A Peek At Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Our week started with a Valentine’s Day celebration.  We wore our pajamas, voted for what movie we would like to watch, enjoyed and sang Encanto, and enjoyed some special treats!  A huge THANK YOU to our parents that donated supplies for our fun celebration!  We can’t wait to do this again!

Our new Focus Topic is Our Earth and we learned so many new things this week!  We introduced the globe this week, and talked about the equator, Northern Hemisphere, and Southern Hemisphere.  We also learned that our planet is made up of land, air, and water and that is what living things need!  Preschool lesson introduced us to some different habitats and we started a new book to bring home!  We can’t wait to share all we’ve learned about habitats with you!

Enrichment Spotlight – Science with Mr. John!

This week we made hypotheses about buoyancy with Mr. John and experimented with sinking and floating pop cans!

Peek Into Next Week!

Focus Topic:  Our Earth and Habitats

Letter of the Week: Ff

Number of the Week: 14

Important Dates:

February 18: NO SCHOOL – Teacher Inservice Day

February 21: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day

March 11: Breakfast Club!

March 28-April 1: NO SCHOOL – Spring Break!

Bring Your Parent To Work Days: Come observe your child working within the classroom to see what their day looks like!  Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-bring7

A Peek At Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

The Cherry Blossoms had a very busy week this week!  We excitedly learned about DINOSAURS!  We talked about different kinds of dinosaurs, learned big words such as: carnivore, herbivore, extinct, and palentologist, and matched dinosaurs to their skeletons.  One of our friends brought a dinosaur book from home and read it to us!

This week we also talked about Valentine’s Day!  We hope that you enjoyed all of our special heart crafts that were brought home!

A Special Visit from a Dental Hygienist!

Ms. Taylor from Dr. Pollock’s office came to visit us on Wednesday.  She talked to us about how to take care of our teeth by brushing for 2 minutes twice a day, flossing, and using mouthwash! And then we were able to surprise her with how much we knew about Grow Foods and Sometimes Foods.

Enrichment Spotlight – Library with Ms. Cat!

Ms. Cat taught us about hibernation and migration this week during Library.  While we loved the books and songs she shared, what we loved most was meeting her cockatiel Ginger!  Since our class loves birds SO MUCH this was a very exciting visit with Ms. Cat!

Peek Into Next Week!

Focus Topic:  Our Earth and Habitats

Letter of the Week: Dd

Number of the Week: 14

Important Dates:  February 14: Valentine’s Day – Pajama Day & Show and Tell

February 18: NO SCHOOL – Teacher Inservice Day

February 21: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day

Bring Your Parent To Work Days: Come observe your child working within the classroom to see what their day looks like!  Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-bring7

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

It may have been an unexpected short week (Hello Snow!) but we still managed to pack a lot of learning into three days!

We wrapped up our study of Healthy Bodies by talking about BONES!  We talked about skeletons – ours and other animals.  We learned the names of some of our biggest bones and discussed the important work that bones do, like keeping our bodies upright and protecting our organs.

February Holidays!

We learned about two February Holidays this week – Chinese New Year and Groundhog’s Day.  We made tigers to celebrate the Year of the Tiger and learned all about shadows with Ms. Sam.  We were VERY interested in shadows, which we think may need to make a come back in the lesson plans very soon! Next up is Valentine’s Day!

Recess Fun!

Recess was super fun this week!  We practiced our kicking skills in the gym on Monday, played in the snow on Tuesday, and had fun throwing and catching on Wednesday!

A Huge Cherry Blossom Welcome to our New Student!

Stay warm! Stay safe! And enjoy all of that snow!  See you next week!

Peek Into Next Week!

Focus Topic:  DINOSAURS and Valentine’s Day!

Letter of the Week: Uu

Number of the Week: 13

Important Dates:  February 14: Valentine’s Day – Pajama Day & Show and Tell

February 18: NO SCHOOL – Teacher Inservice Day

February 21: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day

Bring Your Parent To Work Days: Come observe your child working within the classroom to see what their day looks like!  Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-bring7

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

We continued our study of Healthy Bodies this week by learning about Internal Organs.  We really had a lot of fun learning about what happens inside of our bodies and the special jobs our organs do.  Ask your child about the brain, heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys, and intestines.  I am sure they would love to share what they learned with you!

We also continued our study of Food Groups during Preschool Lesson with Ms. Sam.  We put together a fun Food Groups book so we can talk all about food groups with our families at home!

Happy Half Birthday to our summer birthday!

Enrichment Spotlight – Art with Ms. Varela!

Ms. Varela introduced us to a type of art called “figure 8’s”.  We used sharpies to create our shapes, markers to color our shapes in, and then oil pastels over the markers.  We really enjoyed this project!

The Birds Found Our Feeders!

Peek Into Next Week!

