Peek In Our Week ^^^ Thee Buckeye Room ^^^ Week Of November 8, 2021

Posted on November 10, 2021 at 9:00 pm.

Thee Buckeye Room Bulletin

Line Time:
Dinosaurs- We traveled back in time and discovered some fascinating things about certain dinosaurs. We learned that dinosaurs no longer exist and that they are extinct. We know dinosaurs exist because scientist found their bones or fossils. From these fossil we saw that some teeth were long and sharp to tear flesh from it’s prey which belonged to meat eaters or carnivores (T Rex). Some teeth were flat for grinding plants, leaves, and branches and belonged to plant eaters or herbivores (Brachiosauras).

Who remembers Dinosaurs? Not the Momma!

Did You Know? (What’s The Diff?)?
I am a week late since this would have been apropo during Halloween…. hehe. The word cemetery (from Greek κοιμητήριον, “sleeping place”) implies that the land is specifically designated as a burial ground and originally applied to the Roman catacombs. The term graveyard is often used interchangeably with cemetery, but a graveyard primarily refers to a burial ground within a churchyard.

Message From Mr. John (My Mop):

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 15 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic in the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagalog, Hebrew)

Know Your Languages (Hebrew):

Specials (Music):

Peek In The Classroom:

This student is working on the Phonics Folder which is an pre-reading exercise. Phonics is a reading method that allows a child to learn the sounds of letters by developing an understanding of how these sounds are used individually, in groups and whole words. Phonetic instruction is the foundational stepping stone in a Montessori Language Arts program.

Look at this guy focusing on a work in Practical Life (you can almost see the tongue sticking out, lol). Practical Life in Montessori is purposeful activity, develops motor control and coordination, and develops independence, concentration, and a sense of responsibility.

She is working on her Kindergarten Binder and is practicing cursive. Dr. Montessori chose lower case cursive because the gentle curved lines are an extension of the natural movement of the child’s hand. When writing in cursive the act of connecting the letters that form a word help the child’s mind to see those letters as a word.

A Kindergarten student showing g me his daily workplan. Work plans are an essential element to the Montessori education. Each day students are to check off the work that they have completed, and present it to the teacher.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Pilgrims/Thanksgiving

Letter Of The Week- M m

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bop

Next Language is Korean

**Did you noticed that the letter of the week and rhyming word of the week are Mm Bop!**

Academic Enrichment:

Kinder students using arms to make “quarter after” or 12:15

Weekly Theme:
Telling Time To the Quarter Hour

Handwriting:
We practiced writing in cursive vowel blends Ao Au

Next Week:
Weekly Theme: Currency, Bills and Coins

Synonym Of The Week: No Synonym of the week this week

Sight Words Of The Week: been down

Upcoming Events:
THANKSGIVING BREAK: Wednesday, November 24 to Sunday November 28 (returning Monday, November 29)

Christmas Show Rehearsal: Wednesday, December 8 at 6pm to 7pm (not a dress rehearsal).

Christmas Show: Friday, December 10. Arrive at 5:30pm (take your children to the restroom. Even if they say they do not have to go!)

Christmas Break: Monday, December 20 Returning Monday January 3

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

I wish I could get away with the hair and yogurt on the shirt without being judged. lol

BFFs. Strong friendships are formed in the classroom.

Your Kids Say The Darndest Things (I Like Carrots):

A Peek at Our Week – Cherry Blossom – Week of 11/1/21

Posted on November 6, 2021 at 3:14 pm.

Written by Tonya Shaw

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

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

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

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

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

Art for Kids Hub!

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

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

“What is pizza plus dice?”

“Domino’s!”

Enrichment Spotlight – Science with Mr. John!

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

Happy (belated) Halloween from the Cherry Blossoms!

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

Peek Into Next Week!

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

Letter: Ii

Number: 9

Languages: Counting in German and ASL

Important Dates:

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

November 24-26: Thanksgiving Break – No School!

A Peek At Our Week – Cherry Blossom – Week of 10/25/21

Posted on October 29, 2021 at 4:30 pm.

Written by Tonya Shaw

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

We continued our focus lesson on Animal Classification this week! We reviewed vertebrates and invertebrates. We introduced two invertebrate animal groups – Insects and Arachnids! We learned that insects have three body parts (head, thorax, abdomen), and six legs! We also spent some time discussing arachnids and learned that they have two body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen) and eight legs! We talked about spinnerets and the different types of thread spiders use, and learned that spiders turn insects into smoothies so they can drink them! A little bit gross and a little bit fascinating!

