Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

5/2: All About Insects

• Learning the characteristics of Insects.

• Life Cycle of the Butterfly.

• How Insects are helpful/harmful.

• Where do certain insects live?

• Where do insects get their food?

5/9: Dinosaurs

• Studying Dinosaurs that lived on land, earth, and in the air.

• Learning about the difference between carnivores and herbivores.

• Discuss how Dinosaurs left fossils, which give us “clues” about them.

• Discuss different types of dinosaurs such as T-Rex, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops.

• Discuss how dinosaurs all hatched from eggs.

5/16: All About Reptiles and Amphibians

• The difference between reptiles and amphibians.

• Learning about the Frog Life Cycle

• Learning about snakes, lizards, and alligators.

• Learning about turtles and frogs.

• Making a ven diagram of the differences between reptiles and amphibians.

5/23: All About Mammals

• Learning the physical characteristics of mammals.

• Learning about bears, monkeys, and lions.

• What do certain mammals eat?

• Where do certain mammals live?

5/30: All About Summer Fun/Safety

• Learning all about camping.

• Making ice cream.

• Learning about “stranger danger”.

• Learning when to call 9-1-1.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

5/2: Yy

5/9: Ss

5/16: Ii

5/23: Pp

5/30: Jj

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

5/2: Yet

5/9: Set

5/16: Lip

5/23: Pit

5/30: Jet

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

• Discuss with your child their favorite types of dinosaur they are learning about.

• Take a trip to the zoo with your child. Discuss the different types of animals you see.

• Play “ I Spy” with your child using the letter sounds of the letter of the week.

• Discuss summer saftey rules for your family with your child, such as where is safe to play in your neighborhood, what to do if approached by a stranger, etc.

The month of March has been very busy in our classroom. We learned about Dr. Seuss, Space, and all about our state of Ohio. The children also enjoyed celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and wearing green and celebrating having the most Box Tops with Silly Sock Day and a Pizza Party! We also had a blast on Pajama and Show and Tell Day!

During the first week, we had fun learning all about Dr. Seuss. The children enjoyed reading “ The Cat In The Hat”, “ Horton Hatches The Egg” , and “ The Alphabet Book”. The Cat In The Hat even came for a visit to our classroom! He showed us how to make Cat masks and read to us from his book! The children also learned that Dr. Seuss’ real name was Theodore Seuss Giesel. We also learned that Dr. Seuss lived near a Zoo as a child, which is where he began to think of all of his imaginary creatures in his stories!

During week two and three, we enjoyed learning all about Outer Space. The children enjoyed learning all the names of the planets in our solar system, learning all about the phases of the moon, and all about constellations. The children also enjoyed watching footage of the first moon landing and they also enjoyed making their own constellations using stickers with Ms. Kim!

We learned all about Ohio during week four! The children learned our state bird, the Cardinal. We learned that the male cardinals have bright red feathers, while the female Cardinals have more brown, dull feathers in order to camouflage themselves and to protect their nest. We also learned that our state capitol is Columbus, and that our state tree is the buckeye tree. We also talked about how our state is a small piece of our country and our city is a small piece of our state.

For St. Patrick’s Day, the children also enjoyed making a shamrock craft with Ms. Kim and reading a story about how St. Patrick’s Day became a holiday. The children really enjoyed decorating their shamrock with Lucky Charms! Also, when the children arrived at school that day, we discovered that a tricky leprechaun had made a mess in our classroom!

During the last week of school, the children had a lot of fun hunting for Easter Eggs outside! Ms. Kim placed Easter eggs all around the playground, and the children enjoyed trying to find them. And let me tell you, those eggs were packed full of candy!

Academic Enrichment | Kindergarten
In March we began our focused reading groups for our kindergarten students. Kindergarten students are meeting with Ms. Kate on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Students read through a classic work of literature, discuss and have activities each week. These activities have included dramatizations, creative writing and art projects. It has been a wonderful program, our students are gaining so much!

Ms. Kristen begins our afternoon academic enrichment lesson with handwriting lessons and practice. Students have been doing wonderfully!

We capped off our lessons in geometry by learning our geometric solids (Cube, sphere, cone, rectangular and triangular prisms, ovoid, ellipsoid, cylinder, square and triangular based pyramids.

