Category Archive for "Classroom Corners" | Absorbent Minds Montessori School

Ms. Courtney’s January 2015 Newsletter

Posted on February 6, 2015 at 2:53 pm.

Classroom

We kicked off January by talking about polar animals. The children enjoyed making fake snow out of hair conditioner and baking soda and playing in it to build snowmen, igloo’s and snowballs. The students also enjoyed waddling around the classroom like penguins.

The second week in January we learned all about ocean animals. We learned about things that exist in an ocean habitat like sand, small shells, smooth stones, seaweed, coral etc.

After having Martin Luther King Jr. Day off we talked about how he was a hero because he was brave and honest (noble). We shared who are heroes are and who we’d like to be like someday with the most popular answers being either Mom or Dad. We discussed how MLK made a speech and worked hard toward peace because back then people were treated badly if they did not have the same color skin. Each child made a picture of what their dream was and wrote about it to create a class book for the library.

The last week in January we took an imaginary trip to the zoo and sang all about the tigers, lions, chimpanzees, kangaroos etc. Some of our friends even invited their favorite zoo stuffed animals to school to spend the day with them during work time, line time, recess, lunch and snack.

Kindergarten

The kindergarteners have been working so hard on their journals. I hope you enjoyed the ones they brought home! They also started practicing writing in cursive. I can’t believe how they cruised through learning addition and multiplication with the golden beads. We have even been working on more abstract materials like the stamp game and dot board to solve our problems.

Science

For the first week of January we were curious to see what salt would do to ice so we froze a block of ice. Then took turns placing spoonful’s of salt onto the ice. It was interesting to watch the salt create holes in the ice. After the holes were created we took turns dripping primary food colors into the holes and the colors mixed together to form new colors.

We made waves in the bottle and discovered that on our planet waves happen when our earth spins on its axis and water is pulled by gravity across the geological formations of the ocean floor. When we moved the bottle we got to see the energy move through the water to make waves, just like out in the deep blue sea!

For science we also took two eggs one white the other brown that have not been cooked and compared their similarities and differences on the outside and took a guess as to whether they will be the same or different on the inside. We determined even though different on the outside, they were the same on the inside, just like people!

Milk goes great with a lot of things: cereal, cookies, cake, and pie. So we decided to mix it with a bottle of coke. The milk and coke separated when the phosphoric acid molecules attached to the molecules of the milk which increased the density and separated them from the rest of the liquid. The remaining liquids had less density than the phosphoric acid and milk molecules so they float on top.

Enrichments by Ms. Faith

Art

For three weeks of January the students worked to create an imaginary creature with Ms. Michele. This project is always enjoyed by the students and brings more whimsy into the classroom. To start the lesson, Ms. Michele talked to the group about mythical creatures and showed some examples of artists’ renditions of the creatures. After this, each child got to pick three pictures of animals and had to choose one part of each of the animals to use in drawing a new creature. The next week, the students then got to create an armature out of foil, which is the base structure for their sculpture. Once the armature was in place, the young artists formed clay around the foil and the creatures began to come to life. After the clay animals were baked, the class got to paint their creatures. The students loved making up their own creature and letting their creativity soar. To end the month, Ms. Michele started a new series where each week she will introduce a new artist and we will complete an artwork in the style of the individual. The first artist we learned about was Claude Monet, who is very well known for the Surrealism movement. Surrealism style is soft and blurry, which some believe to be caused by Monet having poor eyesight. To recreate this style, Ms. Michele had the students use their fingertips to make dots of different colored paint all over a piece of paper. Once the colors were blended together by their fingerprints, it created a blurrier look just like Claude’s. We are all in suspense to find out who the next artist Ms. Michele will introduce us to next week!

