Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm. This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join together as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with Ms. Courtney on these and other materials at their level.
Junior Great Books Reading Group
Junior Great Books is a foundational reading program that introduces students to a variety of literary genres, while teaching critical thinking and comprehension skills. Our Kindergarten students meet twice a week as a small reading group. During this time, they listen to a story being read to them and take turns reading the story aloud. Students pause during readings to think critically about the story, identify the different parts of the story, such as the characters and main ideas, make predictions about what might happen next, and learn new vocabulary words, using the context to understand the meaning. Each week your child’s reading group teacher will email information about the current story.
11/7: Telling Time to the minute
Review previous lessons on telling time
Introduction to the minute
Flashcards, Clock & Worksheets
11/14: Currency/ Coins
Introduction to coins (pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters)
11/21: SMALL, tiny, miniature, minute, little, petite
11/28: NO, negative, never, nay, nope, nix
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
Play “I Spy” with items beginning with the letter of the week, or find things around your home that begin with the letter of the week.
Practice telling time on the clock at home. When you sit down to dinner, ask them to tell you what time it is, when they go to bed, have them check the clock. Have fun with Time!
Practice exchanging money with your child. When you go to the store, have them help you pay!
We started off our school year focusing on grace and courtesy to teach and fulfill our student’s innate need for order. Every student has a need to know and to absorb the social structures in order to be more at ease in their environment. Grace and courtesy lessons give the student the vocabulary, actions, and steps required for them to build their awareness and responsiveness of those around them. We worked on walking in the classroom, using our inside voices while in the school building, using kind words to one another, using safe hands, how to clean up our area when we are done working and how to use our words to express our feelings.
The third week of school we talked and learned about community helpers. We had many parents, family members and friends volunteer to come in and talk to the children. They briefly described their occupation, they talked about where they work, what they wear, tools they use, and tasks they perform. I would like to thank all of the volunteers that came into the classroom! It was a wonderful learning experience for both the students and teachers!
The fourth week of school we discussed families, each student had a chance to share their family tree with their friends. Their family trees included their name, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. The children enjoyed learning more about their friends and where they come from. It was great to see the students discover the differences and similarities in all of the families and accept every family for who they are.
The fifth week of September we talked about feelings and emotions. The students brainstormed things they could do when they were angry, happy, sad, frustrated, and excited. Then they discussed with one another whether the reaction they came up with was a good choice or a bad choice. The students did a great job learning how to manage their emotions. We role played how to process, identify and appropriately express their emotions as much as possible. After a few days of talking about feelings and emotions it was great to hear the students tell their friends what they were feeling and why on their own.
The last week of September we explored the five senses of touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing. During this week the students got a chance to identify the different senses. Compare and classify items using their sense.
Kindergarten
We kicked off Kindergarten with a lot Geography. The students learned about the seven continents, fun facts about the continents, and a few countries in each continent. The students became very familiar with the cardinal directions, the equator, the prime meridian, and the hemispheres. We took a look at our home state of Ohio and the surrounding states (their abbreviation and nickname). Make sure you ask your child all about Ohio! They will be able to tell you that the cardinal is the official bird, scarlet carnation the official flower, lady bug is the official insect, and tomato juice is the official drink. They learned how we are the buckeye state and that the official rock and roll song is Hang on Sloopy. The kindergartners also learned about landforms. Ask them what the definition of a lake, island, bay, peninsula, gulf, harbor, cape, isthmus, straight, chain of lakes, and archipelago.
Art
By: Ms. Faith
The first month of school has definitely flown by! We had many wonderful lessons with our art teacher, Ms. Michele this month. Each week Ms. Michele focuses on an art concept and teaches the students about a famous artist who used the concept, and does a project focusing on certain skills with the concept. The first week, the students learned terms like warm and cool colors, primary colors, tints, and monochromatic. Then they learned the rules about markers and drew shapes with monochromatic colors (one color). It was really entertaining hearing the students say monochromatic!
The second week, Ms. Michele focused on primary colors, which are red, blue, and yellow. She focused on an artist named Piet Mondrian, a Dutch painter who liked to use geometric shapes and primary colors. The students used red, blue, and yellow construction paper to create a house and then outlined the shapes in black strips of construction paper to resemble some of Mondrian’s works.
