“I like everything I get in the mail for free!”

I love coupons!  You do not understand I am obsessed with coupons for restaurants.   I so look forward to getting the Red Plum coupons every week just to see if there are any coupons to Steak and Shake.  Ya, ya I know the coupons for the meals knock off about 50 cents a meal but it is the thrill of handing the coupons to the cashier when paying for the meal. Although, the BOGO for the milkshakes are where you save the real money.  The McDonald’s and Burger King coupons are … OK, BUT the Arby’s coupons are GOLD!  So if you are about to discard you fast food coupons please send them my way.  My children and I will be so very thankful, I also suggest to get some vouchers to shop online, they era the best.  Enough about me…let me tell you about our classroom!

Classroom News:

In February we learned about George Washington and how he was our first president and how Abraham Lincoln came from a poor family and freed the slaves.  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.  Many coloring pages were used as well as coloring pages to help identify which president is on what coin.

         

3 part cards(language) and 100 board(math)           Scenes from my Snack Pack                                         

We went back in time and visited Ancient Egypt.  We know Egypt is located in Africa and the main civilization for Ancient Egypt was on the Nile River.  The pharaohs were the kings of Ancient Egypt and ruled their subjects.  We found that pharaohs has big egos and thought they were hot stuff because they wanted to be buried in big tombs.  So they ordered slaves to build the pyramids.  One pharaoh had the sphinx built with the body of a lion and his head.  Pharaohs wanted to be around forever and the Ancient Egyptians found a way to make the bodies last a long time after death and this was called mummification.

   

Knobless Cylinders(Sensorial)                        Pink Tower and Brown Stair Creation(Sensorial)

I Spy with my little eye(Language)

We traveled to Ancient Greece where we learned about the several gods and goddesses that live on Mount Olympus.  The king of all gods on Mt. Olympus was Zeus who was very powerful.  Zeus had a wife named Hera who was the goddess of marriage and the queen of Mt. Olympus.  Dare not sail the seas without pleasing Poseidon who was the king of the water.  Although, Aphrodite was the goddess of love but also protected sailors.   The goddess of wisdom was Athena.  You better behave or you will meet Hades the ruler of the underworld and his really mean pet Cerberus who is a dog with three heads.

    

Vowel Tree (Language)                                     More Pink Tower and Brown Stairs (Sensorial)

The month started off by going back in time and studying the Ancient Romans.  The Ancient Romans had similar Gods as the Ancient Greeks.  The king of all Gods in Rome was Jupiter and his wife Juno who was the Goddess of Marriage and childbirth.  Pluto was the God of the Underworld, Neptune was the God of the Seas, and finally we came across the God of War, Mars.  Did you notice that a lot of these Gods had planets named after them?

   

Knobless Cylinder Creation (Sensorial)         Cards and Counters (Math) 

Cultural Subjects:

My line time and the kindergarten class count to ten in 28 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, Farsi and Turkish!

  

Color Bead Bars (Math)                                    Reading is FUN!

Polygons (geometry)

Academic Enrichment:

The Kindergarten students started the month by dabbling in multiplication.  I explained to them that multiplication was JUST adding multiple(many) times.  For example how many TIMES do we add 3 in the equation 3X4?  Simple, right?  Of course it is!

We then took a look at fractions.  Fractions are simply dividing things into equal parts being 2, 3, 4, 5 parts and up to 12, 100, 1 million parts.  Not only did we divide squares, circle, triangles into fractions but broke down how many boys/girls, who was in John’s, Kate’s, Kristen’s room, eye color, age, and who was a Buckeye fan (100% by the way).

We ended the month with a dose of geometry.  We learned that a triangle has 3 sides and 3 points.  A quadrilateral has 4 sides and 4 points.  Learning to count to ten in Greek came in handy when dealing with polygons ie… penta is 5 and a pentagon has five sides.  I threw in the right angle and what parallel means.

    Kindergartners doing the Stamp Game (Math)

Cultural Subjects:

My line time and the kindergarten class count to ten in 28 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, Farsi and Turkish!

Field Placement Students:

Our field student from University of Akron Mr. John  in action.

  Mr. John from University of Akron (Field Student)

Handwriting Enrichment
-with Ms. Kristen

In handwriting this month, we finished up the cursive alphabet and moved on to writing vowel blends such as “th”, “sh”,”ch”, “00”, etc. The children are also answered journal questions such as ” When is your birthday?” and” If you could go on vacation, where would you go and with whom?” Something to work on and practice with your Kindergarten student this month would be spelling words phonetically. I’m so proud all the Kindergartner’s progress this month! They are becoming amazing writers! 

