This week in Aspen it was more Halloween themed fun! We utilized the upcoming holiday as an opportunity to learn all about Bats and Cats! We spent the week discovering so many interesting and fun facts while practicing our research skills! Ask your child what the word research means. During group lessons we learned that bats are not that spooky and are actually quite fascinating and unique creatures. Did you know….that bats are not birds even though they fly? Did you know that they are mammals?? Aspen learned this amazing fact and more! We took a deeper look at what characteristics qualify a living organism to be classified as a mammal. We then discovered that cats are also mammals and also discovered that the word cat rhymes with bat!! Thus, we dove into many activities involving rhyming fun!!

In Kindergarten Workshop, the kindergarteners began their introductory lessons on telling time on an analog clock! They spent the week skip counting by fives and practicing the necessary skills for telling time! They sure have been helping to keep us on schedule! In Readers Workshop, the Cardinals continued to focus on the sequence of events within a story and comprehension skills. We read Give Me Back My Bones and discussed what events took place within the story, focusing on when (the order) and how the events happened. We also spotted sight words and rhyming words within the story. The Cardinals also received another beginning reader book to practice these skills independently. The Chickadees continued phonics practice, decoding words with some phonics games with rhyming fun! We incorporated the games from previous weeks into one Mega Phonics Game! The Chickadees also read Give Me Back My Bones, and we also discussed the order and sequence of events within a story. We then practiced creating our own mini story with our own sequence of events. The Chickadees also learned a few new sight words! In Writers Workshop, the kindergarteners continued to explore what it takes to be a writer while practicing their best handwriting skills!

We also had our Halloween classroom party and Trunk Or Treat! All of the cars were decorated so creatively! Thank you for making our Halloween so special and fun! Another special thank you to our parent volunteers helping out! You are all amazing!

Work with the Knobless Cylinders- development of fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, and the visual discrimination of dimension.

Skip counting by six! Mathematical fun exploring the linear sequence of numbers!

Painting Spider Webs as one of our Halloween party activities!

Cookie decorating fun!!

Halloween sensory bin fun!! We played I Spy finding spooky objects!!

This week in Aspen, we learned all about our Skeletal System! The Aspen children studied the locations and the names of the bones in the human body. While learning the scientific names of our bones, we discovered many interesting fun facts! For instance, do you know where the largest bone in the human body is located? What about the location of the smallest bone in the human body? Ask your child, they are now Skeletal System experts! In class Aspen also engaged in a variety of skeletal Practical Life activities, scientific exploration, and reading classification work. Aspen spent the week labeling the parts of a human skeleton, comparing and contrasting different types of animal skeletons (plastic), and researching skeletal facts. We also had a visit from Mr. Bob Bones, our Skeletal System mascot! He spent the week working, researching, and teaching Aspen all about the skeletal system! It was Skele-Fun!!

This week in Kindergarten lesson, the kindergarteners learned all about insects, arachnids, and the parts of a leaf and a tree. They spent the week learning the names of the different parts while comparing and contrasting their charicteristics. In Readers Workshop, the Cardinals read the book Llama, Llama, Red Pajama and found rhyming words or sight words! They also practiced writing phonetic words from memory. Focusing on phonics and the skills they have acquired in Writers Workshop! We also studied the concept of sequencing and what comes next within the story The Little Red Hen. We also discussed words with “e” at the end or the “magic e”! The Chickadees focused on phonics and practiced their skills while utilizing their knowledge individually. We played the “Pick It, Say It” game! Chickadees picked a number out of a pumpkin and then read phonetic words from a column of their chosen number. Chickadees demonstrated amazing decoding skills and exhibited confidence while sounding out their words. One row even contained challenging “sh” phonograms! The Chickadees also read the book Llama Llama Red Pajama. In Writers Workshop the kindergarteners worked on their true stories. They learned that true stories tell who the story is about, where the story happened and what happened within the story.

