Tremendous effort was put forth in preparing for the International Festival. Music was practiced and rehearsed. Lines became memorized. Costumes were created. Art and research came to completion. Some students worked on their dance moves. All the while, students continued working on different areas of the classroom and discussing new work and ideas.
All of the hard work paid off Friday night when all of our guests enjoyed the International Festival together! Amazing art work inspired by different continents with research graced the hall leading into the performance. Students sang, played bells and shared their knowledge about the darker stories involving the dark knight, their favorite hero, Batman! Our dance students showed the crowd their moves and everyone enjoyed the younger students lines and songs. After the performance, everyone immensely enjoyed new bites to eat from countries all around the world and also, the younger students’ artwork as centerpieces throughout the dining areas. It is nice that our entire community can enjoy such a grand meal together!
Students are self-focused on two major ideas this week: breaking a world record and giving back to others. A group of students attempted and completed a Checkerboard problem that had a multiplicand a little bit over a Googol and a 4-digit Multiplier. The category Googol contains 100 zeros to make its place value. Check out our pictures on Facebook! Also, Charity Sweetz is a fundraiser created by our students to raise money for people living in Mexico who need assistance; such as: food, housing and education.
Another big excitement was our fieldtrip for physical education to Sky Zone. Students jumped and flipped on trampolines, the place has some of the Best Trampoline Accessories you could dream of. Some students played basketball by shooting hoops and some flew like Micheal Jordan, trying to slam dunk with the aid of trampolines. Dodgeball was the most popular activity with teachers and students taking on some older Sky Zone visitors. The competition was high level with good sportsmanship!
Practice for the International Festival is underway. Students are practicing their songs and their lines. Also, students are creating International art for people to enjoy after the show with the generous helpings of food. The Bells and a choir will be featured as part of our Elementary Music program.
While the students were very happy to spend time with their families over Spring Break, it was clear how much they loved being back in the classroom! Some students got right back to some of the projects they were working on before Spring Break and some of the students asked for refreshers for the work they aspired to do. Spelling quizzes, the Checkerboard, new Art projects were very popular. Students started checking out their money skills as well.
A small committee of students met this week, finalizing the Elementary performance for our next school event, the International Festival. A group of students have been reading about Clara Barton and the Red Cross this year. Students have been talking about these historical events among each other and have been amazed with her life. This amazement has trickled into our performance and the committee has designed a performance that will remind us all of the impact the Red Cross has in the world.
Friday at Dad with Donuts, everyone who attended had a blast! Each student felt special spending the morning with his or her guest. Also, each guest received a special gift the students made with joy and pride. No one left hungry but all left with a smile. What a way to start your day!
Yes! The weather is finally warming! We got to go outside finally – not that we don’t love the use of the gym. The last of the snow in piles of the edge of the parking lot were the key focus as we have been stuck inside due to the extreme weather. Ice hockey was the second interest even though the ice puck kept falling apart. One of my favorite things is watching the students use their imaginations to create games and “official” rules during recess.
One popular lesson received recently was the experiment observing fluidity and viscosity of liquids. Students enjoyed the etymology of the English words and seeing the flow of different liquids. All students have been working on a style of cursive handwriting called The Initial Stoke Method where one stroke leads the student to drawing several commonly made letters of the alphabet. During the Elementary years, many forms of writing will be explored to increase the beauty of your student’s handwriting skills. This also encourages the students to write more neatly, and focus on their spelling, because they want their handwriting to be ‘just so’.
The Elementary class has been delighted to have a new student join us, increasing our class to seventeen students for the school year. We continue to meet our younger guests as the graduating Kindergarten students continue to visit us [two by two], preparing for their next step after the 3 – 6 classrooms. Next year promises to be a booming increase in size for our growing Elementary program, making our program healthy and robust. We are excited!
