Tallmadge School

Week 6

Starting out the week, students got a closer look at plants in preparation for our up-coming “Leaf Walk” fieldtrip! Hopefully, you noticed their “Parts of a Plant” artwork on the bulletin board. They will be learning about plants and leaves in more depth throughout the next couple of weeks. Also, this week, students are playing games and hearing stories in relation to “The Noun” to kick off our initial steps into the Grammar Boxes. Turn your life around with . The Grammar Boxes have activities that solidify the function of each word in a sentence. Including the activities the student completes with his or her friends, the students are learning to symbolize each word, leading to Sentence Analyses which helps us know what our options are to building interesting and varying sentence structures that will develop into your child’s writing “style” and the capability of understanding others’ styles.

A highlight this week is budding new research by students. Students have really enjoyed all of our new reference and non-fiction books that several families have donated. The pictures with the information are outstanding! Thank you for supporting our student’s quest for knowledge. Another highlight is our students who have elected to join dance. The music has started grooving and students have been busting out the moves in the gym already! We will get to enjoy their preparations at the next school performance event.

Week 7

Constructing the Elementary classroom to meet the needs of the Elementary student, one will often view the Elementary classroom as a flexible workshop or laboratory for experimenting, imagination and exploration. The classroom as a whole has been conducting the first experiment that highlights the Needs of Plants. Each plant of the four plants potted for the experiment were labeled to track the outcome of the results of the exclusion of heat, light and water, each, separately. They have found that heat is one of the most critical aspects that can determine the success of a plant to live. The plant that had heat taken away did not last the weekend! As stewards of the earth, our class saved the plant and it is happily prospering as new greenery in our environment.

This week many students have begun Fractions lessons and continue to progress in all the other areas in lessons. Also, our class went on our very first official fieldtrip: The Leaf Walk at Holden Arboretum. Holden Arboretum is considered the largest outdoor Museum or collection of trees and woody plants in the entire United States. The students rode the public school bus, some for the very first time! Using a map and clues, students found the correct trees and collected one leaf from the ground that belonged to that tree. Discussions about the correct identification and interesting facts about some of the trees were enjoyed by all along the path. The classroom leaf collection returned to the school with the students to be used as a more in-depth research project of the leaves by all the students.

Week 8

Monday was a busy day as students showed mastery, explored art projects, learned a new song and took Spelling quizzes. This day of the week often is the most productive day of the week as students seem to dive into work as if they miss the classroom and their work time. They also look forward to our Community Meeting on Mondays where we come together as a community and decide how to deal with issues during the week, make exciting announcements of opportunities and have voting rights to make important decisions. Recently, many sign-up sheets have been made available for students, by students, to hold a Fall Festival, join a book club, to perform in a play and many others. Our students are confident in their interests and their abilities to lead others!

Surprisingly, our students rescued another plant from our on-going experiment. The plant without water had sunk so low, students were worried that it could not be saved but they found that the plant stood up half way by the next morning with a drink of water! Discussions of the length of time the plant could last without additional water compared to the lack of heat created some debate and theories about the plants’ needs.

Along the lines of looking at our environment, How Wolves Change Rivers was an interesting short film students viewed Monday. Students were amazed by the immense impact of reintroducing the wolf back into the Yellowstone Park after many years of humans ridding the area of wolves. The plant and animal life completely changed in a positive way and in turn, the geography of the land and river changed. A lesson in how connected we all really are! Check out the video online: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50BhXz-Q.

In Math, Squaring lessons have been enjoyed by some students interested in new materials in the classroom that were not available last year. Squaring lessons are closely related to the Multiples lessons in that students start seeing that one Math concept is the same but used in a different perspective, over and over again. Squaring and Cubing lessons will then lead the students to see the connections over time to Powers and other advanced Math offered in the Montessori classroom.

“If the idea of the universe be presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying. The child’s mind then will become fixed and can work. The knowledge he then acquires is organized and systematic; his intelligence becomes whole and complete because of the vision of the whole that has been presented to him and his interest spreads to all, for all are linked, and have their place in the universe on which his mind is centered. (Montessori, Maria 1973 To Educate the Human Potential Kalakshetra Press, India)”.

