Category Archive for "Classroom Corners" | Absorbent Minds Montessori School

Mr. John May/June 2016 Newsletter

Posted on June 10, 2016 at 11:41 pm.

Line Time

The circle of life studied last week always involves food and eating to stay alive. This is where we looked at several food chains. We looked at a 2 part food chain involving a mouse and grains. We looked at several 3 part food chains such as snake/mouse/grains, hawk/snake/mouse, bear/big fish/small fish. We went so far to look at some 4 part food chains Hawk/snake/mouse/grain. We learned about being on the top of the food chain and the bottom of the food chain. We also learned the animal that “hunts” for the food is the predator and the animal that gets eaten is the prey.

The second week of May was a great time to talk about the seasons. We started with spring and talked about how it gets a bit warmer but we get a lot of rain and plants and flowers start to come out. Then we talked about summer and how it is hotter because the earth tilts closer to the sun and the days are longer. This is when plants grow tall and flowers are in full bloom. Autumn or fall comes next and the weather gets a bit chillier. The leaves turn beautiful colors then fall to the ground. The final season is winter and it is the coldest season of the year. The earth is tilted further away from the sun and the days are shorter. We end up getting snow in the winter.

Put on your space suit and get ready to explore our solar system. We started with discussing the planets nearer the sun them worked our way to the furthest reaches of our solar system. Mercury is our first planet and is the closest to the sun. Venus is the second planet. Even though it is further away from the sun it is the hottest planet in our solar system. The third planet is near and dear to our hearts. It is the planet earth. It is the only planet in our solar system that has life. The next planet is Mars and is known as the red planet. The next planet is the biggest planet in our solar system and has a big red storm that has been raging for centuries. That planet is Jupiter. Saturn is the next planet and has really cool ring around it that are pieces of rock and ice. Uranus is next and it spins up and down instead of side to side like all the other planets. Neptune is the last planet in our solar system. I did not forget about Pluto. Oh! Poor Pluto. Pluto was once a planet but now has been demoted to a dwarf planet.

We had two alumni readers. Sophia who is now third grader at Richardson and James who is now a fourth grader at Dunbar.

Cultural Subjects

We are holding at counting to ten in 27 different languages.

Academic Enrichment Lesson with kindergarten students

We started May by discussing the preposition. Where oh where can we find a preposition? Well, I told them a preposition was a “where word” NOT a “werewolf”. The kindergarteners brushed up on their knowledge of the interjection. The interjection adds emotion to the sentence but we did find out that if we eliminate the interjection from the sentence, the meaning of the sentence really does not change. We learned what punctuation is used at the end of a sentence. We use a period (.) when we are stating something. We use a question mark (?) when we are asking a question and we use an exclamation mark (!) when we show excitement or a lot of emotion. I introduced the students to the rules of capitalization. We learned that words at the beginning of the sentence, the word I, and proper nouns need to be capitalized. We played “mad libs” and ended our lessons on grammar by watching Grammar Rock. For the last week we just reflected on our year, what we learned, and our favorite parts of kindergarten class. It was a GREAT year!

Enrichments

The children sure did enjoy Music, Science and Art classes this year! I must admit, so did I. Ms. Lisa, Mr. John and Ms. Michele’s love for the children showed in the time they put in preparing for the classes, as well as their interaction with each other. The children loved the hands on activities. I saw some activities replicated at home, safely and enthusiastically with some great parent involvement! Thank you for sharing your children with us. Have a safe and awesome Summer!

Explorations of Elementary

Posted on May 9, 2016 at 1:32 pm.

Written by Kelly Andamasaris

Explorations of Elementary – Spring 2016

Our elementary students surprised and impressed visitors at our amazing Famous American Live Wax Museum. This event took place all throughout our school where students were dressed as Americans who made a positive contribution to American history. In preparation for this event, students selected an American and researched that person’s life. They were to learn about their American’s childhood, education, hobbies, and special characteristics that led the person to impact history. All students wrote a research report, complete with an APA style bibliography.

The night of the museum it was difficult to recognize our children because they looked like Betsy Ross, Sacagawea, Ben Franklin, and Amelia Earhart (just to name a few).

In our reading groups students gave presentations about their books. One group read the Newbery Honor book Hatchet. Another group chose to read the biography of Helen Keller. Our third group read the classic adventure of Robinson Crusoe. The Hatchet group wrote thoughtful news articles explaining the events of the story and the emotional trip Brian, the main character, takes throughout the book.

