“…The teacher’s task is first to nourish and assist, to watch, encourage, guide, induce, rather than to interfere, prescribe, or restrict.” – Maria Montessori
Something new in our room this year is “Focus Groups.” These are student-chosen groups about research topics that are not assigned by teachers. In these groups, students work to research a history, geography, writing, and art component for their topic. By the end of December, they will present their findings to the class before deciding if they want to move to a new group or to continue researching their topics. Not only are these students researching interesting topics like “Cats and Kittens,” “The Titanic,” “Dinosaurs,” and “STEM,” but they are learning how to work collaboratively in a group of peers of differing ages and skill levels. Below you will find two students researching the birthing process of cats!
Lower Elementary by Ms. Marlee
Our 2nd graders are working hard reviewing the Stamp Game this week. The Stamp Game furthers the students’ knowledge of all four operations. Mastering this work will prepare them for more challenging works in the Montessori math curriculum.Sometimes you need to take a break from writing to share your ideas with a friend. These two 1st graders are reading their journal entries to one another and offering helpful comments and support. Learning to collaborate with peers and seek advice are both qualities that lead to becoming a supportive and courteous individual. We are thankful to see friendships like this growing in our classroom.
Upper Elementary by Ms. Ashley
All of our Upper Elementary students love to play in the woods. Some of our students noticed that trash is often thrown into the woods and it can get in the way of their recess projects. Two of these students decided that each Thursday, they would dedicate their entire recess time to cleaning up the woods. They wrote out a plan, typed and formatted their sign, and hung it for volunteers. Our goal in teaching lessons is that students will realize they are a part of the larger global community and that they can make a difference. It is wonderful to see that in action!These Upper Elementary students have finished their study of the structure of the Earth. To review, they are going through the vocabulary they were introduced to and matching it to the correct definition. After they finished, they went through the answer key to check and correct their work. You can see the dictionaries nearby that they turned to while making their matches! These two students are masters of the dictionary!
Enrichments by Ms. Erica
Upper Elementary students have been making progress on their self-portrait collage. They have had a lot of fun cutting out pictures that they feel represent themselves.
REMINDERS:
“Bring Your Parents to Work Time” on October 8 and October 10 – Today is the deadline to sign up here!
October 9 – Third through sixth grade trip to Hale Farm
October 17 – Picture Day
October 22 – Grandparents’ Day
SAVE THE DATE – October 31, 8:30 am – Come see this year’s Halloween play, “Give Me Back My Bones”
November 1, 8:15 am – Drop off at Cuyahoga Falls Campus for our Halloween play performance there
November 1 – Halloween Party (students only) – details to follow soon
Miss Dayna introduced us to centers this week! We discussed primary colors, the color wheel, shapes, and drawing textures. We really enjoyed all of our art exploration!
We started with the three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. Then we had the opportunity to mix our primary colors to see what would happen next!
This child is using the color wheel and colored rocks to experiment with the color order of a rainbow.
We were hands on with our play doh and created shapes and animals.
We learned that making small circles, lines, and zig zags could add textures and patterns to our art.
This past week the children learned how our five senses help us understand and explore the world around us. They learned that our five senses help us collect information about ourselves and our surroundings. They also learned to identify the five senses: hearing, tasting, smelling, touching and seeing. We discovered that sometimes we use two or more senses at once; and how important it is for our senses to work together. The children had the opportunity to practice using their senses to determine properties of objects and distinguish them from one another.
A peek into next week: Body Parts
Kindergarten: Ohio and surrounding states
This past week the kindergarten students learned where Ohio is located on a map of the USA and the names of all the surrounding states Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan. They also learned different fun facts about Ohio like the state bird is a cardinal and that Ohio’s state flag is the only state flag that isn’t a rectangle.
A peek into next week: Landforms
Reminders:
10/17 Picture Day
11/1 Halloween Party
Enrichment Highlight:
For science this week we mixed a thymol solution into different chemicals such as NaHSO4, citric acid, citric acid and Na2CO3, NaHCO3 and Na2CO3. The students discovered that the color changed based on the pH level. We talked about how a pH level is either alkaline (higher than 7), neutral or acidic (lower than 7).
Work Time:
Movable Alphabet: This child is practicing matching and identifying cursive letters and print letters a through g.USA Map: These children are learning the names of the states and where they are located on a map.Object to Picture: This child is identifying and matching different objects to their pictures.
This week in science class, Mr. John mixed water, food coloring, baby oil, and salt in a bottle to teach us about density. Afterwards, we got to pretend to be in the experiment! Thanks for a fun science class Mr. John!