Music

This past month in music class, Ms. Lisa shared the story of Peter and the Wolf by Sergi Prokofiev. The story is a musical symphony that was commissioned by the Central Children’s Theatre in Moscow in 1936. Each character in the story is represented by a different instrument; the flute is used to copy the sound of the bird, the cat is represented by the slinking sound of the clarinet, the oboe plays a smooth sound that reminds the listener of the duck swimming gracefully on the water, the character of Peter’s grandfather has a bassoon which plays low and slow notes, and the hunters’ melody is loud and in a marching tempo with the woodwind instruments and timpani drums. Now the villain of the story, the wolf, has a sharp sneaky song that is played with the French horn, and last but not least, Peter, who is the hero, has the stringed instruments to play his triumphant and heroic theme. The students enjoyed the story and learning about the different instruments and their sounds. I was amazed at how well the children could recall which instrument played for the different characters each week. Peter and the Wolf is a very exciting symphony, which captivated the students’ attention and was able to expose the group to many different instruments.

January 2015 Newsletter

Posted on February 6, 2015 at 3:44 am.

Written by Kate Case

The winter months are flying by and hopefully spring will be upon us soon! This month the children have been enjoying our different themes and working hard on all of the works and our different practical life activities!

For the first week the children learned about whales. I introduced a whale book to them and then we started a chart called a “KWL” which stands for “What We Know, What We Want to Know and What We Learned.” It always amazes me how much information the children already know about a particular subject and the questions they come up with during lessons. They are fantastic questions! Some of the questions the children wanted to know were, “How far can they swim? What are some of the things whales eat? How many babies can they have? How long are whales?” At the end of the week we had a discussion about everything we learned. For example, the Blue Whale is the largest whale and is as long as a football field. And the humpback is as long as a basketball court! The children also learned about the whales’ blowholes and how they have one baby who stays with the mom for up to a year.

During that week the children did two science experiments. The first one was about how such a heavy animal like a whale could stay afloat. This activity reinforced how salt water is more dense than fresh and helps objects stay afloat. The second activity was all about blubber. We took two zip lock bags and filled one with lard and covered that with the second bag. The children then stuck their hand inside the bag and dipped it into ice-cold water. The children noticed that their hand never got cold. We discussed what blubber is and what it does for animals. The last day we discussed the different types of whales such as the Toothed Whale, Baleen Whale, the Blue Whale, and the Humpback.

The second week sparked a lot of interest in the children. We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The first activity we did was called “Being Treated Equally.” Now, before I lead any type of discussion I passed out a snack to just the boys. I then started reading the book, Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King. All through the book the girls were wondering why I wasn’t giving them any snack, and a few became upset. I didn’t explain to them why I did what I did until the story was over. I then asked the girls how they felt not receiving a snack. Sophia said, “I really felt left out.” Another child yelled out, “I felt mad when you didn’t give us anything!” I then talked about how at one point in our country’s past, African Americans were not able to do the same things that white people were able to do and further explained that this is how they felt. I then shared that a man named Martin Luther King changed all of this! I loved this activity because I think it really got the children interested in who he was and how things were back then.

The second activity was called, “We’re all the same on the inside.” This was a simple exercise on how we can look different on the outside, yet are the same on the inside. I first showed the children a brown egg and then a white egg. I asked them to describe what they saw. I then asked what they think each egg will look like on the inside. Almost all of them said the brown egg would be brown in the inside. I then cracked open both and the children were amazed to see that both eggs looked the same. After the activity we talked about how all of us look different but we think and feel the same things on the inside! It was an awesome activity!! The next day we discussed Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement. We also listened to a song called “We Shall Overcome,” a powerful song about what Martin Luther King wanted for himself and others.

We also did a fun project called “I have a dream hand-prints.” The children dipped one hand in brown paint and the other in pink paint and then made prints looking like two people who are holding hands. We then placed a heart in the middle of the hand-print. Afterwards the children wrote down the dreams that they have. On the last day I showed a clip of the “I Have a Dream” speech. After the speech we discussed what was said and what he wanted in life. It was a powerful week!

The third week we discussed Alaska and different types of Polar animals. The first day I came in dressed in my winter coat, boots, mittens, flashlight, a protein bar, a polar bear stuffed animal, and a map. I then had the children to guess my destination. I was going to Alaska! I showed the children a map and showed them where Alaska was located. I then provided Alaska coloring pages for the children to color while I read them a book about Alaska. Throughout the week the children learned fun facts about polar bears, walruses, and seals. The children learned that a walruses’ tusk are made out of ivory and are about two to three feet long.

