A Peek at our Week – Cherry Blossom – week of 10/16/23

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Our Focus Lesson: Trees

This week the Cherry Blossom class learned about Trees! We learned the parts of a tree from the roots and trunk (stem) to the branches and leaves. We know that each part of the tree has some very important jobs to do. The roots soak up the water for the tree, but also hold the tree into the ground and keep it from falling over. The trunk holds the tree up. The branches hold the leaves. And the leaves collect sunlight and turn it into food for the tree so it can grow. We also discussed the life cycle of a tree. Seed, seedling, young tree and older tree. Some trees also have blossoms that grow into fruit to spread their seeds. Other trees, like oak trees and maple trees, just drop their seeds to the ground. We will return to plants and talk more about how seeds spread in the springtime!

This preschooler built the Parts of a Plant puzzle on her work mat, and then worked with Ms. Tonya to label the different parts of the plant.
This Kindergartener traced the Parts of a Plant puzzle and is using his knowledge of letters to read the label, and label his tree diagram.

Preschool Corner:

Preschoolers practiced What Does Not Belong skills in the Language area this week. Our younger preschoolers continued to work on counting with one to one correspondence and number recognition in Math, while our older preschoolers were introduced to Colored Bead Bar Addition. They were introduced to the Knobless Cylinder boxes and their extension cards this week in the Sensorial area of the classroom. Preschoolers also reviewed Characteristics of Living Things while classifying plants vs. animals.

This preschooler sorted pictures into Plants or Animals while also reviewing what animals need to grow and what plants need to grow.
This preschooler is completing addition equations using the colored bead bars.

Kindergarten Corner:

Kindergarteners reviewed the Parts of a Leaf and Parts of a Tree this week in Science. Not only did they learn new vocabulary words through this work, but we also talked about the important jobs each of these parts do for the plant. We discussed two of my favorite words – chlorophyll and photosynthesis! Students also had their final swing letter assessment in our Cursive Handwriting lessons. We’ll be moving onto curve letters next week! In Math, Kindergarteners have been working with the Golden Bead materials to work on their addition skills. Each day they have an “Equation of the Day” on the board to complete using the Golden Beads. They’re doing so well! In Language, Kindergarteners continue to work through their reading skills at their own pace.

This Kindergartener labeled the Parts of a Leaf by reading the labels and placing them where they go. We also reviewed what each part of the leaf is responsible for.
This Kindergartener is working on his Equation of the Day using the Golden Bead materials!

A Peek into Work Time:

This preschooler is working with the Pink Tower Extensions to explore the Pink Tower in a different way.
All children in our classroom are learning the names of the Continents. We will practice this concept in many ways throughout the school year. This preschooler is coloring a world map, using our specific continent colors.
This preschooler is working with the Teens Board, but with the numbers mixed up. This allows the child to focus on the symbol and match the appropriate quanitity when they are ready for more of a challenge.

Enrichment Spotlight: ASL!

We love our Friday ASL lessons! This week we learned how to sign numbers, and then read a Halloween counting book where we practiced signing the numbers and the Halloween characters we saw in the book!

A Peek into Next Week!

Focus Lesson: Vertebrates/Invertebrates & Arachnids

Friday, October 27: Trunk or Treat event!

Friday, November 10: Parent/Teacher Conferences – No School for Students

Friday, November 17: Operation Christmas Child Packing Party

Peek In Our Week ()()() Thee Buckeye Room ()()() Week Of October 16, 2023

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Thee 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.

I saw this when it was in the theaters.

Food For Though: Do you know that you do not realize you fell asleep until you wake?

Message From Mr. John (Clouds):

My guilty pleasure. For the longest time I thought the title was “Clouds” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L1UngfqojI

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 13 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic in the Lebanese Dialect, Italian, Russian)

Know Your Languages (Russian):

Specials Spot (Music):

Tambourine fun in music class.

