Line Time: Dinosaurs- We traveled back in time and discovered some fascinating things about certain dinosaurs. We learned that dinosaurs no longer exist and that they are extinct. We know dinosaurs exist because scientist found their bones or fossils. From these fossil we saw that some teeth were long and sharp to tear flesh from it’s prey which belonged to meat eaters or carnivores (T Rex). Some teeth were flat for grinding plants, leaves, and branches and belonged to plant eaters or herbivores (Brachiosauras).
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 13 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, and Tagolog).
Peek In Our Classroom:
We have been following this student for about a month and keeping tabs on the status of her sensitive period (writing). She is still strongly interested in handwriting. This picture depicts her tracing the line time name tags. I’m wondering if she kept all of them to herself or did she give the traced name to the appropriate student.
This student is working on an animal puzzle (bird). This puzzle is designed to help the child easily understand and recognize the different parts of a bird and it is painted in vivid colors to catch the child’s attention. Not only does this work help the child recognize the parts of the bird but the knobs help reinforce his fine motor skills.
This child is working on the ever popular Binomial Cube. The Binomial Cube is one of those amazing Montessori materials! It introduces abstract math concept to children as young as 4 without them even knowing it! The early sensorial experience with the cube inspires them to work with this material. The material provides the all important bridge between concrete and abstract thinking. And so amazingly (because it’s logical) the child develops a much deeper understanding of the math. Or it is just fun to work with.
This boy has found what we call and extension. He combined three different sensorial material to come up this creation. He did figure out how to create to go from biggest to smallest.
Next Week: Line Time- Pilgrims/Thanksgiving
Letter Of The Week- M m
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bop
Next Language will be Hebrew
Snack will be brought to you by August
Upcoming Events: 11/20/2018 Tuesday— Harvest Party (Estimated Start Time 11:00am)
***11/21 Wednesday through 11/25 Sunday— NO SCHOOL***
11/24/2018 Saturday— THE GAME noon
Let me explain what is happening in this picture. During line time for the days of the week I have the children put 7 with their fingers. 2 and 5, 4 and 3, Sign Language, and I’ll give the first person who can do 6 and 1 a dollar. This fine boy figured out how to do 1 and 6 in sign language and Mr. John is out a dollar.
Line Time: Insects, arachnids, and Invertebrates- Creepy Crawly, creepy crawly creepy creep creepy crawly (reminds me of The Who song, Boris The Spider). When we went over the five animals all of them were vertebrates (having a backbone and spine) but looking at Insects and arachnids they were invertebrates (no back bone or spine). Most had what we call an exoskeleton which is the skeleton is on the outside. This gives the creature support and protection. We learned insects have a head, thorax, and abdomen, six legs, and two antennae. We sang the characteristics of an insect to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. Some insects are ants, bees, and butterflies. Arachnids have a head and abdomen, and eight legs. Some examples of arachnids are spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites.
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 10 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, and Swedish).
This alumnus came back to read to her old classroom. The alumnus is the girl in the chair. The gentleman sitting on the floor is the grandfather. Hehe
Birthday: A Montessori Classroom is comprised of multi-aged students. Here is our newest November 3, 4, 5 year olds.
Peek In Our Classroom:
The Pink Tower is arguably the most popular work in the classroom. This boy found different way to stack the blocks. The different ways to do things is called an extension.
Rolling a mat is one of the first things taught to new students. When students work on the floor the mat is their personal work area.
These girls are working on the Africa Puzzle Map. The obvious purpose is to place and identify countries in the continent. Also, the puzzle maps showcase the difference between land and water, and help to develop an appreciation for spatial awareness. The pegged puzzle pieces, which are used in most Montessori classrooms, have a secondary purpose as well. When a child grips the pegs, it’s actually preparing his or her hand to use a pencil. The pegs help to refine a child’s fine motor control, and will make the transition to holding a pencil that much smoother.
Remember this girl who was part of my blog for the last two weeks? She is still in that Sensitive Period of handwriting. Remember a Sensitive Period is a time frame where the child has a thirst for learning a certain skill in a certain area.