The last week was all about Penguins. The first day each child had to pick an animal name card and keep it a secret. Once everyone had a name card they were able to walk around the room and make their specific animal sound. Once the child found their partner that was making the same sound they had to stand next to each other and be silent. Once everyone found their partner, I explained to them that in order for penguins to find their partner among hundreds of other penguins they must call for each other and locate them by their sound. Throughout the week the children learned that the Emperor Penguin is the biggest penguin and is about the size of a six year old! They also learned that they form groups called Rookeries and that they only lay two eggs except for the Emperor that lays only one. We also talked about molting, why they fly, how they swim, incubation, and how the male penguin pretty much looks after the egg while the female is gone for two months hunting for food. The children loved learning about penguins! I hope everyone stays nice and warm and we will see you in February!!!

Ashley’s corner

Music

The month of January was a fun packed month with learning about different instruments through the story of Peter And The Wolf. The children had an opportunity to listen to all the instruments while connecting them to the different animals in the story. They loved hearing all the beautiful sounds put into a exciting action packed story. The children loved hearing the entire story put together and enjoyed the happy ending.

Art

This month in Art class was based on using their imagination and making their own mystical imaginary creatures. Ms. Michelle talked a lot about a famous artist that goes by the name of Yoko D’ Holbachie. He loved to take different animals and turn them into a mythological creatures. This art project was intended for the children to dig deep and use their imagination to make their own creature. They first painted their creature, then sculpted it with clay and finally painted it. It was so neat to see their great ideas used to make such an awesome piece of art!

Science

In Science class this month, Mr. John conducted a fun experiment using a diaper! First he displayed his materials: a diaper, measuring cup with water, measuring cup without water, and paper towels. Then, he placed a paper towel in the empty measuring cup, and poured three ounces of water over top of the paper towel. He asked the children to form their hypothesis and determine if they thought the water would stay in the paper towel if he turned the measuring up upside down over his head. It poured onto Mr. John’s head! The paper towel could not hold all of the water.

Next, he placed the diaper into the empty measuring cup, and poured water over top of the diaper. Did the water stay or pour out onto Mr. John’s head? It stayed! The diaper has a special chemical that absorbs and holds water. After this demonstration it allowed Mr. John to explain to his scientists the properties of absorption.

Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine | January 2015 Newsletter

Posted on February 6, 2015 at 3:43 am.

Written by John Kotradi

“Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine”

Geeez, it is really cold without hair. You may have noticed that I hadn’t had my haircut since the second week of the college football season (the loss against Virginia Tech). Since that haircut, the Buckeyes went undefeated, won the Big Ten Title, Beat Bama in the Sugar Bowl, and beat Oregon to capture The National Championship. Not that I believe in the jinx or anything but why take the chance on angering the universe? I endured many comments during this time of having flowing locks such as being called emo boy, hippy chic…? Justin Bieber, the biebs, Fabio, Ringo, Rapunzel, Shaggy, and a sheep dog. So I went with the Joey Bosa look to the Urban Meyer look. It was all worth it!!!! THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 42 | Oregon 20!

I want to give a warm welcome to Ms. Ame (pronounced Amy) who is our new full time assistant in Mr. John’s class. Introduce yourself and say “HI!”

We also had an alumnus, James W. read to the class. All Alumni are welcome to read to the class when they are available, so please contact me!

Line time lessons:

We all returned to school after a well rested, extended winter break. Due to the long break we did a refresher week covering the classroom ground rules. We went over the four basic rules of: 1) No running in the classroom. We do not run because we can get hurt or hurt someone else. 2) Use our listening ears. The students pay attention to the teachers during line time and before cleaning the room and line time. Important information is shred during line time and listening is a sign of respect and courtesy. 3) Keep our hands to ourselves. We do this to honor other student’s personal space. In addition, we do not hit, punch, push or do anything to physically hurt other students. 4) Respect others. This is basically being nice to your fellow students. Use nice words, smile instead of giving mean faces, sharing, and helping those in need.

To honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we learned a bit about his life and his accomplishments. The students became actresses and actors as they recreated Rosa Parks making her stand on a bus in Montgomery Alabama. The students enjoyed playing the part of the bus driver, Rosa Parks, “the mean guy”, a police officer, Martin Luther King Jr., and passengers on the bus. We discussed our differences such as skin color, eye color, hair color, and gender. Then we discussed how we are similar. We talked about discrimination and segregation. We talked about if someone with red hair wouldn’t be allowed to do art “just because” they have red hair or if anyone who had blue eyes would have to go to a different classroom with less materials, broken crayons, or no books “just because” they have blue eyes. I had only boys fetch the chairs for the skit and brought that to the attention of the class. We had some very sad girls…. I did let the girls take the chairs back after the skit. Ms. Kelly did a line time lesson with two eggs( 1 white and 1 brown). she asked the children if the eggs looked the same on the outside and the children obviously said they were different. Ms. Kelly then cracked each egg to reveal they were the same on the inside. You all know what the lesson was trying say.

Next we sniffed, touched, heard, saw, and even tasted things around us. We learned about our 5 senses. Our sense of touch can determine if something is cold or hot, rough or smooth, hard or soft. We also learned that we can feel on any part of our bodies. When we feel something it sends a message from your skin to your BRAIN. The sense of smell captures scents in the air, goes in our noses, and sends a message to the BRAIN. We learned the sense of sight happens with our eyes. The eye captures light, the light passes through the eye and sends a message to the BRAIN. The ear provides our sense of hearing. The ear captures sounds, the sound travels through the ear canal, hits the ear drum, the ear drum vibrates and sends a message to the BRAIN. When you lose your sense of hearing, hearing aid audiologists help and treat you to hear better. The sense of taste happens in the mouth particularly on the tongue. The taste buds on the tongue capture the taste and sends a message to the BRAIN. We did have a taste test of sweet (sugar water), salt (salt water), sour (lemon juice), and bitter, my favorite (unsweetened baking chocolate). For the baking chocolate we use most of our senses. We started out by looking at the pieces of chocolate. Then we felt the piece of chocolate and smelled the piece of chocolate. THEN….. We tasted the piece of chocolate. If it looks like a duck, it may not be a duck. I have to admit this is one of my favorite activities on line time.

We ended the month with learning about our body. We looked at the skeletal system and if we didn’t have a skeleton we would be one messy blob on the ground. We learned the skull protects our brain, the rib cage protects our lungs, and the spine keeps us sitting and standing straight. We learned technical terms for our arms, leg and our digits which is a funny name called phalanges. We brought our life sized foam puzzle into our room. His name is Elvis because we learned about the pelvis and it was a cool rhyming name.

Cultural Subjects:

During line time lesson we can count to 10 in 19 different languages (English, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic w/Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Polish, Irish, Kiswahili, and Welsh. In kindergarten we can count in the same languages with the addition of Dutch/Flemish.

Kindergarten:

This month we started our section in Math. We learned about the unit (ones), ten, hundred, and thousand columns. The kindergartners composed numbers, were introduced to addition with and without carry overs.

January 2015 Newsletter

Posted on February 6, 2015 at 3:42 am.

Written by Brandy Franks

Week 19, 20 and 21

Welcome back, families and friends! New and exciting things are in the works for the New Year. The hand bells were initially introduced in Music class and have expanded into the classroom. One passionate music lover; i.e., elementary student, is assisting teaching staff in giving bell lessons and plans to expand out into directing the SmarterBell choir. Often, one can walk by the elementary classroom and hear the joyous sound of bells being explored.

Final editing of the leaf/tree research has been wrapping up as Science Fair projects are ramping up. Students learned about how to make a science experiment proposal and other key steps leading up to our science fair in a two day lesson that included guides and paperwork to fill out for the initial steps. Also, students have started a beautiful quilt to auction at the up-coming Art Extravaganza. Save up your money, everyone is going to want this special classroom artifact to cherish for years to come with their child!

Despite all of the additional days off due to various reasons, students came back to school hungry for lessons, ready to show Mastery and diligent to work. The winter break let many ideas meld in their minds, allowing for a completeness to come to fruition for many students that were challenged by particular concepts or lessons. It has been enjoyable to see the students satisfied with their accomplishments.

Week 22

To prepare for the Valentine’s Day party, most students have started their quilling projects to create their own unique cards to share with their friends. While the goal of quilling is to teach our elementary students a skill they can use to create things down the road, an underlying importance is the development of concentration and the small muscles in the hand to improve handwriting.

