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.
12/01: Parts of a Animals
Parts of a mammal, amphibian, and bird
Parts of a reptile and fish
Working with animal puzzles and control charts
12/08: Parts of Arachnids/Insects
Parts of a spider
Parts of a wasp
12/15: Use of a Ruler
Inches and Centimeters
Measuring with a ruler– practice with many different objects
Recording measurements
12/21—1/4 Christmas Break—School Resumes Monday, January 5th
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
Practice measuring different objects at home and recording those measurements.
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.
Themes of the Week (In addition to Montessori Work Time)
12/01 Christmas around the World
Taking a look at the Christmas traditions in Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, and England
The legend of the Poinsettia, tradition of the Christmas Tree, Le Reveillon (traditional Christmas Eve meal) and many other traditions.
How to say “Merry Christmas” in different languages
Afternoon group lesson: Ms. Ashley will be offering crafts, games and activities to enhance the children’s understanding of traditions around the world.
12/08 All about giving.
This week we will be doing a variety of activities that teach the children about the act
of giving. These activities include: wants vs. needs collage, a giving circle time
activity, the construction on a “lovie” blanket and sending it to Children’s Hospital,
talking about the importance of donations and lastly, we will be writing and drawing
letters to send to a nursing home.
Afternoon group lesson: Ms. Ashley will be providing a variety of holiday crafts.
12/15 Holiday Crafts
We have planned fun Christmas themed crafts and activities (Letters to Santa, Gingerbread houses, Reindeer hats and much more!)
Ashley will be focusing on making holiday ornaments, telling classic Christmas stories, and having fun at movie & PJ day!
Christmas Show Rehearsal (not a dress rehearsal) Wednesday, December 17th 6:00– 7:00pm Cuyahoga Falls Hgh School 431 Stow Ave. Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
Christmas Show December 19th 6:30pm Cuyahoga Falls High School 431 Stow Ave. Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
** All students arrive by 6:00pm ** Doors will open at 6:00pm
12/22—1/4 Christmas Break—School Resumes Monday January 5th
Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:
Make cookies together. Deliver them to your friends, families and neighbors.
Themes of the week for the month of December ( in addition to Montessori Work time)
12/1- 12/19: Christmas Program
We will be taking time in the morning and afternoon to practice for our Christmas Show!
We have fun Christmas themed crafts and activities planned for our students!
Christmas Show Rehearsal (not a dress rehearsal) Wednesday, December 17th 6:00– 7:00pm Cuyahoga Falls Hgh School 431 Stow Ave. Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
Christmas Show December 19th 6:30pm Cuyahoga Falls High School 431 Stow Ave. Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
** All students arrive by 6:00pm ** Doors will open at 6:00pm
Christmas/Winter Crafts and Baking
The children will be enjoying the holiday spirit by doing a lot of fun crafts and baking.
The children will be making holiday rice krispie treats together.
The children will be making a snow globe.
The children will be making sock snowman.
The children will be making reindeer out of their hands and feet.
The children will be making Christmas trees out of popsicle sticks.
12/20—1/4 Christmas Break—School Resumes Monday January 5th
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
Bake holiday treats together.
Make homemade ornaments and festive decorations together.
Watch classic winter and Christmas movies together.
Go caroling as a family.
Volunteer at a homeless shelter as a family.
Play outside as a family and enjoy the winter weather.
Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)
12/1—12/19 Christmas Show Practice
We will be taking time in the morning and afternoon to practice for our Christmas Show!
We have fun Christmas themed crafts and activities planned for our students!
Christmas Show Rehearsal (not a dress rehearsal) December 17th 6:00– 7:00pm Cuyahoga Falls High School 431 Stow Ave. Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
Christmas Show December 19th 6:30pm Cuyahoga Falls High School 431 Stow Ave. Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
** All students arrive by 6:00pm ** Doors will open at 6:00pm
12/22—1/4 Christmas Break—School Resumes Monday January 5th
Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:
Help prepare your child by talking with them about being on stage, how excited you will be to see them, and what to expect. Invite your family and friends, there will be plenty of seats! You won’t want to miss this event, see you there!