Mr. John kicked off our arachnid lesson by visiting our classroom with his tarantula! Some of us were curious, some of us were cautious, but we all asked LOTS of questions!

Oh my, the Handwriting!

Cherry Blossoms worked hard on their handwriting this week! You’ll notice theres a few different ways that teachers will introduce handwriting skills.

Our youngest students will work with the sand tray and the sandpaper letters. This gives them a very sensory based approach to beginning those handwriting skills.

As our fine motor skills strengthen, children will be introduced to either the chalkboard or dry erase board. We begin by introducing the baseline, midline, and top line that will assist us in forming our letters. Then we introduce beginning strokes, such as swing, down, and circle. These movements will form our cursive letters later!

After our children are comfortable with those beginning strokes, they will be introduced to individual sandpaper letters. We will practice tracing the sandpaper letter while being introduced to the language that assists us in forming that cursive letter. For example, the letter t is formed by “begin at the baseline, swing up to the top line, down to the baseline, pick up your pencil, and cross at the midline.” Then we will use that language we learned and practice forming our letters on the chalkboard or dry erase board!

Once we are comfortable with that skill, we’ll practice in our handwriting folders! Phew! Handwriting is hard work!

Enrichment Spotlight – Music with Ms. Lisa!

Ms. Lisa has been working with us on recognizing whole note, half note, quarter note, and eighth note and what that sounds like in music. We also have been working on allegro (fast) and adagio (slow). We practiced with our bodies in music class, but we also practice with our lunch song before we eat!

WE WERE BOOED!

Peek Into Next Week!

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

Letter: Jj

Number: 8

Languages: Counting in German and ASL

Important Dates:

Monday is the last day! : Usborne Book Fair – Join us in person or online! https://v2805.myubam.com/

November 5: Trunk or Treat

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

A Peek At Our Week- Aspen: 10/18/21- Living and Non-Living

Posted on October 24, 2021 at 10:49 pm.

Written by Kelley Laney

This week the Aspen class learned all about Living and Non-Living things! Aspen spent the week examining the characteristics of Living and Non-Living things and then used our knowledge to make classifications. We classified objects within our environment into these two groups. Some of the characteristics we learned about Living things are; living things grow, living things are made of cells, living things have some form of movement, living things respond to the environment, and living things reproduce. Throughout our week we took a look at a variety of living things and got to observe some of their charicteristics. The children observed Oreo moving and reacting to the environment around him. To our amazement Mr. John brought in Charlotte the Tarantula for us to observe and ask questions about spiders. Finally, we took a look at plants and how they fit into the classification of being living organisms.

This week in Kindergarten the children learned all about Insects and Arachnids. They learned how to classify them and label the parts of each. Mr. John also enlisted the help of Charlotte the Tarantula to illustrate charicteristics of Arachnids! In Reading Group, we practiced our Sound Detective skills utilizing our previous knowledge from past Reading Group lessons. Thus, reviewing the phonograms (letter teams) and sight words that we have already learned. At the same time, we practiced the lowercase cursive letter u paying particular attention to the lines on the paper.

Next week our topics include; bats, spiders, and all things Halloween!! We will be learning some Halloween words or phrases in Spanish!

Charlotte stopped by the Aspen room to say hello!!

Ms. Tonya had a Spider plant that reproduced and grew baby spider plants. A young spider plant is called a spiderette or a pup! The Aspen class had the opportunity to take a look at this amazing plant up- close and observe the roots beginning to grow on the baby plant.

A better look at one of the Spiderettes!

Having fun in art class practicing our fine motor skills and following directions! The Aspen class drew different types of lines to create a fish.

Practicing handwriting skills with the dry erase board.

Sensorial exploration with the Color Tablets by learning to grade color from dark to light.

A Peek At Our Week – Cherry Blossom – Week of 10/18/21

Posted on October 22, 2021 at 3:57 pm.

Written by Tonya Shaw

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

We started our focus lesson on Animal Classification this week! We talked about vertebrates and invertebrates and took some time to feel our own back bones. Then we introduced our first animal group – Mammals! We learned that mammals have hair or fur, are warm blooded, give birth to live young, and that babies drink their mother’s milk. We were very excited to learn that we, as human beings, are mammals! Ms. Sam also sang a fun song with us this week that included animals from all of our different groups!