Reading Group | Kindergarten
-with Ms. Kate

For the month of February our reading group focused on poetry. Together we read Knoxville, Tennessee, Picture Books In Winter, and April Rain Song. Each one of these poems were about a different season that the author truly loves. With each of these readings, the children were able to draw their favorite season and explain to their friends the reason they picked that season. They also had fun creating a drawings of their favorite book and what they like most about the rain. During our time together we go over different vocabulary that they see in their readings and discuss what those terms mean. Together as a class the children created a poem about summer in their city. I hope you enjoy this fantastic poem they created together.

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
I always like summer best
You can eat corn on the cob
Hot dogs on the grill
Sweet watermelon
And Ice cream

You can go to
The beach
To the pool
Baseball games
To the park
And take vacations, including camping and even hunting using cool night hunting lights with your parents!!
You can see
Butterflies
Green leaves on the tree
Birds
People playing outside
Lightning bugs at night.

Science Enrichment
-by Ms. Kathleen

This past month all 3 Science experiments were about Buoyancy; a force in a liquid pushing against an object in a liquid.

Floating and Sinking Oranges:  Mr. John peeled one orange and left the other peeled (boy did the room smell good!) the children placed in a tank of water. When dropped in the water, the orange with the peel on floated and the orange without the peel sank. This is because of air trapped by the peel making the orange float. The peeled orange has no air so it sinks.

Using oranges to explain buoyancy 

Play Dough Shapes A Bowl and a Sphere: The children dropped 1 piece of play dough shaped as a sphere in water and one shaped like bowl in water. The sphere shaped dough sank while the bowl shaped dough floated. This is because sphere shaped dough is dense and cannot push enough water out to stay floating. The dough shaped like a bowl is able to push out water equal it’s weight and therefore, floats.

Using two cans of “POP” to explain buoyancy

Art Enrichment
-by Ms. Ame

February has flown by so fast! We started the month with painting our personally created clay creatures from January. The students used a variety of colors and spent almost the whole hour carefully decorating them. Once they dried on the drying rack, the students were able to take them home!

If you haven’t grabbed your child’s little creature, please do and take them home! Then Miss Michele began our next unit, weaving! She has started the students off with paper weaving. The students learned the pattern of over-under-over-under of weaving with large strips of paper. They will continue with weaving projects as we head into March. Keep checking the art carts to take home your students creations both from art and line time lessons! We are constantly creating all sorts of art projects each week!

Music Enrichment
-by Ms. Sabrina

A synthesizer was talked about.  It is a piano that can sound like a trumpet as well as other instruments.  It was used to play the game Cat and Mouse. It is a game to hone listening skills. Listening for the highest to lowest sounds.  The children had so much fun.  A song about being diligent was played. The children were taught to try and try and try again.  A train whistle was used, so was a triangle as well as maracas.  A dancing they went.

A new song about telling the truth was sung.  Sign Language was used and so were foot movements. The children also learned about echo’s via music.  The musical instrument used was the maraca. What fun the children had making echos. Performing with scarves were thoroughly enjoyed as well. Let the Sun Shine In was the song they danced to.

What I will learn this month in Mr. John’s Class…

 Themes of the Week | Classroom group lesson time: (in addition to Montessori Work time)

 2/27: Ancient Rome

• Roman culture and traditions
• Buildings and contributions

3/06: Pollution and Recycling

• What is pollution? Air, water, noise, littering
• What is recycling? Ways to recycle
• Ways to save energy
• Arbor Day/Earth Day

3/13: Oceans

• Ocean Life, Whales
• Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
• Salt water, fresh water
• Saturday, March 18th: Mother/Son, Father/Daughter Dance 2-4

3/20: Landmarks of the USA/The state of OH-IO

• OHIO, surrounding state, state flag, flower, bird, state seal, historical landmarks
• Landmarks such as Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, Golden Gate Bridge, and Grand Canyon

  3/27:        SPRING BREAK

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

2/27: Vv

3/06: Ww

3/13: Xx

3/20: Yy

Rhyming Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

2/27: ben, den, hen, men, pen, ten, yen

3/06: beg, keg, meg, peg, leg

3/13: bell, gel, mel, nel, sell, well

3/20: back, hack, jack, lack, mack, knack, pack

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

• Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
• Play “I Spy” with items beginning with the letter of the week, or find things around your home that begin with the letter of the week.
• What can you recycle at home? How can you conserve excess energy?
• Take a trip to the Cleveland Aquarium together and explore ocean life!

