We jumped right back into our Animal Classification lessons after the holiday, and studied fish this week! What makes a fish a fish? We learned that fish are vertebrates, they must live in the water, they breathe using gills, they’re covered in scales, they’re cold blooded, and they lay jelly like eggs (which means they’re sticky).
Getting Ready for the Holidays!
We are busy in the classroom preparing for the upcoming holidays! Children started creating gifts for their parents (shhh… we won’t tell!), and are practicing daily for the Christmas Show! Our theme for the Christmas Show is snow. Your child will need to wear clothing that is blue, white, or gray, and a scarf. We will provide your child with a snowflake headband to wear for the show.
Curriculum Spotlight: ASL
We always love the Fridays when we have an ASL lesson. This week we learned how to sign various holiday theme signs such as reindeer, sleigh, toys, presents, and Santa! We also reviewed some important communication signs such as more, help, please, thank you, and I Love You.
This short week, we focused our lessons on Thanksgiving and what it means to be grateful. We discussed the first Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, which led us into our discussion on gratefulness. We brainstormed all of the things we are grateful for which includes family, friends, and pets! We also talked about yummy Thanksgiving foods and our family traditions. It was a super fun short week here in the Blossoms classroom!
Thanksgiving Inspired Work Activities!
The Time of Year to Spend with Family and Friends.
We ended the week by spending time with our friends from Aspen and Buckeye! We watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and enjoyed a special snack of popcorn and pretzels!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ms. Sam and I wish your family a wonderful holiday, and hope you are able to spend this time with family and friends. We also hope that you get a moment to relax! We are so thankful for all of you! – Ms. Tonya
We continued our vertebrate animal study this week by learning all about Reptiles.
What makes a reptile a reptile? Reptiles are cold blooded, have dry scaly skin, lay soft shelled eggs, (most) do not take care of their babies, and they breathe with lungs. We learned that there are so many neat things that reptiles can do! Snakes can smell with their tongues. Chameleons can change color depending on how they are feeling. Some lizards can detach their tails and grow new ones. However, our favorite reptile to learn about was the sea turtle! We really loved reptile week!
Preschool Corner:
Kindergarten Corner:
Operation Christmas Child:
We participated in Operation Christmas Child on Friday. We were able to pack a shoebox full of gifts, such as fun toys, school supplies, and personal care items and a letter that we wrote! These boxes will be delivered to children in need around the world! We are so grateful that we were able to help others this holiday season!
Come work with us!!!
Bring Your Parent to Work Days begin on Monday! If you are able to, sign up for a time slot on one of our allotted days and come work with us! Visits are approximately 30 minutes, and you will be able to observe the classroom as a whole for about 15 minutes and then work alongside your child for another 15-20 minutes. It is a wonderful way to experience our classroom setting and spend some very special time with your child! Sign up at the link below!
We have continued our study of the Animal Kingdom over the past two weeks. Our Blossoms are currently studying groups of Vertebrates. We started with Mammals and Birds!
What makes a mammal a mammal? We learned that mammals are warm blooded, covered in hair or fur, breathe air with their lungs, give birth to live babies, take care of their babies, and babies drink their mother’s milk.
What makes a bird a bird? We learned that birds are warm blooded, covered in feathers, breathe air with their lungs, hatch from hard shelled eggs, take care of their babies, and don’t have teeth – they have beaks!
With each of these classification studies, the children have been introduced to different species of mammals and birds, as well as the parts of one specific animal. For mammals we learned about the parts of a horse, and for birds we were introduced to the parts of a bird in general but encouraged to look through our various bird books to see how birds look different.
Our Favorite Visitor – Charlotte
Mr. John surprised us with a visit from Charlotte, the tarantula and one of his hissing cockroaches. As a group, we reviewed what we know about arachnids and insects while observing these animals more up close. Thank you Mr. John!
Peek into Work Time:
Peek into Next Week!
Focus Lesson: Reptiles
November 17: Operation Christmas Child Packing Party
November 22-24: No School – Thanksgiving Holiday
Come work with us! Bring Your Parent to Work Days! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-45382631-cherry#/
This week we started our study of the Animal Kingdom. We began with the two biggest categories – Vertebrates and Invertebrates! Vertebrates have a backbone and are classified into 5 groups – mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. We will spend a week on each of these categories over the upcoming weeks. Invertebrates are animals that do not have a backbone. We will learn about 2 groups of invertebrates this school year – insects and arachnids. However, we were also introduced to some other categories this week – crustaceans, worms, mollusks, sponges, corals, and jellyfish!
