Sunnybrook Montessori School

On Tuesday, Rose came to teach us some winter sign language. She talked about how since the weather is getting colder, we’ll have to bundle up more. She showed us the sign for snow pants, mittens, hat, jacket, and scarf. The students had so much fun afterwards signing the songs Sally the Camel and the Firetruck Song.

The Taproot students had their last day with Emily on Wednesday. She took the students out into the field where they found an ice covered mud puddle that they enjoyed breaking through and jumping in. Then, they set across the field to walk along the snow machine trail to the suspension bridge that crosses Israel’s river before turning around and heading back to school.

On Thursday we had a birthday celebration. One of our students turned 4 years old and took her time taking her trips walking around the sun. We talked about her plans for her birthday party and sang happy birthday. Afterwards, the students all enjoyed some fruit that was kindly brought in as a birthday treat.

We began having weekly jobs that the students are given. Giving the students jobs gives them the opportunity to be responsible and gives them opportunities to be more independent. We talked about some chores and jobs that students might have at home to help out. Having the students do jobs that take care of the classroom also helps with fostering a healthy classroom community. Taking care of the classroom is something we emphasize all year round.

This week was a short week for the Sunnybrook students with Thanksgiving being on Thursday. Monday, the students had a great time playing out in all the snow and playing musical chairs.

On Tuesday we started our prep for our stone soup. The students were a big help with washing, peeling, and cutting up all of the vegetables. While some children did that, others picked out and colored one of the many Thanksgiving coloring pages that we had out, one of them being from the amazing Ms. Rose.

Rose came in and showed us how to sign stone soup. Each of the children had such a fun time getting to act and sign out parts of the book.

Our stone soup day was a terrific success! While we were so busy having so much fun with everyone, we didn’t get any pictures. But there were so many people who came to eat the soup that the students worked so hard to make. A big thank you to everyone who came and to those who donated food. All of the extra and leftover food was sent to the Bethlehem food pantry where they have a refrigerator to keep all of the vegetables.

This week we had our very first snow fall of the season. A lot of students were so excited to play in the snow and make snow balls. There wasn’t quite enough snow to make snow men yet, but it got students thinking about Christmas and how it is right around the corner. Some students even started singing Christmas songs. While they were sad to see all the bikes go in for the winter season, they were excited for all the sledding that they could do.

Ms. Eileen gave a demonstration of some work that was available called nesting boxes. The nesting boxes had pictures on them of space, countries, towns, and then a house. From the biggest box being the milky way, to the solar system, to earth, then the continents, the U.S., the state NH, our town of Lancaster, and then a house to represent home. It shows students how the world around us is much bigger than just our town or just our home. The students remarked how it looked a lot like the pink block tower that we have in the classroom.

It was a short week this week for the Sunnybrook students with having Veterans day off on Friday. We had to cram in as much fun into the short week as possible, so we thought it might be fun to make some fairy houses for the fairies to live in while it’s cold outside. The children had so much fun building fairy houses out of different parts like scarves, wood blocks, colorful pebbles, feathers, and more.

On Wednesday the Taproot group headed into the woods with the idea of building a fort. A spot was chosen and they began to gather materials. Long sticks and birch bark were used to build the walls and fallen leaves lined the ground for insulation. They learned the importance of working together and communicating with others to keep everyone safe. 

We had a birthday celebration on Thursday for Elaina who was turning 5. We celebrated by singing happy birthday and having her take her walks around the sun.

Warren had brought in a green ribbon that he won for showing sheep at the Lancaster Fair this summer. He told us what went into showing sheep and how you take care of them. He also talked to us about 4H and what he does with 4H. The children were very curious about the ribbon and had many questions for Warren to answer.

We also learned about how maps are made. Ms. Eileen talked about how it would be difficult to carry a map around in your pocket all day, so that’s why we have maps. She demonstrated how maps are made by peeling an orange skin into two equal sides and pressing down on the skin to make it flat. The picture that was once on the spherical shape, now flattened out like the map.