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.
2/01: Exchanging
Decimal System/Exchanging 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s
Using single units, 10 bars, 100 squares and 1000 cubes
2/08: Introduction to Multiplication
Exploring multiplication
Operations with the golden bead material
Practice with the nine tray and multiplication tables
2/15: Introduction to Fractions
Monday 2/15– No School (President’s Day)
Exploring Fractions
Fractional Insets (whole up to 1/12)
2/22: Geometric Shapes
Intro to Geometric Shapes, Constructive boxes
Geometric Cabinet
Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
2/01: first, than
2/08: other, some
2/15: more, these
2/22: would, about
Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
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.
You can view this link to give you more information on how the math materials are used in the Montessori classroom http://www.montessorialbum.com/montessori/index.php?title=Math. You may also google the name of the work to find more videos and information on the purpose of that material.
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.
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.
2/1: Introduction to multiplicationcontinued
Working with 9 tray / 45 layout
Using single units, 10 bars, 100 square and 1000 cubes
Working with stamp game
Working with dot board
2/8: Introduction to fractions
Exploring fractions
Fractional insets (whole up to 1/12)
2/15: Geometric Shapes
Introduction to geometric shapes and constructive boxes
Geometric cabinet
2/22: Geometric Shapes continued
Introduction to geometric shapes and constructive boxes
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.
You can view this link to give you more information on how the math materials are used in the Montessori classroom http://www.montessorialbum.com/montessori/index.php?title=Math
You may also google the name of the work to find more videos and information on the purpose of that material.
Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work Time)
2/1: Farm Animals
The children will learn about different farm animals
The children will discover all of the products that come from farm animals
The children will understand all of the responsibilities of a farmer
2/8: Pets/Valentine’s Day
The children will learn about a variety of pets
The children will learn about caring for a pet
We will discuss the differences and similarities between different pets
2/15: Presidents
The children will learn how Washington was a great man, the father of our country, who led in war and peace
The children will discover that Abraham Lincoln is on the penny
The children will talk about what life is like for the Obama family in the White House
2/22: Dental Health
The children will practice teeth brushing using an egg soaked in tea
The children will see how a little hole in your teeth can get pretty unpleasant on the inside by watching how a hole in an apple rots. Having a regular checkup with dentist and teeth cleaning is essential to maintain healthy teeth and avoid discolored teeth.
The children will talk about what foods are good and bad for their teeth
Letters of the week
2/1: Qq
2/8: Rr
2/15: Ss
2/22: Tt
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
What I will learn at school this month (in addition to Montessori Work Time):
2/01: Coldacott Week
Introducing award winning books such as Make Way for Ducklings, The Snowy Day, Blueberries for Sal, The Lion and the Mouse, and other various Caldacott award winning books. The children will do different activities with each book.
Preschool Lesson
Afternoon Group Lesson: Reviewing the letter of the week. Reiterating the calendar. Fun activities with Caldacott books.
2/8:Community Helpers: All about Doctors, Mail Carriers, Fire Fighters, and Police Officers
How Doctors help us and the special tools they use
Fire Fighters and Fire Safety and Stop, Drop & Roll
All about the Post Office, mail carriers
Learning our phone number and address/ How 911 is important to us
How do Police Officers protect us?
Valentines Day Party: Friday the 12th
Afternoon Group lesson: Reviewing the letter, the calendar and fun activities & crafts that have to do with community helpers.
2/15: Community Helpers: All about Construction Workers, Soldiers, Chefs and Bakers
Learning about measurement and different tools.
Soldiers, different branches of the military, jobs they do and places they travel
Who works in a Restaurant/ Bakery?
What does a Chef/ Baker do, different types
Afternoon Group Lesson: Reviewing the letter, the calendar and fun activities & crafts that have to do with community helpers.
2/21: Community Helpers: Dentists, Teachers, Veterinarians
How a Veterinarian is different from a Doctor
All about the importance of brushing, flossing and the different tools they use.
Charting what you want to be when you grow up.
Preschool lesson: Reviewing the letter, the calendar and fun activities & crafts that have to do with community helpers.
Field trip to the Fire Station to be announced and dental hygienist to be announced.
Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.
