Peek In Our Week | Mr. John’s Class | Week of November 2, 2020

Posted on October 30, 2020 at 2:29 pm.

Buckeye Room Bulletin

Line Time:
This week we learned about insects and arachnids. Creepy Crawly, creepy crawly creepy creep creepy crawly (reminds me of The Who song, Boris The Spider). When we went over the five animals all of them were vertebrates (having a backbone and spine) but looking at Insects and arachnids they were invertebrates (no back bone or spine). Most had what we call an exoskeleton which is the skeleton is on the outside. This gives the creature support and protection. We learned insects have a head, thorax, and abdomen, six legs, and two antennae. We sang the characteristics of an insect to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. Some insects are ants, bees, and butterflies. Arachnids have a head and abdomen, and eight legs. Some examples of arachnids are spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites.

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 12 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian).

Know Your Languages (Swedish):

Peek In The Classroom:

My newest reader!!!!! There is no better feeling for a teacher than to experience a child reading for the first time.

These bead bars with their characteristic colors are used to learn countless math concepts from basic counting and identifying the correlation between symbol and quantity to skip counting, to addition, to multiplication, and even to the squaring and cubing of numbers. This boy is now working on counting and finding the correct number for the corresponding Color Bead Bar.

Remember my explanation of extensions in the Montessori Classroom? No? here it is again…The Montessori extension lessons help the child to have further experience with the concepts of the materials. Often times the extension activity draws the child towards a more abstracted view of the original concrete concept that was introduced. This boy found he can stagger the blocks and keep the original aim by stacking from biggest to smallest. He discovered this all on his own.

These girls are working with Color Box 4 and the aim is to grade the colors from darkest to lightest. The child is learning precise refinement. There are subtle differences between some of the shades and tint and even between colors at the lightest or darkest levels. These differences matter and reinforces visual discrimination which helps in identifying and distinguishing symbols such as 6/9, 3/8, b/d, q/p…

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Dinosaurs

Letter Of The Week- L l

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bot

Next Language: Swedish

Upcoming Events:
Zoom Parent/Teacher Conferences- Friday, November 13 (NO SCHOOL) Sign up for a slot..Sign up Genius Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-zoom

Zoom Info:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6614842878?pwd=QjNkWk5GQ1ZJaERMdkU0eVpMakZvZz09
Meeting ID: 661 484 2878
Passcode: AMMS

Thanksgiving Break: We are off Wednesday November 25th and returning Monday November 30.

Academic Enrichment:
Weekly Theme:
This week the K-kids did addition with carry overs (Dynamic) using the manipulatives of the Golden Beads. Did you know the two numbers added together are called addends and the answer is called the sum?

Handwriting: We practiced writing in cursive words: cat, bed, wig, mop, tub

Next Week:
Weekly Theme: Addition with other materials

Synonym Of The Week: BIG, vast, gigantic, huge, large, enormous, colossal

Sight Words Of The Week: said by

More tracking the growth of roots. We did discover that five more roots sprouted and the existing roots grew longer. No more leaves appeared but we are confident that new leaves will grow.

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

Your Children say The Darndest Things (Gone Fishin):
Follow the link….

https://vimeo.com/thesmarterkids/review/472740166/d20941030a

Them Bones Them Bones! Them Blawsome Bones

Posted on October 27, 2020 at 1:31 pm.

Written by Michele Hayden

Last week we took a peek into our skeletal system. The students were amazed that we all have a skeleton inside of us! We made skulls to decorate our classroom for the upcoming Halloween Party and some made skull bracelets. It was a great week of learning and progress. Our students were very interested in the facts we learned about our bones! For example, we have 206 bones in our body and without them, we would be like a bowl of Jell-O! We learned that the skull is inside our head and protects our brain. We also talked about the ribcage and how it moves when we breathe and protects our heart and lungs and how our pelvis is the bone we use to dance and sit. Lastly, we discussed how our backbone supports our body and helps us to stand up straight. The children loved dancing to the skeleton song!

Building the biggest to smallest using many materials. This activity builds fine motor skills, focus,and visual discrimination of size.

Tracing the skeleton puzzle. Working on pincer grasp, fine motor skills, and focus, as well as remembering where bones belong.

Our skull protects our brain. It also houses the smallest bone in our body the scapes or stirrup in our ear!

So exciting to learn how a clock works! Can’t wait till we learn half past, quarter past, and quarter till!

