Sunnybrook Montessori School

There was a lot of excitement this week about Stone Soup and the Thanksgiving break.

 

On Tuesday the students took turns cutting up vegetables for our soup.  We had lots of carrots and onions, a delicata squash, some potatoes, celery, and kale.  We re-read Some Friends to Feed and enjoyed singing the song at the end.  We talked about the vegetables that we cut up, and discussed how they would get soft when they were cooked.  We wondered what would happen to our stones.  Would they get soft too, or would they stay hard?  Everyone made a prediction about what they thought would happen to the stones when they were cooked.

 

We set out some tape measures, and the children spent some time measuring the classroom and the playground and writing down their measurements.  Some students decided to measure themselves, so we hung a piece of paper on the wall and anyone who wished to stood against the wall and wrote their name above the mark at the top of their head.  They were able to clearly see who was taller or shorter than whom.

 

On Wednesday, the early morning students helped to get the stone soup cooking so it would be ready to eat.  They added the stones (thoroughly pre-boiled and washed), broth, water, spices, and ingredients, then stirred them up and placed the pot on the stove to cook.

 

Some students helped to prepare for our stone soup meal by cutting up cheese.

 

We poured some cream into a mason jar, and everyone took turns shaking it throughout the morning, wondering and guessing what would happen to it.  After a while, we started to notice it thickening, and eventually it became butter!

 

 

 

After several hours of cooking, the stone soup was finally ready!  While the younger students listened to a last version of the Stone Soup story, the kindergarten students helped set out the crackers, butter, grapes, cheese, and extra carrots and celery for snacking.  Many students tried the soup and their home-made butter.  They also examined one of the stones and concluded that it stayed hard and did not get soft like the vegetables did.   It was a great time!  Thank you to everyone who shared food items for our soup and snacks.

Next week we will begin to focus on preparations for our Winter Celebration on the 14^th.  We will be visiting the Post Office on Wednesday, November 28^th at 9:30 to find out what happens behind the scenes.

 

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving break!

 

The classroom was once again busy with lots of good work!

As soon as the morning students spied the body tracings from Thursday afternoon they were requesting their own, so they quickly got busy rolling out the paper, getting traced, and decorating their life size selves. They are adorning the classroom walls and continue to be works in progress as students return to add further detail.  It is quite a sight!

 

During music with Gerry we set up the drums to beat out some Native American medicine music while taking turns being various animals hopping, running, and flying around the room.  We then formed a circle and paraded around to “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush,” then stopped to brush our teeth, comb our hair, put on our clothes, and eat our food “early in the morning.”

 

Our star of the week entertained us with his book about himself.  We learned that his favorite movie is Spider Man, his favorite color is blue, his favorite animal is an elephant, and his birthday comes right before his favorite holiday, Navidad (Christmas).  There were many enthusiastic requests to hear his favorite story, Thomas and the Shooting Star, and to see his Thomas toy train.

 

We grated soap and made lots of bubbles in the sensory table again this week.  It was a lot of clean, wet fun!

 

At the art table the children tried out a new technique of painting on paper, then placing plastic wrap over it and scrunching it up.  When the paint dries, the plastic wrap is removed and the picture has a textured effect.  We will try this another time with watercolor paints to see how they differ.

We read two more versions of stone soup, Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth, and Nail Soup by Eric Madden and Paul Hess.  We made stone soup recipes and followed them to make pretend stone soup with flannel pieces.  Some children played a cooperative Stone Soup memory game, where the players work together to make stone soup before all of the fire-out cards are turned over. Everyone is looking forward to making and eating the real thing next week!

 

During Spanish with Zeanny we started to talk about Nicarauga.  We learned that there is a fruit from the higuero tree, and when it dries out, you can shake it and the seeds inside will make a sound, creating a natural maraca. On Tuesday afternoon the students began decorating cups to make their own maracas.  On Wednesday Zeanny read Oso en un Cuadrado (Bear in a Square) and began to teach the Spanish names for different shapes.  The students took turns hiding a flannel oso (bear) behind triangulos, rectangulos, cuadrados, and ovalos for mama and papa oso to find.

 

Friday students decided to be detectives and got busy printing out and dusting for fingerprints.  Everyone colored their fingers and made prints on their fingerprint cards. They used magnifying glasses to examine all the loops, whorls, and arches in each fingerprint.  It was fun to see which patterns were on each finger.  We attempted to dust for fingerprints and lift them with tape, but found that it was not as easy as we thought it would be!  The children practiced their skit and song for the winter performance and came up with some ideas for props, which they began making in the afternoon.   It is so much fun to watch them brainstorm and work together!

We will prepare for stone soup on Tuesday by cutting up all of the ingredients that are brought in.  On Wednesday morning we will add them all to the pot and cook them up for a delicious stone soup meal together with our friends!

Tuesday brought us the first snow-covered morning of the season, which inspired some white art at the art table.  For some, white brush painting became a sensory experience of full hand painting, then scratching words into the snowy backgrounds, smoothing the paint back over them, and making more words.  Later in the week we used straws to blow the paint across the paper, and pom-pom brushes to dot out big snowy flakes.

