Sunnybrook Montessori School

Spanish color tag

National Spanish Heritage Month just came to an end, so we celebrated this week with lots of Spanish stories and activities.

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, or Cristóbal Colón, as they say in Spanish.  Zeanny shared the enthralling story of Cristóbal Colón and his dream of sailing around the world to the Orient.  We learned that he requested support from the king and queen of Spain three times before they agreed to fund him, and that it was the queens offer of her jewels that convinced the king to provide the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria and a crew of 90 men.  We also learned that colón is the name used for currency in Costa Rica.

pupusas

On Wednesday we spent the morning making pupusa’s, a stuffed corn tortilla made with masa (corn flour) and water.  We  added cheese, ground pork, and beans, or a combination of these, depending on preference.  They were delicious!  Some of you may have found one in your child’s lunchbox and had a chance to try it.

tres brujas

Zeanny also shared an exciting story of a town who was in need of help, tres brujas (three witches), a song about the days of the week, an hombre malo (bad guy) and a caja mágica (magic box).  It was all very exciting and scary!

Lunes, Martes, Miercoles tres

letter sounds

sharing

reading

pouring

We began learning about the artist, inventor, and scientist Leonardo Da Vinci.  We looked at the paintings of the Mona Lisa, said to the be the best known painting in the world, and the lesser known La Scapigliata (Head of a Woman).

pumpkin scooping

We enjoyed cleaning out and carving a pumpkin brought in by one of the Sunnybrook families.  Thanks so much!

pattern blocks

metal insets

locks

leaf nomenclature

block structure

binomial cube

painting frogs

Students continued work on their dioramas and their lap books, which we displayed in their various states of completion on Thursday evening.

cleaning for Bring Your Family to Sunnybrook Night

Everyone was excited for Bring Your Family to Sunnybrook Night.  Each child selected one or two materials that they wanted to introduce.  Henrietta chicken demonstrated how to give a tour of the classroom so everyone would be ready, and we got busy cleaning it up so it would be organized and spotless when everyone arrived.  It was a great evening.  The children really enjoyed showing you their school!

demonstrating the materials for our families

sink or float

Friday students did a sink or float experiment for science.  They made predictions about which items would sink, and which ones would float, then tested each item and documented the outcome. They were also busy with sound games, building mazes with the rods, play dough, playing chase on the playground, finding letters in the daily message, writing journals, and painting.  These days go so fast!

Can you find all the f’s, i’s, and d’s?

teen board

The teen board is a math material that helps students connect an amount with it’s symbol.  Students use the bead bars and the teen board to count out and form the symbols for the teen numbers.  For each ten, they place a ten bar.  For each number of units 1-9, they place the corresponding bar, slide in the digit, and count the total beads.  In this manner, they recognize that one ten and one unit makes the number eleven, represented as 11, etc..  For information on the introduction of the teen board, click this link to infomontessori.com.

enjoying the new slide

We continued to tour Europe this week, focusing on the Hebridian Islands of Scotland, where the author and illustrator Mairi Hedderwick lives.  We read several of the Katie Morag stories, which she wrote about a little girl who lives on a fictional island in the Hebrides.  We learned what islands are and saw many pictures of the Scottish Isles.

sand on bare feet

silly faces

raking leaves

sorting tray

Water Colors

At the art table we were introduced to watercolor painting, the medium that Mairi Hedderwick uses to illustrate her stories.

water color painting

Family Night Invite

Students made invitations to Bring Your Family to Sunnybrook Night on Thursday, October 17 from 5-7 PM, when your child will show you around our classroom and demonstrate a favorite material.

reptangles

spindle boxes

teen board

telling time

tweezer transfer

lap books and dioramas

The students began fall projects this week.  Everyone is making a diorama, and the kindergarten students are also making fall lap books.  Our classroom is housing some bear caves, some fall forest scenes, and a pond with frogs burrowing in the mud.

forest diorama

o and r

polygon matching

pouring

copying a quote

dancing to Beethoven

During music we were introduced to Ludwig van Beethoven.  We listened to the first movement of his very dramatic 5th Symphony, which the children enjoyed dancing and acting to.  We also listened for string instruments playing.

writing

journal writing

dice addition

knots

number rod addition

We participated in the Great North East Shakeout when we learned and practiced a duck, cover, and hold drill.  We pretended that the whole earth was shaking and crawled under tables and held onto the table legs to keep ourselves safe.

Afternoon students were introduced to a Yoga breathing exercise, where we put little stuffed animals on our bellies then made our bellies go up when we breathed in, and down when we breathed out.  We will continue to learn some yoga positions and breathing exercises throughout the year.

bead chains

busy in Practical Life

e and c

calabaza a su casa

During Spanish we began to learn a fun calabaza (pumpkin) song and a rhyme.  We practiced casa (house), pequeño (small), and grande (big).

Friday students continued to learn about water this week.  We read about the water cycle, evaporation, and water being a liquid, solid, and gas.  The students drew rainbows in their science notebooks, which we see when the sun shines on water droplets in the air, making beautiful “water colors” in the sky.

“water colors”

Kindergarten students began making their world maps.  They traced and cut out the two hemispheres, then traced Europe, pin punched around it, and colored it.  They will work throughout the year on their world maps.

working on world maps

outside play