2/01: Mm
2/08: Nn
2/15: Oo
2/21: Pp
Ryming of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
2/01: Pink
2/08: star
2/15: house
2/21: bell
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.
Write a letter to a family member or special friend. Have your child help you address the letter, stamp it and mail it.
Invent your own cake or cookie together…get creative!
Create a fire escape plan together or make a blue print of your dream house with your child!
I love this time of year! The pretty lights, fun music, everyone smiling, and the children full of excitement!! Even though we were only in school for just a few short weeks the children were busy getting ready for our annual holiday program, making fun holiday crafts, and enjoying the hustle and bustle of the classroom! Throughout the month of December our class had fun learning about how children and their families celebrate Christmas from around the world! The first country we talked about was Mexico. We began by reading the story The Legend of thePoinsettia by Tomie de Paola, and then created our own poinsettia craft out of paint, glitter, markers, and grocery bags. For preschool lesson, Ms. Ame had the children make another Christmas craft from Mexica . The second country we visited was Germany. The children learned that the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree originated from Germany and that the trees were decorated with candles, apples, and spiced cookies. The children them created their own tree by dipping a toilet paper roll into paint and making prints onto paper. They also used glitter, colored paint, and stickers to decorate their tree. The children also created another Christmas tree by using different sized green paper and placing them in order from longest to shortest.
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“ Joyeux Noel” is how you say Merry Christmas in French. In France, the traditional Christmas Eve meal, Le Reveillon, means “ waking up” and includes many courses of food. The children created their own Le Reveillon menu out of magazines. They cut out foods that they would like to eat on Christmas Eve night, pasted them on a folded menu they created and labeled what they glued on. They turned out fantastic! The following country we had fun with was Italy. The children had a blast doing the traditional Italian art of curling paper called Quilling. They learned that the Italians created beautiful quilled ornaments to decorate their ceppos, which is a small triangular ladder. The last country was England. The children thought it was so funny that after children wrote their letters to Santa they then threw them into the fireplace hoping that they would go up the chimney so that all their wishes would come true. I then explained to them that an English tradition included caroling from house to house and that the families would come in for Wassail. We also read a book about St.Lucia. The children learned that on every Christmas eve she would go out with her wreath with candles on top and deliver warm food to those who have no food on the coldest winter day. Then as a group the children constructed a crown of their own just like St. Lucia did.
The children really loved learning about the different traditions. They couldn’t believe how people in different countries celebrated Christmas. Throughout December our class made different holiday crafts, gingerbread houses, and playing different games from around the world. The last week before our break our theme was all about giving not receiving. The children did different acts of kindness throughout the last week. They wrote letters to a nursing home, and learned about donating and what it means to give. I really enjoyed seeing the children grasp the concept of giving.
Academic Enrichment | Afternoon Lesson with Kindergarten Students: Mr. John
Children love animals and I enjoy teaching the children about different types of animals. This month we started discussing mammals. I chose mammals because we are mammals. We learned that mammals have hair or fur, are born alive, and drink mother’s milk when first born. We learned that mammals are warm blooded (their body temperature remains constant) and that they are vertebrates (have spines). We learned that dolphins and whales are mammals and that the bat is the only mammal that can fly.
Then we slithered our way into discussing reptiles. We came to the conclusion that the snake is the most popular reptile. We learned reptiles are cold blooded, vertebrates, lay hard shelled eggs, and have dry scales. Lizards, snakes, and turtles topped the list of reptiles.
We hopped into our discussion of amphibians. We all agreed that the frog was the most popular amphibian and that amphibians are cold blooded and vertebrates. We also learned that their skin is moist and soft and that they can live on BOTH land and water. Amphibians lay eggs but the eggs have no shell but are like jelly. We found that frogs, toads, and newts were amphibians.
We swam to our friends called fish. We learned that fish are cold blooded (their body temperature changes to the temperature in their environment) and are vertebrates. We learned that most fish have scales, gills and fins, and some fish lay eggs and some fish are liver bearers (babies are born alive). We introduced a new word, “habitat”. This is where something lives and the fish’s habitat is the water. The children were thrilled to learn that the shark is a fish.
