This week in Aspen it was all about the Seasons! Aspen learned that there are four seasons Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring! We also learned that here in Ohio we are lucky to experience all four seasons! We then discussed the characteristics of each season and our Aspen students shared their observations and talked about their favorite seasons! During Line Time, we used our Painted Globe and a flashlight to demonstrate the reason we experience four seasons in Ohio. Therefore, the Aspen students were able to visually experience the concepts of seasons, day and night, and learned some new vocabulary words ( rotation, axis, tilt, and orbit). Aspen learned we live on a planet called Earth that orbits a star called the Sun. As our Earth rotates and orbits our sun, only part of our planet experiences day and night. The part facing the sun has daytime and the part facing away from the sun has nighttime. The Aspen students had so much fun creating day and night with the flashlight and Painted Globe! We then took our experiment to the next level and discussed how the Earth rotates on its axis and experiences a tilt. We can’t feel the Earth rotating and tilting but we can feel the results of the tilt of the Earth! When Earth’s axis or our part of the world is tilted towards the sun and is receiving lots of direct sunlight, we will experience summer! Lots of sun equals lots of heat! Then something special happens, the tilt shifts the axis a bit giving us less direct sunlight leading to cooler temperatures giving us Fall!! As we experience Fall we eventually tilt receiving even less direct sunlight. Which leads to a significant drop in temperature giving us cold weather with snow and ice! Then something special happens again, as our Earth continues its orbit, it’s rotation, and the tilting of it’s axis the Earth begins to tilt towards the sun giving us more direct sunlight melting the snow and ice while warming us! As a result, we experience Spring! Then the process repeats all over with Summer, Fall,Winter, and Spring! This Repeating process lead Aspen to also discuss patterns and repetition! Aspen also learned that different parts of the world experience different seasons at different times and some do not experience four seasons like Ohio!! This allowed for us to learn two more vocabulary words (Hemisphere and Equator)! It sure was a busy and scientific week in Aspen!

Next week the Aspen students will begin their Botany classification work with the Tree Puzzle! Students will learn how to identify and name each part of a tree. At the same time, they will also learn the function of each part! See you Monday!!

The Kindergarten students continued their work with phonics in Readers’ Workshop and began illustrating books in Writers’ Workshop! In Readers Workshop the Cardinals engaged in more word play manipulating sounds to create words, discussed new Sight Words ( he, she, me, we, I , see, look, you and a). They then practiced following directions completing in class follow -up work. The Chickadees continued their work with the identification of letter sounds and then engaged in multiple in class follow-up work activities. Chickadees then used their knowledge to identify sounds and name things beginning with the corresponding sound! They also practiced writing their name and date on their follow-up work.

Reason For Seasons – Science Experiment! Using our Painted Globe to visually experience the concepts of Day and Night and the Seasons!

Visual Discrimination of color with The Color Tablets! Matching colors for Sensorial fun!

Phonics fun with The Moveable Alphabet!

Handwriting practice!

This week in Aspen we began our calendar work during our morning group lesson (Line Time). We discussed what a calendar is, how we use it, and identified The Days Of The Week, the Months Of The Year, and learned how to find the date on a calendar! All week we practiced learning the names of The Days Of The Week and worked on the order in which they appear on the calendar. Aspen even learned a special Days Of The Week song to help them remember the order and names of The Days Of The Week! Ask your child about our special Days Of The Week song! During this process our kindergarten students were learning how to write the date on their work plans while utilizing the calendar in our classroom to find days, dates, and months. The Aspen students also continued to practice their Procedural Movement Lessons and have begun to acclimate and settle into classroom routines! Aspen has been doing a great job staying in line when walking in line to the classroom or outside for recess. We have been practicing staying behind the person in front of us!

The kindergarteners received their first kindergarten lessons this week and began learning some valuable time management skills! After each kindergarten lesson the kindergarteners will be given follow-up work pertaining to their lesson. Therefore, receiving a reinforcement and an independent exploration of the concepts within their lessons. This is a new concept for many of our kindergarteners and will take practice and time learning how to accomplish academic tasks while engaging socially within the classroom.

