Recognition: The two people make make the school run as smoothly as it does is the office staff. Kelly and Lisa prepare the field trips, prepare for our open houses, The Dance, Christmas Show, International Festival, and do billing (hehe). They do it all. The teachers get most of the fanfare but Kelly and Lisa need recognition as well. Koudos to the office staff!
Cultural Subjects: Your children can count to ten in 22 different languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, and Polish).
Line Time: We went back in time and learned about Ancient Egypt. We learned that the leaders or kings were called Pharaohs and when a king died they used a method to preserve them called mummification. The pharaohs that were mummified look nothing like you see at Halloween or on cartoons. The ancient Egyptians had a a written language called hieroglyphics which incorporated symbols such as cats, humans, and other daily objects. We also l;earned that the ancient Egyptians were responsible for building the Great Pyramids and The Sphinx which has the body of a lion and a head of a man.
Peek In Our Room:
I was giving lessons to two students at the same time. At times, more than one student is at the same place academically and I am able two give group lessons. Small group lesson give the opportunity for the students to help each other.The two girls are looking at the book that go with our thematic unit (this week was Ancient Egypt). Students get to explore the books and their curiosity is piqued prompting 5hem to ask questions and explore.hn I was going to break this little gathering until I over heard what they discussing… The Presidents of the United States of America. They were discussing JFK, Barrack Obama, George Washington, and Abe Lincoln.They boys are working on the Addition Strip Board. The Montessori addition strip board is one method used by students to assist them in their abstract memorization of addition facts up to 18. While the materials are somewhat abstract, the process is still concrete.
Next Up In The Classroom:
Line Time: Ancient Greece
Letter Of The Week: V v
Rhyming Word Of The Week: ben
Language Added: Polish
Coming Down The Pike:
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^^^^^ Art Museum Field Trip Thursday March 15, 2018 ^^^^^
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Parents of Kindergarten Students and Pre-K Students look for info regarding Parent Teacher Conferences
Kindergarten Lessons: This week we started our two week journey in the fascinating world of Geometry. We learned that there is just not one kind of triangle. Actually, there are many kinds of triangles but we focused on three (Equilateral, Isosceles, and Scalene). We then looked at Quadrilaterals which are any four sided shape (square, rectangle, rhombus, trapezoid, chevron). We moved on to polygons (pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon). Learning how to count in Greek really paid off during this session.
Cultural Subjects: We can now count to ten in 21 different languages (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, Polish, Serbo-Croation, Cebuano, and Malay).
Peek Into The Kindergarten Room:
Notice how two scalene triangles make an equilateral triangle, three isosceles make an equilateral triangle, and four small equilateral triangle make on bigger equilateral triangle. Your children have.
Peek Into Next Week (2/26/2018): Lesson– More Geometry Language– We will be adding Hindi Synonym of the week– wet Sight words of the week– write them
Cultural Subjects: Your children can count to ten in 20 different languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, and Welsh).
Line Time Lesson: Presidents Of The United States Of America (wasn’t that a 90’s band? Gunna eat a lot of peaches!) We first learned about George Washington and how he was our first president and was the General of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln came from a poor family, freed the slaves and was president during the Civil War. We were introduced to Franklin F. Roosevelt and how he was president during World War II and how John F. Kennedy fought for equal rights. We then learned that Donald Trump was current president. The children were taught that the president’s wives are called the first lady and that the president lives in the white house in Washington DC, and flies on a jet called Air Force 1. We discussed what responsibilities the President has. The children came up with keeping us safe, keeping the world safe, and running the country.
Peek In Our Classroom:
This boy is performing the operation of Dynamic Division (with borrowing) with the Stamp Game. This is a fairly long and involved process that takes a fair amount of time and patience. It seems he has a happy face while working on his equations.
