Sunnybrook Montessori School

We had a fun first week at Sunnybrook!  It was great to see all of our returning friends again and to welcome new friends.  Everyone quickly got into the routine and had fun exploring the classroom.  The arrangement is new for everyone, but is working very well.  We are quite thrilled with our new shelves!  Thank you Zack Colby! The summer weather was still going strong and we enjoyed running, digging, jumping, taking train trips, and swimming around trying to get away from the crocodiles before racing and jumping back onto the boat.
At the art table the children used many bright colors to paint a large branch.  Many children returned several times to add extra layers.  By the end of the week it was quite colorful and it now brightens up our classroom atop the shelves. The sensory table was filled with water.  The children enjoyed squirting, scooping, pouring, and stirring it up.  When there was a spill, they used the towels to clean it up so no one would slip. The magnatiles and the farm were very popular as we began to gradually introduce the classroom and materials to new students and the returning students became familiar with the new set up. The dramatic play area, which is a new addition this year, has started out as a home.  The children were busy cooking, serving, cleaning, taking phone calls, baking cookies, making food deliveries, and scooping up ice cream.  This area will change throughout the year, inviting lots of social and imaginative role play activities. We spent our group times discussing the classroom expectations of safety and kindness, and the children all shared what this means and how we do this.  We learned how to introduce ourselves to a new acquaintance and everyone had an opportunity to practice.  We discussed nick names, what they are, and how some people have them and others do not.  We read the story, My Name is Elizabeth, about a little girl who prefers to be called by her full name and has to ask everyone who shortens her name to call her Elizabeth rather than Betsy, Liz, Beth, or Lizzy.
For Friday Science the students were introduced to land, air, and water. We passed the sandpaper globe around and everyone had an opportunity to feel the smooth blue water and the rough tan sandpaper land parts. We then looked at the earth, water, and air jars each containing, respectively, soil and rocks, water, and air. We then took a basket of animals and decided how they travel – through the air, over the land, or in the water, and placed each animal on the picture that represented their travel areas. We discovered that some animals used more than one.
Songs we sang:

ABC’s

Way Up High in the Apple Tree

Jump Jim Joe

Hickety, Pickety, Bumblebee – a name introducing song

Stories we read – during circle time, afternoon quiet time, and morning work time

Can I Play Too? by, Mo Willems

From Head to Toe by, Eric Carle

I’d Really Like to Eat a Child by, Sylviane Donnio

Silly Sally, by Audrey Wood

A Beginner’s Guide to Bearspotting by, Michelle Robinson

We Are All Alike, We Are All Different by, Cheltenham Elementary Kindergarteners

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by, Don & Audrey Wood

Piggies by Don & Audrey Wood

Whose Mouse Are You? by, Robert Kraus

Our last week was full of energy and excitement.  We made good use of our time outside; running, digging, playing ball, and spending time with our friends.
For Monday art the children painted on flat, round objects, placed them on their paper, then turned them to blend the paint, making colorful circles.
There was stamping available at the circle table, and the students made animal track prints, letters and numbers, and artistic designs and patterns. In the sensory table the children had a lot of fun with water beads!
For the last week we brought out some favorite activities from the year . . .
the play dough dentist set,
the magnatiles,
and the puppet theater.

We read the story Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, about a girl who grows up with three goals: 1. to travel to far off places, 2. to live by the sea when she is old, and 3. to make the world more beautiful.  We also read Because Amelia Smiled, about how a little girl’s smile sets off a chain of good deeds.

We had a special visitor on Tuesday.  Lyn’s father, Roger Irwin, who is a nature and wildlife photographer, came in to talk about moose.  He showed us some moose pictures.  He talked about antlers and how they start growing in the spring, then fall off in the winter, and everyone had a chance to try to lift one up.  They are very heavy!  They also learned how the antlers act like an extra ear to help funnel in sound.  He demonstrated moose calls, both cows and bulls, which the children had fun practicing.  Did you know that a bull moose can hear a cow call from a mile away!? He also told us how a bull moose will create a wallow and pee in it then roll in it to attract a cow.  The children loved that information!  Then everyone got to smell some “moose pee” and decided that it was not particularly appealing.  We also got to smell the base of the antler, which smelled like evergreen trees, as moose will rub on them.  It was a fun and informational visit. On Wednesday we had our field day with an obstacle course.  The children had a lot fun hopping through hoops, jumping with sacks, throwing bean bags into buckets, walking a balance beam, crawling through a tunnel, hopping on a hoppy ball, spinning on a dizzy disk, kicking a kick ball, and playing toss.  Some children repeated the course over and over and over again. Zeanny came in for the final Spanish class on Wednesday, and she taught the students how to make tortillas, which they mixed, cooked, then ate together. Thursday morning was busy making sure belongings were packed to go home, spending time with friends, dancing, and celebrating a final birthday.  We counted as the newest five-year old circled the candle sun with the globe, then we sang the “Happy Birthday” song before enjoying some tasty lemon cupcakes.
Everyone was anxious for our performance and graduation.  The students did an amazing job singing and doing their presentations about the people in our community.  It was hard to say goodbye.  It was such an incredible year and we so loved spending our days with your children.  We truly do have the best job in the world!  Thank you!

