Lesson: Parts of Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Birds, and Fish –
We also learned the characteristics of those animals. All of the above animals are vertebrates, some are cold blooded (amphibians, reptiles, and fish) and some are warm blooded (mammals and birds). Some are born from jelly eggs (fish and amphibians), hard shell eggs (reptiles and birds), or born alive (mammals and fish). All the animals skin is different.
The Kindergarten Students pretending to be their fave animals. From left to right…. flamingo, horse, frog…..
Handwriting: We practiced our cursive fax, rag, pal, tack.
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 17 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, and Hungarian).
Next Week: Lesson- Using Rulers
Sight Words Of The Week- No lessons due to Christmas Show Practice.
Synonym Of The Week- No lessons due to Christmas Show Practice.
The next language will be- No lessons due to Christmas Show Practice.
Have you wondered what the kids who take Tae Kwon Do do in class? Keep on reading to find out!
Each week the Tae Kwon Do students bow at the beginning of class and reply to each request of Master Barnick and other instructors with a “Yes, Sir!” Respect and following directions are lessons always being taught in between each kick, punch and block.
The class started off this session getting out some energy and practicing following directions by running drills and having to run a certain way to prepare them for upcoming stances they will learn.
Here is a group of white belts with a yellow stripes practicing their punches and stances.
The student below is practicing keeping his knees up using the floor ladder!
Here a child is practicing their board breaking by using different kicking techniques. The students each have a certain style of kick they must learn based on the color of their belt.
Below, Master Barnick gives this student a high five after working with her. He encourages them to cheer for one another and be supportive of their fellow classmates.
In this lesson, a student is working on her balance by jumping from pad to pad on the ninja bridge. An extension of this lesson is ducking and blocking to avoid being tapped by the “sword”. The children are always practicing patience while they wait for their next turn.Fireball is a favorite game of the students that they get to play at the end of each session if they had good participation.Each student who completes all of the activities for that session each week, earns two stripes on their belt at the end of the session .
This class takes their second belt testing this Monday! Wish them good luck!
“We must help the child to act for himself, will for himself, think for himself.” – Maria Montessori
We enjoyed being back together this week. This week has been busy with students presenting lessons, students presenting research, students assisting in lesson presentations, and of course, Christmas Show practice! Three of our reading groups have completed the stories they have been working through so far this school year. Our “Rocket Readers” group has completed the book “Tornado” by Betsy Byars. After completing their story, they wrote a research book about tornadoes which included information about what a tornado is, how its severity is tracked, and how to stay safe when one is spotted. They shared this information with our class! The “Six Scoops” group finished reading “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” and researched the historical figures mentioned throughout the story. The “Senior Readers” group completed “The One and Only Ivan” and are writing persuasive essays about whether or not animals should be kept in cages.
One of our first year students asked before break if he could present a lesson on tracing to the first and second year students. After break, he worked with me to add his lessons to our schedule and invited children to a lesson, just like we do. He even assigned them follow-up work! Our older friends were so interested they asked him for a lesson, too! It is so wonderful to see our newer students showing their skills to older friends and all our students showing so much respect during the lessons!This first year student is researching marine reptiles from the Mesozoic Era. She used books to find what the name of her plesiosaur meant, where its fossils were found, what size it was, and why it is so memorable. Our first year students will share their research at Community Meeting Monday.These second year students are working with our “Prepared Angles.” This work is comprised of task cards that tell students the size of an angle and the length of the angle’s sides. The students then need to measure the angle with a protractor and make sure the sides match the length listed on the cards. This work gives students practice measuring with a protractor and a ruler.This fourth year student helped me present a lesson about the eye, the ear, and the tooth. Last year as a third grader, she had lessons about the human anatomy and was able to share that information with the current third graders. The third graders will continue to study the human body and build a model of it throughout the year.
“A Peek at Next Week”
Next week, we will begin new novels in our reading groups that finished their books. The second year students will be joining each other in a reading group and will be voting on the book they want to read. The third year students will join our Upper Elementary students in reading “A Fish in a Tree.” Our lower elementary students will write biographies about their peer mentor, will study sentence analysis, and will discuss light and friction. Our Upper Elementary students will study portmanteaus, interjections, density and matter, and decimals.
