During the past couple of weeks in Handwriting, we have been working on Lower Case and the common initial strokes used to form those letters. We have been carefully working forming the lower case letters i, t, and j in cursive. Our Kindergarten students have been working hard on carefully forming each letter and I’m so proud of their progress!
This third month of enrichment classes has certainly built on the previous two months, and it can be seen in ever facet of the students’ work! The skills the students have learned from the beginning of the year are thoroughly concreted and they are building connections to much bigger ideas and goals. Let’s take a look inside the enrichment classrooms for this month.
This month definitely built on the previous months in all Enrichment Classes. Students have been drawing from their solidified skills and have created works that are thoughtful, intentional, and skillful. We can’t wait to explore what the next month’s journey in Art, Latin, and Music.
The last couple of weeks we read a Russian folk tale called The Three Wishes. The story was about a poor man and his white who were granted three wishes by an Imp. They did not use their wishes wisely and ended up wishing sausages to be hung from the husbands nose! In the story we learned some new vocabulary words trudged, useless, and slumped. The kindergartners were able to act out one of the vocabulary words, and had many writing and interpretive activities.
A Peek Into the next two weeks
-The kindergartners will be reading a story called Me First.
-The kindergartners will have discussions about the concept of going first and taking turns.
-The kindergartners will learn new vocabulary words: arguing, sprinted, and trotted.
This week our “Peek” was written by two of our students! These students read our previous blogs, took pictures around the room, and filled in a blog template. The students did some editing together and with a teacher so what you will read below is their final product. There are still some misspelled words in their final product, but in a Montessori classroom we focus on the process, instead of the end result. Dr. Montessori believed when we put all of the emphasis on the final product, we devalue everything leading up to that point. This can discourage repetition which will make mastery of a skill difficult. The purpose of the students writing the blog is to provide you with a glimpse into the room through their eyes, to provide them with practice of real world skills, and to give them a deeper understanding of the materials in the room. We hope you enjoy their work!
“A Peek at Our Week” by Maddex (Third Grade) and Annelise (Second Grade)
This week we’re busy. The first grade worked on fundamental needs and started planit research. The second worked on Rock testing. Third worked on Parts of Microscope. Fourth worked on Cross Multiplication.
“A Peek into Next Week” by Ms. Ashley
Next week we will continue our bucket drumming, bell ringing, and secret surprise practice! First years will work on Stamp Game Multiplication, learning different types of lines, discussing protozoans, and discovering types of food chains throughout different ecosystems. Second year students will begin using the Racks and Tubes, learn about their family’s history, and discover the relationships between two angles. Third year students will multiply with zero in the multiplier, find the least common multiple of numbers, and take their microscope test. Fourth year students will discuss characteristics of different mammals, write sentences with different adverbials, and compare the living things in the five kingdoms.
REMINDERS: An email was sent out about costumes for the Christmas Show. Please make sure you respond to the email by December 8 if we need to order ALL of your supplies. If you are buying your own pants and shirt, please send them to school by December 8.
This past week we got our new books! The children were super excited! The story we read was called The Three Wishes by Margot Zemach. Our first session we read the story together and then discussed our sharing questions as a class. Our second reading together we listened to the story again, we then read together the highlighted phrases and acted out a scene! Near the end of class the children were able to brainstorm their ideas about what they thought the wife was thinking when the sausages grew on the man’s nose? I love hearing the children listen to each other ideas and then share their own thoughts.
New books arrive next week!! They are super excited:)
Kindergarten Lessons:
We finished our counting money by looking at the different bills (paper money). Paper money was fairly easy to associate and dollar amount for obvious reasons. We did examine the different looks of these bills. We then combined the paper money and coins.
We came from break looking at parts of the leaf, parts of the flower, and parts of the tree. We had a discussion on what makes a living thing, a living thing. We learned that all living things need to:
Be able to reproduce
Be able to grow
Eat or take in nutrients
Breathe or exchange gases
All living things need water
These criterion differentiates my shoe from a bird or a pencil from my students. I posed the question “Are trees, plants, grass living things?” we went through the above criterion and determined Plants….
Reproduce via seeds
They grow
They need water and get nutrients from the soil
They exchange gases (take in Carbon Dioxide and expel Oxygen)
Due to the Christmas show rehearsals we will not be learning additional languages, sight words, or synonyms.
The kindergarten students have been working hard on learning both static and dynamic multiplication using the golden beads, stamp game, bead frame and dot board to solve problems.
Stamp Game: These children are using the stamp game to do multiplication. It works like the golden beads but instead of unit beads there are unit stamps. Instead of ten bars there are ten stamps. Instead of hundred squares there are hundred stamps. Instead of thousand cubes there are thousand stamps.
A Look Into Next Week: Static and Dynamic (exchanging) Multiplication
The last two weeks we read a poem called Stray Cat. It was describing a mangy, dirty cat that the speaker of the poem found. We learned about different aspects of a poem, like what stanzas are, who the speaker is in a poem, and how words in poems usually rhyme. We disscused why the speaker used so many describing words for the cat, and decided it was because the speaker wanted you to be able to imagine what the cat looked like.
-We will be reading a story about a couple who are granted three wishes
-We will be learning about what folk tale is.
-We will be having a discussion with interpretive questions.
Pretend Snow: We made snow by mixing 2 1/2 cups of baking soda with 1/2 cup of white conditioner. The snow felt cool to the touch and had less of a powder feeling. It felt more like a wet snow like what real snow would feel like if you had heavy snow when the weather was warm.
Santa’s Magic Milk: We placed milk in a shallow dish adding green and red drops of food coloring to make it festive. We then carefully placed liquid dish soap on the end of a popsicle stick using it to touch the middle of the milk. The students learned that milk is made up of mostly water but it does contain minerals, proteins small droplets of fat, and vitamins. If you need vitamins without any artificial fillers, try cissus Quadrangularis to experience a wide range of health benefits.
If The fat and proteins are super sensitive to changes in the milk and so when the liquid dish soap was added a chemical reaction occurred. The soap and fat started working hard to join together, which caused the movement. Since we added food coloring we were able to witness the chemical reaction occurring.
