A Peek into our Music class | September 2018

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Welcome to the music blogpost! So far this school year your kiddos have been taught by Ms. Lisa, the musical instructor who teaches music at both campuses for AMMS.

   

The children have been taught many musical concepts over the past several weeks such as how to sing piano (soft), forte (loud), staccato (jumpy) and legato (smooth). They learned about how to “echo” Ms. Lisa and her puppet that she brings each week. Your children have played rhythm sticks, tambourines and castanets.  They learned how to follow a direction and play their instruments together. We learned what an instrumental is and played one on our castanets.  They also recently learned a Spanish song and dance called La Raspa. The children have learned how to wait for the right moment to pick up their instruments to play them along with the music. They have had a lot of fun so far in music this year!

 

 

Academic Enrichment | Week of September 24th | Tallmadge

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Ohio and its surrounding states: The students learned where Ohio is located on a map of the USA and the names of all the surrounding states Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan. They also learned different fun facts about Ohio like the state bird is a cardinal and that Ohio’s state flag is the only state flag that isn’t a rectangle.

Cursive Handwriting: The students reviewed and practiced the correct stokes to successfully make a lowercase r, lowercase w, lowercase j, lowercase p, lowercase i, lowercase t, lowercase u and lowercase s. For the lowercase r they were taught to swing up to the midline, dip and then down to the baseline.  For the lowercase w they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, dip connector at the midline.For the lowercase j they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, swoop, and pick up the pencil then dot. For the lowercase p they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, slide up to the midline, circle around to the baseline, touch and glide. For the lowercase i they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline,
pick up the pencil, dot. For the lowercase t they were taught swing tall to halfway between the midline and the top
line, down to the baseline, pick up the pencil, cross at the midline. For the lowercase u they were taught swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline. For the lowercase s they were taught swing up to the midline, scoop around, touch, glide.

A peak into next week: Landforms

Take A Peek Into Our Reading Group | September 28, 2018

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The last few week’s we have been reading the story called Big Wolf and Little Wolf. This story’s  genre is fantasy fiction, and this story teaches the children about friendship, wolves, and visual perspective. Our first session, the children listened to the story and then shared any questions they had. Our second session, we reread our story and then acted a few parts out. The kids loved it!!  Our third session, we explored the story’s meaning by discussing interpretive questions. Then they had fun drawing a picture about the big and Little wolf. Stayed tuned!   

 

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of September 24th

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Five Senses: This past week the children learned how our five senses help us understand and explore the world around us. They learned that our five senses help us collect information about ourselves and our surroundings. They also learned to identify the five senses: hearing, tasting, smelling, touching and seeing.  We discovered that sometimes we use two or more senses at once; and how important it is for our senses to work together. The children had the opportunity to practice using their senses to determine properties of objects and distinguish them from one another.

Work Time

Pumpkin Scrubbing: This child is using many motor skills while also remembering the order and sequence of each action to successfully pumpkin scrub, which naturally leads to the development of concentration.
Nine Layout: This child is becoming familiar with the names and relative sizes of the categories: units, tens, hundreds and thousands. He is also discovering that if he has i.e. 6 units and adds 1 more unit he will have 7 units.
Stamp Game: This child is doing static addition (a sum without exchanging) problems using the stamp game. He is practicing addition at a higher level of abstraction.
Sandpaper Letters: This child is tracing and identifying the sounds of the letters ‘j’ ‘b’ and ‘m’ and connecting the sound with the initial sounds of different objects like jet, baby and motorcycle.
Sandpaper Numbers: This child is learning the symbols for the numbers through the sense of touch and sight.
Cursive Chalkboard Writing: This child is practicing writing the lowercase cursive letter ‘j’ on a chalkboard. He is developing multiple skills involving his eyes, arms, hands, memory, posture and body control.

Guest Reader

Reminders:

October 19 | Bring Your Parent to “Work Time”
Follow the link below to get more information and sign up for Bring Your Parent to “Work Time”.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-bring

A peak into next week: Leaves

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of September 24

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“The child seeks for independence by means of work; an independence of body and mind.” – Maria Montessori

A Montessori term that you may come across in your research of our philosophy is “normalization.” This is a term that means the students are functioning independently throughout the day without needing frequent assistance and guidance from a teacher. As we enter into October, we usually are beginning to see normalization of our new group of students with our returning students. Our breaking up of the first two weeks of school into short periods of discussion, work time, and team building, helps lead to the independence and trust needed to allow the students to normalize. I can always tell when it is happening in our classroom by the work choices children are making. When a classroom is normalized, students are completing their assigned work and are choosing independent projects and research to fill their time instead of wanting to color, chat, or wander. This week I saw a project two second graders are working on where they have drawn the United States, colored in the states as the flags of each state, and are now drawing the state birds onto their map! Two third graders have started their own imaginary island map inspired by a game they both like. A fourth and a fifth grader are seeing which fruits that they bring to snack can be grown in our classroom. As these projects begin to emerge, it is always great to see the leadership, cooperation, organization, and independence that the students have gained since last school year!

