We spent the past two weeks learning all about trees and leaves! Trees are such a fantastic part of the fall season, with their beautiful colors and falling leaves. We discussed the life cycle of a tree, learned that trees are a type of plant, and labeled the parts of a tree. We dove into a leaf study afterwards, learning about photosynthesis and chlorophyll, why leaves change color during the autumn season, and how important those fallen leaves are to animals and insects during the winter months.
We also enjoyed a nature walk on a warm, sunny, fall day! We looked for signs of the autumn season, and Kindergarteners completed a tree study. We brought leaves into the classroom and looked at their parts, drew them, and measured them with rulers.
This preschooler is working with our Tree Puzzle. She was introduced to the vocabulary of the parts of a tree while placing the pieces of the puzzle onto the control card. This preschooler is making a Parts of a Leaf booklet. She is practicing coloring each part of the leaf, labeling that part, and explaining to a teacher what each part of the leaf does. This Kindergartener is being introduced to the different parts of the leaf, and what they do, using the Leaf Puzzle and label cards. Just another way to practice our learning!This Kindergartener has traced and labeled our Tree Puzzle. He has also added some sunshine and rain to his drawing to give some more information about photosynthesis!We collected leaves outside, observed them, and then drew a detailed drawing of them. Check out this Kindergartener adding the veins of the leaf to her drawing! It’s time for a Nature Walk! Ms. Kelly is explaining what may have happened to this tree for it to look this way. We also spied some tree rings which we know gives us information about how old the tree may be! Kindergarteners each chose a tree to study. Here they are observing their tree. This Kindergartener found an inch worm on her Tree Observation Book!Preschoolers went on a scavenger hunt with Ms. Kelly, looking for colors, shapes and textures!There was a page for a bark rubbing in the Tree Observation Books!A truly beautiful day for a picnic!
What a beautiful September we have had in the Cherry Blossom class! We have enjoyed warm, sunny days outside and so many fun activities in the classroom. Our Monarch butterflies hatched from their chrysalis and we set them free as they begin their long migration to Mexico. Blossoms have learned about Living and Non-Living things this month, as well as their 5 senses. They have used those 5 senses as they explored apples and pumpkins, ending the week with an amazing trip to Ramseyer Farm! And we wrapped up the month by welcoming the season of Fall, and learning about the four seasons.
Practical Life/Sensorial
We were able to use all of our 5 senses within the classroom this month, especially in the Sensorial area! We used our sense of sight for sorting and building from biggest to smallest. We used our sense of hearing with our sound cylinders. We used our sense of smell with our smelling jars. We used our sense of touch with our thermic tablets, rough and smooth boards, and fabric box. And we tasted tested sour, salty, sweet, red apples, green apples, and apple cider!
Math
Our Math lessons range from one to one correspondence as the children count quantity, to counting by 10s with our Tens Board, to filling in Ten Frames, and Kindergarteners are working with the Addition Strip Board and recording the sums of their equations.
Language
Our sweet Blossoms are working hard in the Language area as well. Our youngest children are working in the Pre-Language area as they practice What Does Not Belong or Opposites. Older preschoolers are working with Sound Pouches as they are introduced to letters and the sounds they make. Kindergarteners are isolating ending sounds in words or even working on blends in words!
Handwriting
There are so many different ways we practice our handwriting skills throughout the day! Chalkboards, dry erase boards, sand trays, and paper and pencil!
Cultural
You’ll see hints of our whole group Cultural lessons sprinkled throughout our classroom. Whether the children are working on Parts of a Pumpkin books, or Four Seasons art, or Parts of an Apple books, or even a pumpkin patch and an apple orchard in a child’s sketchbook!
What are the Kindergarteners up to?
My favorite part of a mixed age classroom is observing students teach lessons to other students. Our Kindergarteners practiced math skills with some preschool students this month. Why do we do this? Many reasons! Working together practices communication skills. Teaching a skill to another person strengthens the understanding of the concept. Learning from another person opens up new ways of understanding.
Learning is SO MUCH FUN!
Ms. Kelly has been working with the class on feelings and calming techniques. We have been practicing yoga and different ways to breathe. Here the class is practicing Lotus pose and taking five deep breaths.
Here’s a peek at some of our days! Worm weather, the excitment of finding the picture you’re looking for while sorting, the smiles that apple cider brings, and Cherry Blossom trees with Pink Tower and Brown Stairs!
A Peek Into October!
October will be a busy month as we dive deeper into Fall. We’ll be studying trees and leaves, as well as beginning our Animal Classification unit – a classroom favorite every year!
