Ms. Kate  

March was a busy month for us. The children had fun talking about Dr. Seuss, learning about different artists, and exploring the Rainforest. We also enjoyed celebrating Saint Patrick's Day!

The first week was all about Dr. Seuss. Throughout the week the children came to school dressed in crazy, mismatched socks and hats and even backwards clothes! The first few days we concentrated on rhyming activities; the first activity was a rhyming ball game. I placed different words onto a ball and the children had to throw the ball to one another. When a friend caught the ball they were able to pick out a word and identify another word that rhymes with it. The children loved this activity! During the second activity, I wrote out a number of sentences from The Cat In The Hat and placed note cards over the end of every other sentence. The children had to guess what word was under the note card that rhymed with the last word of the sentence. I was super impressed at how well they knew the rhyming word! Throughout that week we went down in the kitchen and cooked yummy foods like green eggs and ham and then had a taste test. We then graphed who liked what better.  

 For the last activity we focused on four sight words, "I, and, the, & that." Four students came up at a time. 
As I was reading The Cat In the Hat my four friends had to keep a tally on the sight words that we were looking for. At the end of the book we counted up the tally marks to see which sight words were used most in the story. At the end of the week the children made a cake to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. It was a very fun week!

The theme for our second week was, Art Appreciation. This week we focused on different artists and their works. The children were able to create their own works from the artists they learned about. The first day we learned all about Claude Monet. We discussed landscapes and why he chose to only draw them. We also learned about oil pastels and how to blend them. The children then created their own landscape while using oil pastels. On the second day, we discussed Pablo Picasso and his different Periods. The children learned about his Blue period and how he was very sad. We also talked about his Rose period where he fell in love and became very happy and all of his paintings were a rosy hue. We then went over his angry period, where all of his paintings were a bit scary. I showed them how he would drew faces in a different way and how all of his drawings were different. The children then drew self-portraits, then cut their pictures up and created their own Picasso. The next thing we learned about was Mosaic art. The children learned the history behind the art, why they created art this way, and the different materials people used to make a mosaic. The children then made a mosaic shamrock out of little plastic cubes. They turned out fantastic! 

The last week we explored the Rainforest. The children learned about the four layers of the rainforest which are The Forest Floor, The Understory Layer, The Canopy Layer, and the Emergent Layer. Students learned about which animals and creatures lived in which layer. We also went over the insects and animals they would find and why they are becoming extinct. Throughout this lesson, we also talked about things we use that come from the rainforest such as wood for our furniture, fruits, coffee beans, and rubber to make rubber bands. For the preschool lesson, Ms. Dana did an awesome rainforest fruit tasting.  

The children were able to taste the different fruits that you would find in the rainforest. After this they created a bar graph on their favorite fruits. It was very fun... and tasty! 

Our last day before break our students were treated to a Pizza Party because our class collected the most Box Tops!  I am looking forward to preparing for the International Festival during the month of April!  

Mr. John's Corner:

The month started off with the sweet sound of music.  We explored the different families of instruments.  We started with the woodwind instruments.  We discovered woodwind instruments are made from wood and also were made from bone years ago.  The woodwinds include the clarinet, saxophone and recorder.  Next we listened to the brass instruments.  Brass instruments are made from brass and other light metals.  Instruments include the trumpet, trombone and tuba. We discovered string instruments usually have strings on the main instrument and use a bow to make the music.  Some instruments in the string family include the violin, cello and guitar.  We had Mia Fedak, an Absorbent Minds alumni student, perform by playing her cello for the class.
 

Finally we hit the percussion family.  Simply percussion instruments strike two or more pieces.  The drums, triangle, cymbals, clapping of hands, rhythm sticks and clapping of hands are all considered percussion instruments.

We then looked at the world of art.  Most of the lessons were a review of what Ms. Michele had taught the students.  We went over the primary, secondary and tertiary colors.  We learned there are different ways (mediums) to create art such as, drawing with pencils, coloring with crayons, and painting, etc.  Students also added using chalk, colored pencils, and painting with other items rather than a paint brush.  The students remembered they used rolling a marble and acorns to paint.

