Ms. Jen's Blog

Parents,

I hope you all had a wonderful break!  I am excited to get back to school.  This is my favorite month of the year.  Typically our kindergarten students come back from winter break ready to work, learn and discover.

This month we will be learning about the ocean biome and the plants and animals that live there.  We will begin this week by learning that our planet has 5 oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern (Antarctic) and Arctic.

For physical science this month we will be talking about electricity and doing several different experiments with water.  We will begin by looking at static electricity.

This month we will be learning about Line in art as well as Pablo Picasso.

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Ms. Martha & Ms. Jen

Parents,

I cannot believe that we only have 4 days until Winter break.  You can always tell when it is this time of year, everyone has a little bit more ecitement.  On Friday we built and launched our air rockets.  It was such a fun day!!

This week we will be having our holiday sampler.  The students will rotate through 4 stations between both classrooms.  We will be looking at how people around the world celebrate this time of year.

This week is also the international festival.  As Early Childhood classrooms we do not present work at the festival but we will get the opportunity to go and see the displays of the other elementary students.  The AM class will go and see the festival on Wednesday the 20th and the PM class will go to the festival on Thursday the 21st.

The students will be finishing up their holiday gifts for you this week and bring them home.  I told them they can let you open them today or wait until Christmas.  Its so cute to see each child consider the options and then make their choice.

Ms. Martha and I wish all of you a safe and happy holiday.

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

We have lots of new holiday works on the shelves. Some of the works tell the stories of different religious holidays that are being celebrated at this time of year. We have a nativity set (Christmas) a menorah and dreidel (Hanukkah) and weaving paper Mkeka mats (Kwanzaa). When we introduce these works we tell the children these are stories some people believe to be true, and are very special to some people. We also encourage the children to speak to their parents about what they believe and follow what their families believe. The purpose of these works is to introduce the children to the many different beliefs that may exist in our community and teach the children tolerance and respect for others and their beliefs.

This week we will be learning about snowflakes by doing some experiments with crystals and frost.  We will also read the story of Snowflake Bentley.  This is a true story of Wilson Bentley who was the first person to take photographs of snowflakes.

We will also be doing some experiments with air and we will be making air rockets with some of our junior high mentors on Friday.

We will be comparing the story of the three little pigs with the story of the Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell.  We choose this story because it ties into our study of the deserts of North America.

Many people often wonder about the idea of having a 3 year age range in the same classroom.  It is something that is considered a hallmark of Montessori education.  Paula Polk Lillard, a respected authority on Montessori with over 50 years of experience said “The indirect learning that occurs among children is a primary reason for placing of children of different ages in one environment.  The youngest children are guaranteed models for more mature behavior than they themselves are capable of preforming.  The older children have opportunities to develop their potential for leadership and social responsibility.  This indirect learning occurs in the intellectual areas as well.  Younger children observe the older children work with material that they will use in the future.  Older children spontaneously help the younger ones with materials that have already been introduced to the younger child but which they have not yet mastered”.  It has been my experience that in a classroom with children spanning 3 years in age their is more cooperation as compared to a classroom of same aged children which can often have more competition.

Here is the link to volunteer this week https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/iwbrl

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

We are hoping to do a craft in December that would require each child to have a glass baby food jar.  If you happen to have any at your home will you please send them?  Thanks so much.

Ms. Jen

Parents,

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving break.  It was great to see so many of you for our feast.  Thank you to all those who helped with their time and donations!  We could not do any of this without you!

This week we will wrap up our study of the grasslands of North America by taking a closer look at bison.  We will conclude our study of fruit by talking about the life cycle of an apple and we will wrap up the week with art.  We will talk about shades of colors.  You make a shade by adding black to it.  We will also talk about warm and cool colors.

I have had several parents ask if there are things they can help with at home.  I will have a few items that could be completed at home ready by the end of the week.  If this is something you would like to do please send me an email.  I really appreciate all of your support.

Maria Montessori said “Do not tell them how to do it.  Show them how to do it and do not say a word.  If you tell them they will watch your lips move.  If you show them they will want to do it themselves”.  When you want to teach your child something new try teaching it the way Maria Montessori would have done.

Here is the link this week to volunteer https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/pwmtj

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

I cannot believe it is the week before Thanksgiving.  Time is going too fast.

