Sunnybrook Montessori School

Snow and ice with friends is nice.  We did lots of shoveling, skating around on the ice in our boots, packing snow into snowballs, snow people, and volcanoes, having snowball battles, solving snow track puzzles, and hauling and moving snow from one place to another.  The temperatures were just right for being out and enjoying the snow.
We continued our Asian adventures this week with cherry blossom paintings.  We used special bamboo and hair brushes to carefully collect and brush paint into stems and cherry blossoms.
We introduced India by exploring some items from India and looking at some photos of India and its’ people.  We talked about various methods of transportation used in India then watched a video of vehicles on a street in Mumbai.  We even saw tractors driving through!  We also watched a video performance by an odissi dancer accompanied by Anoushka Shankar playing the Sitar, a traditional Indian instrument.  Susan taught us a very catchy Hindu chant which the children have loved singing and moving to throughout the day.  We introduced Mandalas, which are “schematic visual representations of the universe.”  We discussed how we each live in a home, a town, a state, a country, a continent, the planet earth, a solar system, a galaxy, and the universe, and how we are each individuals with our own place in the greatness of it all.  The children enjoyed coloring the mandalas, which is meant to be a calm, centering activity.   We read two stories about/from India; Little Babaji, revised and illustrated by Fred Marcellino from the original story by Helen Bannerman, and Kali and the Rat Snake by Zai Whitaker.The Henrietta and Wolfgang puppets came down for a visit and talked about how they are similar in some ways and how they are different.  They shared how they think and feel and respond differently, but how they are still friends and how they can help each other.  Henrietta shared some of her strategies for calming down and working through anger, sadness, or frustration by taking deep breaths, taking a break, getting a hug, and using self-talk to change the way she is thinking.

We had a special visitor on Thursday who came to introduce the holiday, Chinese New Year.  We learned that Chinese New Year is based on the lunar (moon) calendar, and that it is a time to welcome the new and start fresh.  Families clean their homes, gather together and have feasts, and children are given Hongbao (red envelopes) with crisp new money inside.  We learned how to use chopsticks to eat with and had lots of fun practicing picking up good luck candies, then our snacks and lunches afterward.  Each of the children were gifted with their very own hungboa with a good luck candy inside.  Thank you, Debra, for a wonderful lesson, the chopsticks, hungboa, and good luck candy!
For Friday science the children potted their sprouting seeds in soil.  We kept them in the clear cups and are hoping that we can continue to observe them as their roots grow down and their stems grow up.  We introduced animal classes with the book Let’s Classify Animals, and began to make a chart of characteristics of animals by class.  We will continue to more thoroughly study each class of animal over the next several weeks.

What an adventurous week we had!  From too cold to be outside, to crazy winds, to over 40 degrees, then rainy and gray, and back to super cold.   We enjoyed all the shades of weather that we experienced.
For Monday art the children were introduced to block printing, as used by Japanese artist Hokusai.  We examined a print of his work The Great Wave off Kanagawa.  We learned how he would carve different sections then print them in layers to complete the entire picture.  We looked through photos of his prints and located Mount Fuji in each, which is featured in a collection of his works.  We then cut out sticky back foam and stuck them to woodblocks, creating our own “carvings,” which we used to print.  Throughout the week all of the children enjoyed making their own stamps.
Monday students enjoyed some time at the library with Tammy while younger children visited the classroom for a playdate.  They had fun with duplos, puppets, stories, and trains.
We had a special visitor in the classroom on Tuesday.  Susan Vigne, who will be joining us as the new classroom assistant, spent time getting to know the children, chatting and engaging with them as they worked throughout the morning.  We are excited to have her join us!

