A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of September 2nd

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Classroom: Community Helpers

This past week we focused on community helpers in honor of Labor Day. The students not only  learned about firefighters, police officers, doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers, veterinarians, construction workers, paramedics, farmers, mail carriers, chefs etc. They also had the opportunity to meet and get to know some of them.

The students and I greatly appreciate those that volunteered their time to come in and speak to us about their careers!

A peek into next week: Family

Kindergarten: Cardinal Directions

This past week the kindergartners learned that the cardinal directions (North, South, East and West) are the most commonly used form of directions. They discovered how to use a compass to find their way and learned that their are also primary inter-cardinal directions (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest).

A peek into next week: Equator and Hemispheres

Reminders:

9/2o Ramseyer Farms Field Trip

9/27 Bring Your Parent to Work Time

10/17 Picture Day

Work Time:

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.

Trinomial Cube: This child is learning how to build the trinomial cube, while also getting an introduction into algebra and preparation for the formula a3+3a2b+3a2c+6abc+b3+3ab2+3b2c+3ac2+3bc2+c3.

Snap Frame: This child is learning how to care for herself while developing a sense of independence and refining her fine motor skills and coordination of movements to successfully snap a button.
Brown Stairs: These children are developing their ability to visually discriminate different dimensions to successfully build the brown stairs from largest to smallest.

 

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of September 3

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Lower Elementary by Ms. Marlee

This first year student is completing the space puzzle from our Geography area. This work introduces students to the names of the planets and helps prepare them for further exploration of our solar system.
This second year student is completing one of the Laws of the Universe experiments. Here, he is experimenting with centrifugal force by swinging a bucket with water in it around his body. As the bucket revolves in a circle, it is pulled away from the center showing centrifugal force in action. Learning the Laws of the Universe helps students to understand their surroundings.

Upper Elementary by Ms. Ashley

This fourth year student practiced adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions with like denominators. At our Morning Meeting this day we discussed some upcoming lessons and which previous lessons would be great to practice to start out the year on the right foot. This student got right to the works we discussed after our meeting. It is so exciting to see students take ownership over their learning.
One of our team building games this week was a challenge to rotate your members around a circle of pool noodles with only being able to hold onto one pool noodle at a time. The fastest team was the winner. Here you will see an Upper Elementary student walking his team through a game plan. Our Upper Elementary students have had many years of practice leading and participating in discussions. They are often great role models and allow all to have their voice heard.

Enrichments by Ms. Erica

Our students enjoyed creating their name tags in Art Class. They were able to choose from a number of materials to work with when decorating. These name tags will be used in Art Class throughout the year.

REMINDERS:

  • For information on what your child is doing daily, please check in on Transparent Classroom!
  • First and Second Year Parents – please turn in your Ramseyer Permission Slip to the office!
  • Friday, September 20 – Ramseyer Field Trip for first and second years. Dissection at school for third through sixth (no permission slip required)

Academic Enrichment, Cuyahoga Falls Campus, Week Of 9/2/2019

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Weekly Theme:
The Kindergarten Students learned about the Cardinal Directions.  We learned north is always on top, south is always on the bottom, east is always to the right, and west is always to the left.  We went into a bit more detail when using the Cardinal Directions.  In between north and east is called northeast and so on…  We traveled from continent to continent asking what direction we needed to go to get to the appointed continent.

 

 

 

 

 

Meet the 2019/2020 Cuyahoga Falls Kindergarten class.

 

Handwriting:
We practiced writing D d, E e, F f, G g in cursive.

Cultural Subjects:
We now can count to ten in 5 languages (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Greek).

Next Week:
Weekly Theme: Hemispheres, Equator, Prime Meridian

Synonym Of The Week:  sad: miserable, gloomy, depressing, downtrodden, glum, unhappy

Sight Words Of The Week: up so

Adding Japanese to the languages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of August 26th

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Classroom: Ground Rules

The first week of school we focused on the ground rules. These are the rules by which the children are able to have the freedom of movement and choice in the classroom. Some examples are: Learning to speak to others. Learning to listen to others. Learning to respectfully interrupt.

