Welcome back Aspen families!! We hope that your winter break was full of fun, relaxation, and tons of family time! This week we got back into our classroom routine with lots of challenging work, winter fun, socialization with our friends, and became scientists! This week we finally received some snowy weather and the Aspen class was extremely excited! Future group lessons will involve learning about snow and why it snows! But, in order to discuss snow, we had to learn all about Matter first! Aspen learned that Matter is all around us. Matter has mass, volume, and takes up space. There are three states of matter; solids, liquids, and gases. The Aspen student learned that Solids- have a definite shape because the Molecules or atoms are packed tightly together. Solids also have a definite size. Solids will also keep their shape unless they are changed by an outside force. We learned that liquids contain Molecules or atoms that are spaced apart free to move over each other. As a result, liquids do not have a definite shape and take the shape of the container they occupy. Therefore, liquids can be poured, spilled, and move freely. Aspen then experimented with liquids by pouring water into different containers. Ask your child what they learned about liquids this week! We then took a look at gases and learned that the molecules (atoms) in a gas have no shape, size, or color! They can be held in a container or can escape into the air. Atoms in a gas are constantly moving around all over the place. Aspen had so much fun exploring Matter this week! We engaged in fun experiments, played games where we turned ourselves into the three states of matter, danced and sang to songs about matter, and colored books all about Matter! What a great start to the New Year!!!
Next week we will be learning all about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott! There will be NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day! See you on Tuesday!!!
Experimenting with a liquid! Pouring water into different containers!
Challenge accomplished!!! Mastering the Bow Tying Frame!!!
Working together on Sensorial Extensions with the Knobbed Cylinder Blocks!!!
Gluing “molecules” with our solid, Liquid, gas Cultural activity!
Line Time: To honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we learned a bit about his life and his accomplishments. The students became actresses and actors as they recreated Rosa Parks making her stand on a bus in Montgomery Alabama. The students enjoyed playing the part of the bus driver, Rosa Parks, “the mean guy”, a police officer, Martin Luther King Jr., and passengers on the bus. We discussed our differences such as skin color, eye color, hair color, and gender. Then we discussed how we are similar. We talked about discrimination and segregation. We talked about if someone with red hair wouldn’t be allowed to do art “just because” they have red hair or if anyone who had blue eyes would have to go to a different classroom with less materials, broken crayons, or no books “just because” they have blue eyes. I had only boys fetch the chairs for the skit and brought that to the attention of the class. We had some very sad girls…. I did let the girls take the chairs back after the skit.
Below is a picture after the skit where everyone can sit where they want. The thumbs up means the students approve.
Did You Know?: There is a cheese that has live wiggling maggots in it and it is called Casu Martzu. Casu Martzu is created by leaving whole pecorino cheeses outside with part of the rind removed to allow the eggs of the cheese fly to be laid in the cheese. A female can lay more than 500 eggs at one time. The eggs hatch and the larvae begin to eat through the cheese. The acid from the maggots’ digestive system breaks down the cheese’s fats, making the texture of the cheese very soft; by the time it is ready for consumption, a typical Casu Martzu will contain thousands of these maggots. Due to health concerns this cheese has been banned in the European Union.
AMessage From Mr. John (Great week to start 2024):
Cultural Subjects: Your children can now count to ten in 16 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic in the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Hungarian).
Know Your Languages (Hungarian):
Specials Space (Science):
I fell on the proverbial sword and spilled water on my head to point out the differences of absorption between paper towels and diapers. Filling the cup with a diaper as she watches.
She is anticipating getting wet but the water never came.
A Lesson on Ancient Egypt:
An Upper Elementary Student visited our classroom and gave a presentation on Ancient Egypt.
January HalfBirthdays:
Peek In The Classroom:
This is a prime example of an older student teaching a younger student letter sounds. This is one of the advantages of a multi aged Montessori classroom.Ask any child in my class and they will tell you 10 is the magic number. This boy is making 10 with different combinations of beads. Ten is the base of the decimal numeral system, by far the most common system of denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. The reason for the choice of ten is assumed to be that humans have ten fingers/toes (digits).This is one of his favorite works. He is tracing and animal then he will color it and label the parts of that animal. Do you notice she had to distinguish different shades with some colors? Sorting different colors helps children to learn how to sequence, which indirectly prepares their little minds for Mathematics. Sorting colored buttons (or other objects) teaches children about order, colour identification, color matching, and concentration.
