Sunnybrook Montessori School

Yves Klein loved BLUE! He even created his own blue and used it to paint blue works of art. The children were introduced to monochrome artwork through an introduction to Yves Klein and the stories Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger and Bob’s Blue Period by Marion Deuchars. They then created monochrome paintings using a pallet of varied shades of the same color. Children continued to create monochrome art throughout the week to take home or display in our gallery.

We had our first sign language group with Rose on Tuesday. Rose first introduced herself and taught the children how to sign “my name is” . . . then each child introduced themselves. She taught us signs for different types of birds, which we will be learning about this month, and the signs for yes and no. She read us a story and played a game asking us questions, to which we would reply in sign with YES (making a fist and nodding it, like you nod your head for yes) or NO (putting down the ring and pinky finger and holding the pointer and middle finger straight and touching them to the thumb like a beak).

Henrietta and Wolfgang made their first appearance of the year with a problem they had in the sandbox the other night. Wolfgang was sad because Henrietta had grabbed the shovel from him. They helped us read through the first steps in problem solving, and the children brainstormed some ways to solve such a problem so next time Wolfgang and Henrietta would have some ideas for how to work it out.

Our study of birds began when some students found a dead bird on the front lawn, so we went to check it out. We kept our distance to avoid touching it and getting any mites or diseases while we observed it. We notice that it had two feet with claws, a beak, feathers, two wings, and a tail. We collected the bird and placed it in the freezer to examine later with a couple other songbirds who met their end, courtesy of Lyn’s cats. When we examine and compare them we will be careful to keep our distance to avoid any germs they may carry.

Children chose one or two colors of of their very own clay to put in a jar to use whenever they want. They each have a clay work mat with their name on one side and the alphabet on the other. They had fun using their fingers to pinch, squeeze, mold, form, and roll it, and tools to cut and mark it.

We read Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins & Eric Gurney, Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault, and A Germ’s Journey by Thom Rooke & Anthony Trimmer. We saw a picture of a man sneezing and talked about how germs spread from one person to another, or from a person to objects to other people, and how important it is to wash hands. Lyn “sneezed” some glow germs into her hands then passed them to the children, then we turned off the lights and looked at the “germs” under a black light. We tried to rinse them off with water but it didn’t work, so we scrubbed with soap for 20 seconds then rinsed and voila! No more germs!

Kindergarten students did some number work. They began number scrolls, writing sets of 10 numbers at a time, starting with 0-9, then 10-19, 20-29, etc. They will continue through the year and see how high they can go, working on number formation, identification, patterning, place value, and multiples of 10. They played some sight word games to become familiar with some early common words. So far they have been introduced to the, a, and, of, to, it, that, in, you, & is. Students also continued to work on their Pete the Cat stories, adding more things he stepped in and the colors that it changed his shoes.

Friday students had a reverse day. We spent the first half of the morning outside, then came in for snack and work time. While outside we created a compost jar by adding leaves, both green and brown, some grass, a few sticks, some apples, a bit of soil, and some water. We took the jar inside and will watch as it decomposes through the year and transforms into nice rich soil for growing new plants.

Unfortunately, due to being short staffed and the current COVID crisis, we will not be holding playdates for the 2021-2022 school year. We hope things are looking up next school year and we can resume our monthly playdates. Be well!

The artist Mary Cassatt painted portraits of children and families. On Monday we discussed who might be in a family and invited the children to make family portraits, including anyone they considered family, which could be those who live in their homes, pets, and extended family. Before taking pencil to paper they decided who they would include and the order they would draw them, then they got to work.

Life is full of rules and expectations, at home, at the store, at the library, at school, and anywhere else you go. We invited the children to share the expectations that we should have at school and discussed how they all fit into Being Respectful, Being Kind, and Being Safe, and how some fit into two or all three.

We have been reading and talking about farms, gardens, the arrival of fall, when plants die, and harvesting the final crops before winter. We read and acted out Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens. Bear sat lazily in his chair and Hare and his family planted, tended, and harvested crops at the end of each season, until Bear realized that Hare had been tricking him, growing beets, radishes, and carrots when Bear asked for the tops of the crop, broccoli, celery, and lettuce when Bear asked for the bottoms, and corn when Bear asked for both the tops and bottoms.

We had a fun water play scrubbing day for anyone who was interested with bins of soapy water to scrub out all the mud kitchen dishes. Those who love and seek the sensory experiences with paint and water and soap had a lot of sudsy fun.