Starting out the week, students got a closer look at plants in preparation for our up-coming “Leaf Walk” fieldtrip! Hopefully, you noticed their “Parts of a Plant” artwork on the bulletin board. They will be learning about plants and leaves in more depth throughout the next couple of weeks. Also, this week, students are playing games and hearing stories in relation to “The Noun” to kick off our initial steps into the Grammar Boxes. Turn your life around with . The Grammar Boxes have activities that solidify the function of each word in a sentence. Including the activities the student completes with his or her friends, the students are learning to symbolize each word, leading to Sentence Analyses which helps us know what our options are to building interesting and varying sentence structures that will develop into your child’s writing “style” and the capability of understanding others’ styles.
A highlight this week is budding new research by students. Students have really enjoyed all of our new reference and non-fiction books that several families have donated. The pictures with the information are outstanding! Thank you for supporting our student’s quest for knowledge. Another highlight is our students who have elected to join dance. The music has started grooving and students have been busting out the moves in the gym already! We will get to enjoy their preparations at the next school performance event.
Week 7
Constructing the Elementary classroom to meet the needs of the Elementary student, one will often view the Elementary classroom as a flexible workshop or laboratory for experimenting, imagination and exploration. The classroom as a whole has been conducting the first experiment that highlights the Needs of Plants. Each plant of the four plants potted for the experiment were labeled to track the outcome of the results of the exclusion of heat, light and water, each, separately. They have found that heat is one of the most critical aspects that can determine the success of a plant to live. The plant that had heat taken away did not last the weekend! As stewards of the earth, our class saved the plant and it is happily prospering as new greenery in our environment.
This week many students have begun Fractions lessons and continue to progress in all the other areas in lessons. Also, our class went on our very first official fieldtrip: The Leaf Walk at Holden Arboretum. Holden Arboretum is considered the largest outdoor Museum or collection of trees and woody plants in the entire United States. The students rode the public school bus, some for the very first time! Using a map and clues, students found the correct trees and collected one leaf from the ground that belonged to that tree. Discussions about the correct identification and interesting facts about some of the trees were enjoyed by all along the path. The classroom leaf collection returned to the school with the students to be used as a more in-depth research project of the leaves by all the students.
Week 8
Monday was a busy day as students showed mastery, explored art projects, learned a new song and took Spelling quizzes. This day of the week often is the most productive day of the week as students seem to dive into work as if they miss the classroom and their work time. They also look forward to our Community Meeting on Mondays where we come together as a community and decide how to deal with issues during the week, make exciting announcements of opportunities and have voting rights to make important decisions. Recently, many sign-up sheets have been made available for students, by students, to hold a Fall Festival, join a book club, to perform in a play and many others. Our students are confident in their interests and their abilities to lead others!
Surprisingly, our students rescued another plant from our on-going experiment. The plant without water had sunk so low, students were worried that it could not be saved but they found that the plant stood up half way by the next morning with a drink of water! Discussions of the length of time the plant could last without additional water compared to the lack of heat created some debate and theories about the plants’ needs.
Along the lines of looking at our environment, How Wolves Change Rivers was an interesting short film students viewed Monday. Students were amazed by the immense impact of reintroducing the wolf back into the Yellowstone Park after many years of humans ridding the area of wolves. The plant and animal life completely changed in a positive way and in turn, the geography of the land and river changed. A lesson in how connected we all really are! Check out the video online: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50BhXz-Q.
In Math, Squaring lessons have been enjoyed by some students interested in new materials in the classroom that were not available last year. Squaring lessons are closely related to the Multiples lessons in that students start seeing that one Math concept is the same but used in a different perspective, over and over again. Squaring and Cubing lessons will then lead the students to see the connections over time to Powers and other advanced Math offered in the Montessori classroom.
“If the idea of the universe be presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying. The child’s mind then will become fixed and can work. The knowledge he then acquires is organized and systematic; his intelligence becomes whole and complete because of the vision of the whole that has been presented to him and his interest spreads to all, for all are linked, and have their place in the universe on which his mind is centered. (Montessori, Maria 1973 To Educate the Human Potential Kalakshetra Press, India)”.
Week 9
In preparation to our first visit of the Tallmadge library next week, student leaf/tree research projects are under way! Many students have already started collecting facts about their special leaf that they selected and others look forward to searching for books at the library. Each student will complete one research project alone and two research projects with a team. The class project will be bound into a book that will feature a hands-on leaf and tree matching game.