A peek into next week: Community Helpers

Kindergarten: Continents

The first week of school the kindergartners learned that there are seven continents (Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia). They also learned where they are located on a globe/map and a fun fact about each one. For example Australia is often referred to as “the land down under.”

A peek into next week: Directions

Reminders:

9/2 Labor Day | NO SCHOOL

9/3 Enrichments begin

9/2o Ramseyer Farms Field Trip

Work Time:

Continent Map: this child is very proud of how he traced and labeled all seven continents.
Continent Map: this child is working hard to trace and label all seven continents.
Handwriting: this student has learned the correct stokes to successfully make a lowercase cursive t and is now practicing.
Knobless Cylinder: this child is able to visually discriminate the dimensions of each cylinder to find its correct placement to vertically build largest to smallest.
Balance Board: this child is developing his sense of balance, posture and focus in order to successfully balance on the board.
Loops: this child is developing her fine motor skills, focus and sense of order to successfully stretch the loops around the cylinder.
Digging: this child is enjoying her outside time by digging in the dirt in search for worms and other insects

Academic Enrichment | Cuyahoga Falls Campus | Week Of 8/26/2019

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Weekly Theme:
The first week back to school we looked at the globe of the Earth.  It is in a shape of a sphere.  We noticed the Earth is covered mostly in water but does have land.  The pieces of land are divided and called continents.  There are seven continents and each have a fun fact.  North America is where we live, South America has the Amazon Rain Forest, Europe has many countries, Africa has really cool animals, Asia is the biggest continent, Australia is an island and is called The Land Down Under, and Antarctica is the coldest continent and no humans live there.  We went over what countries are in each continent (except for Antarctica).

 

Handwriting:
We practiced writing A a, B b, C c in cursive.

Cultural Subjects:
We now can count to ten in 5 languages (English, Sign Language, Latin, Spanish, German, and French).

Next Week:
Weekly Theme: Cardinal Directions (N,S,W,E)

Synonym Of The Week:  FAST (hurried, speedy, brisk, quick, swift)

Sight Words Of The Week: will him

Adding French to the languages

Peek In Our Week | Mr. John’s Class | Week Of August 26, 2019

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Line Time:
The opening week is a joy and a challenge all wrapped into one.  I love the fresh start, seeing returning students, and meeting new ones.  The first few weeks of the new school year during line time we go over the rules of the classroom.  We go over our “Big 4” rules… 1.) Walking (No running in the classroom).  Because if you run and fall into a shelf or hit your hear on the concrete floor which will win your head or the shelf? 2.) Use your listening ears.  3.)  Keep your hands and body to yourself.  The one I feel is most important… 4.) Be respectful.  Which simply means be nice to people or treat people how you would like to be treated. We also go over how to carry, roll, and unroll a mat, put our shoes and slippers neatly on the mat (straight, together, and toes touching the wall).  We pick up where we left off with the returning students with lessons and evaluate and access where the new students are.

I do have to say that the first week went very smoothly.  I need to thank Kelley and Tonya for their years of experience that helped this first week run smoothly.

 

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 4 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish)

 

Fun Fact(s):
In 1950 seven percent of women dyed their hair.  Presently, eightyseven percent of women dye their hair.  —   Source unknown. hehe (I got it from Know It or Blow it on WONE 97.5).  My nephew is on the morning show with Jeff Kinsbach and Sandra Miller.  He is the sports guy.  Kris Drew

 

Peek In Our Classroom:

Snug as a bug in a rug in the reading corner.

 

This student is helping build a ladder for our rats.

 

Continue reading…

A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of August 26

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Welcome back, families!

The first two weeks in the Elementary classroom have a focus on team building and rules and routines. We spend a lot of time getting to know each other, working through our transition back to school, and practicing each step of a work cycle. Students even complain we don’t let them work enough! We set up the first two weeks this way to make sure students are prepared in the best way possible for a successful, independent year. Most weeks, our “Peek” will be a showcase of Lower Elementary lessons and work, Upper Elementary lessons and work, projects from our Enrichment classes, and any important upcoming events. Ms. Marlee, Ms. Erica, and I will be working together to bring this to you each week. One week a month, our students will write the “Peek.” Please enjoy this look at our first week!