We have all been diving deep into learning new things throughout our classroom. We built the pink tower and brown stairs in new ways and started using the movable alphabet! Many friends were fascinated by the landform trays and saw the difference between island and lake. We started journal copy writing this week. Some friends are tracing over highlighter letters while others are copying the words on their own. We are all learning sign language and beginning to use it I our classroom. It is so nice to be able to communicate nonverbally across the classroom. Wow what an amazing start to our school year and progress in learning and growing together!

Peek At Our Week! 10/19/20-10/23/20 “Skele-Fun” All About Skeletons !!!

Posted on October 23, 2020 at 8:20 pm.

Written by Kelley Laney

This week the Aspen Room learned all about the Skeletal System. We discussed the parts of the skeleton and learned the names of our bones, how bones help us, how to keep our bones healthy, and fun facts about our bones. Your children also explored the Skeletal System by putting together our skeleton puzzle, labeling the bones of our skeleton , working with the Skeletal Classification cards, and coloring skeletons! Your child also learned that the adult human body has 206 bones but an infant has about 300! We learned that this is because the bones in an infant are still developing/growing and as a result they have more bones than an adult. We also discovered that the Python has the most bones with 600 vertebrae which can equal 1,800 bones! Yet, the shark has the fewest amount of bones because it’s skeleton contains a lot of cartilage. It was definitely a “Skele-Fun” Week!

The finished skeleton puzzle! The proud look of accomplishing a challenging work!

The traced and decorated skeleton! All ready for Halloween!

Kindergarten students learned all about the parts of Trees, Plants, Arachnids, and Insects!

Mr. John brought Charlotte into our classroom to show our class! Some of our children were more thrilled than others about our eight legged visitor!

Next week we will be talking about Healthy Habits and Safety! We will discuss food groups briefly and making healthy choices, review washing hands, and safety rules (How to cross the street, Halloween safety…etc). We will have sorting activities, yoga cards, and more! Have a great weekend!

Peek At Our Week: 10/12/20 -10/16/20 All About Pumpkins!

Posted on October 16, 2020 at 8:25 pm.

Written by Kelley Laney

This week the Aspen Room learned all about pumpkins! We learned how they grow, sang pumpkin songs, sorted pumpkin seeds from the goop (pulp), explored number concepts with our sorted pumpkin seeds, scrubbed pumpkins, and worked with the many pumpkin themed practical life activities! Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!!! Did you know that the Pilgrims survived the harsh winter by eating pumpkins? Yet, today the majority of pumpkins are grown and sold for decoration and carving purposes! This week’s homework assignment bake/eat something with pumpkin in it!

Kindergarten students learned all about the Animal Kingdom! They learned the many differences between the different Classes of animals! How animals are classified and the differences between each classified group. We also had fun labeling and tracing our animal puzzles in the classroom.

Next week we are exploring the Skeletal System and learning all about bones! Bones have many important jobs for our body. Do you know how many bones there are in the human body? Do you know which animal has the most bones? Next week we will learn these fun facts and more!

Matching and making patterns with pumpkins!

Pumpkin Scrubbing! Getting our pumpkin ready for carving fun!

Transferring pumpkins with tongs! A great exercise for fine motor skills , patience, and learning to focus.

Pouring pumpkins??? Another great example of our Practical Life curriculum.

Comparative discrimination and sequencing! Putting pumpkins in order from the largest to smallest.

Kindergarten follow-up work! Tracing and labeling the animal puzzles.

Peek In our Week ^ Mr. John’s Class ^ Week of October 26, 2020

Posted on October 16, 2020 at 7:31 pm.

Written by John Kotradi

Buckeye Room Bulletin

Line Time:
Birds- We ended our journey of studying animals with the bird. We learned birds are vertebrates and are warm-blooded, which means that they can make their own body heat even when it is cold outside. Whether it is sunny and hot outside or there is a snowstorm and it is very cold, warm-blooded animals have body temperatures that usually stay the same. They are born from hard shelled eggs and have feathers. A lot of birds fly but some do not. The flightless birds are the ostrich and penguin. We are not sure if chickens fly.

Below are Foghorn Leghorn and Eggburt Jr…. Iah say, Iah say that boy aint right.

Speaking Words Of Wisdom… (from Mr. John):
Have you ever gone out and had toothpaste on your face and clothes? Of course you have. My advice is to brush your teeth right before hopping in the shower. No toothpaste on your face and certainly no toothpaste on your clothes. Problem solved!