Week 9

In preparation to our first visit of the Tallmadge library next week, student leaf/tree research projects are under way! Many students have already started collecting facts about their special leaf that they selected and others look forward to searching for books at the library. Each student will complete one research project alone and two research projects with a team. The class project will be bound into a book that will feature a hands-on leaf and tree matching game.

Our annual Halloween party planners kicked it into gear this week, preparing games, crafts and food for all to enjoy!  Halloween celebrations began with two costume parades and a community lunch with fun yet creepy food. The students bowled, pinned the hat on the witch, raced in relay races sweeping pumpkins and carrying candy corn on spoons in the gym. Everyone entered the donut eating contest that was sticky and hilarious. The day ended with three spectacular crafts: a spider on a web, a walking spider and a bat-like monster! Boo!

Latin
For October the Grade 1 and 2 class continued to practice words related to the family. In order to reinforce the family vocabulary, the students learned about a real family that lived in the Roman town of Vindolanda in northern Britain. For a supplement, they also looked at a video and pictures from the archaeological site of Vindolanda and from Hadrian’s Wall.

The Grade 3 and 4 class learned the terms subject, verb, and direct object.
The students translated short sentences on flash cards and were able to identify these grammatical terms successfully. In addition, they watched a short video showing a modern version of a Roman banquet.

Physical Education
In the first two months, the physical education program has already embarked on a plethora of sports. We kicked off the year with a game of capture the flag – it’s an all-time favorite and a great way to get all the kids excited about movement.

A rainy Friday lent itself to a nice indoor game of hockey. The gym was transformed into a hockey rink which even included penalty boxes…its not hockey without a penalty box, right? I can already see growth in the returning students. Last year the students only scored one goal during our field hockey games and this year we had well over ten goals…amazing!

A great addition this year will be our ‘field trips” to the park around the corner from the school. We already ventured there this fall, playing a game that combines both tennis and baseball. All the kids enjoyed the twist on baseball by hitting the ball with a tennis racquet.

Track and field heats up with a tight race for “fastest kid in the class.” Maddie was the undisputed champ last year but many other students have increased their speed over the summer and are giving her a run for her money. Something tells me Maddie will be ready to run during our next timed event.

We have some fun field trips scheduled for this year. Our first is coming up soon with a trip to the Football Hall of Fame. I look forward to learning all about the history of the NFL with the kids.

Tallmadge School

Week 1

The Elementary students and teachers got acquainted with each other, the classroom and procedures. Old friends and new friends came together to hear three of the Great Stories: “God Who Has No Hands”,” The Coming of Life” and “The Coming of Human Beings”. More info is here on to change your life. These stories engage the Elementary student’s imagination to grasp the amazing ideas of how the Earth, plants, animals and human beings came to be and ultimately depend upon each other within the laws of the universe.

Singing, book making and poetry reading have all commenced for the year. Students have received lessons in all of the areas of the classroom: History, Physical Education, Music, Art, Biology, Language, Geometry, Geography and Math. Excitedly, our class held its first “Community Meeting”, kicking off the year with a formal forum for students and teachers to come together and create our environment through peaceful communication, creative solutions and abundant opportunities for all.

Week 2

After a fun holiday weekend with families and friends, Elementary students returned to school ready to work! Excitement built over the weekend as the previous week, students have dreamed up a goal: Beating the World Record of the longest finger knitting rope in the world. Thank you for all of the generous family donations to the students to support their knitting dreams.

The last two Great Stories piqued the interest of many students: The Story of Our Alphabet and The Story of Our Numerals where students learned the historical development of human recording of communication and amounts. All of the students have been brushing up on old Math concepts lost over the summer break and filling their Personal Dictionaries with new words to learn.

Taking advantage of our beautiful weather, students have learned how to play Australian Dodge Ball and tried their skills at Ultimate Frisbee. An experiment in States of Matter was observed and discussed by the students as we continue to develop an understanding of the Laws of Our Universe. Also, our class had the opportunity to enjoy our school garden’s generous reaping of carrots and tomatoes during lunch one day.

