Take A Peek Into Our Week/Ms.Kate/February 9th,2018

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This week we learned about the word nocturnal and the animals that are categorised for that group. We had fun reading and discovering the certain senses that nocturnal animals have, the difference between diurnal and nocturnal, and what animals do during the day and at night!!

One of our kindergarteners is working on static addition with the golden bead materials. The child gets a better understanding that the process of addition is simply combining the equal and unequal quantities is to form a large quantity.  
Our friends are working on tracing the flower and leaf puzzle. When working on our plant puzzles the children gain knowledge of the parts of the plant and their names. They also gain fine motor skills while tracing and coloring their puzzle.
Our friend is working on the 45 layout. The purpose of this is to reinforce the relationship between the concrete and abstract decimal system.
The pink tower and brown stair teaches visual discrimination of three linear dimensions;length, height, width. The brown stair helps to develop visual discrimination of width.
Dishwashing is part of our practical life area. It teaches the children that all life skills has a number of steps to them that they need to follow in order to become successful.

Take A Peek Into Next Week:

– Valentine’s party is Wednesday from 1 to 230.

Our theme is All about the classic fairy tales. We will have fun reading storybooks, creating our own class fairy tale, fun with crafts, and much, much more!!

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of February 5 | Games

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There was a lot of Monday morning excitement with the Super Bowl Sunday night. This week we practiced division with the Stamp Game, the laser tag at home game and the Flat Golden Bead Frame. We found the relationship between fractions and the months of the year. Our students loved to play with the laser tag game, this is a game that we always recommend parents at home, it is essential for kids to move around and waste their energy, specially now that technology is taking over their lives.

These first year students are working together to review division with the Stamp Game. This is a lesson they were introduced to in kindergarten, but continue working towards mastery throughout the first grade year. This material allows students to gain a deeper understanding of how to find a quotient before they are ready to do the work on paper.
This fourth year student and first year student are working on a Writer’s Workshop assignment together. We focused on writing a “How to…” for the friends in our classroom. Students needed to draw an illustration and write directions for each step of the process. Some ideas were “How to Feed Your Cat,” “How to Choose Pokemon,” and “How to Train a Dog.”
Dr. Montessori believed students should have a chance to encounter nature in all kinds of weather. Montessori believed there were social, emotional, and physical benefits to having recess no matter the temperature or condition (within reason). When the playground is too muddy for a game of soccer to be successful, students find interesting ways to entertain themselves. One of our third year students used some logs and branches he found around the school to build a seesaw. One of our second year students helped him test it out until they found the proper place for the fulcrum.
Our students are excited for the School Dance “Fun”raiser this weekend! During indoor recess this week, we practiced different line dances to prepare ourselves for this Saturday. We practiced the Macarena, the Cha Cha Slide, the Electric Slide, and our own dance moves!

A Peek into Next Week

Next week we are excited to continue our Science Fair work. We will be traveling to the library Monday to collect books. Please make sure your child is dressed for a 15-20 minute walk there and back! Lower Elementary students will make pictographs, discuss the origins of the days of the week, continue studying the Pythagorean Theorem, and begin our Africa Continent Study. Upper Elementary students will review Early Humans Vocabulary, learn about Portmanteaus, and begin the study of viruses!

You can read about the latest video game news on this website and find out which games are perfect for your kids to learn.

REMINDERS:

  • Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day Party. Please make sure all the supplies you signed up to bring are sent to school by Tuesday, February 13!
  • Friday, February 16 – NO SCHOOL – Teacher In-Service
  • Monday, February 20 – NO SCHOOL – Presidents’ Day
  • Tuesday, February 21 – Greater Cleveland Aquarium “Going Out Experience”

Academic Enrichment | week of February 5th | Tallmadge

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Measuring: The kindergarten students have been learning how to measure to the nearest inch, half inch and forth of an inch. They have been having fun measuring different things around the classroom.

International Festival Project: These students are filling out part of their KWHL Chart.

Topic: Animals from Africa
Topic: Animals from Africa
Topic: Plants and Flowers from Africa

A peak into next week: Fractions

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of February 5th

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Farm Animals: We learned about different animals that live on the farm like: cows, chickens, pigs, horses and sheep. The kids discovered how each farm animal makes things for the farm. They even learned that farm animals are also know as livestock. The institute offers rent classroom, conducting a tutorial session in a state of the art classroom raises its standards on professionalism compared to conducting it in every residence.