We then flew with the animals called birds. Birds have feathers, are warm blooded, and are vertebrates. All birds lay hard shelled eggs and have wings. All birds have wings but some birds are flightless (cannot fly) such as the penguin, ostrich, and emu.
We looked at some creepy crawlers that were a bit different. They were invertebrates. we looked at insects which have a head, thorax, abdomen, six legs, and two antennae. Beetles, flies, bees, butterflies, and crickets are all insects. Arachnids are invertebrates but have eight legs, cyphelothorax, and abdomen. Spiders, scorpions, ticks, and mites are all arachnids.
We ended 2015 learning how to use a ruler. The students went home and measured many things in inches and in centimeters.
We can now count to ten in 20 different languages. (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, and Welsh).
Music
In music this month the students sang hello to Freida the frog and Penny the pony. We had fun singing the Christmas songs of “Feliz Navidad” and “Jingle Bells”. To help get into the Christmas spirit we played bells and castanets. Then we reviewed the musical words for fast, medium, and slow. (allergo, andante, adagio) Lastly Ms. Lisa helped us with our songs for the Christmas show.
Science
Our first experiment dealt with sinking and floating. Mr. John showed the children a lemon and a lime. They made hypotheses on which would float and sink. Even though they look almost the same size the lemon sank and the lime floated. The lemon is more dense than the lime. Our next experiment involved peppermint candies on a plate and water. Mr. John asked the children what would happen when water was poured over the candies. Just like the skittles experiment, the dye off the peppermint ran off. The dye is water soluble.
Art
For the first week of December, Ms. Michele had the children finish their warm and cool color tile mosaics from last month. The second week Ms. Michele had the children draw their self-portraits. The children used mirrors and pencils to first draw an oval for their faces. Then they added eyes, nose, mouth, ears and eyebrows. Lastly they added details such as shoulders and hair.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday! See you in the New Year!
…. Father Christmas Give Us Some Money…. That song just make me laugh. While the majority of people are listening to the classic Christmas songs of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra I lean toward more…. contemporary artists such as The Kinks/ Father Christmas, Chris Squire/ Run With The Fox, Greg Lake/I Believe In Father Christmas, Pretenders/2000 Miles, London After Midnight/ Christmas Song, Waitresses/ Christmas Wrapping, Band Aid/ Do They Know It’s Christmas, David Bowie& Bing Crosby/ Little Drummer Boy, Cruxshadows/ Happy Christmas(cover), The Pogues/Fairytale Of New York City, U2’s poem/Driving To Midnight Mass On Christmas Eve… You get the picture, not my dad’s Christmas Songs!
With a heavy heart I must inform you that we lost the matriarch of my rat colony, Blixa. She was one of the original rats in the room. She developed a tumor, which most rats do, and she passed last month. But I did get a new Blixa and she is doing well!
Line Time Lessons:
We spent the majority of our time preparing for the Christmas show. Our little Muppets and Sesame Streeters did an Ab Fab job!
Cultural Subjects:
We can now count to 10 in 18 different languages. (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, and Irish).
(Feeding time with the snake, Elise)
Students enjoyed their Montessori Work time this month. Much of our group time this month was used to prepare for the Christmas Show, but Music, Science and Art continued as usual.
Music:
Ms. Lisa continued to introduce new songs and movements to the children. They loved singing Jingle Bells, while ringing their hand bells. Skipping around the room was so much fun, while pretending to be reindeer! We also were appreciative of her help practicing our songs for the Christmas Show!
Art:
For the first week of December, Ms. Michele had the children finish their warm and cool color tile mosaics from last month. The second week Ms. Michele had the children draw their self-portraits. The children used mirrors and pencils to first draw an oval for their faces. Then they added eyes, nose, mouth, ears and eyebrows. Lastly they added details such as shoulders and hair.
Science:
Mr. John did three experiments with the children, in Science Class. They enjoyed wondering whether it is the lemon or the lime that would sink (or float), they enjoyed seeing the colors on the Skittles spread in the water. The red color in the peppermint candy did the same thing as well. Please talk to your children about these activities that they so love!