Important Dates:
Friday, October 11 – No School/Fall Break
Friday, October 25 – Trunk or Treat (more info coming soon!)
What a beautiful first two weeks of learning in the Cherry Blossom classroom! We have spent these first 8 days discussing our classroom’s “Expected Behaviors”. These are our classroom expectations for the school year, such as being respectful to materials and being kind to others. We read books, held classroom discussions, and looked for all the ways we use these Expected Behaviors all day long!
Kindergarten Corner:
Our Kindergarteners returned ready to LEARN! They jumped right back into their addition equations as if they hadn’t been away from school all summer! They excitedly began Reading Groups and Writer’s Workshop this week, are stepping into their roles of leaders within the classroom, and are assisting their teachers throughout the day. We have a feeling that this is going to be an amazing group of kiddos!
Pre-K and Preschool Corner:
Our returning preschoolers have proudly claimed their Pre-K status, and jumped right back into their work activities as well! There has been handwriting, teen numbers, beginning sound isolation, and so much more this week! Our newest learners, or Preschoolers, have spent a wonderful few days learning our classroom routines, exploring Practical Life trays, and enjoying some partner works with older friends.
Enrichment Corner:
We started both Music class with Ms. Lisa and Art class with Ms. Lindsey this week. We were also very excited for our first science experiment of the year with Mr. John!
A Peek at our Week:
We have two very hungry monarch caterpillars growing in our classroom. Ask your child about what stage of the life cycle these insects are in! We also spent so many beautiful days outside exploring our new blacktop play area, running around in the grass, playing basketball and soccer, jumping in puddles, and enjoying popsicles with Ms. Sarah! Also, meet our new neighbors!
We have had such a busy month in the Cherry Blossom classroom! We have been preparing for the upcoming International Festival where we are representing South America. Your child has been practicing their fact that they will present during the festival, as well as singing our special songs in Spanish! We can’t wait to share our songs and facts with you next week!
Speaking of the Festival, here is some important information for you! Our Rehearsal will be on Wednesday evening, this is not a dress rehearsal so your child can wear whatever they wore to school that day. On Friday, for the show, your child should come dressed in an outfit that represents the country that they studied. If you have any questions about this, please ask me asap.
Here is a flashback from International Festival 2022 when we studied Africa. Recognize any little faces?
We have been lucky enough to have some visitors this month teach us about countries all over the world! We have learned about Pakistan, Japan, Brazil, and China!
Our ASL lesson even followed the theme! Mrs. Thompson has traveled through South America. She shared her experience with us, as well as taught us how to sign South America, anaconda, condor, and many other words!
Coming Up Next Week!
Our Focus Lesson: South American country presentations
Monday, 4/22 – Earth Day!
Wednesday, 4/24 – International Festival Rehearsal – arrive by 5:45pm
Friday, 4/26 – INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL – arrive by 5:30pm
Our Focus Lesson: Our Galaxy, Rainbows, and South America
Our group lessons this week were a mixture of topics! We continued our exploration of space by learning about our galaxy, the Milky Way, discussing the Universe, seeing what Earth looks like from space, and then exploring what astronauts do! This completes our Outer Space unit, we’ll be taking a closer look at our planet Earth next week! Rainbows can be found all around our classroom this week as the children buzz with excitement over the possibility of a leprechaun visit. St. Patrick’s Day may be over the weekend, but I have a feeling that a certain sneaky leprechaun will cause some chaos in the classroom anyways this week. Ms. Sam also introduced us to the continent we’ll be studying for International Festival. We took a look at South America books, were introduced to our songs for the performance, and started our research!
That Sneaky Leprechaun!!!!!
That silly leprechaun did surprise us on Friday! Just take a look at the mess that he made! At least he was kind enough to leave us a little surprise though!
Enrichment Spotlight!
We have completed our study of Peter and the Wolf with Ms. Lisa in Music, and are now learning about jumpy and smooth music. Children were introduced to the piano and got to play a few notes!
In Art with Ms. Varela, children have completed their self portraits! Aren’t they adorable?!?
This week was Ms. Tonya’s favorite experiment in Science with Mr. John! I just love the dancing raisins!
Coming Soon!
Next Week’s Focus Lesson: Our planet Earth
Important Dates:
Tuesday, March 19 – Elementary Science Fair @ 6:00! All are invited!
March 25 – April 1 – Spring Break! School resumes Tuesday, April 2.