Caterpillars in camouflage were attempting to stay hidden, but sharp eyes were on the lookout all week, searching them out.  Caterpillar houses were constructed so the caterpillars could “hide” when they were not being held or crawling all over arms and shirts.  The pool construction seems to be on hold, but games of tag and baseball were still being played. At the art table everyone had a great time creating colorful patterns and shapes with perler beads.  The children very carefully placed the plastic cylinders onto the shaped bases, then the teachers ironed over the top to melt them together.  It was a very popular activity! Most of the children also finished up their books about themselves.  It was a lot of fun chatting with each of them and helping them think through what they wanted to include.

A few more dragons were added to the flock, and they continued to be popular companions while children were working.
Sue brought her collection of dragon figures to share, which she displayed for us and brought down to show around the circle so we could get a closer look.  Most are quite fragile, so we were very careful to take good care of them.
We continued to practice our songs for our performance and we read some fun stories, including Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like by, Jay Williams, Who Wants a Dragon by, James Mayhew and Underwear by, Mary Elise Monsell.
We were excited to have a visit from the Fire Truck on Tuesday with Zina and Stephen.  Everyone who wanted to got to go in and check things out.
While Lyn was out on Thursday, the children had fun with Tammy and Sue.  The group went out early to enjoy the sunshine.  They played “Duck, Duck, Goose” together then everyone got their own bubble wands to make giant bubbles with.
On Friday for science Tammy and the students made and decorated paper kites with brown butcher paper and sticks.  They decorated them with butterflies and added tails with ribbons.  They were very fancy kites indeed!

The petals from the apple blossoms have been sprinkling down, coating the grass in a layer of white.  Some of the children have ambitiously chased them down to capture in their hands.   There has been much energy and excitement in the classroom, and the weather has been so gloriously perfect, that we have been heading out early and staying out late to soak up as much fresh air and sunshine as possible.  Construction on the inground pool continues, and fill from the digging is being hauled over to replace that dug from the ditch under the fence.  We played lots of “word tag” games until we became too hot and tired.  We watered our flower garden daily, so most of our pansies are faring quite well, and many of our seedlings have sprouted.  We even enjoyed a couple of picnics, where we were visited by some rather daring chipmunks searching for dropped food. On Monday we used the power of the sun to create our art.  Each child placed objects or shaped clay on a black paper, then we set them all out in the sunshine for the day.  In the afternoon we brought them in and observed that the sun had faded the parts not blocked by an object, leaving a “shadow” of the shape.

Gerrie Scott came to read to us for the final time this year.  The students made her some thank you cards to show their appreciation.  She taught the students the song, “Ten Little Indians” and read the story, Ten Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman. This week every child began, and some have finished, a book called “My Book About Me.”  They drew pictures of their families, their friends, their favorite “things” and their favorite thing about Sunnybrook.  We had a lot of fun discussing all of their favorites and we learned a few things that we didn’t know about some of the children!  We are excited to share them with families on the last day of school. The sensory table started out with water, then, due to lack of interest, changed to pop-beads, which were quite popular.  There were some very well accessorized children at Sunnybrook! A request for dragons was made, which started a week’s worth of dragon adventures in dragon castle cities.
We continue to practice our songs for the final performance – just one or two a day – as the children have them pretty well memorized.  We played some parachute games on Tuesday.  We read some fun new stories, including one with a unique sheep named Woolbur, who did things his own way, on Wednesday.  On Thursday we read all about the sun, the closest star, and how truly hot it is and even though it is really, really, far away, it is soooo much closer than any other star.  Then we learned about whole, half, and quarter notes and played instruments to the count of whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes.
For Friday science we did some science art.  We used milk, dish detergent, and food coloring to make milk rainbows.  After pouring a thin layer of milk in a dish, we dropped food coloring on top, then dipped Q-tips in dish detergent and touched the food coloring with them.  The concept of why it does what it does is a bit beyond comprehension, but it was cool to watch nonetheless.  Stories we read: Woolbur by, Leslie Helakoski

I’d Really Like to Eat a Child by, Sylviane Donnio

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by, Mo Willems

The Sun: Our Nearest Star by, Franklin M. Branley

The Story of Ferdinand by, Munro Leaf

Plant a Kiss by, Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Living Sunlight by, Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm

Batter Up Wombat by, Helen Lester

Gusts and Gales by, Josepha Sherman

Step Gently Out by, Helen Frost

This is Not My Hat by, Jon Klassen