Each student demonstrated their love for their fathers by painting beautiful rocks that read “My dad rocks” as a gift to give at Dads and Donuts. All of the fathers receiving this rock chuckled. I’m sure they will look at it in the future and think of their wonderful morning with us.

Our annual International Festival was a huge success and our students put on quite a show. Elementary students worked in groups to research a man-made wonder of the world.

One group researched The Great Wall of China. They learned how long the wall is and that it is not a continuous wall, but has gaps where mountains run through it.

The group researching the Taj Mahal discovered a sad love story of a husband who lost his wife too soon. The Taj Mahal was built as a tomb for the young woman. This group utilized their math skills to discover how much it would cost in today’s American dollars to build. They first exchanged Indian Rupies for British Pounds (because American was not a country when the Taj Mahal was built), then Pounds for today’s Euros, and finally to the American dollar.

Easter Island was a surprise to many of us because it was very unique in that no one knows how or why it was built. This group discovered a video showing how the large statues may have been moved using ropes and three groups of people to shimmy the statues form one place to another. It is one of the most unique wonders we researched.

The group researching Christ the Redeemer enjoyed learning about all of the trials to build the amazing statue. Originally, it was to be built in the 1850s, but construction never began until 1922. The statue was completed in 1931, taking close to nine years to finish.

The Forbidden City was another wonder researched by our students. This imperial palace is located in the heart of Beijing and housed 24 emperors. Today it is the palace museum.

Machu Picchu, an Incan citadel in Peru, is famous for the stone walls that stay together without the use of mortar. To this day, the use of this amazing creation is still unknown.

The infamous Colosseum in Rome was the seventh wonder researched by our students. This group was fascinated with the fighting that took place inside the Colosseum. Their scale model displayed how seating surrounded the events. Their skit of the lion fighting “Jackonitus” entertained everyone at our festival.

Ms. Courtney’s April 2016 Newsletter

Posted on May 9, 2016 at 1:27 pm.

Written by Courtney Owens

Classroom

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.

Mr. John’s April 2016 Newsletter

Posted on May 5, 2016 at 1:00 pm.

Written by John Kotradi

Fast Car…..

I am afraid I am entering a new chapter in my life. My days of the mini van are gone and ushers in the era of the sedan. I recently traded my life inside the Honda Odyssey for the Honda Accord. I never realized what a difference this would make. The sedan is FAST! I don’t think I will know what the true gas mileage is for a few months because of my abrupt stops, jack rabbit starts, and taking corners like I am in the Grand Prix (without fear of tipping). I actually look forward getting behind the wheel of this CAR. It has an “AUX” jack so I can listen to my Spotify from my cell phone and have no qualms about blasting “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith with the windows down. My niece who is 15 years old laughed hysterically when she saw me behind the wheel of something other than a mini van. She looked over the CAR, hopped in, laughed, got out walked away laughing, stopped, turned around to take another look, doubled over and started to laugh harder. She said she NEVER saw me drive anything besides a minivan and this will take time for her to get used to this new CAR she bought with the no credit check loans, this is must to do anytime you get a new car just to protect yourself and if you can’t afford it with cash it will make a big difference even if you are a bad credit borrower, if you check the best tumblr on the topic you’ll find great advise for this type of situations and it will help you make the best decision regarding this.

Fun with fractions Dem Bones!

Line Time

Jambo Bwana and What a Small world it is. Those thoughts and music is still ringing in my ears. As you know these were the songs we sang at the International Festival. We learned about all the continents and some of the individual countries within the continents. The students had fun learning about the climates, foods, clothes, and differences of how children attend school. I wanted to thank all of those who came in and talked about different countries. This adds so much to International Festival month. All the presentations are fun, informative, and the children and teachers enjoy it. It never ceases to amaze me how much our students can learn in a short amount of time. They did a fabulous job with their lines and performing the songs. Not to mention how colorful the stage was with their costumes. I cannot give enough thanks to the people who prepared the food! Who didn’t gain ten pounds that night?

Kathleen having fun at a Turkish wedding

Learning about Turkey

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF)

Hard workers

1,2,3…………. 100 board

Cultural Subjects

My line time and the kindergarten class count to ten in 27 different languages (English, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Tagalog, Polish, Irish, Welsh, Hebrew, Arabic w/the Lebanese dialect, Japanese, Hungarian, Swedish, Swahili, Korean, Serbo-Croation, Hindi, Flemish/Dutch, Malay, Cebuano and Turkish!