Next Week: Weekly Themes: Geography.. No School Math.. Fraction Review Language.. Review Adverbs and other grammar Geometry.. Geometric Shapes II, More Geo Cards
Synonym Of The Week: SICK, weak, unhealthy, ailing, infected, frail Sight Words Of The Week: now made
Kinders focusing on their in-class handwriting. Well, most of them, lol
Future Happenings: -NO SCHOOL Monday January 14 for MLK Day. Don’t be that family that shows up.
We spent our last week of 2023 together learning about the holidays! We discussed Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. We learned how families celebrate these holidays, what activities they do together, and symbols of their celebrations. We also created many adorable crafts this week!
Oh Snow!
Snow in Northeast Ohio has been so unpredictable the past few years, so we took the snowy opportunity this week to have a quick lesson about those wonderful white flakes! We took a trip outside to observe snow. We used four out of our five senses to explore and we determined that snow does not smell and does not sound like anything. We agreed that snow is cold, feels soft at first but after applying pressure it is hard! We asked the scientific question – what would happen if we brought a bucket of snow inside? The next day, we learned why we don’t eat snow off the ground – there was so much dirt left behind after it melted! We had a quick beginning lesson on the water cycle (which we’ll learn more about in the spring!) and learned that snow and rain are both water, but we’ll only see snow if it is cold enough outside. We also learned that snow is made up of ice crystals that stick together – we’ll talk more about this when we return in January!
Ms. Tonya’s Morning in Elementary!
I was able to work with some of my past students this week when I was invited to spend the morning with the Birth Classroom! I received a math lesson, a cultural lesson, and a language lesson from these amazing elementary students. They taught me the work activity and then I had to complete the work on my own. It was so neat to be on the other side of the work mat! I had such a wonderful time and can’t wait to visit again!
Merry Christmas!
We had such a wonderful time this week celebrating with our friends this week! Ms. Sam and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your families and that your child enjoys winter break! We’ll see you on Monday, January 8th!
Line Time: Diligently practicing for the Christmas Show. Rockin and a Rollin
Did You Know?: If you’ve ever seen a beaver’s teeth you’ll know that they appear pretty orange. This is because, whereas other rodents have magnesium in their tooth enamel, beavers have iron. So beavers have orange teeth for the same reason we have red blood.
AMessage From Mr. John (They rocked it!):
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, Tagolog, Hebrew).
Specials Spot: ASL
Know Your Languages (Korean in January)
Peek In The Classroom:
Meet our newest pet. Our milksnake named Nemo.What’s so interesting?Oh! A MadagascarHissing Cockroach is molting.Look who is reading.Two kindergarten students working in their binders doing math problems.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Christmas Show Practice
Letter Of The Week- Taking a break to practice for the Christmas Show
Rhyming Word Of The Week- Taking a break to practice for the Christmas Show
Next Language is Korean in January
Academic Enrichment aka Kindergarten: Weekly Themes: Geography.. Landforms (peninsula/gulf) Math.. Review Math Operations Language.. Review Parts Of Speech Geometry.. Geometric Shapes II, Geo Cards
Next Week: Weekly Themes: Geography.. Landforms (Isthmus/ Strait) Math.. Review Math Operations Language.. Review Parts of Speech Geometry.. Geometric Shapes II, More Geo Cards
Synonym Of The Week: Not til 2024 Sight Words Of The Week: Not til 2024
Kinders practicing cursive.
Future Happenings: –Bring Your Parent To School: Mondays and Wednesdays starting November 20, 2023… follow the link to sign up, https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-45382628-buckeye#/ -Pajama Day/Show and Tell: Thursday December 21, 2023 -Christmas Break: Friday December 22, 2023 returning January 9, 2024
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
Who is sitting in my chair?Shorts in December in Ohio? Nope, she tricked me.Exercise before afternoon pick up.I ain’t afraid of no bug!