Focus Topic:  Bodies: Skeleton and Muscles; Chinese New Year; Groundhog’s Day

Letter of the Week: Kk

Number of the Week: 12

Important Dates:  February 14: Valentine’s Day – Pajama Day & Show and Tell

February 18: NO SCHOOL – Teacher Inservice Day

February 21: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day

Bring Your Parent To Work Days: Come observe your child working within the classroom to see what their day looks like!  Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-bring7

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

What a week it has been!  We had some very exciting days at the beginning  of the week full of SNOW right after we finished our focus topic of winter!  Thank you Mother Nature!

This week we started a new focus topic – Healthy Bodies!  We discussed Healthy Habits that keep us healthy such as: eating healthy foods, drinking water, sleeping, moving our bodies, and good hygiene.  We practiced washing our hands, learned why its important to brush our teeth, and talked about how soap works.

During preschool lesson, we introduced the five food groups: proteins, grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy.  We learned that proteins make us strong, grains give us energy, fruits and vegetables keep us healthy, and dairy keeps our teeth and bones strong.  We also discussed what we call “Grow Foods” and “Sometimes Foods”.

Happy Birthday to our newest 5 year old!

Enrichment Spotlight – Library with Ms. Cat!

We were able to visit Ms. Cat in the library this week to talk about snow!  We read The Snowy Day and then sang a special snowflake song.  We love visiting with Ms. Cat!

We Don’t Talk About Bruno!

As your children work throughout the day, they often sing to themselves.  And there’s only one song that we’ve heard the past few weeks… I am sure you can guess what it is!  So we had an impromptu “Encanto” dance party this week!  It was amazing!

Peek Into Next Week!

Focus Topic:  Internal Organs and Healthy Foods

Letter of the Week: Gg

Number of the Week: 11

Important Dates:  February 14: Valentine’s Day – Pajama Day & Show and Tell

February 18: NO SCHOOL – Teacher Inservice Day

February 21: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day

Bring Your Parent To Work Days: Come observe your child working within the classroom to see what their day looks like!  Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-bring7

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

This week we discussed Hibernation, Migration, and Adaptation!  We talked all about animals that need to sleep through the cold months, the animals that move south where it is warmer, and the animals that grow extra fur or feathers so that they can stay here for the winter.  We learned that wood frogs almost freeze completely solid except for their hearts and lungs, arctic foxes fur can change from brown to white to help with camoflauge, and birds are not the only animals that migrate – humpback whales and caribou do too!

We also participated in our winter Wildlife Wednesday!  While discussing the types of birds that adapt to our Northeast Ohio weather we determined that it would be hard for them to find food.  Our solution was to feed the birds  that we often see outside of our classroom windows!  We hung up two bird feeders right outside our classroom and then made our own bird feeders to place in the bushes outside.  We are looking forward to bird watching all winter long!

All About Those Shapes!

My favorite part of the Montessori environment is that the children direct their own learning.  Our lesson plans said winter, but the students decided they needed to learn as much about shapes this week as they possibly could!  We spent many line times this week talking about sides and angles, as well as looking for shapes all over the school building!  We adore their excitement about the world around them!

Enrichment Spotlight – Music with Ms. Lisa!

We have been studying “Peter and the Wolf” during music class.  Each character in the story is portrayed by a different instrument.  We have enjoyed listening to these different instruments and acting out the story.

Peek Into Next Week!

Focus Topic:  Healthy Habits and Healthy Foods

Letter of the Week: Xx

Number of the Week: Making 10

Important Dates:  January 17: NO SCHOOL – MLK Jr. Day

February 14: Valentine’s Day – Pajama Day & Show and Tell

February 18: NO SCHOOL – Teacher Inservice Day

February 21: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day

Bring Your Parent To Work Days: Come observe your child working within the classroom to see what their day looks like!  Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-bring7

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

Happy New Year and Welcome Back Cherry Blossoms! We hope you had a restful, healthy winter break and a wonderful holiday season with your families.

This week we jumped right back into learning!  We were quite surprised to learn that the month, year, and season changed while we were at home for winter break!  We said hello to January, practiced saying 2022, and discussed what is special about the winter season.

Check out what new winter works are on our shelves!

Snowflakes!

The best part of winter weather is snow!  We took some time this week to learn all about snowflakes.  We learned that ice crystals form inside clouds, the ice crystals then stick together to form snowflakes! We know that snowflakes have 6 points and that it is unlikely that any two snowflakes look exactly the same!

 

Our New Number Blocks!

One of our amazing families donated these number blocks to our classroom.  We are enjoying using them to explore putting numbers in order and seeing that they grow from small to big or big to small.  We’re also using these number blocks to start an exploration with addition!

Enrichment Spotlight – Science with Mr. John!

Mr. John introduced us to absorbency this week.  We saw how much water a paper towel will absorb vs. a diaper! And one of our friends found out what happens when there’s not enough absorbency for all of the water!

Peek Into Next Week!

