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Announcements:
Ms. Kelly
 I am excited to roll out the first newsletter of our 2013-2014 school year. For those of you who are not familiar with our newsletter, this is where we recap the previous month's classroom happenings and keep you informed on upcoming events.
It has been a great start to the school year, our students are learning and experiencing fun subjects in their classrooms and I've even joined in on some of the fun! I've learned new yoga moves, how to sign my own name in sign language, and have enjoyed sampling the tasty treasures our students have been cooking up! Our additional enrichment programs began in September as well. We have blossoming gymnasts, our ballerinas have been floating across the gym floor, the Kids Bop crew has learned to get down and funky and our Tae Kwon Do students are improving their sparing skills! I hope you enjoy reading through our articles below describing in more detail what your child has been up to in their classroom in addition to their individual lessons during the month of September at Absorbent Minds.
Please feel free to forward our newsletter on to your family and friends who may be interested in what your son or daughter is learning and experiencing in school. They can click the link on the far right column of the newsletter to subscribe to receive this update monthly.
Join us on Facebook and Twitter!
Everyday we post comments and pictures on Facebook and Twitter. Our goal is to give our families a glimpse into our time with your child and to strive to make you feel a part of the wonderful moments we have with each of them! (So tell Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Friends too!) We love to hear your feedback, please feel free to post comments! Click the links located on the far right column of this newsletter to join our community on Facebook and Twitter.
Alumni Update:
Calling all proud Moms and Dads! It's time to brag about your "SmarterKids."
We devote a section of our newsletter to our wonderful Alumni. We treasured the time we had with our former students and look forward to any opportunity to hear about how they are now! You can find our Alumni Updates on the right side column of the newsletter.
If you have an Absorbent Minds Alumni Student send us an email telling us about what your child has been doing since graduating from Absorbent Minds. We want to know about all kinds of accomplishments; from school, to extra curricular activities and personal growth displayed in any environment! Please email me at Kelly@thesmarterkids.com and put "Alumni Update" in the subject line. We will do our best to include as many alumni updates as possible. I look forward to hearing from everyone!
The Smarter Heroes:
Absorbent Minds launched The "Smarter" Heroes Program two years ago. Our first project this school year was Support-A-Troop. If you haven't heard about it yet, check out this section of our newsletter below and see what service projects our "SmarterHeroes"are up to!
Hero Night: Friday, October 25th!
 Mark your calendars, Hero Night is right around the corner! Make plans for a fun night out with your spouse, family or friends. From 6:30-10:00pm on Friday October 25th, students can join us at the school for an evening of crafts, games, pizza, movie and heroism! For more information about our upcoming Hero Night Click Here.
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Ms. Brandy's Corner:
 The start of the school year brought back so many faces I haven't seen in a year or more. It has been so nice to reunite with my students from years past. I am enjoying teaching a new age group this year and I am excited about all they are learning! Each day we read from either "Everyday Graces" or "365 Manners Kids Should Know." While reading one of the stories about family dinners a few of my students asked if we could have a family dinner at school. Of course I didn't want to pass up this incredible teaching moment, so we did! As a class we created a menu and each student provided a food or drink to share. We rearranged all the tables in our room and sat down to a Family Style Lunch. Students loved asking "Can you please pass the corn?" or "Will you please hand me the salad dressing?" I was impressed with their patience and etiquette. Everyone asked if we could have Family Style Lunch every month.  Anyone who has walked down the hall outside our classroom has seen our note cards posted along the coat rack. Each day we create a new card telling us the date, weather and current events. It is the responsibility of a new student each day to copy the note card and hang it in the hallway. We are creating our very own class timeline. It is neat to go back and read what was happening a few weeks ago.  Responsibility and self-government seem to have worked their way out of our society in recent years; however, I am determined to teach them to your children. Responsibility is being accountable for your actions and choices.  In the Elementary program responsibility is the name of the  game. Each week I create a Work Plan for every student. This Work Plan is the child's responsibility to complete throughout the week. They are responsible for managing their time, recording their work in a journal and then presenting it to me at the end of the week. Each student is expected to set educational goals each week based on lessons they have been given. These goals are essentially their classroom "to do list" for the week. Students write their goals on their Work Plan every Monday morning. On Fridays, we have Student/Teacher Conferences where each child presents their work from the week to me. During these conferences I ask each student what work they are most proud of and what work was the most difficult for them to complete. I check their journals and look at the work they have recorded. If they did not meet a goal, they reset the goal for the following week. This is one of my favorite parts of the week! 
