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Volume 10, Issue 11, June 2010 |
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May Scenes
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In This Issue
May Scenes
Director News
End-of-Year Celebration
Goodbye from our President
Thoughts from Pre-K
Job Books Return
Maintenance Thanks
Parent's Corner
June Musical Notes
Important Dates
June 11: Last Day of School
June 11: Goodbye Party 11am
June 12: Cleanup Day 9am
June 28: Parenting from the
Heart course begins 6:30pm
June 29: Summer Camp Begins
June 29-July1: Nature
July 6-8: Art
July 13-15: Cooking
July 20-22: Sports
July 27-29: Green Week
Full Year Calendar available at: www.hilltoppreschool.com/Calendar |
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Director News
I know we hear this from time to time "Where has the year gone, it's gone so quickly", and I have to say this year is no exception for me for it feels as if we have just begun. Yet when I think about the fall of 2009 it does seem like eons ago in light of the growth and development we have seen in the children over the last ten months. We have also experienced many milestones this year including sending our staff to a Reggio Conference in Santa Monica; changing our programs and days to become more Reggio-Inspired; adding a kindergarten; renaming the classes to Seeds, Sprouts, Blooms and Blossoms to reflect the progression of our program; sending Alissa and me to training to become certified Parenting from the Heart instructors; and starting an in-depth Parenting from the Heart class for our families. The teachers and I are truly excited and renewed by these changes and opportunities. We are also grateful for the support shown by the families and Board that allows us to grow, reinvent ourselves, and make Hilltop relevant, impactful and meaningful for you, your children and our community.
It is always so difficult to say goodbye to the families who we have come to know so well, some of whom have been here quite a while and those of you who haven't but have made an impact while you were here. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to partner with you and your child on their journey in understanding the world and their place in it, helping them to learn to make connections, deepen relationships and flourish in who they are. May our paths cross again. And for our returning families, we have the awesomeness of more time together as we work through our new changes, experience this transition together and anchor in the new program. Here is to a wonderful summer.
Love,
Lynette |
Thoughts from Pre-K
“It is the nature of the child to be
dependent, and it is the nature of dependence to be outgrown. Begrudging
dependency because it is not independence is like begrudging winter
because it is not yet spring. Dependency blossoms into independence in
its own time.” - Peggy O’Mara
They bloom, as they bloom. Each child in pre-k this year has experienced so much growth, experiencing the many paths we have taken together in their own context with their own skill set.
We want to encourage you all to continue to trust in their process and your intuition. Practice presence, continue to inspire, explore and learn and a life of mutual growth will lay before you. As they grow more independent allow spring to come and appreciate the newness of that as well.
We are grateful to have shared this year with you!
Life may try to rush you to the finish but it is the journey that is the prize.
Miss Malia and Miss Alissa Love You All!
Love,
Malia
Job Books Return
The end of the school year is here and the "Return Job Books Here" box has finally arrived! It is located on the same black cabinet where you sign in your child. If you haven't already done so please dig out your Job Book and return it to school for next year.
If you have a moment, please also reflect on your job duties for the past year and review the duties described in your book. Are there any updates or edits that need to be made? Do you have any suggestions for improving the job duties? Since you have been responsible for this job for the past nine months you are an invaluable resource to us. Please feel free to provide handwritten comments directly in the books or on an attached sticky note.
Thank you for your time!
Stephanie Gallegos
Maintenance Thanks
Thank you to all the parents who came on Saturdays and contributed to keeping Hilltop organized and clean. The last Saturday clean-up day of the year is scheduled on June 12th from 9am to 1pm. Have a great summer!
-Al Vicencio (Maintenance Chair)
Parent's Corner
I love this picture of Kayla waiting for Hilltop to open! She was done waiting and really wanted  to go in. She was almost 3 years old in this photo taken in 2008. She gives me the same look every time we didn’t or couldn’t attend preschool. And it would be followed with “Why can’t we go to preschool today Mommy? But I want to go!” So I have just a few words to convey the infinite feeling in my heart about Hilltop Preschool: “Thank You for this wonderful school that our kids love and looks forward going each and every day.”
-Anthonette Vicencio
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End-of-Year Celebration
Please join us for our
end-of-year party
featuring pizza, music and our special guest Ms. Kindel
Friday June 11, 2010 11:00am – 1:00pm
If you are able to attend, please sign up at Hilltop so we may order enough food. |
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President Goodbye
Greetings Hilltop Families!