The third week we reviewed what primary colors are and then learned about secondary colors, which are the colors created when primary colors are mixed together. The students used watercolors and mixed them on their papers, to paint a magical garden. They drew flowers, animals, insects, and whatever else that would be in their garden before painting. The next lesson focused on complimentary colors, which are colors that are opposite of each other on the color wheel. Ms. Michele had the students draw silly monsters with pencils and then using complimentary colors, they colored in their monsters with oil pastels. For our last art lesson the students reviewed what warm and cool colors are. They picked either warm or cool colors and made a beautiful leaf mosaic.
We are all excited to see what we learn in art class next month!
Music
By: Ms. Faith
Throughout the last month, the students have learned so much in music class. Our new students got to meet Ms. Lisa, our wonderful music teacher, and our returning students were able to show the new students how music class works. We learned the rules for music class such as, not picking up the instruments until Ms. Lisa says it’s OK, raising our hands to answer a question, and to be respectful to Ms. Lisa’s instruments. Already, the class has improved with being patient and following directions! Some of the instruments the students were able to use were, egg shakers, castanets, rhythm sticks, bells, and tambourines. The students were also introduced to many musical terms like, forte (which means loud), piano (which means quiet), the names of notes, staccato (short, quick notes), and legato (long, smooth notes). Along with all the great instruments, and terms, we sang some really fun songs! We got to sing John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, La Raspa (A Spanish hat dance song), The Ants Go Marching, a silly song about a skunk, and much more. During music class the children are gaining wonderful music skills as well as coordination with movement. We always look forward to music time with Ms. Lisa!
Science
For our first science experiment we used skittles to learn about density. Density is the measurement of how much of something (in this case sugar from the skittles) can be packed into the same space (in this case it’s the water). So less sugar equals less dense solution; more sugar equals more dense solution. Basically a less dense solution is lighter and will float on a more dense solution because of this we were about to make a skittle rainbow.
We did an experiment using static electricity to move a soda can. When we rubbed a balloon through our hair it created invisible electrons (with a negative charge) on the surface of the balloon. This is called static electricity, which means “non-moving electricity.” The electrons had the power to pull the soda can (with a positive charge) toward them.
We used hydrogen peroxide, dry yeast, dish soap and food coloring to make elephant toothpaste. The foam we made was special because each tiny foam bubble was filled with oxygen. The yeast acted as a catalyst (a helper) to remove the oxygen from the hydrogen peroxide. Since it did this very fast, it created lots and lots of bubbles, which is why the bottle got warm.
Water is a great substance for soaking up heat that is why we were able to make a water-proof balloon. We filled a balloon with water and held a lit candle under it, to our surprise it didn’t pop. The thin latex balloon allowed the heat to pass through very quickly and warm the water. As the water closest to the flame heated up, it begins to rise and cooler water replaced it at the bottom of the balloon. This cooler water then soaked up more heat and the process kept repeating itself. The students wanted to know what would happen if I turned the balloon so that the candle flame was close to the side of the water balloon, the balloon popped because the water was not conducting the heat away from the surface of the balloon. The students noticed there was soot on the bottom of the balloon, but it was actually carbon. The carbon was deposited on the balloon by the flame, and the balloon itself remained undamaged.
We put apple slices in jars and covered the apples with salt water, vinegar and lemon juice. The students made predictions about what would happen during the apple science experiment. The next morning we checked on them and saw some changes. The apples in the lemon juice looked great, but the ones in the vinegar and salt water had started to turn brown. A lot of the students had hypothesized that all of the apples would stay fresh or rot. We started to realize our predictions were not going to come true. Over the next week all of the apples were even browner except the one in lemon juice! We concluded that acids in general don’t stop apples from browning, that something else in the lemon juice must be helping them stay fresher.
Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm. This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join together as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with Ms. Courtney on these and other materials at their level.
Junior Great Books Reading Group
Junior Great Books is a foundational reading program that introduces students to a variety of literary genres, while teaching critical thinking and comprehension skills. Our Kindergarten students meet twice a week as a small reading group. During this time, they listen to a story being read to them and take turns reading the story aloud. Students pause during readings to think critically about the story, identify the different parts of the story, such as the characters and main ideas, make predictions about what might happen next, and learn new vocabulary words, using the context to understand the meaning. Each week your child’s reading group teacher will email information about the current story.