Week 3

Recently, students have been discussing “The Fundamental Needs of Human Beings” which consist of Material Needs [Nourishment, Protection, Housing, Clothing, Transportation] and Spiritual Needs [Religion, Vanity, Art/Cultural] that all people share in their own unique ways. Students have been quenching their “Art Needs” through the use of Geometry tools and designing with our Metal Insets used for Math and Geometry lessons.

Their creations at https://yourdiamondteacher.com/ are evolving into beautiful ideas and gifts.

The Elementary study of the Earth and Life on Earth has commenced and students are looking forward to the opportunity of conducting Science experiments that parallel this focus. In addition to classroom lessons, our additional experts that joyfully share their knowledge have started visiting us: Music, Latin and Art. Our first class for self-defense (Tae Kwon Do) located at our Tallmadge campus has also begun.

Speaking of new starts, our classroom celebrated our first birthday of the year! Birthdays will be celebrated in a new approach and we hope you can assist your child with preparing for his or her birthday celebration. Each child will bring 3 pictures that define him or herself to class on the celebration day to share with us. None of the pictures have to be pictures of the student as each student’s perception of this will be unique. Unique is great! Your child will discuss each picture and fellow students will be able to ask questions about the birthday child. Our class will be gifting your student with blessings/good thoughts and compliments as a birthday gift for his or her special day. Do not worry. We will remind you as your child’s birthday nears.

Week 4

After a long discussion of Science Experiment Safety, the students plunged eagerly into the new Human Body Science Experiments. Experiment Cards will appear on shelves throughout the year in all the areas of study, Biology being first. Many materials have been graciously donated by parents for our Science Experiments. The Elementary class as a whole would like to extend a huge “Thank You!” for past and future donations to our mad scientists at work!

Also, this week, students have started selecting words they would like to learn how to spell. On Fridays and Mondays, as applicable, students take a quiz on their self-selected words. Beware, your student may ask you to spell words; such as, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” or “galluses”. We are all learning new, interesting and unique words!

Lessons have continued in all areas of the classroom. A new interest has sparked in the classroom: Sewing. Some students have learned how to sew a button on fabric and others are making bean bags for our classroom to use during “Walking on the Line”. Measurement lessons have been paralleling this work. Students have been measuring things in the classroom with Small-Non Standard Units, i.e., identical paperclips, to relive how people may have measured things with everyday identical objects to communicate mathematical amounts predating our current standardized method of measurement. In the Story of Geometry, students also got to help demonstrate how the “Rope Stretchers” or “Harpenodapta” of Egypt returned the farmer’s fields to the correct size and space after the annual flood of the Nile through historical surveying processes.

Though students have been learning all kinds of skills and games in relation to Physical Education so far this year, they were excited for the first official class on Friday. With that said, we would like to personally remind parents to ensure that your student brings his or her water bottle to school every day and especially on Fridays. We have had some students forget their water bottles. We want to keep your student properly hydrated to promote their success in health. Students perform physical exertion daily at recess, spontaneous lessons and work; and also, more importantly, during scheduled classes. We like to keep the students moving to promote a healthy lifestyle!

Week 5

This week, students have finished up their Hero letters and donned red, white and blue in our class picture for the troops. They shared personal thoughts and appreciation to our heroes overseas. Students have been busy working on the four basic operations of Mathematics: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. Some students are working on Fractions and Multiples, as well. The students have also been working on some basic Language skills, reading Poetry, Writing Creative Stories/Books/Plays and conducting basic Research on various topics.

Students are starting to show Mastery in new lessons. If your student shares his or her success about “Mastering” a lesson, rest assured, it is a big deal! This “Mastery” is one of the many things that make Montessori so different from the traditional approach of education. The teacher in traditional education gives information to his or her students to learn. Then the class as a group is assessed or tested in some fashion to see if the student has retained or learned that information. Whether all or some of the students have learned that information, the teacher is required to move on to new information as schedule in the traditional method.

Switching methods, in the Montessori method of education, the teacher shows the student how educational learning materials are used, tells stories, offers support, creates an environment conductive to learning and inspires. The student self-guides his or her learning at his or her pace and direction. The teacher observes the student and records the student’s progress. Mastery is attained when the student has mastered the concept or use of a material, lesson or idea. The next step of the learning process for the student is teaching and leading others. The students come to the realizations that there are always new heights learning can take place in and learning is for life. This idea is what separates the two methods vastly. Students do not “move on” when they do not understand information and students gain a self-propelled approach to learning that will last for life!

