Sunnybrook Montessori School

Chase

new friend

We were so excited to welcome a new morning friend last week, and an afternoon friend this week.  Both new students have quickly integrated into the class and we are enjoying getting to know them.

afternoon friend

The Autumn Equinox occurred on Sunday the 22^nd and was our focus this week.  We shared some of our observations about fall and how we know that the season is changing.  We took turns being the sun and the Earth to understand how the seasons change.  The earth travelled around the sun; passing from winter, to spring, to summer, then fall.  We learned that during the Autumn and Vernal (spring) Equinoxes, the day and night are the same length.

ten board

story sequencing

color block patterns

spanish vocabulary

pink tower and brown stair

number puzzle

geometric solid item matching

art

At the art table students continued to work on family portraits, as well as creating fabulous artwork using pastels, markers, scissors, and glue.  A lot of good creativity, fine motor work, and concentration has been happening at the art table.

cleaning

knots

painting

writing

batter up

number rods

movable alphabet

more knots

chalkboard art

We had two visitors from Costa Rica this week, Diego and Daniella.  Everyone enjoyed getting to know them and hear them speak Spanish.  We saw where Costa Rica is on the map of North America and the path they travelled to get to Lancaster, New Hampshire.

blindfolded sandpaper numbers

Pinta Ratones

During Spanish we read Pinta Ratones (Mouse Paint) by Ellen Stoll Walsh, and learned the Spanish color names.  We also talked about Costa Rica and began to learn about the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and his voyages from Spain to the Americas.

During Music this week we continued to learn about and play percussion instruments.  We were introduced to the rain stick, the xylophone, and the tambourine.

walking the line

hearts for friends

outside writing

knobbed cylinders

teeter totter

Olivia

On Thursday morning we had a visit from Olivia with Believe in Books.  We enjoyed listening to Olivia Saves the Circus, then giving her big hugs and choosing a book to take home.

a little light reading and relaxing

visitor

Friday students had another visitor in the morning.  A beagle puppy came to say hi and was given lots of hugs before she returned home.

science

During Friday Science we tasted four kinds of apple: honey crisp, mac, gala, and ginger gold.  Everyone said that they liked all of them best!  We counted and charted the number of seeds in each apple, and recorded our findings on a graph.

counting seeds

Outside Work

“Only Kindness Matters” is a quote by long time Sunnybrook teacher Gerrie Scott that we have posted in our room.  We talked about what this means and looked up kindness in the dictionary.   We have been mindful about being kind and will continue to share ideas about how to do this and why it is important.  We want our classroom to have a culture of respect and kindness.

Using pastels

We learned about a local artist, Bruce Richardson, who draws with pastels.  We have one of his pieces of art hanging on the wall, and we have a matching activity available with prints of some of his work.  Zeanny taught the students some techniques for working with pastels, such as blending, scratching, and smudging.

At the art table the students began working on family portraits.  We will continue to work on them this coming week.

cylinder block distance matching

pin punching

working that fine motor

fraction families

number puzzle

peg board

spindle box

ten board

scarf dancing to Mozart

During music we read about the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  We learned that he began playing a clavier and composing, with no instruction, at the age of five.  We listened and danced to some of his music.  We also learned that a whole note looks very much like a zero and the letter O, and that a whole note is four beats.  We practiced tapping our feet and humming for four beats, and listened to a whole note played on the piano.

caterpillar identification

The children found a lot of fuzzy caterpillars on the playground.  We were familiar with the Wooly Bears and the Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillars.  We were unsure what the fuzzy yellow ones were, but we decided not to touch them because they had long black hairs like the Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillars, which can cause a rash.  It was a good decision, as I discovered that they are American Dagger Moth caterpillars, and those long black hairs carry rash causing toxins.  We will continue to be careful while we examine them and try to see their very cool feet!

The Knight and The Dragon

transfer work

world map

afternoon journal writing

Cha Cha Cha

During Spanish we began to learn the words mama (mom), papa (dad), hermana (sister), hermano (brother), and Bebe (baby).  We enjoyed reading Mortimer and singing very loudly with him.

pasting

jumping over the beam

collecting signs of fall

Friday students began to talk about the Autumn Equinox.  We took a nature walk to the field behind the school and collected signs of fall.  The students documented the items in their science notebooks.  They found some apples that fell from a tree, which they wanted to try, so we washed them and cut them open.  They were worm free and quite crisp and tart, so they enjoyed eating them with lunch.   Some students took theirs home to plant.  They will need to be soaked and refrigerated in order to germinate.  This link will give information for anyone wishing to grow an apple tree.

documenting our collections