 

Gerry Tobin joined us for music on Tuesday morning.  She began with a short discussion about her visit to Scotland.  We looked at a map to see that there is ocean between New Hampshire and Scotland and discussed how she needed to take a plane to get there.  We learned “Over the River and Through the Woods” in celebration of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  Then we talked about Election Day and sang the song “This Land Is Your Land,” while playing bells and drums.   Thank you Gerry!

 

Our star of the week shared her fabulous book about herself.  We learned that she enjoys riding horses and playing in the hay, she plays the guitar and the piano, and she enjoys spending time with her mom, dad, and little brother.  We listened to her favorite story, The Foot Book, by Dr. Seuss.

 

We read two versions of the stone soup story this week in preparation for Stone Soup Day on November 21^st.  We then compared some similarities and differences between the two stories, A Pot of Stone Soup by Robert O’Brien and Some Friends to Feed by Pete Seeger and Paul DuBois Jacobs.  We learned the song “The More We Get Together” and a song about making stone soup from Some Friends to Feed. We are all looking forward to making our own soon!

 

On Wednesday afternoon some of the students decided to play instruments, and enjoyed marching around the classroom with them.  On Thursday morning, they once again wanted to use the instruments, so we decided to sit down and listen to them and vote about which ones could be played quietly so that they would not disturb people while working, and which ones we would put away for organized music times.  Everyone used their good listening ears to help make decisions, and we filled a basket of “quiet” instruments to play when desired.  We even decided that we could leave out the big cymbal, because although it can make the loudest noise of all the instruments, it can also be played quietly.

 

We added a table setting activity to the Practical Life area, which the children loved doing.  They may be experts by Thanksgiving, so be sure to ask them for help!

 

Henrietta chicken told us that she was using some of our classroom materials this week, but was unable to finish her work because some of the items were missing that she needed to complete it.  We talked about how important it is to make sure that all of the school materials stay at school, and how careful we will be to not put things in our backpacks or pockets.  We agreed that we would be respectful to each other by returning materials to their places when we are done with them.

 

Thursday afternoon students lay on large pieces of paper to have their bodies traced.  We labeled the parts and many of them drew in faces and added clothes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During Spanish we continued to focus on the parts of the body.  We sang “Cabeza, Hombros,  Rodillas, Pies”(Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes/Feet).   Everyone helped to create another version of Señor Loquito, and found it quite funny that most of his body parts were not attached to his body!

 

Next week we will continue to read versions of the stone soup story.  We will create our own ingredients out of flannel that we can use to make stone soup on the flannel board.   In the sensory table we will be making bubbles with grated soap again, so bring lots of extra clothes!

This week at Sunnybrook the students had fun tearing down the Friday fort, which had suffered a little wind damage from hurricane Sandy, and rebuilding it bigger and better for everyone to use.

 

We got to know our star of the week a little better.  We learned that he has three sisters, his favorite activity is riding his ATV, his daddy reads him stories every night, and he was once kissed by a princess (and had the photo to prove it)!  One of his favorite stories is The Three Little Pigs.

 

During music time we learned how to sing in a round.  We practiced with the familiar song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  Everyone quickly learned to sing on cue with their group.

 

Our sensory table was busy this week!  On Wednesday we shaved bars of soap with graters and dumped the shavings into water, then whisked it up into bubbles.   We had some soggy kids by the end of the day! On Thursday we played with rolled oats.  We enjoyed the texture, which is quite different from the sand or rice that we explored before.

 

Wednesday morning we were interested to learn about different grains and how to make flour with them from Magda, of the Polish Princess Bakery.  She brought six different grains: wheat, rice, buckwheat (which is not a wheat), corn, rye, and barley.  We examined each one, then poured them into a hand grinder and got to work grinding them into flour.  We found that in order to make the flour fine enough for baking, the discs in the grinder needed to be very close together, which made the work quite challenging.  Everyone was up for it, though, and eagerly anticipated a turn. We also used two stones to grind some wheat, which was more laborious, and an electric grinder, which was fast and easy!

 

During Spanish with Zeanny we continued to learn about the parts of the body.  We read the story From Head to Toe by Eric Carle and performed the actions.  Zeanny also brought some flannel board body parts that we took turns placing on a caterpillar body to create “Señor Loco” (crazy man).  He had two cabezas (heads), three ojos (eyes), multiple pies (feet), manos (hands), and other body parts, that were placed creatively to make quite an interesting character.

 

Some other stories that we read this week were Only a Witch Can Fly, Five Ugly Monsters, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, The Fat Cat, and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

 

Friday students had a great day!  They selected magnetic fishing for their science time.  They drew or traced fish and cut them out, then attached a paperclip to the mouth.  They then created magnetic fishing poles, which they used to catch their fish.  They enthusiastically fished, until a No Fishing sign was posted, which they quickly altered to Go Fishing!  Then they created some of their own signs.