Fun with African drums and shakers Proud of their African drums and shakers

Friendship

Multiplication

Academic Enrichment with Kindergarten Students

In the afternoon lesson with kindergartners, we continued our work with grammar. We started by We looked at the adjective which describes nouns and pronouns, the adverb which describes the verb and usually ends in “ly”, the conjunction which connects two sentences or thoughts and acts like a bridge, and the preposition which is a “where” word not a werewolf.

Diagraming sentences

Who said adverbs were difficult? My kindergarteners don’t think so!

Cultural Subjects

Science

This month the children did two experiments in their Science class, one is called Dancing Spagetti, where they learned about carbonation, and one consisting of packing peanuts which dissolved in water. The children thoroughly enjoyed both experiments.

Where did that packing peanut go?

Music

This month the children sang hello to Ellie the parrot, Freida the frog, and Jerry the Giraffe. Ms. Lisa focused this month on high and low sounds. On the keyboard, we played high sounds on the right and low sounds on the left. We played the cat and mouse game again to review the difference between high and low. Next we practiced listening for sounds on the keyboard that were from nature, were animals, and instruments. Then we reviewed the music notes of whole, quarter, half, and eighth. Ms. Lisa had the children clap the beats and then use rhythm sticks to practice the beats of the notes in a song.

Art

During the first week of art we finished up our yarn weaving from last month. For the next week we did an art project for Australia. Each child drew an animal from Australia with pencil. Then they painted in the animal with dots using cotton swabs. In our third art lesson, we created litter bugs from recycled materials for Earth Day! To finish up the month of April, we painted our litter bugs many bright colorful colors!

Aborigine Art

Ms. Kate’s April 2016 Newsletter

Posted on May 5, 2016 at 12:56 pm.

Written by Kate Case

Good day, mates! Spring is finally here! I love seeing the warm sunshine and the colorful flowers in bloom! This month has been super busy getting ready for the International Festival and learning about all of the different continents and countries. The children also enjoyed our guest speakers from different backgrounds and cultures.

(taste testing Chinese food)

During the first week, I introduced the seven continents to the children by showing them our continents puzzle. We discussed the four main countries in North America, including The United States of America, Mexico, Canada, and Greenland. The children also learned about our flag, which consists of 13 horizontal stripes, which are red, white, and blue and represent the first colonies and states in the union. The flag also has 50 stars, which represent the 50 states in the Union. The children also learned about Christopher Columbus, the climate, and cultures of North America. We also discussed South America and their famous Andes Mountains, The Amazon, and the Rainforest. The children really liked learning about the four layers, which are the forest floor, the understory, the canopy, and the emergent layer.

The third week we focused on Asia. We discussed how Asia is the largest continent in the world. We mainly focused on China, Japan, and India. The first few days we learned about China. The children were able to see pictures of the largest Buddha, which is carved in the side of a cliff in china. It took workers about 100 years to carve! They also saw pictures of children at school, the beautiful mountains, their parades that they have when they celebrate new years. The children enjoyed learning about the Huang River, which is the third longest river in the world. It is also called the Yellow River because the yellow soil turns the river waters yellow. They also learned about their traditional clothing, families, and how most Chinese people live on farms and work in fields called Paddies. We also went over how they do not have an alphabet, but instead a symbol called a character. And lastly, we went over traditions, schooling, and how reading short stories or folktales are very popular. The second country we talked about was Japan. We discussed the weather and seasons, cultures and traditions, school and family, and also about country and city life in Japan. The children also learned about their food and how they have fun.

We also focused on Russia, the Philippines, and Lebanon. We learned that in Lebanon’s mountains were thick with cedar trees, and the evergreens were highly valuable because they were used for ships and a place for worship. The cedar trees than became the national symbol. We also learned about the different kinds of plants and animals that can be found, how to say hello and goodbye, all about their daily life, and their schooling. It was very interesting to learn how pretty much everyone in these countries all lived in huts and apartments and that the whole family lived together under one roof, so they need to keep this roof in perfect conditions, with the help of The Roof Clinic company. The children also had fun learning about all the different flags from each country and what they represented.

(taste testing Chinese food)

Lastly, we learned about Australia, The Land Down Under. We had fun learning about their different traditions they celebrate, the animals that can be found, like the Emu, kokkaburra, koala, platypus, and the kangaroo. The children also learned about the Australian flag, the Great Barrier Reef, the beautiful different landscapes. And also about the Outback. We had so much fun this month learning about all of the different countries. The children also worked very hard practicing all of their lines and songs! I can’t wait for the International Festival!