Peek In The Classroom:

Composing numbers reinforces the association of quantity and symbol. This work students can compose from 1 to 9,999.
She is working on exchanging quantities. The Montessori Change Game, also called the Exchange Game, is a classic Montessori math activity. The purpose of the Change Game is to give children the opportunity to experience how small quantity categories can be exchanged for larger quantity categories and still total the same amount.
She is doing the 10 board. Another exercise in the relationship between symbol and quantity. Do you see the pattern she created?
Montessori education emphasises practical life activities that help children develop independence, concentration, and coordination. One such activity is braiding, which can be introduced to children as young as three years old. Braiding helps develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and a sense of order.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Birds

Letter Of The Week- I i

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bin

Next Language is Romanian

Academic Enrichment aka Kindergarten:

Weekly Themes:
Geography.. Hemispheres Equator, Prime Meridian
Math.. Subtraction golden beads/other materials (carry overs)
Language.. Pronouns
Geometry.. Construction Box (rectangle 1)

Next Week:
Weekly Themes:
Geography.. North America
Math.. Division golden beads no borrowing
Language.. Pronouns
Geometry.. Construction Box (rectangle box 2)

Next Week:
Synonym Of The Week: COLD: freezing, chilly, frigid, frozen, cool  

Sight Words Of The Week: use your

Another nice kindergarten picture.

Upcoming Stuff:

Trunk or Treat: Friday October 27 2023… Details sent via email
Parent/Teacher Conferences: (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS): Friday November 10 2023… Details to follow.
Bring Your Parent To School: Mondays and Wednesdays starting November 20, 2023… follow the link to sigh up, https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-45382628-buckeye#/
Thanksgiving Break: No school from Wednesday November 22 thru November 26. Returning Monday November 27.

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

Two girls NOT happy about being told to STOP WORKING!
Being serenaded as the girls count to 100.
I call this the back hug.
Cousin It’s cousin?

Your Child Says The Darndest Things (Strong opinions about socks):

Peek In Our Week ||| Thee Buckeye Room ||| Week Of October 9, 2023

Written by

Thee 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 ever not so popular frog Baron Silas Greenback from the cartoon Danger Mouse. One of my fave cartoons as a young adult.

Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine:

…I’m happy, hope you’re happy too.. What song is this?

Did You Know?:

The only letter in the English language with more than one syllable is W with three syllables and it’s sound begins with the d sound. MIND BLOWN!

dub uh you/ dub ya/ double you

Cultural Subjects:

Know Your Languages (Italian):

Your children can now count to ten in 10 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic in the Lebanese Dialect, Italian).

Enrichments (Art):

Peek In Our Week:

This material focuses on the understanding of the consonant blends, either in the beginning, or ending of the word, or both, as well as a short vowel sound. It is also a focus on the reading skills. There are instructions and an answer key included with the Montessori Blue Language Series.
A scene in Practical Life. In the forefront a boy hammers golf tees into a pumpkin. Behind him a student uses eye droppers to mix colored water (primary) together to make secondary colors.
Last week she mastered the relationship of quantity and symbol for the 10s. She advanced to building numbers from 10 to 99 using the golden beads. The aim is to associate the quantities and symbols from 10 to 90. Using the Tens Boards, the child explores the number names of the tens and the sequence of numbers 11–99.
She is working on the sand paper numbers. The direct purpose of the Sandpaper Numbers is to teach children the symbols that represent each number, allowing them to visually identify any number from 0 – 9. In Montessori education this is specifically taught separately to counting from 0 – 9, where children often fall back on rote memorisation.

Peek Into Next Week:

Line Time- Birds

Letter Of The Week- J j

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bip

Next Language is Russian

Academic Enrichment:

Weekly Themes:
Geography.. Hemispheres
Math.. Subtraction with golden beads (no borrowing)
Language.. Articles
Geometry.. Construction Box (triangle

Next Week:
Weekly Themes:
Geography.. Equator, Prime Meridian, Hemispheres
Math.. Subtraction golden beads (carry overs)
Language.. Pronouns
Geometry.. Construction Box (rectangle 1)

Synonym Of The Week: CALM, peaceful, quiet, inactive, serene, slow

Sight Words Of The Week: for with

Kinders pointing at their favorite kindergarten teacher. Lol

Upcoming Events:

Trunk or Treat: Friday October 27 2023… Details sent via email
Parent/Teacher Conferences: (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS): Friday November 10 2023… Details to follow.