Our annual Halloween party planners kicked it into gear this week, preparing games, crafts and food for all to enjoy! Halloween celebrations began with two costume parades and a community lunch with fun yet creepy food. The students bowled, pinned the hat on the witch, raced in relay races sweeping pumpkins and carrying candy corn on spoons in the gym. Everyone entered the donut eating contest that was sticky and hilarious. The day ended with three spectacular crafts: a spider on a web, a walking spider and a bat-like monster! Boo!
Latin
For October the Grade 1 and 2 class continued to practice words related to the family. In order to reinforce the family vocabulary, the students learned about a real family that lived in the Roman town of Vindolanda in northern Britain. For a supplement, they also looked at a video and pictures from the archaeological site of Vindolanda and from Hadrian’s Wall.
The Grade 3 and 4 class learned the terms subject, verb, and direct object.
The students translated short sentences on flash cards and were able to identify these grammatical terms successfully. In addition, they watched a short video showing a modern version of a Roman banquet.
Physical Education
In the first two months, the physical education program has already embarked on a plethora of sports. We kicked off the year with a game of capture the flag – it’s an all-time favorite and a great way to get all the kids excited about movement.
A rainy Friday lent itself to a nice indoor game of hockey. The gym was transformed into a hockey rink which even included penalty boxes…its not hockey without a penalty box, right? I can already see growth in the returning students. Last year the students only scored one goal during our field hockey games and this year we had well over ten goals…amazing!
A great addition this year will be our ‘field trips” to the park around the corner from the school. We already ventured there this fall, playing a game that combines both tennis and baseball. All the kids enjoyed the twist on baseball by hitting the ball with a tennis racquet.
Track and field heats up with a tight race for “fastest kid in the class.” Maddie was the undisputed champ last year but many other students have increased their speed over the summer and are giving her a run for her money. Something tells me Maddie will be ready to run during our next timed event.
We have some fun field trips scheduled for this year. Our first is coming up soon with a trip to the Football Hall of Fame. I look forward to learning all about the history of the NFL with the kids.
I can’t believe how fast the month of October went by. Our class was super busy this month learning about apples, being on the farm, all about leaves and chlorophyll, the life cycle of the pumpkin, and the history of Halloween. We also had an amazing Halloween party!
The first week I began by showing the children a variety of apples such as the granny smith, golden delicious, and the red delicious. The children were able to feel and smell the different apples and then we grouped the apples by size and color. Throughout the week I introduced Johnny Appleseed. We discussed how he was a pioneer who traveled throughput the American frontier by planting apple seeds. We also discussed how he helped people along the way. The children really loved talking about him as they continued to ask questions about him throughout the week! The next day we created a chart from seed to apple: The life cycle of an apple. I started out by cutting an apple in half and showing the children the seeds, which are called pips, the core of the apple, the flesh, and the leaves. The children were able to pass around the apple so they were able to see the different parts of the apple. We then drew the inside of the apple and labeled the different parts. We also had a blast making apple prints and other apple projects with Ms. Ashley! On the last day we had an apple taste test. The children tasted ten different types of apples and then we graphed the ones we liked best. The Gala apple won!
The following week was all about the farm! We started out by discussing the different types of animals that you would find on a farm. We also had an exciting time discussing the different foods that you would see in a grocery store that came from a farm. Throughout our week we talked about the different machines that the farmers use on a daily basis and their purpose. The last two days we talked about the life of a farmer. The children loved hearing about how the farmer has to wake up when it is still dark outside just so s/he can get all of their farm chores done before the day is done. We also had fun with farm songs and finder plays!
9
The third week was all about fall! The children had so much fun with one of our student teachers who read them a book all about the different colored leaves they would find outside. The children then were able to do leaf rubbings on those leaves they read about. At the beginning of the week I read the book Leaves Leaves Leaves! By Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. We then talked about the four seasons and what happens to the leaves at each season. I then asked what they thought Chlorophyll was. Ainsley shouted out “ It makes the leaves green!” I explained to them that Ainsley was right it does keep the leaves green. I also explained to them that when our days get colder and shorter the chlorophyll exits the leaves and the green goes away and the color starts to show. The children enjoyed discussing that so much that they wanted to review it all week! Lastly, we went on a nature walk where the children were able to collect different leaves and then lead a discussion about the different types of leaves they found. It was a super fun week!