Latin

The two Latin classes have started a new year. For the first-and second-grade group the focus in September has been on learning basic vocabulary, especially words related to the Roman
family. The students have also learned to form and translate simple sentences using various forms of the verb “sum.” In the area of culture the class became familiar with maps of the Roman Empire and Italy.

In the third- and fourth-year class the emphasis has been on reviewing vocabulary first presented last spring. In addition, the group has investigated various aspects of ancient Roman food and
dining. The students helped construct a model of a Roman dining room, complete with Gumbius figures. Finally, the class participated in a banquet featuring foods from ancient Italy.

Tallmadge School

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 place in order. We talked about how the sun is the biggest star and why it is so important. We also made constellations with toothpicks and marshmallows. is solely dedicated to helping you.
We discussed the different phases of the moon and made them using chalk and construction paper. On Friday for science, we made moon sand and the children had so much fun playing with it!

The second week of May we talked about dinosaurs and what their habitat was like then the children made their own habitat using sand, rocks, plastic plants, toy dinosaurs, clay, and dirt. They learned different physical attributes of dinosaurs and their names. The children demonstrated an understanding of herbivores, omnivores and carnivores. We also dug out tyrannosaurus rex fossils and put the pieces together. For science we exploded the volcano, the children put in the habitat earlier in the week, using baking soda and vinegar.

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. Students learned safety rules for all methods of transportation and practiced crossing a fake street setup in the classroom. We placed a car at the top of a ramp and asked the children how far it will go. We recorded their answers with tape with each child’s name on it. We did this on the carpet first together then they switched to a smooth surface and tried it with their friends by making their own ramps and using different cars similar to the real cars adults use, and they also learn about the automotive services can be found online at sites like http://www.atloceanside.com.

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 many games that involved team effort and good sportsmanship. We also made balloon powered cars for science this week using balloons, straws, tape, and toy cars, we also got some help on PCH.

The first week of June we focused on summer games, activities, and experiments the children could do at home. We froze different color ice cubes for the children to put together in a glass and observe as the ice melts to make a new color. We also discussed summer safety rules while playing outside and playing with or in water. The children learned how to make homemade ice cream and enjoyed the tasty treat together!

I hope everyone has a fabulous summer and I can’t wait to see all the smiling faces in the fall!

Tallmadge School

For the last newsletter article of the year I asked my students to write about their summer plans. The following paragraphs have been typed exactly how each
student wrote them in their journals. Find more information about the to improve your results. I hope you enjoy reading them! Have a wonderful gaming summer!

Sumer Plans
by Zach Martinelli – 2nd grade
My Dad sing me up for Basketball camp. My friend Austin is going to sleep over. I’m going to build the chaos tower. I going to play bball. There are a lot of websites that are there on the internet but they just fake there users by typing HACK & MOD In their title, visit this website androidhackers.net if you are looking for paid/modded apps I am play video games, you can come and check this out this new video game coaching site I found. I’m going to create a shirt. I’m going to draw.

Madelyn Wise – 3rd grade
This summer I will go the lake and play with My friends all day. I will ride my bike. I will play in my tree house. I will play on my play online games set with my cousin and spend time with my family.

Quinn Farkas – 2nd grade
In the summer I will go to camp. I will go swiming with my friends on the weekend. I will go to vacation. I will put up the pool and have ice cream with my friends. We will play dead man on the trampleen. I will play minecraft and build a good world. I will play in the water a lot with my friends. I will have fun and have
lots of treats.

“The Tooth Fairy” by Ryan Baxter – 1st grade
Tonight the tooth fairy is comeing to take your tooth away mommy said. So Ryan put his tooth under his pilow before the tooth fairy take Ryan’s tooth. When it was morning the tooth fairy give me money and some. Ions from my tooth and I’m so happy LoL I got my coins and money. The end.