Thanksgiving Break: No school from Wednesday November 22 thru November 26. Returning Monday November 27.

Friends, Frolic, and Fun:

Fancy Space Hair comes apart way too soon.
Charlotte enjoying a gut loaded, calcium powder cricket.
Snug as bugs in a rug.
A perfect gift from a student. My back will never itch again.

Your Kids Say The Darndest Things: (My Sister)

A Peek at our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 10/9/23

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Focus Lesson: Leaves

This week we learned all about leaves. We learned that they are just one part of the whole plant, but that they have a super important job to do – they use sunlight to make food for the plant so that it can grow! However, we had a question to explore. Why do leaves change color in the fall? We learned that leaves contain chlorophyll, a green pigment that collects the sunlight for the plant. In the fall, as the days become shorter and the tree prepares to “go to sleep” for the winter, it no longer needs that chlorophyll. The leaves then show their natural colors. Those reds, oranges, and yellows were there the whole time!

This preschooler is creating a Parts of a Leaf book to take home. She will color only one part of the leaf at a time, and then label that part.

Preschool Corner:

Our preschoolers are working so hard on their math skills at the moment! We have many different manipulatives within the classroom to learn quantity and corresponding symbols. Here’s just a peek at the many different work activities we have on the math shelf!

This preschooler is working with the Number Rods. This work allows the child to first practice one to one correspondence while also visually seeing how numbers get bigger. Then we introduce the child to the corresponding symbol!
This preschooler is working with our Table Top Rods. These are a smaller version of our Number Rods. We use the Table Top Rods to not only match quantity to the corresponding symbol, but also use them later on when we begin learning addition! This child is strengthening her concept of quantity and symbol by having the numbers mixed up and in random order.
This preschooler received a lesson on the Teen Board this week! We are continuing to work on quantity, name, and symbol with this work but now we are working with teen numbers!

Kindergarten Corner:

Our Kindergarteners have spent the past couple weeks working with cardinal and intermediate directions in the Cultural area of our classroom. We continued to find the mnemonic Never Eat Soggy Waffles hilarious as we walked the hallways using a compass and labeling maps.

This kindergartener is practicing labeling a compass rose with cardinal and intermediate directions.
This kindergartener labeled the cardinal directions on his map, and then used his knowledge of directions to answer some geographical questions.

In the Language area of the classroom, Kindergarteners were introduced to consonants and vowels. We worked really hard on learning the 5 main vowels – a, e, i, o, u. We then used this knowledge to sort letters into categories and mark up words on paper.

These kindergarteners are sorting letters into consonants and vowels.

Pumpkin Season!

Last week the Cherry Blossom class learned all about PUMPKINS! We learned the life cycle from seed to pumpkin. We also washed a pumpkin in the Practical Life area since the pumpkin was so dirty from being in the pumpkin patch! We ended the week by cutting open the pumpkin we brought back from Ramseyer Farms and labeling the parts of a pumpkin. Then each child received a chance to use 4 of their 5 senses to explore the pumpkin like a scientist!

This kindergartener is bringing his Writer’s Workshop lessons into the classroom! We learned in Writer’s Workshop that labels give the reader more information. He then drew a beautiful pumpkin in his sketchbook and labeled the parts of a pumpkin! Wonderful work!

Enrichment Spotlight: Music and Library

In Music Class, we’ve begun using instruments! We learned how to use Rhythm Sticks this week and then enjoyed marching with our sticks, as well as hitting and rubbing them together to create different sounds.
After Ms. Lindsey reads us books and sings us songs, then the children get to choose a library book to borrow and keep in the classroom for the week. Hunting for the perfect book is the best part of our Library visits!

A Peek into Next Week:

Friday, October 27: Trunk or Treat event! (A Sign Up Genius was sent to your Remind today if you are interested in being a classroom helper for this event!)

