A Peek At Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!
This week we learned about Pollinators! This was the perfect way to wrap up our May lessons as flowers are important to pollinators and pollinators are important to flowers! We learned about different types of pollinators: bees, butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds. We learned that pollinators drink nectar from the flowers and while they do that, pollen sticks to their bodies. We then learned that the pollinator takes that pollen to another flower and drops it off, allowing that flower to make new seeds! We ended our week with a special presentation from a beekeeper and tasted honey straight from the hive!
Operation Releasing Butterflies!
We let our Painted Lady Butterflies go on Monday and Tuesday this week. We were sad to see them go but were able to watch one of them fly right to a flower and drink nectar! How lucky are we?!?
Enrichment Spotlight!
We had our last Music, Art, and Science lessons for this school year. We enjoyed playing John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt one more time with Ms. Lisa. We finished most of our art projects with Ms. Varela, and brought our art portfolios home. And Mr. John showed us an experiment with FIRE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
A very Happy Birthday to our newest 4 year old!
Peek Into Next Week!
Focus Topic: FUN WEEK!
Important Dates:
It’s the last week of school! We can’t believe it!
Monday, May 30: Memorial Day – No School!
Tuesday, May 31: Outdoor reading and drawing, picnic lunch, indoor games!
Wednesday, June 1: Maker space, Show & Tell (for children that attend Mon/Wed/Fri ONLY), and watching a movie! ** No Aftercare **
Thursday, June 2: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! Board games, Show & Tell, and BASH & SPLASH DAY! ** No Aftercare **
A Peek At Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!
This week we learned about Flowers! We built upon our knowledge of seeds from last week, and talked about how a flower grows, the different parts of a flower, and why pollinators love flowers so much… which will take us into next week! 🙂
Our new favorite work is our Flower Arranging work from Practical Life. Who knew there was so much you could do with flowers? We also started another science experiment! What do you think the colored water will do to the white flowers? Do you have a hypothesis?
Operation Butterflies!
On Day 18 of our butterfly observations, we were lucky enough to watch the Painted Lady butterflies emerge from their chrysalises! We watched as they climbed out, rested, and dried their wings. We loved every single moment of this experience in our classroom! We’ll release them on Monday and Tuesday next week!
Enrichment Spotlight!
We had our very last Library visit with Ms. Cat for this school year. We read books and sang songs about space! We can’t wait to have more fun with Ms. Cat next school year!
A Special Visit from Venom!
One of our students brought in their bearded dragon, Venom, to introduce to our class! We reviewed what we had learned about reptiles and enjoyed learning more about bearded dragons! We learned what they eat (roaches and crickets!), about the spikes on their bodies, and about how they shed their skin. Thank you so much for visiting us Venom! We loved it!
Peek Into Next Week!
Focus Topic: Butterflies, Bees, Seeds, and Flowers
Important Dates:
It’s so hard to believe that we’re almost at the end of our school year. What an amazing year it has been in the Cherry Blossom room! A Field Day email has been sent out to you with the exciting events of the day! Let me know if you have any questions and I hope you’ll sign up to volunteer!
Line Time: Animals Groups- This week we talked about what groups of animals are called. Here is a list of what we learned…
Pack of dogs
Muster of peacocks
Pride of lions
Gaggle of geese
Murder of crows
School of fish
Pod of dolphins
Heard of cows, horses, and elephants
CONGRESS of Baboons
Mischief of rats (I am tearing)
Not a Flock Of Seagulls (I ran) but a colony of seagulls
And we have a sorority of female Bettas in the room!
I could not get a good shot of my sorority and mine isn’t this impressive.What do you call a group of children? A stomach ulcer. JK, hehe I love your children!!!
Did You Know? (Tires… Who? What? Read and it will make sense): If you could win a million dollars just by answering the question “Who is the world’s largest manufacturer of tires?” what would your guess be? Michelin? Goodyear? Bridgestone? Those are all good tries, but they’re all wrong. Surprised?
Well you’ll be even more surprised to know which company does make the most tires every year. It’s LEGO. That’s right. Since 2011, LEGO has held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest tire manufacturer. “The largest annual volume toy tire manufacturer ever,” and though it includes the specification of “toy,” the numbers surpass regular tire manufacturers. This is really a bit of a misnomer.
