Sunnybrook Montessori School

Everyone bundled into winter jackets, hats, mittens, and scarves to keep insulated in the cold, damp, windy weather.  It was such a chilly week, but everyone stayed warm running around playing chase and tag, raking leaves, and driving their trucks. For Monday art the children were introduced to the artist Paul Klee, who used geometric shapes in his art.  We observed his paintings “Castle and Sun,” “Highway and Biways,” “Cat and Bird,” “Fire Evening,” and “Flora on sand.”  We then used colored paper shapes to create our own artwork, which is displayed in the classroom.  This continued to be a popular activity with all students throughout the week. The sensory table was switched from water to beach sand, and the children asked to keep the rocks and fish to play as well.
The vehicles returned to the block area as some new traffic signs were added, and this initiated some sign making.  The children used the picture, letter, and color clues on the traffic signs to figure out what each one means.
The children had fun scooping out three pumpkins. They reached down into them using some tools and their fingers to pull out the insieds. They separated the seeds from the pulp and placed them in two different bowls.
We wrapped up our ocean unit by reading about the sun’s role in the ocean food chain and the three zones of the ocean in the book, Ocean Sunlight.  We also read about various animals that live in the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean closest to us.  We sang our ocean songs, including “Phytoplankton” and “There Are 5 Oceans on the Earth” to help solidify how all life depends on other life for survival, and that there are 5 oceans, their names, and where they are located.Our first Spanish circle with Zeanny on Thursday was so much fun!  Zeanny introduced the vocabulary “abajo” (down) and “arriba” (up/above) with a Simon Says type game.  She then introduced la caja magica (the magic box).  Inside she found the story Arriba, Abajo y Alrededor about plants that grow above the ground, down in the dirt, and all around, which she read.  She then introduced “manzana,” the word for apple and the phrase “yo me llamo,” which means “my name is.”  In la caja magica she also found some paper manzanas, which she laid out and flipped over one at a time.  Each one had a name on it, and whoever’s name was on the manzana said if it was in the row abajo or arriba. We celebrated Halloween by dressing up, playing Halloween games, doing Halloween art, enjoying special Halloween snacks, singing Halloween songs, and reading Halloween stories.  Thank you so much to everyone who sent in yummy snacks to share, they were very much enjoyed! For Friday science the children made boats out of wax.  They molded the wax into various shapes, then tested them to see if they could hold marble “passengers” without sinking.  We observed that the boats with higher sides and flatter bottoms were less likely to sink or tip. The lyrics to the Phytoplankton song:

Phytoplankton, phytoplankton, floating in the water

Phytoplankton, phytoplankton, gulp, gulp, gulp

It’s been eaten by a .  .  .

Bivalve mollusk, bivalve mollusk, sitting in the water

Bivalve mollusk, bivalve mollusk, gulp, gulp, gulp

It’s been eaten by a .  .  .

Green crab, green crab, crawling through the water

Green crab, green crab, gulp, gulp, gulp

It’s been eaten by an .  .  .

Octopus, octopus, swimming through the water

Octopus, octopus, gulp, gulp, gulp

It’s been eaten by a .  .  .

Harbor seal, harbor seal, gliding through the water

Harbor seal, harbor seal, chomp, chomp, chomp

It’s been eaten by a .  .  .

Great white shark, great white shark, cruising through the water

Great white shark, great white shark, CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP!

Books we read this week:
Burt Dow, Deep Water Man by, Robert McCloskey

Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas by, Molly Bang

My First Big Ocean Book by, Catherine D. Hughes

Halloween by, Harry Behn

Only a Witch Can Fly by, Alison McGhee

By the Light of the Halloween Moon by, Caroline Stutson

Is Anyone Here? by, Mina Lewiton Simon

The Owl and the Pussycat by, Edward Lear

Too Many Pumpkins by, Linda White

The leaves littered the playground, which made for some wonderful leaf piles for jumping in and tossing in the air and loading up the vehicles to haul out and dump outside the fence.  There was lots of construction going on, with castles and roads being built.  And there was a LOT of running and chasing and playing freeze tag, regular tag, and word tag.  Friday students found and collected maple seeds, throwing them up and watching them spin down.  As there are no maple trees in our playground, the students theorized that the wind must have blown the seeds in from the tree at the end of the driveway. For Monday art the children were introduced to the artist Wassily Kandinsky, specifically his use of circles in his two paintings Squares with Concentric Circles and Several Circles.   We then used circles to create our own art by dipping various sized circles into black paint and printing them on paper.  When they were dry we painted them in with a variety of bright colors. Gerrie Scott, who taught at Sunnybrook for 26 years with Gerry Tobin, came to visit for the second time this year and she introduced the song “Five Little Pumpkins.”  Each of the children found their own pumpkin that had their name written on the back, then danced them around to the song.   It was fun to learn a new song, which we taught to the rest of the class later in the week.  Thank you, Gerrie!