Work Time

Nine Layout: This child is becoming familiar with the names and relative sizes of the categories: units, tens, hundreds and thousands. She is also discovering that if she has i.e. 6 units and adds 1 more unit she will have 7 units.
Animals and Numerals: This child is demonstrating his knowledge that each number is made up of separate quantities. He is also able to visually see the sequence of numbers and how many separate units go together to form each number.
Color Mixing: This child is using the three primary colors to create secondary colors. She places one dropperful of red and one dropperful of yellow in a small dish and like magic, orange appears.

Guest Readers

Dental Hygienist

Reminders

February 10 from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm | Father/Daughter and Mother/Son Dance 

February 15 from 9:15 am – 12:00 pm | Valentine’s Day Party

February 16  | Teacher In-Service Day | No School for Students

February 19  | President’s Day | No School 

A peak into next week: Valentine’s Day and Pets

A Peek Into Reading Group

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Over the last couple weeks the kindergartners read a poem called Every Time I Climb a Tree. The poem is about a little boy who enjoys climbing trees, and describes what all he sees while he’s in the tree. To start the reading we went outside and observed the trees and discussed what we saw and heard while observing. We then read the poem together and talked about how poems have rhythm, so we clapped out the rhythm together while I read aloud. The students got to write their own poem of a place that makes them feel free like the boy felt in the poem. They also drew what things the boy sees while he’s up in the tree. Because, it was the end if the volume, the students got to pick a character from the last three stories we read to ask a question.

A Peek Into the Next Two Weeks

-The students will listen to a story about a lazy rich man.

-The students will answer interpretive questions and complete activities about the story.

-The students will evaluate how well they shared and listened to each other during the story.

Take A Peek Into Our Reading Group | January 2018

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This week we started a new story called The Fire Cat. Our first reading we read the story and shared our questions with one another. This lesson provides a connection to the story so that it helps the children understand the story a bit better. In our second reading, the children listened to the story and then we did a movement activity. The children acted out a scene that took place in the firehouse when the cats come to look at the truck. The kids had a blast with this one. We then finished up our lesson with a writing activity. With our lesson the children were able to think more deeply about the key details in the story.

Our new story this week:)

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of January 29

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This week our “Peek” was written by two of our students! These students read our previous blogs, took pictures around the room, and filled in a blog template. The students did some editing together and with a teacher so what you will read below is their final product. There are still some misspelled words in their final product, but in a Montessori classroom we focus on the process, instead of the end result. Dr. Montessori believed when we put all of the emphasis on the final product, we devalue everything leading up to that point. This can discourage repetition which will make mastery of a skill difficult. The purpose of the students writing the blog is to provide you with a glimpse into the room through their eyes, to provide them with practice of real world skills, and to give them a deeper understanding of the materials in the room. We hope you enjoy their work!

“A Peek at Our Week” by Tyler (Fourth Grade) and André (Second Grade)

Throughout the week it was exsiting and interesting. We did a lot of things. We did knew science experiments. It was lots of fun. This is the blog.

This student is getting a lesson on Metric Measurement. She is also learning measerments smaller than a meter.
This student is a 3rd grader. He is doing the cheackerboard.
This student is a third year. She is doing the microscope. She is looking at the fingerprints of are classroom.
These students are doing the racks and tubes. It is divison they are doing.

“A Peek at Next Week” by Ms. Ashley

Next week, first grade students will review division with the Stamp Game, will discuss two straight lines on the same plane, and will learn the external characteristics of nematodes. Second year students will look at multiples and factors, will continue to review angles on a transversal, and will discuss landforms made of rocks, both natural and manmade. Third year students will practice multiplication on the Flat Golden Bead Frame, will review the rules of the apostrophe, and will discover the main characteristics of annelids. All Lower Elementary students will talk about the year and its parts and will begin the Africa Continent Study. Fourth year students determine relationships between primates, will bisect the height of triangles to find the area, and will begin studying viruses.

REMINDERS:

  • Greater Cleveland Aquarium “Going Out Experience” permission slips are due Monday, February 5. If your child would like to attend, the slip must be turned in on time in order to reserve our spot.
  • Our School Dance “Fun”raiser is Saturday, February 10, from 2-4 pm
  • Lake MetroParks Farm Park Field Trip forms are due Friday, February 16. This is a field trip for the entire class, not an optional “Going Out Experience.”
  • We need your help to make our Valentine’s Day party a success. Please take some time to review our list of supplies and sign up if you can bring something! Our list can be found here.