10/3: Telling Time
Parts of the clock
Telling time to the hour
Telling time to the half hour
Flashcards, Clock & Worksheets
10/10: Telling Time
Telling time to the quarter hour (quarter past/ quarter till)
Flashcards, Clock & Worksheets
10/17: Telling Time
Review telling time to the hour, half and quarter hours
Telling time to the minute
Flashcards, Clock & Worksheets
10/24: Telling Time to the minute
Review previous lessons on telling time
Introduction to the minute
Flashcards, Clock & Worksheets
10/31: Currency/ Coins
Introduction to coins (pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters)
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
Practice telling time on the clock at home. When you sit down to dinner, ask them to tell you what time it is. When they go to bed, have them check the clock. Have fun with Time!
What I will learn this month in Ms. Courtney’s Class… (In addition to Montessori Work Time)
8/22 and 8/29: Ground Rules
Learning to greet others.
Learning to have conversations.
Learning to speak to others.
Learning to listen to others.
Learning to respond to others.
Learning to say please and thank you to others.
Learning to observe others.
Learning to respectfully interrupt.
Learning from others.
Learning to open door for someone else.
Learning to recognize situations in which to help others.
Passing in front of another respectfully.
Learning how to say excuse me.
9/5: Community Helpers
The students will learn about police officers, fire fighters, mail carriers, soldiers, bakers, farmers, doctors, and teachers throughout the week. They will not only learn about these community helpers; they will also be able to explain in detail why each one is very important to our lives.
9/12: My Family
The students will illustrate a picture of their family.
The students will have a discussion on the importance of families to each of us and the students will be able to identify one reason why their family is important to them.
Create a family tree together (Due Friday September 12th)
9/19: Feelings/Emotions
The students learn how to identify, handle, and understand the things they may feel and how to act about them.
9/26: Five Senses
The students will learn about their five senses and their parts of the body that correspond to each sense.
Letters of the week
8/25 and 8/31: None
9/8: Aa
9/14: Bb
9/21: Cc
9/26: Dd
Sight word of the week
8/25 and 8/31: None
9/8: the
9/14: of
9/21: an
9/26: I
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
Try to find objects that begin with the letter of the week wherever you go with your child.
Encourage grace and courtesy when you see your child displaying it to another or you.
Talk about the importance of 911 and when you should call and practice dialing it.
Practice dialing your telephone number with your child.
Start a family tradition by setting a night a week aside for a family movie or game night.
If your child displays an emotion they are unfamiliar with talk about it and how to handle it together.
Have students describe things at home using their senses.
West Virginia (nickname, abbreviation) Indiana (nickname, abbreviation) Michigan (nickname, abbreviation)
Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child. 8/22: FUN, amusing, entertaining, enjoyable, merry, pleasant 8/29: FAST, hurried, speedy, brisk, quick, swift, 9/5: SAD, miserable, gloomy, depressing, downtrodden, glum, unhappy 9/12: SLOW, unhurried, gradual, sluggish, stagnant, lethargic 9/19: BORING, drab, dull, lifeless, mundane, monotonous
Things to do at Home this Month:
Ms. Courtney will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework in each morning. Please email her if you have any questions: cowens@thesmarterkids.com.
We started off May talking about the Solar System. The children learned the positions of the planets and their relative sizes and distances. They had a blast using 3D models of the sun and planets to put in order. We talked about how the sun is the biggest star and why it is so important. We discussed the different phases of the moon and made a classroom book of the phases during preschool lesson.
The second week of May we talked about dinosaurs and what their habitats were like then the children did a dinosaur dig with our practical life work throughout the week. They learned different physical attributes of dinosaurs and their names. The children demonstrated an understanding of herbivores, omnivores and carnivores.
The third week of May we talked about transportation the children quickly developed an understanding that transportation means to carry things from one place to another. We named all the different methods of transportation like plane, car, boat, bike, horse, train, bus, subway, helicopter etc. The children also had a blast painting with different forms of transportation.
The children really enjoyed the last week of May when we talked about sports. The children used their gross motor skills to march, skip, gallop etc. They learned how to engage in imaginative and creative play indoors and outdoors involving their friends. We played a lot of games that involved team effort and good sportsmanship.