Your Children Say The Darndest Things (Her dog wanting to stay outside):
We spent the majority of this week preparing for our Christmas Show! We practiced with the whole school several times, while also practicing in our classroom. We are so excited for you to see our show, we’ve worked so hard to make is wonderful for you!
What is Happening Outside?
We took a Nature Walk outside this week to see what is happening outside. We observed that there were places outside with lots of snow and places without much snow. Where the snow was on the ground, the ground felt “crunchy” to us. Where there wasn’t much snow, the ground felt “squishy” to us. We discussed why there would be snow in places that did not recieve a lot of sun, what happens to the snow when it melts, and why the ground would feel different to our feet.
Peek into our Work Time!
It was a Handwriting week in the Blossom classroom! While our work materials are designed to strengthen the fine motor skills in preparation for handwriting, we also practice our handwriting skills with a pencil, and focus on appropriate pencil grip.
This child is working on writing a straight line and practicing his pencil grip.This child is working with what we call “precursive booklets”, where we practice strokes that we will later use when forming our cursive letters. There are two things happening on this child’s dry erase board! You’ll see she has written a string of letters at the top, which is one of the ways children present Emergent Handwriting skills. She is also copy writing at the bottom of her board, another part of Emergent Handwriting skills! This child is ready to write her name in cursive! She is tracing her name here, but I’m sure she’ll be writing it on her own in no time! Where is your child in the Stages of Handwriting?
Peek into Next Week!
Thursday, December 21: Last Day of School before Winter Break! Children should wear their pajamas and bring a Show & Tell that will fit inside of their backpack! (If your child does not attend school on Thursdays, they may bring their Show & Tell on Wednesday.)
December 22 – January 7: Winter Break! See you on Monday, January 8th!
We wrapped up our Animal Classification unit this week by studying amphibians. What makes an amphibian an amphibian? We learned that amphibians are vertebrates, cold blooded, hatch from jelly eggs and that they have permeable skin (which means amphibians need to stay by the water because they drink water through their skin). We also learned that amphibians will live both in the water and on land throughout their lifetime and that they go through a big change called metamorphosis. We really enjoyed our Animal Classification unit! We’ll be revisiting these animal groups all year long as we learn what they’ll do now that the weather is cold, and what they’ll do in the spring.
The Christmas Show!
Our Christmas Show is fast approaching and we are busy preparing! This coming week will be a busy week for all of us, make sure your child is getting plenty of rest to prepare. Wednesday is our Rehearsal. This is not a dress rehearsal, but we will be walking through the entire program so your child is comfortable with the transitions and what to expect. Friday is our Christmas Show! Have your child wear blues, whites, or grays, a scarf, and rubber soled shoes (no heels or boots, please). Please have your child use the restroom before you drop them off with their teachers by 5:30pm!
A Peek into Work Time!
This Kindergartener is working with the Ten Cube Chain. Cube Chains allow the child to count multiples of numbers linearly. This child is practicing quantity with her numerals out of order. We change the cards and counters throughout the seasons to keep this work interesting to the child. Counting small presents and placing them under the tree sure is fun! This child is working with our Numbers and Counters. Not only is she practicing counting our the correct quantity, but she is also getting an introduction to even and odd numbers by visually seeing if each counter has a “partner”. These preschool students are ready for cursive handwriting! They all have beautiful print handwriting, and are ready for a new fine motor challenge.
Peek into Next Week!
We will be spending the next two weeks enjoying our time together and learning about the Holidays that are celebrated this time of year. We can’t believe that it is almost time for Winter Break! This school year is flying by!
Wednesday 12/13: Christmas Show Rehearsal – arrive by 5:45pm
Friday 12/15: Christmas Show – arrive by 5:30pm
12/21: Pajama Day!
12/22-1/7: Winter Break! School resumes on Monday, 1/8
Line Time: Diligently practicing for the Christmas Show. Rockin it out!
Did You Know?: A priest once told me there are the same number of stitches on a baseball as on a rosary. With a little research I’ve found this to be true at 108. Prove me wrong.
AMessage From Mr. John (0 percent effort):
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, Tagolog, Hebrew).