Friday, November 10: Parent/Teacher Conferences. (Sign ups will go out soon!) There is NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS on this day.

Peek In Our Week ^^^ Thee Buckeye Room ^^^ Week Of October 2, 2023

Written by

Thee Buckeye Bulletin

Line Time:
Reptiles-This past week we learned about Reptiles.  Reptiles are vertebrates (have a spine or backbone), cold blooded (their body temperature changes with the surrounding temperature), have dry scaly skin, hatched from hard shell eggs.  Examples of reptiles are turtles, snakes, alligators, and lizards. We suspect that dinosaurs may have been reptiles.

Godzilla and son may have been reptiles.

Did you know?
When it comes to the alphabet everyone knows that “Z” is the last letter, but did you know it wasn’t the last letter to be added? Although located in the first half of the ABCs, “J” is a latecomer and was the 26th of the current set of letters to be added.

And it is all good between them.

Last week trivia answer: Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo went to Woodridge High School.

A Message From Mr. John (Don’t Do Starburst And Water):

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 9 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic with Lebanese dialect).

Know Your Languages (Arabic With Lebanese Dialect):

October Birthday: Montessori prides itself on maintaining a classroom wit 3 to 6 year old students. Here is our newest 6 year old.

Enrichments (Library):

The children listened to a story and learned some fun facts about an oak tree.

Peek In The Classroom:

He just completed the Cards and Counters. 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. Great practice to show the odd and even numbers as well.
She is working on the Pink Rhyming work. Rhyming skills should be practiced continuously from the Phonemic Awareness level all the way through a child’s reading career.  This is the Pink Level individual rhyming work. This work supports the child’s developing understanding of spelling patterns.  
This student is working on the Binomial Cube found in the Sensorial area. The direct aim of this binomial cube is for the kids to correctly build the cube within the box while using and developing visual acuity and dexterity. The indirect aim of the Montessori Binomial Cube is to prepare the child to learn advanced algebraic concepts. In the background a student is putting 40 books back in order.
Unsolicited help sweeping the room.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Amphibians

Letter Of The Week- H h

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bit

Next Language is Italian

Academic Enrichment aka kindergarten:
Weekly Themes:
Geography.. Cardinal Directions
Math.. Multiplication carry overs with other materials
Language.. Articles
Geometry.. Geometric Solids

Next Week:
Weekly Themes:
Geography.. Hemispheres
Math.. Subtraction with golden beads
Language.. Articles
Geometry.. Construction Box (Triangle)

Synonym Of The Week: CALM: peaceful, quiet, inactive, serene, slow

Sight Words Of The Week: for with

Kinders know when a camera is pointed at them.

Upcoming Events:
Trunk or Treat: Friday October 27 2023… Details sent via email
Parent/Teacher Conferences: (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS): Friday November 10 2023… Details to follow

Frolic, Friends, and Fun:

Feeding the cockroaches caused quite a stir.
Fancy hair. Goofy face.
Salami Face! Remember the episode of The Office? lol or on a disturbing note…. Silence Of The Lambs.
It is actually a funny scene.
Girl pals.

Your Kids Say The Darndest Things(The cost and size of a Pokemon binder):

A Peek At Our Week – 09/25/23 – 09/29/23 – Aspen – The Life Cycle Of A Pumpkin!

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This week in Aspen classroom we learned all about the Life Cycle Of A Pumpkin! Due to our amazing field trip to Ramseyer’s Pumpkin Patch last week Aspen was able to study the Life Cycle Of A Pumpkin up close! We had the amazing opportunity to have a first hand experience seeing and touching the Pumpkin Life Cycle stages on our special botany tray! Aspen also engaged in a variety of pumpkin themed Practical Life such as: using the tongs to transfer pumpkins, cutting out pumpkins, spooning pumpkin seeds, tracing pumpkin number papers, and even did a fun create your own jack-o-lantern bulletin board craft. The Aspen students have been focusing on how to write their numbers properly and have had so much fun practicing! Aspen then watched a video How They Grow: Pumpkins and learned more interesting pumpkin facts. Did you know that the largest pumpkin ever grown weighed over 3,000 pounds! We also had lots of fun using tweezers to remove sunflower seeds from a sunflower. It sure was a busy pumpkin filled week in Aspen!