“Through movement, children explore their world. They touch it, they move and manipulate it, they go outside and out into the world to examine the natural beauty around them.” – North American Montessori Center
Montessori believed that children need the opportunity to move during their day at school. In the primary classroom, you see this through materials like the Pink Tower or Brown Stair which require the children to take ten whole trips to and from the material to gather everything at their mat before even beginning the work! With being given more freedom to develop into and explore what it means to be an adult, movement in the Elementary classroom appears in different ways. Children cannot become independent by sitting in one place all day. They need to move, to explore, to try (and sometimes fail) before they can really grasp the importance of something. We include movement in our classroom through games at recess, building and creating in the room and at recess with power tools and hot glue, allowing many choices in work spaces, completing chores throughout our entire building, and offering the choice of a mental break with jump rope and yoga. Sign up for “Bring Your Parent to Work Time” below to observe movement in our room before working with your child!
Here, two Lower Elementary students are participating in a game of one-on-one soccer. Each child has chosen a team to represent and take turns playing offense and defense for their entire team!Sometimes you need a physical break from a mental break! This student was pausing his work after a lot of research to do some jump roping. After jumping for as long as he could without stopping, he needed a rest!
Lower Elementary by Ms. Marlee
These third graders are continuing their exploration of different types of nouns. They are using their “Singular and Plural Noun Rule Chart” to help them classify nouns into the correct category. Language works like these help students become stronger writers and readers.Our Lower Elementary has been reviewing their knowledge of telling time over the past two weeks. This week, the third graders had a review over telling time to the minute. These two students are working together to determine what time these clock faces are representing. Being able to tell time independently helps students regulate their time effectively and keep track of how much time they have left to complete their daily responsibilities. Both are tools that will help them smoothly transition into adulthood.
Upper Elementary by Ms. Ashley
Our fourth year students reviewed their previous Lower Elementary lessons with the Bohr Diagram and Periodic Table this week! We reviewed the subatomic particles in an atom and where to find information about each element using the Periodic Table. To continue their review, each student chose one element to research. They have found the history of their element and its many uses. Look for these projects on the bulletin board next week!Our third year and Upper Elementary students are split into two reading groups. Students read the summaries of “Fish in a Tree” and “Jackie Robinson” to determine which group they’d like to join. Twice a week students meet, give out reading group jobs, and work through the readings together. Both books have sparked many deep discussions about discrimination this week and have allowed students to ask questions about the experiences of others, while discussing how they would behave in those situations.
Enrichments by Ms. Erica
Our students are having a lot of fun preparing for their Grandparents’ Day performance!
REMINDERS
For information on what your child is doing daily, please check in on Transparent Classroom!
Sign up for our first “Bring Your Parents to Work Time” here!
Line Time: Living and Non-Living- This week we talked about living and non-living things. Your children now know what makes a living thing. All living things reproduce, grow, eat or take in nutrients, breathe or exchange gases, and need water. We are all in agreement that plants, animals, trees, grass, are living things! My shoe is not a living thing nor am I at 4:30 am . My youngest son’s shoes may or may not be living. I do not get close enough to tell due to the smell and I may have seen them move on their own…. Boys that are 13 1/2 years old, SMH.
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 9 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect)
Radio Radio: The past six months my radio in my car has been acting up and was on it’s last leg. It started with a big pop sound and the volume would cut out. The only way to get it back to normal was to turn off the radio and turn off the car. This was very tricky while on the highway. I’d put the car in neutral, turn off the car for ten seconds, then turn the car back on, and gently put it back in gear (not sure what that was doing to my transmission). Then it happened… my “AUX” button stopped working leaving me with commercial radio. I was ready to pull my hair out. Even pounding on the radio did not work.
I finally bit the proverbial bullet and purchased a new radio with everything needed to install it. As I side note everything needed to install the radio cost more than the radio itself. One of the parents offered to install it. I was greeted by a very active Rotty and and had a good nap in the backyard. Two hours later I had a new radio. I plugged in my AUX cord and used my Spotify account (again). Now the journey begins. I was able to set the time but the rest is fuzzy. Programming, yes I used the word programming the rest of the features, yikes. I could change the color of my display. I had a nice red “scarlet” but my youngest changes it to pink, he said purple, we agreed on magenta. My son pokes around and “programs” the colors to change on their own and the colors blink with the beat of the music. If I wasn’t susceptible to seizures before I am now. Also, I couldn’t take my eyes of the darn thing and ran a red light. I am begrudgingly waiting for that ticket to come in the mail. I have no idea what the USB port is for. I got the blue tooth to work with playing music. I dare not make a call on blue tooth, yet…. below is my new
JVC KD-X360BTS 1-DIN Bluetooth In-Dash Mechless AM/FM/Digital Media Car Radio
Peek In The Classroom:
This boy is working on the Pink Tower which the main aim is visual discrimination but if you look closely he is making a “creation” which we call an extension (of the material). 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.
These students are working on a matching exercise. Matching materials improve concentration, train visual memory, increase short term memory, increase attention to detail, improve the ability to find similarities and differences in objects,help to classify objects that are grouped by similar traits, and improve vocabulary.