What I will learn at school this month in Mr. John’s Class in February…

Themes of the Week | Classroom group lesson time (in addition to Montessori Work time)

1/30: Internal Organs

• Brain, Heart, Lungs
• Large and Small Intestines
• Stomach
• Kidneys and Liver

2/06: Presidents of the United States

• George Washington
• Abe Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt
• John F Kennedy, Barack Obama
• Valentine’s day party, Friday, February 10th

2/13: Ancient Egypt

• Egyptian culture and traditions
• Buildings and contributions

2/20: Ancient Greek

• Monday, February 20th, President’s day – No School
• Greek culture and traditions
• Buildings and contributions

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

1/30: Rr
2/06: Ss
2/13: Tt
2/20: Uu

Rhyming Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

1/30: BUT, cut, gut, hut, nut, jut
2/06: BUP, cup, pup
2/13: BED, fed, led, med, ned, red, net, ted
2/20: BET, get, jet, let, met, net, set

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

• Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
• Play “I Spy” with items beginning with the letter of the week, or find things around your home that begin with the letter of the week.
• Look at a United States map. See if your child can guess which state the presidents we learned about came from.
• Go to your local library and explore books about the different ancient cultures and read them together.

It is the most wonderful time of the year… but I am not referring to the holiday season.  I am referring to the Holiday College Football Bowl Season.  The weeks preceding New Years Day you can find a College Football Bowl Game every day.  No matter how small the university or how ridiculous the sponsor for the bowl game, I find pleasure in watching College Football.  The College Football Bowl season is rivaled only with March Madness (My March blog may tout this is the most exciting sports season). If I’m the one playing a sport though, I use the best basketball shoes for wide feet, otherwise I start to feel pain rather quickly and have to take a break. So, as the Winter Solstice comes as well as over break, Mr. John was fully stocked up on Cheetos and root beer, and snacked on the Christmas cookies I received from families and watched a years worth of College Football in the time span of two weeks.  I wanted to thank all the families for bringing your children to Absorbent Minds Montessori School and for all of the generous gifts that I received.

As always O-H…

  

All smiles                                                             Reading to each other

A typical day in Mr. John’s class…napping (he, he…just kidding) This was our PJ and Movie Day!                                                   

Line Time

We spent the majority of the time practicing for our Christmas program.  Our little carolers performed nicely.  My big carolers did a fantastic job getting our students ready for the show!

  

My Breakfast Club running amuck                 Card Sharks

We did have an alumnus, Avery who is in Kindergarten, read Madeline’s Christmas.

Cultural Subjects

We can now count to ten in 20 languages.  We can count in English, Latin, Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic (with the Lebanese dialect), Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, and Kiswahili, Welsh.

  

Just Cuteness                                                     Friends

Academic Enrichment | Kindergarten
with Mr. John

This abbreviated month found us learning a little bit about creepy crawly things.  Namely Insects and Arachnids.  We learned insects have 6 legs, an abdomen, a thorax, and a head in addition to two antennae.  They are also invertebrates. Arachnids are also invertebrates but have a head and a cephalothorax.

We ended the year by learning how to measure things with a ruler.  We learned how to measure in inches and in centimeters.  The students had homework measuring things around the house.  I was told this was a fun assignment.

Cultural Subjects
We can now count to ten in 21 languages(We can count to ten in 19 different languages.  We can count in English, Latin, Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic (with the Lebanese dialect), Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish.

Handwriting Enrichment | Kindergarten
with Ms. Kristen

During the month of December, we began to work on cursive letter formation beginning with form drawing, which is a pre-cursor to cursive handwriting. We then focused on letter A-I and practiced writing simple words beginning with each letter. The Kindergarten students have also practicing answering questions in the form of a complete sentence, such as “ What is your favorite color?” and “ What do you want for Christmas?”. The children are doing so well with this and their handwriting is improving daily!

Reading Group | Kindergarten
with Ms. Kate

For the month of December our friends learned all about Fantasy. We read poems by Sylvia Plath, Edward Lear, and Lewis Carroll. With each of these readings the children were able to create an art activity, do a dramatization of the reading, and also discuss their Junior great book questions they did with their parents. One of the readings we did was called The Bed book. As a class we brainstormed different types of beds they would like to have. I love that the children had to really use their imagination and talk to their classmates about what they were thinking. We then created our own Right Sort Of Bed poem! When children work on these creative writing projects, the activity provides a framework of lines and verbal cues to help children generate and organize their ideas. The children really enjoyed reading these poems.