The water table was filled with water, fish, and rocks, while the sink and float science work engaged children in hypothesizing and experimenting with various items.
We continued to learn about the oceans and life in the ocean.  We examined a multitude of sea shells, observing their similarities and differences.  We also looked at some sea urchins, sand dollars, sea stars, a “mermaid’s purse” or skate egg case, a crab, a dried cow fish, and a dried sea horse.  We were introduced to a strange string of pockets and took some guesses about what it was.  We were surprised when we opened one of the cases and out came some very tiny sea shells.  It was a knobbed whelk egg case!
As there have been some pirates exploring the Sunnybrook Seas searching for treasure, we had a pirate visit who gave us instructions on how to draw a treasure map.  We learned that the very first thing to do is to draw a compass showing North, South, West and East so we know which direction to hold the map and where to go.  We also learned that it is important to include landmarks, including mountains and forests, and accurate numbers, shapes, sizes and locations of islands so we can properly locate where our treasure is buried, indicated by an X to “mark the spot.” Halloween is fast approaching, and the children were excited to share what they will be for Trick or Treat time.  They took turns telling everyone about their costumes and we learned some fun and spooky Halloween songs, including “Stirring our Brew,” “Five Little Pumpkins,” and “The Ghost of John.”  We also read several Fall/Halloween stories, including Inside a House that is Haunted and The Little Old Lady Who Is Not Afraid of Anything.
Everyone was anxious for “Bring Your Family to School Night.”  Each child decorated an invitation for their family and selected at least two preferred materials to introduce.  We practiced giving a tour, making sure to show all the areas of the classroom, as well as taking out and demonstrating some of the materials.  There was a lot of anticipation, and when the night finally arrived, everyone enjoyed guiding their families around and sharing their favorite things to do at school. For Friday Science we learned about the three main zones of the ocean – the sunlight zone, the twilight zone, and the midnight zone.  We discussed how the light, visibility, temperature, and living creatures change the deeper you go.  We learned that the tallest mountains and valleys on earth are actually under water!  We discussed why the sunlight zone, although the smallest area of the ocean, holds 90% of ocean life, and the children shared that it is because that is where the most sunlight is, which is needed for plants to produce food, which are the primary producers at the bottom of the food chain, and therefore responsible for feeding all other life in the ocean.  We then made an ocean zones jar with colored corn syrup for the midnight zone, water for the twilight zone & oil for the sunlight zone.

The fall transition is upon us.  We come to school all bundled up on the frosty mornings, then remove layers as the day warms up.  We have been busy raking up, jumping in, and throwing leaves.  Construction crews have been at work building a fair, a garage, and a bridge.  We have been digging, biking, running, sleeping, swimming, and kicking and tossing balls.  We found some interesting creatures this week.  We were catching little fuzzy blue and white flies, which appear every fall on our playground, and according to my research are woolly aphids.  One student dug up a crazy looking horned caterpillar, which will turn into a Bedstraw Hawk Moth.  I wonder what we will discover next week! The art area was busy with many different projects.  Every student was asked to make a family portrait, which we will hang for BRING YOUR FAMILY TO SCHOOL NIGHT this coming Thursday from 5-7.  The children also got to work creating a kelp forest in our ocean.  They tied green and blue colored yarn to pipe cleaners, which we then stuck into the ceiling tiles so they hang down for us to swim through.  The children have been very careful to be gentle so the kelp stays anchored.  Many children also made large sea creatures, which they drew and colored, or had help drawing then colored themselves, cut out, stapled together, stuffed and then hung from the ceiling.  Our ocean is looking very ocean like now. We continued to learn about oceans and ocean life.  We read the story Blue Sea by Robert Kalan about a big fish who is chasing a little fish, and a bigger fish who is chasing the big fish, and the biggest fish who is chasing the bigger fish.  We introduced food chains with our song “Phytoplankton” and discussed herbivores, omnivores and carnivores.