Students are helping to make rat toys for the rats. They are using their fine motor skills as well as creating these toys with little help from teachers and using their imagination.
This girl has mastered her colors and the material called Color Box II. The aim for color boxes The main purpose of the Color Box is to develop a child’s visual sense of color. Primary colors (Red, Yellow and Blue) are introduced in Color Box 1, which is first presented to a child at 2.5 to 3 years of age. Color Boxes 2 add more tablets to the mix, expanding a child’s color knowledge. She also had another child observe her work.
This work called The Vowel Tree is a pre-reading exercise. All the vowels are written vertically on the tree trunk and there are cards with two consonants and a open spot in the middle. Then the child slides the letters down to the next vowel and say the word. They continue all the way down the tree. For the purposes of this work, they can say a word even if it’s a “nonsense” word, just for the practice of saying the vowel sounds.
This girl is working on a construction box (Small Hexagon). This material helps the student create and identify shapes. For example….. Six small equilateral triangles makes makes a hexagon (gray shape). She discovered that half of the hexagon is a trapezoid (green shape). Again notice the student watching her do her work.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Mammals
Letter Of The Week- F f
Rhyming Word Of The Week- big
Next Language is Italian
Person bringing snack for week of 9/30/2018 is Jonathan
Upcoming Events:
Picture Day- Wednesday October, 16th
###### Bring Your Parent To School . Follow the link below. ########
Weekly Theme: Since we live in the great state of Ohio I felt it was needed to become familiar with the states that surround our home state. We started with Ohio which is the Buckeye State and the abbreviation is OH. We then looked at the state to the east of us named Pennsylvania (not Transylvania) which is called the Keystone State and the abbreviation is PA. We traveled south and discovered West Virginia which is the Mountain State and the abbreviation is WV. Moving to the west we ran into Kentucky which is the Blue Grass State and the abbreviation is KY. Moving more westward is Indiana or the Hoosier State (what is a Hoosier anyway?) and the abbreviation is IN. To my chagrin I introduced the students to TSUN. I can not bring myself to even say the name…. xichigan wolverine state.
Let us end not on a low note like the last sentence in the previous paragraph and present the “official” things for the state of Ohio…
Mammal: White Tail Deer Fossil: Trilobite Tree: Buckeye Bird: Cardinal Flower: Red Carnation Drink: Tomato Juice Rock Song: Hang On Sloopy
***** Notice how most of these things refer to Buckeye Football/ being red or scarlet. Also, why does Hang On Sloopy have importance to Buckeye Football? *****
O-H….. I-O
Handwriting: We practiced writing in cursive Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu
Cultural Subjects: We now can count to ten in 10 languages (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian). We are implementing intensive learning programs.
Next Week: Weekly Theme: From biggest to smallest and smallest to biggest (Milky Way to your street address).
Synonym Of The Week: Active: lively, energetic, dynamic, vigorous
This week the students learned what they can do when they are angry, happy, sad, frustrated, excited etc. They learned different ways to manage their feelings and emotions. They also practiced how to process, identify and appropriately express their emotions in different scenarios throughout the week.
A peek into next week: Five Senses
Kindergarten: North America
The students learned where Canada, USA and Mexico are located on a map of North America. They also became familiar with and the location of different bodies of water such as: The Hudson Bay, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.
A peek into next week: Ohio and surrounding states
Reminders:
9/27 Bring Your Parent to Work Time
10/17 Picture Day
Enrichment Highlight:
In art class the students discussed their feelings and emotions and then drew self portraits of how they were feeling.
Work Time:
Movable Alphabet: This child is practicing blending and forming words using the different letter sounds he has mastered mat, bag, pan, zip and cup.Dishwashing: These children are using many motor skills while also remembering the order and sequence of each action to successfully wash dishes, which naturally leads to the development of concentration.Forty-Five Layout: These children are becoming familiar with the names and relative sizes of the categories: units, tens, hundreds and thousands. They are also discovering that if they have 6 units and add 1 more unit they will have 7 units.Metal Insets: This child is practicing tracing a curvilinear triangle and an ellipse . He is developing multiple skills involving his eyes, arms, hands, memory, posture and body control.
Weekly Theme: North America- Since we live on the continent of North America I thought it would be a great idea to identify some of the larger countries (Canada, Mexico) that border the U.S.A. Also, we identified bodies of water (Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Hudson Bay, Gulf Of Mexico, and The Great Lakes {H.O.M.E.S.}) that “touch” and are in our continent. We also reviewed the Cardinal Directions of North, East, South, West (Never Eat Soggy Worms).
Handwriting: We practiced writing in cursive L l, M m, N n, O o
Cultural Subjects: We now can count to ten in 10 languages (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with the Lebanese dialect, Italian).
Next Week: Weekly Theme: Ohio and surrounding states
Synonym Of The Week: BORING: drab, dull, lifeless, mundane, monotonous