The first week of June we focused on summer games, activities, and experiments the children could do at home. We also talked a lot about summer safety rules while playing outside and playing with or in water. The children also practiced A LOT and setup for the talent show.
I hope everyone has a fabulous summer and I can’t wait to see all the smiling faces in the Fall!
Kindergarten
In kindergarten lesson we finished our work with grammar. We went over how interjections help a sentence show more emotions, and we went over when to use a . ? ! We then reviewed when we capitalize words in a sentence. We capitalize the beginning word of a sentence, proper nouns and “I”.
History
The Rhode Island Work Injury Lawyer was forced to change the regulations. Dipped headlights were permitted as long as the driver had headlamp covers with three horizontal slits. It is a crime in every state for a motorist to operate a vehicle while impaired by the effects of alcohol or other drugs, check out Newport Beach Dui Lawyer including prescription medications. To help drivers see where they were going in the dark, white lines were painted along the middle of the road. Curb edges and car bumpers were also painted white. To reduce accidents a 20 mph speed limit was imposed on night drivers. Ironically, the first man to be convicted for this offence was driving a hearse.
The kids also discovered how clouds form using a jar of water, food coloring and shaving cream. They learned when water vapor rises into the air the vapor hits cold air, it turns back into droplets of water. Those tiny drops of water floating in the air collect and “stick” together to form clouds. When clouds get so full of water that they can’t hold any more, the water falls back to the ground as rain.
Art
By: Ms. Faith
To get everyone one in the mood for the warmer weather, Ms. Michele had the students make a fun monster ice cream cone. The group got to cut out scoops of ice cream in whatever color of construction paper they wanted. After they glued the scoops to a cut out cone, they got to make silly creations. We saw bunny ice creams, dog ice creams, and even silly monsters! The students had a blast with this activity.
In continuation of the summer theme, the next projects brought us under the sea. The young artists drew themselves with oil pastels to look like they were swimming. Then they painted the water with watercolors over top. Because of the oil base, the watercolors resist and won’t stick to the oil pastels.
For the last class of the school year, Ms. Michele gave the group a review of colors. We went over primary, secondary, complimentary, warm, and cool colors. The students then had to cut out a butterfly, making sure that the wings were symmetrical. They had to pick one of the groups of colors that Ms. Michele had taught them about throughout the year. Their butterflies turned out beautiful and no one looked the same. Thank you Ms. Michele for another great year of art lessons, and stirring the creative minds of our students!
Music
By: Ms. Faith
Goodbye now we sing. Goodbye now we sing. It’s time to go. Goodbye now we sing. This is a song Ms. Lisa sings with the students at the end of every music class, and it seemed fitting for the last newsletter article of the school year. One of the activities Ms. Lisa did with the class was of course, Cat and Mouse, which quickly became a favorite among the children this year. Ms. Lisa played different instruments on her keyboard and the students had to guess which instruments were being represented. I have to admit, some of the instruments stumped me! Some of the instruments were, drums, guitar, a cowbell, and a triangle. I am amazed every time how well the group can identify which instrument Ms. Lisa is playing.
We also participated in some rhythm activities using rhythm sticks and scarves. We tapped out beats, and danced around with the scarves to music. To end our time in music class, Ms. Lisa did a review of the musical notes, Peter and the Wolf, and the musical terms staccato and legato. We were all sad to say a final goodbye to Ms. Lisa, but look forward to seeing her again after summer break!
For the month of April we talked about the seven continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia. We learned that Africa, is where the elephants, giraffes and lions live. South America has tropical forests and one of the longest rivers in the world the Amazon River. North America is where we live. Europe and Asia are together on the map, but Australia is an island where the kangaroo and koala bear live. Last but not least Antarctica is way down below frozen and home to the penguins.
Kindergarten
In kindergarten lesson we learned more parts of speech. We learned that a pronoun (I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody, etc.) is a word that takes the place of a noun. That an adjective describes a noun. Adverbs describe verbs. That conjunctions connect two sentences or phrases acting like a bridge.
Science
For the first week of April we did a science experiment using milk, dish soap and food coloring. We poured the milk into a bowl then added a few drops of food coloring. The drops of food coloring just sat on the surface where we placed them. That’s because food coloring is less dense than milk, so it floats on the surface, and the colors did not mix because we didn’t stir the milk. Then when we added a drop of soap the action began. The soap reduced the surface tension of the milk by dissolving the fat molecules. The surface of the milk outside the soap drops had a higher surface tension, so it pulled the surface away from that spot. The food coloring moved with the surface, streaming away from the soap drops.