In Readers Workshop, the Cardinals have been working on phonological awareness focusing on sight words and phonograms. The Cardinals have successfully mastered the red and orange Sight Word boxes and have been learning about Ch, Sh, and Th words. As we practiced reading words with these phonograms we practiced reading them in sentences containing sight words while completing follow-up work activities. The Chickadees continued their phonemic awareness activities practicing segmenting phonetic words. They continued explore the concept of Sight Words practicing reading sight words in the red box. The Chickadees also received a Pumpkin Life Cycle book containing the sight words we have been practicing. At the same time, these booklets also provided the opportunity for the Chickadees to gain confidence sounding out large words while practicing identifying their colors in print! Both groups have been working so hard and continue to challenge themselves weekly with new concepts!

In Writers Workshop both groups have completed writing their lists and have begun to practice writing their sequencing stories. In these stories they practice their writing skills while explaining how to do something ( for example, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or riding a bike)! Both groups have continued to work hard to refine their handwriting skills!

Next week our group lesson topic will be Color! We are going to learn all about the Primary and Secondary Colors, learn about shade and tint, explore the color wheel, and engage in a special color mixing experiment!

Using the tongs to transfer pumpkins. Note the amazing pumpkin life cycle botany tray in the background!

Removing seeds from a Sunflower!

Practicing segmenting words with the CVC Word boxes!

Fun with the Trinomial Cube!

A Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 9/25/23

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Our Focus Lesson:

Apples! We learned all about apples this week! Blossoms began the week learning that a group of apple trees is called an orchard. We brainstormed all of the things we already knew about apples and were extremely excited to find apples in our lunch boxes. We then discussed the life cycle of an apple from seed to tree to blossom to apple. We also learned about the parts of an apple – skin, flesh, core, seeds, and stem. At the end of the week we gathered some scientific data as we taste tested a Gala apple, a Granny Smith apple and apple cider. Everyone LOVED the apple cider!

Those Granny Smith apples can be so sour!
Collecting our scientific data.
Apple cider is the best!

A Peek into Work Time:

Here is a snapshot of all of the different ways we brought apples into our work activities this week!

This preschooler is matching pictures. To make this work a little more challenging, he is matching the object to its shadow, which gives the child an opportunity to slow down and pay attention to details.
This preschooler is working on his classification skills. He has sorted real life pictures into two categories – apples and not apples.
This child is pin poking an apple. Our pin poking activity is a classroom favorite for all of the ages! Our younger students are practicing poking holes on the black line of the shape. Our older students are trying to poke holes as close together as possible on the black line so that they can remove the shape from its background. This work is fantastic for strengthening those fine motor skills we need for handwriting!
This preschooler is tearing paper and pasting the pieces inside of the apple shape. Ripping paper is another way we are strengthening fine motor skills while also creating a wonderful apple craft!
This preschooler is working on her rhyming skills with our apple themed rhyming cards!
This Kindergartener is isolating the middle sound of words and sorting them by the vowel sound that he hears in the word.
This child is creating her own Parts of an Apple booklet to bring home! She is only coloring one part of the apple at a time and then labeling that part.

Enrichment Spotlight – Music, Art, and ASL!

Ms. Lisa has introduced the Blossoms to forte (loud) and piano (soft) music. We’ve been learning lots of new songs and games, but our favorite is the Bubbles song!
Ms. Varela has introduced the Blossoms to different types of lines that they will find within art. This week they created leaves by tracing around their own hands and then filled in their leaf shapes using color pastels.
Mr. Thompson introduced us to our classroom mascot. We are the Brave Gorillas this year! Ask your child to sign brave gorilla for you!

A Peek into Next Week:

Focus Lesson: Pumpkins!