This week Aspen also began going to their Enrichments! Aspen students got to experience Music with Ms. Lisa, Art with Ms. Varela, Science with Mr. John, and Library with Ms. Lindsey! We had so much fun in each of these classes!!

The Kindergarteners also experienced their first Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop this week! Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon the kindergarteners will receive in depth lessons where they practice their reading and writing skills while independently applying the skills they learn. The kindergarteners are divided into two groups The Cardinals and The Chickadees to allow for more individualized instruction. This week in Readers’ Workshop The Cardinals engaged in “word play” by manipulating phonetic sounds to form words. As a group we created three and four letter words and began our discussions regarding the rules of reading! Therefore, the Cardinals learned that the key to reading involves being a good “Sound Detective” , learning phonogram rules (sh, ch, th, Vowel Teams, e at the end …etc), and identifying Sight Words. The Chickadees engaged in various Phonics activities (games) and played Bingo identifying their letter sounds! The Chickadees also learned the importance of being good “Sound Detectives ” and also discussed the rules of Reading. Both groups did an awesome job and are going to have so much fun in Readers’ Workshop this year!

The Cardinals and Chickadees also engaged in pre-writing and writing activities with Ms. Tonya in Writers’ Workshop! They discussed expectations, manipulated sounds they learned, and engaged in writing activities! Our kindergarteners will become Authors and will begin writing and “publishing” their own books this year! Ms. Tonya is looking forward to an amazing year with her Writers!!

Next week our topic is Seasons! We are going to learn the names of the four seasons, identify characteristics of each season, and will engage in a very special Seasons Experiment! See you next week!

Practical Life – learning how to use scissors and cut along lines! Sometimes messes are made, but the clean up can be fun! Using a dustpan to clean paper scraps that fall on the floor! We sure have some amazing helpers in the Aspen Room!

Kindergarten follow-up work! Learning the names and locations of our Continents!

More kindergarten follow-up work! Tracing then labeling the Horse puzzle!

Fun with the Sandpaper Numbers!!

Library fun with Ms. Lindsey!!

Reading our book selections after Library time with Ms. Lindsey before afternoon Dismissal!

Welcome back Aspen families! Our school year was off to a great start this week! We were all happy to return to the classroom and our school routines! The Aspen students had so much fun reuniting with old friends and making new friends! The classroom was bustling with excitement and the learning of Procedural Movement Lessons while also learning our classroom routines. Procedural Movement Lessons are the ” How To Lessons ” in a Montessori classroom. Therefore, we have been busy learning how to sit on the line during group lessons, how to raise our hand to share our thoughts and ideas during line time, how to unroll and roll a rug, how to carry a tray, how to care for our Montessori materials, how to stay in our chair while eating lunch, and how to convey our ideas, thoughts, and needs when interacting with our classmates. We also learned our Line Time song!! Ask your child to sing it to you!! It sure was a busy but fun week in Aspen!!

Next week, our group lesson topic will be the Days Of The Week and we will begin our calendar work during Line Time lesson. Our Enrichments will also begin next week! Aspen will begin their Music, Art, Science, and Library routine!! See you next week!!!

Practical Life lessons foster the concepts of order and sequence while channeling/utilizing the child ‘s energy to perform tasks that allow the child to focus and concentrate while learning independence.

A nice pair of freshly cleaned sunglasses!! Ready for Hollywood!!

Practical Life – Scrubbing/Washing seashells.

Some of us missed our favorite activity so much over the summer! We just couldn’t wait to work with it! Hard at work solving Addition equations with The Addition Charts!

Making new friends while working alongside each other during our classroom work period!