This week the second graders had a lesson about singular and plural nouns. We discussed the most common spelling rule of just adding an -s, but also discussed adding -es and spelling changes. Their favorite part was trying to think of words that had a unique spelling change or no change at all!
Our first grade students learned to collect data and draw a bar graph this week. After our lesson of graphing the eggs laid by chickens in a week, each child chose a topic that they wanted to poll the class about. We had students choose to graph favorite Pokemon, favorite foods and drinks, favorite sports, and favorite pets. Here, a first grader is asking a third grader which vegetable is her favorite. This gives first graders the opportunity to interact with all of the students in our classroom, while learning about others, and practicing a math skill.
These second and fourth year boys are practicing using a compass. They were given the diameter of different circles and needed to find the radius, adjust the compass, draw it, and double check their measuring at the end. After this work, they measured angles with a protractor on our science table using angles made of tape!
They did it! Our fourth and fifth year students built models of the entire process of photosynthesis using spice drops, toothpicks, and teamwork. They began by building water molecules and placed them near the roots. We discussed that the xylem would carry the water up to the leaves. The students built carbon dioxide molecules and placed them around the tree. The water combined with carbon dioxide and sunlight to create glucose and our chemical formula of 6CO2 + 6H20 + Light Energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2!

A Peek at Next Week

Next week, all students will begin practicing and auditioning for our October play (“Caps for Sale”) that we show all Primary classes. Ask your child what they are auditioning for next week! Lower Elementary students will explore the Timeline of Life. In Language, they will be introduced to the dictionary, will analyze phonemes, and will write different types of sentences. We will be working on adding with the Stamp Game in Math, adding fractions with like denominators, and will review rainbow factoring. For Geography, we will work on using a compass and a map key. All Lower Elementary students will begin a continent study of North America. Upper Elementary students will take their microscope test to show their knowledge of a dissecting microscope, compound microscope, and how to make a slide. Fourth year students will study commas in a direct address, begin studying multiples and factors, and will review Euclid’s Theorem. Fifth year students will begin studying the animal kingdom, will review the use of apostrophes, will begin studying patterns between the squares of numbers, and will find equivalency between polygons.

REMINDERS:

  • Friday, October 5 – Upper Elementary Bowling Event – If you have a fourth or fifth grader, please check your email for this invitation and respond to Brandy to RSVP!
  • Tuesday, October 9 – Elementary ONLY Field Trip to Cleveland Zoo – This is a bus trip. Reminders will be sent out next week!
  • Come work in our classroom with your child. In order to participate in “Bring Your Parents to ‘Work Time'” you’ll need to sign up here.

A Peek into Elementary Enrichments | September 2018

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Can you believe that the fifth week of school is almost over??? The month of September seems to have flown by but there was plenty of creativity being cultivated both in the classroom and during the weekly Elementary Enrichment’s that began the week of the 5th. The Elementary students have a blast participating in Art and Music on Thursday afternoons. This year our students are split up into Upper Elementary (3rd-5th graders) and Lower Elementary (1st-2nd graders) groups when they attend Art and Music classes.

Art 

Elementary began the year by studying the artist, Wayne Thiebaud with our new instructor, Kathleen Clark. Thiebaud is a modern American artist best known for his beautiful paintings of cakes, doughnuts, and ice cream cones. Yum! Who doesn’t love dessert?

Students used the subject of ice cream cones in learning how to use tints ans shades of each color to create realism in their artwork. They went on to design their own background using oil pastels. They learned how to create an interesting pattern with lines and blending. Next, the students drew their own desserts using the artist’s examples to help create their own compositions. They learned about shading and shadows to create a three-dimensional appearance in their artwork. Their dedication showed as several of our students were found revising their pieces at the end of the day in order to make it their best! They are a talented group of artists!

Below are some of our artist’s designs.

 

Ms. Kathleen teaching the students about shading.

 

Music 

Music is the other half to the Elementary enrichment’s on Thursday afternoons. Ms. Lisa has spent the month of September introducing basic musical concepts to the children. They learned about the musical staff, Treble clef, various types of notes and their place on the staff, along with the sounds each note makes. Ms. Lisa used the song “Do Re Mi” to help the students learn the introductory note sounds. That is a favorite with the children as well as myself. I may have been singing along in the room next door! The students also played several hand-held percussion instruments this month. Ask them about the sounds they were creating!

Coming Soon: The Elementary students will begin learning how to play the hand bells. We look forward to the beautiful sound of the bells that we will soon be hearing throughout our halls.