Many students are starting to delve into Mathematic Laws, Area, Geometric Solids and Ratios. A couple of students are working on Time. Time is both looked at as Standard Time and Military Time, initially, as these two are most commonly used in our society. Talking about societies, students took a look at different cultures and examined some of the patterns of endings, beginnings and merging of cultures over the course of human history. They found that all history of man has not been clearly found through artifacts from the past and that over time, the numbers of cultures multiplied and became more “crowded” on the timeline as it neared current times.
Students thoroughly enjoyed exploring the World of Fossils at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. They were completely enthralled to search through rocks and see if they could figure out the kind of fossil they were viewing. Each student visited all six stations and had to decide if the group of fossils at each station were from a continent or from the ocean. At the end of the class, students became true archeologists and dug into a chunk of dirt, digging out their own shark tooth fossil. Then they identified they type of shark their specific tooth may have belonged to using a chart.
Prepping for our next big event, the International Festival, the students have voted on writing and performing, both. We will become researchers, playwrights and performers in the next couple of weeks! Other exciting starts are the Science Experiments are finally being realized as science materials have been arriving at the school, thanks to our $400.00 grant written by one of our Elementary parents. Beware if you visit our classrooms, Venus Flytraps are on the loose!
Week 29 & 30
Our big focus during this next week and a half is Science Fair despite the flu virus challenging many of our staff and students. Students carried out their experiments, collecting data to analyze. Many surprises happened with our “best guesses” or hypothesis had predicted. Some students worked hard to research their surprises to see if they could figure out why their experiment did not turn out as they hoped. All students delved deeply into researching the Law that governed the outcomes of their experiments, whether their hypothesis was correct or not. Taking their knowledge of paragraph writing, each Science Fair project created their first scientific research paper, based loosely on MLA format. One of the favorite parts of the project of the students was making the presentation boards, created with love and style by our young scientists to share their findings in a more visual way. The students were given lessons on how to present their work at Science Fair night and how to dress up their tables to make them inviting and exciting. One group featured an interactive activity! Science Fair night was packed and vibrating with stimulating conversation and all had fun! As staff, we had great pleasure watching the students enjoy the fruits of their hard work and dedication to their projects.
As part of our Science Fair work, lessons revolved around research techniques, formal writing skills, editing skills, typing skills, reading comprehension, how to organize a research paper, how to follow an outline, communication and public speaking tips from the best Mastering Communication Online Training Program . Several students walked to the local library to do research about their project and discover why it worked or didn’t work the way they thought. We used the library computers and all the knowledge gained from our initial library field trip that taught us how to search and find the books we need, browse this site and discover the leading experts and business solutions.
When it came time to write their paper, all students had lessons on how to type their paper on the computer and then we worked through the editing process. First, we read the paper aloud to a friend. Then we marked the areas we felt didn’t sound quite right with a highlighter. We reviewed the highlighted areas to re-word them as necessary, then typed our changes. Again, we read the paper aloud. This time we also looked for spelling and grammar mistakes. We corrected spelling and added any misspelled words to our personal dictionaries for further practice. Grammar mistakes were corrected and we learned a few editing symbols to improve our writing in the future. This may have been a “science” project, but it was laced with history, reading, grammar and language lessons as well. The students were so proud of all their hard work and it certainly paid off! The Science Fair was fantastic!
Our first visitors from the 3 – 6 classrooms spent the week with us, getting familiar with the work we do and the opportunities we have to offer. Elementary students loved giving tours and sharing lessons with our new friends. By the end of the week, we were sad to see them return to their original classrooms but we also looked forward to the next week’s visitors!
The student’s end to preparing their leaf research for professional publication has come to an end. They learned about the editing process and why formatting across the board was important to obtain a cohesive book. The Elementary voted to keep the final bound copy in the classroom. We hope to make the bound book available at the next parent conferences so that you can see all of their hard work realized!