The second week of April we made bouncy balls using borax, glue, water, food coloring and corn starch. This experiment demonstrated an interesting chemical reaction primarily between the borax and the glue. The borax acted as a “cross-linker” to the polymer molecules in the glue, basically it created chains of molecules that stayed together when we picked them up. The cornstarch helped to bind the molecules together so that they held their shape better.
The third week of April we decided to defy gravity by filling a glass of water up and placing a piece of cardboard on it to turn it upside down. Everything went as planned and the cardboard and water stayed in place, even though the cup of water was upside down. With no air inside the glass, the air pressure from outside the glass was greater than the pressure of the water inside the glass. The extra air pressure managed to hold the cardboard in place, keeping us dry and our water inside the glass.
Music
By: Ms. Faith
In April we got to play some fun games and learned more about musical instruments. Ms. Lisa brought back a game that is the students’ favorite for music class. We played Cat and Mouse. In this game, one or two students start of being the cats, and the rest of the class are mice. There is an area that has cheese in it for the house. When Ms. Lisa plays a song using high notes, the mice enter the house and get the cheese. Then, Ms. Lisa starts playing the same song using low notes queuing the cats to enter the house and try to catch the mice before they leave the house. If a mouse is caught, he or she becomes a cat and tries to catch the rest of the mice. This is a fun way for students to recognize hi and low notes. We also learned how to distinguish different instruments that Ms. Lisa played on her keyboard. She would play a song and the students would have to guess what instrument the keyboard was playing. I was amazed to see how well the students knew the instruments! The students have improved so much in their knowledge of musical terminology over the past school and I’m sure they will continue to fill up their buckets through May.
Art
By: Ms. Faith
This past month was a blast traveling around the world with Ms. Michele. The students were able to complete their Navajo weavings from North America. The colors of the yarn were so beautiful, and every students weaving was unique. The next country we travelled to was Africa, where the people make masks for special ceremonies. Ms. Michele had the students chose an African animal to inspire their masks. While the students drew their animal faces, Ms. Michele played African music to keep the creativity flowing. The next week the students were able to decorate their masks using beads, feathers, and beans for an authentic look. The last week of April we didn’t just focus on one country, but we celebrated the whole world for Earth Day. Ms. Michele collected recycled materials for the class to make Litterbugs. The students glued yogurt containers, fruit containers, bottles, lids, and much more together to make the shape of their insect. After that, they used pipe cleaners or straws to create legs, antenna, and mouths for their trash bugs. During the first week of May, the young artists will get to pain their Litterbugs to bring the characters to life! I can’t believe we only have a few more art classes in the school year. We look forward to see what Ms. Michele has for us to bring the school year to an end.
Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm. This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join together as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with their classroom teacher on these and other materials at their level.
Reading Group (Junior Great Book Program):
In March we began our focused reading groups for our kindergarten students. Kindergarten students are meeting with Ms. Faith on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Ms. Faith will keep you updated, most work will be sent home on Wednesdays and will need returned the following Monday for their next lesson.
5/2: Introduction to prepositions
Rules of the prepositions
Worksheets, practicing with prepositions
5/9: Introduction to interjections
Rules of the interjections
Worksheets, practicing with interjections
5/16: Introduction to punctuation (end of a Sentence)
Rules of the punctuation
Worksheets, diagramming sentences
5/23: Introduction to capitalization
Rules of capitalization
Worksheets, practicing our capitalization
5/30: Review of the year
Telling time, landforms
Coins, paper money
Mathematical operations
Geography
Synonyms of the week
5/2: UNDER, below, beneath, underneath
5/9: QUICK, fast, swift, rapid, speedy, hasty
5/16: NEAT, tidy, clean, arranged, well-ordered
5/23: LOOK, see, glance, stare, gaze
5/30: FUNNY, silly, playful, crazy, foolish Sight Words
5/2: some
5/9: time
5/16: write
5/23: people
5/30: many
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
-Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
-Practice using the different synonyms of the week in a sentence together.
-Practice identifying different parts of speech when reading together.