Academic Enrichment with Mr. John
In the afternoon lesson with kindergartners we continued our work with grammar. We started by We looked at the adjective which describes nouns and pronouns, the adverb which describes the verb and usually ends in “ly”, the conjunction which connects two sentences or thoughts and acts like a bridge, and the preposition which is a “where” word not a werewolf.

Who thinks adverbs are difficult…our kindergartners don’t!

The kindergarten class count to ten in 27 different languages. Some of them are English, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Tagalog, Polish, Irish, Welsh, Hebrew, Arabic w/the Lebanese dialect, Japanese, Hungarian, Swedish, Swahili, Korean, Serbo-Croation, Hindi, Flemish/Dutch, Malay, Cebuano, Turkish!

Ms. Ame’s Corner

Science

Mr. John started off the month with dancing spaghetti! Mr. John had water and vinegar

in a tall pitcher. Then he added cooked spaghetti. The students then created their own

hypothesis on what would happen when they added baking soda. The baking soda and

vinegar created carbon dioxide gas causing the spaghetti to “dance”.

The next week Mr. John did another creative experiement with packing peanuts. We use these when we

move to keep breakables safe. What happens when we throw them away and they get

wet at the junkyard? Check out the papers to see what happens and why!

Art

In Art Ms.Michelle started the month off with Australia aboriginal animal art. The

students talked about different Australian animals and traced them in pencil on their

paper. Then they used colors traditionally used by Aborigines and outlined and defined

their animals. These willbe displayed at the international festival!

The next week we made bugs out of recycled materials or trash. The students used trash for the body and

eyes and then pipe cleaners for the legs. The next week the students were able to paint their

creepy creatures. Please start taking home any art off our cart over the next few weeks

and check backpacks for art creations!

Music

Ms. Lisa brought ber piano in this month for students to practice. They learned that the

pattern of the black keys are 3 black and then 2 black. They also focused on listeing to

high and low sounds during their favorite game, Cat and Mouse. Students also got a turn

playing on the piano. Students currently taking piano lessons performed pieces they had

learned outside of school.

One week, due to Festival rehearsals we had a group music lesson

with the whole class. We worked on rhythym using tbe rythym sticks and sang some of

Ms. Lisa’s clever interactive songs. Don’t forget about the CDs Ms. Lisa sent home

earlier in the year. These CDs have many of the songs we sing with her in class!

Mr. John’s May/June 2016 Monthly Overview

Posted on May 3, 2016 at 6:19 pm.

Written by John Kotradi

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

5/02: Food Chains

3 and 4 part food chains
A food chain shows how each living thing gets food, how nutrients and energy are passed from creature to creature
Food chains begin with plant-life, and end with animal-life. Some animals eat plants, some animals eat other animals.

5/09: Seasons & Weather

4 Seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter
Characteristics of each Season/ the first day of each Season
Different types of clouds and their characteristics

5/16: Solar System

Sun, Earth, Moon, Stars
Facts on each planet, Asteroids and the Milky Way
Constellations, Kennedy Space Station

5/23: Careers/Community Workers

Different jobs in the community
Doctors, Mail Carriers, Nurses, Accountants, etc.
How these workers help us

05/30: Safety

Summer safety, water safety
Fire Fighters, Police Officers
Calling 911

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

5/02: Aa

5/09: Ee

5/16: Ii

5/23: Oo

Rhyming Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

5/02: BIB, dib, fib, rib,

5/09: BIC, kick, lick, nick, pick, nick, sick wick

5/16: BUD, dud, mud,

5/23: BOD, God, mod, nod, sod, Todd, rod,

Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:

Look for our sight words when reading a story, point out words you use that begin with the letter of the week. Cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
While driving your car, have your child tell you all the items they see that starts with the letter of the week.
Take a long walk in your park or neighborhood and point out the seasonal changes to your child. Discuss what you did as a child during each season and share some old and new memories with your son or daughter. Make special plans for each season.
To reinforce our space theme, do some star gazing each night. Have your child pick their favorite, brightest one and share in making a special wish together!

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Ms. Courtney’s May/June 2016 Monthly Overview

Posted on May 3, 2016 at 6:08 pm.

Written by Courtney Owens

5/2: Solar System

The children will learn the positions of the Planets and their relative sizes and distances.
The children will discover why and how Earth is distinctive.
The children will learn the role of the Sun.
The children will learn the terms rotation, revolution, and orbit.
The children will be able to name the planets in the Solar System and the order they are in.

