Sunnybrook Montessori School

The rakes, balls, trucks, frisbees, tricycles, and hoppy balls were finally brought out from storage, much to everyone’s delight.  The Armstrong family also donated a wagon, wheelbarrow, and peddle bike, so there was a lot of activity this week.  The worm hunters were busy tipping over stumps and digging in the garden for creepy crawlies, and were delighted with their finds.  After examining their collections, most of the worms ended up in the garden to aerate the soil.  Sandcastles were constructed in the sandboxes, and buckets full of water were turned into potions and stews.Monday students watched a time lapse video of a Holton Rower pour painting.  Rower’s artwork is done on a fairly large scale, but we imitated his style with small blacks and acrylic paints.  The children selected their mat board bases, blocks, and paint colors after donning T-shirt smocks.  They then squeezed paint over the block, which flowed down over the sides.  As each color was added, the paint was layered and pushed further out, creating beautiful patterns.We celebrated an upcoming 4^th birthday.  The birthday boy shared his new age, then carefully orbited the sun with his globe while we listed the seasons and counted his age.  After singing Happy Birthday, he blew out his candle, then we enjoyed some delicious cake.
In anticipation of Mother’s Day, we introduced a flower making art project.  The children used the rotary cutter to slice strips of paper, which they then glued to a piece of mat board.  After assembling them in a circular radial pattern, they then rolled them over and glued the other end down, finally selecting a circle color for the flower center.  This project took some intense focus and coordination with the placing, rolling, and gluing.  Many children wrote Mother’s Day notes.  Keep a look out for these special gifts being sent home next week!On Tuesday morning the children each took some time to write and/or draw thank you cards for officer Glen Lucas and Andy Schafermeyer for their visit with trout a couple of weeks ago.  They children had such a wonderful time, and they worked hard to draw some beautiful trout pictures for Andy and Glen.The dramatic play camping area continued to be busy.During Spanish Zeanny continued to sing songs with us about the body parts and colors.  We also read the book Mi Madre es Fantastica!  Zeanny then played a hide and take away game.  She covered up the little family member finger puppets, as well as an elephant and hipopotamo and a gigante baby, then removed one. We then guessed which family member (or animal) was missing.  The students who wrote familia were each given a prize.We started to wrap up our reptile unit with a story about alligators and crocodiles called SNAP!  We learned that although they are very similar, they have two main differences.  Alligators have rounded snouts, like the letter U, while crocodiles have more pointed snouts, like the letter V.  We also learned that the crocodile’s fourth tooth on the bottom sticks up into a notch on the outside of its’ upper jaw, while the alligator’s fourth tooth is inside the jaw.  We did a sorting activity with some pictures and our crocodile and alligator toys.  Each child was given a picture or animal, then determined whether it was an alligator or crocodile.We read about turtles as well, learning that they lay eggs in the sand, which hatch many months later.  Most turtles are amphibious, except for tortoises, so after hatching, they make their way to water as quickly as they can.  We learned about turtle predators, and how most turtles (though not sea turtles) can pull their head and legs into their shell.  We then played a game where we pretended to be turtles trying to make our way to water before any predators (birds, raccoons, crocodiles, and jaguars) could eat us (remove a sock).  We ducked into our shells to protect ourselves, then waited for the predator to leave us alone before heading for the water again.We did some animal movement activities to work on our gross motor skills.  We pretended to be giraffes reaching up to eat leaves from tall trees, pandas reaching down for bamboo, zebras galloping, flamingos standing on one foot, and hopping frogs.We continued to practice for our end of year performance with Susan.  The kindergarten students met with Susan to make some decisions about the performance and select which songs and animal classes they want to present.  Each student chose which song they wanted to perform in, and we practiced our roles, holding duck puppets, pictures, etc.Friday students were given marshmallows and toothpicks and challenged to build the biggest structure that they could.  We quickly discovered that it was rather difficult to get very high without proper support, so the children began building shapes and ladders and constellations.  They had a great time using their fine motor skills and imaginations to come up with some crazy structures.As rain was predicted, we went out for a very early recess, anticipating the arrival of a storm.  When it didn’t blow through, we decided to bring our work outside, rather than heading in.  We read the story Lifetime about animals and numbers.  We learned that caribou will shed 10 sets of antlers in a lifetime,  woodpeckers will drill 30 roosting holes, and a seahorse father will birth 1000 babies!  We then each took a little book and made our own animal books.