This week in the Aspen Room it was all about animals!! During group lesson, we engaged in research activities with various non-fiction books, learning all about baby animal names and animal groups. Did you know that some animals like to live alone (solitary) and others live in groups. Aspen further learned that animals that live in groups live together in groups for protection. By living together, they can protect each other from harsh weather conditions (penguins), defend themselves against predators (herd animals), take advantage of large numbers to stay safe, migrate together looking for food, and/or utilize living in groups to help raise their babies. We also learned that animals can live in a variety of climates and environments. As a follow-up work, we utilzed our land, water, nd air activity to explore the concept of animal habitats and the function of animal characteristics. Your Aspen child is now an animal expert! Ask them about what they learned this week!

In Kindergarten Workshop, the Kindergarteners continued their exploration with the Function Of Words Activities. Three of our Aspen, however, Kindergarteners spent a week exploring the Elementary class. During their visit, they learned Elementary routine, explored math and language concepts with Elementary activities, and made new friends! In Readers Workshop, both the Cardinals and Chickadees continued their Unit on Poetry by finishing their Onamatapeoia Poems and explored Hyperbole Poems! We learned that a Hyperbole is an exaggeration, like, ” I’m so tired I could sleep for days”! After reading some Hyperbole Poem examples, we brainstormed and created our own independent Hyperbole poem! In Writers Workshop the Cardinals and Chickadees….

Sensorial Extensions with yhe Pink Tower and Brown Stair!

Stamp Game fun with the Decimal System! Adding units, tens, hundreds, and thousands!

Vocabulary building with the Lotto activity!

More mathematical fun with the Addition Stripboard!

Our caterpillars getting ready to move into their next stage of development!

This week in the Aspen classroom it was all about the Life Cycle Of A Butterfly, pollination, and flowers! The Dayley family very generously gifted the Aspen classroom caterpillars! The Aspen children have been given the amazing opportunity to learn, observe, and experience the life cycle of butterflies up close. Currently, our butterflies are in the “larva stage,” better known as caterpillars! They are doing what caterpillars do best, which is EAT!!! Aspen learned that there are four stages in the life cycle of a butterfly. A butterfly starts out as an egg on a leaf; the egg will hatch and out comes the caterpillar. The caterpillar will eat the egg it hatched from and will then begin to eat leaves. Once the caterpillar has achieved enough nutrition and has reached maturity, it will move on to its next phase of development: the pupa stage. This is the stage where our caterpillars create a chrysalis and will eventually emerge from the chysalis as a butterfly! The Aspen children will be able to observe each of these stages of the butterfly life cycle. Currently, our butterflies are in the larva stage and are busy eating a special type of nutritional food provided in their container habitats. When they are ready to move into their next phase, they will hang upside down on the lid of the container in the shape of a J. This is an indicator that they will soon build their chysalis. We are keeping a close eye on our caterpillars and are waiting with excitement for this to happen! Once they are in their chrysalis, they will undergo a change! The Aspen students learned that this change is called a metamorphosis. Once the larva emerge from the pupa stage from within their chrysalis, they will now be in the adult stage of their life cycle as butterflies! The Aspen students plan on observing and tracking each stage with pictures and written observations! We will share our butterfly journey with you as well on our blog! A very special thank you to the Dayley family for gifting the Aspen class with such an amazing opportunity!

In Kindergarten Workshop, the Kindergarteners continued their Function Of Words lessons by learning all about adverbs! They learned that adverbs describe the verb and spent their week identifying adverbs and symbolizing sentences. In Readers Workshop and Writers Workshop, the Kindergarteners continued their thematic unit on poetry by reading poems and writing their own! We completed our acrostic poems and wrote our very own onamatapeoia poems! We ended up with some very creative, descriptive, and silly poems!

PARENTS: PLEASE HELP REMIND YOUR CHILD TO TAKE THEIR COATS/JACKETS/HOODIES HOME DAILY! WE HAVE QUITE THE COLLECTION ON THE RACK WHERE WE CHANGE OUR SHOES! IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY MISSING ANY, THEY COULD STILL BE HANGING ON OUR COAT RACK.

Working together to identify Phonograms!

The Function Of Words Activity; Symbolizing sentences identifying nouns, verbs, articles, and adjectives!

