Classroom News:
The month of February was very busy in our classroom! We learned about types of transportation, all about inventors, our Presidents (past and present), and all about dental health! We also had fun celebrating Valentine’s Day!
Our Valentines Party was a great success!
During the first week of February, we discussed trains, boats, buses, and trucks and other forms of transportation. The children enjoyed categorizing the types of transportation into those used to travel on land, air, and water. The children also enjoyed working on an initial sound train work with Ms. Kerri during our afternoon group time. We also took time to discuss what Groundhog Day means and made predictions whether the groundhog saw his shadow. Unfortunately, he saw his shadow, which we learned meant we were in for 6 more weeks of winter!
Quintin showing of his handwriting skills!
We learned about famous inventors during the second week of February. We learned how Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, how Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity, and how the Wright brothers invented the first airplane. The children also decided to come up with some of their own potential inventions, such as a “make-up machine” and a ” a washer that makes cats”. I love how creative my students are!
During week three, we learned all about Presidents. We learned that the president’s job is to be the leader of our country and to work with Congress and the Supreme Court to make and protect the laws of our county. We also learned about the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and how he believed all people should be free. We also discussed George Washington and how he was the first President of the United States. We also learned that George Washington’s picture is on the quarter and the dollar bill. We also learned that Abraham Lincoln’s picture is on the five dollar bill and the penny. Some of the children also took it upon themselves to write the names of the presidents in order during work time as well. We also, as a class, tried to memorize the names of the first ten presidents using the book, “ Yo, Millard Fillmore!”
Victoria practicing clothes pinning in the practical life area! This material helps to develop the child’s pincer grip, which is indirect preparation for writing.
We learned all about dental health during the final week of February. We learned all about how when we are young, we only have twenty teeth when we are younger. Later, when we become adults, we have thirty-two teeth! We also learned the proper way to brush our teeth and what foods are healthy for our teeth. Ms. Kerri had the children make a list of what foods were good for our teeth and what foods are not good for our teeth.
Maren tracing and labeling the Part of The Leaf Puzzle! Did you know puzzles indirectly prepare your child for reading?
Finally…
Please take time to practice with your child what they are learning here at school. Ask your child about their favorite President of the United States. Take a trip to the zoo to visit some of the arctic animals, such as the polar bears and penguins, and discuss which one is their favorite and why. Practice good dental hygiene with your child by practicing brushing their teeth correctly with them. Take a trip on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad together as a family.
Samantha and Hali sharing quiet reading time together in the Library.
Maria Montessori stated , “If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man’s future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual’s total development lags behind?” I am so proud to be part of a school where we teach not only letter sounds and and numbers, but a sense of order, concentration, coordination, and independence. These qualities are the most important skills a child can learn at an early age, and I love watching your children grow closer to mastering these every day! I am so proud of all of our students hard work this past month and I consider it a privilege to be their teacher!
Academic Enrichment Group Time | Kindergarten
-with Mr. John
The Kindergarten students started the month by dabbling in multiplication. I explained to them that multiplication was JUST adding multiple(many) times. For example how many TIMES do we add 3 in the equation 3X4? Simple, right? Of course it is!
We then took a look at fractions. Fractions are simply dividing things into equal parts being 2, 3, 4, 5 parts and up to 12, 100, 1 million parts. Not only did we divide squares, circle, triangles into fractions but broke down how many boys/girls, who was in John’s, Kate’s, Kristen’s room, eye color, age, and who was a Buckeye fan (100% by the way).
We ended the month with a dose of geometry. We learned that a triangle has 3 sides and 3 points. A quadrilateral has 4 sides and 4 points. Learning to count to ten in Greek came in handy when dealing with polygons ie… penta is 5 and a pentagon has five sides. I threw in the right angle and what parallel means.
Kindergartners doing the Stamp Game (Math)
Cultural Subjects:
My line time and the kindergarten class count to ten in 28 different languages (English, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Tagalog, Polish, Irish, Welsh, Hebrew, Arabic w/the Lebanese dialect, Japanese, Hungarian, Swedish, Swahili, Korean, Serbo-Croation, Hindi, Flemish/Dutch, Malay, Cebuano, Farsi and Turkish!
Handwriting Enrichment
-with Ms. Kristen
In handwriting this month, we finished up the cursive alphabet and moved on to writing vowel blends such as “th”, “sh”,”ch”, “00”, etc. The children are also answered journal questions such as ” When is your birthday?” and” If you could go on vacation, where would you go and with whom?” Something to work on and practice with your Kindergarten student this month would be spelling words phonetically. I’m so proud all the Kindergartner’s progress this month! They are becoming amazing writers!
Reading Group | Kindergarten
-with Ms. Kate
For the month of February our reading group focused on poetry. Together we read Knoxville, Tennessee, Picture Books In Winter, and April Rain Song. Each one of these poems were about a different season that the author truly loves. With each of these readings, the children were able to draw their favorite season and explain to their friends the reason they picked that season. They also had fun creating a drawings of their favorite book and what they like most about the rain. During our time together we go over different vocabulary that they see in their readings and discuss what those terms mean. Together as a class the children created a poem about summer in their city. I hope you enjoy this fantastic poem they created together.
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
I always like summer best
You can eat corn on the cob
Hot dogs on the grill
Sweet watermelon
And Ice cream
You can go to
The beach
To the pool
Baseball games
To the park
And take vacations
You can see
Butterflies
Green leaves on the tree
Birds
People playing outside
Lightning bugs at night.
Science Enrichment
-by Ms. Kathleen
This past month all 3 Science experiments were about Buoyancy; a force in a liquid pushing against an object in a liquid.
Floating and Sinking Oranges: Mr. John peeled one orange and left the other peeled(boy did the room smell good!) the children placed in a tank of water. When dropped in the water, the orange with the peel on floated and the orange without the peel sank. This is because of air trapped by the peel making the orange float. The peeled orange has no air so it sinks.
Using oranges to explain buoyancy
Play Dough Shapes A Bowl and a Sphere: The children dropped 1 piece of play dough shaped as a sphere in water and one shaped like bowl in water. The sphere shaped dough sank while the bowl shaped dough floated. This is because sphere shaped dough is dense and cannot push enough water out to stay floating. The dough shaped like a bowl is able to push out water equal it’s weight and therefore, floats.
Students pushing away water to explain buoyancy
Soda Float with 2 cans of Coke (regular vs. diet): We placed both cans of soda in the water. The diet floated and the regular sank. This is because regular soda contains sugar and diet contains artificial sweeteners. These artificial sweeteners may be 100 times sweeter than sugar, which means that less than a few grams of artificial sweeteners are used in a can of diet soda. The difference in the amount of grams of sweeteners leads to a different density.
Using two cans of “POP” to explain buoyancy
Art Enrichment
-by Ms. Ame
Music Enrichment
-by Ms. Sabrina
A synthesizer was talked about. It is a piano that can sound like a trumpet as well as other instruments. It was used to play the game Cat and Mouse. It is a game to hone listening skills. Listening for the highest to lowest sounds. The children had so much fun. A song about being diligent was played. The children were taught to try and try and try again. A train whistle was used, so was a triangle as well as maracas. A dancing they went.
A new song about telling the truth was sung. Sign Language was used and so were foot movements. The children also learned about echo’s via music. The musical instrument used was the maraca. What fun the children had making echos. Performing with scarves were thoroughly enjoyed as well. Let the Sun Shine In was the song they danced to.