Mud season continues with our finicky weather.  The children found the large hole under the crab apple tree to be an excellent place for digging.  The sandbox is now ice free and suitable for a cleaner digging spot.  We are hoping for sunshine and green grass to appear after vacation!We read the story Right Outside My Window to introduce this week’s art activity.  The children selected mat board frames and created views of what one might see when looking out the window.  They saw gardens, animals, people, etc.  These works of art will be displayed during the last day art show.We continued to learn about the various reptiles, and played a near and far game, where we would be near or far away from reptiles placed around the room, including snakes, lizards, turtles and tortoises, and alligators and crocodiles. We read How to Hide a Crocodile about reptile use of camouflage to hide from predators and prey. Some children then colored reptiles hiding in camouflage environments.We celebrated our second sixth birthday of the year with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The birthday girl passed out her birthday treats, then held the globe to orbit the sun while we named the seasons and counted her years on earth. Happy 6th birthday, birthday girl!For Spanish with Zeanny we continued to learn about body parts, numbers, and the members of a familia with some stories, songs, and games. Zeanny read Las Familias and Me Madre es Fantastica. We then did a matching game. Zeanny described where each member of the family was, and the children took turns selecting the family member and placing them on their corresponding pictures.Tuesday students had some fun in the afternoon with the stepping stones before heading home. With the rainy day keeping us inside, we had some energy to expend!The dramatic play area has been transformed into a camp site, and the children have been loving it!  They enjoyed turning off the lights to make it nighttime.  They slept in the tent, caught fish in the pond, built a fire pit, prepared food over the fire, and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows on sticks.  They had so much fun together camping out.We introduced the terms FAIR and EQUAL.  First, everyone was given a T-shirt in Lyn’s size, so it would be equal.  We discovered quickly that just because it fit Lyn, didn’t mean it fit everyone else.  When putting the first T-shirt on a student, a second student pointed out that it was not that child’s size.  We realized that just because it was equal, did not mean that it was fair.  We then told all the children that if they could reach the stickers taped up high on the wall by standing on the floor, then they could have one.  We found that most of the students could not reach those stickers.  Although this was equal, because everyone had a turn to stand on the floor and try, it was not fair.  We asked what we could do to make it so everyone could get a sticker, and they suggested standing on a stool.  When the children who were unable to reach the stickers on their own were able to reach by standing on a stool, we recognized that this was not equal, but it was fair, as not everyone needed a stool to reach the stickers, but some did.  Finally, we took turns briefly trying on Lyn’s glasses and asked if everyone should have a pair just like them to make things equal, and they agreed that it was fair for Lyn to have glasses because she needs them, while others did not, so not having glasses if you don’t need them is fair.  The children defined EQUAL as everyone gets the same, and FAIR as everyone gets what they need.On Thursday morning we did some yoga movements with the Kira Willey CD, Dance for the Sun. The children had so much fun doing sun salutations, downward dog, frog hops, etc., that they requested three yoga series.  It felt good to stretch and move our bodies.We continued to practice songs for the end of year performance with Susan, and she began discussing the various props and roles that students could play during the performance.  After vacation the kindergarten students will become involved in planning and preparing for the performance.

For Friday science we read the story The Penny.  In the story, a father was sad as he took apart the sailboat named the Penny, and later told his daughter stories about how his grandfather had built the sailboat and how the father had sailed it as a young boy.  We then discussed the sink and float activity we did several weeks ago, and the children recalled which materials floated, and which sank.  They recalled that although the metals sank, the one that was shaped like a bowl did not, unless it got water in it, and although rubber materials sank, the bracelet that was filled with air did not. The children then used a variety of materials to construct their very own boats, including wax, ping-pong balls, aluminum foil, tape, wooden popsicle sticks, bottles & plastic containers, straws, and pipe cleaners.  The challenge was to see how many marbles their boats could hold.  They discovered that some of the most basic boats floated, while more complex boats sank or tipped.  We probed to see what the concerns were with the boats that were sinking and how to change the next boat so that it would stay afloat.  Many of the children were very engaged with the activity and enjoyed creating and testing a variety of boats throughout most of the morning.