Ooooooooo Grave Digger
A Message From Mr. John (Six steps of separation/Jerry Seinfeld edition):
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 27 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagalog, Hebrew, Korean, Irish, Kiswahili, Irish, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, Polish, Serbo-Croation, Cebuano, Malay, Farsi, Turkish).
Do you see how mean my coworkers are? They said no donuts unless I wear the sash. YOY!
Enrichments (Science/Soup Souflette):
These boys are touching a piece of soup/Ivory after it has been microwaved for a little over a minute. It went in as a solid piece of soap and came out fluffy.
Peek In The Classroom:
Angela creating a buzz when presenting new materials to the students.
He is working on the Movable Alphabet found in the Language area. The key purpose of the Moveable Alphabet is to prepare children for writing, reading, and spelling. The child’s use of the material progresses from single words, to phrases, and eventually to stories. In this way, the Moveable Alphabet teaches children how to symbolize their own thoughts, and begin to write creatively.
This boy is making sure the correct number of Field Trip Forms were given to us. Ms. Sandy was without error handing them out.
In this early math activity, the child uses coloured bead bars that represent the quantities: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten. Each bar’s length contains as many beads as its corresponding number. The child uses these bead bars to make combinations that equal 10.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Solar System
Letter Of The Week- Uu
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bec
Academic Enrichment: Line Time: We added the interjection to our plethora parts of speech. YIKES!
Handwriting: We practiced writing sentences in cursive.
Next Week’s Lesson: Weekly Theme: Capitalization/Punctuation (end of a sentence)
Synonym Of The Week: SNEAKY, underhanded, dishonest, tricky, secretive, sly
Sight Words Of The Week: there their
You Know the saying “it’s like hearing cats”. This is how it feels like getting them to stand still for a picture.
Upcoming Events:
A few days off and other stuff.
DAYS OFF: No School: Monday, May 30th (Memorial Day)
OTHER STUFF: Fire Station Fieldtrip: Friday, May 27th 9:30am Field Day/Last Day Of School: Thursday, June 2nd
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
Its all about the bow!
This competition is becoming intense but I do feel defeat approaching. Notice the photo bomb?
Line Time: Baby Animals- This week we looked at names of baby animals. I started out by saying that most people call human children “kids” and in reality a kid is a baby goat. with that said here are some other baby animal names.
Did You Know? (They’re The Cheesiest): Canada eats more macaroni and cheese than any other nation in the world. When it comes to the consumption of boxed mac and cheese, or Kraft Dinner as it’s better known, Canadians eat a whopping 55 per cent more of it a year than Americans do. Out of the 7 million boxes sold weekly around the world, Canadians purchase 1.7 million of them. The average Canadian was estimated to consume around 27.5 lbs of cheese in 2020, an increase of over 15 percent since 2010, when annual per capita consumption stood at 23.6 lbs.
A Message From Mr. John (My fave time of the school day and not the end of it, hehe)
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 27 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagalog, Hebrew, Korean, Irish, Kiswahili, Irish, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, Polish, Serbo-Croation, Cebuano, Malay, Farsi, Turkish)
Enrichments (Library):
Ms. Cat read “I am a Tiger” and “Touch the Brightest Star” in Library Class.
Peek In The Classroom:
She is completing multiplication equations using Color Bead Bars.
This boy spelled his cat’s name.
This boy is cleaning his table after lunch.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Animal groups
Letter Of The Week-I i
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bud
Academic Enrichment: Handwriting: We practiced writing sentences in cursive.
Next Week’s Lesson: Weekly Theme: Interjection. YOY!
Synonym Of The Week: BRIGHT, shiny, glowing, dazzling, lighted, vivid
Sight Words Of The Week: which what
Kindergarten Strong!
Upcoming Events: A few days off and other stuff.
DAYS OFF: -No School: Monday, May 30th (Memorial Day)
OTHER STUFF: Mr. John’s Birthday: I can not wait!!!! Ya right. Make me feel better with cream filled donuts with maple frosting and yes I know maple flavor is an old man’s flavor.
Field Day/Last Day Of School: Thursday, June 2nd
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
You should’ve seen the other guy.
The dreaded Raspberry Fingers
A boy pretending to sleep and a girl trying to wake him.
A Peek At Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!
This week was all about SEEDS! We learned about what is inside of a seed, how seeds spread and why they need to, the three things a seed needs to grow, and how they grow from a seed to a plant! We took some time to use a magnifying glass to look at different types of seeds close up. And we planted some seeds in our plant viewer! We can’t wait to see what happens next!