Message From Mr. John (Short look at my philosophy in the classroom):

Know your Languages (Romanian):

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 11 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian).

Halloween Party:

Peek In The Classroom:

These two girls found the relationship between two materials found in the Sensorial area (Knobbed Cylinders and Knobbless Cylinders). They found the relationship of diameter and height. They were pretty proud of themselves by the looks of the high five that is about to happen.

These rods may seem familiar to you and they should if you’ve ever seen the Red Rods. They are exactly the same except for one feature: alternating blue and red segments. The child will typically work with the Number Rods after mastering the Red Rods. If you recall, the Red Rods help establish visual discrimination of length. The Number Rods are a natural progression, naming the quantity shown on each Number Rod with red and blue demarcations. The aim of the Number Rods is to associate the written symbol with the right quantity and to be able to build rods and/or numbers 1-10. Building up the different combinations to 10 gives an indirect preparation for addition. The taking away of rods gives the impression of subtraction.

These girls are working on the equations (The Stamp Game) I have assigned. The Montessori Math Stamp Game lesson comes at the end of place value and decimal system work. The goal is to reinforce the four operations introduced with the Golden Beads but in a more abstract way. The work is familiar to them, but different enough to keep it interesting and intriguing.

She is working on the Ten Board which is a Math material. Before she composed only “tens” but now she is adding “units”. This strengthens the correlation between quantity (colored beads) and symbols (numbers) from 11 to 99.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Insects, Arachnids, Invertebrates

Letter Of The Week- K k

Rhyming Word Of The Week- ox

Next Language is Romanian

Academic Enrichment aka Kindergarten:
This week we started our journey into MATH…. EEEEK! We started out by composing numbers with beads and symbols then worked our way into doing addition with manipulatives with the nine tray.

I don’t even know what to say about this picture. lol

Handwriting:
We practiced writing in cursive vowel blends of Ua ua, Ue ue, Ui ui, Uo uo, Uu uu

Next Week:
Weekly Theme: Addition manipulatives (Dynamic/Carry Overs)

Synonym Of The Week: OLD: ancient, elderly, used, seasoned, mature

Sight Words Of The Week: how each

Upcoming Events:
Zoom Parent/Teacher Conferences- Friday, November 13 (NO SCHOOL) Sign up for a slot..Sign up Genius Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-zoom

Zoom Info:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6614842878?pwd=QjNkWk5GQ1ZJaERMdkU0eVpMakZvZz09
Meeting ID: 661 484 2878
Passcode: AMMS

Thanksgiving Break: We are off Wednesday November 25th and returning Monday November 30.

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

I don’t know what got into him this day but he was pretty goofy…Fun with masks by turning his mask into a slingshot. Can you say engineer?

Feeding the snake and spider usually draws a large crowd.

More cheesines and cuteness.

Your Kids say the Darndest Things (Let go of my Snacko!):
Follow the link to view the vid…

https://vimeo.com/thesmarterkids/review/470723195/11

Peek In Our Week # Mr. John’s Class # Week Of October 19, 2020

Posted on October 13, 2020 at 7:18 pm.

Written by John Kotradi

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.

Did you know?
Since we are in the thick of things with COVID-19 let’s talk about sneezes. Sneezes travel at about 100 miles per hour and that a single sneeze can send 100,000 germs into the air. Also when a person sneezes you should tell them “You are sooo good lookin” Who knows this reference?

Message From Mr. John (Smilin’ John):

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

Know Your Languages (Russian):

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

I asked the boys to kneel and this is what I got.

Since we talked about Arachnids I decided to give an impromptu visit to the classrooms with Charlotte. The students loved it. The staff….. well not so much as I was confronted with “concerned” teachers, screaming and running down the hall (literally with both), and some salty language thrown at me. Its just like a hamster with 8 legs, right?

Handwriting: This week we practiced writing cursive vowel blends Oa oa, Oe oe, Oi oi, Oo oo, Ou ou

Next Week:
Weekly Theme: MATH- GULP! Addition with beads

Synonym Of The Week: NEW, novel, fresh, original, unique, current, unused

Sight Words Of The Week: use your

Peek In The Classroom:

This girl is working on a pre reading work using three word/short vowel sounds exercise.