Each first week of Encino schools, we have a gathering for “Expert Lessons.” This is a chance for our returning students to show new students different works they may choose independently or with a partner. This helps new students to our school, or just to our room, see different materials they could work with while we are working through our two transition weeks. This returning second year student explained to our new friends how to use “The Farm” for a geography or a grammar work!
We begin each school year with “The Great Lessons.” These are lessons presented through storytelling and experiments to introduce students to the ideas of the beginning of the universe, the coming of life, the coming of humans, and the beginning of language and numbers. These lessons are meant to inspire students in their studies for the year. Our Upper Elementary students are always eager to be a part of the experiments!
This was one of our questions from “Back to School Night.” Technology in the Montessori classroom is used as a supplement. Children use the internet for research when they have exhausted all book and encyclopedia resources. They learn to type, make Word documents, made presentations through PowerPoint, and make graphs through Google Sheets. We use technology to take virtual field trips and interact with experts in their fields to learn about things we may not be able to experience in our area.
Ms. Marlee is presenting “The Laws of the Universe.” These lessons are extensions to “The Great Lessons.” The experiments allow the students to test the laws of the universe they heard about in our storytelling lessons to come to their own conclusions. The experiments will be on the shelves for a few weeks for the students to independently practice.

REMINDERS:

  • No School – Labor Day – Monday, September 2
  • Enrichments Begin – Tuesday, September 3
  • Ramseyer Farm Field Trip – Friday, September 20

Science | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of May 13th and May 20th

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Burning in Pure Oxygen: First we combined manganese dioxide MnO2 and hydrogen peroxide H2O2 solution to produce oxygen O2. Then we lit a splint on fire and blew it out creating a smoldering splint. We took that smoldering splint and put in in the beaker with the pure oxygen to see what would happen. When we placed the splint in the beaker we surrounded the splint with a much higher concentration of oxygen molecules than can be found in air. This, along with the increase in temperature, dramatically sped up the reaction rate, so the splint ignited with a bright flame.

Blue bottle: First we made a solution containing a reductant (glucose) and methylene blue. Then we added some NaOH to make the solution basic. The oxygen dissolved in the water  accepts the electrons but doesn’t interact with glucose. Adding the methylene blue helped by acting as a carrier taking electrons from glucose and passing them to oxygen.

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of May 28th

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It is hard to believe that the year has come to an end and some of you will be moving up to the elementary program, going to new schools or returning next year. I want to let everyone know it was a great year, and that I enjoyed every moment of teaching all of you. We made a lot of great memories with a lot of jokes and silliness about different topics including BBQ puns. I hope you feel the same and that you will take what you have learned this year and build on it as you continue your education. If you are not returning next year, please come back to visit all your teachers, because we will truly miss you!

Talent Show

Water Games

Take A Peek into Our Last Week!/ Ms. Kate/May 30, 2019

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oh my goodness you guys… how this school year just flew by!! I have loved every monent with your kiddos this year!! Each and everyone of them is so beyond special to me in such different ways that i will never forget them! For those of you who are coming back next year.. YAY I have more time with you!! This week was all about just spending quality time together. We wanted this last week  to be able to sit back and enjoy the kids, and get more snuggles in! We also had such a blast with field day playing board games, sharing our favorite toy, and having fun with different water games!

love this kid so much!! I was so lucky to be his teacher for four years!!!  
Having fun playing a game of trouble! 
Nothing like a game of Candy Land to bring some smiles to these cuties! 
Connect Four anyone:)  
Playing such an awesome cooperative dinosaur game!!  
  
  

what a blast we had playing with water on field day!!! Thank you to all of my parent volunteers for making this day so great!!! I hope that everyone has such a wonderful, fun, and safe summer!! Miss you already!