Sunnybrook Montessori School

The artist Paul Klee is known for both his use of shape and line. We read The Cat and the Bird by Geraldine Elschner, which she wrote based on Klee’s painting Cat and Bird. After checking out Castle and Sun and several other Paul Klee works of art, the children used shapes to create their own colorful pictures.

During Sign on Tuesday we reviewed all the bird and bird related signs, the alphabet, numbers to ten, then counting by 10’s to 100. We then read and signed the story chant Five Little Pumpkins. To finish off we sang and signed the Five Little Chickadees song.

Zeanny introduced Dia de los Muertos during Spanish. She shared how on this day in Mexico it is believed that those family members who have passed away can come back to visit for one day. People have a huge celebration with lots of food and parades and they visit the gravesites of their loved ones and dress up as skeletons. She showed us a clip from the movie Coco, which portrays real life customs during Dia de los Muertos. We then learned how to make flores (flowers) for the dead and papel picado (perforated paper). Everyone chose some tissue paper and made either a flores or papel picado, or both, to display in the classroom. Zeanny then gave everyone a treat before she left.

Kindergarten students played pumpkin addition BINGO, did some sight word word searches, and chose some of their own work to complete. Some students have been doing some initial work with sounding out consonant vowel consonant words that rhyme, preparing our mouths for the initial sound then sliding through the subsequent two sounds.

Some students spent a lot of time outside this week expending energy! And others preferred some inside time with lots of Memory and stories.

Friday students discussed how they eat their food with teeth and what types of food we eat. We talked about what birds eat and how they don’t have teeth but do have beaks, then read some stories about bird beaks. We looked at pictures of different foods birds eat and then the children did some experimenting with tools that represented different types of beaks. They had 6 tools and 6 types of food and had to find the best type of “beak” for eating each food. They had pliers, tweezers, a straw, a skewer, a fork and knife, and a strainer. They then figured out how to eat small floating water plants, a marshmallow “mouse,” nectar from a flower, worms in dirt, sunflower seeds, and a fish in shallow water. After experimenting we matched the “beaks” to each type of bird and their food source.

We are looking for a kind, engaging, passionate educator to join our team starting immediately.

Early Education Lead Teacher qualifications are preferred, but not required. This position is flexible and can be part time from 12 up to 40 hours/week. It is a school year position working with 3-6 year old students. Strong recommendations and a love of children are a must.

For more information, or to apply, please contact Sunnybrook Director Lyn Schmucker at [email protected].

As part of our bird exploration, we watched a brief tutorial by an artist demonstrating how to draw a bird. When drawing we made our focus not on imitating the artist so that our birds looked just like hers, but observing the parts she included and how she formed them and connected them together. Our artists created some truly unique and beautiful renditions of birds in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

During sign with Rose we reviewed all the bird signs and parts of birds that we have been learning and we were introduced to the American Sign Language alphabet. We observed and imitated Rose as she signed all the letters from A to Z. We then reviewed how to count from 1-10 and learned and signed the song 5 Little Chickadees.

Wolfgang and Henrietta visited to talk to us about HOW we speak to people, particularly the tone of voice we use and our wording, to make sure we are being kind and respectful, even when voicing our displeasure about something. Wolfgang was in a grouchy mood and he snapped at Henrietta and told her to GO AWAY and LEAVE ME ALONE! That made Henrietta really sad. We talked about ways that Wolfgang could kindly speak to her to let her know that he is grouchy and needs some space. We learned about using “I” messages, so rather than telling the other person what you do or don’t want them to do, you tell what you need. Wolfgang learned that he could say, “I need some space right now,” which was a much kinder and accurate way to communicate his needs. Henrietta and Wolfgang reminded us that we are in charge of managing our feelings, even though it might be hard, and WE own our feelings. No one else is responsible for how we feel, though it does not feel that way when someone does something we really do not like!

We celebrated a 6th birthday with fruit and donut hole kabobs. The birthday boy zoomed around the sun with the earth, so we very, very quickly listed the seasons and counted the years from his birth to his 6th birthday. Happy Birthday, birthday boy!

During Spanish we reviewed colors, parts of the body, and Zeanny introduced emotions with the “Como estas?” (how are you) song. We played a game with a friendly rabbit who greeted all her friends each morning by saying “Beunos dias” each morning and “buenos Noches” each night, and they all greeted her back. We then learned a bit about the artist Frida Kahlo and read a Frida Kahlo counting story.

Katie and AO visited from Believe in Books. AO read us some Dr. Seuss stories; Too Many Daves, and The Zax, then read us a story titled It Came in the Mail about a boy named Liam who loves mail but never gets any, so he decides to send a letter to his mailbox asking for some mail. Everyone really loved seeing what Liam would get from the mailbox every time he wrote a letter. After stories all the children got to pick a book of their very own. Thank you, Believe in Books!