This month I focused on colors while contiuing to practice with art materials. The primary students learned about warm and cool colors. They found out that warm colors make you think of warm things like fire and the sun, and cool colors make you think of cold things like water and the earth. The students used oil pastels to color their papers then cut them up in strips and glued them to construction paper.
Next, the Primary students learned about complimentary colors. They found out that complimentary colors are opposite of each other on the color wheel, and when they’re combined in the right way create white light. For our project, the students glued down the center of a flower and then glued the complimentary color of tissue paper around for the petals. Then to add a finishing touch, the group decorated the center of the flower with different lines, which they learned is a segment that has a start and an end.
Welcome to another month of science! Mr.John has kept us busy with new science experiments.
During each science activity, we always come up with our own hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess. A great part about Mr.John’s science class is that it never matters if our hypothesis is wrong or right! Mr. John always tells us that it is okay to be wrong because sometimes even scientists are wrong! That is how they learn what works and what doesn’t work.
Don’t forget to check your students science paper in their folder ever Thursday to see what their hypothesis was for that weeks experiment!
Distribution of Weight
Materials needed to complete this activity at home:
Books
A piece of paper
A couple of rubber bands
Question of the week: What will happen when we try to balance a text book or multiple picture books on a piece of paper? What about when the piece of paper is turned into a cylinder?
Well, the flat paper got squished by the books! Then Mr. John turned it into a cylinder using rubber bands. What happened next?
The cylinder of paper supported all the picture books! Amazing!
But why was the cylinder of paper able to hold the book, but the single piece of paper did not? SCIENCE!
The average weight of a piece of paper is .7 grams. It makes sense that it wouldn’t be able to balance a book! It just collapses under the weight of a book. This is because the paper is unable to keep it’s shape. It wants to return to a flat position. But, when Mr.John uses rubber bands to keep the paper in a cylinder shape, it all changes.
The secret to the paper’s new found strength is the geometrical shape known as a cylinder! Cylinders are one of the most structurally sound and strongest geometrical shapes. They are able to be strong because they disperse stress throughout their entire shape. If the rolled-up piece of paper were a perfect cylinder, the strength of it would be even stronger!
Teflon Tape Secret Message
Question: What will happen if we write a secret message on a strip of Teflon tape?
Materials Needed:
Teflon tape
Permanent marker
This week Mr. John introduced us to polymers! On the Teflon tape Mr. John wrote GO BUCKEYES! Then he stretched the tape out so much, we couldn’t read his message anymore!
Then he pulled on it again and SCIENCE made the letters legible again! But how?
Teflon tape is a type of polymer called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). That’s a really long word for a kind of polymer that has long chains of molecules lined up side-by-side and on top of each other. Polymers like to be near each other. After Mr. John stretched the tape, the polymers that make up the tape were all puled apart. When Mr. John pulls in the opposite way on the tape firmly, the polymers become reconnected together which allows the message to be legible again.
Friction
Mr.John was absent this week, so I (Miss Ame) stepped in with a shortened version of science for our classes.
Materials:
Spider print out
Sewing thread
cardboard
Match
The spider was glue to a small piece of cardboard. On the other side of the cardboard was a match attached to it with glue. In between the match and the cardboard was a piece of thread.
Using our imagination we pretended that the thread was the spider’s web. While I was holding both ends of the web tightly, the spider did not move. He was suspending sitting still in his web.
I then asked the student’s what they thought would happen if I let go of the string that I was holding our spider. Would he fall? Would he stay hanging on his web? So each child shared their hypothesis, all starting their sentence with “My hypothesis…”
On the count of three I let go of the spider…..and he fell quickly to the end of his web! But why?
Because of friction!
When the thread is held taut, it touches the match. This causes friction between the match and the thread, which is strong enough to stop the spider from moving down the thread. But, when you let it go slack it no longer touches the match. This means less friction, so the spider slides easily down.