Next week our topics will also be Halloween themed! We will be learning all about Bats and Cats while discussing Mammals!! Next week we will also have our Halloween celebration and Trunk or Treat on Friday! There will be more information sent out regarding our in class celebration next week! Have a great weekend!

Hammering golf tees into a pumpkin!

Using a sieve to scoop ping pong eyeballs out of a spooky pumpkin.

Using the tweezers to transfer bones!! “Bonus Challenge Time” -self discovered variation balancing bones using a bone to transfer other bones from one bowl to the other!

Mr. Bob Bones stopped by to teach us about our Skeletal System! He stayed and tried some of our Halloween themed activities!

Reading a good book with good friends!

More tweezer transferring fun!

Observing skeletons to compare and contrast differences and similarities!

Labeling the bones of our Skeletal System.

Getting ready for Cosmic Kids skeleton yoga with Mr. Bones!

My apologies Aspen families; we have had quite the cold making it’s round through the Aspen Classroom, and I got behind on blog postings. Therefore, this week’s blog will contain two weeks worth of Aspen Room fun! Our thematic topics were Pumpkins and Living or Non-living, and we had so much fun exploring both of these units! Here goes our blog(s)!!

The week of 10/03/22, Aspen learned all about Pumpkins! We explored the life cycle of a pumpkin, discussed the parts of a pumpkin, and then reviewed fractions and took a look inside a pumpkin. The Aspen children used all of their senses (except for taste) to explore and observe a pumpkin up close! At the same time, we practiced our estimation skills by guessing how many seeds were inside our small and large Pumpkins. All of the children had some great guesses! In order to check our estimated guesses we spent the week gooping out our pumpkins and then sorted the seeds from the pulp! We definitely discovered our larger pumpkin contained a greater amount of seeds; however, we have not arrived at a number as we are STILL counting pumpkin seeds! During the work period, the Aspen students engaged in a variety of pumpkin themed follow up work, such as pouring pumpkin seeds, spooning pumpkins, washing a pumpkin, sequencing the stages of a pumpkin life cycle, and exploring a Halloween themed classification activity. We also sang some pumpkin themed songs together!

During the week of 10/03/22, Aspen also had their ASL (American Sign Language) lesson with Ms. Lauren! We learned how to sing the Hello Song in sign language. We also learned how to sign No, Yes, Thank You, and how to sign some of our favorite animals! We had so much fun! Ask your child about their ASL lesson! They learned their signs so quickly that we impressed Ms. Lauren!

In Kindergarten during the week of 10/03/22 , the Aspen children learned all about land and water forms. They learned how to identify, name, and define island, lake, cape, bay, peninsula, gulf, strait, and isthmus. The kindergarten students also engaged in a variety of follow-up work where they practiced what they learned during lessons. For example, the Aspen students were given a presentation on how to use the land and water forms in class so that they could use water to create an island and a lake, gaining hands on experience with geographical definitions. In Readers Workshop the kindergarten students continued to explore the rules of the English language. The Cardinals reviewed their sight words (puzzle words), read liteary passages to find and circle sight words, reviewed number words, and then they used their knowledge to complete a pumpkin life cycle booklet. With these booklets, they had to read and then color the pictures the color specified in the text. Cardinals also discussed the concept of letters that create blends and learned new phonograms. The Chickadees reviewed decoding skills and then played the “Guess It, Write It” game! We had a basket of objects and each child got to choose an object . We then said the name of each object, sounded it out (decoded it), and then wrote it on a dry erase board! They were super sleuths! I couldn’t trick them at all! I am so proud of both groups and all the progress they are making! During Writers Workshop, the kindergarteners shared the books they have spent the past few weeks creating and then read them to their classmates!