This week we will be reading another North American folktale The Rough Face Girl  by  Rafe Martin.  It is an Algonquin Indian version of the Cinderella story.  We will talk about the plants and animals that live in the grasslands of North America and we will take a closer look at corn.  We will talk about the job that the fruit does for the plant.  We will read the book A fruit is a suitcase for seeds.  We will also talk about Johnny Appleseed.  We will be making cornbread muffins with our junior high mentors in preparation for our feast on Friday.

Just in case you missed it last week here is the information for the feast again

On Friday November 17th we will be having our class Thanksgiving Feast.  We will be joining with Ms. Joy’s class for this celebration.  The children will spend the first half of class preparing for the feast.  During this time they will be cutting veggies, making deviled eggs, making homemade butter, tying a quilt, and going on a scavenger hunt.  You are invited for the second half of class to listen to us sing two songs and then eat with us.  If you are not able to attend it would be nice if another family member could come to support your child.  They are always sad when they realize they do not have a family member to support them.

The times for you to come are 10:15 for the morning class and 1:45 for the afternoon class.  Here are the sign up sheets again.  We need the items brought to school by Thursday November 16th.

A.M.  https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/okdgj

P.M.  https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/avrup

(Ms. Joy’s class will also be signing up on this list since we will be combining classes for the feast.)

Please note that this is different than the school’s gratitude feast which is on Thursday.  Our class is not involved in this.

Just a reminder that there is no school the week of the 20. We hope you enjoy your week off.  Have a fun and safe Thanksgiving break.

Here is your Montessori thought for the week:

“What is Montessori?

As educators we get asked that question often . . .We ask ourselves, What is Montessori? Perhaps we’re asking the wrong question. The idea that there is a ‘Montessori’, one way to respond. . .one magic combination of ingredients that makes our classroom or school ‘real’ separates us from our authentic work.

When we realize that Montessori is a verb, an action and not a thing, we grant ourselves grace to grow”

The Tao of Montessori by Catherine McTamaney

Parents,

Here is the information about our Thanksgiving feast:

On Friday November 17th we will be having our class Gratitude Feast.  We will be joining with Ms. Joy’s class for this celebration.  The children will spend the first half of class preparing for the feast.  During this time they will be cutting veggies, making deviled eggs, making homemade butter, tying a quilt, and going on a scavenger hunt.  You are invited for the second half of class to listen to us sing two songs and then eat with us.  If you are not able to attend it would be nice if another family member could come to support your child.  They are always sad when they realize they do not have a family member to support them.

The times for you to come are 10:15 for the morning class and 1:45 for the afternoon class.  Here are the sign up sheets again.  We need the items brought to school by Thursday November 16th.

A.M.  https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/okdgj

P.M.  https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/avrup

(Ms. Joy’s class will also be signing up on this list since we will be combining classes for the feast.)

Thanks again!

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

If you would like to help bring items for our feast here are the links to sign up

A.M. https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/okdgj

P.M. https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/avrup

Parents,

We will begin the week by learning about the third habit of happy kids “Put first things first”.   It can be compared to an object lesson, where you put items into a container.  If you put all the small things in first then there is not enough room to get everything in, but if you put the big things in first you can fit everything in the jar.  We will compare this to our classroom, in that if you get your challenging works done first you will have time to do all of the other works that you want to do.

We will begin our study of the grasslands of North America and continue our study of magnets.  In botany we will be studying fruit this month. We would like to begin our study of fruit by making a community fruit salad on Wednesday.  We would like everyone to bring a fruit to contribute to our classroom fruit salad (please no whole watermelons 😉

On Friday we will talk about tints in art.  A tint is a color that has white added to it.  Friday is also an early out day.  This means that morning early childhood is from 8:30 to 10:30 and afternoon early childhood is from 11:00 to 1:00.

As the weather gets colder I could not help but think of a quote from Maria Montessori. She says “Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining”.  I try to take the kids out everyday.  The exceptions are thunder/lightning, red air, extreme cold (below 20).  We will go outside in the rain and snow.  Please make sure your child has clothing appropriate for the weather. I have heard it said there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothes

Here is the link for volunteering this week https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kurkm

Thanks for all of your support and help.

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen & Ms. Martha

Parents,

We wrote our class mission statements.  I just wanted to pass them onto you.

Morning class:

– We will be nice and help others.

– We will always work hard.

– We can do important things everyday.

Afternoon class:

– We never give up!

– We believe in ourselves.

– We will help others.