The kindergartners started their section in Language. We will be learning about the parts of speech until the end of the year. We went over vowels/consonants, and nouns and verbs. A noun is a person , place, or thing. A verb is an action word or something you do. We the learned there are three articles. They are A, An, The. We learned rules when we use those articles. A hooks up with consonants, an hooks up with vowels, and the hooks up with anything.

The Kindergartners now can count to 10 in twenty six languages…English (that is our native language), Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic w/Lebanese dialect, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Hebrew, Swedish, Korean, Polish, Hungarian, and Tagalog, Polish, Irish, Kiswahili, Welsh, Dutch/Flemish, Serbo-Croatian, Cebuano, Malay, Hindi.

Enrichments (Ms. Kim)

Music
In music this month the children sang hello to Tina the Turtle, Freida the Frog, Jerry the Giraffe, and Bernie the Bernard! We finished up the story, Peter and the Wolf, by listening to the sounds of the instruments on Ms. Lisa’s keyboard. When Ms. Lisa played the sound of an instrument on her keyboard, the children guessed what character from the story it was. We also acted out the characters for fun! The children spent a lot of time this month learning about the sounds and keys of the keyboard. Ms. Lisa showed the children where the high and low sounds on the keyboard are located. We then learned the difference between smooth and jumpy sounds. Next the children noticed that the keys on the keyboard are black and white, and then got to play them!

Science
For our first experiment, Mr. John poured colored water into a liter bottle. Then he added vegetable oil. The vegetable oil stayed on top because oil and water do not mix. Next he asked the children what would happen when he added Alka-Seltzer tablets. Would it bubble a lot or a little? Well we saw it bubble a lot because the Alka-Seltzer tablets created carbon dioxide bubbles when they hit the water. These bubbles floated to the top where the oil was, but then went back down because again the water and oil do not mix. It almost looked like a lava lamp!

For our next experiment each child received a bowl of milk. Then Mr. John went around and added different colors of food coloring to the milk. The children were told not to mix the colors. Next each child received a cotton swab that had been dipped in dish soap. When we were ready, the children carefully dipped the cotton swab into the colored milk. We saw the colored milk quickly move away from the cotton swab and create a rainbow. The milk moved away quickly because the dish soap broke the surface tension.

Art
In art we continued to create projects for our upcoming International Festival. At the beginning of the month we made hands out of clay that we painted henna designs on. Ms. Michele and I helped the children cut their hands out of clay. When the clay hardened they painted with a special paint to make a henna design on them. We learned that in India henna designs are popular.

For the rest of the month, the children worked on a yarn weaving project. We learned that Navajo Indians are excellent rug weavers. The Navajo use wool from sheep for their weavings. The children were given a small cardboard loom with string and yarn to weave. Ms. Michele reminded the children to weave over and under or under and over! It is amazing to see the focus and concentration our young students have for this project!

Finally:
I would encourage you to review with your child what they have learned this past month. Read a Dr. Seuss book together and ask your child to point out some of the rhyming words. Discuss with your child the name of our planet, continent, county, state, and city. Practice naming the planets together and discuss which one you and your child would visit if you could. Ask your child to sing the Planets Song they learned this month as well!

Maria Montessori was quoted as saying, “ The child becomes a person through work.” I am enjoying seeing how your children continue to grow in their independence, laying the foundation for the adult they will one day become. I am so fortunate to have front row seat to watching each of these wonderful children learn and grow and I considerate a joy to come to school and learn alongside them every day!

What I will learn this month (in addition to Montessori Work Time…)

4/4: Introduction To The Continents

-The location of the continents on the globe.
-Using the Continent Map Puzzle to locate the continents.
-Major countries of each continent.
-Landmarks, indigenous animals, and weather of each continent.
-Learning the Montessori Continent Song.

4/11: All About North America

-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of the United States
-Making a rain stick craft.
-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Canada
-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Haiti.
-Learning all about Costa Rica and making a Blue Morpho Butterfly craft.

4/18: North America (Cont.)/ All About South America

-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Jamaica.
-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Panama.
-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Brazil.
-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Argentina.
-Making a rainforest craft and a La Boca House collage.

4/25: All About South America ( Cont.)

-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Peru.
-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Chile.
-Learning all about the culture, traditions, and people of Equador

International Festival practice!

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

4/4: Aa
4/11: Cc
4/18: Rr
4/25: Tt

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

4/4: and
4/11: can
4/18: rag
4/25: the

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

Try making a new recipe as a family from a country we’ve discussed in South America.