Important Dates:

October 27: Trunk or Treat event

November 10: Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School for students)

Peek In Our Week $$$ Thee Buckeye Room $$$ Week Of September 25, 2023

Written by

The Buckeye Room Bulletin

Line Time:
Mammals-This past week we learned about Mammals.  Mammals are vertebrates (have a spine or backbone), warm blooded (their body temperature does not change), have hair or fur, live bearers, and eat/drink mother’s milk when young.  Some mammals live in the water such as dolphins and whales.  The only mammal that can fly is the bat! Cats, dogs, elephants, and rats are mammals.  Oh, and people are mammals as well. “Are we not men? We are MAMMALS………. “

I have to do this every year…. If you want to play Six Degrees Of Separation for DEVO, Mark Mothersbaugh’s (front man for DEVO) brother does the confirmation classes for my church.  Also, I do childcare at the church and I have cared for his niece’s children.  I know useless but interesting information. 

Trivia: What high school did Mark Mothersbaugh attend.

Did you know?
Since football season is upon us it would be apropos to share this knowledge of the defensive term of “Blitz”.  The term “Blitz” comes from the German word blitzkrieg, which means, “lightning war.” In World War II, the Germans employed this tactic which emphasized mobile forces attacking with speed and surprise.

A Message From Mr. John (Who are these bands????):

Certainly not Mr. John’s genre.

Cultural Subjects:
Your children can now count to ten in 10 languages (English, Latin, Sign Language, Spanish, German, French, Greek, Japanese).

Know Your Languages (Japanese):

Enrichments (ASL):

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson leading the Sign Language Class.

Peek In The Classroom:

As with all Montessori sensorial materials, the cube has both a direct and an indirect purpose. The direct purpose of the binomial and trinomial cubes is for the child to practice the steps to properly disassemble and build the cube, while refining dexterity and visual acuity.
The Puzzle Maps help students memorize continents but memorization is only one benefit. Montessori students use these maps to gain a deeper, more rich understanding of how continents relate to one another.
Segmenting and blending orally helps build a student’s ability to sequence the sounds in words. If students demonstrate significant difficulty during the phonemic awareness portion of the lesson.
A new material creates a lot of attention.

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Reptiles

Letter Of The Week- G g

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bid

Next Language is Arabic with Lebanese Dialect

Peek Into Next Week:
Line Time- Reptiles

Letter Of The Week- G g

Rhyming Word Of The Week- bid

Next Language is Russian

Academic Enrichment aka kindergarten:
Weekly Themes:
Geography.. Cardinal Directions
Math.. Multiplication w/carry overs
Geometry.. Polygons

Next Week:
Weekly Themes:
Geography.. Cardinal Directions
Math.. Multiplication Other Materials
Language.. Articles
Geometry.. Geometric Solids

Synonym Of The Week: ACTIVE: lively, energetic, dynamic, vigorous

Sight Words Of The Week: you his

Just a nice kinder pic.

Upcoming Events:
Trunk or Treat: Friday October 27 2023… Details to follow
Parent/Teacher Conferences: (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS): Friday November 10 2023… Details to follow

Frolic, Friends, and Fun:

Ya shoulda seen the other guy!
Boys… a rare sighting in the classroom.
I ask her to take a nice picture….. and I get this.
Now this will do.

Your Kids Say The Darndest Things(Ninja Turtles):

A Peek At Our Week – Aspen – 09/18/23 – 09/22/23 – All About Apples!!

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This week in Aspen it was all about Apples!! The Aspen students spent the week learning how apples grow, what they need to grow, learned how to identify and name the parts of an apple, and got to observe and explore the parts of an apple with our apple observation activity. At the same time, Aspen took their scientific observation to the next level by engaging in a very yummy science experiment involving apples. We took a red apple (Red Delicious), a green apple (Granny Smith), and a yellow apple, (Golden Delicious) and taste tested them! Our experiment was to see if they tasted the same or different! Ask your apple scientist what they discovered! Since we were slicing apples, Aspen then took the opportunity to discuss fractions. Aspen learned about whole, half, one- third, and one- fourth while slicing our apples for our experiment. A very big thank you to Lily for bringing in apples for us to use for this lesson. Finally, we shifted gears and used our apples for something other than eating! We made apple prints with sliced apples and paint. Our Week in Aspen sure was Appletastic!!