Happily showing off an accomplishment! Stacking the cubes of the Pink Tower.

Elementary students presenting their Measuring Time With Water experiment!

Some of our current classroom pets! We will keep posting pictures!!

Welcome back Aspen families! We are so happy to be back in the classroom following our daily routine while learning! We are so appreciative of all our parents for being so understanding and patient throughout this unique journey! Aspen is happily settling into their new classroom and appear to be adjusting to their new school environment! It was so nice to finally return to the classroom, play with friends we missed, and continue our learning! We really missed working with the activities and playing with our friends.

This week, group lessons have centered around acclimating to our new environment, reviewing classroom expectations, and picking up where we left off before our unexpected and extended break from classroom fun! This week we also began our more in-depth research on Asia and Australia, learning the names and locations of countries, exploring culture and ways of life on these continents, and discussing Asian and Australian Biomes while learning about animals living in these biomes. It was a very busy but happy week in Aspen!

In Kindergarten Workshop, the kindergarteners learned all about the Parts Of Speech and engaged in a few review lessons. In Readers Workshop, the Cardinals and Chickadees reviewed their thematic unit on poetry and wrote an All About Me Poem. Both groups then created their very own self portrait. While writing our poems we explored phonics, phonograms, and rhyming. We also discovered repetition of sounds when writing our sentences. In Writers Workshop the Cardinals and Chickadees explored the world of color and created and wrote our own a Color Poems

Exploring quantity with the Spindle Boxes!

Pouring Water! Learning how to control movements, focus, and complete tasks independently. Check out that smile!!!

Fun with Phonics!! Creating words with the Moveable Alphabet!

Practicing tricky letters in cursive with the dry erase board.

Lots of group activities during the work period this week. We really missed our friends!

See you next week!

This week in Aspen, we dove into the world of color again by exploring rainbows and the light spectrum! The Aspen children investigated why and how rainbows occur; we named the colors within the rainbow, discussed the light spectrum, and engaged in experiments involving bending and refracting light. Each day during group lessons, we took a look at the science of rainbows and the exploration of color. We discovered that rainbows occur when sunlight hits a water droplet. When this happens, some of the light is reflected and refracted creating a rainbow! As we researched this topic, we further discovered that light is made up of different wavelengths and each wavelength is reflected at different angles; therefore, the light spectrum is separated and the result is a rainbow! In order to illustrate this concept while gaining hands on experience, we engaged in an activity refracting light to create our own rainbows using a flashlight and a prism. Aspen also read Pink Is Not a Color and This Book Is Gray by Lindsay Ward. Lindsay Ward a local children’s author from Peninsula, Ohio. The book is hilarious, full of educational information, and encourages kindness and uniqueness. Aspen highly recommends this book, so check it out!!

This week we began or Asia and Oceania studies by having Noah’ s mom, Anum Ali, come in to teach us all about Pakistan. She brought amazing pictures depicting the culture and life in Pakistan, and she brought in many visual aides and items to share as she talked about her culture. Mrs. Ali taught us so much and answered our many, many questions! She even taught us some words! Ask your child about their amazing lesson on Pakistan! A very big thank you to Anum for all of her hardwork and preparation, sharing her knowledge with us, Buckeye, and Cherry Blossom! I also would like to personally thank all of the Aspen parents and children for selecting and submitting their countries for the festival. We have begun our in-class research projects because of this!

This week in Kindergarten lesson, the Kindergarteners began their in-depth lesson with the Function of Words activities, exploring consonants, vowels, and articles. In Readers Workshop, both groups practiced their copy writing skills, fluency, and handwriting with reading comprehension books/worksheets. They practiced finding information within a text while answering comprehension questions. We also practiced writing in complete sentences when answering comprehension questions. Both groups also took a quick look at rhyme, alliteration, hyperbole, and onamatapeoia to explore poetry condepts. In Writers Workshop, both groups practiced writing poetry as a group (picture below).

Matching Uppercase and Lowercase letters!

