Mr. John’s May-June 2017 Newsletter Article

Classroom News:

Another school year is under my belt and another wave of students rolled through my classroom.  Insert <<heavy sigh>>.  I could be the gruff, grumpy old man and say “Ahhhh, I am so used to having students come into my life and then leave my life.  It happens!”  Never shed a tear.  Never feel sad.   When I started teaching I thought it would be easier as time went on.  Actually, it is just the opposite.  It does gets more difficult saying good bye to my students and their families.  I include families because the Absorbent Minds Montessori School experience is truly a family experience.  Not only is it important to get to know the child but getting to know the family.  Not only is it important its really fun.  I love talking to parents, grandparents, babysitters, nannies, au pairs;  I don’t think this is a big secret. So, in about three months I will teach a whole new wave of students and talk to my new chatting victims(aka parents), hehehe!

   

 

Line Time Lessons:

We started out May by learning about food chains.  The animal doing the hunting is the predator and the animal being eaten is the prey.  The animal doing the eating is higher on the food chain. This was a fun and interesting unit for our students.  We talked about many different examples together.

 

   

 

We blew into learning the characteristics of the four seasons.  Winter is cold, Spring it rains a lot, Summer is hot, and fall it gets cooler.

 

 

Our little astronauts rocketed through our solar system.  We learned about our planets, solar system, astronauts, our sun and moon. We revisited our lessons a few months ago and discovered many of the planets were named after Roman Gods.

 

   

 

I told my students I wanted them to have a fun Summer but I want them to be safe.  We spent our last week reviewing safety. We went over wearing a helmet when riding a bike, stay by their safe side adult when in public, and always wear a life jacket when on the water.

 

   

 

Alumni Reader:

Mila reading to our class!

 

Cultural Subjects:

A parent in Ms. Kristen’s classroom  playing bag pipes for our students!

 

Academic Enrichment:

The beginning of May we looked at the preposition.  I explained the the preposition is a “where word” not a “werewolf”.  The we got really excited about the Interjection.  Interjections added a bit more to the sentence by showing excitement. Either this excitement is a little or a lot of emotion.  We came to the end of the sentence and learned about the period, question mark, and explanation mark. Then we learned when to capitalize words.  “I” not eye, proper nouns, and words at the beginning of a sentence.

 

 

Science Enrichment:

This past month during Science class the Kids enjoyed about 4 different experiments but their favorite one was on the last day of school!

COKE GEYSER;

  • This is done by using 1 bottle of Diet Coke and 1 pack of Mentos.

When Mr. John dropped candy Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke the Coke shot up into the air and dropped down the side of the bottle. Why? because a bottle of soda is filled with Carbon Dioxide.

The Mentos fall to the bottom, forming lots of bubbles. When this gas is released it forces the liquid up and out in a GIANT exploding geyser of sticky soda. The Children loved watching this and screeched with delight.

 

Music Enrichment:

In music class during the month of May, Ms. Lisa reviewed many of the concepts that she taught throughout the year.  This month the please and thank you song was played and our students love it and the movements to the song. The bells were used and much fun was had! We also sang the forgiveness song. The children talked about the meaning of forgiveness and sign language was introduced as part of the song. The instruments used were the rhythm sticks. The life lessons learned were so terrific.  She reviewed what staccato and legato mean, sang about having a choice for your behavior, sang about being kind, sang about telling the truth. Ms. Lisa also taught us a new song this month called Let the Sun Shine In! Diligence was also a characteristic talked about through music and movement. The instruments used were the triangles, tambourines and the maracas. Music and the important values taught is so much fun at AMMS!

 

Art Enrichment

This past month in art was inspired by spring. Ms. Michele had the students make paper flower sculptures. The students made a circle out of a strip of paper for the middle, and then made tear drop shapes for the petals. They could use a pattern with the colors, use warm colors, or cool colors. The flowers turned out beautiful with all the different patterns and colors the students used. The next spring inspired artwork came from butterflies. The students learned about symmetry and how to paint a butterfly with symmetry since butterflies are identical on each side. Ms. Michele had them paint with watercolors. The third week we painted Vincent Van Gogh inspired flowers in a vase. The students learned about his painting technique. Vincent painted with short squiggly paint strokes because he wanted it to seem like is art was moving and alive. Ms. Michele placed vases with flowers in the middle of the table, and had the students draw on paper first, and then she showed them how to paint like Van Gough, and had them return to their seats to paint. The paintings turned out looking just like Van Gogh’s painting called Sunflowers.

To end a wonderful year filled with art, Ms. Michele had a Claude Monet inspired artwork planned for the young artists. They looked at his painting called Bridge Over Pond of Water Lilies. They learned about Impressionism, which is what style Claude Monet used. Impressionism is the use of dabs or small brush strokes of unmixed colors to simulate the actual reflection of light. The students did a wonderful job of recreating the outdoor scene, and I can say I was quite “impressed”, pun intended. Thank you Ms. Michele for all of your hard work this year, and we hope you have a wonderful summer!

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