This child is working on the red rods found in the Sensorial Area. The direct aim is visual discrimination of difference in dimensions (length) and muscular memory of length. The indirect aim is preparation for mathematics. This child discovered that each rod is the exact length longer of the shortest rod. She is measuring all of the rods in this pic. ***** Notice how she is creating interest with other children ? ******
Line Time: Birds- We ended our journey of studying animals with the bird. We learned birds are vertebrates and are warm-blooded, which means that they can make their own body heat even when it is cold outside. Whether it is sunny and hot outside or there is a snowstorm and it is very cold, warm-blooded animals have body temperatures that usually stay the same. They are born from hard shelled eggs and have feathers. A lot of birds fly but some do not. The flightless birds are the ostrich and penguin. We are not sure if chickens fly.
I thought I saw a Pooty Cat!
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 10 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, and Romanian)
Peek In Our Classroom:
Let me explain these 4 photos. It is a sorting work with 5 “objects” that include blue rocks, large white glass discs, small white glass discs, small blue glass discs, and small green glass discs. He sorted all 5 objects with 5 cups. I removed a cup and he sorted in 4 categories (blue rocks and blue glass discs, green glass discs, small white glass discs and large white glass discs). I removed another cup leaving 3 cups. He figured out/sorted (blue rocks and blue glass discs, large white glass discs and small white glass discs, then green glass discs). Removing one more cup leaving two cups he sorted rocks and glass discs. This is problem solving at its finest. Phhheeeew, that was a lot. I wonder if there are different ways we can sort?
This student was featured in last week’s blog practicing handwriting. Here she is a week later working on handwriting. This student is in what Maria Montessori called a Sensitive Period. Montessori sensitive periods refer to a period of time when a child’s interests are focused on developing a particular skill or knowledge area. These periods come and go. When one window of opportunity closes another opens.
Practical Life activities provide skills that children and adults encounter in everyday life. This child is mastering hanging is coat on a hanger.
This child is working on the Sandpaper Letters found in the Language Area. The aim for the Sandpaper Letters is to learn the sound and shape of the letters of the alphabet. To gain a muscular memory of the shape of the letters as a prelude to writing. She is remembering the letters by touch, sight, and sound.
Next Week: Line Time- Insects/Arachnids/Invertebrates
Line Time: Fish- We learned fish are vertebrates or they have a backbone or a spine. They are cold blooded (their body temperature changes to the temperature around them) and have slimy and scaly skin. The unique thing about fish is that some fish are born alive and some fish are born with jelly eggs. Some examples of fish are Trout, Bass, Sharks, and Swordfish. And one more important point is that fish live in water, and many people decide to have fishes for pets since they’re easy to maintain, and you can even get an aquarium and fish decor for it.
I wish I was a fish……
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 10 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, and Russian)
Peek In Our Classroom:
This boy is working with the Knobbless Cylinders found in the Sensorial Area. The purpose of these cylinders is to develop child’s fine-motor movements, concentration, hand-eye coordination, and visual perception of dimension. The material also provides experiences of basic language important in math. *** Notice he found a relationship of height between three color/boxes ***
Same child, same work, different relationship that he discovered which is diameter of the cylinders. Do you notice how he draws a crowd? Student observing other students working is a big part of the Montessori Classroom.
She is practicing different strokes that lead to writing in cursive. Research suggests that printing letters and writing in cursive activate different parts of the brain. Learning cursive is good for children’s fine motor skills, and writing in longhand generally helps students retain more information and generate more ideas.
The Montessori 9 Tray Layout is an early place value work. Your child explores and builds a physical place value chart on the floor with Golden Beads and large number cards, units through thousands. This layout will help your child to visualize and develop an understanding of place value, order of numbers and concentration.
Lessons: The Kindergarten Students are learning how to tell time old school! We identified what the minute hand and the hour hand are. We first learned how to tell time to the hour/O’ clock/ :00. We then learned how to tell time to the half hour/ half past/ :30.
Handwriting: We practiced the cursive letters (upper and lower case) o,p,q,r,s
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 10 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, and Romanian).
Line Time: This week we looked at the Amphibian. We talked about how the Amphibians are vertebrates, cold blooded (the body temperature changes to the temperature that surrounds the amphibian), their skin is soft and moist, and they are born from jelly eggs. Some examples of Amphibians are toads, frogs, and salamanders. We learned that the term amphibian means of two worlds. Amphibians are born in the water but live their life on land.
“Hello my baby, Hello my honey, Hello my Ragtime Gal!
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 9 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, and Italian).
Peek In Our Classroom:
A group ventured out of the classroom to clean the school’s handrails with soap and water. This act helped the whole school and reinforced my banter about social responsibility. Even if you din’t do it, it is ok and commendable to correct what is wrong.