The first task for my class this month was to write a Constitution for our classroom. As a class we must learn to work together, support and help each other, and be the best person we can be. In an effort to help the children learn to govern themselves, we read about how we govern our country and how we decide right from wrong. We read the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. We spent time looking up new words in the dictionary and coming up with synonyms we all could understand. We all sat together and decided on an introductory paragraph. Then students suggested various sections for which to establish rules. Each student chose a section of the Constitution to work on with a small group. Each group was asked to come up with at least 5 rules and bring them to the group, who would vote to keep the rule, rewrite the rule with changes, or remove the rule entirely. Each group presented their rules and gave an explanation as to why they felt the rule should be in our constitution. Below is a sample of what your children came up with:
"We the student of Absorbent Minds, in order to protect our freedom, create fairness, and ensure a peaceful environment, establish this Constitution of Absorbent Minds Montessori School.
1. Respect other people.
2. Push in your chair.
3. Always use kind words.
4. Do random acts of kindness.
5. No whining or complaining.
6. Always include others.
7. Look out for each other.
8. No chewing with your mouth open.
9. No talking with food in your mouth.
I was very impressed with several suggestions made and very happy to see such kind "rules" added to our list. The full Absorbent Minds Montessori School Constitution has been professionally printed and each student signed the final document. Click here to view the Absorbent Minds Constitution.
It is a blessing to me to spend everyday with such a talented group of children. Thank you to every parent for sharing your child with me!
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The "Smarter" Difference
A Prepared Environment
by Kelly Andamasaris
"And so we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by
listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment
made for the child."
-The Absorbent Mind, Maria MontessoriAs Montessori mentions in the above quote, our task as a teacher is to prepare our environment so that everything our students come in contact with will facilitate and maximize independent learning and exploration. In order for our students to have this experience of development, daily thought and effort is put into the design of the environment. We allow for movement and activity and our students are free to choose and work on the materials at their own pace permitting each child to experience a combination of freedom and self- discipline. Below I have highlighted four of the guiding principles we as teachers use as we strive to prepare and maintain this environment for each child; freedom, structure and order, beauty, and the purposeful design and progression of the materials. Freedom is the first guiding principle that our prepared environment is built upon. A child must be free to explore, developing his potential and increasing his knowledge of the world around him. Therefore, each child must experience freedom of movement, exploration, social interaction and freedom from the interference of others. Where there is freedom to interact, each child can learn to encourage and develop a sense of compassion and empathy for others. We see this daily in our classrooms. Our students rush to help others in need, show concern when a child is absent for the day or warmly welcomes a visitor into the "family community." Most importantly, applying certain freedoms in our classrooms allows for an even greater freedom for each child: the freedom of choice. "The first aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult." (Maria Montessori, Secret of Childhood)
Structure and Order is the second  key principle in the successful preparation of our classroom environment. In maintaining structure, the child will begin to internalize the order surrounding her, therefore making sense of the world in which she lives. We provide order in every detail of the classroom; in planning our daily schedule all the way down to how materials (or works) are presented and arranged on each individual shelf. Beauty is the third important principle or standard our environment is built upon. We strive to create a bright and attractive environment for learning as we work to build our "family community" in the classroom. Each classroom is designed to invite the learner to come in and work. Our materials are child-size real objects for students to manipulate with their hands to learn. Our furniture is set up at their level so our students are not dependent on the teacher for their movement within the room. Our walls aren't cluttered with too much decoration creating a distraction to the materials on the shelves. Rather we design the room so our students are drawn to the works and activities. Everything should fit our children's hands and be the appropriate height so that the work is made easier, thus ensuring proper use and completion of the work without frustration. We carefully place in the classroom developmentally appropriate material that move from simple to complex and concrete to abstract. Our students are therefore given the freedom to develop their unique potential through a carefully thought out learning environment.  