Operation Chrysalis!
Our caterpillars formed their chrysalises this week! We were so excited to watch the entire process: from the caterpillars forming their J shape, shedding their exoskeletons one last time, and forming their chrysalis. We also moved our future butterflies into the butterfly house so we can continue observing.
Enrichment Spotlight!
We love Friday mornings when we practice ASL with Ms. Emily! This week Ms. Sam taught us a song about seeds and Ms. Emily taught us how to sign it!
Overheard in the Classroom…
Living things need food, water, air… and FISH STICKS!
“We’re counting our numbers together!”
“YAY MATH!!!”
Peek Into Next Week!
Focus Topic: Butterflies, Bees, Seeds, and Flowers
The controlled chaos of the International Festival practice.
Did You Know? The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona The Spanish city thought the design was too ugly, so Gustave Eiffel pitched it to Paris instead, as a temporary landmark during its 1889 International Exposition. French critics didn’t like it much either though.
A Message From Mr. John (Where did I put that thing?):
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 26 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagalog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, Polish, Serbo-Croation, Cebuano, Malay, Hindi).
May Birthdays: The Montessori classroom prides itself on having students from 3 to 6 years of age. Here is our newest 4 year old student.
Good Bye to Miss Emily: Miss Emily was our high school intern for the year. She did a wonderful job fitting in with our classroom, teaching your children, and being part of Thee Buckeye Room team. She is furthering her education at the University of Akron and majoring in Speech Therapy. We will miss her and wish her luck with her schooling (although she does not need luck, lol). The pics below.. one is a nice calm picture and the other is a group hug resulting in bedlam.
International Festival Festivities (YOUR CHILDREN ROCKED IT!):
Three children working on the Triangle Construction Boxes found in the Sensorial Area. The Constructive Triangles are used to demonstrate that all plane geometric figures can be constructed from triangles and to prepare the child for later work in geometry. What shapes do you see?
Two proud girls making a creation with the Number Rods and Red Rods. As you can tell it is a mirror image and was carefully and meticulously created.
He is tracing the continent of Asia. He will trace the control map and he will color the countries.
She is working on Knobbless Cylinders found in the Sensorial area. The purpose of these cylinders is to develop child’s fine-motor movements, concentration, hand-eye coordination, and visual perception of dimension. Do you notice how she is finding the relationship (height) between the green and blue cylinders?
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Animal Babies
Letter Of The Week: A a
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bib
Foreign Language: Turkish (finally)
Academic Enrichment: Line Time: We added the conjunction to our stable of parts of speech. The conjunction acts as a bridge between two sentences and make a sentence flow better.
Handwriting: We practiced writing sentences in cursive.
Next Week’s Lesson: Weekly Theme: Preposition. It is a where word not a werewolf!
Synonym Of The Week: DULL, dark, dreary, somber, boring, tedious
Sight Words Of The Week: there their
This is a project the Kindergarten Students completed. They tracked and measured the growth of this shoot over a few weeks. They also drew and colored pictures of the progress.
Picture 1- 4/12/22, 8 inches, 20 cm
Picture 2- 4/15/22, 12 inches, 30 cm
Picture 3- 4/21/2022, 17 inches, 34 cm
Picture 4- They realized the plant was very similar to a work found in the classroom.
Upcoming Events: A few days off and other stuff.
DAYS OFF: -No School: Monday, May 30th (Memorial Day)
OTHER STUFF: Mr. John’s Birthday: All gifts will be accepted and appreciated.
Field Day/Last Day Of School: Thursday, June 2nd
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
Uh oh! I know I am in trouble when I get this face
The Great Cornholio. Bragging rights to those who get this reference without Googling.
It was “All About Australia” A parent came in and talked about the flora and fauna of Australia. The children were engaged and happy for the visit.
Did you know? (OK, Now I itch. My eyelashes, eye brows, eyes, scalp, ears, all itch).
What are the mites on your eyelashes? Eyelash mites are tiny cigar-shaped bugs found in bunches at the base of your eyelashes. They’re normal and usually harmless, unless you have too many of them. Also known as demodex, each mite has four pairs of legs that make it easy to grip tube, shaped things, like your lashes. Just about every adult human alive has a population living on them, and they’re basically impossible to get rid of. Luckily, they’re harmless for most people. Am I freaking you out?