Speaking of Arachnids… we learned all about arachnids this week, but mostly about SPIDERS! Spiders have two body parts and eight legs. There are many types of spiders, some are poisonious and others are not. We learned the life cycle of a spider – egg sac, eggs, spiderlings, and spiders. We learned the parts of a spider. And we ended the week with an adorable spider craft!
Preschool Corner:
Some of our older Preschoolers were introduced to one of my favorite work activities this week – the Moveable Alphabet! We use the Moveable Alphabet for so many concepts, including isolating the beginning sounds of words and sounding out words phonetically! This material allows children to work on their writing skills without the pressure of forming each letter – although we work on that skill within the classroom as well!
Kindergarten Corner:
Kindergarteners from all of the primary classrooms participated in their first “Author Share”! At the end of each Writer’s Workshop unit, the children read one of their pieces of writing to their peers. We celebrate the hard work of our friends as well as practice some public speaking skills. I am so very proud of my favorite authors! At the end of the Author Share event, Ms. Kelley surprised the group with a fun, Halloween themed reading game of choosing words out of a cauldron and using their “sound detective” skills to read the words!
TRUNK OR TREAT!
We had SO MUCH FUN at our Trunk or Treat event! We started the day by decorating our classroom and then played some games with our wonderful parent helpers! We saw so many wonderful trunks during Trunk or Treat and ended our day by watching Room on the Broom!
Peek Into Next Week!
November 10: Parent/Teacher Conferences – No School for Students
November 17: Operation Christmas Child Packing Party
This week the Cherry Blossom class learned about Trees! We learned the parts of a tree from the roots and trunk (stem) to the branches and leaves. We know that each part of the tree has some very important jobs to do. The roots soak up the water for the tree, but also hold the tree into the ground and keep it from falling over. The trunk holds the tree up. The branches hold the leaves. And the leaves collect sunlight and turn it into food for the tree so it can grow. We also discussed the life cycle of a tree. Seed, seedling, young tree and older tree. Some trees also have blossoms that grow into fruit to spread their seeds. Other trees, like oak trees and maple trees, just drop their seeds to the ground. We will return to plants and talk more about how seeds spread in the springtime!
Preschool Corner:
Preschoolers practiced What Does Not Belong skills in the Language area this week. Our younger preschoolers continued to work on counting with one to one correspondence and number recognition in Math, while our older preschoolers were introduced to Colored Bead Bar Addition. They were introduced to the Knobless Cylinder boxes and their extension cards this week in the Sensorial area of the classroom. Preschoolers also reviewed Characteristics of Living Things while classifying plants vs. animals.
Kindergarten Corner:
Kindergarteners reviewed the Parts of a Leaf and Parts of a Tree this week in Science. Not only did they learn new vocabulary words through this work, but we also talked about the important jobs each of these parts do for the plant. We discussed two of my favorite words – chlorophyll and photosynthesis! Students also had their final swing letter assessment in our Cursive Handwriting lessons. We’ll be moving onto curve letters next week! In Math, Kindergarteners have been working with the Golden Bead materials to work on their addition skills. Each day they have an “Equation of the Day” on the board to complete using the Golden Beads. They’re doing so well! In Language, Kindergarteners continue to work through their reading skills at their own pace.
A Peek into Work Time:
Enrichment Spotlight: ASL!
We love our Friday ASL lessons! This week we learned how to sign numbers, and then read a Halloween counting book where we practiced signing the numbers and the Halloween characters we saw in the book!
This week we learned all about leaves. We learned that they are just one part of the whole plant, but that they have a super important job to do – they use sunlight to make food for the plant so that it can grow! However, we had a question to explore. Why do leaves change color in the fall? We learned that leaves contain chlorophyll, a green pigment that collects the sunlight for the plant. In the fall, as the days become shorter and the tree prepares to “go to sleep” for the winter, it no longer needs that chlorophyll. The leaves then show their natural colors. Those reds, oranges, and yellows were there the whole time!
Preschool Corner:
Our preschoolers are working so hard on their math skills at the moment! We have many different manipulatives within the classroom to learn quantity and corresponding symbols. Here’s just a peek at the many different work activities we have on the math shelf!
Kindergarten Corner:
Our Kindergarteners have spent the past couple weeks working with cardinal and intermediatedirections in the Cultural area of our classroom. We continued to find the mnemonic Never Eat Soggy Waffles hilarious as we walked the hallways using a compass and labeling maps.
In the Language area of the classroom, Kindergarteners were introduced to consonants and vowels. We worked really hard on learning the 5 main vowels – a, e, i, o, u. We then used this knowledge to sort letters into categories and mark up words on paper.
Pumpkin Season!
