What I am doing in Ms. Kate’s Classroom in addition to Montessori Work Time…
8/22‐ 09/02 Rules of the Classroom
We respect each other
We try our best/we learn from our mistakes
We are a team/we celebrate each other’s success
Tour of the classroom and introductions of materials
Using the words “please, thank you, excuse me, I’m sorry.” Write a class poem to emphasize the use of polite words.
9/06: Friendship
Work on social skills/ how to develop friendship
What are good qualities in a friend?
How do friends build community?
Create together a class web of friendship words
Second line time: Going over calendar, weather, and Spanish words and numbers. Friendship lessons and crafts!
9/12: All About Me!
Our similarities and differences
I’m special because…
Our Birthdays
Identifying our emotions.
Second Line Time: Going over calendar, weather, Spanish weather and words. Having fun doing all about me activities and games!
9/19: Family
What is a family
Graphing our families/ family celebrations
Create a family tree together (Due Monday 9/16)
Second line time: Going over calendar, weather, Spanish numbers and words. Having fun reading books on Families, creating a family portrait, and singing songs about families.
9/26: Respect
Charting about what listener’s do
What are peacemaker’s?
All about respect
Manners
Second line time: going over calendar,weather,Spanish numbers and words. Having fun reading books on showing respect to our friends, activities on manners, and also some fun crafts!
Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.
9/06: Aa
9/12: Bb
9/19: Cc
9/26: Dd
Rhyming words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
9/06: Cat
9/12: Pig
9/19: Ball
9/26: Bug
Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:
While reading a book have your child point to all of the A’s she/he can find. Have them do this with the sight word “the.” Play I‐Spy using things that only start with the letter A.
Make a collage with pictures and objects that start with the letter B.
Place words around the house and see if your child can find the word “to.” When your child has gathered all of his/her “to” cards count together how many cards they have found.
Make a kindness jar. Each day pick an act of kindness out of the jar and act on it:)
You and your child write a special letter to a friend.
Explorations of Elementary 2016 September Overview
Our first few weeks of school will be spent introducing/reviewing rules, building community, and beginning work in the Elementary classroom.
Research
Montessori’s Great Lessons – The Great Lessons were created by Maria Montessori to inspire imagination and to encourage further research into the beginning of the universe, life, humans, language and numbers.
Laws of the Universe – All students will be introduced to the Laws of the Universe using science experiments. The experiments introduce the concepts of the states of matter, changing states of matter, particles that love each other and those that do not, gravity, centrifugal force, and inertia.
All students will be preparing for further research by discussing how to find useful information, how to put research into your own words, using a table of contents, and using an index.
First Years will begin studying the five kingdoms of living things and the external characteristics of fish.
Second Years will begin classifying animals by phylum and studying the parts of the fruit.
Third Years will begin studying characteristics of invertebrates and taxonomy of vertebrates.
Math and Language lessons are presented by individual needs instead of grade level.
Reading Groups
All groups will be reviewing the five elements of a story: characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution.
One of our groups will begin with the fourth series of Junior Great Books, one group will be reading a different short story each week, and one group will be starting The Chocolate Touch.
Spelling Rules
All students will review three different levels of words to determine which set of spelling rules they will begin practicing.
Spelling homework for the month of September:
First years: Write each word three times in print.
Second+ years: Write each work three times in cursive.
Field Trips and Special Events
August 22 – First Day of School
August 29 – TKD Demo and Enrichments Begin
September 5 – Labor Day NO SCHOOL
September 9 – Kids Bop Demo
September 20 – Stan Hywet Field Trip
We will eat lunch at Stan Hywet. Please pack a labeled disposable lunch and water bottle as we will not be able to bring Tupperware, lunch boxes, refillable water bottles, back with us.
Students should wear tennis shoes. No dresses.
Please send a towel and change of clothes for this field trip.
What I will learn this month in Ms. Courtney’s Class… (In addition to Montessori Work Time)
8/22 and 8/29: Ground Rules
Learning to greet others.