This week we also had our first field trip to Ramseyers Farm and enjoyed some Fall themed fun ! We learned all about Pumpkins, how they grow, and got to pick our very own perfect pumpkin!! A big thank you to all of the Aspen parents that made our field trip special and fun! Ms. Angela and I truly enjoyed spending the day with you and your child! Happy pumpkin carving with your perfect pumpkins!!

This week in Readers and Writers Workshop the kindergarten students continued their literary and phonics fun! In Readers Workshop the Cardinals continued their work exploring phonological awareness, sight words, sentence structure, and comprehension skills ( focusing on the concept of sequencing). We read the book If You Give A Pig A Pancake and The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate The Wash and discussed sequencing within these stories. We then placed events in order from from their occurrence within the story! Our Cardinals have some great recollection and comprehension skills!! The Chickadees continued their fun with phonics and phonemic awareness by engaging in sound games, sound activities, and began practicing segmenting words! They also continued to practice following directions and completed two worksheets this week. The Chickadees also engaged in more sight word work!

Next week Aspen will be learning all about Pumpkins and the life cycle of a pumpkin!

Creative fun with the Geometric Magnetic Tiles!

Pattern work with the Apple Pattern activity.

Labeling the parts of an apple.

Exploring phonics with the CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words! Phonics is fun!!

Matching and folding socks is a favorite Practical Life activity in the Aspen room!!

Practicing handwriting skills tracing letters!

A Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 9/18/23

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Our Focus Lesson:

This week we learned all about the Four Seasons. We learned that we are currently in the season of summer but that the season will change this Saturday to fall or autumn! We discussed what sort of activities we could do in all of the seasons, what the different temperatures would feel like in each season, and some of the things we can observe with our scientist eyes. We also learned that because of the tilt of the Earth on its axis, that while we are having summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere is having winter! We’re really looking forward to exploring all that fall has to offer us over the next months!

Ms. Sam giving a group lesson about what we would see in each of the 4 seasons.
This child completed the 4 seasons sorting activity we have in Science!
“Let’s sing the 4 seasons song! Winter, spring, summer, fall!” We love to sing along with Jack Hartmann!

Preschool Corner:

Our preschoolers have been busy sorting in both the Practical Life and Sensorial areas of the classroom. All year long we will be practicing sorting by color, shape, size, and then by two attributes at once! Why is sorting so important? Grouping objects by color, size or shape helps develop visual memory, a skill that assists with problem solving!

This preschooler is sorting butterflies by color.
This preschooler is sorting the characters by shape.
This preschooler is sorting by both shape and color!

Kindergarten Corner:

Our Kindergarteners have been so busy working on their individual reading skills with Ms. Tonya in the classroom and Ms. Kelley during Reader’s Workshop. They love to read their books to their teachers! They also completed their lessons on the different types of triangles with Ms. Sam this week in the Sensorial area of the classroom. In Math, we are diving into our Addition unit!

These Kindergarteners had a lesson on how to use the Addition Strip Board to practice their addition math facts!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A big Happy Birthday to our newest 4 year old and our newest 5 year old!

A Peek into Work Time:

Our individual work periods are getting longer and we are well on our way to being a normalized classroom. What is a normalized classroom? Maria Montessori wrote, “The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’” Some characteristics of a normalized classroom would be a room where the children are freely choosing their work activities, concentrating on their work, and finding joy in the work that they are doing.

Here’s a snapshot of what work time looks like in our classroom!

Ramseyer Farms!

We had a BLAST at Ramseyer Farms! It was such a beautiful, perfect day! A huge THANK YOU to all of the parents and grandparents that helped make our field trip such a success! We couldn’t have done it without you!

A Peek into Next Week:

Our Focus Lesson: Apples

Important Dates:

October 27: Trunk or Treat event

November 10: Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School for students)