5/9: Dinosaurs

The children will be able to identify dinosaurs by name.
The children will recognize the different physical attributes of dinosaurs.
The children will demonstrate understanding of herbivores and carnivores.
The children will compare and contrast dinosaurs to modern animals.
The children will demonstrate understanding of fossils.
The children will identify that museums are places in communities where artifacts can be viewed.

5/16: Transportation

The children will become familiar with what transportation is: to carry things from one place to another.
The children will learn the different methods of travel.
The children will learn the safety rules for all methods of transportation.

5/23: Sports

The children will work on gross motor skills by marching, skipping, galloping etc.
The children will gain the skills needed to engage in imaginative and creative play indoors and outdoors, involving others.
The children will develop team work with peers.

5/30: Welcome Summer

The children will learn some outside summer games and activities.
The children will experiment with water.
The children will learn about summer safety.

Letters of the week

Vowels A, E, I, O, U

Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:

Visit a local museum.
Take a walk and see how many different forms of transportation you can spot.
Go to a baseball game.
Look at the sky with a telescope at night.

Ms. Kate’s May/June 2016 Monthly Overview

Posted on May 3, 2016 at 6:06 pm.

Written by Kate Case

5/02: Plant and Butterfly Life Cycle

Exploring a plant and butterfly’s life cycle
Variety of activities that show a plants growth
Parts of a plant
Parts of a butterfly

Afternoon Group Lesson: Variety of fun books, activities and crafts having to do with plant and butterflies.

5/:09 Sea Life

Warm water vs. cold water and types of fish in each environment
Sea creatures, different types of Fish
Coral Reef
Sink and float science experiments

Afternoon Group Lesson: Variety of fun books, activities and crafts having to do with sea life.

5/16: Outer Space

The planets in our Solar System
Facts about each planet
What is Gravity?

Afternoon Group Lesson: Variety of fun books, activities and crafts having to do with outer space.

5/23: Outer Space

Constellations, the Sun
History of the space shuttle, Kennedy Space Center
Astronauts, Neil Armstrong

Afternoon Group Lesson: Variety of fun books, activities and crafts having to do with outer space.

5/30: All About Insects

What makes an insect?
How are insects different than spiders?
All about bees and ladybugs!

Afternoon Group Lesson: Variety of fun books, activities and crafts having to do with insects.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

5/04- 6/01: Review

rhyming words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

5/02: Bee
5/16: bright
5/23: blue
5/30: sun

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

While reading a book have your child point to all of the letter of the week she/he can find. Have them do this with the sight words as well. Play I‐Spy using things that only start with the letter of the week/ sight words.
Make fish sugar cookies together! Read Rainbow Fish and create an underwater scene in your child’s bedroom (use blue saran wrap to cover the windows and create fish out of paper).
Visit the aquarium in Cleveland. Create a story about all of the Fish and Mammals you saw!
Make a telescope out of paper towel rolls, tape, markers and crayons. Talk about the constellations you see!

May/June 2016 Academic Enrichment Overview | Cuyahoga Falls

Posted on May 3, 2016 at 6:01 pm.

Written by John Kotradi

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. Kate on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Ms. Kate will keep you updated, most work will be sent home on Wednesdays and will need returned the following Monday for their next lesson.

05/02: Introduction to prepositions

Rules of the prepositions
Worksheets, diagramming sentences

05/09: Introduction to interjections

Rules of the interjections
Worksheets, diagramming sentences

05/16: Introduction to punctuation (end of a sentence)

Rules of the punctuation (end of a sentence)
Period, question mark, exclamation mark
Worksheets, practicing with interjections

05/23: Introduction to capitalization

Rules of capitalization
Worksheets, practicing our capitalization

05/30: Review of the year

Telling time, landforms
Coins, paper money
Mathematical operations
Geography

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

05/02: word, when
05/09: which, what
05/16: there, their
05/23: way, my

Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

05/02: NICE, friendly, courteous, good, pleasant, charming
05/09: SNEAKY, underhanded, dishonest, tricky, secretive, sly
05/16: BRIGHT, shiny, glowing, dazzling, lighted, vivid
05/23: DULL, dark, dreary, somber, boring, tedious

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.

Mr. John will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework into the orange box outside of Mr. John’s classroom. Please email him if you have any questions: jkotradi@thesmarterkids.com.

May/June 2016 Academic Enrichment Monthly Overview | Tallmadge Campus

Posted on May 3, 2016 at 5:51 pm.

Written by Courtney Owens

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.