Academic Enrichment | Afternoon Lesson with Kindergarten Students: Children love animals and I enjoy teaching the children about different types of animals. This month we started discussing mammals. I chose mammals because we are mammals. We learned that mammals have hair or fur, are born alive, and drink mother’s milk when first born. We learned that mammals are warm blooded (their body temperature remains constant) and that they are vertebrates (have spines). We learned that dolphins and whales are mammals and that the bat is the only mammal that can fly.
Then we slithered our way into discussing reptiles. We came to the conclusion that the snake is the most popular reptile. We learned reptiles are cold blooded, vertebrates, lay hard shelled eggs, and have dry scales. Lizards, snakes, and turtles topped the list of reptiles.
We hopped into our discussion of amphibians. We all agreed that the frog was the most popular amphibian and that amphibians are cold blooded and vertebrates. We also learned that their skin is moist and soft and that they can live on BOTH land and water. Amphibians lay eggs but the eggs have no shell but are like jelly. We found that frogs, toads, and newts were amphibians.
We swam to our friends called fish. We learned that fish are cold blooded (their body temperature changes to the temperature in their environment) and are vertebrates. We learned that most fish have scales, gills and fins, and some fish lay eggs and some fish are liver bearers (babies are born alive). We introduced a new word, “habitat”. This is where something lives and the fish’s habitat is the water. The children were thrilled to learn that the shark is a fish.
We then flew with the animals called birds. Birds have feathers, are warm blooded, and are vertebrates. All birds lay hard shelled eggs and have wings. All birds have wings but some birds are flightless (cannot fly) such as the penguin, ostrich, and emu.
We looked at some creepy crawlers that were a bit different. They were invertebrates. we looked at insects which have a head, thorax, abdomen, six legs, and two antennae. Beetles, flies, bees, butterflies, and crickets are all insects. Arachnids are invertebrates but have eight legs, cyphelothorax, and abdomen. Spiders, scorpions, ticks, and mites are all arachnids.
We ended 2015 learning how to use a ruler. The students went home and measured many things in inches and in centimeters.
We can now count to ten in 20 different languages. (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, and Welsh).
The month of December has been full of fun and merriment in our classroom! The children have enjoyed learning about the weather, the different parts of the orchestra, and about different symbols of the holiday season. We had a blast!
During the first week of December, we learned about weather. The children enjoyed talking about the job of a meteorologist how it is their job to scientifically predict the weather. Ms. Kim and I also had the children keep track of how many sunny, cloudy, rainy, and snowy days there were that week. Sunny days actually won out for a change! We did not expect that in the month of December! Ms. Kim also conducted an experiment with the children about how clouds are formed and why it rains, using cotton balls.
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During the second week in December, the children learned about the different parts of the orchestra. They learned that all instruments belong to a “family”, such as String, Woodwind, Brass, and Percussion. The children also enjoyed listening to sound clips of the different instruments in our parts of the orchestra work, and placing the cards in each family of instruments from the highest sounding instrument to the lowest sounding instrument. The children also enjoyed making a book of all of the instrument families as well with Ms. Kim during Pre-school Lesson. I even brought in some instruments for the children too look at and identify such as a ukulele, a recorder, and a xylophone. The children also enjoyed listening to the music of Bach as well while playing the Silence Game.
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During week three of December, we focused on preparing for the Christmas Show. We also made candy cane ornaments with Ms. Kim. The children also enjoyed making Christmas Sugar Cookies during our afternoon group time. Pajama Day was also a blast, and the children loved wearing their p.j.’s and watching movies! It was a well deserved rest after all of their hard work so far this year!
Academic Enrichment | Afternoon Lesson with Kindergarten Students:
Children love animals and I enjoy teaching the children about different types of animals. This month we started discussing mammals. I chose mammals because we are mammals. We learned that mammals have hair or fur, are born alive, and drink mother’s milk when first born. We learned that mammals are warm blooded (their body temperature remains constant) and that they are vertebrates (have spines). We learned that dolphins and whales are mammals and that the bat is the only mammal that can fly.Then we slithered our way into discussing reptiles. We came to the conclusion that the snake is the most popular reptile. We learned reptiles are cold blooded, vertebrates, lay hard shelled eggs, and have dry scales. Lizards, snakes, and turtles topped the list of reptiles.