We have had a busy few weeks as we’ve begun our newest unit of study – outer space! We studied the planets of our solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. We discussed characteristics of each of these planets and learned about the rocky planets vs the gas giants. We also talked about dwarf planets so Ms. Tonya could include Pluto in our discussions. We learned what the word orbit means, and discussed asteriods, comets, the Moon, the Sun, and stars. Did you know that stars come in four colors? Yellow, white, blue, and red!
Right to Read Week!
What a fun week celebrating reading within our classroom! Right to Read week encourages everyone to read books for fun, and what books are more fun than Dr. Seuss books! We read many Dr. Seuss books this week, noticed rhyming words and nonsense words along the way, and had a blast with our dress up days!
Work Time is the BEST!
Coming Up Next Week!
Focus Lesson: Space – Our Galaxy and the Universe
Important Dates:
Tuesday, March 19 – Elementary Science Fair
March 25 – April 1 – Spring Break! School resumes Tuesday, April 2
We have had such a fun time the past two weeks learning about the insides of our bodies! We’ve learned about the brain, the lungs, the heart, the stomach, the small and large intestions, and the kidneys. Each of these body parts have a super important job to do, and we learned all about it! We also had fun identifying where inside of our bodies each organ is.
Preschool Corner:
Preschoolers are busy! They’re counting internal organs, using the Moveable Alphabet to isolate beginning sounds, tracing and labeling animals, and completing the 45 layout with the Golden Beads! This time of year is a time of big growth for our preschool students, many of them are entering a sensitive period where their math, language, and handwriting skills will grow immensely in the months we have left. It’s such a magical time of year, full of excitement and pride in their work!
Kindergarten Corner:
Kindergarteners are doing some big kid works! They are gathering data by asking questions of their classmates, telling time on an analog clock, and reading challenging words. In Reader’s Workshop, our older Blossoms have been introduced to the parts of speech – noun, verb, and adjective. In Writer’s Workshop, children have completed their unit on How To Books, and started Personal Narratives as we work on sentence structure, which words should be capitalized, and punctuation.
Check out what we’ve been up to!
We have had so much fun in the classroom over the past few weeks! We celebrated the 100th Day of School with some 100 year old ladies and gentlemen. One of these older gentleman used his walker to give you a hint about which continent we’ll be studying for the upcoming International Festival. We also celebrated Valentine’s Day with Candy Heart Graphing, dancing, a game of Musical Hearts, a treat, and Curious George’s Valentine’s Day.
Peek into Next Week!
Focus Lesson: Healthy Foods (5 Food Groups)
* We will be checking our lunch boxes each day next week to see if we can find the 5 food groups every day!
*We will also be preparing our own snack next week, eating one food group each day! Thank you to all the parents that are providing food items for us! Your child does not need to pack a snack next week!
We began our study of the Human Body this week – beginning with our skeletons! Our skeletons are such an important part of our body since they hold us up, help us move, make our blood, and protect some very important organs inside of us. After this week, your child should be able to show you where their skull, spine, ribs, pelvis, femur, and humorous bones are. They can also wiggle their philanges! We put skeletons together this week, traced and labeled them, and created some extremely cute artist renditions of them!
Preschool Corner:
Preschoolers continued with their very big works this week! Our older preschoolers completed their Continent Maps that you can see hanging up in the hallway. They worked hard on these and it shows! Some of our other preschoolers tried new work activities for the very first time – like tracing a fish and completing 1-20 on the 100 Board! We’re so proud of them!
Kindergarten Corner:
Kindergarteners are busy in Writer’s Workshop! Our current unit is How To Books, and they are busy teaching their readers how to build snowmen, how to make hot chocolate, how to grow flowers, and how to be kind. Within the classroom, each Kindergarten chose a continent puzzle to trace and label as well. We’re getting ready for our upcoming in depth continent study that’s coming soon!
99 Days of School!
We are so excited to be 100 Days Smarter on Monday! Our class has been counting the days of school each day during Line Time. We practice exchanging when we get to ten units (ones) and moving them to the tens place. We practice counting by tens and ones each day. We can’t wait to rubber band all of those tens and move them to the hundreds place!
Groundhog’s Day!
We were so lucky to be able to get outside this week and introduce the concept of shadows with the sun! We learned that shadows are created by objects blocking the light source. We then furthered this study within the classroom using a flashlight and one of our geometric solids. We learned that the light needs to be behind the object to create a shadow in front of it. That if the objects gets closer to the light, the shadow gets bigger, and it gets smaller as the object moves farther away. We wrapped up our study by watching Punxsutawney Phil predict an early spring by not seeing his shadow on Friday!