First I'd like to thank the 2009-2010 Board. Much effort is needed to participate on the Board, but even more valuable is giving up time with family to attend the meetings and tend to Board business. We've had an amazing year and addressed changes that will affect Hilltop for many years to come. And even during difficult economic times, our fundraising efforts were successful in helping to maintain our programs. Congratulations and thank you Shona, Stephanie, Mary, Cynthia, Daphne, Al, Chris and Monica.
Wow…I can’t believe that this school year is coming to an end! It’s a bittersweet ending for our family. Our family has been at Hilltop for over four years and previous to that Denise Ogawa (Kevin’s sister, my sister-in-law, and a former Hilltop teacher) and her family have been at Hilltop for over seven years. So that’s over eleven years of Hilltop for the Mullens family!!! What are Grandma and Grandpa going to do without Hilltop???
It’s hard to express to you what Hilltop means to our family. Hilltop is not just a preschool or a first "school experience". It’s how we strive to parent our children and we've adopted the Hilltop way as our own - with a sprinkle of P.E.T. here, a dab of Parenting from the Heart there, and a smidgin' of Reggio on top! It's all now part of our big picture. The way we've learned to listen and acknowledge one another, respect each other's choices and explorations, empathize with one another, and nurture each other and ourselves. All of this is still a work in progress and is absolutely hard work, but we will continue to learn and grow as our children get older.
The Hilltop influence is certainly not limited to parenting young children. I've seen it's efficacy with older children and even with grown-ups! I see it in the way my two boys interact with one another when they think no one is watching. I see it in my Kindergartner and his interactions with his teacher and peers who have never been exposed to the Hilltop classroom. I see it in how our teachers communicate with their own families as their children grow older. I see it in Denise’s family up-close. In fact after spending Spring Break with her family including an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, it was evident, though they haven’t been at Hilltop for many years, that they were being raised in a “Hilltop home”. For a fourteen year old boy to tell his mother “that was good parenting mom” is priceless. And Denise speaks of many “Hilltop moments” that she still has with her family. For children to be able to express themselves without judgment and to be surrounded by love, respect, acceptance - using feeling encouragers and not feeling stoppers - that is the payoff: communicating with your children and having your children communicate back to you.
Thank you Hilltop, we are incredibly grateful!!! And please keep us on the alumni list.
Best wishes to all of you and your families!
With love always,
The Mullens’ Family
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June Musical Notes
Hello Everybody,
Well this is it – our final Musical Notes for the 2009-2010 year. I’ve had a blast this year with your kids, and I hope that each and every one of you has at least one musical anecdote from this year – some cool thing you heard your child saying about music or music class; some song you heard them make up; some dance you saw them do; some rhythm you heard them tap out.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing and hearing lots of musical expression in class, I’ve also heard from some of you. To close out the year, I thought it would be great to share some of the things I’ve seen and heard…
- When asked “Who’s coming?” during ‘Good News’: Sean – a giraffe, Marea – a pig, Mia – a pig, Lorenzo – a dinosaur, Logan – a cow, Ennes – a bear;
- Sean played the drums and the sticks to the beat of the song;
- Alicia sang along to ‘Betty Martin’ from the far side of the room on her own vocable: “aah”;
- Rachel started galloping around the room at the sound of the “neigh” lead-in to ‘See the Pony Galloping;
- Alex took a turn leading the rhythm on the drum during ‘Hey Ya Na’;
- Owen made up his own owl-sound (hoooo) drone IN KEY to the ‘Goodbye Song’;
- Mia tap-clap-clapped the 1-2-3 rhythm of ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’;
- Kate made up her own songs and shared them with the class;
- Talha translated the songs he’s made up in Hungarian into English and shared one with the class;
- Peyton and Alicia made up a song about germs;
- Brady led the class in ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’;
- Denny created a spin-hop-step movement for ‘Old Brass Wagon’.
I look forward to seeing you all at the gathering on the 11th to celebrate the end of the year. In addition to making music together, I hope you will all share your stories with me and each other so that we can celebrate the musical development of your children together.
Have a wonderful summer and remember to KEEP IT MUSICAL!!
Ms. Kindel
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