Kindergarten students chose most of their own work – selecting some number writing, addition work, or writing work. Everyone did some birds on a wire addition which introduced counting by 2’s. They each got a page with three sets of telephone poles and they drew birds on them, then wrote 2+ addition problems, including a 2 for each bird, as that is how many feet each bird has on the wire. If there were three birds on the wire, they wrote 2 + 2 + 2 = 6 feet. Some of them drew 8 or 10 birds – that was a lot of feet!

Friday students read some stories about birds. They shared about their experiences flying (from the couch or trampoline) and discussed some of their observations of birds, bird nests, and all things bird related. Everyone then put on some gloves so they could safely hold and examine the three dead birds that were frozen (killed by Lyn’s cats & one found on the front lawn at school). They admired the beautiful feathers, and observed the feet, claws, beaks, and wings.

We began our transition to outside drop off this week, which went very smoothly for some and was a hard change for others. Those with energy to get out who need to run and move have been able to do so until they are ready to head inside for snack and inside work. Those who prefer a quieter, calmer start may choose to go inside and participate in morning meeting and do work with inside materials. As morning meeting can be a struggle for some, and not developmentally appropriate for younger students, we give them the choice to participate or not. This has given everyone the chance to decide for themselves if they are ready and able to attend and participate, or if their bodies need to expend some energy instead. We will continue to monitor and observe and adjust to meet the children’s needs as we are able and explore holding a second meeting after lunch so more students have the opportunity to participate.

Outside the children were busy constructing forts, a hunting camp, and hunting ships, and going on hunting expeditions for ALL of the animals – deer, moose, grouse, bear, and SHARKS! They suffered many shark attacks and captured lots of sharks. They played ball, dug holes, built sand castles, mixed up mud soup, pulled friends and supplies in the wagon, captured bad guys, raced around on bikes, played tag, flew paper airplanes, created lots of pictures, and tossed balls and rubber bowls to dislodge paper airplanes, bowls, and balls stuck in the tree.

Inside students did math work, writing, puzzles, games, musical instruments, blocks and cars, dramatic play, lots of art projects, practical life activities, etc.

During sign language with Rose we practiced the bird signs – bird, goose, duck, chicken, nest, egg, hatch – and learned some new ones – eagle and wing. We learned how to sign the numbers 1-10 and read a story about Duck and Goose who were counting the things around them.

We read and acted out the story The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything.

We revisited our classroom expectations and the children illustrate some ways to be Respectful, Kind, Safe, and Responsible and posted them on the wall to remind us how to treat ourselves, others, and our environment.

Zeanny came for our first Spanish class. We sang songs about the body, colors, and counting. We were introduced to the terms for different parts of the body, colors, and numbers. She read a story about colors and the children practiced each color name – blue/azul, green/verde, yellow/amarillo, orange/naranja, purple/morado, red/rojo. We then played the colored egg shakers slowly/lento, quickly/rapido, forward/adelante, behind/detras, low/bajo, or above/arriba.

Kindergarten students were busy with writing work. They chose from several options for writing – creating their very own book about anything they choose, continuing their Pete the Cat stories, or writing about something they like to do and why. They illustrated their books then worked on sounding out and writing down all the corresponding letters they hear in each word. We are focused on phonetic writing right now to solidify their connection between letters and their most common sounds, and gaining confidence in their ability to decipher words and write them down. Writing typically precedes reading, as it is much easier to take a puzzle apart than to put it together, and this is what they are doing when they write – breaking it down into the sounds. Phonetic writing is an important precursor to later reading, and you will notice that a lot of words are not spelled accurately – that will come later! This is an important part of the process for them to master first. For example, one student wrote that they like to draw – g r o (this is the phonetic spelling as the r changes the /d/ sound to a /j/ sound and aw makes the soft /o/ sound – so this was excellent work identifying the sounds and writing their corresponding letters). I will teach the spelling for some common words outright, as the students will encounter and use them over and over, such as the, of, and, to, is, an, am, all, etc., and they will work on these both in context and in isolation.

Friday students who chose to did some apple taste testing. They tried out 7 different types of apples and rated them by how much they liked their flavor and texture. They observed and described the color and markings of each, including the flesh inside, then chomped and chewed them up, describing the flavor as they ate them. Some got a thumbs down (granny smith was NOT a favorite for most) or two thumbs, 8 fingers, and 10 toes up, such as the Cripps Pink apple.

Makenna brought Ukelarry back for a visit and we had so much fun singing songs with them! She played and sang “You Are My Sunshine,” “In the Jungle,” “Five Green and Speckled Frogs,” “Old MacDonald,” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” The children enjoyed singing along and being hopping frogs. We love having Makenna and Ukelarry sing to us!