handmade prints
We are in the Middle Ages of Education
As children we discovered hiding a coin under a paper & rubbing with a pencil recreated the image 18 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
India ink rollers
Leaves for texture
Taught at ECF by SPARC, the Social & Public Art Resource Center
Practicing the techniques of reproduction, leading to the examination of details. depth & shadow. 19 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
For the Love of Ger ms! In
gener al, ger ms are ever ywhere, around and inside us. The idea is to cultivate and boost the beneficial ger m population; the ones that contr ibute to our immune system. We are constantly in contact with ger ms. We have culled many great tips on how to suppor t, enforce and encour age our own defense mechanism. We like Learning Herbs. 20 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
Try this... Fir st, sleep. Lack of sleep can reduce your immune response by 50 percent. Second, laugh often, give and take many hugs and meditate, this keeps stress levels down. Stress suppresses your immune response capacity.
vegetables. Iced dr inks decrease digestive function. Avoid canned, packaged and refined foods. Sugar inhibits the immune system by blocking the defense mechanism against pathogens.
Four th, dr ink water for Third, your digestive healthy skin and inter nal sur faces. system should be in good mucus shape. Eat plenty of Remember skin is a live or gan. or ganic fresh fr uits and
Five, exercise to help your immune system by circulating blood and lymph. This assures the deliver y of nutr ients to cells and the elimination of wastes and toxins. Some say that exercise and meditation reduce the sever ity of flu by 30- 60 percent, making it more effective than the flu shot.
Seven, stay away from sanitizer s, they kill many of the necessar y and beneficial ger ms that keep you healthy. Instead, use soap, foam for 30 seconds, play in the dir t and eat fer mented foods and keep your distance when people around you are ill.
your immune system is reacting appropr iately. It also keeps you up to date on the cur rent ger ms. To tr y keep to away those buggy ger ms: 1. Stay war m 2. Rest 3. Eat soup and cooked veggies, dr ink war m liquids.
If you feel something 4. Elderber r y syr up is Six, spend time outside coming on, keep in mind also a strong suppor ter and in nature. Tr y forest that getting sick once a of the immune system. ther apy! year is a good sign that
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Halloween Par ade Who ARE these People?! he annual Halloween potluck and our neighborhood par ade along Abbot Kinney and Rialto was a hit, as always. However this year the costumes were so spectacular, we found our selves baffled by the identity of a few of these beauties.
T
Guess who they are and win a treat or perhaps a trick...
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ORGANIC
PRODUCE 24 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
$35/box includes dozen eggs
Order Here by W ednesday noon for M onday delivery
Keystone Ar t Space Open Studios Ecole Claire Fontaine, an Ar t, Language & Nature School near the Pacific Ocean
338 S Ave 16 LA 90031
www.LAClairefontaine.or g 352 Westminster Ave. Venice 90291 ~ 310.314.9976
Photogr apher Olivia Fougeirol www.keystoneartspace.com/open-studios/
Bread Art isan Bakery delivers t o school. Order Here by W ednesday for next week pick-up. 25 ECOLE CLAIRE FONTAINE
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