This was everyone’s favorite week! We learned all about Dinosaurs! Ask your child what type of teeth meat eaters and plant eaters have, see if they can tell you the special words we call each of those dinosaurs. (Hint – carnivores and herbivores.) We learned that dinosaurs lived millions of year ago and that they are now extinct. We talked about the theories scientists have about what happened to the dinosaurs, and the class decided the best theory is that there was an asteroid that hit our planet. We ended the week learning about paleontologists, and now that is the current career plan for many of our littles!
Grandparent’s Day!
A huge thank you to all of our grandparents for visiting us on Thursday! It was such a pleasure for us teachers to meet you, we always hear so much about you from the children! We hope you enjoyed your science lesson, being introduced to our classroom space, and learning all types of concepts with your wonderful grandchildren!
The 100th Day of School is Coming!
We are so close to the 100th Day of School! We will be having a 100th Day of School Party on Monday, February 5th. Your child is invited to dress up like they are 100 years old on this day. (It’s my favorite day of the school year!) We will play games, sing songs, complete a special craft, and enjoy a special picnic lunch with our friends! AMMS will be providing the pizza, but if you would like to contribute to our lunch, you can sign up here. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CA5A628A3F4CF8-47513235-100th
Fun in the Gym!
We added a new gym game to our repertoire – the parachute! We learned how to handle the parachute with care, how to keep our listening ears open while having fun, and played the best game ever – popcorn! We can’t wait to play more games with the parachute!
Art with Ms. Lindsey!
We had a special guest art teacher this week – Ms. Lindsey! Ms. Lindsey introduced us to the wonderful Piet Mondrian, an artist who worked with lines, shapes, and colors. We practiced creating our own Mondrian inspired artworks by pasting black lines onto paper and filling in the shapes with red, yellow, and blue crayons.
We’re Learning Big Things!
At this point in the school year, our Blossoms begin working on more challenging concepts in small groups or with partners, and they also begin to work on projects that can take a few days to complete. This is such an exciting time in the classroom, because these children just glow with pride when they accomplish new things! We are so proud of them!
Peek into Next Week!
Next week, we begin our study of the Human Body. We will spend several weeks learning all about our bodies – what they look like inside, how to keep them healthy, and the function of all of the different systems. It’s a popular unit of study!
Focus Lesson: The Skeletal System
Important Dates:
Monday, February 5 – 100th Day of School
Thursday, February 15 – Valentine’s Day Treat
Friday, February 16 – No School – Teacher Inservice Day
Our Focus Lesson: Hibernation, Migration, and Adaptation
Brrrr this was the perfect week for our focus lesson! We spent the week learning about what animals do during the winter months. Some animals hibernate, some migrate, and some adapt. We learned what each of these terms mean, and then read about the animals that fall into each category. Ask your children what it means if an animal hibernates, migrates, or adapts. And then see if they can give you an example of an animal for each category.
Our class science experiment helped us understand blubber a little more. Blubber is just one of the ways animals can adapt to the colder temperatures of winter. We learned that some whales and seals have blubber and that it keeps the animal warm while they are in the cold waters. So what it blubber? A layer of fat underneath the animals skin that keeps them warm. We used Crisco, baggies, and ice to determine if blubber actually keeps the animal warm. When our hands were in an empty baggie, then we could feel how cold the ice was. But the baggie that had Crisco created a barrier between our hands and the ice, keeping our hands warm!
Using our senses to explore what Crisco feels like inside of the baggie.The baggie with Crisco is keeping our hands from feeling how cold the ice is!What a fun experiment!
Preschool Corner
Our older preschool students revisited the World Map Puzzle, reviewing the names of the continents. They also started creating their own world maps by tracing and labeling the continents. After this map, we’ll move onto the map of North America!
Kindergarten Corner
Our Kindergarteners were introduced to the concept of measuring this week. They learned what a ruler does, were introduced to inches and centimeters, and practiced measuring how tall some polar animals are. We’ll continue practicing our measuring skills over the next couple weeks.
Our Kindergarteners are also working so hard on their reading skills. They read books daily to either a teacher or a friend, but also still visit the language shelf to practice reading skills in a more hands on way. They’re practicing blends, digraphs, rhyming, and compound words!
Peek into Work Time
Practical Life continues to be an important learning area within our classroom. This area of the room grows with the child, from our youngest student to our oldest. From spooning beads to sewing snowflakes!
Peek into Next Week
Our Focus Lesson: Dinosaurs
Important Dates:
Thursday, January 25 – Grandparent’s Day
Monday, February 5 – 100th Day of School
Friday, February 16 – No School/Teacher Inservice Day
