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This is Week 1 and Monday is P.E./Movement Day!  We hope you will enjoy the activities which were sent in by the teachers of the 3 age groups for you to do!!

3 Year Olds (in Ms. Barbara and Mrs. Almoula’s group)

The three-year olds work hard on following directions and refining their coordination.  Here is a simple song/dance you can do!

1) Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

https://youtu.be/zv6ybv3YfeM

2) Gummy Bear

4 Year Olds (in Miss Yuri and Ms. Hoshi’s group)

The children have been working on refining their coordination, movement manipulation, and balance. They will further develop their dance and gymnastics skills as well.

(1) Animal Walk:

The animal walk is a very simple exercise that the children enjoy. Also, this helps us see how their muscles strengths to support their weight while doing this exercise. During our lessons, we have covered, crab walk, bear walk, frog jumps, snake slither, duck walks, penguin walks, seal slide, etc.

https://lemonlimeadventures.com/animal-walks-sensory-diet/

Crab walk and seal slide require arm strength.

Please assist them if they are having difficulty holding their weight up.

(2) Calming Down Exercise:

The children could sit criss-cross apple sauce (crossed leg) and try to calm down their bodies through this breathing and stretching exercise.

5 Year Olds ~ Pre-First Graders (in Mr. Dale and Mr. Myk’s group)

Yoga is a great way to move your body independently, even in your own living room!  This is a link to the poses we practiced in January. All students have experimented with these and should be quite familiar with them.  Challenge your child to take you on a trip to the Arctic as we did in class with this interactive yoga adventure.

You can remind children to control their breath through their noses and to try to hold each pose for three slow breaths before changing to the other side.

Arctic Yoga Poses – Click here to view

Tomorrow, we will do some yoga with an adventurous story.

We hope you enjoyed your P.e./Movement class for today.  We’ll see you again tomorrow as it will be our second class for the week!!

Hello everyone,

Today it’s Ms.Almoula’s story time. I’d like to share with you “Over in the Meadow ” story by Jane Cabrera. In this story we will learn some rhyming words. I hope you enjoy it.

Click here for Over In the Meadow

After listening to the story ,let’s see if you can say all the words that rhymes with the numbers 1 to 10.

Here are two songs that the children know from all classes:

Be My Echo by Frank Leto

Color Song by Frank Leto

You can also make a list of rhyming words with your family ! To help you with that ,please listen to this song Down by the Bay.

Here is a craft activity you can do–How to make a paper plate turtle:

Ms. Hoshi’s Storytime

Hello, everyone! Today I will post one of my favorite stories, “Olivia saves the circus”. It was written AND illustrated by Ian Falconer (he’s very talented)! I know that the children in Ms. Mimi’s class can “read along” a bit with me. I wonder if the other classes know this book well, also? You may want to invite your brothers or sisters to watch with you…

CLICK HERE TO WATCH: OLIVIA SAVES THE CIRCUS

It seems that Olivia enjoyed doing (or enjoyed making stories about) many activities. Can you list some of the adventures which she said she did?

Activities for you and your family.

When I was a child in Pittsburgh, we had a large flood, and everyone needed to stay indoors for a two weeks. My mother, Aunt, and I played games for the whole week! I loved it, and still enjoy “Game Night”. I hope that you and your family will open up the closet, and try some of these games together this week.

“Spoons”, good for four people, ages 3 (with assistance) and up. You’ll need a deck of cards, and one less spoon than the total number of players.

Family Card Games: How to Play Spoons

Other indoor, family games that you may not have taken out in a while:
Checkers, Jenga, Simon Says, or Hide and Seek.

Everybody enjoys seeing Ladybugs land on them, I think. Here is a Ladybug craft for all ages, with a bit of help needed for the younger ones.

https://www.broogly.com/project/paper-plate-ladybug

Wherever you are, please remember to help your family, smile, laugh, and learn something new everyday!

Hope to see you soon!  Remember, you can leave us comments below the posts!

Ms. Hoshi

Here are some suggested ideas for your child to do as today is P.E./Movement Day!  They are separated into age groups.

3 Year Olds (in Ms. Barbara and Mrs. Almoula’s group)

The three-year olds work hard on following directions and refining their coordination.  Here is a simple song/dance you can do!

4 Year Olds (in Miss Yuri and Ms. Hoshi’s group)

The children have been working on refining their coordination, movement manipulation, and balance. They will further develop their dance and gymnastics skills as well. Here are some activities you can do:

(1) Musical time/Dance moves:

Since we would like to discourage students from viewing the computer screen for an extended amount of time, please play the music on youtube and refrain from showing the screen if needed. 

Puppet Master:

Dance moves: Raise foot, raise knee, raise the other foot, raise the other knee, and walk in a circle. Are the children able to balance themselves?

Airplane Song:

Dance Moves: They will pretend to be on the airplane and do some different moves such as jumping, spin around, gallop, and free-dance. 

(2) Calming Down Exercise:

The children could sit criss-cross apple sauce (crossed leg) and try to calm down their bodies through this breathing and stretching exercise.

5 Year Olds ~ Pre-First Graders (in Mr. Dale and Mr. Myk’s group)

Pre-1st students completed a yoga unit in January.  Yoga is a great way to move your body independently, even in your own living room!  This is a link to the poses we practiced in January. All students have experimented with these and should be quite familiar with them.  Challenge your child to take you through the African safari as we did in class with this interactive yoga adventure.