There were two students that dropped some materials under the animal cages. At first they tried to get the pieces by using a broom handle and yard stick. That just pushed the pieces further back. Then they realized that the shelves were not solid but grated. They asked me to move a cage and she was able to easily reach the pieces. No adults were used in the thought process.The Kindergarten Students are given special more complex tasks such as greeting the children and entering the time of arrival on the attendance sheet.
These girls are working with one of my science bins (The Ocean). Here they are looking at the physical shells and finding them in the book.
In The Near Future:
Line Time For Week Of 2/19/2018: Ancient Egypt Letter Of The Week: U u Rhyming Word Of The Week: bet Language: Polish will be added
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****** Open House on February 24, 2018 from 9am to Noon ******
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NO SCHOOL 2/19/2018 (MONDAY)
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An email was sent for information for the second round of Parent Observations
Follow the link below to sign up to observe in my classroom.
Week Of 2/5/2018: The kindergarten students learned how to divide using manipulatives (Stamp Game). They learned static division (without borrowing) and dynamic division (with borrowing).
Purpose For The Stamp Game: The stamp game is a tool for learning and reinforcing knowledge of the four maths operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The stamp game directly corresponds to the golden bead material which gave the child exposure to the decimal system.
Week Of 2/12/2018: We broke away from the four operations and learned about fractions. The purpose of fractions are to help the child gain a sensorial impression of fraction, introduction to the concept and notation of fractions, sensorial exploration of equivalency among fraction. We divided things like circles, triangles, and rectangles. We divided the class into boys/girls, Mr. John’s Students/Ms. Kate’s Students, and Buckeye Fans/xicigan fans. No ficigan fans were found.
3/9 are boys. 6/9 are girls.
Cultural Subjects: We can now count to ten in 21 different languages (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, and Polish),
since we really focus on the language part of the education, so we try to teach as many languages as possible, and also give dialectical therapy for the kids that needed.
Peek Into the Next Few Weeks:
Week of 2/19/2018: Geometry– Geometric Cabinet and Construction Boxes Language– We will be adding Serbo-Croation Synonym of the week– Dry Sight words of the week– Would About
Week of 2/26/2018: More Shapes– Review of last week’s shapes and adding the Geometric Solids Language– We will be adding Cebuano Synonym of the week– Wet Sight words of the week– Write Them
Best friends, besties, BFF’s, call it what you will but the camaraderie in the Montessori Classroom runs deep.
Happy Birthday: The Primary Montessori Classroom is comprised of students ranging ages from 2 1/2 to 6 years. Here are my newest 5 year old student, 6 year old student, and our 29 year old teacher.
Healthy Teeth: We had a Dental Hygienist visit our room and she explained the importance of brushing and flossing. Also, the students played a game of healthy/unhealthy foods for your teeth.
Cultural Subjects: Your children can count to ten in 20 different languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, and Welsh).
Line Time Lesson: The class went green for the week learning about recycling, conserving energy, and pollution. I explained that pollution was anything that made our environment dirty. We learned there is littering. Littering can be people throwing trash on the side of the road or dropping a candy wrapper in the woods. We now know that we need to put trash in an appropriate container. We learned that air pollution is created by factories’ smokestacks and cars exhaust, because everyone love their clasiq cars now a days, some even get special protection for their windows as you can see in this website for more information, but cars are just one of the factors that produce air pollution, there are also other reasons. Water Pollution is caused by factories dumping chemicals in the water or people throwing trash in the water instead of putting it in a trash can. The 3 R’s were introduced and now we all know to reduce, reuse and recycle! We thought of ways to conserve energy. We came up with turning off lights in rooms we are not in or turning off the TV if we are not watching it. We thought of turning off the water while we are brushing our teeth or turning down the heat and wearing a sweater instead. During the kindergarten lesson a student realized the room was just as light with the lights off as it was if the lights were on. Now we do our kindergarten lesson without lights.