Science Enrichment
by Ms. Kathleen

We love Science here at AMMS! One of the favorite experiments we would like to highlight this month was Gluep/ Homemade Slime! Yes, as I’m sure you can imagine…it was a big hit!

This made by using Borax, White Elmer’s Glue (It has to be Elmer’s Brand) ,Water Food coloring.

The children watched Mr. John add the Tablespoon of glue to one cup of water then mix, then food coloring. then he added 1 teaspoon of borax with 3 more cups of water, he stirred until dissolved.Then when finished was a soft lump.

By combining Glue, Borax and Water a newly created Polymer will have characteristics of a Solid and a Liquid. A chemical reaction begins when Glue and Borax and Water are mixed to make a highly flexible Polymer. A Polymer is both a liquid and a solid.

The Children all (except a few because it is slimy to the touch) loved this experiment and were so happy to bring their own little bit home in plastic bags all provided by Mr. John.

Music Enrichment
by Ms. Sabrina

This was a very busy month for our music class. The children learned many new songs and signs for the Christmas Show which they practiced during music class. Along with those songs and movements, they also learned Jinggle Bells freeze dance and Jingle Bell Rock. Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer with motions was so much fun!! Castanets were used (we love using instruments!). The children learned a lot about self control. Feliz Navidad was a song they sung, and they galloped to Deck The Halls!! Away In Manger was also heard, and it was beautiful. All the children did a wonderful job performing in the show! All of us also had such fun!!

Art Enrichment
by Ms. Ame

This month in December Miss Michele mixed it up combining art and physical movement! Miss Michele introduced some new pieces of art to the class, that all had one thing in common; they were pictures of people in different positions. The students then each took a turn being a model for the class. Each student took their turn on the stool in the center of the circle. Then they got to pick a prop and make a pose with their prop. There were globes, scarves, and other classroom objects they could pick from. Once they found their prop and pose, the students had about 1 minute per student to quickly draw their friend in the center. It was a good lesson that taught the students about drawing different parts of the body in different positions. It also helped them learn to look quickly for details when they are drawing something they are looking at. This lesson helped prepare them for the next weeks lesson where each student brought in a toy or object from home. Each student brought in their own object from home and put the objects in the center of the circle. Then the students drew the objects that they saw and had so much fun! Thanks for everyone for bringing in such wonderful objects! Thanks to Miss Michele for another wonderful year and we can’t wait to see what comes next!

January 2017

What I will learn at school this month in Mr. John’s Class…

 Themes of the Week  (in addition to Montessori Work time)

1/04:     Review of Ground Rules

• Ringing of the bell, circle walk, line time
• Process of working with a materials, rolling mats, carrying trays & work areas
• Respecting teachers, classmates and the materials
• Grace and Courtesy lessons

1/09: Martin Luther King Jr./ Similarities and Differences

• History of MLK, Rosa Parks.
• Our similarities and differences (eyes, hair, gender and skin color)
• MLK/ Rosa Parks skit
• No School: Friday 1/13-Teacher In Service Day

1/16: Five Senses

• Monday 1/16- NO SCHOOL (MLK Day)
• Introduction to the Senses
• Focus on each Sense throughout the week
• Activities and experiments to support our knowledge of the senses

1/23: Skeletal System

• Arms, Hands and Fingers
• Ribs, Pelvis
• Legs, Feet and Toes

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

1/04: Nn

1/09: Oo

1/16: Pp

1/23: Qq

Rhyming Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

1/04: BOB, fob, gob, job, lob, mob, rob

1/11: BUG, dug, hug, jug, mug, tug

1/18: BUN, fun, nun, run, sun

1/25: BUB, cub, hub, pub, rub, sub

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

• Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
• Play “I Spy” with items beginning with the letter of the week, or find things around your home that begin with the letter of the week.
• Talk about what makes you the same and different from your child. Do you have the same hair and eye color? If not, where did they get their eye color from?
• Take turns trying to write your name on a piece of paper blindfolded. Wow! We appreciate the sense of sight!
• Quiz your child about the different bones of the body, see if they can point to where their Femur is or tell you what their Phalanges are.