We ended the month by learning about our own state of Ohio.  The students were first taught how to spell Ohio.  OH-IO !  We learned that the flag of Ohio is the only flag that is not the shape of a rectangle.  The official nickname of Ohio is the Buckeye State and the Buckeye Tree is the official tree of Ohio.  The white tailed deer and trilobite are the mammal and fossil of Ohio.  We found a theme of the color red or scarlet for the rest of the official things of Ohio.  The flower is the scarlet carnation, bird is the cardinal, insect is the lady bug and the official drink is tomato juice.  The official rock and roll song is "Hang On Sloopy!"

Our last day before break, students enjoyed Pajama Day and Show and Tell!

Kindergarten Lesson

The kindergarteners now can count to 10 in twenty nine languages...English (that is our native language), Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic w/Lebanese dialect, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Hebrew, Swedish, Korean, Polish, Hungarian, Tagalog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Polish, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemish, Serbo-Croatian, Cebuano, Malay, and Hindi. 

Ms. Sabrina's Corner:   

They learned Europe has many mountain ranges. The famous Alps spread across several European countries, the Carpathian Mountains are in Eastern Europe and the Pyrenees Mountains are in Southern Europe. The Pyrenees separate France from Spain. Students learned that European forests, mountains, and waters are home to many animals. Swans and ducks nest near lakes and ponds. Bears, wolves, and foxes make their homes in forests. Falcons and eagles nest high in the mountains. The Countries of Norway, Italy and Ireland were our main focus when studying the continent of Europe.


On the Monday after St. Patrick's Day, we read a book about who St. Patrick was. We listened to Celtic music, while we ate a treat. In the afternoon, the children learned about the country of Ireland. The children truly enjoyed all the activities for that day!

St. Patrick's Song:
tune : She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain"

March 17th. is St. Patrick's Day
The leprechauns will all come out and play,
We will all wear green and have some fun.
We'll dance a jig and jump and run.
March 17th. is St. Patrick's Day

 
We also focus on plant life this month! The children learned plants are all around us, and that seeds grow into plants. They learned what plants need to grow, and what seeds can be eaten. The children learned that we eat many plant parts, as well as, grow food plants.


As a school, we were invited by Julia's dad, Larry, to take a field trip to Longhorn Steakhouse!  He opened his restaurant's doors to let our students and parents explore the kitchen and even provided our students and parents with the great food from Longhorn!  We truly appreciated the generosity and the experience it gave our young ones.  Thank you to all of our volunteer parents who gave of their time and transported students to our Field Trip!

Events:

Art Extravaganza

We hope all who joined us enjoyed this year's Art Extravaganza!  It was a great night!  Parents, families and friends gathered to observe our students showcased art work displayed through our classrooms and hallways.  In the Gym, families were able to tap into their artistic side and create their very own art piece on a canvas and easel.  We hope this keepsake will serve as a reminder of our fun evening together!




Our students (and some parents) also enjoyed getting their faces painted by Ms. Michele and Ms. Kristen.  We saw butterflies, flowers, Batman and even Captain America floating around the Art Show! Thank you to these two special teachers for their time and creativity with face painting!



Students and families struck a pose in our photo booth filled with fun props! We want to send a BIG Thank you to Margie Seibert for her time and effort setting up and organizing the photo booth, taking the pictures and all her time spent editing to make them just right!  Also, to her lovely assistant, Melinda Philips for helping the photo booth run smoothly for the evening. We can't wait to see how these photos will turn out!

Our Art Auction was a blast and brought along some fun competition for the evening! We auctioned off 10 unique projects put together by our students, each individual classroom and Ms. Michele herself.  Thank you to Ms. Michele for your work on these pieces and our Teachers for their effort and creativity on their projects! They will be treasured for many years to come!    

Here is what one family shared with us after the Auction:

"This is a picture of my grandson winning the auction for the heart from his (Mr. John's) class.  He was so excited.  Once he understood the rules of the auction he kept me apprised of whenever anyone "upped the ante" so to speak.  When there were less than 2 minutes left before the time was up, Nicholas pulled at my sleeve and said, "Nana, Nana, put a BILLION dollars on it!"  So cute and so naïve!  At any rate, we had a memorable evening and will remember his excitement and happiness for years to come!  The heart now resides on the Smith family living room wall."  - Carolyn Walker (Nick Smith's Grandmother)  

Thank you to all of our families for attending and supporting us at this event!  We hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we did!