Computer skills are being learned by all. There are many applications and systems that specialize in different areas. For example, Close Look software specialize in daycare applications and childcare management software, which are large programs used to manage and run childcare centers around the world, including managing children, attendance and day care teachers. Many students have used computers at home or school, surfing the web or playing games. Most students have not used all of the features in word documents or been responsible for navigating the computer in relation to files and memory sticks. The Elementary students are going to be experts by the end of this year with all of the hard work they are doing!

This week, the students broke into two teams and had to write instructions on how to make and eat a peanut butter sandwich. Miss Beth and Sarah followed the directions to a “T” and did not have the sandwiches they dreamed of. However, this activity allowed the students to practice and develop a more keen sense of detail for writing their science proposals!

Innovating in the community:

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Happy January!

Also, as I am sure, your child may have let you know the visit of the worms to our classroom. A generous parent came into our classroom and worked with the students on conducting a complete experiment including collecting data and analyzing data. In the experiment, students learned about how worms communicate with each other by collecting happy worm mucus and angry worm mucus and seeing which mucus the worms were attracted to. All of the students had a blast participating with their worms and found value in the communication abilities of a worm!

February 2015 Monthly Overview | Tallmadge Campus

Posted on February 2, 2015 at 3:08 pm.

Written by Kelly Andamasaris

Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm. This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join together as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with their classroom teacher on these and other materials at their level.

2/2: Introduction to multiplication continued

Working with 9 tray / 45 layout
Using single units, 10 bars, 100 square and 1000 cubes
Working with stamp game
Working with dot board

2/9: Introduction to fractions

Exploring fractions
Fractional insets (whole up to 1/12)

2/16: Geometric Shapes

Introduction to geometric shapes and constructive boxes
Geometric cabinet
Monday, February 16th President’s Day- NO SCHOOL

2/23: Geometric Shapes continued

Introduction to geometric shapes and constructive boxes
Geometric cabinet

Synonyms of the week

2/2: APPROPRIATE, suitable, fitting, apropos, correct, proper

2/9: BAD, incorrect, awful, unsatisfactory faulty, defective

2/16: GOOD, pleasant, fine, honorable, wonderful, valuable

2/23: DRY, dehydrated, arid, parched

Letter / Sight Words

2/2: Qq / am

2/9: Rr / you

2/16: Ss / down

2/23: Tt / a

Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:

Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
Practice using the different synonyms of the week in a sentence together.
You can view this link to give you more information on how the math materials are used in the Montessori classroom http://www.montessorialbum.com/montessori/index.php?title=Math.
You may also google the name of the work to find more videos and information on the purpose of that material.

Ms. Kate’s February 2015 Monthly Overview

Posted on February 2, 2015 at 3:02 pm.

Written by Kelly Andamasaris

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work Time)

2/02: Coldacott Week

Introducing award winning books such as Make Way for Ducklings, The Snowy Day, Blueberries for Sal, The Lion and the Mouse, and other various Caldacott award winning books. The children will do different activities with each book.

Afternoon Group Lesson: Reviewing the letter of the week. Reiterating the calendar. Fun activities with Caldacott books.

2/9: Community Helpers: All about Doctors, Mail Carriers, Fire Fighters, and Police Officers

How Doctors help us and the special tools they use
Fire Fighters and Fire Safety and Stop, Drop & Roll
All about the Post Office, mail carriers
Learning our phone number and address/ How 911 is important to us
How do Police Officers protect us?

**Valentines Day Party: Friday the 13^th

Afternoon Group Lesson: Reviewing the letter of the week, the calendar and fun community worker themed activities & crafts.

2/17: Community Helpers: All about Construction Workers, Soldiers, Chefs and Bakers

Learning about measurement and different tools.
Soldiers, different branches of the military, jobs they do and places they travel
Who works in a Restaurant/ Bakery?
What does a Chef/ Baker do, different types

*Monday 2/16– No School (President’s Day)

Afternoon Group Lesson: Reviewing the letter of the week, the calendar and fun community worker themed activities & crafts.

