Weeks 2 and 3

Hi Families! Here is an update in photos of the last two weeks in our classroom.

The kids unscrambled a very exciting message. :) I wish I had photographed the look of sheer surprise on all of their faces right as they solved it--priceless!

The first years labeled nouns all over the classroom.

The first years are also doing their beginning language work with the "pink series" (short vowel words). 

The third years, working together to lay out the decanomial--a very special material in our classroom. They lay out all of the multiplication arrays from 1x1 to 10x10. It is beautiful when finished.

The (almost) finished decanomial. We call this "stage 2" because are 4 stages total.

The third years are getting re-acquainted with multiplication by doing arrays.

Some first years doing the bead stair stamp.

Sorting nouns into people, places, and things.

Ten board

Working on those addition facts already!

A third year reviewing the division bead board.

Consulting with each other over some multiplication.

Working on spelling.

Creating surveys for a data math project.

Writer's Workshop. We have launched our unit on Personal Narratives.

He isn't smiling for some reason, but was SO proud of himself for building the USA puzzle without the board.

A student-created project idea. Outlining and labeling the states. How cool!

It's been a great and busy few weeks so far. Looking forward to the rest of September. We are certainly on a roll!

Week 1

Hello Families!

We had a wonderful first week back at school. It was definitely a hot one, but the kids were wonderfully patient with the heat. Here's to hoping that next week will be a bit cooler.

We spent the week reviewing classroom procedures and establishing ground rules for our peaceful classroom. The students create the rules for how they would like their classroom to function. We reviewed behavior expectations around the school and talked about our school's motto: PEACE, which stands for Patient, Encouraging, Accountable, Courteous, and Environmentally Aware. During the month of September, we will be focusing on patience, which will be supported by patience-themed read alouds/discussions.

We also did some classroom team-building and the students were assigned a buddy for the year. If your child came home wearing a friendship bracelet, it matches the one their buddy has. The pairs of buddies designed and built paper boats and were only given one piece of paper, a crayon, and a piece of tape.

The boats were set in a tub of water one at a time, and we counted to see how many marbles they could hold before sinking. The kids were very excited about this! One boat held 94!

We also did an activity where we learned that fairness isn't sameness, another about how the words we speak can affect others, and did lots of sharing circles to get to know each other. 

We read the most beautiful book called, Our Peaceful Classroom, which was written and illustrated by Montessori children around the world. After reading, we wrote our own "Peaceful Classroom" book.

We also celebrated the first birthday of the school year. Birthday celebrations are very special in our classroom. We use the Celebration Sun material, which shows the months of the year. We light the candle in the middle to signify the moment the child was born and the child then walks around the sun the number of years they have been alive. We sing a special song, share a snack, look at the student's picture timeline, and they get to make a birthday wish. On birthdays, the students also write "birthday compliments" for the birthday child. These are the children's gifts to each other--a thoughtful compliment and illustration. 

We also began with some academic work and small slices of work cycles. The first years began some handwriting practice and also got a lesson on the Hundred Board. The third years started working on an ABC book about themselves. Our class also worked on decorating a "peace bunting" for our classroom. And all of the students are working on creating their self-portraits to be hung outside of our classroom.

It was a great first week and we have such a sweet group. Looking forward to the year ahead.

Week 2

Montessori math materials are so beautiful. The kids are already rolling with new lessons and getting their hands back on the materials.

The subtraction strip board

Multiplication bead board

Decanomial

Fraction insets

Also, Michael Duffy, a veteran Montessorian and author visited North Park this past week. He held an informational parent night on Friday and then an all day staff professional development day on Saturday. It was very informative, relevant, and inspiring. If you haven't checked out his books, I highly recommend them. I believe the office is getting in a few copies for purchase. 

Also, we've celebrated a few birthdays in the classroom already this year. I make sure that everyone has a special day during the year to celebrate their birthday, even if they have a summer birthday. I think it is important that every child have this day to feel celebrated. The child is encouraged to bring in a timeline of their life and a birthday snack. Here's an example of a birthday timeline (not my image... I always forget to take a picture of a student's timeline):

If you want this free printable, go here: http://www.theclassroomcreative.com/2014/05/free-printable-timeline-template-and-activity-inspired-by-montessori/ 

We also set up the Montessori sun and have the child walk around the sun for the number of trips around the sun they have taken. :) We also have a special song that we sing. 

Here's to Week 3!

First Week

Hello Families!

I can't believe we are already in week 2 of the new school year! Last week was a lot of fun and was very successful, as the students learned procedures, built a strong community, and got back into the groove of the school routine. We were very busy and did a lot of fun activities. Some of the things we did were:

• a Bandaid activity, where we learned about fairness (and that it doesn't mean "sameness")
• many different team-building games
• decorated our notebooks
• an anti-bullying activity with a pink paper heart
• started reading Tales of Desperaux
• made name tags
• created our own classroom rules poster and signed it
• created a classroom book called "Our Peaceful Classroom"
• played a very cool rhythm game in a circle
• drew self-portraits
• played the marshmallow game
• ...and lots more

Here are some photos from the week:

 Making self-portraits

 Writing our numbers to 100 (first years)

 Doing the Hundred Board (first years)

 Practicing closing the door very quietly!