Discuss with your child their favorite animal that they learned about in the Amazon Rainforest.

Practice identifying the continents on a map of the world with your child.

Practice with your child the name of our planet, continent, country, state, city, and their address.

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

2/29: All About Dr. Seuss

-Discuss Dr. Seuss and his life.
-What makes a rhyme?
-Cat In The Hat Craft
-Read “ Oh The Places You’ll Go”.-Discussing where we would like to travel, if we could travel anywhere in the world.
-Read Green Eggs and Ham.

3/7: All About Outer Space

-Learning all about the Moon.
-What is a Star?
-Dicovering the planets in our solar system.
-Learning all about Astronauts and their job.
-Learning all about the constellations.

3/14: Continue Learning About Space

-Learing about the Space Shuttle.
-Watching the Moon Landing.
-Who was the first person in Outer Space?
-What is a Dwarf Planet?
-Testing a real telescope.

3/21: All About Ohio

-What makes a state?
-Famous sites in N.E. Ohio.
-Learning about our state flag.
-Learning about our state bird, insect, and flower.
-Graphing how many of us live in Akron, Stow, Cuyahoga Falls, etc.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

2/29: Qq
3/7: Bb
3/14: Ww
3/21: Zz

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

2/29: Quick
3/7: Bud
3/14: Was
3/21: Zip

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

• Read a Dr. Seuss story with your child. Point out the rhyming words. Writing your own story with rhyming words together!
• Visit the Planatarium at the Natural History Museum in Cleveland.
• Practice your address with your child. This is very important for them to start learning early!
• Discuss with your child which planet they would like to visit and why.

January was so much fun! The children were so happy to come back after Christmas Break and begin working in the classroom! I know Ms. Kim and I missed them as well!

During the first week of January, we reviewed our classroom rules. We were reminded of how to carry a tray, how to walk on the line, how to roll up our rugs, etc. This was a great reminder coming back from a two week break, and a great introduction to our classroom for our new friends. Our returning friends were a great help to our new friends when it came to teaching them the rules of the classroom.

During the following week, we learned about Peacemakers. You might have heard your child talking about what it means to be a Peacemaker at home. We learned that a Peacemaker is someone who is kind, who helps others, who does not hurt others, who uses kind words, and does not argue with others. We talked about great Peacemakers, such as Maria Montessori, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and Mahatma Ghandi.

During week three, we learned all about Nutrition and Healthy Eating. We learned about the Food Pyramid and what foods are “Grow Foods” and what foods are “Junk Foods”. Ms. Kim also read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carl to the children. They also enjoyed making their own model of the “ My Plate” food pyramid.

We also learned all about the Five Senses, during the last week of the month. The children enjoyed learning about the parts of the ear and how we are able to hear. They also learned about our sense of sight as well. To illustrate how important our sense of sight is, Ms. Kim placed many different objects in the middle of our circle during preschool lesson and each child took turns guessing which object Ms. Kim removed from the middle of the circle. What a great way to practice our observation skills! We also popped popcorn in an air popper. We learned that when making and eating popcorn, we can use all five of our senses. The children enjoyed describing what they heard, saw, smelled, tasted, and felt while making and eating the popcorn!

Academic Enrichment with Mr. John (Kindergarten Students):

This month we started our section in Math.  We explored about the unit (ones), ten, hundred, and thousand columns.  The kindergarteners composed numbers, and were introduced to addition with and without carry overs (static).  Kindergarten students across all the classrooms in our Academic Enrichment lesson can count to 10 in twenty different languages (English, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Japanese, Arabic w/Lebanese dialect, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Swedish, Tagolog, Hebrew, Korean, Hungarian, Polish, Irish, Kiswahili, and Welsh Dutch/Flemish, Serbo-Croatian, and Cebuano).

Enrichments (Ms. Kim):

Music
This month the students sang hello to Allie the Alligator, Tina the Turtle, and Ellie the Parrot. Ms. Lisa spent time teaching the story Peter and the Wolf. Each character in the story is represented by a musical instrument from the orchestra. As soon as a musical instrument was played, the students could state whether it was the bird, duck, wolf, etc. We also did a tambourine dance and moved our bodies to the motions in the song! Lastly, we listened to Beethoven’s Rage Over a Lost Penny. After listening to the music, we searched the room for objects Ms. Lisa had hid.

