Sunnybrook Montessori School

Snow!

What a great week back from vacation!

The Iditarod is on!  We are following musher Lance Mackey, who has won the Iditarod 4 times.  By Thursday, he had reached the Iditarod checkpoint, about half way through the 1000 mile race, and was in first place.  You can find more information and continue to track the mushers at home at Iditarod.com.

Posting his dogs

The readers in our classroom have been busy!  Our sled will be able to go far and fast with all of the dogs pulling it around the room.  Thank you for recording all of those great books that you have been reading.

Temperature Comparison

We began tracking and comparing the temperatures in Alaska to the temperatures in Lancaster.  We noticed that on Thursday the temperature in Alaska was about twenty degrees lower than here.

Examining the Disgusting Germ Growth

A couple of weeks before vacation we started an experiment to help understand why washing hands is important.  Everyone touched a pitri dish with their dirty hands.  We also took a mouth swab and a nose swab to see why we wash our hands after touching our mouth or nose.  On Tuesday we examined the growth and were in unanimous agreement that the germs were disgusting, and hand-washing is a great idea!

Blocks

Signing in for Snack

Copying a Quote

Stencil Tracing

At the art table the students practiced their fine motor control by coloring some Dr. Seuss and dog sledding pictures, and tracing some Dr. Seuss stencils.  They very carefully colored inside the lines, which is excellent handwriting practicing, and takes quite a bit of concentration and skill to do well.  We also did some ice cube painting with the tempera paint ice cubes that we made before vacation.

Coloring

Happy 5th Birthday to the Boy in the Red Sweater!

We celebrated our first birthday of the month on Tuesday.  Our birthday student orbited our candle sun five times, the number of times the earth has orbited the sun since he was born.  After singing “Happy Birthday” everyone enjoyed delicious blue cupcakes!

Star of the Week

Our star of the week shared her book about herself and her favorite doll, whose name is Heart.  We saw some great pictures of her with her family, including several with her little sister who is a favorite visitor in our classroom.  We learned that she enjoys the rides at Santa’s Village and the Fair, and for Halloween she was a bumble bee.

Sledding

Shy Cupid

On Wednesday we were so thrilled to have Kim and Margaret from Jefferson bring five of their sled dogs and one of their sleds to school.  We met Cupid, Rosie, Rudy, Wasabi, and Dancer.  We learned that several of them are rescued shelter dogs, including Rosie, who is the lead dog and a herding dog, not a typical breed of sled dog.  Once the dogs had their harnesses on, they were excited to get hooked up to the line and pull the sled.  All of the children had turns riding on the sled and driving it.  Kim taught us how to push down on the break, and put down the Emergency Break, a large hook that digs into the snow.  It was a truly exciting morning!  Thank you so much to Kim and Margaret, the dogs, and our parent contact for setting it up!

Hooking the dogs up

Preparing to Go

Pulling in

Rain Forest Fruit Salad

On Wednesday afternoon we made rainforest fruit salad with Zeanny.  We cut up and added oranges, strawberries, coconut, pineapple, figs, bananas, and mango.  It was delicious!

Cutting up the fruit

Yummy Fruit Salad!

Spanish

During Spanish Zeanny continued to introduce and review animal names.  Some of the new names we learned were elafante (elephant), hipopótamo (hippopotamus), león (lion), ardilla (squirrel), and gusano (worm). On Thursday everyone helped tell a story about the rain forest animals – el mono, iguana, mariposa, and culebra.

Coin sorting and graphing

Friday students had a great time together.  Some of them spent some time identifying and sorting pennies and dimes.  They counted ten of each, then pulled handfuls out of the mystery bag and sorted and graphed how many they pulled out.  Gerrie Scott read Think Big and then we sang “The Ants Go Marching”, a favorite Friday request, while doing an ant march on hands and knees around the classroom.

Think Big

The Ants Go Marching

Identifying Skunk Tracks

We spent quite a while searching for animal tracks down on the big field behind school.  We found LOTS of tracks.  We identified many trails of dog prints, and some students also thought that they saw some rabbit, fox, and bear.  The freshest set of tracks we found matched the skunk footprints in our Animal Tracks of New England guide book.  It was pretty exciting to see so many animal trails.

Conspiring

Next week we will be celebrating a second student birthday.  We will also be visited by the Cat in the Hat on Thursday at 10:50 in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.  Family members are welcome to join us.

Taking Turns on the Hill

The mini sledding hill that the Friday students created last week was a big hit during recess time.  The children patiently waited in line for a turn down the icy slopes.

We began learning about the Iditarod and sled dogs this week.  The Iditarod begins on Saturday, March 2^nd, and we will be tracking the racers when we return to school on the 5^th.  We read Kiana’s Iditarod by Shannon Cartwright and Dogteam by Gary Paulsen.

In conjunction with following the sledding teams, we are also tracking our reading at home.  The children write the titles of the books that they read on a picture of a sled dog, and it is posted on the wall, where it will help pull the sled.

