Ms. Kate  

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

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

The second week I introduced Africa.  I explained to the children that Africa is the second largest continent next to Asia. The children learned about North Africa, South Africa, West and East Africa, and also about Central Africa. We had fun discussing their homes and how their houses are made of dried mud, stones, and sticks and how people in Central Africa live in villages and tend to only cook over an open fire since they do not have electricity. They also learned that the largest cities in Africa are Cairo, Egypt, Lagos, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Throughout the week the children learned about savannas, deserts, and rainforests that make up Africa. We also talked about how thousands of different kinds of plants grow in the rainforest, and how some of those plants provide food and medicine for people. At the end of our Africa lesson we went over the animals, people, language, music, and housing of Africa.      

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

During the third week we went over India. The children learned that India is a country with seventeen official languages, races, and religions. The children loved learning that India has 45,000 plant species, some of which are not found anywhere else in the world, and that India is divided into 25 states, each with its own governor, members of parliament, and lawmakers.  The children also enjoyed learning about their transpiration, their traditional dressings, family life, and education.      

Our last week we were practicing our lines and songs and making special crafts for our festival. Amongst all of the busyness the children learned about France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The children had so much fun learning to say "good day," "hi," "thank you," "thank you very much," and "goodbye" in French. With each of these countries the children were able to learn about their foods, different cultures and traditions, holidays, work that they do, farming, and things to do when you visit each country. While we were learning about Spain the children learned the history behind the Running of the Bulls and Flamenco dancing and were able to watch a short video on these famous events. Although this month has been very busy I really enjoyed teaching the children about the different countries. I loved showing them that all countries are different in many ways but also the same. I hope you have learned a little something and see you next time! Au Revoir!  

Mr. John's Corner:

The Continental Tango, Big Stars, Wombats, My Aunt Monica, and What a Small world it is!  Those thoughts and music are still ringing in my ears!  As you know these were the songs sung at the International Festival.  Throughout this month we learned about all the continents and some of the individual countries within the continents.  The students had fun learning about the climates, foods, clothes, and differences of how children attend school. I wanted to thank all of those who  came in and talked about different countries.  We had visitors share about Greece, Philippines, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, India and Serbia! This adds so much to International Festival month.  All the presentations were fun, informative, and the children and teachers truly enjoy it.  Thank you to all of our visitors who spent their time preparing for their visit it was truly appreciated and our students learned a lot!  

I am sorry to say our scorpion "Blixa" passed away this week.  I am not sure what will replace him.  I am thinking if I get one million likes on facebook I will be allowed to bring a monkey or a kangaroo into the classroom!

In the kindergarten lesson we continued our work with grammar.  We looked at the adjective which describes nouns and pronouns, the adverb which describes the verb and usually ends in "ly", the conjunction which connects two sentences or thoughts and acts like a bridge, and the preposition which is a "where" word (not a werewolf, ha!). 

We ended April with a BANG! By getting familiar with interjections which set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point when showing excitement or a comma when the feeling is not as strong.

My line time and the kindergarten class count to ten in 26 different languages (English, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Tagalog, Polish, Irish, Welsh, Hebrew, Arabic w/the Lebanese dialect, Japanese, Hungarian, Swedish, Swahili, Korean, Serbo-Croation, Hindi, Flemish/Dutch, Malay, Cebuano)

Ms. Sabrina's Corner:   

by Ms. Kristen

Ms. Sabrina and I are so proud of your children! They continue to astound and amaze us!  They truly have a passion for learning that surpasses many adults I know!

We started off the month of April talking about the four seasons and about weather. During preschool lesson, we learned why it rains and where it comes from. We also learned that water is all around us, even in the air we breathe!

 

We then continued our tour of our world by "traveling" to Asia! The children were especially excited to learn about the country where Ms. Sabrina is from...Malaysia! I feel the highlight of time we spent learning about Malaysia was when Ms. Sabrina brought in her wedding video to share with the class! The children loved seeing how people in Malaysia dress, and how their celebrations differ from celebrations in America.   