We hopped into our discussion of amphibians. We all agreed that the frog was the most popular amphibian and that amphibians are cold blooded and vertebrates. We also learned that their skin is moist and soft and that they can live on BOTH land and water. Amphibians lay eggs but the eggs have no shell but are like jelly. We found that frogs, toads, and newts were amphibians.
We swam to our friends called fish. We learned that fish are cold blooded (their body temperature changes to the temperature in their environment) and are vertebrates. We learned that most fish have scales, gills and fins, and some fish lay eggs and some fish are liver bearers (babies are born alive). We introduced a new word, “habitat”. This is where something lives and the fish’s habitat is the water. The children were thrilled to learn that the shark is a fish.
We then flew with the animals called birds. Birds have feathers, are warm blooded, and are vertebrates. All birds lay hard shelled eggs and have wings. All birds have wings but some birds are flightless (cannot fly) such as the penguin, ostrich, and emu.
We looked at some creepy crawlers that were a bit different. They were invertebrates. we looked at insects which have a head, thorax, abdomen, six legs, and two antennae. Beetles, flies, bees, butterflies, and crickets are all insects. Arachnids are invertebrates but have eight legs, cyphelothorax, and abdomen. Spiders, scorpions, ticks, and mites are all arachnids.
We ended 2015 learning how to use a ruler. The students went home and measured many things in inches and in centimeters.
We can now count to ten in 20 different languages. (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, and Welsh).
Enrichments Ms. Kim
Music
In music this month the students sang hello to Freida the frog and Penny the pony. We had fun singing the Christmas songs of “Feliz Navidad” and “Jingle Bells”. To help get into the Christmas spirit we played bells and castanets. Then we reviewed the musical words for fast, medium, and slow. (allergo, andante, adagio) Lastly Ms. Lisa helped us with our songs for the Christmas show.
Science
Our first experiment dealt with sinking and floating. Mr. John showed the children a lemon and a lime. They made hypotheses on which would float and sink. Even though they look almost the same size the lemon sank and the lime floated. The lemon is more dense than the lime. Our next experiment involved peppermint candies on a plate and water. Mr. John asked the children what would happen when water was poured over the candies. Just like the skittles experiment, the dye off the peppermint ran off. The dye is water soluble.
Art
The first week of December, Ms. Michele had the children finish their warm and cool color tile mosaics from last month. The second week Ms. Michele had the children draw their self-portraits. The children used mirrors and pencils to first draw an oval for their faces. Then they added eyes, nose, mouth, ears and eyebrows. Lastly they added details such as shoulders and hair.
I would encourage you to watch the weather report with your child. As a family, track how many sunny, cloudy, rainy, and snowy days there are for a week. Listen to classical music with your child and discuss the different instruments you hear. Find a cookie resipies to make together as a family. Make your child a part of the preparation, measuring, and baking.
Maria Montessori stated that “ Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.” As a Montessori Directress, it’s truly been my privilege to watch your children grow and learn through working with the materials in the classroom. Through their interactions with each other, I have enjoyed watching your children form lasting friendships and learn to resolve their own conflicts peacefully. I am so proud of all of their progress so far this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next have of the school year brings!
After Thanksgiving break students were excited to get back to work. Several of our older elementary students began researching Ancient Rome and Greece. They set their own deadlines and dove into their work. They drew maps of the empires, clothing, and made lists of all the famous gods and goddesses. It was amazing to watch them wonder through history exploring the things that stood out the them and were the most interesting in their minds. I was even more impressed with their work ethic throughout the research. Nothing was assigned, but every topic was covered and they all worked together to complete their work. I am excited to hear their presentation when we return from break.
Other students were looking into their personal family history by creating a timeline of the family members living in their houses. They also explored the Story of Numbers and Story of Writing. These are two of the Montessori Great Lessons discussed in elementary each year. We talk about how writing and numbers came to be and how they have changed over time to better serve the needs of humans as we learn and grow. We look at visual timelines, charts, and examples of various styles of writing and numbers. The kids love to see how other people used to write and how it is similar or different from how they write today.
Of course, with Christmas approaching we spent time preparing for our annual Christmas Show. This year the students voted to perform the play, The Nutcracker. Parts were chosen and everyone worked diligently to learn their lines. We read several versions of the book, watched the Disney version of the story, and some students even went to see the ballet with their families.