Playdough

Picture Name Reading

Blocks

Star of the Week

Our star of the week read his book about himself.  We learned that his favorite colors are red and blue, his favorite game is “Where’s My Perry,” and his Pop’s makes him popcorn.

Sand Play

The children played with wet sand in the sensory table.  They built castles and big walls to see how high they could go before falling down.

Map Making

Snack Time

Constructive Triangles

Block structures

Ice Paint

At the art table children worked on book writing.  Wednesday afternoon students used ice cube paints to paint with, and on Thursday afternoon they made paper mache’ bowls.

Tracing Maps

Matching

Being loros (parrots)

During Spanish we continued to learn about animals.  We read a book about farm animals, and pretended to be rainforest animals moving around the rainforest.

This was the last week with our friend, William.  Best of luck to you and your family!  We will miss you!

After vacation we will continue to learn about the Iditarod, sled dogs, and the culture and climate in Alaska. We are hoping to have a visit from some real sled dogs!  We will also continue to learn about the library.  March is the birth month of Dr. Seuss, so we will have a visit from The Cat in the Hat from Believe in Books, and we will read lots of Dr. Seuss stories and learn a bit about his life.

Sunnybrook is hosting free play dates for two, three, and four year old children and their caregivers.  This is an excellent opportunity for your child to spend some quality time with other young children while enjoying an art activity, a snack, a story, and some music and movement time. It is also a chance for you to learn about Sunnybrook Montessori School and visit with other caregivers.  Siblings are welcome. The final play date for this year is scheduled for Monday, May 6th, from 10-11 AM.

Snowman

Wow, what a week!  The weather was perfect for snowmen, snow forts, and sledding.  The children had a fabulous time making enormous snowballs, then chopping them down with the shovels.  They also began construction on a couple of igloos – it was a lot of work!

Giant Snowballs

Working on the Snowman

Pulling Passengers

Building an igloo

Star of the Week

On Tuesday the star of the week brought in a mother bunny and her five babies.  He shared the story of bringing them into the house to revive them with a hair dryer when they got too cold.  Everyone was so excited to hold them and pat them, and did a good job wearing them out for their late morning nap!  During circle our star read his book about himself and we learned that he helps his grammy in the garden, he has two cats named Romeo and Juliet, and he wants to work with his dad when he grows up.  He showed us all of his tools in his tool bag and shared his favorite story, Brother Bear.

Holding Bunnies

For music we took out the parachute and played a treasure find game.  Each student had a turn to dive under the parachute and find a treasure that started with the sound /f/, /r/, or /p/, and place it in the treasure box.  We also learned the songs “Skidamarink,” and “You Are My Sunshine” in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Heavy Equipment Classification Cards

Painting

Pattern Blocks

Locks

Making Valentine Mailboxes

At the art table the students worked on decorating their valentine mailbox bags and making valentines for their friends and family members.  Students also had a chance to peel the paper off of broken crayons, then use them to make their very own heart shaped crayon by filling a mold with the colors they chose  and melting it in the oven.

Peeling Crayons

Chinese New Year Snake

Tuesday afternoon students asked to make a snake in honor of Chinese New Year.  They rolled out a large piece of paper and promptly got busy creating.  It is quite a snake!

Mixing Sugar Cookie Dough

On Wednesday morning everyone got busy mixing up sugar cookies.  Each student had a turn adding ingredients to the bowl and mixing, mixing, mixing, mixing, mixing (it took A LOT of mixing)!  On Thursday morning, everyone got to decorate a few of the heart shaped cookies to take home or eat at school.  There were some beautiful creations!

Cookie Decorating and Eating

Valentine Treats

Valentine’s day was so exciting!  The children loved delivering their valentines to their friend’s Valentine’s bags and could not wait to see all the great valentine’s that they received.  All of the yummy snacks disappeared quickly.  Thank you to everyone who brought something in to share!

( Bosque Pluvial (Rainforest)

During Spanish we continued to learn about the rain forest and the animals that live there.  The children enjoyed making up a story about the Bosque Pluvial (rainforest) animals and arbols (trees) with flannel board pictures.  We learned that banano, higo (fig), and mango trees grow in the Bosque Pluvial. On Valentine’s Day, the animals played hide and seek behind colored corizones (hearts), and the children had to guess where they were hiding.

Dancing to World Music

Friday students enjoyed dancing to world music and finding the countries on the map where the music was made.  Gerrie joined us to read My Friend is Sad, one of the Mo Willems’ Gerrald and Piggie stories – some of our current favorites!  For science we put out a fire with carbon dioxide created by the reaction between sodium bicarbonate and vinegar.  We learned that fire needs oxygen, just like we do.  As it was such a wonderfully warm winter day, we also spent a lot of time outside enjoying the weather!

Fighting a Fire

Shoveling out the gate

Funny Friday Faces

Next week we will begin to learn about the Iditarod.