The Mortar Between The Brick:

It seems that the assistants of the classroom rarely get the attention or accolades they really deserve.  We all know or should know that a classroom can NOT function without the support of the assistant teacher.  Their role goes beyond the title of assistant.  At Absorbent Minds Montessori School they are referred as Co-Teachers and rightly so.   They are an integral part of your child’s academic, social, and emotional development and without them I would not be able to present lessons and have a controlled, normalized classroom as I do now.  Sabrina, Kathleen, and I work as a well oiled machine.  It is almost like we all know what we are thinking throughout the day.  Each one of us have different responsibilities geared towards our strengths so we can maximize the production of the classroom (that last comment was my business background coming to the surface).  Without the assistant/co teacher the classroom would not function as it does now. Kudos to the Assistant. I thank the Co-Teachers for their dedication.  I am blessed to have two great teachers in my classroom.

ITC Publications develops a range of user friendly resources to support teachers and schools in their desire to promote effective teaching and learning. You will find Australian starter diary to help to keep you organised with day-to-day teaching and administration tasks while making lesson planning enjoyable and the teaching of higher-order thinking a breeze.

Classroom Line Time:

The class went back in time and studied dinosaurs.  We learned the names of 5 dinos  (T-Rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Pterodactyl, and Brachiosaurus) and if they were meat eaters (carnivores) or plant eaters (herbivores).  We learned when they lived and I introduced the phrases “extinct” and “fossils” what they meant.  We read “Dad is a Dinosaur”, and Dinosaurs go to School”

(Cultural Subjects: Plant and Animal Puzzles)                                                                                                                                                                                                  (Math:  The 9 Tray)          

We then learned about Pilgrims and Thanksgiving.  Our craft was making feathers and putting what we are thankful for.  The feathers were put on turkeys that we placed on the bulletin board.  Hand print turkeys and pilgrim hats were also made for the holiday.

(Sensorial: Puzzles)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  (Sensorial: Sorting)   

The third week in November, which was a short week, we discussed Buckeye Football.  It was appropriate since “THE GAME” was that Saturday.  If you child hears someone shout O-H they will give a resounding response of I-O!  They know Hang On Sloopy is the official rock and roll song of Ohio and will yell O-H-I-O and do the hand gestures as they sing the song.  Some of your children may refer to Xichigan as that state up north.  We watched several Ohio State Buckeye video highlights and the children especially loved “Script Ohio” and  TBDBITL    The score….30-27  Go Buckeyes!!!

(My Breakfast Club taking over Ms. Kelly’s desk)                                                                                                                                                                                             (Cultural Subjects: Amphibian Bin)

Classroom Cultural Subjects:

We can count to ten in 18 different languages.  We can count in English, Latin, Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic (with the Lebanese dialect), Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, and Irish.

(Math:  The 9 Tray)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       (Math: Addition Board)             

Academic Enrichment Group Time | Kindergarten
with Mr. John

We started out our month by introducing your children to high finance. We started out identifying coins (all different variations) of the penny, nickle, dime, and quarter. We looked at half dollars and dollar coins. We also went over the value of each coin. We then looked at the different “paper” bills.

We then changed our course to looking at what makes a living thing… a living thing. Living things reproduce, take in nourishment (eat), exchange gases (breath), grow, and move. We looked at different animals and the characteristics of animals. Mammals are vertebrates, warm blooded, have hair or fur, born alive, and drink mothers milk. Reptiles are vertebrates, cold blooded, dry scaly skin, born out of hard shell eggs. Amphibians are vertebrates, cold blooded, soft moist skin, born from jelly eggs. Birds are vertebrates, warm blooded, have feathers, born from hard shell eggs. Fish are vertebrates, cold blooded, have scales, born alive or from jelly eggs.

Cultural Subjects:
We can count to ten in 19 different languages.  We can count in English, Latin, Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic (with the Lebanese dialect), Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, and Kiswahili.

Reading Group | Kindergarten
with Ms. Kate

What I truly love about our reading club program is that with this particular curriculum it really helps the children get a better understanding of asking questions and sharing answers about the meaning of a story or poem. Throughout these past few weeks the children enjoyed reading The Tale Of Two Bad Mice, Bouki Cuts Wood, Night Into Dawn, and Fantasy. With each of these readings the children will read the selection several times and will work with it through a variety of drawing, writing, and oral activities. The children absolutely love to act out certain scenes in each of the selections. Dramatizations can make it easier for students to take in details and get plots straight. But they also help students interpret a story, as they think about what a character is thinking feeling. So the next time your child brings home their Junior Book Club reading book, Pick a story out and act it out together!!