Peak In Our Room:
Kindergarten Students have deadlines of work that is assigned. These girls are feverishly working to get their work done before the deadline or face “The Wrath Of John” . Just a play on words for you Trekkies. For Non -Star Trek Fans it’s the movie named “Wrath Of Khan”.
This boy combined two weeks of lessons by putting together Elvis The Pelvis and placing internal organs where they are supposed to go. I did not teach him this and he came up with this himself. The Montessori classroom gives the child room to explore and create.
This student is receiving a lesson on The 9 Tray. He was in awe with how tall the thousand cubes stacked and this may have been an “ah ha” moment where he physically sees “how big/much” nine thousand is compared to nine units.
These two students are practicing writing cursive with the sand tray and writing on paper. The uninterrupted movements of the hand may make cursive letters easier for children to form, and for this reason, Absorbent Minds Montessori School introduces children to cursive writing first.
What’s Next:
Line Time For Week Of 2/12/2018: Presidents of the USA Letter Of The Week: T t Rhyming Word Of The Week: bed Language: Dutch/Flemish will be added
Mark your calendar
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~~~~ Daddy/Daughter, Mommy/Son Dance ~~ Saturday February 10, 2018, 2 pm to 4 pm ~~~~
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An email was sent for information for the second round of Parent Observations
Follow the link below to sign up to observe in my classroom.
Cultural Subjects: Your children can count to ten in 19 different languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, and Kiswahili).
Sister Love!
Line Time: This week we learned about Internal Organs. We learned the brain is the control center of your body that sends and receives. Our lungs help us breathe, the heart pumps our blood and the stomach begins to digest our food with acid. The small intestines digest the food and send nutrients to the rest of our body and the large intestines push through the waste that creates our bowel movements. The children were fascinated that our kidneys process the body’s water and the liver filters toxins, that’s why is important to take lots of water, even when you’re outside home, which you can do if you get a branding custom water bottle from https://customwater.com/. The children learned where the organs are located with the help of our Living Internal Organ T-shirt. The shirt helped the children find the organs location by velcroing the organs to the spot on the t-shirt.
Internal Organ T-shirt Work:
Peek In The Classroom:
“Movement, or physical activity, is thus an essential factor in intellectual growth, which depends upon the impressions received from outside. Through movement we come in contact with external reality, and it is through these contacts that we eventually acquire even abstract ideas.”– Maria Montessori…… In the classroom gross motor movements would include movement around the room (moving tables and chairs, walking), lifting and pouring, practical life activities like window washing or table scrubbing, walking the line. We try to go outside for recess as much as possible but we have the gym in the event of inclement weather.
These two students are working on the Bead Chain (7) and were excited to lay the chains out and do the work.They went into the hallway so they had more space for the long chains. (These chains help children learn linear counting, skip counting and multiplication.) These two girls worked together on the seven chain, and were very proud of themselves when they finished putting out the number tags and writing down each multiple of seven.
Next week we will be surprising them with a special party for all the good behavior during the last weeks. Everything is regarding the expanding of their creativity, so there will be walls just for them to paint, lots of materials to put new things together, huge puzzles on the floor and boardgames for them to try them out, also a couple of jumpers from Jumper’s Jungle Family Fun Center, as every kid loves to jump and have fun in one of this awesome entertainment systems. Also there will be food for the day, all green and colorful with fruits and vegetables to motivate them to eat correctly and healthy as well as having fun.
These students are working on my Continent Box (N. America) which includes flags and pictures of landmarks from countries from that continent. These students are matching the landmarks to the countries flag. They figured the matching by themselves.
I ring the bell to get the students attention. Usually the ringing of the bell is to ready for line time or a transition. When the bell rings the students “stop, look, and listen”. They catch a bubble to be quiet and use safe hands then I give directions. These students are using safe hands but hammed it up for the camera and were not able to catch a bubble while laughing.