The Red Rods enhances the further study of size and is found in the Sensorial Area. This time, size varies only along one dimension. The child judges by sight and touch. This enhances awareness of length and visual discrimination of length. It is also the precursor for the Number Rods…. (see below).
The Number Rods are found in the Math Area. The child will typically work with the Number Rods after mastering the Red Rods (see above). If you recall, the Red Rods help establish visual discrimination of length. The Number Rods are a natural progression, naming the quantity shown on each number rod with red and blue demarcations.
This student is working on the Ten Board which is found in the Math Area. This work makes the connection between symbol and quantity. Notice the pattern this student discovered.
This student continued to work on this material and found another pattern. Do you see the pattern his discovered?
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Fish
Letter Of The Week- I i
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bin
Next Language Will Be Russian
Next Week Snack Brought To You By Kiera
Upcoming Events:
***** Halloween Party- October 26, 2018 in the AFTERNOON! Costumes, games and candy! ***** The school will supply pizza for lunch
***** Hit up all relatives and friends for BOX TOPS.If we win we get pizza. *****
***** Bring Your Parents To School Day- Be totally impressed by what your children are doing in the classroom!*****
Follow The Link To Sign Up…
Line Time: This week we learned about reptiles and what makes a reptile a reptile. Reptile are vertebrates, cold blooded (body temperature changes to the temperature around them), they are born from hard shelled eggs and their skin is dry and with scales. Some examples of reptiles are snakes, turtles, and lizards.
Was Godzilla a reptile?
Birthdays:
Catching up on the birthdays in the classroom. Here are my newest 3,4,5 year Olds. The amount of fingers indicates how hold they are.
Cultural Subjects: Your Children can now count to ten in 8 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, and Arabic with the Lebanese dialect).
Peek In Our Classroom:
The Trinomial Cube are blocks are color coded and are different sizes to represent the algebraic Binomial and Trinomial formulas. The purpose is not to teach math but to challenge the child to find patterns and spatial relationships.
These students are working with the Sequencing Cards. Sequencing is one of many skills that contributes to students’ ability to comprehend what they read. Sequencing refers to the identification of the components of a story… the beginning, middle, and end… and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which they occurred.
These two students are working on the ever popular Pink Tower. The Pink Tower, iconic to the Montessori classroom, embodies the direct and indirect purpose of most Montessori materials. Stacking the cubes calls for visual discrimination, coordination, patterns, the concept of ten and precision.
The Number Rods is a Math Material and it’s aim is to experience the qualities and quantities of each number and to learn their respective names. Also, to show that each number is represented by a single object, as a whole, separate from others and finally to help memorize the sequence of numbers from 1 to 10.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Amphibians
Letter Of The Week- H h
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bit
Next Language will Be Italian
Next Week Snack Will Be Brought To You By Madeline
Upcoming Events: —- Halloween Party- October 26, 2018 in the AFTERNOON! Costumes, games and candy! —- The school supplies pizza for lunch —-
— Bring in your Box Tops and help the class get PIZZA!!!!!! —
— Bring Your Parents To School Day- Be totally impressed by what your children are doing in the classroom! — Follow The Link…
Line Time: This past week we learned about Mammals. Mammals are vertebrates (have a spine or backbone), warm blooded (their body temperature does not change), have hair or fur, live bearers, and eat/drink mother’s milk when young. Some mammals live in the water such as dolphins and whales. The only mammal that can fly is the bat! Cats, dogs, elephants, and rats are mammals. Oh, and people are mammals as well. “Are we not men? We are MAMMALS………. “
If you want to play Six Degrees Of Separation for DEVO Mark Mothersbaugh’s (front man for DEVO) brother does the confirmation classes for my church. Also, I do childcare at the church and I have cared for his niece’s children. I know useless but interesting information.
Cultural Subjects: Your Children can now count to ten in 8 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, and Japanese).
Peek In Our Classroom:
This student is working on the 2nd introduction to decimals. This work develops and gets the child more familiar with the concept of 10. She and I exchanged 10 units for 1 ten, 10 tens for 1 hundred, exchanged 10 hundreds for 1 thousand. It is a fun game enjoyed by the students.
This students was a busy girl this day. She also is learning how to read starting with “Hooked On Phonics”
This boy is working on the material called Cards And Counters. Once again the math material makes the connection between symbols/numbers and quantity.