The purpose of this prepared environment is to develop the whole personality of the child, not just in the academic sense alone. We guide each child through the Montessori curriculum in a purposeful way so that the child has the foundation of structure allowing creative work to occur. This leads us to our final guiding principle; the purposeful design and progression of the materials. Students progress through the materials as they master each skill, moving ahead at the speed in which they are ready. Each material is designed with a specific purpose. We also believe children would rather correct themselves than depend on an adult to do it for them. With this theory in mind, our materials and presentations contain a control of error making the child use his reasoning abilities and promoting independence. This permits the child the ability to self correct. We believe the responsibility for learning rests upon each learner and our task is to create the most conducive environment for successful learning. If we are guided by these four principles we highlighted: freedom, structure and order, beauty and the proper progression of our purposeful materials, and allow them to be infused into our environment we believe this goal can be achieved. Engaging in the work of developing the independent learner, our students build up an inner sense of purpose and motivation. This is a lifelong, intrinsic value that will serve them throughout their educational career and into adulthood.
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| Ms. Kate's Corner:
 Welcome back everyone! I can't believe how fast summer flew by and the new school year is in session again. Thanks so much for those who came to "Meet the Teacher Night." It was wonderful seeing the returning students and parents and meeting all of our new families. The first month was filled with lessons on respect, friendship, family, and all about ourselves.
The first week the classroom was full of laughter and excitement. During our line time we discussed the rules of the classroom: that we will always respect each other, we will try our best, we are a team, we learn from our mistakes, we create, and we will always celebrate each others successes. Throughout this month the children have been praising one another during work time and helping each other when they see someone using a word the wrong way. It has been a pleasure seeing and hearing the children remembering all of the rules we have gone over. Also, during the first week I have been introducing different words little by little to the children. I want the children to feel comfortable and have an understanding of the different words when they are using them.
Using the word "please," "thank you," "excuse me," and "I'm sorry" were the lessons we learned while we were discussing the topic of respect. For the first lesson, we lead a discussion about when we should say "please" and why it is important to use it. The children then created a word poem based on each letter within the word "please". The children then choose some of the words they created and turned them into sentences. Throughout the week, the children created word poems and sentences while using the other kindness words and have been working hard practicing each one.
 The second week we focused on friendship. We started out by discussing the meaning of being a good friend and what qualities are in a good friend. We then read the book Do You Want To Be My Friend? By Eric Carle. The children discussed the mouse's search for a good friend and what qualities were in each friend. After the story the children were able to create a friendship rainbow. The second lesson was called The Friendship Fish. We read the book Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. We then created our own "Friendship Fish." The children were each given a scale and they wrote down the qualities they thought a friend should have. Ainsley said, "I want someone I can play with." Meryem then said "I want someone who is nice," and Jonah said "I want someone who will be silly with me." After everyone shared their qualities they were able to tape their scales to the fish.
Throughout the week the children learned how playing together can foster friendships and build a community. The children then played a game called "The Blob." The children had to work together by linking arms and hands to capture the other friends. On the last day, our class created a "Friendship Web." The children were able to discuss what friends should sound like when they are together, how it feels when friends are together, what it looks like when friends are together, and the qualities in a friend.
The third week we discussed "All About Me." We started out by reading the book "Stand Tall" Mary Lou Melon. We then talked about the differences and similarities in everyone's appearance. We then created a graph about hair and eye color. The children were able to go around the room and see who had brown, black, red, or blonde hair. They did the same for eye color. The children were then able to see how everyone's appearance is not the same. The next lesson the children created a bar graph about everyone's birthday. I read the book "On The Day You Were Born." We talked about how everyone's birthday is different and that makes us unique and special. The children then decorated their own birthday cupcake. Throughout the week we made an "I'm Special Book" and played a "How Do You Feel" game.