Working In Pairs!

One of the benefits of a Montessori classroom is the ability for older students to work with younger students. As our school year continues, we will see more older children offer to help a younger student that needs a little direction. This has so many benefits! The older student will learn patience and understanding as they work with the younger student. The younger student is more open to accepting redirection and problem solving. They both will learn empathy for others as they experience that no two people learn the exact same way.

Enrichment Spotlight – Library with Ms. Cat!

The Cherry Blossom class went upstairs to the Library to visit Ms. Cat this week. She read us a hilarious book called Fall Mixed Up and we giggled a lot! Ms. Cat also sang some fall songs with us!

ATTENTION CHERRY BLOSSOMS!

Join Ms. Sam and Ms. Tonya by wearing your fun Halloween attire on Wednesday and Thursday next week!

Twinsies! Check out our cool new watches!!!

Peek Into Next Week!

We will continue our study of Classification of Animals. We will review Vertebrates and Invertebrates and Mammals. And we will introduce Insects and Arachnids! We will also be talking about Halloween of course!

Letter: Hh

Number: 7

Languages: Colors in German and ASL

Important Dates:

October 26 – November 1: Usborne Book Fair – Join us in person or online! https://v2805.myubam.com/

October 29: Halloween Party

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

Peek In Our Week {} Buckeye Room {} Week Of October 18, 2021

Posted on October 22, 2021 at 10:46 am.

Written by John Kotradi

The Buckeye Room Bulletin

Line Time:
Fish- We learned fish are vertebrates or they have a backbone or a spine. They are cold blooded (their body temperature changes to the temperature around them) and have slimy and scaly skin. The unique thing about fish is that some fish are born alive and some fish are born with jelly eggs. Some examples of fish are Trout, Bass, Sharks, and Swordfish. And one more important point is that fish live in water.

I saw this movie when it was originally released in the theater. 1975 ish. Does this make me old?

Did You Know? (Ants Sleep zzzzzzzz)
A recent study of ants’ sleep cycle found that the average worker ant takes approximately 250 naps each day, with each one lasting just over a minute. That adds up to 4 hours and 48 minutes of sleep per day. The research also found that 80 percent of the ant workforce was awake and active at any one time.

Message From Mr. John (Calamity Days)

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 10 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic in the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian).

Know Your Languages (Romanian):

Our Intern:

This Emily that will be interning in the Buckeye Room this year. You will see her during end of day pick up and aftercare. Notice the semi photo bomb by Angela?

Peek In The Classroom:

She is working on the Three Part Cards focusing on three letter words/short vowel sounds. Montessori Classified Cards Montessori 3-part cards or classified cards can be used to enrich the children’s vocabularies, to develop their classification, reading and writing skills and their knowledge of the world around them.

This student is working on her Kindergarten Binder. She is practicing her handwriting in cursive.

Ms. Angela is giving a lesson in Practical Life as another child intently observes. Practical life in Montessori is purposeful activity and develops (O.C.C.I.) Order, Coordination, Concentration, and, develops independence.

This student is working on the Binomial Cube found in the sensorial area in the room. The Binomial Cube is introduced to children from around 3.5 years to 4 years old. In these early stages, the purpose of the material is less focused on the complex mathematics behind the material, and rather is to provide a challenge for a child’s ability to find patterns and relationships between the blocks. the mathematics mentioned of the binomial cube is actually an Algebraic equation….. (a+b)3=a3 + 3a2b + 3ab2 + b3.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Birds

Letter Of The Week- J j

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bip

Next Language is Swedish

Specials Spot (Music):

What is going on here? They are warming up for music class by doing “Pop Goes The Weasel”

Academic Enrichment aka Kindergarten:
This week we talked about the parts of plants, arachnids, and insects.

Kinders pretending to be their favorite insect.

Handwriting: This week we practiced writing cursive vowel blends Ii Oo Uu

Next Week:
Weekly Theme: Telling Time To The Hour

Synonym Of The Week: COLD: freezing, chilly, frigid, frozen, cool

Sight Words Of The Week: use your

Upcoming Events:
Halloween Party- Friday, October 29, 2021 (details to follow)

Book Fair- Monday, October 25, 2021 through Monday, November 1, 2021

P/T CONFERENCES- Friday, November, 12, 2021 (details to follow) **** NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS ****

THANKSGIVING BREAK- Wednesday, November 24 to Sunday November 28 (returning Monday, November 29)

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

When you see a student arriving at school still in pajamas you know the parent raised the white flag and says “you pick you battles”. And yes, we all have been there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boys Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper tune)

Your Child Says The Darndest Things (My Brother Ethan):

***** During this filming I was quite aware of the shennanigans going on in the background. After the filming I did put a quick end to the game of fetch!!!! *****

Peek At Our Week-Aspen Room: The Skeletal System- 10/11/21

Posted on October 18, 2021 at 1:11 am.

