Sunnybrook Montessori School

Word tag

giant icicle

During our first full week of spring we continued to enjoy the snow.  The children loved collecting ice that formed after the warmer days and cold nights.  Some of them filled their sleds and wheelbarrows with all of the pieces that they could find.

alphabetizing

carpet sweeping

counting boards

dice addition

f, c, e sound games

k & l

multiplication board

number rod addition

painting

reading

stamp game

story making

u words

weaving

knots

time

word picture match

writing

reading

African face painting

We completed our African journey during this final week of March.  Students had their faces painted in African designs, a common tradition in some areas of Africa for celebrations and rituals.  They practiced carrying bags and baskets of materials on their heads.  As we have been learning, in some areas of Africa water is scarce, and people have to travel to bodies of water to fill containers to carry back to their homes.  Many people transport these containers on their heads.  They also need to clean the water.  We did our own water cleaning demonstration by filtering it through dirt.  We also discussed the need for boiling the water to complete the process.  We read Mama Panya’s Pancakes and made African pancakes together.

head carrying

more head carrying

even more head carrying

making African pancakes

face painting for friends

African rhythms

enjoying African pancakes

sandpaper chalk drawing

At the art table the children did some chalk art on sandpaper.  They also made books of Africa and did many drawings.

drawing

drawing

Happy 4th Birthday!

We celebrated our third birthday of the month.  Happy fourth birthday friend!

table moving teamwork

enjoying birthday cupcakes

the tale of conejo et lobo

During Spanish we continued to have fun with animal sound games, African Bingo, and Zeanny concluded the tale of el conejo, el lobo, and the princessa.

African bingo in Spanish

Friday Science heart rate comparison

Friday students had another busy day.  They once again spent the morning engaged in work.  Gerrie Scott joined us to read My Amazing Grandpa.  During science we used stethoscopes to listen to our heartbeats.  We listened to and counted our resting heart rate, then ran all around the classroom (FUN!) then listened to our active heart rate.  We discovered that our hearts beat a lot faster when we are active, bringing oxygen to all the parts of our bodies, just like a bus taking children home, as one student analogized.

d work

spindle boxes

Giant Snowballs

snowman

What another great week in the snow!  The first day of spring brought some wonderful snowball snow, and the children made several giant snowmen and a snow wall out of snow balls.

giant snowballs

drumming and dancing

We had a great week of African music and dancing!  We watched a video of African children dancing, and tried to imitate them.  We did lots of dancing and clapping to African music and took turns drumming for everyone else to dance to.  We learned a rock passing game and song.  We worked together to keep the rhythm of tap, tap, tap, pass, pick up, then added the singing when we were all working in sync.  The children made African head scarves, which they wore all week. There was great rhythm in our classroom.

African scarf

decorating African head scarves

leprechaun coins

On Tuesday as we were heading outside, we discovered some leprechaun footprints running around our classroom.  The students followed them and discovered a little pot of Costa Rican coins that had gone missing from Zeanny’s purse!  Everyone got one to take one home.

journal writing

writing

journal writing

continents

100 board

z, i, c

writing and art

reading

Building up those arm muscles and control for later writing!

number rod addition

letter sound work

Birthday Boy

We celebrated our second birthday of the month on Wednesday.  Congratulations to our newly five year old friend!  We had fun singing Happy Birthday in English and Spanish, and enjoyed eating pirate cupcakes.

enjoying pirate cupcakes

hugs for the cat

On Thursday we had a special visit from The Cat in the Hat in honor of Dr. Seuss’ 101st birthday!  We enjoyed listening to the story I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, then everyone had a chance to hug, high five, or wave to the Cat in the Hat.  Each child got to choose a book to take home.

African Bingo in Spanish

During Spanish we pretended to be African animals, moving to the beat of the drum.  Zeanny continued telling us a story about a conejo (rabbit) and a lobo (wolf), which she will finish next week.  We also played African Bingo.