In conclusion, I want to thank you for letting me serve your children. Maria Montessori believed that we, as directresses, are mainly observers and servants of the child. She believed this so much, that she credited the children she worked with when she said, “It is not true that I invented what is called the Montessori Method. I have studied the child, I have taken what the child has given me and expressed it, and that is what is called the Montessori Method.” I consider myself blessed to be a observer, student, and servant of your child, and it is a true joy!

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

2/1: Transportation

-What is Transportation?
-Discuss trains and how they operate.
-Discuss airplanes and how they fly.
-Learning about buses and how they take us different places.
-Discuss boats and how they are able to float on the water.

2/8: Polar Pals/ Valentine’s Day

-Discussing Penguins – What they eat, where they live, etc.
-Learning about Polar Bears- Where they live, how they stay warm, etc.
-Discussing Beluga Whales- Where they live live, what they eat, etc.
-Discussing Seals-Where they live, how they stay warm, what they eat, etc.
-History of Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s activities.

2/15: Presidents

-Discussing Abraham Lincoln and his life.
-Learning about George Washington, the father of our nation.
-Learning about our current president, Barack Obama
-Learning about the American Flag, and what the different parts symbolize.
-Discussing the Pledge of Allegiance and what the words mean.

2/22 Dental Health

-Discuss Dental Health
-Lean what foods are healthy for our teeth.
-Learn the parts of the tooth.
-Why do we loose our baby teeth?
-Learn about the job of a dentist.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.
2/2: Kk
2/9: Gg
2/16:Mm
2/23:Oo

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
2/1: Kid
2/8: Go
2/15:Me
2/22:Off

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

-Make Valentines together with your child. Have them sign their own name to the cards.
-Practice saying the Pledge of Allegiance with your child at home.
-Practice teeth brushing with your child. Make a healthy snack together as a family that will promote dental health.
-Practice the letter of the week with your child by playing “I Spy”. This is a great way to help them learn initial sounds. Remember to focus on the sound of the letter and not the name of the letter.

What I will learn this month in Ms. Kristen’s class…

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

1/4: Ground Rules Review
-Care of The Environment-Rolling a rug, tucking in a chair, etc.
-Grace and Courtesy-How to greet another, how to get a friends attention, how to say please and thank you, etc.
-Reviewing Classroom Rules and Manners
-Friendship Game- The children will guess who’s voice they hear to practice listening.
-Reviewing kind words and phrases.

1/11: Peace Makers
-Maria Montessori-Her life, mission, and how she was a peacemaker.
-Mother Theresa- Her life, mission, and how she was a peacemaker.
-Martin Luther King-His life, mission, and how he was a peacemaker.
-Discussing how we are also able to be peacemakers.
-Dicussing how to build each other up. Introducing a sand sculpture making activities which will teach how to give compliments
-Friday 1/15 NO SCHOOL | Teacher In Service Day

1/18: Healthy Eating
-Monday1/18 NO SCHOOL | MLK Day
-Learning about the food pyramid.
-Learning about foods that are beneficial for our bodies and what is “ junk food”.
-Learning about the differences between fruits and vegetables.
-Making a healthy snack as a class.
-Singing songs that reinforce healthy food choices.

1/25: The Five Senses
-Learning about our sense of hearing and about the different parts of the ear.
-Learning about our sense of taste and the different parts of the tongue.
-Learning about our sense of touch.
-Learning about our sense of smell. Discussing how our nose functions.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.
1/4: Nn
1/11: Vv
1/18: Uu
1/25: Xx

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
1/4: Nut
1/11: Vet
1/18: Up
1/25: Box

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

-Practice using “Please” and “Thank You” at home with your child, especially at play time or at the dinner table
-Find and health rescipie to make together as a family.
-Discuss with your child who their favorite peace maker is that they learned about in class. Discuss with your child how they can be a peace maker at home.
-Include your child in household chores. Allow them to take part in taking care of their home environment.

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

11/30: Weather
Why does it snow? Why does it rain?
Charting the weather.
Conduct experiment about rain, using cotton balls.
Discuss dangerous types of weather, such as tornados, thunderstorms, etc.
Discuss how we dress for certain types of weather.

12/7: Parts Of The Orchestra/ Music
Learning about Woodwind, Brass, String, and Percussion sections of the Orchestra.
What is the job of the Conductor?
Listening to performances by famous instrumentalists.
Learning about Quarter Notes, Half Notes and Whole Notes.
Learning about some famous composers.