Learning to have conversations.
Learning to speak to others.
Learning to listen to others.
Learning to respond to others.
Learning to say please and thank you to others.
Learning to observe others.
Learning to respectfully interrupt.
Learning from others.
Learning to open door for someone else.
Learning to recognize situations in which to help others.
Passing in front of another respectfully.
Learning how to say excuse me.
9/5: Community Helpers
The students will learn about police officers, fire fighters, mail carriers, soldiers, bakers, farmers, doctors, and teachers throughout the week. They will not only learn about these community helpers; they will also be able to explain in detail why each one is very important to our lives.
9/12: My Family
The students will illustrate a picture of their family.
The students will have a discussion on the importance of families to each of us and the students will be able to identify one reason why their family is important to them.
Create a family tree together (Due Friday September 12th)
9/19: Feelings/Emotions
The students learn how to identify, handle, and understand the things they may feel and how to act about them.
9/26: Five Senses
The students will learn about their five senses and their parts of the body that correspond to each sense.
Letters of the week
8/25 and 8/31: None
9/8: Aa
9/14: Bb
9/21: Cc
9/26: Dd
Sight word of the week
8/25 and 8/31: None
9/8: the
9/14: of
9/21: an
9/26: I
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
Try to find objects that begin with the letter of the week wherever you go with your child.
Encourage grace and courtesy when you see your child displaying it to another or you.
Talk about the importance of 911 and when you should call and practice dialing it.
Practice dialing your telephone number with your child.
Start a family tradition by setting a night a week aside for a family movie or game night.
If your child displays an emotion they are unfamiliar with talk about it and how to handle it together.
Have students describe things at home using their senses.
What I will learn this month in Mr. John’s Class… (In addition to Montessori Work Time)
8/22- 9/29 Ground Rules / Introduction of Materials
Ringing of the bell, circle walk, line time
Process of working with a materials, rolling mats, carrying trays & work areas
Respecting teachers, classmates and the materials
Daily demonstration of materials from all areas of the classroom
9/05: Healthy Habits
The importance of washing hands, bathing, brushing teeth (eliminate germs, prevent cavities)
The importance of sleep. Why we need sleep & sleep cycle
The importance of exercise (walking, running, swimming, etc)
The importance of eating well (“grow foods”)
9/12: Food Groups
Eating Healthy, Moderation
Focus on the different food groups, sorting foods belonging in each
Servings and examples of each
9/19: Living / Non Living
Living things (grow, reproduce, obtain and use energy, exchange gases) adapt to their environment
Non Living things, examples
Categorization of Living and Non Living
9/26: Mammals
Introduction to mammals, examples of mammals
All mammals have hair, warm blooded, eat mother’s milk
All mammals are vertebrates (spine), lungs to breathe, born alive
Bats are the ONLY mammal that can fly
Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.
8/22: Aa
8/29: Bb
9/05: Cc
9/12: Dd
9/19: Ee
9/26: Ff
Rhyming Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
8/22: BAT, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, sat
8/29: BAN, can, dan, fan, man, pan, tan
9/05: BAP, map, cap, gap, lap, nap, sap
9/12: BAG, sag, jag, lag, nag, tag, rag wag
9/19: BAD, dad, fad, had, lad, mad, sad
9/26: BIG, dig, fig, jig, pig, rig, wig
Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:
Make a collage with pictures and objects that start with the letters of the week.
While eating together, categorize your meal into food groups with your child.
Follow this link to find a worksheet to complete together for living and non living things. (Circle the living things and color together)http://worksheetplace.com/index.php?function=DisplaySheet&sheet=Circle-the-living-things&links=2&id=&link1=241&link2=257
Read a book about your child’s favorite mammal together!