Reading groups have turned directions from reading current event articles to other connected activities. One group is working on a book about Clara Barton. These students have been really excited about her life and look forward to each meeting to read more. Another group is focusing on Creative Writing Techniques that writers use to grab the reader’s attention and aid the students in adding some pizazz in their writing. Some techniques discussed and tried out were Alliteration, Simile and Oxymoron.
While disappointment of snow days loomed over some of our plans, the snow did not stop everything! The Elementary worked extremely hard on individual and class Art projects for the upcoming Art Extravaganza and finalizing their proposals for the Science Fair. The Science Fair proposal is the most difficult part of the Science Fair project. In fact, the proposal is a working document for your student to carry out their entire study. Students came up with experiment ideas and, like in real science studies; had to make adjustments, do research and think outside of the box to ensure their experiments were designed in such a way to find results following the Scientific Method in a safe manner. Students listed detailed steps of their experiments to ensure replication by other scientists and wrote clear hypotheses to allow for trusted results to be found. They also had fun creating catchy names and listing their items needed for their unique experiments! Students also prepared different ways to collect their data from their experiments for analyzing and described why they were interested to their pursuit. We have some budding scientists preparing to become successful explorers in the research field!
Latin
In February the third-and-fourth grade Latin class started the month by reviewing cardinal numbers from one to ten. The next class featured a project involving Latin phrases appropriate for Valentine’s
Day. After using paper hearts to construct flowers, the students then decorated them with colored labels expressing Latin phrases and their equivalent meanings in English. In the following class the students learned the ordinal numbers from first to tenth. Finally, in the last class of the month students pronounced and translated a short story based upon characters from the Roman fort at Vindolanda in Britain. To supplement their understanding, the students watched a slideshow on Vindolanda and Hadrian’s Wall, teachers also like to help their student perform better with the help of health and mind supplements, and you can buy modafinil online for this.
The first-and-second grade class began the month by reviewing the major Olympian deities. In the next class the students completed the same Valentine’s Day project mentioned above. The following class featured a discussion of the Trojan War and the construction of models of the Trojan Horse and the city of Troy. In the final class of the month the students learned about Heinrich Schliemann’s excavations at Troy.
Welcome back, families and friends! New and exciting things are in the works for the New Year. The hand bells were initially introduced in Music class and have expanded into the classroom. One passionate music lover; i.e., elementary student, is assisting teaching staff in giving bell lessons and plans to expand out into directing the SmarterBell choir. Often, one can walk by the elementary classroom and hear the joyous sound of bells being explored.
Final editing of the leaf/tree research has been wrapping up as Science Fair projects are ramping up. Students learned about how to make a science experiment proposal and other key steps leading up to our science fair in a two day lesson that included guides and paperwork to fill out for the initial steps. Also, students have started a beautiful quilt to auction at the up-coming Art Extravaganza. Save up your money, everyone is going to want this special classroom artifact to cherish for years to come with their child!
Despite all of the additional days off due to various reasons, students came back to school hungry for lessons, ready to show Mastery and diligent to work. The winter break let many ideas meld in their minds, allowing for a completeness to come to fruition for many students that were challenged by particular concepts or lessons. It has been enjoyable to see the students satisfied with their accomplishments.
Week 22
To prepare for the Valentine’s Day party, most students have started their quilling projects to create their own unique cards to share with their friends. While the goal of quilling is to teach our elementary students a skill they can use to create things down the road, an underlying importance is the development of concentration and the small muscles in the hand to improve handwriting.
Computer skills are being learned by all. There are many applications and systems that specialize in different areas. For example, Close Look software specialize in daycare applications and childcare management software, which are large programs used to manage and run childcare centers around the world, including managing children, attendance and day care teachers. Many students have used computers at home or school, surfing the web or playing games. Most students have not used all of the features in word documents or been responsible for navigating the computer in relation to files and memory sticks. The Elementary students are going to be experts by the end of this year with all of the hard work they are doing!