.
Lastly, our theme was pumpkins! This week we created a chart of the life cycle of the pumpkin. The pictures showed that first you have to plant the seed. Then the seed turns into the seedling, and then the seedling turns into a huge vine that can be big as a house! Then a flower grows onto the vine. On the bottom of the flower a pumpkin starts to appear. The pumpkin starts out green, then yellow, then light orange, and then finally orange. The following day the children used their 5 senses and language to observe and communicate about a pumpkin. The children were able to touch, look at, smell, weigh, and measure the pumpkin. After they did this I charted their thoughts and comments. The next day I asked the children what they thought the inside of a pumpkin looks like inside. After our discussion I cut open the pumpkin and had the children use their senses to explore the pumpkin. After I removed the pulp we weighed the pumpkin so we could compare the weight from before we gutted it. On our last day we did a sink and float activity. The children created a graph with paper pumpkins. If they thought the pumpkin would sink they placed the pumpkin in the correct category and same if they thought the pumpkin would float. We placed the pumpkin in a tub of water and the pumpkin floated!! We then discussed the concept of buoyancy.
.
At the end of our month we had a wonderful Halloween party. A big thanks to all of the parents that helped out with all of the food, activities, and such wonderful helping hands!
Ashley’s Enrichment Corner:
This month of school flew by and the kids have had so much fun in their enrichment activities. They have learned so much.
In Art class Ms. Michele taught her students more about their primary colors and color matching. The first week the children used primary colors to make shapes out of popsicle sticks and painted inside of them. The second week the students got to make a animal tissue paper collage with different textures and worked hard on cutting and gluing them on the paper. The third week the children got to use their imagination and made a cool 3D art project and paper. Then week four the children were excited to take objects from their home they gathered up to make an amazing art project using popsicle sticks and using what they had learned about complementary colors.
In Science class, Mr. John and the kids had so much fun getting their hands on experience with his amazing experiments. The first experiment was oil and water. Mr. John showed how oil and water separate themselves from each other because water was more dense then oil. Students discovered no matter how much they shook the two together they will never mix. They thought it was amazing. Then the next experiment was The Ketchup Submarine. Mr. John poured water into a bottle and made sure it was completely full and then dropped a ketchup packet into the water and closed the lid. When he squeezed the bottle the packet would sink and when he let go it would float. This experiment displayed that when water was squeezed it would create an air bubble that would help the packet travel down to the bottom and came back up when released because the ketchup was less dense then the water.
Music class was so much fun this month. Students get excited when they begin with their favorite song ” Its Music Time Today”. They have learned many knew songs such as ” I’m a little teapot” and “ABC.” They love to play many instruments such as, tambourines, shakers and rhythm sticks to all their favorite songs. Ms. Lisa is starting to talk to our students about different music notes, and the children each get a turn in front of class and clap the note they are learning about. The kids love Ms. Lisa and get so excited for every music class!
It is so quiet in here. It is so calm. This is what I have been hearing from past teachers, parents, and current teachers about my room. Usually it takes a good 3-4 months for my room to become normalized but this year it is on its way to being normalized in about a month. I credit those around me for the earlier than usual success. Miss Kathleen and Miss Dana are wonderful teachers andwork well with the students. They are fun yet firm and know how to handle difficult situations well. When I mentioned “those around me” I didn’t only mean the teachers but I want to give credit to the older students, the leaders of the room. They are showing the newer/younger students how to work with materials and are guiding them through the classroom. Ms. Kelly has been spending a lot more time in the classroom to fulfill her requirement s to complete her Montessori training/certification. It is great to have her in my room.
Children love animals and I enjoy teaching the children about different types of animals. This month we started discussing mammals. I chose mammals because we are mammals. We learned that mammals have hair or fur, are born alive, and drink mother’s milk when first born. We learned that mammals are warm blooded (their body temperature remains constant) and that they are vertebrates (have spines). We learned that dolphins and whales are mammals and that the bat is the only mammal that can fly.
Then we slithered our way into discussing reptiles. We came to the conclusion that the snake is the most popular reptile. We learned reptiles are cold blooded, vertebrates, lay hard shelled eggs, and have dry scales. The children enjoyed feeling our own corn snake. The geckos were just as appreciated.