The last week was all about our families! We first lead a discussion on what they think a family is. Annelise said, "My mommy and daddy." Jackson said, "My sister, mommy and daddy." Myla said "My whole family." During the week we discussed how not all families are the same. We have different houses & places families live, the tradition families celebrate, and the special things that we love doing with our family. During this week the children and families created their own family trees. On the last day, the children were able to stand up at line time and share their family tree amongst their friends. It was so wonderful to see the children and their parents work and come together to create something so awesome!
Again, this has been such a wonderful first month back to school. I look forward to the upcoming months with all of you as we head into Fall and Winter.
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Mr. John's Corner:
 After what seemed to be a very short summer break it was good to get back in the classroom and start teaching. I do miss the Alumni, eager to get to know the new students, and get reacquainted with the returning students. It is amazing how students change over the summer. Some are more mature and some look as if they grew six inches!
The first two weeks we went over the ground rules of the classroom. We reviewed the "big four" rules. Walk in the classroom: because if you run, fall, and hit your head on a table, chair, or the hard ground; which would win, your head or the super hard table? That's a no brainer, pun intended. Keeping your hands and body to yourself, use your listening ears, and be respectful in the classroom. We focus on being kind to others and respecting the materials.
 We then explored the subject of healthy habits. Washing hands and our bodies, exercising, eating healthy, and getting enough sleep were needed to keep a healthy mind and body. Healthy habits created a good segway to the introduction of the food pyramid. We learned what the food groups were, what foods were in each food group, and servings of each.  We had examples of many fruits and vegetables. I quiz each child at lunch time about what foods they have and the group in which they belong.
 The next week we took a look at what was living and non living. It was pretty easy to identify what was living and non living but we went a step further and determined what characteristics were needed to be labeled living. Reproduction, growth, taking in nutrients (eating), and exchanging gases (breathing) were the four categories we reviewed. We discovered that the children were living but Mr. John's shoe was not. A chair was non living and so were Ms. Dana and Ms. Kathleen before they get their morning coffee!
 We have counted to 10 in eight different languages: English (our native language), Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, and Arabic w/ the Lebanese dialect.
Kindergarten:
We kicked off the Kindergarten season with a dose of Geography. They learned about the seven continents, fun facts about the continents, and a few countries in each continent. They are very familiar with the cardinal directions, the equator, the prime meridian, and the hemispheres. They even know the North America is in the Nort h Western hemisphere. We then looked at our home state of O-H-I-O and the surrounding states (their abbreviation and nickname). PA-Keystone State, WV- Mountain State, KY-Bluegrass State, IN-The Hoosier State (what in the world is a Hoosier?) and that...(sigh)... state up north MI-The Wolverine State. Ask your child all about Ohio! The cardinal is the official bird, scarlet carnation the official flower, lady bug is the official insect. I see a consistent theme of red! Even tomato juice is the official drink! We are the BUCKEYE state and for some reason they got the impression the only college football team that matters is THE Ohio State Buckeyes! The official rock and roll song is Hang on Sloopy performed by the McCoys in 1965. Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy Hang On... O-H-I-O, YA!
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Ms. Sabrina's Corner:
To begin our school year we focused on grace and courtesy, love and respect, self-control and self-government. We develop these skills through purposeful work, beginning in the Practical Life area of the classroom. Practical Life is an essential component of the Montessori curriculum. Children learn skills that promote order, concentration, coordination, and independence. Therefore, many of the Practical Life activities are a preparation for math and language acquisition.
The materials in Practical Life are set up in a very orderly manner. The easiest work is located on the top left of the shelf. The child progresses through various levels of difficulty as the work becomes more involved or complex. For example, the first pouring work is two cups or containers that have no handles and no spouts. Usually one container has a dry ingredient such as beans. More difficult pouring work may include using a funnel to pour a liquid from one container to another.
