Please join us on Saturday, May 4th, from 10 AM -12 noon to welcome spring!   We invite all families, community members, and those interested in learning about Sunnybrook and our program.  There will be lots of fun springtime games and activities, including:

*  Face Painting   *  Egg Spoon Race   *  Butterfly Craft   *  Pot Painting and Flower Planting   *  Stories read by local librarian Ronnie Zajac   *  Music by Local Performers   * Running Race

Please join us and spread the word!  We hope to see you there.

Building a Fire

We continued with composting at the science table this week.  We read about worms, and the role they play in helping to keep our soil healthy.

Blocks

We have been learning the song “Rattlin’ Bog” and the movements that go with it.  It is a repetitive song that moves kind of quickly, so we will be practicing it a lot over the next several weeks.

Friends Hanging Out

Cylinder Blocks

Cylinder Tower

We have continued to work on our story about trashcans.  We still have a lot of work to do, but there are lots of great ideas just waiting to be recorded.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Happy 5th Birthday!

We were excited to celebrate two birthdays this week!  On Tuesday we counted four times while our friend circled our candle sun with the globe, then sang happy birthday and ate yummy blue frosted cupcakes.  On Thursday we got to count five times and enjoy pink frosted cupcakes.

Letter Sounds

Folding Washcloths

North America Map

Silence Game

Tuesday afternoon students learned a new silence game with Emily.  They took turns walking quietly around the circle of friends, then ringing the bell behind someone and quietly switching places with them.

Sewing

Painting

ou and ee

Clay Maracas

On Wednesday morning the students enjoyed making clay maracas with Zeanny.  After they dry, the students will paint them to look like an animal of their choice.

During Spanish we are learning about Peru.  We practiced the lluvia song and the color song.  Zeanny read a beautiful book, Colors! Colores! by Jorge Lujan.

Spanish Tug of War

Word Work

Watercolor Painting

Tying a Friend’s Shoe

Friday students were busy.  We attempted to write secret messages with lemon juice and milk, but sadly they did not work well.  We were quite disappointed.  We began writing a skit for our last day presentation.  We enjoyed the nice weather outside playing, and in the afternoon we brought some math work out and played word sound tag.

MUD!

Mud, mud, we love MUD!  The children found a most fabulous mud hole in the corner of the playground, where they discovered that by standing and wiggling back and forth, they could get thoroughly stuck.  It was great fun for them, though maybe not so much for your washing machines.

Goofy Girls

Spring Sledding

Riding Their Horses

Balancing

Compost Jar

We learned a lot about waste, recycling, trash, and compost this week.  We read Where Does the Garbage Go? then sorted some waste.  We divided the waste into three categories – recyclables, compost, and trash.  We also read Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story.  At the science table students made their own compost jars using food scraps, leaves, grass, and dirt.  We will observe them over the next couple of months to see what happens.

Water Transfer

Pin Punching

Short Chains

Nuts and Bolts

Cutting

Moon Dough

In the sensory table the children made some moon dough – a mixture of flour and baby oil – which can be granular like sand and molded like play dough.

Picture Word Matching

Peg Counting Board

Fish Nomenclature

Peruvian Yarn Art

The art table was busy with many different activities.  The children made tissue paper flowers, continued to sign the thank you cards for our classroom visitors, did some water color painting, made some beautiful Peruvian yarn art with Zeanny, and made art replicas by looking at a poster and copying it in their own style.

Final Product – Peruvian Yarn Art

Signing Thank You Cards

More Yarn Art

World Map Work

Some of the kindergarten students worked very hard on their world maps, tracing, pin punching, and coloring all of the continents.

Building with Blocks

Animal Parade

Sunnybrook Montessori School Sign

El Frijole De Benito

During Spanish we learned about Peru, some of the art, customs, and climate.  Zeanny shared a story about an old lady who lives in a cave and sings a song to make it rain when it gets too dry.  She taught us the song, and some children had a great time singing it at recess time in an attempt to make it rain.  Another group sang for sunshine, and they must have been a bit louder, because the sun began to peek out by the end of recess.  We also read the story El Frijole de Benito, about a cat who plants a bean plant and waits and waits for it to grow.

Wednesday Afternoon at the Bandstand

Map Puzzle of Asia

Friday students were busy working on their world maps, doing map puzzles, assembling compost jars, making art reproductions, and creating little books.  Gerri Scott read Just One Bite, about what different animals eat.  The students were so busy working that they decided to delay recess.  It began to rain when were going to head out, but they were excited to do rainy day activities instead.

Rainy Day “Mother May I?”

Please join us on Monday, April 15, from 6-7 PM for the third of three Montessori Workshops.  Lyn Schmucker and Emily Robarts will discuss the Montessori Philosophy and introduce materials from the Literacy Area of the Classroom.  If you have questions, or would like to register your child for childcare, please contact Lyn at [email protected].  All are invited!  We hope to see you there.