2/23: Community Helpers: Dentists, Teachers, and Veterinarians

How a Veterinarian is different from a Doctor
All about the importance of brushing, flossing and the different tools they use.
Charting what you want to be when you grow up.

Afternoon Group Lesson: Reviewing the letter of the week, the calendar and fun community worker themed activities & crafts.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

2/02: Rr  
2/09:  Ss
2/17: Tt
2/23: Uu

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

2/02: go 
2/09: can 
2/17: my
2/23: this

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

While reading a book have your child point to all of the letter of the week she/he can find. Have them do this with the sight words as well. Play I‐Spy using things that only start with the letter of the week/ sight words.
Write a letter to a family member or special friend. Have your child help you address the letter, stamp it and mail it.
Invent your own cake or cookie together…get creative!
Create a fire escape plan together or make a blue print of your dream house with your child!

Mr. John’s February 2014 Monthly Overview

Posted on February 2, 2015 at 2:57 pm.

Written by Kelly Andamasaris

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

2/02: Internal Organs

Brain, Heart, Lungs
Large and Small Intestines
Stomach
Kidneys and Liver

2/09: Presidents of the United States

George Washington
Abe Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt
John F Kennedy, Barack Obama

2/16: Ancient Egypt

Monday, February 16th President’s Day- NO SCHOOL
Egyptian culture and traditions
Buildings and contributions

2/23: Ancient Greek

Greek culture and traditions
Buildings and contributions

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

2/02: Rr

2/09: Ss

2/16: Tt

2/23: Uu

Rhyming Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

2/02: BUT, cut, gut, hut, nut, jut

2/09: BUP, cup, pup,

2/16: BED, fed, led, med, ned, red, net, ted

2/23: BET, get, jet, let, met, net, set

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
Play “I Spy” with items beginning with the letter of the week, or find things around your home that begin with the letter of the week.
Look at a United States map. See if your child can guess which state the presidents we learned about came from.
Go to your local library and explore books about the different ancient cultures and read them together.

February 2015 Monthly Overview | Cuyahoga Falls Campus

Posted on February 2, 2015 at 2:55 pm.

Written by Kelly Andamasaris

2/02: Exchanging

Decimal System/Exchanging 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s
Using single units, 10 bars, 100 squares and 1000 cubes

2/09: Introduction to Multiplication

Exploring multiplication
Operations with the golden bead material
Practice with the nine tray and multiplication tables

2/16: Introduction to Fractions

Monday 2/17– No School (President’s Day)
Exploring Fractions
Fractional Insets (whole up to 1/12)
Monday, February 16th President’s Day- NO SCHOOL

2/23: Geometric Shapes

Intro to Geometric Shapes, Constructive boxes
Geometric Cabinet

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

2/02: first, than

2/09: other, some

2/16: more, these

2/23: would, about

Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

2/02: APPROPRIATE, suitable, fitting, apropos, correct, proper

2/09: BAD, incorrect, awful, unsatisfactory faulty, defective

2/16: GOOD, pleasant, fine, honorable, wonderful, valuable

2/23: DRY, dehydrated, arid, parched

Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:

Look for our words of the week when reading a story, cut out pictures beginning with the letters of the week.
Practice using the different synonyms of the week in a sentence together.
You can view this link to give you more information on how the math materials are used in the Montessori classroom http://www.montessorialbum.com/montessori/index.php?title=Math. You may also google the name of the work to find more videos and information on the purpose of that material.

As specified by RIC Publications 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.

Ms. Courtney’s February 2015 Monthly Overview

Posted on February 2, 2015 at 2:53 pm.

Written by Kelly Andamasaris

Themes of the week for the month of February (In addition to Montessori Work Time)

2/2: Farm Animals

The children will learn about different farm animals
The children will discover all of the products that come from farm animals
The children will understand all of the responsibilities of a farmer

2/9: Pets/Valentine’s Day

The children will learn about a variety of pets
The children will learn about caring for a pet
We will discuss the differences and similarities between different pets

2/16: Presidents

The children will learn how Washington was a great man, the father of our country, who led in war and peace
The children will discover that Abraham Lincoln is on the penny
The children will talk about what life is like for the Obama family in the White House
Monday, February 16th President’s Day- NO SCHOOL

2/23: Dental Health

The children will practice teeth brushing using an egg soaked in tea
The children will see how a little hole in your teeth can get pretty unpleasant on the inside by watching how a hole in an apple rots
The children will talk about what foods are good and bad for their teeth

Letters of the week

2/2: Qq

2/9: Rr

2/16: Ss

2/23: Tt

Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:

Take a trip to a local farm
Allow your child to help care for your pet
Take a trip to McKinley Presidential Library & Museum
Take your child to watch you get a dental checkup
Find objects around the house that start with the letter of the week

December 2014 newsletter

Posted on January 12, 2015 at 4:02 pm.