West Virginia (nickname, abbreviation) Indiana (nickname, abbreviation) Michigan (nickname, abbreviation)
Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child. 8/22: FUN, amusing, entertaining, enjoyable, merry, pleasant 8/29: FAST, hurried, speedy, brisk, quick, swift, 9/5: SAD, miserable, gloomy, depressing, downtrodden, glum, unhappy 9/12: SLOW, unhurried, gradual, sluggish, stagnant, lethargic 9/19: BORING, drab, dull, lifeless, mundane, monotonous
Things to do at Home this Month:
Ms. Courtney will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework in each morning. Please email her if you have any questions: cowens@thesmarterkids.com.
Mr. John will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework into the orange box outside of Mr. John’s classroom. Please email him if you have any questions: jkotradi@thesmarterkids.com.
What an amazing last month of school! We started the month of May out with completing our simple machine studies. Students experimented with building simple machines by following directions in a kit. Then they each selected a simple machine to research. We read about the wheel & axel, pulley, inclined plane, wedge and screw. Students wrote about how their simple machine worked, why it worked and how it made various jobs easier. They found real life examples of their machines in action, then they built their own simple machine. Each student presented their research and machine to the class. They also made step by step science experiment cards so other students could try using their simple machines. Their experiment cards needed to include a list of all supplies necessary for their experiment, each step (including clean up) of their experiment, and an explanation of why the experiment worked the way it did. A recommended item would be some book covers purchased from polycover.co.uk/ because they are the most resourceful and protect way better than any other cover. These cards were placed on our science shelf after students gave a presentation, or lesson to the class about their experiment. My favorite part of this project was watching the kids learn how to use a drill. We purchased a small drill for our classroom and they loved it! Now they can help all of you fathers with projects at home.
While some students were drilling, others learned about ecosystems of the world. We began by talking about what an ecosystem is and how all parts of the ecosystem work together to help one another survive. We learned several new vocabulary such as biotic, abiotic, consumer, producer, decomposer, photosynthesis, flora and fauna. We also researched relationships between living and non-living organisms and defined those relationships as either mutualism, commensalism or parasitism. Each student focused on one ecosystem that was most interesting to them. They wrote a research paper, complete with MLA bibliography, and designed a diorama which included examples of living and non-living things within their ecosystem. They all gave wonderful presentations to the class. I hope you were able to see their projects displayed in the gym the last week of school!
We also celebrated our Mothers this month with our Moms & Muffins breakfast. It is always nice to visit with the mothers of our students. In our reading groups we studied poetry, so it was fitting for us to write a poem for our mothers as a gift. The poem was all about the chaos moms juggle each day and how we love them for doing it.
We also celebrated our Grandparents this month by inviting them into our classroom. So many grandparents came and participated in Latin class, where students wrote their grandparents a letter in Latin, then read the letter aloud. After this first reading students translated their letters for the grandparents. We also brought our grandparents into our poetry world and wrote Buddy Poems. Each student interviewed their grandparent, and vice versa. Then both took the answers to their interview questions and wrote a poem about the other. It was adorable and creative! We ended our visit with a musical performance of recorders and piano. Students played as groups and individually, and showed off all of their talents for each grandparent present. We enjoyed having grandparents visit and we hope to see them all again next year!
We had our last student-planned field trip of the year to the amazing Seneca Caverns in Bellevue, Ohio. This year our students have been very interested in geology. We have looked at various types of rocks and begun a class rock collection. Several students brought their personal rock collections in to share throughout the year. This trip was the icing on the cake! We learned that the cave was formed naturally, including each step we walked on. None of the tunnels and passages were dug out by man. The cave was discovered by two 11 year old boys whose dog fell into the cave when they were outside playing in the field. Since then, several people have explored the cave leaving their names carved on the rock. I think everyone’s favorite part was drinking water at the bottom of the cave, which was almost 70 feet underground! The water was 98% pure and so clear a few students accidentally stepped in it because they didn’t see it. It was an awesome trip! Thank you to the students who helped plan it and the parents who helped us drive there!