This week, the students broke into two teams and had to write instructions on how to make and eat a peanut butter sandwich. Miss Beth and Sarah followed the directions to a “T” and did not have the sandwiches they dreamed of. However, this activity allowed the students to practice and develop a more keen sense of detail for writing their science proposals!
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Happy January!
Also, as I am sure, your child may have let you know the visit of the worms to our classroom. A generous parent came into our classroom and worked with the students on conducting a complete experiment including collecting data and analyzing data. In the experiment, students learned about how worms communicate with each other by collecting happy worm mucus and angry worm mucus and seeing which mucus the worms were attracted to. All of the students had a blast participating with their worms and found value in the communication abilities of a worm!
Our first day back was quite exciting as we rode the bus to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for our World of Rocks class. Students were excited as the entered the classroom of the museum. At each table rock specimens had been placed for us to examine. Our first task was to determine if the rocks were sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic. After we labeled our rocks, we began learning more about each rock type.
We learned about two different types of volcanoes and the differences in their eruptions, and how this causes different rocks to form. At the end of our class we identified over 10 rocks by their scientific names. Students were both amazed and intrigued by all the differences between rocks.
The day back in the classroom was extremely focused and meditative in an unusual way as if the students missed working in the classroom fervently. Walking on the line was near perfection and students settled into work immediately. It was a day of extremely productive, self-chosen work along with more exploration of the Timeline of Human Beings and some new dance moves for our up-coming Christmas show. Students also completed 100 bags for the church to fill with food to donate to the homeless with unique decorations and up-lifting messages to bring happiness to others who may need our support.
Friday, our students had fun eating lunch together and showing off their favorite sport in the form of spirit wear during our celebration of winning the Box-Tops contest. Brandy ran a mini-contest for the kids on a trivia question about her apparel that the kids had a blast guessing. Thank you parents for making this happen!
Week 15
Even though our students attend specialized classes for various subjects, all of those subjects are available and on-going throughout the week as students are interested. This week, a focal point on music and art came in the form of a book from South Korea, “The Yellow Umbrella”, which is a book read in dramatic music [as opposed to words] and is the journey of umbrellas and rain. Some students were inspired to start creating their own books by sketching out ideas of pages to paint. Also musically related, students worked hard on their articulation of words to improve their Run-DMC song’s speed and clarity. Be prepared to see their literary skills at work!
Students really seemed to feel the winter break coming and were extremely focused on Mastery and finishing projects. Every student achieved Mastery in at least one or more lessons this week. Also, the props for the Christmas show were made by the students along with the cute sewing project the students took home to give as Christmas presents. The weather did not deter the students from some heavy duty physical exertion during recess as tag and basketball have become extremely popular in the gym. They really seemed to be relishing their last bit of school before leaving.
Week 16
Even though most of the week rotated around preparing for Friday night’s show, students also worked on lessons. Wednesday, the students spent the morning attending the Latin Festival. Students broke into teams and played Latin festival games, competed in Limbo and enjoyed a special feast together. All had a great time. Friday, the students had a pajama day complete with popcorn, movies and a special sharing time with friends. Everyone rested all snuggled in their pajamas, covers and pillows relaxing before the “Big Night”.
This week, students really took a close look at all of their performance pieces they were preparing for the school performance and stepped up their individual focal points while practicing with friends. Each Elementary student had a special part in the program focused on them and also, a diverse part in all of our group performances. Students put their best foot forward showing their newly honed skills of dancing to various song styles and eras, acting, speaking, playing piano and also, playing hand bells. The Elementary students were phenomenal Friday night.
Latin
In December both Latin classes focused on the Roman festival of the Saturnalia.
After learning how the ancient Romans celebrated this holiday, the students participated in activities related to the festival. For example, they learned to gamble with knuckle bones, a favorite game played by the Romans. The students also constructed and arranged boughs in the custom of the ancients. In addition, they designed and decorated Saturnalia cards. Finally, on December 17th the classes participated in a re-enactment of the Saturnalia by playing various games and enjoying Sigillaria, dolls normally exchanged during the feast.