Summer Plans by Nick Smith – 1st grade

1. Meet new friends
2. Look around are new house
3. Go to new school
4. Find new playgrounds
5. Go to are new library
6. Move to Mulberry St. Iowa City, Iowa
7. See grandma and grandpa every weekend

“Summer” by Aleksandar Sudar – 1st grade
S is for sun
U is for underwater
M is for meet my new baby brother
M is for many play dates
E is for read everyday
R is for run

Skylar Mamajek – 3rd grade
This summer I will go to camp. I will go on the zip line and I will try to not get stuck. My goal is to win! I will have a good time with my friends at … SB2W (summers best 2 weeks).

Kassie Batchelor – 3rd grade
In summer I’m going to Washington D.C. for 2 days and going to florda 2 weeks later. Where going to Disney my friend Sydney’s house and spending the night and going to my gramas house and my nannys house and the beach. Then when I come back I will stay home for the rest of summer.

Elementary Students along with Kindergarten students worked
together to plant a garden for their garden project at the Tallmadge Campus. Elementary students will work the garden upon their return to school in August. This was a fun morning league of legends together and we are looking forward to seeing what our efforts will produce in the fall.

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Cuyahoga Falls School

This month was super busy for our classroom. Throughout the month of February we learned all about community helpers! The children really enjoyed doing a variety of activities and having special guests visit our classroom. Some of our visitors included a nurse, geologist, dentist, a toy designer, business owner of WebDesign499 and a police officer!

During the first week we lead a discussion about what a community helper was and what they do for us. Next, we brainstormed all of the community helpers we could think of and jotted our answers down on chart paper. The following day we did an activity called, “Helping Hands Writing Chart.” Each child 
was given a paper hand and was able to write out a community helper and what they do for us. The children were then able to decorate their hand and hang it on the wall. Over the next couple of days we talked about Doctors and nurses and what they do for us, tools they use, the different places they can work and the clothes they have to wear. Also, during that time we had a special nurse visitor come in and show the children the different tools they use and the her job at the hospital. We also went over the similarities and differences between a veterinarian and doctor. During that week I presented how to address an envelope and we practiced together. 
The second week was all about police officers, fire fighters, stranger danger, and “stop, drop, and roll.” The first book I read was a special book about police officers and what they do for us. We then added onto our web about the things  we learned so far. Ainsley said, “They have to have a partner so that they can be safe when they go out on calls.” Riley said, “They have people that dress like us called detectives,” and Zachary called out, “If you need help and are lost you can go to them.” I loved hearing the children retain so much of the information!  The next day we had a special Police Officer visitor! He came in and talked to the children about his job, and the different tools that he uses. He then passed around all of the different items that he has to carry on a daily basis. He was very informative with the children. Throughout that week we learned how to “stop, drop, and roll” and played a game called “Below the Smoke.” With this game some of the children had to hold up a sheet and move it up and down like smoke and one child at a time had to crawl the proper way under the smoke. 
The last day we visited a fire station. The children were able to see all of the tools that they use on a fire truck, where they eat and sleep, their fire suits, and the different jobs that need to be done. It was a great field trip!! A fun activity for kids would be a trampoline and one should check the best 14 foot trampolines.

The third week we had two special visitors. The first day was all about nurses. One of our parents came in and talked about what a nurse does, the different places a nurse can work, and the different tools they use. She then shared her stethoscope and the children were all able to come up one by one and listen to their heartbeat! The second visitor we had during the week was a toy designer. This parent came in and talked to the children about how a toy is designed and where they are produced. It was interesting to see all of her sketches and then her final products. As you might guess, the children loved playing with her toys! 
The last week we focused on bakers, chefs, and what you need to have in order to own a restaurant. During this time the children learned that bakers have to be at work before the sun comes up so that people will have their breakfast. They also learned that bread, rolls, muffins, cakes, and cookies come from a bakery; the different tools they use and what kind of education they require. We also talked about the restaurant business and the different types of restaurants that are out there. Our last visitor was a geologist. During her visit she talked about rocks and how they are formed, where you can find rocks, and the many different kinds out there. She then read the children a book about the ten rules for picking out the perfect rock. She then gave each child a small pile of rocks and they were able to pick out two rocks that were their favorite. It was a really awesome visit and the children loved it!!!

A big thanks to all of the parents that came in and talked to our class about their careers. It was very interesting and our students learned a lot!!