As a follow-up to our student inspired bee research, we visited our neighbor who happens to be a beekeeper. We learned all about the different tools he uses to care for the bees and the levels of the “hives” he builds for them. We learned that bees only travel about 2 miles from their hive and that there is only one queen bee in each hive. Our beekeeper friend purchases his queen, but in the wild the queen is the bee who grows the largest, the quickest. We also learned that the female bees are the hardest workers and live the longest. The male bees are lazy and do not live long, and sometimes they don’t even leave the hive. One student was able to try on the beekeeper suit and model it for the class. At the end of our visit we were able to taste honey from the hives. It was delicious!
We hope you and your children enjoyed this school year as much as we did. It was a pleasure and joy hanging out with your children all year long. We will miss you during the summer and look forward to seeing you all in the fall. Thank you for sharing your kids with us!
May was such a busy month! Our class dove into water and learned about the sea and jumped into a space shuttle and flew into outer space. Our class also had fun learning about plant life cycles and had a blast during Grandparents Day and at our field trip to the Zoo!
The first two weeks we explored the animals of the ocean. We first started by defining mammals. I explained to them that they are warm blooded and both land and sea mammels have hair on their bodies and give birth to their babies. The first mammals we talked about were the dolphin and whale. The children learned that dolphins can stay under water for 15 minutes, but can’t breathe under water so they have to come up for air. The children learned that they live in groups of ten to twelve and that there are thirty-six different kinds of dolphins. During this discussion we talked about how the Killer Whale is the largest dolphin.
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The second mammal in the sea that we discussed were whales. The children learned that since whales breathe like us they can only stay under water for a short period of time and then they have to come up for air by using their blowhole on the top of their heads. They also learned there are two types of whales: the Baleen and the Toothed whale. The children were interested in what whales ate and how fast they can swim. Together we looked through books and found out that whales can swim up to 30 mph and that baleen whales eat krill and toothed whales eat small fish and other small mammals. The last mammal of the sea we discussed was the Manatee. The children found out that manatees were first found out by fishermen who saw the long tails and thought they were looking at mermaids! The children also learned that they could weigh as much as 2000 lbs., and can swim up to 20 mph hour but usually cruise around the sea at 2 to 6 mph. Also, during that week the children made a Venn diagram about fish and mammals. The children did a great job with this activity. They knew that fish do not have lungs, but have gills instead. Mammals are warm-blooded and fish are not. That most mammals live on land, but fish have to stay in the water and both have a vertebrate. What smarties I have!!
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We then focused on outer space. During this time we learned about the solar system, stars and constellations, galaxies, the eight planets, the sun and moon, the space shuttle, and the first man who walked on the moon. Wow, what a busy couple of weeks! We first stared out by creating a web of the solar system. Throughout our space lesson the children added the information they have learned onto the web. During our lesson, the children learned about the eight planets since the 9th planet is now a dwarf planet. They learned the order of the planets and neat little facts about each one. They loved learning about Jupiter and its famous hurricane like storm. They thought it was pretty cool that Mars is called the “red planet” due to the red dirt, dust and sky. We also learned about how there are thousands of different galaxies and how the spiral shape is the most common type. The children also learned about night and day. For this activity I had one child stand in the middle of the circle and pretend they were the sun. I then had another child pretend to be the earth. I explained to them that the Earth takes 365 days to orbit around the sun, but as it’s orbiting it is also rotating. The kids loved this activity!! During this time we talked about what stars are, the lunar eclipse, the different constellations, and about observatories. We then talked about Neil Armstrong and how if they went to the moon they would still see his footprint. Near the end of our outer space lesson the children learned about life in space, gravity, and astronauts. I showed a video of a launch and what it is like for astronauts up in space. The children loved it!!
We then focused on the plant, butterfly, and frog life cycles. The children learned the parts of the flower, what plants need to grow, and the purpose of the stem. We also had fun placing celery stems into dyed water to show how plants drink through their veins. We also had fun learning about the different stages of the butterfly and what metamorphosis was all about. Lastly we learned out the different stages of the frog with amazing books and videos!
