Sunnybrook Montessori School

Please come support us on Wednesday, July 17th from 5-8 PM at the Copper Pig in Lancaster to raise funds for our kitchen/bathroom/classroom renovation.

Many community businesses and organizations have donated raffle items, including:

Santa’s Village
Dubois Firewood
Jodi Gerrish Massage
Scorpios Pizza and Sports Pub
Polish Princess
Bent Fork Farm
The Beal House
Libby’s Bistro
Roger Irwin Photography
Mount Cabot Maple
Bent Fork Farm
Assemble Studio
Prospect Farm
RizFit
Coos Brewing Company
Cute Kids Cupcakes
Smokin’ T’s Barbeque
John King Chimney Cleaning
FernieMoss art by Stacey Zemla
Robin Craxton Lindquist Art
Basket by Caroline Whipple
Yoga classes with Kat Colby
Yoga Classes with Nancy Phillips
Crumb Bar
Blaine’s Barber Shop
Happy Star Chinese Restaurant
Merlandrew Jewelry by Sue Rouillard
First Step Fitness
The Moody Mug Cafe
The Rialto Theater
Lonesome Woods
Otokahe Farm

Your donations will be so appreciated as we renovate our space. We are adding two classroom accessible bathrooms, two classroom sinks, a water fountain, a washer & dryer, a second classroom space for small groups, afternoon rest time & office work, a small kitchen, and a one way mirror for classroom observation. These renovations will be a huge benefit to the Sunnybrook students, families, and teachers!

Children were speeding all around as quickly as they could, playing chase, scooting bikes, pulling wagons, pedaling, pushing trucks, and hopping on balls.  It was very busy!  The crab apple tree finally blossomed, so the petals were collected for potions and stews and other concoctions. Susan shook the branches while children stood underneath for a petal shower.  The regular rain showers have made water play an almost daily option.  It is scooped out of puddles and collected in buckets and sleds and transferred for a variety of uses. 

Our theme of the week has been knowing and appreciating ourselves.  We read and discussed many stories and their themes and messages, including The Paper Bag Princess, Whoever You Are, Dandilion, Ferdinand, Can You Catch a Mermaid?, The Ant and the Elephant, and The Lion and the Mouse.  We discussed being ourselves and not worrying about what others think or expect, being kind, making poor choices and how to amend for them, being grateful, recognizing our value, and being persistent.

Each child made an end of year self-portrait, which will be displayed at the end of year performance next to their beginning of the year self-portraits.

We continued to rehearse our plays and songs for the end of year performance.  The audience was asked to provide feedback about things that went well during The Little Engine That Could, and there were some very insightful comments shared, such as how the performers remembered to face the audience, the train stayed together, and some of the children spoke loudly and clearly.

The children worked with Mr. Bond to attach the tops of their bird houses, the final piece.  They were all sent home to hang for a bird family to visit and nest in.  We are so tremendously grateful to Mr. Bond, who volunteered all of his time and expertise to come in every Wednesday to teach the children and work with them to create several wonderful projects.  Mr. Bond not only volunteered his time, but also planned and designed all the projects, and purchased and prepared all materials to construct them.  We cannot thank him enough for his generosity!

Friday students continued their study of birds with a lesson and experiments on camouflage.  We watched a video explaining how animals use camouflage, and a second about camouflage insects.  We did an experiment with M&M’s and skittles.  There were 5 stations set up, each with a plate of same colored M&M’s and skittles.  The children used their “beaks” to grab up only the S “insects” that were camouflaged among the same colored Ms.  After each team spent 15 seconds at each station, we sorted, counted, and compared how many of each color was collected.  They discovered that the highest number collected was purple, which they determined was due to the purple Ss being hidden in brown Ms.  The lowest number collected was yellow, which they determined was because the yellow colors matched exactly (some of the other colors were a shade lighter or darker) and the letters on them were white, which were more noticeable on the dark colors, and less visible on the yellow.  Later in the morning some of the children colored some moths, which they then hid around the classroom on items where they would be camouflaged, and the other students hunted for and “ate” them.

With a few new toys from the yard sale donations, including some trucks, bikes, and a wagon, the children have been racing and zooming and pulling around the yard.   