We are ready for green grass, so we got busy chopping up the ice and removing it from the yard.  It was another muddy week playing in puddles and digging in the sand box and the brown gloopy mud.  Hopefully spring will be arriving for real very soon!For art on Monday we did radial designs – drawing, coloring, and cutting out circles, then cutting them into quarters.  Each quarter was then glued to the corner of a colored square paper.  The children used their creative brains to come up with unique patterns.In honor of Earth Day, during the week the children used blue and green liquid watercolors to dab spots all over a coffee filter, then spray it with water to make the color spread, creating an earth.  They then traced and cut out their hands, a rather challenging undertaking.  When the blue and green Earths were dry, the children pasted their hands with a heart made by the connected fingers over the center of the Earth.Some special visitors came on Tuesday to teach us about local fresh water fish, specifically three types of trout.  Andy Schafermeyer, a fish biologist, and conservation officer Glen Lucas, brought a cooler full of live trout for us to examine and hold.  Andy introduced the fish by first showing us pictures.  First he showed us a trout that is colored like a rainbow, and we determined that it is a rainbow trout.  Then he showed us a trout that is all brown, and we figured out that it is a brown trout.  Finally, he showed us a trout that lives primarily in brooks, earning the name brook trout.  When we had the trout sufficiently identified, he put some in some special boxes he made with clear panels, then he and officer Lucas brought them around for us to examine.  Finally, those children who wanted to, had a chance to hold a trout.  Andy discussed with us how fish need to be in the water to breath, and they live in cold water.  He asked us to think about how warm our hands are, so that when we held the fish we kept in mind to only hold them for short periods of time so they would not cook in our hands and they could get back into the water to breath.  The children LOVED holding the fish, including some of the tiny fry.For Spanish, Zeanny continued to focus on numbers and body parts, and began to introduce families.  We sang the cabeza, hombros, piernes, pies song (head, shoulders, knees & feet).  She read us a story about a bebe (baby) and how the family tried to figure out why it was sad, then sang a family song with finger puppets.  To wrap up we played a number game, where our boat was sinking and we had to get in the life boats, according to how many they could hold.  When she would hold up a number, we had to get together in groups of that number.  It was crazy but fun!
We celebrated the most recent 4^th birthday.  The birthday boy passed out slices of blue frosted cake to everyone before preparing for his travels around the sun.  He showed us all that he is now four, then carefully held the globe while quickly orbiting the candle while we listed the seasons and counted his birthdays.  After being serenaded with the Happy Birthday song, he blew out the candle and everyone enjoyed their tasty birthday cake.  Happy birthday 4-year-old!We did some challenging big body movements and learned some new skills.  We balanced and hopped on one foot and tried to do so without holding on to anything.  We practiced our galloping, and some of us even practiced skipping.  We attempted jumping jacks, starting out slowly in an I, then becoming an A.  We also tried making an X with our bodies, then bending and touching the opposite foot, going back up into an X, then bending and touching the opposite foot with the other hand.
As dramatic play interest has dwindled, we took down our ocean wonderland and took some time suggesting and voting on ideas for a new theme.  The children decided on a camp site/fairy forest/flower garden, all suggestions that had been nominated several times before but not yet selected.  We decided that combining these themes would make a good match.  The children started by moving our forest trees back from the science area and planning the supplies we would need and what we will need to construct.  The children listed a fire pit, a tent, a hiking path, fireworks in the sky at night, and some animals.  We will get busy next week assembling the site.

For music we began selecting and practicing (with actions & movements) some of the songs that we will sing at the last day/graduation celebration, including Black Bear Cub, There’s a Spider on the Floor, and Five Green and Speckled Frogs.While Lyn met with families on Friday, Susan and Tammy did a fun activity about camouflage and blending in with the environment.  Susan cut out and hid squares of bright colored, brown, and green papers all over the room.  The children then went on a hunt for the squares, bringing them back to the middle rug, where they lined them up to graph them.  They counted and discovered that they located many more brightly colored papers than those that matched the environment.  After recognizing this, they returned to hunt some more, and discovered many more camouflaged papers.  They then selected a lizard picture, which they colored, drawing an environment around it in which it would be camouflaged.