The sensory table has been filled with rice. Most of the world’s rice is grown in Asia, and is a food staple in many Asian countries.
The airplane was all set up and was very busy travelling the world. Travelers checked in with their baggage, boarded the plane, were greeted by the pilot and copilot, and cared for by the flight crew.
We continued our study of Asia, with a continued focus on Japan.  We read the story Suki’s Kimono about a little girl who wore her traditional Japanese Kimono and geta (wooden shoes) to school and shared them with her class.  Although some of the students laughed at her, she stayed true to herself.  The children discussed how they would stand up for themselves and others if in a similar situation.  We read a bit about Tango no Sekku (children’s day) and learned that koinobori (carp streamers), are flown to represent courage and strength.
Spanish with Zeanny resumed this week. She started off Session II by introducing casa (house), techo (roof), pequena (small), medio (medium), grande (large), tubo de lampara (chimney), rectangulo (rectangle) and triangulo (triangle). We listened to the story Oso en Casa (Bear at Home) and learned about all the different rooms in a house. Zeanny gave each child 6 Popsicle sticks to construct un casa, which will be used throughout this session.
On Thursday we introduced Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day.  We took turns sharing what a holiday is, then moved on to a discussion about similarities and differences between people.  Last week we talked about the varied shades of skin colors, eye colors, hair colors, and physical features of people on the earth.  We continued to share how we are the same and how we are different, but pointed out that we are all people who are equal and should be treated as such.  We introduced the laws of segregation that used to exist in parts of the United States, separating restaurants, water fountains, schools and where people could sit on buses based on the color of their skin.  The children had many suggestions about what they would or could have done and we learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and what he did do to change these unfair laws.  We read Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and learned how he used love and peaceful protests to combat hatred and anger.
For Friday Science we talked and read about plants, their parts, and how they grow and change.  We gently removed a spider plant from its’ pot and looked at the roots.  We were surprised by how long the roots were.  We discussed what the jobs are of the various parts.  We learned how the roots soak up water and nutrients from the soil and how they stabilize the plant in the ground so that it remains secure where it is.  We learned that the leaves use the water and sunlight to make food, how the stem carries the water and nutrients up to the leaves and flower, and how the flower, which may turn into fruit, houses the seeds, which are dispersed and turn into new plants.  The children then started the germination process by placing paper towels in clear cups, watering them, and placing the beans between the wet paper towels and the cup.  We will watch them until they begin to sprout, then plant them in dirt and see how they grow.

If you are interested in learning about our philosophy of Behavior Management, we invite you to join us on Monday, January 23rd from 6-8 PM in the Sunnybrook classroom to get some background, research, tips, and methods for the Positive Discipline strategies used to help guide behavior in our classroom.

For questions, please contact Lyn at [email protected] or 788-3884.

Please RSVP to [email protected] if you plan to attend.

This event is open to families, the community, and educators.  It is worth 2 hours of professional development for early educators.

It was wonderful to see all our friends again after two weeks away.  Everyone was very busy and excited to get back into the swing of things!

Our outside time was filled with snowball battles, stick collecting, mountain climbing, shoveling, and giving and taking sled rides.  You may have noticed that we encourage the children to ask a friend when they want to go for rides in the sleds, rather than becoming the pullers ourselves.  The goals behind this response are to: 1) get them engaged with a peer, sometimes someone they may not know well, 2) help them recognize that relationships are give and take, 3) give them the opportunity to be active and feel how their muscles move and work while pulling a heavy load, and 4) feel a sense of accomplishment and pride for doing hard work and for doing something for someone else.
Dramatic play was a popular area while everyone spent time socializing and enjoying playing together with friends again.  This was the last week with the Doctor’s Office.  On Thursday we took a vote, and the children decided 14 to 3 to set up an airport rather than a market.  Friday students got busy taking down the clinic and setting up the airport and plane.  They painted the luggage scanner, set up the check in area, “built” the airplane, then named and decorated it.  They named it the “Sunnybrook 62S Giraffe.”  We will continue to add to it through the week.
We introduced our study of the largest continent, Asia.  We began by reading Asia by Rebecca Hirsch, and starting the book Explore Asia by Bobbie Kalman.  One of the students shared a wonderful Japanese folktale, The Dream Eater, by Christian Garrison, about Baku, a chimera who gobbles up bad dreams. With currently 48 official countries, we will only be able to study a few in depth, so we began with the country of Japan.  We looked through our Japan box and found some yen (money), a Japanese fan, a kimono (traditional dress), a Kokeshi doll, chopsticks, origami books and paper, koinobori (carp streamers), and a beckoning/lucky cat statue.  We then read the story The Beckoning Cat by Koko Nishizuka.
We celebrated two birthdays on Wednesday.  Our newest five year-old shared fun monster cupcakes after walking the earth around the sun five times, once for each year since he was born.  The most recent four year-old passed out yummy raspberry flavored cupcakes with buttercream frosting.  She held the globe and orbited the candle sun while we counted four times around for her.  Happy birthday to our newest four and five year-olds!
For Friday science we read Is It Living or Nonliving? By Rebecca Rissman, then sorted a variety of items into living or non-living baskets, according to whether they need air, water, and nutrients and if they grow and move on their own.  At the children’s request we also read Living or Nonliving by Carol Lindeen, and Living or Nonliving by Kelli Hicks.