Art enrichments, learning how to listen and follow directions while using simple shapes to create a work of art!
Listening and observing how to draw owls using different types of media. This art class we earned the privilege of using a sharpie to draw our lines and contour for our owls!
Using our sharpies responsibly and drawing our owls. Next step, adding color with water color paints.
Mr. John’s super spooky Halloween science experiment! Fun with dry ice!
Adding our dry ice to water! Whoa, what happened? Bubbling water and lots of fog! How much dry ice can we add to our water? Experimenting and formulating our hypothesis is fun! Science!!
This week the students learned about different types of bats from micro to mega and even found out that there is a bat that is as small as a bumblebee! The students also discovered how and where bats sleep and that they find their food through echolocation. They were amazed to discover that bats are also mammals like them because they: have fur all over their bodies, born alive, drink mothers milk and are warm blooded. The students even learned that bats are nocturnal and that when we are sleeping they are eating all of the insects like mosquitoes, beetles and ants helping humans by stopping the spread of diseases and insects from eating crops.
A peek into next week: Food Groups
Kindergarten: Addition
This week the kindergarten students used the golden beads to discover that when you put two small numbers together (addends) you get a larger number (sum) and that this process is called addition.
A peek into next week: Addition
Reminders:
11/ 14 Operation Christmas Child | Packing Party
11/22 Fall Progress Reports
11/27 – 11/29 Thanksgiving Break | NO SCHOOL
Enrichment Highlight:
During music class this week, we learned some new listening songs about telling the truth and being kind. During the songs we got to play tambourines and dance along with the music while still using our listening skills to do what the lyrics were telling us to do.
Work Time:
Ten Board: This child is being introduced to the names for the tens quantities “twenty”, “thirty”, “forty”…”ninety”.Fabric Box: This child used a blindfold to feel each piece of fabric and match it to its pair.Shoe Tying: This child is learning how to care for himself while developing a sense of independence and refining his fine motor skills and coordination of movements to successfully tie a shoe.
“The only thing to fear, is fear itself…and children with Halloween candy.”
Our Halloween Party was a blast! Our students prepared games like pumpkin bowling and balloon hockey. Our decorations group prepared a mummy craft with masking tape and Popsicle stick spider webs. Our food committee planned for us to have Rice Krispy treats and ghost cookies. Our decoration committee did a spooktacular job!
Lower Elementary by Ms. Marlee
This second grader really enjoys picking math works off the shelf. Here he is working on the multiplication bead board where he uses beads to visually represent the multiplication equations. Not only is he committing these math facts to memory using a tangible representation but he is perfecting his fine motor skills and concentration.We love seeing our students research new topics! This second grader is reading one of our new library books about the RMS Titanic, RMS Olympic, and HMHS Britannic. Before beginning his reading he wrote questions based on what he wanted to know. While reading he added to his research and even asked more questions as he went.
Upper Elementary by Ms. Ashley
This student is working on plotting points on a graph. He is reading x and y coordinates to create a pattern, which leads to a picture of something familiar. Previously, they made a comic “Zap” picture and are now working on the Earth and an animal! Check these out on our bulletin board!This fourth year student is working on diagramming sentences. He is finding the predicate, the subject, and the direct and indirect objects! This helps children become familiar with how to write sentences of varying lengths and parts.
Enrichments
This week, Ms. Dayna was out, so Ms. Marlee stepped in to lead our art class! Our students completed “Yarn Paintings.” These “paintings” were created by students laying yarn out to create a picture on contact paper. They had a great time!
Weekly Theme: This week we started our journey into MATH…. GULP! We started out by composing numbers with beads and symbols then worked our way into doing addition with manipulatives with the nine tray.
Handwriting: We practiced writing in cursive vowel blends of oa, oe, oi, oo, ou.
Cultural Subjects: We now can count to ten in 16 languages (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean).
Next Week: Weekly Theme: Addition manipulatives (Dynamic/Carry Overs)
Synonym Of The Week: OLD: ancient, elderly, used, seasoned, mature
These past two weeks have been SPOOKTACULAR! We had the best time learning about the differencs between an arachnid and an insect. We also had fun creating a tree web together! I was so proud of how well your kiddos remembered all of the different spider facts! They also had fun making different spider crafts:) This week the kids had a BLAST making their own Halloween decorations for the classroom party!We also worked really hard on the different chores, such as dusting, taking out the trash, cleaning the tables, sweeping, vacuming, and more! When children are doing chores it helps them to incur a sense of purpose at a young age. It also helps them gain their own independence.
All of our friends are having a blast dusting, rolling mats, and vacuming!our friend is working on creating a landform booklet. When doing this he is learning all about an island, bay, cape, gulf, peninsula, strait, archipelago, and isthmus.Our friends are crafting up a storm this week!!!Candy corn fun!The key purpose of the Movable 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 stories.
REMINDERS:
Please make sure to place your child’s costume in their backpack or in a labled bag. They do not have to bring in a trick o treat bag because we made them in class. 11:30 our pizza party will start, followed by costume change. If you have any questions at all please ask!
In reading group we read the Mo Willems’ book I Am Invited to a Party! In the story, Piggie gets invited to a party and asks Elephant to come with him. They do not know what type of party it is, so they discuss how they should dress. They end up dressing for a fancy, costume, pool party.