Written by Kelley Laney

This week in Aspen we learned all about the Skeletal System! During group lessons we learned the names of the bones in our body and where they are located, discussed how bones help us and their functions, explored what bones are made of, practiced what we learned by working with the Skeleton Puzzle, and learned some fun Skeletal System facts! Do you know how many bones an adult human has? Who has more bones an infant or an adult? Do you know where your longest and strongest bone is? What about the location of the smallest bone in your body? Your child knows the answers to these questions and more! Ask them about what they learned this week.

This week in Kindergarten they learned all about mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians! They classified charicteristics of each group and learned all about the animal kingdom. The kindergarteners then practiced tracing, labeling, and naming the Zoology Puzzles! In Reading Group we continued to study the rules of our language, engaged in word play, discussed the CH phonogram, practiced the lowercase cursive letters t and u, and practiced our Comprehension skills.

Next week our thematic topic in Aspen is Living and Non Living!

Painting a pumpkin with puffy paint and a popsicle stick!

Putting together our skeleton floor puzzle.

Creating designs with the Brown Stair and Pink Tower with Sensorial Extensions applying the knowledge learned from previous lessons with this activity. Exploring and discriminating size comparisons.

Peek in Our Week ()() Buckeye room ()() Week Of October 11, 2021

Posted on October 15, 2021 at 7:31 pm.

Written by John Kotradi

Buckeye Room Bulletin

Line Time:
Amphibians- This week we looked at the Amphibian. We talked about how the Amphibians are vertebrates, cold blooded (the body temperature changes to the temperature that surrounds the amphibian), their skin is soft and moist, and they are born from jelly eggs. Some examples of Amphibians are toads, frogs, and salamanders. We learned that the term amphibian means of two worlds. Amphibians are born in the water but live their life on land. Below is the lesser know frog from the English cartoon Danger Mouse named Baron Silas Greenback.

A Message From Mr. John (Another Conundrum):

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 10 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic in the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian).

Know you Languages (Russian):

Alumnus Visit:

We had an alum from AMMS visit and read a book to the class.

Peek In The Classroom:

This is a Monday morning when Ms. Angela put new works on the shelf in Practical Life. Look at the interest and curiosity it created.

The same day as the picture above after our line time. The students dug into the new works!!!!!!! Look at the focus of the children working.

This boy composed several numbers using the golden beads/9 tray. He thought of this number by himself. Next he will learn to compose numbers with empty columns (which rocks the child’s world) then start to perform operations (addition, multiplication, subtraction, division).

This student is working with the Pink (short vowel sounds) Rhyming material. The purpose of rhyming is to provide practice in discriminating speech sounds in words which leads to beginning reading. These activities will develop phonemic awareness as well as listening skills and intonation patterns of the spoken language.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Fish

Letter Of The Week- I i

Rhyming Word Of The Week- Bin

Next Language is Romanian

Academic Enrichment:
Weekly Theme:
This week we looked at the five animals which are mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds. Look at the fancy dancy chart showing what makes that certain animal that certain animal.

Kinders pretending to be their favorite animal.

Handwriting:
We practiced writing in cursive vowel blends of Yy Zz Aa Ee

Next Week:
Weekly Theme: Parts Of plants, Arachnids, and Insects

Synonym Of The Week: HOT, burning, scorching, blazing, boiling, sizzling

Sight Words Of The Week: she were

Upcoming Events:
Halloween Party- Friday, October 29, 2021 (details to follow)

Book Fair- Monday, October 25, 2021 through Monday, November 1, 2021

P/T CONFERENCES- Friday, November, 12, 2021 (details to follow) **** NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS ****

THANKSGIVING BREAK- Wednesday, November 24 to Sunday November 28 (returning Monday, November 29)

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

This not a mustache it is dirt. In Mr. John’s class we work hard and play hard.

Your Kids Say The Darndest Things (My Sister):

A Peek At Our Week – Cherry Blossom – Week of 10/11/21

Posted on October 15, 2021 at 1:36 pm.