This boy is working with one of my science bins. This bin is what is under your skin or bones. Students explore jaws, teeth, and a huge cow femur. At times they will get a magnifying glass to see the different textures of the different bones.
Ms. Ashley giving a presentation on the knobbed cylinders.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Reptiles
Letter of The Week- G g
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bid
Next Language- Arabic With The Lebanese Dialect
Next Week Snack Provider- Logan H.
Upcoming Events: Halloween Party– October 26th (details to follow) Just putting a bug in your ear.
Bring Your Parents To School Day- Follow The Link…
Line Time: Living and Non-Living- This week we talked about living and nonliving things. Your children now know what makes a living thing. All living things reproduce, grow, eat or take in nutrients, breathe or exchange gases, and need water. We are all in agreement that plants, animals, trees, grass, are living things! My shoe is not a living thing. My youngest son’s shoes may or may not be living. I do not get close enough to tell due to the smell and I may have seen them move on their own. Boys that are 12 1/2 years old, SMH.
Cultural Subjects: Your Children can now count to ten in 7 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, and Greek).
Peek In Our Week:
A new Practical Life Activity of “Plucking The Kernels From The Cob” This enhances concentration, fine motor skills, and patience (as you can tell by the child “patiently” waiting for her turn). The corn kernels will be recycled to be part of other Practical Life Materials.
Teamwork! One Montessori Student helping another. A prime example of Grace and Courtesy.
This student is working on the Spindle box which is a Math Material. He sees the numerals 0 to 9 in sequence. He will associate the corresponding quantities with the numerals and he is introduced the concept of zero. In this exercise, the sequence of numbers is indicated on the box and the quantities are loose. So his tactile sense is used to determine the different quantities.
This child is working with The Number Rods and Symbols which are found in the Math Area. The Number Rods help establish visual discrimination of length. The Number Rods are a natural progression, naming the quantity shown on each number rod with red and blue demarcations. The symbols are added to help the child associate quantity to the corresponding symbols.
Ms. Kathleen presenting a sorting material.
Next Week: Line Time- Mammals and their characteristics
Letter Of The Week- F f
Rhyming Word Of The Week- big
Next Language- Japanese
Who brings snack for next week? — Dylan
Upcoming Events: Be on the lookout for information for Bring Your Parent To School.
This week we had fun learning about the food groups in our class. Grains and Cereals (pasta, rice, bread, cereal, crackers), Fruit (apples, grapes, kiwi, mango which is my favorite), Vegetables (cucumbers, carrots, potato, broccoli, eggplant, which is my favorite) Dairy (my favorite… milk, cheese, yogurt), meats (beef, pork, chicken), and proteins, fats and sugars and how many servings we should have per day. Next week we will be identifying and learning the characteristics are of living things and non living things (non-living thing: me at 5 am in the morning).
Cultural Subjects: Your Children can now count to ten in 6 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, and French).
Peek In The Classroom:
Two friends working on the Food Pyramid.
This young lass is working on the Binomial Cube. The Binomial Cube is introduced at around 4 years of age, the purpose of the material is not to teach math, but instead, to provide a challenge for a child’s ability to find patterns and relationships. Therefore, the material is presented as a sensorial activity. It is presented like a three dimensional puzzle. The formula for the Binomial Cube is……. a³+3a²b+3ab²+b³
This student is working on the Ten Board. He was so excited to learn about this material he took it out a few minutes after he was presented with it. His excitement overflowed to where he is teaching a younger student the material. the purpose of the Ten Board is to combine the quantities and numerals 10 to 90
This student was excited to master this material. Once again the enthusiasm of learning prompts the older student to give lessons to younger students.
The Ten Board is matching the correct number of ten bars and a one to nine bead bar to compose a two digit number. Through this material children gain a better understanding of two digit numbers to 99.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Living and Non-Living Things
Letter Of The Week- E e
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bad
Next Language is Japanese
Person bringing snack for week of 9/24/2018 is Chase
Upcoming Events: Mark your calendars picture day is Thursday, September 27th, from 8:30-11:00am. All students in attendance will be photographed in order to be included in the school yearbook. Families can also order school pictures. John and Kim Tuesday, from Tuesday Photography, do a wonderful job with our school pictures and have been taking them at our school for over nine years! They take their time with each child, working very hard to capture the best possible picture. Their work is guaranteed. If you are not 100% satisfied they offer retakes at their studio in Tallmadge or a full refund of your purchase.