Learning how to find information in books. Practicing our research skills researching life in our Asian country!

Guiding and helping our friends during the work period! The combined age groups of a Montessori classroom provides opportunities for children to exercise independence while assuming leadership roles guiding younger peers.

Skip Counting with the Cube Chain!

Kindergarten Poetry Fun!!

This week in Aspen it was all about rhyming, word play, and having fun exploring the literary world with Dr. Seuss Week! As we dove into the literary world, we explored rhyming, alliteration, and vocabulary! Aspen learned that in order for a word to rhyme, they need to have the same ending sounds! After learning this, we all practiced rhyming words during our group lessons. The Aspen children quickly became rhyming experts! We discovered that sometimes rhyming words are not spelled the same but have the same ending sounds! For example, dance and pants follow this rule. At the same time, we also read various Dr. Seuss books, discovering that he is the true Rhyming Expert. We spent the week searching for rhyming words and alliteration; in the process, we made an interesting discovery! We realized that occasionally Dr. Seuss would create nonsense words! This prompted follow-up work with vocabulary and thinking of words that make sense (real words) and words that don’t (nonesense words)! Dr. Seuss also happens to be a Nonsense Word Expert!

A very special thank you to all of the Aspen families participating in Dr. Seuss Week! The outfits, creativity, and participation was amazing! We could not do what we do without you!

In Kindergarten Workshop, the kindergarteners explored Geometry! They looked at two-dimensional shapes with the Geometric Cabinet and three-dimensional shapes with the Geometric Solids. At the same time, the Kindergarteners discussed angles, vertices, and the geometric names of triangles. In Readers Workshop, the kindergarteners began their introduction into the world of poetry and began the process of becoming poets themselves! We took a look at poems that rhyme, reading Shel Silverstein’s “Where The Sidewalk Ends” and Dr. Seuss books. We discussed how poems are written in rows or lines and how there are different types of poems. The Kindergarten Reading groups also discussed alliteration, and we practiced this concept together. Finally, both groups discussed how to brainstorm: to think of ideas to create their own poems. The kindergarteners wrote word lists and then found their rhyming words so that they can create their very own rhyming poem! All of the kindergarteners had amazing ideas! In Writers Workshop, the Kindergarteners practiced their handwriting skills by “copy writing” information off a white-board, practicing for Elementary expectations!

It was another fun- filled, amazing week in Aspen! Have a great weekend! Next week our thematic topic will be Amphibians and Reptiles!

Here are some of our Crazy Socks from Crazy Sock Day!

Dr. Seuss Letter Rescue! Rescuing letters from the tangled web and matching them to lowercase and uppercase cards!

A group picture of our outfits representing our future goals of what we would like to be when we grow up.

Creating sentences with the Moveable Alphabet!

Pin pricking shamrock shapes!

Story time with good friends!!

Fun with the Sandpaper Numbers!

For the past couple of weeks Aspen has been exploring the Western Hemisphere! We started this adventure by traveling to South America! We learned the names and locations of countries in South America, explored culture, studied the geography of South America, became Amazon Rainforest experts, and listened to relaxing South American pan flute music during the work period. As we discussed South America, we explored the topography and different biomes found within the continent. We learned that South America has humid rainforests, tall mountains, and dry deserts. We further discovered that parts of South America are very close to the Equator and are very hot while others are cold and dry. Did you know that part of Antarctic belongs to Chile? As we explored culture, we learned that Carnival, a huge celebration, was happening the same week we were studying South America! The Aspen kids spent the week completing the South American puzzle maps, coloring the countries in South America, learning how to identify South American flags, and engaged in classification work with animals and life within the continent of South America.

This week the Aspen classroom learned all about Presidents Day and the presidents of the United States. We learned all about the work a president does, explored U.S. landmarks, and engaged in classification work with identifying Presidents and placing them in linear sequence according to their Presidential terms. As we were discussing the United States of America and Presidents, Aspen decided to investigate other countries within the continent of North America. We then engaged in classification work with the flags of North America, learned all about the topography of North America and its different biomes, and learned all about North American culture while learning the names and locations of its countries. Aspen sure had a busy two weeks exploring the Western Hemisphere.