Written by Tonya Shaw

A Peek at Our Week in the Cherry Blossom Classroom!

We continued our classroom study of Fall and the change of seasons, with a focus this week on leaves. We discussed the parts of a leaf, as well as why leaves change color in the fall. We talked about how chlorophyll is the green pigment inside of the leaf and its job is to absorb the sunlight and change that sunlight into food for the tree. We also discussed how the pigments yellow, orange, and red are inside of the leaf all along, but the chlorophyll covers it up during the spring and summer. During Preschool Lesson, Ms. Sam introduced us to a science experiment where we saw that leaves breathe! Lots of awesome facts this week! We also made beautiful leaf suncatchers that you can spy hanging up in our windows of the classroom.

What have the 4 year olds been up to in our mixed age classroom?

This child is Weaving Ribbons in our Practical Life area. Weaving is an excellent activity to work on the child’s fine motor skills.

This child is working with our Touch Tablets from our Sensorial area. These tablets consist of different types of sandpaper, ranging from less rough to roughest. The child can use their sense of touch to either pair the matching tablets or gradate them, or they can do both at once!

This child is working with the Table Top Rods with Symbols (In Order) from our Math area. The Table Top Rods are a smaller version of a familiar classroom work – the Number Rods! The child practices placing the numerals in order from 1-10, and then counts the blue and red sections of the rod, matching them to the correct numerals.

This child is working with Cards and Counters from our Math Area. We include different types of cards and counters in the classroom to keep this work interesting for the children. We’ve been working with trees and leaves for a couple weeks.

This child is working in his Handwriting Folder, a part of our Language area. Each week we study a new letter within our classroom. We not only practice the letter name and letter sound, we also practice writing our letter of the week. We write our letter in the air with our arm, on a large piece of paper, and then in our Handwriting Folders.

This child is working on coloring a World Map in our Geography area of the classroom. Each of the continents have a corresponding color within the Montessori Classroom. We’ve been focusing on North America because that is where we live, but the class favors Antarctica because of the penguins!

This child is working on Tracing and Labeling the Parts of a Tree from our Science area. The child traces the control card, and then uses the control card to assist in writing the parts of the plant. The child can also color this work to match out Parts of a Tree nomenclature cards like this child is doing!

Enrichment Spotlight – Art with Ms. Varela!

Ms. Varela introduced us to Vincent Van Gogh and his paintings of sunflowers. We have spent the past couple of art lessons creating our own paintings of sunflowers using watercolor pencils!

Peek Into Next Week!

We have completed our study of the season of Fall/Autumn with a focus on plants. Next week we will begin our Classification of Animals study which will last a few weeks. We will begin with Vertebrates and Invertebrates and Mammals.

Letter: Vv

Number: 6

Languages: Greetings & Manners in German and ASL

Important Dates:

October 26 – November 1: Usborne Book Fair

October 29: Halloween Party

ASPEN- A Peek At Our Week : October 4, 2021- The World Of Color!!

Posted on October 10, 2021 at 8:04 pm.

Written by Kelley Laney

Color is all around us and this week in Aspen we explored all things color! First, we learned all about Primary Colors and then experimented with them with our Color Mixing work! We discovered that when we mixed certain primary color combinations we got new colors! These new colors are called the Secondary Colors. After creating our color mixing combinations we then experimented mixing secondary color combinations! Ask your little artist/scientist what they discovered while color mixing this week! Many of the students figured out how to create various shades with their color mixing experimentation. As a result, we then discussed the color wheel and the concepts of warm and cool colors. We then applied the concepts we learned to create suncatchers for our windows. Finally, we learned our color names in Spanish with Ms.Sandy and read a book Olivia brought in to share with us! It sure was a fun and colorful week in the Aspen Room.

In kindergarten it was all about landforms this week. They discussed lake, island, cape, bay, peninsula, and gulf with Mr. John during kindergarten lesson. We then explored these concepts further with our Land and Water forms activity! In reading group we continued to work on our confidence with a variety of Sound Detective games, phonograms (letter teams), and Fluency. We also engaged in a Reading Comprehension activity by reading a nonfiction informative paragraph. The kindergarteners then took turns answering questions pertaining to the paragraph. Therefore, exploring concepts such as finding information within a text selection, recalling facts, and linking facts to practice reasoning skills.

Next week our topic is Skeletons!