Concentration is developed when the child is able to freely choose what she/he works on and for how long. As long as the child is not damaging the work nor is being disruptive to the other children and is not "hiding behind the work," the child is free to develop his/her self-government skills through this independent work. The child can repeat the exercises as many times as he/she desires. Choice and repetition helps the child develop concentration.
Another component of Practical Life is movement. The materials in a Montessori environment are set up on shelves, in baskets or on trays so that the child can use a work at will after being given a presentation on it. The environment is purposefully designed so that the child can coordinate his/her movements and independently carry her/his basket or tray to a table. This freedom of movement allows children to develop courtesy; saying "excuse me" when passing another student.
"Walking on the line" is another aspect of movement. As a child learns to control his/her body movements, he/she becomes more confident. After our line walk each day we discussed what is means to be courteous of others, respectful of others and kind to one another. All students agreed that when we say "please," "excuse me" and "thank you" we are being kind and respectful. We can show each other respect by the words we use and by how we help one another. We played The Silence Game, where the children sit quietly and listen to the sounds around them. We invite Hoot, our classroom owl to join us, and we light a candle in the center of our circle. Everyone sits quietly for about one minute listening, and then we discuss the sounds we heard during our game. This is becoming a favorite group activity.
Children also learn social skills through Practical Life lessons. Children learn how to greet someone, how to appropriately interrupt, how to watch a friend work...Through direct instruction on some of these social skills, children learn early on how to handle a variety of situations. We do not assume that the child knows how to handle situations. Instead, we break down a task into step- by- step directions so the child can successfully learn social skills. Children also practice how to greet a visitor to the classroom, or give a guided tour. These and other skills are shown and practiced first and then implemented into daily living.
Ms. Kristen has been working with the students and planning wonderful lessons in the afternoons. The children have been singing, composing songs, learning sign language as well as cooking! She has also reinforced the ground rules that we have been working on. The consistency she provides for the classroom is a big part of why the beginning of the school year has been so successful!
We hope you are seeing some of the courteous and respectful behaviors we have been practicing in the classroom modeled at home. We have enjoyed our focus on practical life during the month of September it is the foundation of the Montessori curriculum that helps your child grow and mature in many ways as well as to become life long learners.
Here are some Practical Life activities to practice at home:
- Putting on / taking off all types of clothing: mittens, gloves, scarves, ear muffs, and caps
- Buttoning, Zipping
- Folding
- Hanging up clothes or putting them in drawers
- Putting on / taking off socks, shoes and boots
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Ms. Courtney's Corner:
 Wow the first month of the school year flew by! I would like to start off by thanking everyone who came to meet the teacher night and the ice cream social. I had a wonderful time talking to you all about the class and your children before the school year began.
We kicked off our school year focusing on grace and courtesy to teach and fulfill our students innate need for order. Every student has a need to know and to absorb the social structures in order to be more at ease in their environment. Grace and courtesy lessons give the student the vocabulary, actions, and steps required for them to build their awareness and responsiveness of those around them. We worked on walking in the classroom, using our inside voices while in the school building, using kind words to one another, using safe hands, how to cle
an up our area when we are done working and how to use our words to express our feelings.
 The third week of school we talked and learned about community helpers. We had many of volunteer community helpers come into the classroom and talk to the children. They briefly described their occupation, by talking about where they work, what they wear, tools they use, and tasks they perform. I would like to thank all of the volunteers that came into the classroom! It was a wonderful learning experience for both the students and myself!
The fourth week of school we discussed families and the students shared their family trees with their friends. Their family trees included their name, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. The students also brought pictures of their families either on the family tree or hard copies for the children to share with their friends. The children enjoyed learning more about their friends and where they came from. It was great to see the students discover the differences and similarities in all of the families and accept every family for who they are.