I was very impressed with how well each student learned their part, memorized their lines, and helped each other perform well. I think their favorite part was creating all of the props. The students designed what we needed based upon the script, and went to work!
They cut out a fireplace, mantle, Christmas tree, and made a beautiful candy gate. They added flair with colorful painting and three-dimensional decorations. Our play was a wonderful success. I was so proud of the students!
To kick off our break students came to school in their pajamas (so did the teachers) and had a blast playing games and watching Christmas movies. This is such a fun day for everyone! The highlight was joining Ms. Courtney’s class to play Pie in the Face.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!
December was filled with many fun winter and Christmas activities. We started the month off with focusing on practicing our songs for the Christmas program. The students worked very hard to memorize the lyrics and to get the motions down just right.
Our students created candy canes out of their fingerprints. We also made Rudolf pictures by tracing the students’ hands for the antlers and feet for the face. Next, we added a red nose and eyes to complete the reindeer. The students also made a winter scene snow globe out of paper plates and sandwich bags. The students loved making Christmas tree ornaments out of sticks and ribbons and melted snowmen ornaments to put in their gift bags to parents.
We all enjoyed the students’ show and tell items and they enjoyed sharing with the class. The children especially had fun wearing their pajamas to school and watching classic Christmas movies like The Grinch, Frosty, and Rudolph.
The kids did an amazing job at the Christmas program and were the cutest misfit toys!
Kindergarten
The kindergarteners worked hard on their journals and have no learned how to measure in inches and centimeters using a ruler and tape measure. They have been measuring many different objects in the classroom including their teachers and recording it.
They also enjoyed the holiday season by making many holiday treats to share with their friends like rice krispy treats and sugar cookies.
Science We did a blubber science experiment by putting Crisco between two plastics bags, then putting our hand in and into freezing cold water. We learned the animals of the Arctic and Antarctic circles spend their lives surviving subfreezing air temperatures and frigid water. Their secret is blubber, a thick layer of body fat that comprises up to 50% of some marine mammals. The students were amazed at how different the water felt with and without the blubber glove.
Music By: Ms. Breanna
The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear, and sing, we did! This month in music class we spent a little bit of time perfecting our songs for the Program, but after doing great work, we need some time to have fun and dance! We sang and danced with Ms. Lisa to songs such as Feliz Navidad, Dashing through the Snow, and Jingle Bells. She also brought her castinets, jingle bells, and other fun instruments to play as a band! We had a great time together playing and preparing with Ms. Lisa, and we hope you enjoyed our performance! Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Art By: Ms. Breanna
December marked the start of our figure drawing unit. We started the month off with creating foil figures and cutting shadows out of black paper for them. The next week, we got into the Christmas spirit by drawing ourselves as elfs working in Santa’s workshop. It was a short month for art, but it was filled with fun and excitement as we prepared for our Christmas Program!
Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work Time)
1/04: Whales
Facts about Whales and different types of Whales
Create a Whale Chart
How do Whale’s float? “Staying Afloat” Science experiment on density
1/11: History of Martin Luther King Jr.
How we are similar and different (hair color, eye color etc.)
Egg experiment (brown egg vs. white egg) discuss their differences on the outside– discover how they are the same on the inside.
How we treat others equally‐ using different activities and stories
Friday 1/15 NO SCHOOL | Teacher In Service Day
1/18: Polar Pals
Monday 1/18 ‐NO SCHOOL (MLK Day)
The Arctic Climate, Map of the Arctic
Exploring the worlds of the Polar Bear, Seal and Walrus.
1/25: Penguins
Facts about Penguins, why don’t they fly?
How Penguins communicate
Where Penguins live
Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.
1/04- n
1/11- 0
1/18-p
1/25- q
Rhyming Words of the Week:
1/04-car
1/11-bear
1/18-pin
1/25-mug
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.
Go on a whale hunt! draw whales or print out whale pictures and hide them around your house. have your child count out how many whales they have found, or place them in different categories.
While reading to your child have him/her pick out the sight word “am.” Go outside in the snow, fill a spray bottle with food coloring and water. have your child spray out the letters and sight words we have been talking about all month. also your child can create an Alaska theme using seals, polar bears, walruses, and penguins.