Last week the Cherry Blossom class learned all about PUMPKINS! We learned the life cycle from seed to pumpkin. We also washed a pumpkin in the Practical Life area since the pumpkin was so dirty from being in the pumpkin patch! We ended the week by cutting open the pumpkin we brought back from Ramseyer Farms and labeling the parts of a pumpkin. Then each child received a chance to use 4 of their 5 senses to explore the pumpkin like a scientist!
Enrichment Spotlight: Music and Library
A Peek into Next Week:
Friday, October 27: Trunk or Treat event! (A Sign Up Genius was sent to your Remind today if you are interested in being a classroom helper for this event!)
Friday, November 10: Parent/Teacher Conferences. (Sign ups will go out soon!) There is NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS on this day.
Apples! We learned all about apples this week! Blossoms began the week learning that a group of apple trees is called an orchard. We brainstormed all of the things we already knew about apples and were extremely excited to find apples in our lunch boxes. We then discussed the life cycle of an apple from seed to tree to blossom to apple. We also learned about the parts of an apple – skin, flesh, core, seeds, and stem. At the end of the week we gathered some scientific data as we taste tested a Gala apple, a Granny Smith apple and apple cider. Everyone LOVED the apple cider!
A Peek into Work Time:
Here is a snapshot of all of the different ways we brought apples into our work activities this week!
Enrichment Spotlight – Music, Art, and ASL!
A Peek into Next Week:
Focus Lesson: Pumpkins!
Important Dates:
October 27: Trunk or Treat event
November 10: Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School for students)
This week we learned all about the Four Seasons. We learned that we are currently in the season of summer but that the season will change this Saturday to fall or autumn! We discussed what sort of activities we could do in all of the seasons, what the different temperatures would feel like in each season, and some of the things we can observe with our scientist eyes. We also learned that because of the tilt of the Earth on its axis, that while we are having summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere is having winter! We’re really looking forward to exploring all that fall has to offer us over the next months!
Preschool Corner:
Our preschoolers have been busy sorting in both the Practical Life and Sensorial areas of the classroom. All year long we will be practicing sorting by color, shape, size, and then by two attributes at once! Why is sorting so important? Grouping objects by color, size or shape helps develop visual memory, a skill that assists with problem solving!
Kindergarten Corner:
Our Kindergarteners have been so busy working on their individual reading skills with Ms. Tonya in the classroom and Ms. Kelley during Reader’s Workshop. They love to read their books to their teachers! They also completed their lessons on the different types of triangles with Ms. Sam this week in the Sensorial area of the classroom. In Math, we are diving into our Addition unit!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
A Peek into Work Time:
Our individual work periods are getting longer and we are well on our way to being a normalized classroom. What is a normalized classroom? Maria Montessori wrote, “The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’” Some characteristics of a normalized classroom would be a room where the children are freely choosing their work activities, concentrating on their work, and finding joy in the work that they are doing.
Ramseyer Farms!
We had a BLAST at Ramseyer Farms! It was such a beautiful, perfect day! A huge THANK YOU to all of the parents and grandparents that helped make our field trip such a success! We couldn’t have done it without you!
A Peek into Next Week:
Our Focus Lesson: Apples
Important Dates:
October 27: Trunk or Treat event
November 10: Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School for students)
We learned all about our 5 Senses this week in the Cherry Blossom classroom! Our 5 senses are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. We learned that we use our 5 senses to learn all about the world around us every day. We practiced using our sense of sight to match pictures, our sense of hearing to pair sound cylinders, our sense of touch to match fabrics, and our sense of smell and taste during lunch!
Ms. Sam introduced the Blossoms to the Where I Am in the World lesson. She started by introducing the children to their planet, then continent, country, state, city, and finally our school. This is an introductory lesson that we will build upon all school year long!
Preschool Corner:
I am sure you are familiar with the sandpaper letters. This beautiful work is well known in the Montessori classroom environment. But the children use these letters in so many different ways! In the Blossoms class the letters a, c, r, and t can be found in the red pouch. If your child ever mentions the red pouch, then they are working on these letter sounds! We always teach sound first, and letter name later.
Kindergarten Corner:
Reader’s Workshop and Writer’s Workshop are going so well with this group of Kindergarteners! In Reader’s Workshop, children played games with Ms. Kelley to isolate the beginning sounds of words. Readers also read short stories and answered comprehension questions.
In Writer’s Workshop, our young authors began adding labels to their illustrations. We worked on stretching our words out slowly and writing down the sounds they hear.
Enrichment Spotlight: Tae Kwon Do Demo!
Blossoms had so much fun at the Tae Kwon Do demo this week with Master Barnick! Master Barnick introduced stretching, punching, kicking, and a fun game. We also practiced yelling “Yes, sir!” after directions were given.