Join Us for An Open House Thursday, March 26, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm Register Now
on Karitsa Ave. in Natomas, CA
Dear Parents,
We hope that you all had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving with your loved ones. As the winter holidays approach, we have many special activities planned for our students and look forward to spending the season with them.
Holidays are one of the most important ways to celebrate people, history, traditions and events we care about. All of our celebrations are important expressions of culture, faith, and family connections. Each holiday is special in its own way for each of our families. There are so many ways we can celebrate the holidays by supporting our community and helping people in need. Giving either through donations or volunteering is a great way to celebrate and create new family traditions this holiday season. This year we continue our tradition to donate by running a collection of toys for the Mustard Seed School. Donations will be collected from now and will be accepted through December 17th. 2025.
We kindly ask that you inform the admin team of your school child absences during the holiday weeks and to revise our tuition policies regarding absences.
Please let a member of the admin team should any questions come to mind.
I wish you all a lovely Holiday Season!
Yvonne ValenzuelaPrincipal
Our annual Holiday Giving initiative is a way for students to spread cheer this holiday season while developing an appreciation for what they have, showing gratitude towards others, and seeing the positive impact of their actions. This year we are partnering with out Elementary campus and other Merryhill campuses to collect items for Mustard Seed School. Mustard Seed’s main goal is to provide a safe, structured, nurturing environment as we prepare students to enroll in public school. This is a free, private, emergency school serving children experiencing homelessness, ages 3 to 15, where each student is welcomed into a classroom to prepared with their academic and social-emotional needs in mind. Students receive healthy snacks and meals, school supplies, clothing, survival supplies, counseling, health screenings, and access to various other community resources.We thank you in advance for your partnership and generosity.
As we get ready to kick off a new school year, we want to make sure you’re kept in the know. In addition to this newsletter, our website’s “For Parents” section also includes links to our menu, monthly calendar, and school year calendar. If you’re not currently receiving photos and daily reports for your child, you can easily start by downloading the Links 2 Home app on your phone from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. After downloading, you can register with the same email address that you used to enroll your child in our school.
Merryhill Midtown’s exceptional school age program is now enrolling for the 2025–2026 school year! As a current Merryhill family, you have the unique opportunity to secure your child’s spot at any time. Let us know if you would like to receive more details about what makes our program so special—from strong academic foundations to a focus on social-emotional growth. It’s never too late to start exploring your options! To learn more or to schedule a private tour, reach out to Michelle Gosselin, Manager of Enrollment, at Michelle.Gosselin@merryhillschool.com or call 916-429-6055.
Music is one of the very first ways children connect with the world around them. From soft lullabies to lively dance songs, every beat, clap, and melody helps them explore sound, rhythm, and emotion. At our school, music is woven into our Links to Learning curriculum. Here, music is played to spark curiosity, engage the senses, explore emotion, and celebrate creativity. Let’s explore how musical milestones unfold from infancy through preschool, and how to nurture them each step of the way.
Babies are natural music lovers! Between 0–6 months, you’ll see them react with wide eyes, smiles, or little kicks when they hear music. By 6–12 months, they start clapping, bouncing, or even shaking tiny instruments as they begin to explore sounds.
In our infant classrooms, music is used with intention. We play songs with different tempos and encourage babies to move fast or slow to the beat. You might see a teacher gently swaying with an infant during a slow song or tapping a tambourine as babies wiggle and reach toward the sound. We play culturally diverse music from around the world, and offer safe instruments like shakers for sound exploration. Teachers often sing personalized songs like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Emma,” because hearing their name in song helps infants feel known and connected.
At home: Sing simple songs or lullabies to your baby while making eye contact. Gently clap or tap along to the rhythm and encourage your baby to move along with you. Provide your child with safe, simple toys that make sounds when moved, such as rattles and soft shaker bottles.
Toddlers love to move, bang, shake, and dance! Between 12 and 24 months, they begin to clap in rhythm, sing snippets of favorite songs, and show clear song preferences.
In our toddler classrooms, you’ll often hear children exploring simple instruments. Teachers name each instrument and describe what they hear: “That drum sounds loud and deep,” or “You’re shaking that so fast! Now, can you shake it slowly?” This not only supports language development but also helps toddlers understand musical concepts like volume and tempo.
Movement is a natural part of music. Children might dance with scarves, march to a beat, or pretend to fly like butterflies. Teachers join in, showing new ways to move and inspiring imagination through music. We also connect music to stories, such as reading One Love by Cedella Marley while listening to reggae rhythms. Classic clapping games like Pat-a-Cake help build coordination and teach children to follow a steady rhythm.
At home: Give your toddler simple instruments like tambourines, shakers, or small drums and let them explore freely. Play a variety of music genres and invite them to march, sway, or bounce to the beat. Try call-and-response games by singing a short phrase and encouraging your toddler to “sing it back” or copy your claps. “If You’re Happy and You Know It” is a great example—your toddler listens, responds, and moves to your cue. For a fun twist, replace the action words with different movements or emotions to help your child connect music with feelings and self-expression.
For preschoolers, music becomes a tool for self-expression. Three-year-olds begin to sing along more accurately, experiment with rhythm, and dance with purpose. By age 4 or 5, they can recognize patterns in music and describe how songs make them feel.
In our Intermediates and Pre-K classrooms, we might explore the steady rhythm of The Ants Go Marching while counting, move like elephants or swirling snowflakes to classical music, or discuss how fast versus slow songs make us feel. Teachers introduce vocabulary like tempo, rhythm, and pattern as children explore music and movement, helping them describe what they hear and experience. To deepen cultural awareness, we listen to songs from around the world and invite families to share music that’s meaningful to them. Music becomes a bridge for empathy, understanding, and expression.
At home: Encourage your child to create their own music using household objects like pots, wooden spoons, or empty containers. Play music from different cultures and discuss how each one makes them feel. Try movement games like “dance like an animal” or “move fast/slow to the music” to reinforce rhythm, tempo, pattern, and body awareness. You can also sing familiar songs together and add simple hand motions or choreography to strengthen coordination and memory.
Music nurtures cognitive growth. It develops thinking, language, and motor skills while also supporting children’s emotions and social connections. Listening to songs, singing along, and moving to the beat helps young children notice patterns and rhythms, improve memory, coordinate their bodies, and express feelings. Through our Links to Learning curriculum, every child experiences the joy and benefits of music.
Learn more about how we help students develop musical milestones in fun, meaningful ways. Contact us today!
Do you know a colleague who has recently had a baby, a friend in need of care who just relocated to the area, or a family member who is seeking a new preschool for their child? When you refer a friend and they enroll, you’re eligible for a free week of tuition. Ask us for details!