Next, we went on to learn about Japan. We discovered that people in Japan eat many foods with rice and that sushi is a popular food served in Japan! We also learned Japan is called " The Land of the Rising Sun".   

Next we traveled to the continent of  Australia! We learned about animals that are native to the country of Australia, such as kangaroos, koala, and William's favorite...the Frilled Neck Lizard! We also listened to the sound of a didgeridoo!   

We then explored Fiji, where we discovered that the native Fijians " fire walk"! Scary! We also learned that many Fijians cook their food under the ground, wrapped in banana leaves. 

Next our young explorers traveled to the bitter cold of Antarctica! We discovered that Antarctica has no government and that over 40 countries share the continent for the purpose of scientific research and that the only people who live there are scientists.  I then mentioned to the students that Antarctica does not have a flag. Henri, Julia, Madison, and Zack thought about this and decided to design their own flags of Antarctica! How creative! 

Throughout our trip around the globe, the children wrote a song with one fact about each country they visited. The wrote the music and lyric on their own! They're quite the composers! The decided to call it "All Around The Earth".

Also, to close out our unit on countries and continents, I thought it might be fun to show the children what it means to vote. Using the counting stones in our classroom, the children placed the stone they were given by the flag of the country they would most like to visit. The debate became a little exuberant at times, but in the end...Brazil won!   

Though the end of the month was hectic, your children are doing well! We're so proud of them and how much they have retained! I encourage you to continue your discussion of the continents and countries at home, and ask your child which country they would like to visit someday and why.  

Enrichments:

Music Class: 

This was a great month with Ms. Lisa, students were able to sing many fun songs and learn great new rhythms and dances. The children really enjoyed playing a fun game of cat and mouse! I was the cat and when Ms Lisa played her music softly the children would crawl around. When the music got louder I had to catch them before they got back to the wall. I was really impressed with what good sports the children were when I caught them!



Ms. Lisa has also been working with students to become familiar with the piano during Music class. Each student has a turn practicing and playing the different notes and rhythms on the piano. Two of the favorite songs that the children have been looking forward to each week are "Here we go Cheerio" and the "Noble Duke of York," We can't wait to see what fun new songs and rhymes May will bring!

Art Class

by Courtney Owens          

During the month of April, we spent time in Art Class working on projects inspired by our travels around the world. Ms. Michele began by showing students pictures of colorful dragon paintings and projects from Asia, students were excited to begin making our own Dragon together as a class. We used colorful paper cups, glue, and plenty of different paper shapes Ms. Michele cut out. After all the kids made their section of the dragon Ms. Michele used pipe cleaners to attach all the cups together to make one large class Dragon.


Students also spent time creating totem poles to put on display at our International Festival!

The following few weeks Ms. Michele began Art class by  playing African music and demonstrated different African dances. She also displayed pictures for our students to observe. The students were then asked to create their own African mask with materials like beans, pasta, straws and bottle caps. Our students loved this! The masks were displayed at the International Festival dinner to show off their creations to family and friends.  We hope you enjoyed them!

Science Class 

by Dana Dawson

April was another exciting month for Science Class, Mr John had some awesome experiments for us to try. We began the month by learning about the iron in our cereal! Mr John showed us a baggie that was filled with bran flakes that had been crushed and mixed with water. Mr John then got a magnet and asked the class "what's your hypothesis?" Luke replied, "The cereal will separate."  Emma said," I have no idea,  I want to see!" As Mr John put the magnet on the bag of cereal iron filings became visible! Mr. John went on to explain that all of our bodies contain iron, and we need it to stay healthy.

Our next experiment was called the "Teflon Tape Secret Message." Mr. John cut a piece of tape and wrote a message on it. Next, he stretched out the tape so the message was no longer clear. Mr. John then asked the class if they thought the message could be retrieved. Anelise replied," Its gone!" Aleksandar stated. "It can't be fixed unless the tape is wrapped again." Once Mr. John unwrinkled the tape his message was once again visible! Mr. John explained this was because of the Polymers in the tape. He sure keeps us on our toes! Students wait patiently all week to see what fun Science Class will bring! Keep up the awesome work Mr. John!