We hopped into our discussion of amphibians. We all agreed that the frog was the most popular amphibian and that amphibians are cold blooded and vertebrates. We also learned that their skin is moist and soft and that they can live on BOTH land and water. Amphibians lay eggs but the eggs have no shell but are like jelly. The children were encouraged to look for our Pac Man Frog and our Eastern Toads in our nature center.
We swam to our friends called fish. We learned that fish are cold blooded (their body temperature changes to the temperature in their environment) and are vertebrates. We learned that most fish have scales, gills and fins, and some fish lay eggs and some fish are liver bearers (babies are born alive). We introduced a new word, “habitat”. This is where something lives and the fish’s habitat is the water. The children were thrilled to learn that the shark is a fish.
We then flew with the animals called birds. Birds have feathers, are warm blooded, and are vertebrates. All birds lay hard shelled eggs and have wings. All birds have wings but some birds are flightless (cannot fly) such as the penguin, ostrich, and emu.
At circle time we count to ten in different languages. We now know how to count to 10 in English, Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, and Russia.
.
Kindergarten:
The kindergarten class started the month by learning a little more about the world around us. We learned the vastness of the galaxy in which we live, the Milky Way, the solar system, our planet, Earth, the hemisphere, nothrthwestern, the continent, North America, the country,USA, state, Ohio, county,Summit/Portage city,Cuyahoga Falls, Akron, Tallmadge, and Kent, and finally our address. Then my kindergarten students learned about landforms. Ask them what the definition of a lake, island, bay, peninsula, gulf (not the game), harbor, cape, isthmus, straight, chain of lakes, and archipelago. We went over telling time to the hour, half past, quarter after, and quarter til. Time waits for no one, hehe. Your kindergarteners now know how to count to ten in, English, Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Japanese, and Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, and Tagalog.
Music:
Ms. Lisa had several new friends join us in music class this month, Jerry giraffe, Freda the frog, and Mike the monkey. The children had a great time welcoming Autumn with Ms. Lisa and her friends. They sang songs and were transformed into autumn leaves with colorful scarves. Freda the frog helped us to use our listening ears when we danced the freeze dance song and used Ms Lisa’s colorful castanets. Another new song and dance combo that was introduced was the jack in the box, and the hokey pokey. Can’t wait to see what great songs are coming for November!
Science:
In science class, Mr. John taught the concept of density. students learned that oil and water do not mix because oil is less dense than water. It didn’t matter how may times they shook the bottle with oil and water every time the oil floated to the top! We knew that the oil and water did not mix because the oil was a lighter color than the water with food coloring. To explore more about the concept of density, the students tried to get a ketchup packet to sink. When the bottle was squeezed an air bubble in the ketchup packet got smaller. This made the ketchup packet more dense so it sank.Students loved this experiment with the “ketchup submarine” floating up and down the bottle. Lastly, Mr. John taught another lesson on the strength of a cylinder. Cylinders are the most structurally sound, strongest geometrical shape. It disperses stress throughout the entire shape. We learned alot in Science Class and had a ton of Fun!
Art:
We began our October in Art with a project using recyclables from home! During the first week, the students glued down their miscellaneous items to popsicle sticks. Then, the second week the students painted these works of art one primary color. To learn the complimentary colors, the students then added objects that were the complimentary color to the color they originally painted with. This was a great way to learn primary and complimentary colors at the same time! Ms. Michelle also focused on artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Georgia O’Keeffe is known for painting close ups of flowers. The students drew and painted flowers using oil pastels, markers, and water. Lastly, Ms. Michele introduced the students to still life art. The students brought in their favorite toys or objects and set them together in the middle of the room, some even brought the best hoverboards for kids, they had so much fun. The students sat around these toys and were told to draw what they saw. Not only did they draw their own personal toys but other toys as well! It was another fun month of Art!
During the month of October the class learned about all the changes that happen during the beautiful Fall season. For the first week we discussed leaves, how and why they change, and different types of leaves. The kids also enjoyed collecting their own leafs for leaf rubbing.
The second week of October the students learned about apples. They got to taste test three different types of apples and vote on what was their favorite kind. We discovered what the inside of an apple looks like and how they grow. Some of the students even brought home beautiful paintings using apples as stamps.