In Kindergarten Workshop, the kindergarteners have been exploring Fractions and Math with Fractions. They experimented with putting different fractions together to make a whole and learned how to identify different fractions. In Reading Workshop, both groups have been reviewing lessons focusing on phonics, phonemic awareness and phonograms. At the same time, the have worked on Reading Comprehension skills, sounding out words and then writing them on paper, and practiced how to S.A.N.D our worksheets and papers with subject, name, and date. In Writers Workshop, the Kindergarteners finished up their books and then held Authors Share where they published their books and then read them aloud to their classmates! Each kindergartner has shown so much growth writing their books! They completed entire words and put their whole thought down on paper while using punctuation and capital letters at the beginning of each sentence!

Putting the Presidents in chronological order by their presidential term(s)!

Fun with phonics and the Snowman Phonetic Object Box!

Cleaning pennies with salt and vinegar!

Working together to complete the Alphabetical Order puzzle!

The past couple of weeks, Aspen has been learning all about the Arctic and Antarctic while exploring the concepts of adaptation, hibernation, and migration! We have made many interesting discoveries and learned some really amazing facts! Last week we explored the North and South Poles, focusing on their location, similarities and differences between the North and South Poles, and wildlife inhabiting these biomes. We discussed the Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems and learned how the animals living there have adapted to living in a harsh environment with temperatures below freezing. We learned all about blubber and the specialized feathers penguins have (they fit together keeping water out like a wetsuit, keeping the penguins skin dry). At the same time, we discovered an interesting fun fact: did you know that the polar bear’s skin is black and its fur is actually translucent? Their fur only appears white because it reflects the visible light. Your child is now an Arctic and Antarctic expert!

This week Aspen discussed the concepts of adaptation, hibernation, and migration. We discovered that animals are absolutely amazing and have developed interesting ways to survive the cold harsh winters. We took a look at what adaptations animals make, which animals hibernate, and how animals migrate and where they migrate to! We also took the opportunity to look at the different footprints animals leave. We can often observe these footprints in the snow this time of year! It has been a fun two weeks in the Aspen Room

The kindergarteners have focused on Multiplication (last week) and Subtraction (this week). They have learned the mathematical terms multiplicand, multiplier, and product (multiplication) and the terms minuend, subtrahend, and difference (subtraction). After learning the proper terminology, the kindergarteners practiced multiplying and subtracting with the Stamp Game! In Reader’s Workshop the Cardinals have focused on phonograms, received phonogram reading lists, and practiced their reading comprehension skills by reading short story paragraphs containing phonograms. They then answered questions on a worksheet for follow up work. The Chickadees received a new phonetic reader, practiced reading comprehension with high frequency words while engaging in follow-up activities relating to their phonetic readers. The Chickadees have also focused on the ending sounds in phonetic words. A good “Sound Detective” looks at each sound in a word! We practiced not getting tricked by words with similar sounds! In Writers Workshop, the Cardinals have focused on transition words for the beginning of a book, such as one day, one time, or everyday when writing their individual books. The Chickadees have focused on Word Wall words: went, and, the, and for. We also worked on stretching out their words (sounding them out, and completing the whole word). They also focused on writing a full sentences! Our Kindergarteners have worked so hard and have made amazing progress in both Readers and Writers Workshop!

Next week our thematic topic will be the Five Senses. We will explore how we use our senses through various follow-up activities and apply them during the classroom work period. Aspen will also discuss Groundhog Day while engaging in groundhog related fun!

Fun with the South America Puzzle Map.

Tracing Fun with our Puzzle Maps. These awesome ladies recreated our Continent Puzzle Map!

More continent tracing fun! They even added the Equator after this photo was taken.

Classification work with the Life Cycle of a Penguin!

Phonetic Object Box fun with CVC words!

Cylinder Block Extensions for Sensorial fun! All four blocks!!