We enjoyed our Thursday Harvest Festival activities despite the cold. The children were busy under the tent making leaf garlands, leaf rubbings, rolled radish paintings, seed collages, and vegetable print paintings. They got their bodies moving while hammering golf Tees into pumpkins, balancing acorns on spoons, transferring apples between buckets of water with tongs, hopping around in pillow case sacks, tossing radishes into pots, and rolling a pumpkin around a hula hoop obstacle course.

Kindergarten students did some penny addition by selecting 10 pennies each, then passing some to a friend. They then counted the amount their friend passed them and the amount they kept, then added them together to find the sum. They did some writing with Pete The Cat. They continued the story by brainstorming what else Pete might have stepped in and what color it would turn his shoes, illustrating and writing their ideas.

Several students decided to become world travelers by digging their way to China. They worked tirelessly through the week, creating a rather impressive hole in the sandbox, discovering and making piles of the layers of sand and clay and soil they discovered. To ensure no one was injured, they creating a variety of WARNING signs to post around the hole.

Monday artists read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stohl Walsh and White Rabbit’s Color Book, then got messy mixing up finger paints to create purple, orange, and green from red and blue, red and yellow, and yellow and blue.

Students continued to work on self portraits. They used the mirror to see the shape of their face, eye and hair color, and determine the facial features that should be included, then got busy drawing, mixing paint for their skin and hair, and creating beautiful portraits.

We were excited to have most of our class back this week! We were finally able to get to more of our classroom orientation. We played a self regulation game and practiced STOP and GO as we pretended to be animals moving around the room until we heard and saw STOP, then we would halt and transform into a new animal. We then played a safety game where we located and touched a STOP sign in the classroom and discussed why those signs are on the doors and that those doors are only used when a teacher or parent is with us or has given permission to go, except the bathroom doors, where we knock and listen before opening.

We read Horrible Bear and talked about ways we can safely and respectfully manage emotions, such as walking away when frustrated, taking some space when angry, and getting a hug when sad. The Quiet House was introduced, which is a space in the classroom for students to go have alone time and regroup when they feel overwhelmed by emotions or just overstimulated in the classroom. The Quiet House is for one person only at a time and is a choice a student may make for themselves if they feel it is needed. We sang the “If You’re Happy and You Know It” song and added some strategies for different emotions we might be feeling as the actions.

We celebrated a fourth birthday. The birthday boy quickly orbited the sun while holding the globe, then shared popsicles outside as a birthday treat. He chose his favorite color, red, for his popsicle.

We read about some different animals adventuring out and about in Oh, Look! by Patricia Polacco and Sheep Take a Hike by Nancy Shaw. We then took a nature walk and collected some items out in nature, which we brought back to make nature collages.

A Norwegian dwarf rabbit named Mars visited for a little while one afternoon. We talked about how to help him feel safe and how we would keep him safe by sitting in a circle with our knees touching, being calm and quite, allowing him to hop around and taking turns petting it if it came to us, and not picking it up. Some children chose to watch from a distance. Those who participated were very excited but they did well remaining calm and quiet. The bunny will visit again, and the children are already planning for the next visit, drawing bunny pictures to put around the classroom to make him feel welcome.

Kindergarten students have been working on letter handwriting, beginning sight words, some addition work, and creating stories about their families – as short as one page or a whole book that they can work on over time – while they sound out their words and record the corresponding letter sounds. At this stage we will give some spelling of basic words they may use often, such as love, but for now we encourage them to write phonetically, not correcting inaccurate spellings as they gain confidence in their sounding out and identifying individual sounds in words. The beginning stages of writing are focused on their phonemic awareness. Spelling will come later or be reserved for common words they will use often, such as the, and, of, and to.

Friday students did a backwards day, starting outside then heading in when it rained, and holding our morning meeting science group at the end of the morning before lunch! We picked the pumpkins from the gardens in front of the fence and did some pumpkin carving. The children loved using the little pumpkin saws to saw back and forth through the pumpkin flesh. They scooped out the seeds and pulp and put it in a pot. They created faces on most of them and random designs on others.

During science we talked about living things being either plants or animals then sorted small objects according to whether it was a plant or an animal. We discussed the parts of a plant and what each part does, such as leaves breath and make food, the trunk or stem carries the water up to the leaves, and the roots absorb the water from the ground and hold it in the soil, which lead to a discussion of how plants make food and where our food comes from – plants and other animals!! To wrap up, we read the book Where Does Food Come From? by Shelly Rotner and Gary Goss.