12/14: Holiday Symbols
All about Poinsettas.
All about Reindeer.
All about Evergreens.
All about Candy Canes.
Learn parts of the Poinsetta.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.
12/1: Ll
12/7: Ff
12/14: Dd

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
12/1: Let
12/7: Fit
12/14: Dog

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

-Track the weather this month with your child. How many rainy, snowy, sunny, and cloudy days will there be?
-Listen to classical music together as a family.
-Envolve your child in making Christmas cookies, or in planning your Christmas dinner.
-While decorating your Christmas Tree, discuss with your child what they remembered learning about the Evergreen, and why it is a symbol of the Holiday Season.

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

11/02: Family
-Learning ASL family signs.
-Sharing our Family Tree projects.
-Discuss Family traditions and celebrations.
-Discuss how every family is unique and special.
-Discuss how pets are also part of our families.

11/9: Turkey Fun
-Learning the parts of the Turkey
-Singing songs about Turkeys
-Discuss how the Turkey is a bird, based on the characteristics of birds.
-Discuss why we eat Turkey on Thanksgiving.
-Turkey Crafts and Songs

Friday, November 13th  NO SCHOOL/ Teacher In Service Day
(Parent//Teacher Conferences All Day 8am-7pm)

11/16: Pilgrims and Native Americans
-Who were the Pilgrims? Who were the Native Americans?
-Learning about Pilgrim life.
-Learning about how the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims.
-Working on our costumes for the Thanksgiving Feast.
-Working on our center pieces for the Thanksgiving Feast.

11/23: All About Thanksgiving
-Discussing the foods we eat at Thanksgiving.
-Discussing what it means to be thankful.
-Finish preparing our costumes for the the Thanksgiving Feast.
-Finish preparing our centerpieces for the Thanksgiving Feast.
-Singing songs about Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Feast 11/25 (11:00‐12:00pm) 12:00pm Early Dismissal (No Aftercare)
Thursday/Friday NO SCHOOL—Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday!

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

11/02: Jj
11/09: Ee
11/16:Hh
11/23: Nn

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

11/02: Jig
11/09: Egg
10/16: Hop
11/23: No

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:
-I encouage you to include your child in the preparation of one of the dishes for your Thanksgiving meal. Look up a new reciepie and include them in measuring, backing, serving, etc.

-Discuss with your child their favorite family tradition or celebration.

-Include your child in everyday household chores, activities, and errands. Montessori believed that in order for the child to best adapt themselves to their environment, they need to go out and participate in everyday activities in the world around them.

-Discuss will the child what they learned about the first Thanksgiving. Ask them about the foods they learned were served at the first Thanksgiving, and make a comparison to what is on your Thanksgiving table.

What I will learn at school the Month of October in Ms. Kristen’s Class…

Themes of the Week (in addition to Montessori Work time)

09/28: Down On The Farm
Learning ASL farm animal signs
Learning what animal live on a farm
Life cycle of the chicken
Making butter, learning about other foods made from milk
Sink or float experiment with eggs

10/5: All About Pumpkins
Learning all about the parts of the pumpkin
Discuss what we can make with Pumpkins
Decorating a white pumpkin in class using crayon
Taste testing Pumpkin Pie
Learning the Poem “ Five Little Pumpkins”

10/12: All About Fall
Discuss the characteristics of Fall
Shading over leaves to make prints
Leaf sorting
Poems and Songs about Fall and Leaves
Parts of the leaf

10/19: All About Bats
Learning the parts of the bat
Reading “Stellaluna”
Learning about echolocation, and how it helps certain species of bats see
Ven Diagram comparing bats to birds
Making a “bat cave”

10/26: All About Spiders/ Halloween
Learning the parts of the spider.
Discuss the ways spiders are helpful .
Discussing the difference between arachnids and insects.
Learn about the spider life cycle.
Poems and Songs about Halloween.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

9/28: Pp

10/5: Yy

10/12:Ss

10/19: Ii

10/26: Review of All Sounds-Learn ASL Signs

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

9/28: Pig

10/5: Yes

10/12: Sit

10/19: It

10/26: Pie

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

• Take a fall hike together as a family. Have your child point out the changes they see around them.
• Ask your child to show you some of the ASL signs they’ve learned for farm animals.
• While reading to your child, point out the sight words they are learning this month.
• Pick out a pumpkin together with your child. Discuss with them what they have learned about how pumpkins grow, what foods we can make with pumpkin, etc.