Written by Kate Case

I love this time of year! The pretty lights, fun music, everyone smiling, and the children full of excitement!! Even though we were only in school for just a few short weeks the children were busy getting ready for our annual holiday program, making fun holiday crafts, and enjoying the hustle and bustle of the classroom! Throughout the month of December our class had fun learning about how children and their families celebrate Christmas from around the world! The first country we talked about was Mexico. We began by reading the story The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie de Paola, and then created our own poinsettia craft out of paint, glitter, markers, and grocery bags. For preschool lesson, Ms. Ashley had the children make Ojos de Dios, which are Christmas ornaments made with yarn. The second country we visited was Germany. The children learned that the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree originated from Germany and that the trees were decorated with candles, apples, and spiced cookies. The children them created their own tree by dipping a toilet paper roll into paint and making prints onto paper. They also used glitter, colored paint, and stickers to decorate their tree. The children also had a blast with Ms. Ashley making and decorating gingerbread cookies!

“ Joyeux Noel” is how you say Merry Christmas in French. In France, the traditional Christmas Eve meal, Le Reveillon, means “ waking up” and includes many courses of food. The children created their own Le Reveillon menu out of magazines. They cut out foods that they would like to eat on Christmas eve night, pasted them on a folded menu they created and labeled what they glued on. They turned out fantastic! The following country we had fun with was Italy. The children had a blast doing the traditional Italian art of curling paper called Quilling. They learned that the Italians created beautiful quilled ornaments to decorate their ceppos, which is a small triangular ladder. The last country was England. The children thought it was so funny that after children wrote their letters to Santa they then threw them into the fireplace hoping that they would go up the chimney so that all their wishes would come true. I then explained to them that an English tradition included caroling from house to house and that the families would come in for Wassail. The children had fun combining cranberry juice and apple juice together and sprinkling a little cinnamon on top and going from classroom to classroom singing Christmas songs!

The children really loved learning about the different traditions. They couldn’t believe how people in different countries celebrated Christmas. Throughout December our class made different holiday crafts, gingerbread houses, and playing different games from around the world. The last week before our break our theme was all about giving not receiving. The children did different acts of kindness throughout the last week. The children constructed a “lovie” for children’s hospital, wrote letters to a nursing home. Learned about donating and what it means to give. I really enjoyed seeing the children grasp the concept of giving.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday! See you in the new year!

Ashley’s Corner

Music class in December was filled with a lot of fun songs and dances with Ms. Lisa. She got all of the kids into the Holiday joy of what the season brings. They sang a Varity of interactive and fun Christmas songs, such asFeliz Navidad, Jingle Bells and many others. Ms.Lisa also went over the different music notes that are used when we sing our songs. Their faces were filled with joy as they sang along. I can’t wait to see what next month of music will bring.

Our scientists had a favorite experiment this month! Mr. John made Green Goo with the kids in a fun filled science experiment. The kids got to help Mr. John pour in the ingredients (glue, Borax, green dye and water) into a bowl and watched the magic happen. The were amazed by how the mixture turned into a slimy substance that they called Goo. The kids were so excited and some kind of grossed out by the slimy green goo. Each child got to take their own bag of Goo home and enjoy it with Mom and Dad. What a fun science class we had!

Art class has been so much fun learning about many new artists this month. They learned about Kandinsky and his Concentric Circles and Pablo Picasso and his portrait of Dora Maar. The kids were able to use their own amazing creativity in drawing self portraits and had a chance to use pastels and paint. Our students are really learning a lot of their creativity and how each students art is different in a wonderful way, just they are as a person. These little artists are really starting to shine!