This week (10/10/22 -10/14/22) our thematic topic was Living and Non-Living. The Aspen children have been discussing all of the spooky Halloween decorations they either have at home or have seen throughout their neighborhood. Some of the children expressed that some decorations were so scary that they were afraid! As a result, we decided to determine just how scary these decorations actually are. We learned what characteristics classified a living Organism or a non-living thing! Aspen’s overall assessment was that the Halloween decorations were non-living; they do not eat or drink, produce waste, have movement, respond to stimuli, develop and grow, reproduce, or breathe (respiration). Therefore, they are not as scary as we originally thought! They are fake replicas and are non-living things! After learning the above, we tried classifying objects and pictures by categorizing them into two groups, living or non-living! We had so much fun determining how to classify things into these groups. We had many laughs trying to apply living characteristics to non-living objects.

During kindergarten lesson this week the kindergarteners explored the five animal kingdoms: mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and amphibians. As they discovered the characteristics of each group, they also learned how to label the parts of an animal in each of these groups (horse, bird, turtle, fish, and frog). In Readers Workshop the Cardinals played the “Change It, Say It ” with phonograms, reviewed sight words from previous weeks, learned new sight words, and received a reader for their Book Buddy Bags! While reading the book together in Reading Group, we found our new sight words/high frequency words in the text, and began reading comprehension work and sequencing. The Chickadee Group continued their exploration of phonics with the “Guess It, Write It ” game and worked on activities in their Book Buddy Bags. In Writers Workshop the kindergarteners continued to explore literary concepts, brainstorming ideas , and refined their handwriting skills!

Next week our thematic topic is Skeletal System! We will learn how to name the bones in our body and will discover why having a skeleton is so important!

Scrubbing Pumpkins!

Using tongs to transfer pumpkins.

Using tweezers to sort and count pumpkin seeds.

Practical Life fun pouring from cup to cup!

Sorting objects into two categories, living or non-living!

This week it was all about color in the Aspen classroom! Aspen dove into the world of color by learning all about the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. We experimented with color mixing, explored variations in colors with shades, tints, and hues, and learned the names of the colors in Spanish. During our lessons on colors, shades, and hues, Ms. Lindsey taught us all about the color wheel and the concept of warm and cool colors. We learned that if you add black to a color it creates a shade and if you add white to a color it creates a tint. At the same time, we learned many new vocabulary words such as monochromatic, analogous, and complimentary. As a follow-up work to this lesson, the Aspen children worked with a variety of art appreciation activities involving color classification and famous works of art. Upon further exploration of the above, we applied what we learned about color with our Color Mixing experimentation activity and the creation of suncatchers to learn about absorption.

In Kindergarten lesson, the kindergarteners have been focusing on the classification of their environment from largest to smallest (for example: galaxy, solar system, planet, continent, country, state, city, street, house). The kindergarteners have also been practicing learning their address. In Readers Workshop, the Chickadees continued their work with phonics playing the “Change It” Game and practiced combining groups of “sound clues” to form words. We then changed only one sound in each group of sound clues creating fun word combinations. The Chickadee group also read the book Fox in Socks together paying close attention to similar sounds and rhyming words. At the same time, we focused on the placement of our mouths, tongue, teeth, and lips when we repeated the sounds while rhyming. The Cardinal group focused on color words, number words, and sight words. The Cardinal group Kindergarten students then applied their knowledge of the above on a worksheet. The Cardinals also read the book Fox In Socks where we searched for phonograms (vowel teams, blends, and e at end words). In Writers Workshop, the kindergarteners finished their informational books and will read them aloud in class next week to their classmates.

Next week our thematic topic is Pumpkins!! We will learn how they grow, discuss the life cycle of a pumpkin, and have fun exploring our pumpkin filled Practical Life area! Speaking of pumpkins, thank you to all of the Aspen parents for making our field trip to Ramseyers so special and fun! You are all amazing!

Using an eye dropper and watercolors to create pictures with water!