We ended the month of September talking about feelings and emotions. The students brainstormed things they could do when they were angry, happy, sad, frustrated, and excited. Then they discussed with one another whether the reaction they came up with was a good choice or a bad choice. The students did a great job learning how to manage their emotions. We role played how to process, identify and appropriately express their emotions as much as possible. After a few days of talking about feeling and emotions it was great to hear the students tell their friends what they were feeling and why on their own.
As many of you already know I will be taking a maternity leave of absence. My last scheduled day before the leave is Friday, October 4th. I will be popping in and out of the school the week of October 7th to help Ms. Faith and her substitute teachers in any way to make their transition smoother, but as of Monday, October 7th, Ms. Faith will take over my class. I will look forward to returning in January!
I also wanted to take the time to let all of the parents and students know my husband and I really appreciate the baby gifts. Thank you! It is very generous of you and we sincerely appreciate it. I feel so blessed to have such supportive parents like you in our lives. After baby Lydia is here I am hoping to bring her by the school for the students to meet her at the Halloween party. Again thank you for your thoughtful gifts!
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School Events:
Ice Cream Social
by Dana Dawson
 Our first event of the school year was the Ice Cream Social and it was a huge success! It was so nice to see so many returning families and even better to see so many new faces. Our family at Absorbent Minds is growing and it was so nice to come together at Water Works Park to kick off the start of what is sure to be a incredible year.
The weather was beautiful and it was great to be able to walk around and talk with everyone. Children were running around playing and laughing with the friends they made last year as well as new bonds that were being formed already. I saw a rainbow of chocolate mouths with sprinkles and there was even a spotting of a turtle making his rounds around the park! All in all a great time was had by all, looking forward to another great year!
Kingsway Pumpkin Farm
by Dana Dawson
 On a beautiful September morning, Absorbent Minds Montessori School traveled to Kingsway Pumpkin Farm where we spent the day having fun picking pumpkins, feeding animals, going on a hay ride and face painting! Our elementary students even enjoyed the challenge of the daunting corn maize! Students, Parents and Teachers alike had a wonderful time walking through the pumpkin patch where each child selected the pumpkin and two gourds of their choice. We even were able to feed the animals and some students helped give milk to the baby calf.
Each teacher had the opportunity to carefully choose the most perfect classroom pumpkin! Ms. Brandy joined in on the fun and took a turn on the zip line with her elementary students too!
This was great field trip and we can't wait to go back next year! Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who helped make this experience possible for our students!
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Enrichment Programs:
Music Class by Kristen Minnich and Faith Weihe
We had a wonderful first month with Ms. Lisa in Music class!
In the first week of Music class, the children learned what it means to sing a solo by singing "Hello!" to Frida the Frog. Ms. Lisa also introduced the song "Three Green and Speckled Frogs" and the children practiced keeping a steady beat using egg shakers.
During week two of Music, Ms. Lisa brought her slide whistle to teach the difference between high and low. The children raised their hands high up in the air when the pitch went high, and lowered their hands as the pitch became lower.
We also had lots of fun playing pretend instruments as we sang "Turkey In The Straw." For the high parts of the song, Ms. Lisa had the children pretend to play a flute when the music was high, a tuba when it was low, and a violin for the middle range of the song.
In the third w eek, Ms. Lisa began to introduce quarter notes, half notes, eighth notes and whole notes and having the children count and clap each note value. To learn the different musical notes, the students are shown pictures of the notes and get to clap out the number of counts each note receives. This was further practiced in the "Clock Song" where the children used rhythm sticks to keep a steady beat using basic rhythmic patterns put to words in the song. (ex. Grandfather clock is saying "Tick Tock." Tiny pocket watch is saying "Tick-a-tick-a-tick-a).
In our fourth week of Music, Ms. Lisa and Nemo the fish introduced the musical words Forte (which means loud) and Piano (which means soft). We also learned the musical word for fast (Allegro) and the musical word for slow (Adagio). To practice these concepts, Ms. Lisa introduced "She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain" where the children galloped when the music was Allegro and walked very slowly when the music slowed down in tempo.