A Message From Mr. John: (Ear Bug! More creepy crawlies, not really)
You know what to do and what to expect!
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 26 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagalog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, Polish, Serbo-Croation, Cebuano, Malay, Hindi).
Enrichments (Art):
This week’s project focused on giraffes.
Peek In The Classroom:
Here are some students help carrying the take home folder box and the snack crate to the room.
He made his creation with the combination of the Brown Stairs and Pink Tower. I t reminds me of the Sears Tower. this creation is referred to as an “extension”. Sensorial extensions provide multiple opportunities to revisit these materials over and over again. Children create interesting patterns, stretch their imagination and usually work in a small group of peers which is a wonderful way to practice sharing and collaboration.
Kinders working on their language workbooks.
She is working on the 45 Layout found in the Math area. This layout will help your child to visualize and develop an understanding of place value, order of numbers, and concentration. This work is very large and can take some time. It can take time to build the concentration to complete the entire layout.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- International Festival stuff
Letter Of The Week- N/A
Rhyming Word Of The Week- N/A
Academic Enrichment: Weekly Theme: Adverbs, they describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Handwriting: We practiced writing sentences in cursive.
Next Week: Weekly Theme: Conjunctions (they like as a bridge)
Synonym Of The Week: N/A
Sight Words Of The Week: N/A
Kinders looking scared. I think I may have told them that I am giving them homework over the weekend.
Upcoming Events: International Festival (REHEARSAL): Wednesday, May 4 at 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm …
Cuyahoga Falls high School/Big Auditorium (details to follow)
International Festival (MAIN EVENT): Friday, May 6 at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm …
Cuyahoga Falls high School/Big Auditorium (details to follow)
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
You should have seen the other guy.
The Hippy Movement is alive and well. My sister was a hippy and my parents were NOT happy! This picture reminds me of this song…If you’re going to San Francisco – be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. Follow the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I0vkKy504U Do you see the swing photo bomb.
Our game faces. We are in competition with who is getting their haircut first
A Peek At Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!
We have had such a busy week in the Cherry Blossom class! We continued our study of Africa, we took a field trip, celebrated some birthdays, wrote some books, and met a hedgehog!
This week we designed our own African necklaces.
We met an African Dwarf Hedgehog named Daisy!
Our favorite authors have begun writing books featuring animals that you can find in Africa, such as elephants, lions, and hippos! We are encouraging the children to write their own words in their books. Look for more information about this method of teaching writing soon! They’ll also include a cover that has a title, a picture, and their name as the author! After they have finished, they can sit in the reading area and read their books!
We had a wonderful time at our field trip to the Sieberling Nature Realm! We used our 5 senses to explore the hiking trail. We explored what the bark feels like on different types of trees, saw some different early spring wildflowers, and a blue heron flew right over us! Inside the Nature Realm, we got up close to a box turtle!
Happy Birthday!
A very Happy Birthday to our newest 6 year old and our newest 5 year old!
Overheard in the Classroom…
“Hey dude… how are you liking your book?”
Peek Into Next Week!
Focus Topic: Africa and Mother’s Day!
Important Dates:
May 4: International Festival Rehearsal (not a dress rehearsal)
Line Time: Just working on International Festival stuff.
Practicing our songs with Ms. Lisa (Music Teacher)
Did You Know?: It is impossible to hum while holding your nose?
It is because when you hum, you are actually exhaling, so if both your mouth and your nose is closed, the air can’t escape. So, although you can hum for a very brief few second or two, you will be forced to open your mouth and catch your breath. AND I bet you tried this!!!!! Lol
A Message From Mr. John (Parent Revenge Week Part 2):
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 26 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagalog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, Polish, Serbo-Croation, Cebuano, Malay, Hindi).
Earth Day:
Happy Earth Day. Keep our Earth clean. It is the only planet we have.
Who Really Runs This Show?: The office staff has a plethora of tasks that they complete on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis. They are always smiling and make the school run smoothly. Kudos to Kelly and Sandy.
Peek In Our Classroom:
These are my Kindergarten students setting up for lunch. They set up tables, get chairs, and put out placemats.
He is working on the Blue Triangles found in the Sensorial area. The purpose is to show the “constructive power” (or analyzing power) of the triangle by exploring all possible shapes using only two triangles. Preparation for geometry: to show that all plane figures constructed with straight lines are composed of triangles.