Pull!

snowman time

Snow, snow, and more snow!  The children continue to find many ways to spend their time outside in all of that white stuff.  Friday students were thrilled to be pulled around in the snow that fell on Thursday, which came up past their knees.

snowball making

snowman

making animal tracks

animal walking

Our African adventures continued this week in Spanish and English.  We watched a short video of dancing and drumming, an important aspect of African culture.  We learned that there is a wide range of living experiences in Africa, from farmers living in mud huts and grass houses with no electricity or running water, to cities with lifestyles and houses similar to our own.  We read the story of Beatrice’s Goat about a little girl who receives a goat, which helps her family earn money to send her to school and build a new house.  This is a true story of a girl in Uganda who, after getting a goat from Heifer International, began school at the age of 9 then went on to attend College in the U.S.

Spanish Africa Bingo

Spanish was a lot of fun with Spanish BINGO games, animal acting games, and animal sound games.  The children learned lots of Spanish names for animals and African items.

drumming

folding washcloths

journals

mancala

map tracing

metal insets

painting

passport

puppet show

vehicle puzzle

wooden word cards

writing

continent puzzle map

blocks and animals

hundred board

drum painting

At the art table we made drums with paper plates, and painted them with bright colors.  Next week we will do a lot of dancing and drumming!

blue drum

afternoon drum painting

Birthday girl

We celebrated our first sixth birthday this week.  Happy birthday 6 year old!

sap science

Friday students had another full day.  They were engaged with a variety of activities in the morning until they were ready for a short science experiment.  We talked about the change of seasons from winter to spring and what happens in trees.  We learned that tree sap has sugar in it, so we made a sugar water solution, which we put in the freezer next to a cup of plain water.  In the afternoon we took them out and compared them.  We observed that the sugar water solution was slushy, while the plain water was frozen solid.

color sort

binomial and trinomial cubes

word sound counting

pattern match

word work

chalkboard writing

water color mask painting

makeing a weekly work chart

wooden word cards

Next week we will be doing some African face painting and lots and lots of dancing, African style!

Outside Fun

It was wonderful to get outside and play in the sunshine and snow!  The children made chipmunk houses, went sled surfing, played hide and seek, pulled each other around in the sleds, and chipped away at the snow and ice to create sculptures.

sled suring

continent map

African animals

We began exploring Africa this week.  We learned about the equator, the part of the earth that is closest to the sun, and saw that it runs through the middle of Africa.  In this area of Africa there is a tropical rain forest, with animals such as the okapi and gorillas.  Moving away from the rain forest we learned about the mild zone, the grassy plains, and the deserts, with various animals and styles of living.  We saw pictures of different types of homes in Africa, animals, people, and the landscape.  We observed that African people have dark skin, and learned about melanin, which makes skin darker.  We discussed how our skin darkens when we spend a lot of time in the sun, and how people that live near the equator have darker skin than those who do not.  We learned the names of many African animals, and enjoyed playing games with them.

pin punching Africa

writing a letter to a friend

table setting

sweeping up a spill

sound sort

sandpaper letters

reading word strips

puppet show

play dough and color sorting

pattern blocks

metal insets

magnetic letters

girls and blocks

geometric solids

drumming

color sort

brown stair tower

multiplication board

sand dough

At the art table we used sand dough to create sculptures.  The children also colored pictures of African masks, and made their own.

African Mask

African Mask making

art

painting

water color painting

Masks

African animals in Spanish

Zeanny began teaching the Spanish names of the African animals.  We played an animal sounds game.  When Zeanny said the name of an animal, everyone made the sound of that animal.  We also read De la cabeza a los pies, by Eric Carle, and acted it out.

Spanish animal names

animal sounds

reading

Friday students were so busy working all day long!  They were so engaged with all of their math, reading, writing, art, etc., that we never made it to a science project.

journals

bank game

circle match

drawing

division board

journal

letter sound game

long chains

They were so excited when Mima the Mime (our friend Gerrie Scott) performed for us.  She began by pouring tea for everyone.  Next she did some hula hooping to music, then tossing and catching with her juggling sticks.  She did some charades, and we guessed what she was acting out.  For the finale she did more hula hooping and juggling sticks.  The children all agreed that it was “AWESOME!”

Mima hula hooping

Mima juggling sticks

mima charades throwing