As a musician myself, I hope you will take the time to listen to your child's CD with them and ask them to teach you the words and motions to some of the songs to practice what they've learned. Music benefits us all and is truly a gift!
Art Class
by Michele Hayden
Preschool / Kindergarten
The first few weeks of school have been a very exciting time in Art class! To start off the year the preschool age students talked about what is Art and what artists do. They told me artist paint, draw, sculpt, and design. We read a story by a very familiar artist to them Eric Carle. We then took tissue paper and made rubbings by coloring over textured paper to make a pattern. We then cut and tore out shapes to make our own Carle inspired collage.
 The following week we did a little review about Art and we learned a new artist Piet Mondrian. According to Wikipedia "He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed neoplasticism. This consisted of white ground, upon which was painted a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and the three primary colors. The students took black popsicle sticks to create lines like Mondrian and painted in primary colors. The students are producing some very excellent work!  The following week we reviewed primary colors and read Fox in Socks by Dr Seuss. The students learned about lines and how they can be zig zag, wavy, dotted, straight, and wiggly. The children also learned the value of warm and cool colors in art. They told me that warm colors were like fire and cool colors were like water or ice. The children took warm and cool colors, and lines to design their own Fox in Socks inspired art. They students have been making some neat things and experiencing many new materials and are eager to discuss more art in the next weeks!
Lower Elementary
The early elementary students kicked off the year with their names as Art. The students in Mrs. Brandy's class drew their names in bubble or block letters and added circles to break up the space. Then they chose warm colors or cool colors and painted all the new shapes. Inside the circles they added and painted the opposite of what they chose. They did an excellent job!
Next I sent home an activity for them to design their own superhero. We took their stories and drew their own superhero along with a night sky and a cityscape. The students discovered what a foreground, middle ground , and a background is and made some very cool artwork!
I look forward to all the fun and exciting activities we will do in art this year!
Science Classby Ashley Ely
Scientists always ask questions and they ask why, what happens, and what if. With that information they can make a hypothesis. A Hypothesis is just an educated guess on what may happen with your experiment. Mr. John always tells his students; Scientists are more wrong then right and there are no wrong answers!
 For the first experiment of the school year, Mr. John asked his scientists," What will happen when you take a pop bottle filled with vinegar then attach a balloon filled with baking soda to the top of the pop bottle and release the power into the vinegar? Anelise informed her fellow scientists that she believed the balloon will blow up. Addison said, "The balloon will blow up and pop!" and both Maia and Annelise agreed, "The balloon will blow up." Students discovered, once the experiment was complete, when the baking soda was added in, the air turned into carbon dioxide and blew the balloon up, but the balloon did not have enough pressure to pop. The more baking soda Mr. John used the bigger the balloon blew up!  Our next experiment explored the concept of density. Mr. John posed the question to his scientists, "Will an egg float or sink in salt water or tap water?" Some of our students hypothesized that the egg would float in tap water and sink in the salt water. Zachary stated, "The egg will crack in the salt water and float in the tap water." In the end, students discovered the egg floated in the salt water and sunk in the tap water. This is caused by density, (substance is its mass per unit volume). The salt water had more density then the tap water.
 As the month went on, many of our new students have become more comfortable with what a "hypothesis" is and that science class is fun! For this experiment, Mr. John asked, "What will happen when we first put oil in water, then put salt in the water?" Cailin confidently said, "The salt will stay in the oil and not fall." Many other scientists hypothesized that , "The salt will float!" Through this experiment, students learned that the oil is lighter than the water. Once we place the salt in the solution it sinks to the bottom. It sinks because the salt added to the oil makes the solution heavier then water. Also, the salt at the bottom of the water is dry because the oil wraps around the salt protecting it from the water. This was a fun experiment!