This week it was all about apples in Aspen! We learned all about the life cycle of an apple, where they grow, how they grow, and practiced labeling the parts of an apple. The Aspen class engaged in a variety of follow-up activities such as apple slicing, apple classification, labeling the parts of an apple, and exploration/observation of apples with our botany tray. At the same time, we took the opportunity to learn about fractions and used apples to demonstrate whole, half, and one -fourth. After learning about fractions, the Aspen children took turns learning how to safely slice apples. We then used their sliced apples to create apple prints for an extra special art project with Ms. Lindsey. Aspen also created their own taste testing science experiment by seeing if Red Apples, Green Apples, and Yellow Apples taste different! The Aspen children discovered that each type of apple had its own distinct taste. Ask your child that type of apple was their favorite!

The kindergarteners have continued their exploration of Geography and North America by focusing on Ohio and the States that surround it. The kindergarteners also learned many interesting Ohio facts and practiced identifying states on a map. In Reading Workshop, kindergarteners continued their lessons on phonics, identifying sound clues, and combining sound clues together. The Chickadee Reading group practiced the above and played the “Change It” game. We wrote words on a dry-erase board and then changed one of the sounds to see if we could create a new word! Chickadees also practiced slowing down and paying attention to each letter sound in a word. We all tried very hard to not get tricked by paying close attention to each sound! The Cardinals Group practiced the above a well, but they also focused on sight words and words that don’t always follow your typical language rules. The Cardinals now know five sight words: of , the , and , a, and once (a super silly word that does not follow the rules having an o making a w sound)! The Cardinals also practiced tapping out their sight words and then worked on identifying colors words. In Writers Workshop the kindergarteners continued creating their own books and some even started a brand new book! Each kindergartner received instruction involving the proper formation of the cursive letter r. They then applied what they learned independently through various writing activities in Writer’s Workshop

Next week our thematic topic will be color! We are going to explore the world of color by learning the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors; we will discuss the gradation of colors (shades); we will engage in color mixing activities; and we will investigate the colors used in various works of art.

Completing patterns using apples and then creating our own apple patterns.

Creating apple prints from the apples we sliced during our fractions lesson. Note the pincer grasp being used to hold the apple! Each Practical Life activity is designed to indirectly prepare the hand for future handwriting activities!

Tweezing Sunflower Seeds at the Peace Table! A great way to relax and refocus!

This week Aspen learned all about trees! It was “treely” awesome! Aspen learned all about the importance of trees, the names of each part of a tree, the function of each part of a tree, and began tree classification work. During group lesson we discovered that humans and trees need each other and have a symbiotic relationship! Trees give us oxygen, and we provide carbon dioxide for the trees! During group lessons we looked at the function of each part in detail and then engaged in follow up work labeling our tree puzzle. At the same time, some of the Aspen children traced our tree puzzle and created their own trees! Ms. Lindsey also showed the Aspen children how to make leaf rubbings and invited the Aspen children to bring in leaves that they find on the ground. Aspen children should not pull leaves off a tree! We learned that the leaves are the food factories of the tree. Trees are autrophs (they make their own food) and through photosynthesis they provide nourishment for the tree. If we rip leaves off of trees they will not be able to do their job, and the tree will not grow! We also took a look at the inside of a tree with Mr. John’s science center tree box, and we learned about the rings inside a tree. Ask your child about what they discovered about tree rings!

This week during Kindergarten Workshop the kindergarteners began their North American cultural lessons, learning the locations and names of the countries in North America. They used the North American puzzle map to explore our continent and engaged in a variety of follow-up lessons. In Reading Workshop our Kindergarten students continued their exploration of phonics and our Alphabet. We discussed the science behind reading and how the brain uses phonics to connect sounds. We discovered that you can group sounds together to form words. Some phonic groupings make sense and others are complete nonsense. We then played around with phonics and created our own groupings of sounds! We came up with some fun sound groupings! Parents, encourage your children to engage in word play with phonetic sounds (beginning sounds, ending sounds, rhyming words, and thinking of words with similar sounds). In Writing Workshop the kindergarteners were working on stretching out letters (words) to write them, practicing our fine motor and movements needed to form our letters. Reading Workshop also practiced stretching out sound groupings while reading them by sounding them out slowly and then quickly. Just like in handwriting, we payed attention to the movements needed to form a letter. Reading Group payed attention to the movements of our mouth and tongue when sounding out letters.