What’s In Store For Next Week:
Line Time For Week Of 2/05/2018: Pollution/Recycling Letter Of The Week: S s Rhyming Word Of The Week: bup Language: Welsh will be added
Cultural Subjects: Your children can count to ten in 18 different languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, and Irish).
Happy Birthday: A Montessori Classroom has a mixed age groups of children ages 2.5 to 6 years old. Here is our newest 4 year old student, our newest 6 year old student, and our newest 3 1/2 year old student.
Saying Good Bye: It is always sad to say good year to a friend. It was this boy’s last day at Absorbent Minds Montessori School complete with a pizza party!
Line Time: This week we looked at the skeletal system and if we didn’t have a skeleton we would be one messy blob on the ground (insert a flagellant sound). We learned the skull protects our brain, the rib cage protects our lungs, and the spine keeps us sitting and standing straight. We learned technical terms for our arms, leg and our digits which is a funny name called phalanges. We brought our life sized foam puzzle into our room. His name is Elvis because we learned about the pelvis and it was a cool rhyming name.
Peek In My Room:
This student is working on the United States Puzzle Map. This material’s purpose is to identify the location and shape of the individual shapes of the states. The control chart will help in the naming of the states. This student has traced the states and is labeling the name on the traced states.
This Kindergarten Students is drawing and labeling our skeleton work “Elvis the Pelvis”. Doing this in her Kindergarten Binder reinforces this lesson of identifying parts of the Skeletal System.
In the Montessori Classroom some of my older students go through a right of passage by losing teeth and they are very proud of this life event. How much does a tooth go for now a days?
This child has completed doing the Nine Tray. The reason for this picture is how he is putting away the material. The child in a Montessori Classroom is taught to choose a work, work with the material correctly, complete the lesson, and put away the material where he found it.
Upcoming Events:
Line Time For Week Of 1/29/2018: Internal Organs Letter Of The Week: R r Rhyming Word Of The Week: but Language: Kiswahili will be added
##### Daddy/Daughter, Mommy/Son Dance — Saturday February 10, 2018, 2 pm to 4 pm #####
An email was sent for information for the second round of Parent Observations
Follow the link below to sign up to observe in my classroom.
Week Of 1/15/2018: Addition with the 9 Tray and Stamp Game (with manipulatives)
Week Of 1/22/2018: Learning how to exchange/carry over (with manipulatives)
Week Of 1/29/2018: Learning how to multiply with the 9 Tray and Stamp Game (with manipulatives)
We love Math!
Purpose For The 9 Tray: The Nine Tray is an important lesson in the sequence of the golden bead work. This presentation allows the child to concretely see the growth of numbers and the progression through the hierarchy from one level to the next. Children are ready for this work when they can identify numbers 1-9 and after they have been introduced to the golden beads and the language of place value: units, tens, hundreds and thousands.
Purpose For The Stamp Game: The stamp game is a tool for learning and reinforcing knowledge of the four maths operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The stamp game directly corresponds to the golden bead material which gave the child exposure to the decimal system.
Cultural Subjects: We can now count to ten in 21 different languages (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, and Dutch/Flemmish).
Peek Into the Next Few Weeks:
Week of 2/5/2018: Even More Math– Learning how to subtract with the 9 tray and Stamp Game (with manipulatives) Language– We will be adding Polish Synonym of the week– bad Sight words of the week– first, than
Week of 2/12/2018: Even More Math– Learning how to divide with the 9 tray and Stamp Game (with manipulatives) Language– We will be adding Serbo Croation Synonym of the week– good Sight words of the week– other, some
Cultural Subjects: Your children can count to ten in 17 different languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, and Hungarian).