Our final experiment of the month students we asked the questions, "What will happen if you mix oil and water in a bottle?" Many students hypothesized that the water would turn a different color. Riley said, "The Oil will float on top of colored water." And Kai stated, "The oil will float." We have some very seasoned scientists here! Many hypotheses were confirmed that the oil is less dense, or it weighs less than the water. That is why the oil floats to the top. What a great start to the year in Science class! We are looking forward to all of the fun experiments Mr. John has planned in October!
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We at Absorbent Minds have been very blessed in so many ways. We want to share our blessings and become a blessing to others. In this light, we have created The Smarter Heroes.
Smarter Heroes are ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things. Only through our willingness to do the "extra" do we become extraordinary. We are proud to see our children, parents and staff, have a willingness to do the "extra" in the spirit of serving others. The Smarter Heroes recognizes and celebrates that serving spirit, while providing children an opportunity to learn about our community and our world. The Smarter Heroes allows children to embark on various educational opportunities and service projects for our local and world-wide communities.
Support - A - Troop
Our first Smarter Heroes project of this year was Support-A-Troop, where our students wrote letters to our brave soldiers. We began with teaching our students about Freedom and what it means to be free. Next, our students each took time to share about themselves, what they like to do, how many siblings they have, how old they are, etc. and wished the soldier on the receiving end well and a safe return. 
Sponsored Child- Luis  Two years ago, Absorbent Minds "adopted" a child through World Vision. His name is Luis and he is from the Dominican Republic. Millions of children around the world need help to break the cycle of poverty. Hunger weakens them. Unsafe drinking water makes them sick. Missing out on education keeps them from reaching their potential.
In a partnership with World Vision we can provide Luis with sustainable access to appropriate life-changing basics like nutritious food, clean water, health care, and education. The biggest impact of child sponsorship is helping families and communities lift themselves out of poverty by providing job training and business education, along with guidance to help farmers learn new ways to irrigate and grow crops.
Each classroom will have the opportunity to communicate with Luis throughout the year. Every month one classroom will exchange pictures, letters, gifts, etc. This month Ms. Kate's class sent him a package which included the Friendship crafts her students constructed throughout the month of September including all of the materials he would need to finish each craft. We hope he enjoys working on these projects as much as our students did!
We would love for you and your family to get involved with us. Please let us know if you would like to participate in sending letters, pictures or gifts from home. We welcome your ideas of ways to be a blessing to Luis! |
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UPCOMING EVENTS All Campuses
Box Tops
Collection Deadline
Monday, October 28th
Halloween Party
Thursday, October 31st
Parent/Teacher Conferences
NO SCHOOL Monday, November 11th
All Day
Tallmadge Campus
Picture Day
Tuesday, October 29th
8:30-11am
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 Update: We were excited to receive this message from Melinda McIlroy, parent of Alumni student Sean McIlroy. Sean attended our school for two years in Mr. John's Class before attending elementary school at Woodridge City Schools.  " Earlier this month we got a letter from the Superintendent of Woodridge Schools, Walter Davis. This is the first paragraph:"Each month, the Woodridge Local School District Board of Education recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to excellence. This month, select Woodridge Primary School Students are being honored. I am writing to congratulate Sean on being nominated for recognition of his continued positive behavior and the example he sets for all the other students. This is indeed a noteworthy accomplishment and one of which he should be proud."So John and I went to the board meeting on Tuesday and Sean was one of 8 children from the primary school who were recognized. Each teacher stood with the student and explained why they nominated their student. Sean's teacher said Sean is her little ray of sunshine. He always comes in with a smile, works hard and is helpful to others. Yes, John and I both teared up because we couldn't be prouder. He also excels academically.This past summer, Sean was nominated by parents of his baseball team members to represent the team at the all-star game. His coach told me that no one tries harder than Sean and he would take ten of him!In his short 7 years, you all had 2 years of influence over him, so I hope you feel a sense of pride here, too! We couldn't be happier watching Sean grow and excel. Back in the days when he would be grumpy to Mr. John and hide in the corner, or refuse to participate on his t-ball team, we never could have imagined the things we are experiencing now." Just had to share!Melinda
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