Ms. Angela presenting letter sounds to a preschool student.
Miss Angela helping a Kindergarten Student with a preschooler proudly photo bombing the number 9.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- International Festival
Letter Of The Week- N/A
Rhyming Word Of The Week- N/A
Next Language is not until the International Festival
Upcoming Events: International Festival (REHEARSAL): Wednesday, May 4 at 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm …
Cuyahoga Falls high School/Big Auditorium (details to follow)
International Festival (MAIN EVENT): Friday, May 6 at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm …
Cuyahoga Falls high School/Big Auditorium (details to follow)
Academic Enrichment: Weekly Theme: Adjectives, they describe nouns and pronouns.
Handwriting: We practiced writing sentences in cursive.
Next Week’s Lesson: Weekly Theme: Adverbs (describes verbs {adjectives and other adverbs})
Synonym Of The Week: N/A
Sight Words Of The Week: N/A
My Kindergarten Students acting out an adjective.
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
Ya Shouldah Seen The Other Guy!
Most of the time you just don’t ask. This time I did. She was seeing how long her hair was.
Did You Know? (Yellow Stop Signs, are you kidding me?): In 1922, the American Association of State Highway Officials met to determine a standard design for stop signs, and that’s where they decided on the color—yellow. Wait, what? Yes, according to Business Insider, because they thought that yellow would grab drivers’ attention. They’d also considered red, but there was no dye available at the time that wouldn’t eventually fade. By 1954, however, sign makers had access to fade-resistant porcelain enamel, and could finally start making stop signs the red color we recognize today.
A Message From Mr. John (It is a Family Affair):
FYI… My dad despised this show. For what reason I do not know.
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 26 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagalog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemmish, Polish, Serbo-Croation, Cebuano, Malay, Hindi).
Know Your Languages (Turkish): Faked you out again. Not until after the International Festival
Room Visitors:
Lower Elementary let us use a sheep brain 🧠
We had Sonic the Hedgehog. Actually, her name is Daisy.
Peek In The Classroom:
Ms. Emily, our high school intern reads to a couple of boys. Emily’s time with us is winding down.
These students are raking turns walking in the maze. One of the most popular extension works is making the Maze with the Red Rods. Using a laminated card that shows the picture of The Maze, the children build a winding path that uses the longest rods first and then the smallest rods to make the interior. The students have to use visual discrimination skills to decide where the rods need to be placed in order to make The Maze work. Once completed, the children may quietly take off their shoes and walk inside The Maze taking careful steps to ensure that they do not bump a Red Rod out of place. Taking turns and waiting patiently are also important parts of doing this work cooperatively with a classmate, as only one child at a time is allowed inside The Maze.
This girl is sewing. Sewing is a wonderful Montessori practical life activity. Not only is it great for developing skills such as fine-motor coordination and concentration, but many sewing projects have added value as “real work” projects children can complete.
These students are working together “setting a table” activity. Setting up the table for a meal is an easy job for children to accomplish. If you model how to do the job and have all the things easily accessible, children will quickly take over how to do this themselves. Some people like to use template mats to show younger children where to place things. For example, with an outline of a fork, spoon, knife, and bowl/ plate.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- International Festival stuff
Letter Of The Week- No letter of the week
Rhyming Word Of The Week- No rhyming word of the week
Next Language is Turkish but not until after the International Festival
Academic Enrichment: Weekly Theme: Pronouns. Pronouns take the place of a noun and at times makes are lives easier. The pronouns we went over were he(boy), she(girl), it(not used for people because it is rude), we(a group of two or more we belong two), they(a group of two or more we do not belong to), you.
Handwriting: We practiced writing sentences in cursive.
Next Week’s Lesson: Weekly Theme: Adjectives (describes nouns)
Synonym Of The Week:No synonyms this week
Sight Words Of The Week: No sight words of the week
Upcoming Events: A few days off and other stuff.
DAYS OFF: -No School: Easter Monday, April 18
OTHER STUFF: International Festival (REHEARSAL): Wednesday, May 4 at 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm …
Cuyahoga Falls high School/Big Auditorium (details to follow)
International Festival (MAIN EVENT): Friday, May 6 at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm …
Cuyahoga Falls high School/Big Auditorium (details to follow)
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
Who has not done this at least once in our lifetime?