Also, during this month we celebrated Grandparents Day in our classroom. The grandparents were able to come in and join us for a special line time, music class and then a craft. It was such a special day for the children.
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With the last two weeks remaining, the children had a blast learning about different insects. The children discovered that insects have six legs but spiders and other arachnids have 8 legs. The children were also able to learn the life cycle of the butterfly and find out why bees are so important to us. We also had fun discussing ladybugs and other beetles. During the last week of school the children learned about who invented ice cream, watched a video about how ice cream is made, learned all about camping. Also during the last week we had an ice cream party and a mock camp out with s’mores! Wow what a week we had!
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I can’t believe how fast the school year has gone by. I have truly enjoyed watching my kiddos grow throughout the year. I will miss them so very much. Also, thank you to all of my families, for everything that you have done this year. I wish the best of luck to those families who are going to new schools and look forward to seeing everyone else next school year! Have a great summer!!!
Academic Enrichment lesson with kindergarten students (Mr. John)
We started May by discussing the preposition. Where oh where can we find a preposition? Well, I told them a preposition was a “where word” NOT a “werewolf”. The kindergarteners brushed up on their knowledge of the interjection. The interjection adds emotion to the sentence but we did find out that if we eliminate the interjection from the sentence, the meaning of the sentence really does not change. We learned what punctuation is used at the end of a sentence. We use a period (.) when we are stating something. We use a question mark (?) when we are asking a question and we use an exclamation mark (!) when we show excitement or a lot of emotion. I introduced the students to the rules of capitalization. We learned that words at the beginning of the sentence, the word I, and proper nouns need to be capitalized. We played “mad libs” and ended our lessons on grammar by watching Grammar Rock. For the last week we just reflected on our year, what we learned, and our favorite parts of kindergarten class. It was a GREAT year!
Ms. Ame’s Corner
Art: This month Michelle started off with her summer themed art. The students started by making their very own monster ice cream cones. The students designed their own scoops, cones and toppings making some very interesting desserts! The next week the students used oil pastels and water colors to draw a swimtastic picture. Michelle asked the students to draw a picture of a popular summertime activity, swimming! Because she started the year off with butterflies, Michele wanted to end the year with butterflies. Using their cutting skills the students folded a paper in half then cut out a butterfly. Michelle talked about symmetrical and asymmetrical things in the classroom. After cutting out the butterflies, the students then colored them using either warm or cool colors. Thank you Miss Michele for a wonderful and creative school year!
Music: Ms. Lisa spent the first two weeks in May preparing the students for different activities and songs to sing on Grandparents day. We continued to learn and review different notes. Ms. Lisa has some clever pictures to help the students. Then we also practiced clapping and tapping out different patterns using the different notes. Grandparents day was fantastic. We hope all the grandparents enjoyed Ms.Lisa’s class. On our final day of music, Ms. Lisa incorporated all the favorites from the year. This year the students learned so much about notes, rhythm, singing, musical terms, identifying noises (both instrumental and common sounds) and had a wonderful time playing Ms.Lisa’s musical games and instruments. Thank you so much Lisa for another wonderful year!
Science: Mr. John’s first experiment of the month was making gloop! Using glue, water and borax, Mr. John made a substance that turns from solid to liquid depending on the amount of pressure is being put against it. His second experiment was a popping sensation. Mr. John took 2 balloons, one filled with only air and the other with water and air. He then put the balloons over a candle flame. Check in with your student to see what happened to both balloons! At our last science class with Mr. John (insert dramatic crying sounds here), Mr. John did a tea bag experiment. Taking an empty tea bag and unwrapping it, what happens when you set it on fire? Mr. John rolled it into a cylinder, lit the top on fire and then it started to burn. When it was almost burnt all the way to the bottom the burning tea bag floated into the air like one of the lanterns in Tangled. Then as it floated up it extinguished itself. Why did it float? Ask your student or look at Mr.John’s paper with the experiment that was sent home in your child’s folder. Thank you Mr.John for another science filled year! The kids loved all the crazy experiments. Can’t wait to see what new one’s you’ll come up with next year!