How much fun we have had in science this month! Thank you Mr. John!
That “Revenge Tour” was cancelled November 24, 2018 in Columbus Ohio. As this guy’s shirt says Final Stop in Columbus, LOL
Go Buckeyes Beat Northwestern!
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:
Two buddies working on the Pink Tower and Brown Stairs. Unfortunately, Joseph is moving and we have to say good bye. 🙁
If you remember this boy was featured in the last few blogs working on Sensorial Extensions. He has continued to work on these extensions and creating multiple creations. Once again, this is an example of being in a Sensitive Period. Let’s see if he will continue with this interest next week.
This girl is working on a beginning material in the Language Area, Matching Picture to Picture. It allows a child to demonstrate their knowledge. Activities like this can also be lessons in vocabulary, for a child matching animals this is also an opportunity for the child to demonstrate their knowledge in the names of the animals and can be a great conversation starter for the student and teacher which can develop into a lesson on animals (where they live, if they are a mammal, etc).
These two girls are working on the Africa puzzle map. They are working together by tracing and coloring the individual countries of Africa. I like the team work and how this activity turned into an activity that helps the fine motor skills and handwriting.
Next Week: Line Time- Christmas Show Practice
Letter Of The Week- No Letter of the Week due to Christmas Show Practice.
Rhyming Word Of The Week- No Rhyming Word of the Week due to Christmas Show Practice.
Next Language will be – No Language of the Week due to Christmas Show Practice.
Snack will be brought to you by Henry
Upcoming Events: 12/12/2018 Wednesday— Practice for Christmas Show at Cuyahoga Falls High School 6pm
12/14/2018 Friday– Christmas Show at Cuyahoga Falls High School 6pm ((( All students to be picked up by 3:15 )))
12/21/2018– Pajama Day and Show and Tell. We will supply a Pizza Lunch since we won the box tops.
********** December 22, Saturday through January 6, Sunday Winter Break **********
Telling secrets?
Muscle Man
Long time friends
She knows what a camera is for.
It looks like both are pained but they really were happy to take this picture.
We are thankful for our Enrichments at Absorbent Minds! Your children are wonderful artists, performers, and inventors! Throughout the month of November the students have been learning new skills and having fun in all of their Enrichments.
Ms. Lisa has been working diligently with the students helping them prepare for the upcoming Christmas show. They practice the handbells every week as well as their piano and song selections. You are going to be blown away at their talent come December 14th.
One of the highlights of Art this month was that I had the opportunity to guide a class with the Elementary students. We had a blast creating ferocious creatures! If you haven’t already, check out the Elementary bulletin board when you pick up your child to see their creative artwork.
Discipuli autem gratias Latine!
The students are thankful for Latin and the new things they are learning from Mr. Matt! Over the last few weeks the students have been learning new Latin words and phrases as well as learning to say what they are thankful for! It is awesome to walk by Latin lessons and hear the students perfecting their new language skills.
As December inches closer, look for more information and updates about our the Christmas program on December 14th. We are excited to share the student’s talents and creative ideas with you throughout this holiday season.
The past couple of weeks we talked about Thanksgiving and being thankful. The children shared what their families do for Thanksgiving and learned that we all have our own traditions. We talked about why the Pilgrims and Indians ate a meal together. Each child shared what they were thankful for to create a classroom thankful turkey. We got a lot of fun responses.
We also talked about the Pilgrims and Indians. The class found out the Pilgrims came from England to our country for religious freedom. We read books about what the Pilgrims experienced during their journey on the Mayflower and once they landed at Plymouth Rock.
I want to send a big thank you to all the parents who volunteered to bring supplies in to make the Harvest Party a success!