Focus Topic:  Winter/Adaptation, Hibernation, Migration

Letter of the Week: Mm

Number of the Week: 1-10 with the Colored Bead Bars

Important Dates:  January 17: NO SCHOOL – MLK Jr. Day

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

We continued our study of Holidays!  St. Nicholas surprised us on Monday when he left some chocolates in our shoes!  We loved our special dessert at lunchtime! We introduced Kwanzaa and Las Posadas this week.  We talked about where in the world these holidays are celebrated, the history behind the celebrations, and symols associated with these holidays.

On the Work Shelves for December!

THE CHRISTMAS SHOW!

Your children have practiced so hard for the Christmas Show… which is TONIGHT!  We are so proud of all of their hard work preparing these songs to share with you.

Peek Into Next Week!

Next week we will be discussing Christmas!  We will be working on some super secret projects for our families, and enjoying our last week together before winter break with some fun days!

MONDAY 12/13 – Wear Red or Green

TUESDAY 12/14 – Crazy Sock Day

WEDNESDAY 12/15 – Hat Day (Can be holiday related but doesn’t need to be!)

THURSDAY 12/16 – Wear your Holiday Attire!  Christmas sweaters, tshirts, whatever you have!

FRIDAY 12/17 – PAJAMA DAY!  During the afternoon, we will be participating in holiday games, show & tell, a movie and a snack.  More info to follow!

WINTER BREAK – NO SCHOOL – December 20th – January 2nd.  School resumes Monday, January 3rd.

This is the perfect hat for Hat Day next week!

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

The Cherry Blossom Classroom has been learning all about Holidays!  We started with Thanksgiving – we discussed Pilgrims and Native Americans, feasts to celebrate the harvest, and things that we are grateful for.  We hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

This week, we discussed two holidays – Hanukkah and St. Nicholas Day.  We talked about where in the world these two holidays are celebrated, the history behind the celebrations, and the symbols associated with the holidays.  We created menorahs in class and will have a special St. Nicholas Day surprise on Monday!

Wooly Bear Winter Predictions!

One of our students found a couple wooly bear caterpillars at her home.  She shared pictures of Spark and Rambo and we observed how much brown and how much black we saw on the caterpillars.  We discussed that some people believe the wooly bear caterpillar can predict what type of winter weather we will have just by how much brown and black you see on their bodies!  FYI, the wooly bear caterpillars are predicting a long, cold, snowy winter!

All New Works for December!

Take a look at all of our new work trays for December!  We are having so much fun exploring new materials!

 

Enrichment Spotlight – Music with Ms. Lisa!

Cherry Blossom students are working hard preparing for our Christmas Show!  We practiced singing on stage this week!

Peek Into Next Week!

We will continue our study of different holidays around the world – focusing on Kwanzaa and Las Posadas.  We will also continue preparing for THE CHRISTMAS SHOW!

Letter of the Week: Yy

Number of the Week: 1-10

Important Dates:

Christmas Show Rehearsal: Wednesday, December 8th

Christmas Show: Friday, December 10th

Pajama Day: Friday, December 17

Winter Break – No School: December 20-December 31.  School Resumes on Monday, January 3rd.

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

We continued our focus lesson on Animal Classification this week!  We reviewed vertebrates and invertebrates. We introduced two vertebrate animal groups – Birds and Fish!  We learned the difference between warm blooded and cold blooded, feathers and scales, lungs and gills!

One of our amazing parents shared with us their bird feeders via their live cam this week! We were able to observe various types of birds throughout the day. We discussed male vs female, the different colors we saw, and the foods they ate. We even saw a few squirrels! Thank you so much for sharing this amazing experience with us!

If you’d like to check this out with your child at home, follow this link: https://youtube/MtGUTs_HgcE

We also took a field trip to Mr. John’s classroom to observe all the different fish he has in his aquariums. We observed how the fish move their fins and tails while they swim, and looked hard to spot gills. We found it super interesting that fish breathe through gills!

Art for Kids Hub!

During our bird and fish lessons this week, we took some time to draw our own animals using Art for Kids Hub on YouTube! These are wonderful step by step art lessons for kids and the children loved challenging themselves!

And just for fun… a joke from one of our friends.

“What is pizza plus dice?”

“Domino’s!”

Enrichment Spotlight – Science with Mr. John!

We absolutely love Thursday afternoons when we get to visit Mr. John in the Science Lab! We are doing very well using our 5 senses to observe as scientists and vocalizing our hypothesis before each experiment.

Happy (belated) Halloween from the Cherry Blossoms!

Thank you for joining us for the first annual Absorbent Minds Truck or Treat!

Peek Into Next Week!

We will continue our study of Classification of Animals.  We will review Vertebrates and Invertebrates. We will review Mammals, Bird, Fish,  and introduce Reptiles and Amphibians!

Letter: Ii

Number: 9

Languages:  Counting in German and ASL

Important Dates:

November 12: Parent/Teacher Conferences – No School for Students

November 24-26: Thanksgiving Break – No School!