Science Enrichment
by Ms. Kathleen

This month students learned about cylinder Strength. For example,  what happens when we try to balance books on paper wrapped into a cylinder? The children all placed a book on top a papers rolled up length wise to form a cylinder. They all watched as the paper cylinder supported all the books! The strength of the geometrical shape known as the cylinder is one of the most structurally sound and strongest shapes. Once the paper was made into a cylinder with the help of rubber bands the tube now supported the weight of each book the children placed on top.

Students also loved the “Frightened Pepper” experiment.  When Mr. John places pepper in a bowl for each child. He asked our scientists, what will happen when the children place a Q-tip with dish soap on it then placed a drop of soap on top of the water. The children all watched their own bowls as the pepper moved to the sides of the bowl. Why is this? It is because the dish soap lowers the surface tension. The water surface is strong enough to hold up light-weight objects such as pepper. Dish soap mixes with the water molecules and lowers the surface tension, when dish soap is placed near the pepper, the surrounding water has a high surface tension and exerts a force that pulls the pepper away from the dish soap.

(Science: Cylinder Strength)                                                                                                                                                              (Science: Learning the behaviors                                                                                                                                                            of Polymers) 

(Go Buckeyes!!!!!  Secret Message on PTFE)                                                                                                                             (Science:  Children acting like frightened                                                                                                                                                                    pepper)           

Music Enrichment
by Ms. Sabrina

The children learned so much in Music class this month. As a bonus they also had an awesome time (and the teachers do too)! The children used their high voices and their low voices. Ms. Lisa’s songs teach us lessons. For example, they learned about having choices and whether to have a bad attitude or a good attitude.

Students also worked with the bells and tambourines, switching back and forth.  They love using instruments in Music class. The children learned about sharing from one of Ms. Lisa’s songs and by passing and rolling a ball back and forth. A listening game was also played, using egg shakers. They listened for directions to stop, go, jump, spin, tip toe etc. Dancing included! A song about emotions was also learned. Emotions are just feelings, neither good nor bad. Tambourines were used, and our emotions were talked about. An echo game was also played, where voices bounced back and forth and we also had fun with our egg shakers again. Ms. Lisa also planned a dance where cooperation was required was executed well by the children. What another great lesson taught through music! They rocked it! The children also began to practice their Christmas songs this month, in preparation for the Christmas Show.  Our students learn so much through music and movement and Ms. Lisa’s lessons!

Art Enrichment
By Ms. Ame

The first week of our November Art class, Miss Michele brought the playground inside the classroom. The students used different shapes of paper to create their own three-dimensional art. The students created slides, swings, tunnels and other imaginative playground creations. These creations were very impressive!

Next, Ms. Michele had students use both oil pastels and watercolors to create an underwater scene. The students first created their scene by drawing underwater plants and different sea creatures using the oil pastels. After they had completed their creatures, they used blue tinted watercolors to create the underwater effect. The oil pastels “resist” against the watercolors so that they keep their original colors and only the white part of the paper turned blue. It was a surprise for some students and a great lesson to teach the art of resist!

Students also created self-portraits in Art this month. This can be very tricky, but Ms. Michele guided the students in drawing the shape of their face. She provided each child with a mirror so they were able to look directly at their own face to draw the shape and colors of their faces, encouraging them to notice every detail! Ms. Michele also talked about the proportions of their faces, such as how the distance from the top of their head to their eyes is equal to the distance from their eyes to their chin. This made it easier for the children to place their eyes, nose and lips in the correct place in their portrait.
The students enjoyed these art projects this month. Ms. Michele’s art projects are one of a kind. Keep an eye on your student’s folder for these special creations as they are sent home!

December 2016

What I will learn at school this month in Mr. John’s Class…

 Themes of the Week  (in addition to Montessori Work time)

11/28—12/16  Christmas Show Practice

• We will be taking time during our morning and afternoon line times to practice for our Christmas Show!
• We have fun Christmas themed crafts and activities planned for our students!

Christmas Show Rehearsal (not a dress rehearsal)

December 14th | 6:00pm

Cuyahoga Falls High School

431 Stow Ave. Cuyahoga Falls, OH  44221

Christmas Show

December 16th | 6:30pm

Cuyahoga Falls High School

431 Stow Ave. Cuyahoga Falls, OH  44221

 12/22—1/03       Christmas Break—School Resumes Wednesday January 4th

Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:

• Help prepare your child by talking with them about being on stage, how excited you will be to see them, and what to expect. Invite your family and friends, there will be plenty of seats!  You won’t want to miss this event, see you there!