Week 17 – 18
Happy Winter Break! See you in the New Year: 2015!
Couriosity guided our work during the month of April in the elementary classroom. As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, our first through third graders selected Natural Wonders of the World for their International Festival research and presentations. Ryan read about the Amazon Rainforest; Nick discovered the beauty of the Grand Canyon; Aleksandar stuck to his Serbian heritage and researched the Djavolja Varos; Allie and Annika plunged into Victoria Falls; Quinn and Zach bundled up to learn about the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights; Madelyn and Mason revealed the majesty of Mount Everest; and Kassie and Skylar swam through the beautiful Great Barrier Reef. This was quite an extensive project for our students. After selecting their Natural Wonder, they chose topics for their research reports. I provided them with a list of 12 from which to choose, and they narrowed it down to eight that were of interest. After selecting their Wonder and creating an outline, students then called the local library to request books about their Wonder and the topics they wanted to include in their research report. I was impressed with their etiquette on the phone. Even the librarian complimented your children’s manners. Students picked up their library books and began reading. They were so interested to learn about these great places. Everyone asked if we could take a field trip to their Wonder. Wouldn’t that be awesome!The reports were very impressive, full of detail and well written. The next step was to take their new knowledge and write a creative skit to be preformed at the International Festival. Watching their minds race through the possibilities and sharing their ideas was inspiring. Each partnership came up with a different idea and I was so happy with how they turned out. I hope you were able to see the Festival or at least watch the DVD. One of our wonderful parents has been able to get us 12 microscopes, 6 compound and 6 dissecting. Students were given individual lessons on how to operate the two types of microscopes. Continuing to follow the students’ curiosity for nature we explored several natural items under the microscopes. We even looked at our own skin as a cut, then each day as it healed. One creative student came up with the idea to examine a booger. It was quite a hit! We were also amazed at the incredible veins on various kinds of leaves. Students also brought in items from home to examine. Our classic reading adventures this month have been with the fun-loving, energetic Anne of Green Gables. This story has inspired us to get up and act! As we read, if there is an unfamiliar word, our Dictionary Helpers look up the definition and our Actors act out the word as it is used in the story for clarification. These activities have become a joy for us all to watch. A personal favorite, I have enjoyed reading this book with your children. Several of them have finished the book well before the entire class. We will be continuing to read this story into the month of May.
The month of March began with a flurry of art activities. Students added the beautiful finishing touches to their paper mache globes and imaginary islands we had been working on in our geography studies. We also placed the last of our human organs on each student’s body tracing project. Origami was a very popular activity as students designed patterns made from. origami boats, butterflies, and birds. These patterns were framed and part of our auction. Along with several masterpieces constructed in Art class with Ms. Michele, the students proudly displayed their handiwork at our annual Art Extravaganza.
We completed the book Robinson Crusoe in February. Each student chose a final project about the story.
Many of them built Crusoe’s island or his house, while others wrote their own adventure stories. Crusoe at the end of
Each student then presented their project to the class, explaining each detail of their design. It was a great project!
Geometry has continued to be focus for all of us. Typically geometry is not thought of as a subject of study for children in grades 1-3, but Dr. Montessori wanted to open up the child’s mind to the world of mathematics. Along with arithmetic, geometry and algebra are all expressions of the same “mathematical mind” Dr. Montessori desired each child to develop. Geometry is the link in the child’s mind between thinking arithmetically (specific quantities) and thinking in algebraic formulae (generalized ideas/rules of solving algebraic problems).
This is why geometry is so important in our classroom: geometry made specific becomes arithmetic; geometry made general becomes algebra. This month we focused on the study of lines and angles. Students learned that a line is not just a line, but can go on forever, unless cut, then it is a ray, with a distinct origin. We labeled several parts of lines and built them using our Box of Sticks. Next we discovered relationships between lines that are parallel, convergent and divergent. We made up stories about two friends who were walking on these lines to help us remember that convergent lines come together and divergent lines separate. We even drew little stick people to place on the lines we built.
