Sunnybrook Montessori School

What a wonderfully white winter week we had!  The children had a glorious time outside shoveling, pulling each other on sleds, sliding around on the ice, and examining rabbit tracks crossing the playground.

Marble Painting

The students made some beautiful marble paintings at the art table.  First they chose a box, then placed a paper in the bottom, then scooped paint covered marbles onto the paper, and finally rolled them all around to make tracks across the paper.  They look fabulous on our wall!

Writing!

Cutting Playdough

Reading Cards

Star of the Week

Our star of the week enjoyed sharing her book about herself.  We learned that she loves to draw, sing, and snuggle.  We found out that she has a big sister and a little brother.  We also learned that she goes to church and school in the same building.  Everyone loved listening to her favorite story, Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor!

For Every Action There is an Equal and Opposite Reaction

Handwriting practice

Cylinders

Parachute Play

The students pulled out the scarves on Tuesday afternoon and did some scarf dancing, then found the parachute, so we played some parachute games.  They had a great time pulling it over us to make a tent, running underneath to switch places when their names were called, and bouncing a ball around on top of it.

Learning to Braid

Examining Animal Tracks in the Snow

On Thursday morning we visited the library for story hour, and listened to some books about snow.  We were introduced to Leah and Colby from the Appalachian Mountain Club and they led us outside where we learned about squirrels, how to identify their tracks, where they live, and what they eat.  We played some fun games together.  We took turns pretending to be trees and squirrels.  We searched all over looking for tracks and figuring out what made them.  It was a lot of fun!

Chinese Lanterns

Thursday afternoon students made Chinese lanterns with Tammy in honor of Chinese New Year.

During Spanish we talked about the rain forest and learned some names of rainforest animals, such as jaguar, rana (frog), tortuga (turtle), iguana, and cocodrilo (crocodile).  Zeanny read El Mono Paparazzi about a monkey who takes pictures of all the rainforest animals, then we danced to the song “Los Monos,” (The Silly Monkeys).

Spanish

The Friday students enjoyed the story that Gerrie Scott read about a polar bear cub who comes out of his den at night and sees the sleeping animals and shooting stars, Polar Bear Night.  They really enjoyed getting outside and playing in the snow.  They built a great fort with the sleds, and attempted to shovel all of the new snow off of the playground.  They were very busy in the afternoon writing and performing puppet shows, so they decided not to do science this week.

The Sled Fort

Friday Writing

Puppet Show

Next week we will be preparing for and celebrating Valentine’s Day.  All children are welcome to bring in Valentines for their classmates on Thursday.

Clean Mud

Despite being a short week with our Wednesday snow day, we fit a lot of good work in!

We made clean mud in the sensory table by unrolling and tearing up rolls of toilet paper, grating in soap, adding water, then mixing it all together to create a fun, clean play dough type mixture.

Grating the Soap

Snowflakes

At the art table we made pipe-cleaner snowflakes and dipped them in a borax and water solution with hopes that they would sparkle.  Sadly, it did not work, so next time we will try cooking our solution first.  Every mistake is a learning experience!

Painting

Handwriting Practice

Number Board

Circles

Angels

It was great to get outside and enjoy all the wonderful snow on Tuesday before the rain arrived.  We made good use of the new shovels and snow block makers and we used our bodies to make snow angels.

Snow Play

Hiding

During music we learned the song and dance “Jump Jim Joe,” which is a lot of fun!  We also played some word and sound games.  We made “op” words together, noticing how we made a new word when we exchanged the first letter sound for a new letter sound.

Rough and Smooth

Drumming

Transfer

Reading “This Little Light of Mine”

Writing

Sewing

Blocks

Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano

Practicing with Rhythm Sticks

Inside the Piano

On Thursday morning some students wanted to see inside the piano.  Sue figured out how to take off the front, which gave us a great view of the strings and hammers.  It was intriguing to watch the hammers strike against the strings when we pushed on the keys.  We could see how the key moved a piece of wood up, which moved another piece, which made the hammer strike the string.  We very gently rested our fingers on the strings to feel them vibrate.

Walking the Line

In the afternoon we made an obstacle course in the classroom.  The students had a fabulous time crawling under the desks, walking a zig zag line, jumping over mats, stepping on washcloths, rolling dice and adding up to see how many hops to take, climbing over chairs, and writing names on the easel.  It was a lot of fun, and a nice way to expend some energy on a rainy day.

Rolling the Dice

Farm Animals in Spanish

During Spanish we began learning the names of the farm animals.  We learned cerdo (pig), vaca (cow), caballo (horse), oveja (sheep), pollo (chicken), pollito (chicks), and ganso (goose).  Zeanny is also teaching us a fun new song about the sounds the animals make.

Gerrie Reading

Friday students spent some time in the morning sewing.  Gerry Scott came in and read Hello, Hello, then did some action songs with us.  We enjoyed a fun sleeping and waking up song, “The Ants Go Marching,” “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” and “The Apple Tree.”

The children were so excited to get outside and slide around on our icy playground.  They noticed that the large field below was covered with lots of ice and decided it would make some great skating!

For science we experimented with ways of cleaning pennies.  We found that vinegar and salt got them sparkling and shiny, while plain water, and water with detergent, did not work.  We also noticed that if we did not rinse off the salt and vinegar, the pennies turned green!

Cleaning Pennies

Next week we will begin learning about the library.  We will visit on Thursday for Story Hour and Snow Play with the Appalachian Mountain Club.  Children are always welcome to borrow books from school, and we will begin encouraging them to do so, just like at the library.

New Shovels

What a chilly week we had!  We spent a little time outside on Tuesday using the new shovels donated by the Schmidt family, but the cold weather kept us in for most of the week.  The children love using the indoor recess activities, and they worked together to build some impressive castles with the magna-tiles.