We started off May talking about the Solar System. The children learned the positions of the planets and their relative sizes and distances. They had a blast using 3D models of the sun and planets to put in order. We talked about how the sun is the biggest star and why it is so important. We discussed the different phases of the moon and made a classroom book of the phases during preschool lesson.
The second week of May we talked about dinosaurs and what their habitats were like then the children did a dinosaur dig with our practical life work throughout the week. They learned different physical attributes of dinosaurs and their names. The children demonstrated an understanding of herbivores, omnivores and carnivores.
The third week of May we talked about transportation the children quickly developed an understanding that transportation means to carry things from one place to another. We named all the different methods of transportation like plane, car, boat, bike, horse, train, bus, subway, helicopter etc. The children also had a blast painting with different forms of transportation.
The children really enjoyed the last week of May when we talked about sports. The children used their gross motor skills to march, skip, gallop etc. They learned how to engage in imaginative and creative play indoors and outdoors involving their friends. We played a lot of games that involved team effort and good sportsmanship.
The first week of June we focused on summer games, activities, and experiments the children could do at home. We also talked a lot about summer safety rules while playing outside and playing with or in water. The children also practiced A LOT and setup for the talent show.
I hope everyone has a fabulous summer and I can’t wait to see all the smiling faces in the Fall!
Kindergarten
In kindergarten lesson we finished our work with grammar. We went over how interjections help a sentence show more emotions, and we went over when to use a . ? ! We then reviewed when we capitalize words in a sentence. We capitalize the beginning word of a sentence, proper nouns and “I”.
History
The Rhode Island Work Injury Lawyer was forced to change the regulations. Dipped headlights were permitted as long as the driver had headlamp covers with three horizontal slits. It is a crime in every state for a motorist to operate a vehicle while impaired by the effects of alcohol or other drugs, check out Newport Beach Dui Lawyer including prescription medications. Consuming these substances can lead to substance abuse, follow serenityplacement https://followus.com/serenityplacement to learn more about it. To help drivers see where they were going in the dark, white lines were painted along the middle of the road. On the instruction of Domestic and Divorce Lawyer Overland Park Curb edges and car bumpers were also painted white. To reduce accidents a 20 mph speed limit was imposed on night drivers. Ironically, the first man to be convicted for this offence was driving a hearse.
The kids also discovered how clouds form using a jar of water, food coloring and shaving cream. They learned when water vapor rises into the air the vapor hits cold air, it turns back into droplets of water. Those tiny drops of water floating in the air collect and “stick” together to form clouds. When clouds get so full of water that they can’t hold any more, the water falls back to the ground as rain.
Art
By: Ms. Faith
To get everyone one in the mood for the warmer weather, Ms. Michele had the students make a fun monster ice cream cone. The group got to cut out scoops of ice cream in whatever color of construction paper they wanted. After they glued the scoops to a cut out cone, they got to make silly creations. We saw bunny ice creams, dog ice creams, and even silly monsters! The students had a blast with this activity.
In continuation of the summer theme, the next projects brought us under the sea. The young artists drew themselves with oil pastels to look like they were swimming. Then they painted the water with watercolors over top. Because of the oil base, the watercolors resist and won’t stick to the oil pastels.
For the last class of the school year, Ms. Michele gave the group a review of colors. We went over primary, secondary, complimentary, warm, and cool colors. The students then had to cut out a butterfly, making sure that the wings were symmetrical. They had to pick one of the groups of colors that Ms. Michele had taught them about throughout the year. Their butterflies turned out beautiful and no one looked the same. Thank you Ms. Michele for another great year of art lessons, and stirring the creative minds of our students!