Monday students read some books about rocks, including Petra, about a rock that pretends to be different things until it is picked up by a child and decorated to look like an elephant.  The children each selected a rock that was just the right shape and size for their needs, located the colors they loved best, and proceeded to paint their own rocks.

Most everyone was excited for our final visit from Believe in Books with Katie, A.O., and their friend Curious George.  A.O. read a story about George visiting a chocolate factory, which was as entertaining as usual.  Everyone then greeted Curious George with a hug, high five, wave, or fist bump, then chose a book from a wide selection to take home for their very own.  Thank you to Believe in Books for all their wonderful visits and gifts of books this year!

Wednesday was the big field trip of the year.  After 15 weeks of collecting recyclables and tracking our trash and paper towel waste, it was finally time to take it to the transfer station to drop off and have a tour.  We had lots of families join us for our very informative visit with the Transfer Station director Dennis Patnoe!  Dennis first took us to the metal, plastic, and glass recycling area.  The children had a great time sorting and throwing all the recyclables into the correct locations.  We got to see the glass put into the chute and hear the glass grinder chopping up the glass into small pieces.  We learned that all the #5 plastics are taken to a plant in Northumberland where they are turned into fuel, and Dennis said that anyone, even non-Lancaster residents, are welcome to bring their #5 plastics to the Lancaster transfer station (good news for us VT residents)!  After sorting our recyclables, we checked out the big pit where trash is thrown, which was very large and deep.  We then saw where metals are left and items that are left for others who may be interested in reusing them, such as doors, shelves, chairs, etc.  Next we went out back behind the recycling sort to see where all those recyclables go.  We saw a large cube of crushed aluminum, and big piles of tin and plastics.  We also saw a big stack of plastic and steel barrels, which Dennis said anyone is welcome to take for free.  He pointed out the solar panels, the large hill of crushed glass, which is used under culverts and sidewalks because it does not freeze (and is also free to anyone in the public who may have need of crushed glass), and the giant pile of brush that will be burned.  We checked out a spot where crushed glass was used to fill in a large hole, then proceeded to the recycling storage areas.  We saw boxes of TVs waiting to be picked up and recycled and where clothes can be dropped off to be recycled/reused.  We then got to see the cardboard crusher in action and saw a 2500lb cube of crushed corrugated cardboard, which will be sold for recycling.  We also saw the crushers for low grade paper and newspaper.  We learned that newspaper will be recycled into mdf board, and low grade paper is turned into paper towel tubes, etc.  The office paper is collected and sold for recycling into new paper.  Dennis sent coloring books and water cycle posters home for everyone.  It was such an informative visit!  When we returned to school we made Thank You cards for Dennis, which we will send off next week.

On Thursday morning for health with Zeanny, we joined Bridget outside to do some planting in our garden.  Wednesday morning Bridget had topped off our garden bed with nice rich compost from her farm.  She brought corn seedlings and pole bean seeds to plant together.  Working in groups of 5, the children each planted a corn seedling and a bean seed next to each other.  Bridget explained that the pole beans would wrap up and around the corn stalks, and in the fall we should have some nice fresh corn to eat.  Zeanny will be sending home a letter for families to sign up to spend a week tending to the garden over the summer for anyone interested.

The children have continued to practice their plays for the last day performance, and The Little Red Hen crew did a run through for the group on Thursday.  We were all appropriately impressed!

Friday students continued their study of birds.  We read and talked about bird beaks and how different birds have different beaks that are just right for the type of food they eat.  Hummingbirds birds have long suctioning beaks for drinking nectar.  Seed eating birds have short strong beaks for cracking open seeds.  Great Blue Herons have beaks for spearing and grabbing fish.  Raptors, such as osprey and eagles, have beaks that tear and rip flesh.  Robins and other worm eating birds have pointy beaks for digging down and grabbing worms.  And ducks and other water birds have broad, strainer like beaks for scooping up small plants and animals.  We did an experiment where we used different tools that represented different beaks, and tested them out to see which beaks were best for eating different foods.  They figured them all out pretty quickly, but had fun experimenting anyway!