Next week our thematic topic is All About Apples! We will have bushels of fun apple themed activities, some taste testing (what kind of apples do we like best), and artistic fun with apples! Have a great weekend!

Labeling and coloring the parts of a tree!

Superimposed Geometric Figures! Exploration of the visual sense and the application of geometric knowledge and the acquisition of geometrical language.

Exploring with the Hexagonal Constructive Triangles activity! Learning the names of triangles while exploring the composition of shape and form.

This week in Aspen it was all about the continents! Aspen has spent the week learning the names and locations of all seven continents. We also used our Geography Envelopes and Geography Cards to explore the culture of each continent! We studied animals, biomes, landforms, and people from each continent. At the same time, we learned all about where we live from largest to smallest; for example, planet, continent, country, state, city, street, house! The children also engaged in a variety of cultural follow up activities involving identifying the names and locations of the continents, countries, and states. It was so much fun learning about the world around us!

The Aspen children also had their very first library time with the very creative and amazing Ms. Lindsey! During library time, we learned how to care for books by handling them respectfully and carefully. We read the book The Children Who Loved Books by Peter Carnavas. Then we sang the song, “I Like to Read” as we danced and traveled to far away places! We learned that through books we can be transported to magical places and be anything we want! We then read Kitty Kat, Kitty Kat, Where Have You Been? as we traveled to Europe and visited Paris! Ask your child about their library experience and their French vocabulary word: gateaux! All of the Aspen children mentioned how much they love to eat gateaux!

Kindergarten students continued their geography lessons with Mr. John as they explored our world in depth and in more detail. During Readers Workshop the kindergarteners reviewed phonics and played some phonics games. We practiced our detective skills and learned that sometimes books and words will try and trick us by changing sounds in the middle or end of a word. A good Sound Detective looks at each sound in a word. In Writers Workshop the kindergarteners practiced proper letter formation and continued to create their booklets where they get to be both the author and illustrator.

Next week the thematic lesson will be trees! We will learn why trees are so important, discuss the names and the functions of each part of a tree, and will be introduced to a variety of follow-up tree themed classification activities!

This week in Aspen it was all about seasons! The Aspen class began our Seasons Lesson by learning about day and night. We discovered that our earth rotates (spins) on its axis, and as a result, we get daytime and nighttime! We were amazed when we found out that when we have day time here, there are children in other parts of the world having night time; therefore, when we are at school, children in other places are having dinner or even sleeping!! Aspen then learned that as our Earth rotates, it tilts. This tilt affects how much direct sunlight different areas receive, and as a result, we get our seasons! The more direct sunlight the Earth receives, the warmer/hotter the weather. On the other hand, the less direct sunlight, the cooler/colder the weather! Finally, we discussed the differences between the seasons in Ohio! Did you know that some places don’t have four seasons? Some places have only two! Or they have mild climate changes!

Throughout our exploration of seasons, we got to experiment with our painted globe and a flashlight! With this activity, we got to observe our key words axis, rotation, and orbit first hand. Our flashlight acted as the sun, and we helped rotate the Earth (painted globe), experiencing day/night and the changing seasons. We also got to take turns being the Earth, orbiting around the sun and rotating and tilting to represent how old we are. It sure was a fun filled week in Aspen!

In Kindergarten lesson, the kindergarten students have been learning about the continents and the concept of direction. They have been learning the names and location of each continent as well as the cardinal directions: North, South, East, and West. During Readers Workshop we discussed that reading is actually a science and as “Sound Detectives,” it is our job to find the clues and experiment putting sounds together. Sometimes, we will create groupings of sounds that make sense when they are put together, and sometimes our groups of sounds will be nonsense or silly! It is up to the Sound Detectives to use their clues! Our Readers Workshop is split into two groups: the Cardinals and the Chickadees. This week the Chickadees read the books Alphabet City and The Alphabet’s Alphabets and practiced their detective skills sounding out letters. The Cardinals also read the book The Alphabet’s Alphabet and focused on the formation of how each sound (letter) is formed. The Cardinals also began combining sounds to form words and were introduced to the concept of phonograms. In Writers Workshop both group began creating their very own book and worked on proper letter formation, becoming writers! What a busy and fun week these kindergarteners had!