A Peek Into Music | January 2018

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January was full of cold and snowy days but we stayed warm and active with Miss Lisa! We focused on rhythm and tempo this month. We used rhythm sticks and scarves to practice these skills.

Here students are using scarves to follow Miss Lisa dancing to the music. This lesson was focusing on the tempo of the music.

 

Here Miss Lisa is collecting rhythm sticks from students. The rhythm sticks help teach students about counting the beats and keeping a rhythm of the song. When they are collected Miss Lisa always encourages them to use their imagination to become an animal with the sticks.

 

A new unit we started at the beginning of January and finished at the end was “Peter and the Wolf”. We learned about the characters, the instruments and the story line of this classic tale.

Here Miss Lisa is introducing the instrument of Peter in “Peter and the Wolf”. Before listening to the entire story, students learn and identify which instruments indicate which character in the story.

 

Here the class is listening to “Peter and the Wolf”. Miss Lisa has illustrations to go along with the music of this tale.
Here is a great view of the wolf. Check with your student to see if they remember what character he goes after!

We had so much fun this month leaning about ” Peter and the Wolf”. The illustrations and music told such a vivid tale we will not forget anytime soon! We also learned about all sorts of instruments. Try listening to this with your student and see what they can identify at home.

A Peek Into Science | Cuyahoga Falls | January 2018

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Absorption – To take something in.

What will happen if we pour water in a container containing paper towels and another container containing Sodium Polyacrylate? What is Sodium Polyacrylate? It is the material in diapers. All the children shouted,  “Ewwww”~ for diapers.

Mr. John took the container with the Sodium Polyacrylate and water, and dumped it out above the children’s heads. No water spilled out! We had fun learning about absorption!

Leak Proof Baggy

Polymers – Polymers chains working together.

“What? You poked holes with a pencil in a baggy filled with water? It didn’t come out?”

Yes! We slowly, but firmly pushed sharpened pencils through one side of a zip-locked bag filled with water. The water doesn’t leak at all!

Why? Plastic bags are made out of Polymers which are long chains of individual molecules, called monomers. So poking the bag with water means separating polymer chains without breaking them.

SCIENCE ROCKS!

Play Dough Shapes

Buoyancy- A force in a liquid pushing against an object in the liquid.

We dropped different shaped (a bowl and a sphere) Play dough in water. The sphere shaped dough sank while the bowl shaped play dough floated. The sphere is dense and cannot push enough water out to stay a float. The bowl is able to push enough water out to equal its weight and therefore, floats!

We made our own slime!!!

We mixed Borax, Elemer’s glue and water. We stirred it with the spoon first and when we felt the long strands of molecules starting to connect, we used our hands!

Borax is the compound that is responsible for hooking the glue’s molecules together to form the putty-like material.

SCIENCE IS FUN!!!

A Peek Into Art Class | January 2018

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With Ms. Renee

We started off the new year traveling back in time to the very first artists: cave painters! We read The First Drawing by Mordecai Gerstein and talked about what it was like to live in the time of the cave people. Then we taped our “cave walls” to the walls of the room and made our very own drawing! We even signed them with our handprints like the cave people did.

Our next stop in time was the Ancient Egyptians! We learned that Egyptians also told their stories using drawings on stone, this time on the walls of their temples. We also talked about the dress of the Egyptians and how beautiful their clothing was, and that was probably purchased from a Girls Clothing store online. We read Let’s Visit Cairo by Lisa Manzione to learn more about Egypt and what makes this part of the world so unique. Then we decorated our very own Egyptian collars to wear over our clothes from The Fifth Collection! If you want to find the amazing world of matching clothes and accessories for family, friends and couples don’t forget to visit matching gear.

Next we traveled to Ancient Rome and learned about tesserae and the art of mosaics. The Romans used tiles to tell their stories on walls, ceilings and floors, so people started to imitate this on their homes, and learn to use different techniques and materials, like using 5KG buckets of weber grout for their tiles. Then we created our own mosaic using yarn and paper squares for our tiles.

Our last project of the month was an exploration of painting! The students had fun breaking into groups and traveling around the classroom visiting different painting stations. The students experimented with unique paintbrushes, rollers, painting with small cars, yarn and pom poms. It was so neat to see how involved and focused they all were while they did this!