Indoor Recess

Cooperative Magna-tile Castle

Weaving

At the art table we did some weaving with paper.  It was also requested that we bring back the watercolors for more painting.

Painting

Our star of the week shared her book about herself, and we learned that she likes to go trapping with her dad, her first catch was a porcupine, she loves to play with her favorite doll, Emma, and her favorite color is pink!  We read her favorite story, The Princess and the Three Knights.

Checking Ears

Alphabetizing the Names

Name and Picture Matching

Teen Board

Table Setting

Yoga with Emily

On Tuesday afternoon Emily came in to read You Are a Lion! And Other Fun Yoga Poses and do some yoga exercises with the children.  They enjoyed doing the poses and being lions, cats, dogs, etc.   After the story they took turns acting out their own animals and guessing what each one was.

Doctor Ford

We were grateful to have Dr. Ford visit and talk to us about being a doctor.  He told us about what goes on during a doctor’s visit and how he helps his patients by educating them about ways to stay healthy, such as eating well, exercising, hand washing, and getting immunizations.   He made everyone a hand glove balloon and left us gloves, masks, and stickers.  They were a big hit!

Doctors

Hugs for Tigger

On Thursday we had a visit from Tigger with Believe in Books, an organization that promotes literacy.  We listened to some Tigger stories then had a chance to say” hi” to Tigger and pick a book to take home.   We are looking forward to welcoming the Cat in the Hat for his birthday in March.

Sharing Writing

Sharing Some More Writing

Writing

Reading “This Little Light of Mine”

More Writing

Even More Writing

Reading and Dancing to Jump Jim Joe

Rhyming Bingo

Thursday was also our last day with Cindy.  We have loved having her in the classroom with us.  We will miss her!  Thank you Cindy!

Hugs for Cindy

Cutting Ice

Friday students used a wire to cut ice for their science experiment.  We attached the wire to a bottle of water and placed it over an ice cube.  The wire gradually cut through the ice, which froze back together. After a couple of hours the wire was under the ice, but the cube was still whole!

Wire Cutting Through Ice

Gerrie Reading

We enjoyed having Gerrie Scott read us The Wind Bears Go Dancing and sing The Apple Tree Song.

All morning we could hear music from upstairs, so we quietly went up and listened to a quartet of musicians playing the violin, flutes, and a cello.  We enjoyed seeing our friend, Gerry Tobin, and listening to the beautiful music.

at words

The students have been loving literacy lately!  Many of them would sit and listen to stories all day, and they have had many adults willing to read to them.  We have also had several students share their own writing during circle time.  They enjoy listening to words stretched out and broken up then putting them back together to figure out what they are, and matching items that have the same beginning sounds.  It is exciting to see so much interest in language!

Letters

Student Nomenclature Cards

Tammy Reading

Beginning sound matching

Sandpaper letters and sand tray

Writing

Sue Reading

Checking out some books

Heater Dangerous sign

Cindy Reading

More Writing

Even more writing!

Watercolors

At the art table this week the students made some beautiful watercolor artwork.  We covered some with scrunched up saran wrap to make a special stained glass effect, but discovered that we needed to use much more water for it to work well.

Hugs for friends

Drumming

Number Rod Addition

Star of the Week

Our star of the week shared his book that his big sister helped him make.  We learned that he has one big sister and one big brother, he loves sharks, and he once kissed a dolphin!  He brought a great book about sharks and sea creatures in to share, and it was well read by the end of the week.

Reading the Shark Book

We continued to learn about doctors and how our bodies work and stay healthy.  We used the many medical instruments at the science table to examine patients.  We were looking forward to a visit from Dr. Ford, but learned how truly dedicated doctors are when he was unable to come due to a patient emergency.

Measuring with markers

Locks

Dice Addition

Color Matching

Feeling the Northern Pike

On Tuesday when we went outside we examined a Northern Pike, a Chain Pickerel, and a Yellow Perch.  The children looked at the different fins for swimming, the gills for breathing, the teeth that point backward to grab things, and the patterns on the scales.  Some asked to put on gloves and touch them.  They checked out all of the different parts quite thoroughly.

Checking out the fish

On Wednesday when the afternoon students came in for lunch they enjoyed some hot chocolate with marshmallows sent in by Grammy Dian.  It sure helped to warm everyone up!

Inside the Piano

In the afternoons the children have been very engaged with music and movement.  They regularly take out the instruments and scarves to play and dance with.  We checked out the inside of the piano to see how it makes sound and discovered little cloth covered hammers that bang on the strings, which vibrate to make the sound.  We tried an experiment with the tuning fork to see vibrations.  After striking the tuning fork we placed it in a glass of water.  The vibrations splashed the water right out of the glass!

Afternoon music

Describing the Casa

During Spanish we continued to learn about Casa’s.  The children looked at the casa’s they made two weeks ago and counted the ventanas (windows) and told us the colors of the puertas (doors) and techos (roofs).

Counting by tens

Toobers and Zots

Friday students were feeling pretty mellow and once again decided to save science for the afternoon.  The story More Parts by Tedd Arnold was chosen for Gerrie Scott to read.  She also led us in “The Apple Tree Song” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”  We decided that it was too cold for outside, so the children spent an indoor recess playing with Toobers and Zots.  During Science we poured water into two glasses then mixed in baking soda until it was fully saturated.  We attached paperclips to the ends of a piece of yarn, and placed an end in each glass.  We will observe what happens over the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully we will have stalactites and stalagmites soon!

Recording in Science Notebooks

Mixing our Stalactite solution

Next week we are hoping that Dr. Ford’s patients will stay safe and healthy and he is able to come speak to us.  We will also be having a visit from Tigger with Believe in Books on Thursday morning at 10:40. We welcome siblings and family members to join us!