This boy is working on the 100 board which is a math activity. Around three or four years of age, depending on how quickly the child has grasped the concept of counting to 100 we introduce the 100 board. This work helps them to understand number order.

She is working on the 10 board which is found in the math area. This teaches a child to associate the quantities and symbols from 10 to 90 using the tens bead bars. The child explores the number names of the tens and then sequence of numbers 11–99.

This boy is working on the red rods found in the sensorial area. The direct purpose of the red rods is to develop the child’s visual and muscular perception of length and eventually using the math counter part the number rods.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Birds

Letter Of The Week- J j

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bip

Next Language is Russian

Upcoming Events:
Halloween Party: Friday, October 30 ** Email sent **
Follow the link to contribute….. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-buckeye

Zoom Parent/Teacher Conferences- Friday, November 13 ** Details coming soon. Really they are **

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

When I see a puddle (everyday) I hope and pray that it is water from a spilled water bottle and not something else. Hehe

Brotherly/Sisterly love. Brother does not want a hug from sister. Do you think they ever fight at home?

Your Child Says The Darndest Things:
Follow the link below to hear some children’s words of wisdom…

https://vimeo.com/thesmarterkids/review/469088911/264fc9828d

Peek In Our Week * Mr. John’s Classroom * Week Of October 12, 2020

Posted on October 12, 2020 at 1:36 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:

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 12 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect).

Peek In The Classroom:

This student is using the golden beads to compose numbers from 1 to 9,999. The purpose of this is to make the child familiar with the different categories of numbers, especially with regard to reading the symbols. Also, to give the child the wording of large numbers. This material enforces the correlation between symbol and quantity.

She is being introduced to the beginning of the decimal system. The small bead is referred to as “unit.” After the child feels and names the unit, they will set it aside to explore the 10 bar. I may ask the child to count the units in the 10 bar with them, “How many units are there?” After counting to ten, you can then name the 10 bar. “We call this…ten”. They move on to the hundred square and thousand cube. An important aspect of the Intro Tray is allowing the child to feel the dimensions, weight, and size difference of each quantity. The unit feels very different than the 1 thousand cube!

This material focuses on the short vowel sounds/three letter words. The student matches words with pictures and match words to words. This work helps the student prepare for reading.

These girls are working on the Sensorial work called the sound cylinders. This Montessori material helps a child refine his or her auditory senses in a controlled and engaging way. The material isolates six different sounds identified shaking cylinders and matching their sounds. This enhances the skill of auditory discrimination which is needed for letter sound recognition.

This child created an extension with the Pink Tower and Brown Stair and used the material as a balance beam (I wasn’t thrilled with her stepping on the material) but I let her due to movement is essential in the Montessori classroom. The Montessori environment gives the children an opportunity to learn as they are moving. When the child is moving while they are learning the chiild will retain the information easier. The movement is also important for the physical growth of a child. Their bodies are growing and need to move throughout the day.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Fish

Letter Of The Week- I i

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bin

Next Language is Italian

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.

Handwriting:
We practiced writing in cursive vowel blends of Ea ea, Ee ee, Ei ei, Eo eo, Eu eu.

Kindergarten Plant Tracking:

We are tracking the growth of the roots for the next couple weeks. She observed the start of root growth.

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

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

Sight Words Of The Week: she were

Upcoming Events:
Halloween Party: Friday, October 30 ** Putting a bug in your ear. Email coming. **

Zoom Parent/Teacher Conferences- Friday, November 13 ** Details coming soon. Really they are **

*** BOX TOPS BOX TOPS BOX TOPS Pizza! Pizza! Due 10/23/2020 ***

Hehe, the Little Caesar’s guy. I wonder if his name is Caesar but he does say Pizza! Pizza!

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

This is a bookmark. Someone likes their reading.

Your Kids Say The Darndest Things:
Follow the link for the video of student’s words of wisdom… It is worth it.

https://vimeo.com/thesmarterkids/review/466531089/8baf57db71

Peek At Our Week : Aspen Room 10/05/20-10/09/20 Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

Posted on October 9, 2020 at 8:51 pm.

Written by Kelley Laney

Fall is Finally here! Hooray, for the best season of all! Well….in my opinion it’s the best! This week your children learned all about leaves. We learned that leaves have a very important job, that a leaf has different parts, why they change colors and fall, how to identify or classify leaves, and we observed leaves with a magnifying glass to look at each part up close. Your children are now leaf experts and tberefore have a homework assignment to collect and bring in two different types of leaves. I can’t wait to see all the colorful leaves they will return to school with next week.