Line Time: We started to learn about our body and how it works. We learned about our five senses (touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste). Did you know you can “feel” with any part of your body? Of course parents know that. Who has not stepped on a Lego in bare feet and screamed in pain? But we associate touch with our fingers (hot/cold, hard/soft, rough/smooth). We hear loud noises, quiet noises, high and low noises, “Are we there yet?”. We need light to see and if we close our eyes we can’t see. The lights being turned on at 5 am on a Saturday morning. There are good smells like cinnamon, vanilla and bad smells like a dirty diaper and vinegar. My favorite was the taste test where we tasted sweet (sugar water), salty (salt water), sour (pure lemon juice), and bitter (unsweetened baking chocolate). The children enjoyed “most” of the tastes. Hehe
The pictures in order from our line time taste test. Students not sure about the taste of sour (concentrated lemon juice). A mad dash to spit out the salt water. Really diggin the sugar water. And she can not get the bitter, unsweetened baking chocolate out of her mouth fast enough.
Take A Peek Into Our Room:
These students are having a fun time working with the Knobless Cylinders. The direct purpose is to observe and compare the different series with each other (there are for boxes). The indirect aim is getting a clearer understanding for the different dimensions (height and diameter) and their interplay. In this case they are creating different patterns from a template.The Montessori classroom is not your typical classroom and it is very unique as are the students in the room. As you can tell with the above picture (notice the tutu around the neck). Each child progresses at their own pace and this is not what we call a cookie cutter classroom and each child is treated as an individual.The Co-Teachers (Kathleen and Sabrina) do a lot! Every day classroom assistants in a Montessori classroom are integral support staff to insure that children have an authentic Montessori experience. An effective assistant supports the teacher, helps prepare and maintain the environment, observes behaviors, and models grace and courtesy. They also preserve and protect lessons, assist in the development of independence classroom, assist with lessons with the lead teacher to prepare and maintain an orderly, attractive, and joyful environment. They are another pair of observant, attentive eyes and ears. Classroom assistants are also crucial in modeling courteous and respectful behavior as well as contributing to the warm, supportive, and calm atmosphere that is the essence of a Montessori classroom.
Looking Into The Future:
Line Time For Week Of 1/22/2018: The Skeletal System Letter Of The Week: Q q Rhyming Word Of The Week: bub Language: Irish will be added
^^^^^ Daddy/Daughter, Mommy/Son Dance — Saturday February 10, 2018, 2 pm to 4 pm ^^^^^
An email was sent for information for the second round of Parent Observations
Follow the link below to sign up to observe in my classroom.
Girls Just Want To Have Fun– and so do boys… Sometimes we just get goofy in the classroom.
Cultural Subjects: Your children can count to ten in 15 different languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, and Korean).
Happy Birthday: A Montessori Classroom has students ranging from 2.5 to 6 years of age. Here are the newest 5 year old students.
Peeking Into The Classroom:
Doing Chores in the Montessori Classroom is a staple activity. Here you can see students emptying the trash, sweeping the floor, and wiping the table tops. Everyday a child is given a different task to do. Doing chores helps the child enhance focus and confidence, gives them a sense of accomplishment, gives them self-reliance and purpose, increases empathy by learning to be responsive to others’ needs, instills a work ethic, and improves a sense of belonging.
This student is working on equations with the Stamp Game. The Stamp Game is a tool for learning and reinforcing knowledge of the four maths operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It is just more abstract, yet concretely demonstrates the maths process to students that are ready for this material. This student is working on equations of multiplication, with multiple carry overs in all columns. For example 654 x 6.
This student is working on one of my Science Boxes (frogs and toads). She is reading a book on frogs and toads and has four pieces Jelly eggs, tadpole, froglet, and frog. She puts them in order to reinforce the life cycle of a frog/toad.
Here are two friends working on the sandpaper numbers. The aims of sandpaper numbers are to give the child a sensorial impression of the form of the symbol. To show the succession of numbers. To show base 10 Recognition of numerals 0-9 Preparation for writing numbers.
Upcoming Stuff:
Line Time Lesson: The 5 Senses
Letter Of The Week: P p
Rhyming Word Of The Week: bun
Reminders: Family Trees
Recess Attire
Chinese New Year