Research is a wonderful way for children to explore and discover. Children are full of questions and they ask them almost constantly. In our classroom, students are encouraged to look up the answers to their questions, first in a book J, then online. It is rare that I just answer their questions. If I answer them, I become the resource, but if the child discovers the answer themselves, not only will they remember it, but they will become resourceful themselves.
This month we began a research project on the Natural Wonders of the World. Each student chose a natural wonder to research and, with a partner, wrote a research paper and skit, as well as designed a display board showcasing their discoveries. The Natural Wonders selected were The Grand Canyon, The Amazon Rainforest, Djavolja Varos (unique rock formations in Serbia), Victoria Falls, Mount Everest, The Great Barrier Reef, and The Aurora Australis (southern lights). The students will present their research skits at our International Festival on April 25th.
Our class on customer service training has been going on a wild and courageous adventure with the great Robinson Crusoe throughout the month of February. Before reading each student made a list of what they thought they would need if they were stranded on a deserted island. I was impressed with many of the items. Several students said they would bring weapons for hunting food, seeds to plant crops and a dog or cat for companionship. Other items that made the lists were an iPad, a game system and favorite stuffed animals. We then discussed that a deserted island most likely would not have electricity, which was extremely disappointing to our tech-savvy students.
As we journeyed around the globe with Crusoe, students were asked if they would make the same choices he did throughout the story. The class was split when deciding to leave their families or stay home at the beginning, but as the journey progressed, each child became more and more excited about the adventures. We finished the story last week and students are now working on building models of Crusoe’s island and home or writing their own adventure story. Stay tuned for photos of their projects next month!
We have also focused on human anatomy this past month in biology. Children were fascinated to learn about the inner workings of their bodies, especially their heart and brain. As we read books about each organ students asked questions and researched their answers. We learned the names of each lobe of the brain and their functions. We learned how to use a stethoscope and check our heart rates. Students loved checking their heart rate, doing an activity, and then re-checking their heart rate to see what happened.
In our Geometry studies students have been focusing on types of triangles and angles. We read a story about how geometry came to be and have been using our infamous Box of Sticks to create the seven different triangles (right-angled isosceles, right-angled scalene, acute-angled isosceles, acute-angled scalene, obtuse-angled isosceles, obtuse-angled scalene, and equilateral equiangular.)
Excitement overflows each Monday afternoon as students prepare for their Latin class with Magister Tom (Mr. Tom McCaffrey). I have been so proud of each child as they answer Magister Tom’s questions about English words derived from Latin and their ability to remember, from week to week, their new Latin vocabulary. They have learned simple greetings, feminine and masculine forms of nouns and verbs, as well as plural forms. This past week, their favorite activity was answering questions in Latin. Magister Tom would ask, “Quis est?” and point to the table. Every hand shot up in excitement to answer “Est mensa.” They can say over 30 words after just a couple of lessons and their pronunciation is fantastic! We have made labels for our classroom in Latin and students enjoy reading the label and placing it in the correct spot.
One goal of mine is to provide the children with several experiences outside of the classroom. This past month we went to Playhouse Square in Cleveland to see a show called Dino-Light. This was a show done without words, using only light and music to convey the emotions of the characters. The story was about a scientist who built a dinosaur, but the dinosaur was missing a heart. The scientist gave the dinosaur a heart in hopes he would became a kind and loving dinosaur. The scientist and his dinosaur were separated and they searched for each other throughout the play. In the end, the dinosaur defeated his foe to save the life of the scientist, thus showing his love. The play was fantastic, but my heart melted when we completed our “End of the Day Journal” entry and Annika said she had a lesson on friendship because the dinosaur in the play learned to love and care for another person, just like a true friend.