You can remind children to control their breath through their noses and to try to hold each pose for three slow breaths before changing to the other side.

African Animals Yoga Poses – click here to see the cards

Although the activities are geared for each age group, everyone can enjoy them!!

Hello, boys and girls.  Welcome to Ms. Mimi’s Storytime.

Today, I’d like to share with you “Stick and Stone”.  I hope you enjoy it.

“Stick and Stone” by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld.        Please click here.

At the end of the story, you may want to think about answering these questions:

1. Stick and Stone, why were they lonely in the beginning of the story?
2. Do you think being alone can be fun?
3. What do you think of Pinecone who made fun of Stone when he fell off the swing?
4. When needed, would you help and stick up for your friends?
5. What do you like to do together with your friends?
6. If you see someone alone and who seems lonely, do you think you can be their friend?

Can you find the number that looks like Stone? Stick? Or, Stick + Stone together?

Thinking of you,

Ms. Mimi

Hello Parents & children,

Today I will be reading a favourite storybook of mine called, “Edward the Emu”

It’s a popular story which I hope you enjoy!

Happy reading,

Ms.Catherine

Below is the story link to watch: “Edward the Emu”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Frit0nf-TU0tcBY6tI5ffzPRQTRblSgS/view?usp=sharing

After the story here are some questions you might like to ask your child to further develop his/her comprehension skills.

Questions to ask your child after the story:

1. Why was Edward so bored in the zoo?
2. What did Edward do once the zookeeper went to bed?
3. Who did he visit first?
4. Why did he think that being a seal would be the best?
5. What did Edward hear a visitor say over the fence?
6. Do you think Edward could be part of the lion’s den? Why or why not? Do Emu’s like to hang from tree branches?
7. How many animals did he visit at the zoo? 
8. How did Edward feel when he heard a visitor say that the emu’s were the best?
9. Who did he meet when he returned to his area in the zoo?
10. How did Edward feel about his new friend?

Suggested activities to try: 

EMU CRAFTS

*Emu mask to print, colour & make: supercoloring.com/masks   

*Make some snakes that Edward visited with play dough, great for fine motor skills.

Here is a link below for a recipe that does not need cream of tartar, which is used to keep it fresh.

https://funlearningforkids.com/easy-play-dough-recipe-without-cream-tartar/

*Make your own “Edward the emu” by using a paper plate, pipe cleaners and bits of any brown paper or material that you have in your craft box!

*Word search worksheet– *Click on “Download for free” from this site

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/EDWARD-THE-EMU-WORDSEARCH-4002277

*Emu colouring, print out & colour your own: http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/emu-1

*Emu colouring page on-line:

 http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/emu-1?colore=online

Happy Girl’s Day!!

Today, March 3rd is known as Hinamatsuri, Momonosekku (Peach Festival) or Girl’s Day in Japan.  It is a special day set aside for girls to celebrate the happiness and health of girls.  Special dolls are bought by grandparents (custom is usually the father’s side) when a baby girl is born and are set up each year.

Below are some clips for the explanation of Girl’s Day for you to look at, if you are interested.

Here is the Hinamatsuri Song, Ureshii Hinamatsuri:

Here is a craft you can do for Girl’s Day.

    Hina Dolls

Materials :

• 2 pieces of white paper (cut into a circle) or 2 paper plates
• 2 smaller circles for the head/face (white or peach color ~ can be colored)
• Black paper for hair (both) and odairi-sama’s kanmuri (emperor’s hat/crown)
• Gold for ohina-sama’s crown (empress)
• Light color (tan) for odairi-sama’s shaku (a flat ritual baton) and ohina-sama’s ohgi (fan)
• Crayons or something to color with and/or patterned paper to paste

Fold the paper circle or paper plate in half and decorate like a kimono like the picture above.  You will need to make one for the emperor (prince)/odairi-sama and one for the empress (princess)/ohina-sama.

Have fun and Happy Girl’s Day!!  Please note that boys can join in the fun, too!

Ms. Salllie

Welcome to Ms. Sallie’s Story Time!  Today I will be reading What If? by A.H. Benjamin and Jane Chapman.  I hope you enjoy it.

What Is – Ms. Sallie’s Story Time  -please click

At the end of the story, you may want to think about these questions:

1.  What were the animals afraid of?
2.  Do kangaroos really live on a farm?
3.  Do you think it’s a good idea to have a kangaroo for a babysitter?
4.  What do you think the kangaroo will do with all of the baby animals?
5.  Would you like to have a kangaroo for a babysitter?  What would you do?

Thank you for listening!!

Ms. Sallie

March 2, 2020

Dear Montessori Parents,

Welcome to our Montessori Blog that you will have access to during the school’s closure.  Here you will find stories read by the teachers so that your child has a visual connection with us all.  Each day one teacher or assistant will share a storybook and pose questions for your child to think about and discuss with you.  She will also share some ideas/activities that your child might like to do.  Our Montessori P.E./Movement Team will be posting something for your child to do on the P.E. Movement days.

Please know that Montessori is a hands-on learning method and as such, we want to discourage children viewing a computer screen for extended amounts of time.  

Since none of us can even imagine this kind of situation occurring around the world, we have been putting our SMEOS of being a “Life long learner’, into practice by familiarizing ourselves with new teaching platforms through technology. Please bear with us as we learn this new system of sharing stories with your child.

As we are all unsure of just how long school will be closed, we ask that you regularly check our school website. 

Respectfully, 

The Montessori Staff