Music
By: Ms. Faith
Goodbye now we sing. Goodbye now we sing. It’s time to go. Goodbye now we sing. This is a song Ms. Lisa sings with the students at the end of every music class, and it seemed fitting for the last newsletter article of the school year. One of the activities Ms. Lisa did with the class was of course, Cat and Mouse, which quickly became a favorite among the children this year. Ms. Lisa played different instruments on her keyboard and the students had to guess which instruments were being represented. I have to admit, some of the instruments stumped me! Some of the instruments were, drums, guitar, a cowbell, and a triangle. I am amazed every time how well the group can identify which instrument Ms. Lisa is playing.
We also participated in some rhythm activities using rhythm sticks and scarves. We tapped out beats, and danced around with the scarves to music. To end our time in music class, Ms. Lisa did a review of the musical notes, Peter and the Wolf, and the musical terms staccato and legato. We were all sad to say a final goodbye to Ms. Lisa, but look forward to seeing her again after summer break!
The circle of life studied last week always involves food and eating to stay alive. This is where we looked at several food chains. We looked at a 2 part food chain involving a mouse and grains. We looked at several 3 part food chains such as snake/mouse/grains, hawk/snake/mouse, bear/big fish/small fish. We went so far to look at some 4 part food chains Hawk/snake/mouse/grain. We learned about being on the top of the food chain and the bottom of the food chain. We also learned the animal that “hunts” for the food is the predator and the animal that gets eaten is the prey.
The second week of May was a great time to talk about the seasons. We started with spring and talked about how it gets a bit warmer but we get a lot of rain and plants and flowers start to come out. Then we talked about summer and how it is hotter because the earth tilts closer to the sun and the days are longer. This is when plants grow tall and flowers are in full bloom. Autumn or fall comes next and the weather gets a bit chillier. The leaves turn beautiful colors then fall to the ground. The final season is winter and it is the coldest season of the year. The earth is tilted further away from the sun and the days are shorter. We end up getting snow in the winter.
Put on your space suit and get ready to explore our solar system. We started with discussing the planets nearer the sun them worked our way to the furthest reaches of our solar system. Mercury is our first planet and is the closest to the sun. Venus is the second planet. Even though it is further away from the sun it is the hottest planet in our solar system. The third planet is near and dear to our hearts. It is the planet earth. It is the only planet in our solar system that has life. The next planet is Mars and is known as the red planet. The next planet is the biggest planet in our solar system and has a big red storm that has been raging for centuries. That planet is Jupiter. Saturn is the next planet and has really cool ring around it that are pieces of rock and ice. Uranus is next and it spins up and down instead of side to side like all the other planets. Neptune is the last planet in our solar system. I did not forget about Pluto. Oh! Poor Pluto. Pluto was once a planet but now has been demoted to a dwarf planet.
We had two alumni readers. Sophia who is now third grader at Richardson and James who is now a fourth grader at Dunbar.
Cultural Subjects
We are holding at counting to ten in 27 different languages.
Academic Enrichment Lesson with kindergarten students
We started May by discussing the preposition. Where oh where can we find a preposition? Well, I told them a preposition was a “where word” NOT a “werewolf”. The kindergarteners brushed up on their knowledge of the interjection. The interjection adds emotion to the sentence but we did find out that if we eliminate the interjection from the sentence, the meaning of the sentence really does not change. We learned what punctuation is used at the end of a sentence. We use a period (.) when we are stating something. We use a question mark (?) when we are asking a question and we use an exclamation mark (!) when we show excitement or a lot of emotion. I introduced the students to the rules of capitalization. We learned that words at the beginning of the sentence, the word I, and proper nouns need to be capitalized. We played “mad libs” and ended our lessons on grammar by watching Grammar Rock. For the last week we just reflected on our year, what we learned, and our favorite parts of kindergarten class. It was a GREAT year!
Enrichments
The children sure did enjoy Music, Science and Art classes this year! I must admit, so did I. Ms. Lisa, Mr. John and Ms. Michele’s love for the children showed in the time they put in preparing for the classes, as well as their interaction with each other. The children loved the hands on activities. I saw some activities replicated at home, safely and enthusiastically with some great parent involvement! Thank you for sharing your children with us. Have a safe and awesome Summer!