DecemberBirthdays: A Montessori classroom prides itself on having a multiage class. Here are our newest 4 and 5 year old students.
Know Your Languages (Korean in January)
Peek In The Classroom:
She is working on sorting found in the sensorial area. Sorting Activities in Montessori promote children to develop visual memory, muscle memory, and hand-eye coordination. Children are also able to identify different patterns, sizes, relationships, differences, and similarities between different objects.They completed a creation with the red rods, brown stairs, and pink tower.This is called an extension. Extensions are activities that are introduced after the initial presentation with a material, in order to encourage the child to re-visit the material and solidify the skills and/or concepts it’s designed to provide.A group of students gather to look at continent picture boxes.She is meticulously working on her kindergarten binder.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Christmas Show Practice
Letter Of The Week- Taking a break to practice for the Christmas Show
Rhyming Word Of The Week- Taking a break to practice for the Christmas Show
Next Week: Weekly Themes: Geography.. Landforms (penninsula/gulf) Math.. Review Math Operations Language.. Review Parts of Speech Geometry.. Geometric Shapes II, More Geo Cards
Synonym Of The Week: Not til 2024 Sight Words Of The Week: Not til 2024
Future Happenings: –Bring Your Parent To School: Mondays and Wednesdays starting November 20, 2023… follow the link to sign up, https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-45382628-buckeye#/ -Christmas Show: Rehearsal- Wednesday December 13…6pm to 7pm NOT a dress rehearsal at Cuyahoga Falls High School Christmas Show- Friday December 15…6pm to 7:30pm at Cuyahoga Falls High School -Pajama Day/Show and Tell: Thursday December 21, 2023 -Christmas Break: Friday December 22, 2023 returning January 9, 2024
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
A fancy bun she made all by herself.He is trying to get her attention and she, well……Third Eye BlindSam slippers with a photo bomb and more of the third eye.
Your Children Say The Darndest Things (Rowan and his dog):
This week in Aspen we were busy practicing for our upcoming AMMS Holiday program! Line time lessons were full of Holiday Cheer as we practiced our lines, songs, and hand motions. At the same time, we reviewed proper stage etiquette and the expectations for standing on risers as we perform. All children agreed that safe hands, careful feet, quiet mouths (bubbles), and big smiles are what is expected while performing . The Aspen children rocked it! They have already brought so much Holiday joy and tears of happiness to their teachers eyes! They are absolutely adorable and amazing and this is only practice! You are all in for a real Holiday treat!!
In regards to what to wear , Aspen students need to have a long sleeved solid RED shirt brought in to school by next Friday, December 8!! The Aspen students will be decorating them with a special surprise for the show. Please have your child also wear nice dark colored pants, leggings, or skirt with their shirt the day of the program. We politely request no jeans! The Aspen class get to be “Rockin” Christmas Trees this year and we are looking forward to our performance! Thank you so much for all of the support you have all given/shown us this year! Ms. Angela and I appreciate our Aspen parents so much!
In Readers Workshop, the Cardinals practiced their reading (phonological awareness) skills as they worked on a complete the sentence worksheet. The Cardinals practiced following directions as we completed sentences with the word that made the most sense. Some of our word choices created some super silly sentences! The Cardinals also played ” Sight Word Showdown ” where a card containing a Sight word is held up and the Cardinal students verbally identify them. We are already on our third Sight word box!! The Chickadees continued practing their segmenting and decoding as they received a new phonetic reader booklet containing new sight words. Our Chickadees have all begun to show more confidence and fluency when decoding words and were a amazing with their Sight Words! The Chickadees also played “Sight Word Showdown! ” They also received a new Sight Word called once! We learned that it is super silly and doesn’t follow our typical phonetic rules! I mean….an O making the W sound!! The Chickadees found this hilarious and we had so much fun using it in sentences!
Decorating our classroom tree activity.
Transferring ornaments
Static Addition with the Stamp Game!! Combining numbers is fun!
Line Time: Diligently practicing for the Christmas Show. Rockin it out!