Wolfgang the wolf puppet and Henrietta the hen puppet were officially introduced to the class.  The children have been playing with them all year, but they finally came down to meet everyone and say “Hi”.  They introduced themselves and told us a little about who they are and what they like to do.  Henrietta is very energetic and loves playing and running and meeting new people.  Wolfgang is very quiet and reserved and prefers to sit quietly and read and draw, but they are best friends and they help each other out all the time.  We then read the story Zero, by Kathryn Otashi, about the number zero who feels like he doesn’t count so he doesn’t fit in with the other numbers, until he recognizes that if they work together, they can count even higher.
Thursday was a very busy day with our first birthday celebration of the year.  We now have two five-year-olds in our class!  The birthday girl held the globe and orbited the candle sun while we counted the five years for her, then we all sang happy birthday before enjoying the tasty confetti cupcakes with red sprinkles she brought to share.  Happy birthday birthday girl! After the birthday celebration we found our partners then walked to the library for a visit from Assistant Fire Chief Stephen Jones.  Ronnie read us a story, Firehouse, by Mark Teague, about some fire dogs, then Assistant Chief Jones showed us his equipment and talked a bit about fire safety before putting on his gear.  He looks and sounds very different when all dressed up in his fire-fighting suit.   Afterwards we all went outside to see the fire truck, where he showed us some of the equipment he uses, including the ladders on top, the water gauges, and the axes.  Everyone had a chance to go inside and check out the cab where the firefighters sit on the way to a fire.
For Friday science we did a floating and sinking experiment.  Everyone took turns choosing items to test.  We were very surprised by some of the items that we thought would sink but didn’t, and vice versa.  At the end, we noticed that all of the items made of wood floated, while metal, glass, and ceramic all sank.  Our final experiment was to test clay.  First we made a ball of clay, which immediately sank.  We then made a bowl/boat of clay, which floated, so we discussed how shape can change whether something will sink or float. Stories we read this week:
All the families by, Margaret Wise Brown

Oceans by, Cathryn Sill

All Kinds of Families by, Mary Ann Hoberman

Blue Sea by, Robert Kalan

Zero by, Kathryn Otashi

Stop, Drop and Roll by, Marjery Cuyler

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by, Lauren Thompson

Mabel the Whale by, Patricia King

As the weather turns we are noticing more and more signs of fall, so the children harvested the flower garden, all the way to the dirt!  They began by picking the flowers, then moved onto the stems, then pulled up the roots.  They had fun loading them in trucks and hauling them around before discarding them over the fence.  There was plenty of construction going on with the big blocks and in the sand box.  The crocodiles, pangolins and a variety of other animal families were also busy roaming around searching for food. For Monday art the children explored color mixing with finger paints.  We read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh, then got down to business.  They took the term finger painting literally, using their fingers to swirl the primary colors – red, yellow, & blue – together to create the secondary colors – orange, green, & purple.  When they mixed them all together they discovered that they made brown.   Color mixing was available throughout the week with the finger paints, at the easel, and with colored dropper bottles. After art, Tammy arrived to take the children to the library while younger students visited the school for a play date and some finger painting of their own. At the library the children were busy being EMTs, playing with the trains, building with the Duplos, and playing puppets. The five oceans were introduced.  The children observed that the earth is covered by land and water, and we discussed the various types of bodies of water covering the earth.  We learned that there are five oceans and where they are located.  We will continue to explore the oceans more in depth throughout the month.

The children took a vote about how to transform the dramatic play area.  Five students voted for a fire fighting play area and ten students voted for an ocean area, so the ocean area it is.  We collected several large boxes, which the children immediately turned into boats.  They decided to go treasure hunting, so we brought out some brown paper which they used to create maps and sailing hats.  The children used clay to create treasure, mostly coins and some jewels.  The ocean animals were brought out to the block area and the barn was traded for a ship.  The children brainstormed many ideas, and we will continue to implement them throughout the month.
On Wednesday we were introduced to the four directions, North, South, West, and East and what a compass shows on a map.  We demonstrated how to create a flat map from a round planet by blowing up a balloon then cutting it and attempting to lay it out flat.  Lyn shared the theory that many people believed that the earth was flat during Columbus’ time, but has since discovered that this is incorrect and will be correcting this misinformation next week!  So sorry!  It will be a good lesson on learning from our mistakes.  We learned about Columbus, who wanted to reach the Indies by sailing west, and read the story Follow The Dream by Peter Sis.
There was much excitement on Thursday in anticipation of the visit from Clifford the Big Red Dog with Believe in Books.  There was quite a bit of concern that Clifford would not fit into the building and much speculation about how he would get the through the door, as his house alone is as large as Emily Elizabeth’s.  We were happy to see Clifford make it in with no troubles at all.  We enjoyed a story about Clifford and his friends raking up leaves and jumping in them, then everyone greeted him with a hug or wave before selecting a book to keep.
Friday students studied why leaves change color and fall off of the trees in the fall.  They proposed several theories, including that they are just too heavy or the leaves get cold.  We read Fall Leaves Fall then watched a video about why leaves change color.  We learned that the leaves are already red, yellow, orange, or purple, but that this color is hidden by all the chlorophyll that the leaves use to capture energy from sunlight which they use to make food.  As the days get shorter, there is less sunlight, so the leaves stop producing chlorophyll.  This was a tricky concept to grasp, but the children seemed to get some of it.

Stories we read:
Mouse Paint by, Ellen Stoll Walsh

Explore Earth’s Five Oceans (the first pages) by, Bobbie Kalman

Follow the Dream, The Story of Christopher Columbus by, Peter Sis

Clifford’s Good Deeds by, Norman Bridwell

Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors by, Norman Bridwell

Clifford’s Family by, Norman Bridwell

Fall Leaves Fall! By, Zoe Hall

Good Night Gorilla by, Peggy Rathmann