Work Time
Cursive Chalkboard Writing: This child is practicing writing her name on a chalkboard. She is developing multiple skills involving her eyes, arms, hands, memory, posture and body control.Movable Alphabet: This child is identifying the sounds of the letters ‘j’ ‘k’ ‘h’ ‘l’ ‘i’ and ‘m’ and matching the cursive form to the print form.Movable Alphabet: This child is saying the word of the object and phonetically spelling them: pagin for penguin, wolrus for walrus and asdnut for astronaut.Zipping: This child is developing his independence and concentration while also gaining finger control and dexterity to manipulate a zipper.Tying: These children are learning how to care for themselves and are developing a sense of independence while refining their fine motor skills and coordination of movements to successfully tie the shoes.These students are practicing their please and thank yous.
Guest Readers
Reminders:
Thanksgiving Break | NO SCHOOL | November 21 – November 23
“We give gratitude to things that came before us like the jellyfish, whose cells began one of the first types of division of labor or the earthworm for continuous digestion. We also show gratitude to the Phoenicians for the start of our alphabet or the Greeks for their democratic government. We try and help children understand that someone or something worked very hard in the past to give us what we have today.” -Chesapeake Montessori School
On Thanksgiving, my dad never made us go around the table and say what we are thankful for. I assume this was because he knew I would say something like, “I’m thankful for my Game Boy,” or “I’m thankful Zach isn’t talking right now (my brother and I REALLY loved being around each other),” but as someone that spends so much time with your children, I wanted to share the things I see each day that make me thankful. I am thankful that, although they sometimes bicker like brothers and sisters, your children are able to step aside and talk through concerns and problems with children and adults. I am thankful I get to constantly see older students helping younger students be more independent. I am thankful for the times when students are disappointed in themselves and another child takes time out of their day to go see how they can help or to give some words of encouragement. I am thankful for Community Meeting and the chance it gives me to see students solving their own problems and voicing their concerns, without needing any adult intervention or assistance. I am thankful that our students feel so comfortable in our environment that they plan and execute lessons for other students as if they spent years studying education and child development. I am thankful to spend every day showing new lessons to your children and seeing how much they can do with the information they are given, almost always surpassing my expectations.
This second year student is subtracting on the Small Bead Frame. She is practicing exchanging and writing the difference in her math equation book. She can practice this same equation with the Stamp Game and the Golden Beads. Once she is more comfortable with subtracting large numbers, she will be able to easily solve large equations on paper!This month we are studying South America. This first grade student is playing “South America Slap-It.” This is a game for students to read riddles and decide which capital belongs to each country. The person who slaps the card first, gets to keep it, and the person with the most cards at the end is the winner!These third grade students are working on handwriting. They are rewriting paragraphs from “Pippi Longstocking” to practice their cursive handwriting. Each week, Ms. Kelley reviews their handwriting and practices letters with them using our white board and large motor movements.Today, we enjoyed making lasagna and eating with Ms. Courtney’s class. We enjoyed lasagna, bread, carrots, applesauce, and cookies. To make our pasta, we first discussed the history of “The Island of P’sta.” This is an imaginary island that leads us to treat the baking of lasagna as a archaeological dig. Students found marble flooring (lasagna noodles) covering pearls (pasta shells and the main export of P’sta), chariot wheels (rotelle), arm and leg bones (penne and ziti), butterfly fossils (farfalle), coral fossils (rotini), and helmets (large shells), and used this information to determine what could have happened on the Island of P’sta after their invasion by the Romans.These students are using our new Chess Book, donated by a family, to learn the names of the pieces, how they move, and how to complete a game. We were also gifted a book about coding using Scratch, which the students are thoroughly enjoying. Thank you to the family that donated these books!
A Peek at Next Week
Next week, first year students will use the Subtraction Snake Game, review the use of a verb, continue studying fundamental needs, further investigate the Five Kingdom Chart, and begin planet research. Second year students will continue studying geographic features, will label the parts of a seed, will bisect an angle, and will start multiplying on the Checkerboard! Third year students will research the eye, ear, and tooth, will find irregular past tense verbs, and will perfect their measuring skills with measuring cups and spoons. Fourth year students find discuss adverbials in sentences, the unit as part of a base 10 number system, and will discuss elements in our universe. Fifth year students will use the order of operations, will research mammals, will be introduced to genealogy and will write figures of speech.