Next week the Aspen thematic topic is all about Continents! The Aspen class will be introduced to the Continent Puzzle Map, The Sandpaper Globe, The Painted Globe, The Geography Envelopes, and The Continent Boxes. Aspen will learn the names and location of continents, be introduced to the terms land, water, continent and Ocean, and will begin exploring the world and culture around them with the Geography Envelopes and Continent Boxes! See you next week!

Admiring a completed activity!

Welcome back Aspen families! We hope you all had an amazing and relaxing summer vacation! The new school year is here, and the Aspen children are settling into classroom routine and have already begun exploring the classroom! This week we began our school year with the Procedural Movement Lessons (The How To’s Of A Montessori Classroom); therefore, we learned how to walk the line, how to move through the classroom, how to use indoor voices, how to carry and roll rugs, how to choose activities from the shelves, and how to take turns talking during line time. Returning children were amazing role models and helped our new classmates with all of the above and more! It was a great first week of school!

Next week we will continue with Procedural Movement Lessons and will begin learning all about seasons. We will learn why we have seasons, discuss the concept of day and night, and will learn the names and characteristics of each season.

Kindergarten students will also begin Reading and Writing workshop next week with Ms. Kelley and Ms. Tonya on Tuesday ‘s and Thursday’s. During these workshops we will focus on phonics, language rules (phonograms, blends, and more), comprehension, sentence structure, making inferences, sequencing, and the mechanics of handwriting. Each week I will include an update on concepts covered during the Reading and Writing workshop here on our classroom’s blog! The kindergarteners will also be attending a kindergarten lesson (Kindergarten Workshop) on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with Mr. John. During kindergarten lesson, our kindergarteners will explore a variety of concepts in detail and are often given follow-up (homework) to be completed at home. Please check your child’s folder and return all homework to school the following day.

See you next week!!

Learning how to transfer water with an eyedropper.

using a pushpin to punch around the outline of continents.

Working on our new Binomial Cube!

This week in the Aspen Room it was all about St. Patrick’s Day, rainbows, and the light spectrum!  Aspen engaged in rainbow-colored activities, crafts, and science experiments exploring the light spectrum.  During group lessons Aspen learned how rainbows are formed, why they occur, and explored stories and legends surrounding the rainbow. Then the Aspen scientists shared ideas regarding how they thought rainbows occur. Prior to the lesson, each child shared their ideas and thoughts on this subject. The class unanimously agreed and made an observation that a rainbow needed rain (source of water) and sunlight.  The class then explored this observation and discussed the concept of reflection and learned about the light spectrum.  We learned that each wavelength of light is reflected at different angles. Thus, the light spectrum is separated creating a rainbow. The Aspen children also shared stories on how they have created rainbows with a hose, bubbles, spray bottles, and sequins making new observations sparking an interest in trying to create rainbows.  Thinking about our observations, we decided to experiment creating rainbows. Therefore, we had the opportunity to experiment separating the wavelengths in the light spectrum using a prism and a flashlight! Our Practical Life area was also filled with colorful rainbow themed fun!  Ask your child about their week!

This week we also began our introduction to the International Festival and began to learn about Europe.  The Aspen children were introduced to the European flags activity, animals of Europe, and landmarks of Europe.  We also began learning the location and names of the countries we will be representing for the International Festival. If you haven’t already picked a country please make your selection this week.  If you visit Signup Genius you will find a list of available countries. Next week, we will continue our exploration of Europe.   https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-country

The Aspen kindergarteners explored vowels and consonants and engaged in lessons identifying vowels and consonants while practicing their reading skills with word lists.  The kindergarteners also practiced their handwriting skills throughout the week.