Cursive letters (second and third years)

This week, we are getting into new lessons, spelling, guided reading groups, and starting our personal narrative unit of study. We are thankful for the beautiful weather that is allowing us to go out for a short break in the morning and afternoon for fresh air. We are also already thankful for Miss. Tuchman for being a second teacher on hand for the kids. 

I looked around today during the most beautiful, peaceful work time. The kids were all spread out in our new space, working away. I think this is the earliest that the work cycle has been so productive in the classroom, and that makes me very excited about the year ahead.

"One test of correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child." -Maria Montessori

Animals and Plants Galore!

Our classroom has felt so alive the past few weeks. We have been deep in our studies of botany and zoology with all three grade levels. Enjoy these recent updates in photos and words:

One day, we had ALL of these animals in our classroom: a hedgehog, turtle, butterfly, hermit crabs, and ducklings. Those are some happy kids. (All we needed were a fish and an amphibian and we could have had all vertebrate groups represented.) 

Intently watching the butterflies attempting to hatch. (We didn't actually get to see it happen, but one chrysalis was shaking like crazy and had the kids very excited.)

One of our gorgeous painted lady butterflies. All four hatched out of their cocoons. Two were very healthy so we released them right away. (This was a learning opportunity to talk about how life in the wild is much better than life in captivity.) The other two that hatched had wing issues, so we kept them around for awhile and cared for them until they got stronger. (Another opportunity to learn about how predators prey on injured animals more often than healthy animals.) The two injured butterflies randomly, somehow were named by the kids: Casey Jones and Indiana Jones. All 26 kids seemed to instantly pick and agree on naming the butterflies before I even knew what had happened. And middle names too! I had to laugh. Casey Jones and Indiana Jones are now flying free in our area.

Thanks for the butterflies, Erica Swenson! :) 

Brooklyn's ducklings. 

Harper and Sylas just doing a little work with their hermit crabs on standby. 

Also--if you get a chance to go to the GRAM, Kyle's artwork and accompanying story are on display. 

Our bean plants are doing well in our grow labs, built by two of our students. These will be coming home with students on Friday, as the kids know that in order to produce beans, the plants will need their flowers to be pollinated by bees. 

Hope you enjoyed these photo updates. Check back soon for videos from our recent Spanish class.

This Week

Hi Families!

This week was very busy! We had two different field trips. On Tuesday, the first years went to Blandford Nature Center. The program we originally selected was called "Birds of a Feather," but there was a miscommunication and Blandford ended up doing the "Seeds and Plants" workshop with our group. This was actually a happy switch-up, as the majority of the classrooms are currently working on Botany studies, so it was very applicable. The students went on nature hikes around the property on a seed/plant scavenger hunt.

Playing a game called Squirrels and Blue jays :)

We also had two Mystery Guest presentations this week. Brooklyn was Betsy Ross and Kyle was Galileo. 

Sylas also did a really cool hermit crab presentation and brought in his pet hermit crab, Spidey, but I totally forgot to take a picture! 

We also celebrated Earth day with several different lessons and this art project.

Today, the second graders went to the Civic Theater to see a presentation of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It was really well done and the students had a great time. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Beautiful Botany

Hi Families,

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing spring break. Mine was very restful, although I am happy to be back with the kids. (Your children bring so much joy and happiness to my days.)

This week marked the beginning of our botany studies. The first years are studying the needs of plants as well as animal life cycles. The second years are studying more advanced parts of a plant, and the third graders are studying the parts and life cycle of a flowering part. The third years were amazed to learn this week that flowers are both male and female. 

Second grade work--diagramming the parts of a plant

Stella working on her parts of a flower diagram.

Melina working on her life cycle of a frog. 

We also planted bean seeds and are now waiting for them to sprout. 

Just some beautiful collaborative learning. :) 

Kid Funnies of late. (Hope these are funny to you too... some of them maybe are only funny in context--you had to be there, kind of thing.) I still have to share:

Jon: "Looking at this map of Europe makes me want some cheese."

Henry: "I know that King Tut's wife was so sad when her husband died that she killed her own self with a snake."

Me (Prompting a discussion for our writing prompt): "What would you do if the hummingbird you rescued didn't seem to be getting any better?"
Brady: "Well maybe he is just faking it."

We also went outside to clean up litter on the playground. The kids were thrilled with the odd assortment of things they found outside--dental floss, a giant wad of sticky tack, and the ultimate highlight: a petrified frog. Caileb wanted to touch it badly and Harry yelled out, "No Caileb! It has rabies!"

I have tears in my eyes from laughter just typing this as we are sitting in the peaceful computer lab, everyone working quietly with headphones on, when Sylas yells out: "LOOK AT THE CAT!" which has apparently appeared on his screen. Oh these kids, I love them so.