Sunnybrook Montessori School

I’m sure many parents by now have heard the excited stories from the students about the firetruck and ambulance that visited the library. We were very thankful that Ms. Ronnie at the Weeks Memorial Library invited us to come and meet with some real first responders and talk about what they do to help people who are in danger and put out fires. Ms. Ronnie read us a story and then we all went out to see the truck. The students got to see the inside of the fire trucks and the ambulance. They were all very excited to look at all the equipment and pretend to drive.

Rose came on Tuesday for sign language once again. She taught us more letters in the alphabet and some signs that begin with that letter. She also gave all the students an ABC sign language coloring book. The students have really enjoyed coloring in those.

The students participated in an art project this week where they used eye droppers to drop different colored water on to coffee filters. The students loved watching all of the colors bleed together and look like tie dye.

Thursday afternoon, we noticed that we still had quite a few pumpkins left in our garden. Michelle had the great idea to harvest one to cut open and see what’s inside. The students loved digging their hands into the messy pumpkin guts. They used most of the pumpkin to make delicious soups and pies in the mud kitchen.

This week was a very exciting week for the Sunnybrook students. We began the week harvesting some of the pumpkins that were growing in our garden. The students then washed all the dirt off the pumpkins in the water table. We took markers and made art on our pumpkins to decorate them. We also cut some of the beautiful flowers that grew out front and decided that they would be a perfect ingredient to make soup with in the mud kitchen. We had our second sign language class with Rose, which everyone looked forward to.

On Thursday we had a special guest. Chef Garrik Berry came in to show us how a fruit press works. We pressed apples to make apple cider (which all the children couldn’t get enough of). We had a blast prepping the apples and seeing how a food processor works to chop up the apples into bits.

Ms. Eileen taught everyone a lesson on living vs. non-living things. While showing small objects, she asked the children what things they thought were living and non-living. Among the living were butterflies, flowers, trees, and dogs. Among the non-living were street signs, gems, rocks, bicycles, and cars.

This week was a very energetic week at Sunnybrook. The students began the week working on watercolor paintings where they got to show off their inner Winslow Homer. We had a very wet week as well which means a lot of messy play time in the mud. Splashing in puddles and rolling in mud made for a great end to the week.

We also had our harvest festival on Thursday to celebrate the Autumn Equinox and the turning of the seasons. We had different activities for the students to do that were autumn themed like sunflower seed plucking and ornamental corn plucking. We also had an art project for the students to complete where they could use different seeds to glue on paper to make a picture. Miss Eileen gave the students a lesson on Johnny Appleseed and his story of traveling all over the United States to plant apple trees. She read us a book about Johnny Appleseed and then we sang a song. All of the students then got to have a taste of some delicious gala apples.

We also had our first sign language lesson with Rose! She taught us the signs for alligator, bird, bear, and a few others. We learned how to make the letters A, B, C, D, and E in sign language. Then Rose taught us how to count to 5 using sign language numbers. The students had a blast finishing off the lesson with signing along with the song Sally the Camel.

This week at Sunnybrook, despite the first cold of the year sweeping the classroom, we motored on beginning to learn about air, land, and sea. We talked about the different creatures that live in the three, and where we find them. Ms. Eileen brought out the textured globe to have everyone feel it and see where the areas of land and sea are. We sang the continents song and then looked at the map mat.

Ms. Eileen also gave a lesson on how we get someone’s attention when we want to talk to them. Instead of calling their name over and over again, or interrupting when someone is talking, we can place our hand on their shoulder to let them know we want their attention and wait patiently until they are available to talk to us.

Though the week started off feeling like summer, by the end, we started to feel the beginning of fall. We took advantage of the warm weather as much as possible. Ms. Michelle took out the rakes and showed the students how to pick up the leaf piles with the rakes to transfer them into sleds.

Thank you everyone for another great week! And for all those who are still under the weather, get well soon!