Next, the class learned all about pumpkins. We were able to explore the inside of what pumpkins look like by digging out the insides to separate the seeds from the pulp. The next day, the class was able to try the seeds they cleaned out of the pumpkin after they had been baked and even sampled some of the actual meat of the pumpkin cooked.
The final week of October we turned our attention to bats. We learned about different types of bats and even found out that there is a bat that is as small as a bumblebee! The class discovered how and where bats sleep and that they find their food through echolocation.
I wanted to thank all the parents who helped out with the Halloween party. It was definitely a success, and the kids enjoyed all of the crafts, games, and delicious food. We could not have had a more successful party!
Kindergarten
During Kindergarten Lesson, students learned about landforms. Ask them what the definition of a lake, island, bay, peninsula, gulf, harbor, cape, isthmus, straight, chain of lakes, and archipelago. We went over telling time to the hour, half past, and quarter after. They also have been working hard and doing a great job on their journals.
Science
Over the past month, the students have been learning about the science behind the changes we see during fall. We found out that the leaves change color because they are not receiving enough chlorophyll to keep their color green. The students also learned the life cycle of apples, pumpkins, and bats. We also enjoyed a couple science experiments such as an oozing jack-o-lantern when we mixed hydrogen peroxide with water and yeast. The students also made water crystals mixing colored water with polyacrylamide.
Music
During October Ms. Lisa brought in some fun instruments and musical terms for our class. The students learned how to sing in either a piano, which means soft, or forte, which means loud, voice. She also had the students practice their hi and low voices. The instruments the students experienced were egg shakers, rhythm sticks, tambourines, and castanets. They continued to learn about the different notes and this month Ms. Lisa had the students lead clapping out the notes Some of the songs Ms. Lisa sang with the students were, “Grand Old Flag”, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”, “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”, and “The ABC’s”. An activity the children got to participate in was a ball toss game while listening to “London Bridge”. Students had to wait to pass the ball if the singing stopped and then when the singing came back on they could start passing again. This helps to develop listening skills while having fun! Thank you again Ms. Lisa for another great month of music!
Art
Ms. Michele finished up her unit on What is Art by talking to the students about sculptures. They were able to create their own sculpture out of random objects from home and painted them all one color, which we learned the art term is monochromatic. During this lesson, Ms. Michele also introduced complimentary colors, and the students had to pick out other objects that were complimentary to the paint color they chose for their sculpture. After this project was completed, we started a new unit called What I See. The children will have to draw and paint objects that are in front of them. We started off by picking a picture of a flower, studying it, and drawing a detailed picture using oil pastels, markers, water, and paint brushes. The next week, Ms. Michele brought in some fun toys to set in front of the class and they got to dig into many different art supplies including, oil pastels, markers, colored pencils, whiteboards from writeyboards.com and crayons to draw the toys. We can’t wait to see what Ms. Michele has in store for us next month!
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.
11/03: Telling Time to the minute
Review previous lessons on telling time
Introduction to the minute
Flashcards, Clock & Worksheets
11/10: Currency/ Coins
Monday 11/11 NO SCHOOL/ Teacher In Service Day (Parent//Teacher Conferences All Day 8am-7pm)
Introduction to coins (pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters)
Identifying coins and amounts
Working with coins and worksheets
11/17: Currency
Introduction to dollar bills
Identifying dollar bills
Working with money and worksheets
11/24: Parts of Animals
Parts of the mammal, reptile, amphibian,
Parts of the bird and fish
Working with the animal puzzle and control chart
Thanksgiving Feast 11/26th (11:00-12:00pm) 12:00pm Early Dismissal (No Aftercare)
Thursday/Friday NO SCHOOL—Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday!
Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
11/03: how, each 11/10: said, by 11/17: been, down
Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
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 telling time on the clock at home. When you sit down to dinner, ask them to tell you what time it is, when they go to bed, have them check the clock. Have fun with Time!
Practice exchanging money with your child. When you go to the store, have them help you pay!
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.
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.
11/3: Telling Time to the minute
Review previous lessons on telling time
Introduction to the minute
Flashcards, Clock & Worksheets
11/10: Currency/ Coins
Introduction to coins (pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters)
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.
Practice telling time on the clock at home. When you sit down to dinner, ask them to tell you what time it is, when they go to bed, have them check the clock. Have fun with Time!
Practice exchanging money with your child. When you go to the store, have them help you pay!