Ms. Lisa also conducts piano lessons on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s for many of the Elementary students. Her passion for teaching music overflows to the students who love to learn from her each week. If your child is not signed up for piano lessons at the school and is interested please contact Brandy or Kelly for more information.

     

 

 

Art and Music class give our students a wonderful opportunity to explore their creative side and see their individual artistic talents shine. We are grateful to have our enrichment instructors who provide fun and interactive lessons at Absorbent Minds!

We expect October to be just as much fun. Stay tuned for a monthly update!

Academic Enrichment | Cuyahoga Falls | Week Of 9/24/2018

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Lesson:
Since we live in the great state of Ohio I felt it was needed to become familiar with the states that surround our home state. We started with Ohio which is the Buckeye State and the abbreviation is OH.  We then looked at the state to the east of us named Pennsylvania (not Transylvania) which is called the Keystone State and the abbreviation is PA. We traveled south and discovered West Virginia which is the Mountain State and the abbreviation is WV. Moving to the west we ran into Kentucky which is the Blue Grass State and the abbreviation is KY.  Moving more westward is Indiana or the Hoosier State (what is a Hoosier anyway?) and the abbreviation is IN.  To my chagrin I introduced the students to TSUN.  I can not bring myself to even say the name….  xichigan mi wolverine state.  

Let us end not on a low note like the last sentence in the previous paragraph and present the “official” things for the state of Ohio…

Mammal: White Tail Deer
Fossil: Trilobite
Tree: Buckeye
Bird: Cardinal
Flower: Red Carnation
Drink: Tomato Juice
Rock Song: Hang On Sloopy

*****  Notice how most of these things refer to Buckeye Football/ being red or scarlet.  Also, why does Hang On Sloopy have importance to Buckeye Football?  *****

 

Handwriting:
We are done with the pre-cursive techniques and starting to practice our capital or upper case cursive letters and our lower case cursive letters.  This week we were introduced to the letters a, b, c, d.

 

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 9 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, and Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect).

 

Next Week:
Lesson- Biggest to Smallest (Milky Way/galaxy to street address)

Sight Words Of The Week- from he

Synonym Of The Week- active

Next Language- Italian

 

Peek Into Our Week | Mr. John’s Class | Week Of September 24, 2018

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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.

 

 

        

 

 

Take A Peek Into Our Week/Ms.Kate/September 20,2018

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Oh my goodness what a fantastic week we had! This week was all about our families. We had some great discussions about how families are alike and different, what family means to them, who we live with, and more!! Ms. Ame had fun graphing activities, crafts, and awesome books that went along with our family theme!! I want to say thank you to all my incredible families and my kiddos for making the most amazing family trees!!!

What I love about playing outside is that it sparks curiosity in children. It helps them develop their gross motor skills, as well independence. Playing outside helps with brain development, as well as fosters their creativity.
The purpose of our map puzzles are to provide the names and countries/states/provinces of each continent and the bodies of water that surround the continent.
Our animal puzzles introduce the different names and parts of the different animals. When working on the puzzles it also helps build their fine motor skills.
Our two friends are working together on our sandpaper letters. This work helps a child identify the sounds represented in graphic form. It also teaches a child the correct writing direction of the letter shapes.

REMINDERS:

Thursday is picture day!!

Book share is Friday.

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of September 17th

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Feelings and emotions: This week the children learned what they can do when they are angry, happy, sad, frustrated, excited etc. They learned how to manage their feelings and emotions. The children practiced how to process, identify and appropriately express their emotions in different scenarios throughout the week. Towards the end of the week we started seeing them express their feelings and emotions to their friends on their own!

Work Time

Skip Counting: This child is working on one of our cubed bead chains, he is identifying the names of the numbers and seeing the correspondence of the quantities with the written number on the cards. He is also discovering that 10X1=10, 10X2=20, 10X3=30 and so on.
Stamp Game: This child is using the stamp game to do addition. It works like the golden beads but instead of unit beads there are unit stamps. Instead of ten bars there are ten stamps. Instead of hundred squares there are hundred stamps. Instead of thousand cubes there are thousand stamps.
Form Drawing: This child is practicing writing the form “humps” on a chalkboard. He is developing multiple skills involving his eyes, arms, hands, memory, posture and body control.
Sandpaper Numbers: This child is learning the symbols for the numbers through the sense of touch and sight. 
These children were getting snack ready when they accidentally knocked everything off the table. Because they have learned how to independently care for the environment and problem solve, they immediately went to get the dust pan and towels to clean the mess up.  

Guest Reader

Reminders:

September 26 | School Picture Day | Tallmadge
October 19 | Bring Your Parent to “Work Time”
Follow the link below to get more information and sign up for Bring Your Parent to “Work Time”.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-bring

A peak into next week: Five Senses