What a fun and very busy week we had!  We were grateful for the weather, which stayed mostly dry, as we were outside A LOT.  We enjoyed our (most likely) last picnic of the season on Wednesday, which was sunny and warm. For Monday Art students learned about Mark Rothko, who painted enormous canvasses of color blocks, then created their own paintings in his style.
Everyone was excited for our field trip to Farmer Shawn’s for apple picking and cider pressing on Tuesday.  Thank you to all of the families who drove, making it possible for us to go. The pictures tell the story!
   We continued to talk about fire safety and introduced 911 with the story Impatient Pamela Calls 911.  We stressed that 911 is only for emergencies, and we discussed what some emergencies might be –if the house is on fire, if there is a car accident, or if a parent is hurt and cannot get to the phone.  We encouraged the children to learn their addresses by practicing with their families and to develop an escape plan in case of a fire at home.  This site has good information about fire safety and making an escape and meet plan with your children http://www.safekids.org/fire. When Wednesday finally arrived for our visit to the fire station, everyone was ready!  We discussed our route and the safety rules for walking down the street.  Everyone held hands with their partner and we were off.  When we reached the fire station we were greeted by Zina, who gave us important safety information and showed us the fire trucks, axes, cutters for cutting up cars that have been damaged in an accident and have passengers inside, the camera that detects heat so they can see if there are fires in the wall, and all the gear that they put on to stay safe when fighting a fire.  It was super exciting to get fire hats as we left and Sunnybrook was full of firefighters putting out fires and rescuing people for the rest of the week. The children all made nice Thank You pictures for Farmer Shawn and Zina, which we will walk to the Post Office to mail on Monday. Friendship and including everyone has also been a main focus lately.  In a Montessori classroom, children regularly do individual or small group work, and they have the right to say that they prefer to work alone.  We have been working on recognizing the difference between individual, small group, and large group activities, and understanding that when playing large group games, everyone is welcome to participate.  We have also been talking about individual differences and how we accept and appreciate everyone for who they are.   This attitude is the foundation of our philosophy of universal respect. By the end of the week the children were worn out and ready for a relaxing day.  They made relaxation jars with water, glitter, and glitter glue.  They drew, made books, read stories, painted together, and played firefighter.  For Friday Science we continued to learn about rocks.  We examined and sorted a variety of samples, matching them to their pictures and learning their names.