Did You Know?: Giraffes are 30 times more likely to get hit by lightning than people. True, there are only five well-documented fatal lightning strikes on giraffes between 1996 and 2010. But due to the population of the species being just 140,000 during this time, it makes for about 0.003 lightening deaths per thousand giraffes each year. This is 30 times the equivalent fatality rate for humans.
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, Tagolog, Hebrew)
Know Your Languages (Korean in January)
A Message From Mr. John (RIP Shane MacGowan)
A few thoughts on the video… How many guys are in this band? How many cigarettes were smoked during filming? Did you notice Matt Dillon is the police officer? Why does Kelly A keep telling me I can’t use this song for the Christmas Show?
If you want more, check out Jimmy Fallon and his guest singing a good version of this and explaining what a lock in in Ireland is on Christmas Eve.
Peek In The Classroom:
The last pre-reading material before reading. She is now reading the Hooked on Phonics series. This is an example of how fast things can move in the classroom. She can now compose numbers with quantity and symbol. Do you see what patter she (pretty much) completed. Look who is reading chapter books (Billy B. Brown). Notice the verbiage on her book mark. She is working on a pre-reading material.
Peek Into Next Week: Line Time- Christmas Show Practice
Letter Of The Week- Taking a break to practice for the Christmas Show
Rhyming Word Of The Week- Taking a break to practice for the Christmas Show
Next Week: Weekly Themes: Geography.. Landforms (straight/isthmus) Math.. Review Math Operations Language.. Review Parts of Speech Geometry.. Geometric Shapes II, More Geo Cards
Synonym Of The Week: Not til 2024 Sight Words Of The Week: Not til 2024
Why do I give them a choice between silly and nice?
Future Happenings: –Bring Your Parent To School: Mondays and Wednesdays starting November 20, 2023… follow the link to sign up, https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-45382628-buckeye#/ -Christmas Show: Rehearsal- Wednesday December 13…6pm to 7pm NOT a dress rehearsal at Cuyahoga Falls High School Christmas Show- Friday December 15…6pm to 7:30pm at Cuyahoga Falls High School -Pajama Day/Show and Tell: Thursday December 21, 2023 -Christmas Break: Friday December 22, 2023 returning January 9, 2024
Friends, Frolic, and Fun:
Wearing their shirts backwards in the new hot trend.This guy is showing off his guns. Being surprised when confronted with this face was rather scary, lol. Girls showing off their flexibility skills. I said “NO THANK YOOOOOOOU”
Your Children Say The Darndest Things (I love my family):
We jumped right back into our Animal Classification lessons after the holiday, and studied fish this week! What makes a fish a fish? We learned that fish are vertebrates, they must live in the water, they breathe using gills, they’re covered in scales, they’re cold blooded, and they lay jelly like eggs (which means they’re sticky).
Getting Ready for the Holidays!
We are busy in the classroom preparing for the upcoming holidays! Children started creating gifts for their parents (shhh… we won’t tell!), and are practicing daily for the Christmas Show! Our theme for the Christmas Show is snow. Your child will need to wear clothing that is blue, white, or gray, and a scarf. We will provide your child with a snowflake headband to wear for the show.
Curriculum Spotlight: ASL
We always love the Fridays when we have an ASL lesson. This week we learned how to sign various holiday theme signs such as reindeer, sleigh, toys, presents, and Santa! We also reviewed some important communication signs such as more, help, please, thank you, and I Love You.
Signing “sleigh”!
Peek into Work Time!
This Preschooler is working with one of our I Spy boxes. These boxes contain various small objects, the child then sorts the objects by isolating the beginning sound and matching the same sound. This Preschooler is doing so well with isolating beginning sounds, that she is now ready for our Sound Pouches. With Sound Pouches we assist the child with associating the letter sound to the symbol. After they have a solid understanding of that concept, the pouches also contain pictures of various objects, and the child is now matching the object to the letter. This preschooler started reading this week! She is working with Phonics Folders to practice blending letter sounds together in order to read the word. This preschooler is working with our CVC pictures and words. Each set focuses on one vowel sound, and the child reads the word then matches it to the corresponding picture. This Kindergartener was introduced to Consonant Blends this week! He’s learning that two consonants together can make a new sound!