After each reading the kindergartners completed different activities. They wrote about what they were wondering about, and what kind of party they would want to go to. Then, they drew what they thought Elephant and Piggie did at the party, and what they would wear if they went to a party.
These students are drawing aht they would wear if they went to a party.The kindergartners are drawing what they think Piggie and Elephant did at the party.
A Peek Into the Next Weeks
-The students will be reading Waiting is so Hard
-The students will participate in comprehension and evaluative activites.
-The students will participate in discussion about the story.
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!
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 14 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagalog).
Peek In The Classroom:
These girls are working on the North America Puzzle Map found in the Cultural Subjects area. Not only does this help with the understanding of Geography but the pegged puzzle pieces, which are used in most Montessori classrooms, have a secondary purpose as well. When a child grips the pegs, it’s actually preparing his or her hand to use a pencil. The pegs help to refine a child’s fine motor control, and will make the transition to holding a pencil that much smoother. Notice how she is proudly displaying the country of Canada.
These boys are working together on the Sensorial material called the Knobless Cylinders. The Knobless Cylinders are four sets of ten cylinders in each set, varying in height and/or diameter. The purpose of these cylinders is to develop child’s fine-motor movements, concentration, hand-eye coordination, and visual perception of dimension. These students discovered a pattern using two colors.
This boy is mastering the Ten Board which furthers the concept of the concrete affiliation between quantity and symbols (numbers). I may have pictured this boy working on this material in the past but I wanted to show you how he is discovering patterns with this work. Discovering patterns further enhances the child’s understanding of Math.
This girl is working on the Metal Insets found in the Language area. The Metal Insets are a delightful way for the child to prepare for writing. Holding a colored pencil to carefully trace shapes helps a child develop the fine motor control needed to write small letters. Creating patterns and designs is a secondary goal, but also increases a child’s ability to manipulate a pencil!
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Insects, Arachnids, Invertebrates
Letter Of The Week- K k
Rhyming Word Of The Week- ox
Next Language is Hebrew
Upcoming Events: Grand ParentsDay: Tuesday, November 5
Operation Christmas Child: Thursday, November 14th Check your email! Also, follow the below link to donate.
This week the students learned all about pumpkins and the different parts like: flesh, pulp, stem, seeds and rind. They were able to explore the inside of a pumpkin by digging out the insides and touching the seeds and pulp. The students also created a venn diagram of apples and pumpkins.
A peek into next week: Bats
Kindergarten: Parts of Plants
The students learned the characteristics and parts of trees, flowers, leaves, insects and arachnids by using and working with the puzzles and control charts in the classroom.
A peek into next week: Addition
Reminders:
11/1 Halloween Party
11/ 14 Operation Christmas Child | Packing Party
11/22 Fall Progress Reports
11/27 – 11/29 Thanksgiving Break | NO SCHOOL
Enrichment Highlight:
First belt test of the year!!!
Work Time:
Brown Stairs: This child is showing his grandparents how he can build the brown stairs by visually discriminating them from thickest to thinest.Sound Cylinders: This child is showing her grandma how she can shake each cylinder and listen carefully to the sound then find its match.USA Puzzle: This child is showing his grandma how he can independently put the USA puzzle together and name the states.Trinomial Cube: This child is showing her grandpa that she knows how to build the trinomial cube by matching all the red sides to the red cube, all blue sides to the blue cube and all yellow sides to the yellow cube.Pyramid Puzzle: This child is showing his grandma that he can match the different colors and shapes together in order to complete and create the pyramid shape.
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? 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?
Saying Good-Bye: With a heavy heart I am announcing the departure of Ms. Tonya where she is leaving to pursue other interests. In the short amount of time that Ms. Tonya has been with us the students have made strong bonds with her. Not only the children will miss her but the staff will miss her as well. Ms. Tonya was a great part of “TEAM KOTRADI” where she hit the ground running, added so much to my classroom with her chipper disposition and her exuberant love for teaching. The most impressive part was that she put up with my cheeky behavior (and at times “gave it back”). Good luck in all you do. You will be missed!!!!!! Below are the many faces of Tonya. I REALLY had to pester her for the last pic.
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 13 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish).
Peek In The Classroom:
She is working on the Trinomial Cube. This material the blocks are color coded and are different sizes to represent the algebraic Trinomial formula. The purpose is not to teach math but to challenge the child to find patterns and spatial relationships. The next time this material is featured I will include the algebraic Trinomial formula.
This boy is working on a teacher made material that is helping him recognize numbers from 0 to 20.
This child is working on a word building material. This reinforces her phonics recognition of letter sounds.
This student is working on the First Introduction to Decimals. In a Montessori curriculum, we start by introducing the names of the numerical positions as represented by golden beads. The reason for this is so the child can visualize the concept of units, tens, hundreds and thousands.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Birds
Letter Of The Week- J j
Rhyming Word Of The Week- bip
Next Language is Tagolog
Upcoming Events: Halloween Party: Friday, November 1, 11:11 am (pizza lunch provided)
A few spots left to help but please read the entire message
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b48a8a92da6f94-mrjohns10
Grandparents Day: Tuesday, November 5
Operation Christmas Child: Details to follow
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
I am not sure exactly is going on here but I am glad I captured it.
I asked her what her costume for Halloween. She said ” A monnnnsterrrrrr” along with a visual.
They wanted me to take their picture. How could I resist?