This week the kindergarten students learned all about landforms! They now know how to identify a lake, an island, peninsula, gulf, cape, bay, system of lakes, and an archipelago. We also explored these landforms geographically with classification cards depicting examples of each landform from around the globe. They also identified some of these landforms on our continent coloring maps.

Next week it’s all about Pumpkins!!! How do they grow, what’s inside them, and what are they used for? We will explore ” Pumpkin Math” and our Practical Life area will be filled with pumpkin themed fun! Kindergarten students will be exploring the characteristics of animals within the animal kingdom. See you next week for more Aspen Room fun!

Tracing our leaf puzzle from the Botany Puzzle activities.

Getting a closer look at the parts of a leaf!

Which leaf is different? Find it and clip it?

Teamwork exploring land and water forms. Do you know what landforms these are?

See You Next Week!!!!!

Our “Blawsome” Week All About Apples

Posted on October 9, 2020 at 7:09 pm.

Written by Michele Hayden

This week we have been studying apples. We Tasted McIntosh, Red Delicious, Ambrosia, and Granny Smith apples. Most of our friends liked Red Delicious the best. We went apple picking in our room, sorted apple colors and sizes. Students made an apple that included seeds, the core, some skin, and a stem. We used apple seeds for counting and even made patterns using apples. We watched a video about apples and how they get from the orchard to the grocery store! We even learned a song to the tune of Bingo ! “I know a Fruit thats good to eat and Apple is its name-O! A-P-P-L-E!

Cards and Counters Apple-style! Many friends got to match the apple numbers with the apple seeds inside!

Students had fun learning about patterns by completing the apple pattern with pom poms!

Many friends were introduced to telling time on a clock this week!

We are making lots of great friends and learning to work together in our school adventure together!

Peek In Our Week # Mr. John’s Classroom # Week Of October 5, 2020

Posted on October 6, 2020 at 7:10 pm.

Written by John Kotradi

The Buckeye Room Bulletin

Line Time:
Reptiles- This week we learned about reptiles and what makes a reptile a reptile. Reptiles are vertebrates, cold blooded (body temperature changes to the temperature around them), they are born from hard shelled eggs and their skin is dry, with scales. Some examples of reptiles are snakes, turtles, and lizards. Below was my childhood Saturday TV entertainment.

Oh, no, they say he’s got to go. Go, go, Godzilla! Oh, no, there goes Tokyo Go, go, Godzilla!

Who is afraid of snakes?

Did you know?
Does hot water freeze faster than cold water? This is known as the Mpemba effect. … Evaporation is the strongest candidate to explain the Mpemba effect. As hot water is placed in an open container the water begins to cool, the overall mass decreases as some of the water evaporates. With less water to freeze, the process can take less time. My thoughts is that it is a misnomer due to less ice is produced. But who am I to say?

A Challenge From Mr. John:

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 11 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese).

October Birthdays:

A Montessori classroom prides itself on a mixed aged classroom of ages between 2 1/2 and 6. Here is our newest 4 year old student.

Peek In The Classroom:

The Number Rods help children learn the names of numbers and their sequence and learn to correctly associate between the spoken number and its quantity. Children grow to understand that each rod represents a unique quantity and that each number is represented by a single object as a whole, separate from others.

She is working on the material found in the language area called Pink Rhyming. This material focuses on words with short vowel sounds /three letters. The ability to rhyme is a sign your child has an understanding of phonemic awareness.

This student is working with the sandpaper letters. The aim for this material is to teach the child the sounds of the alphabet by means of muscular and visual memory. The child is encouraged to trace the symbol over and over again until the shape of the letter becomes a part of the child’s muscle memory.

This student is really focusing on the Cards and Counters which is a math activity. The Cards and Counters bring an abstract and concrete concept to this math activity. The cards and counters reinforces the knowledge that each number is made up of separate quantities. The child will see the sequence of numbers and how many separate units go to form each number.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Amphibians

Letter Of The Week- H h

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bit

Next Language is Arabic with the Lebanese Dialect

Academic Enrichment:
Weekly Theme:
We looked at ten different land forms. We looked at the pairings of islands and lakes, bays and capes, peninsulas and gulfs, and chain of lakes and archipelago.