Reading Fun Day, Dress-up Day and International Week (Part 1)

The theme of Fun Day for the Montessori School and Elementary School in October was “Reading”. We all love reading!

The Dress-up event was becoming their favorite character in a book. The children dressed up as a princess, unicorn, witch, dog, monkey, car, character from the Bible, and much more.  They enjoyed talking to each other about their characters.

Another event was the Door Design:  Each class from Montessori up to Grade 5 made a door cover from a book for a display in the main building.  Our class chose the book “Draw Me a Star” by Eric Carl.  It was fun to draw (a star)!

And we took turns in pairs to pose under our poster.

 

Ms. Catherine’s class chose the book “Shape Space” by Cathryn Falwell. Each child chose a shape and drew a picture with their faces on them.

Ms. Sallie’s class chose “A Busy Year” by Leo Lionni,  and each child took a picture by the door poster dressed as a mouse.

The fifth grade boys and girls took the older Montessori children in small groups and guided them around for a door tour in the main building.  We got to see many interesting doors.

Reading moms:   We had two moms from Elementary School read to us.  We liked listening to stories by different moms.

As part of the Language program, we sometimes have Elementary or High School students come to our Language classes in the afternoon, and we become “reading buddies”.  We also then become friends with the older students attending Saint Maur.

International Week (Part I)  – Presentation on France by Agathe’s parents.  They made a slideshow for us and showed us how different types of cheeses are made in France, from cow, goat or sheep milk.  We learned how the holes in Emmental cheese are made by doing a science experiment on fermentation, mixing yeast and sugar in warm water and placing a balloon over the bottle’s neck so we could watch the gas escape into the balloon.

Do you know what we are doing below?  We are making our own butter by shaking the cream inside a jar, really hard until it turns into butter!  “Shake, shake, shake!!”

Then we strained the extra buttermilk to isolate the solid butter.  We took a small portion of the butter to sample at home.

We also tasted three different types of cheeses from France: Crotin, Brie, and Comte cheeses.  You can see the “new” taste on our facial expressions!

International Week Presentation on India:  Jenisha’s and Thejasvi’s moms taught us some facts about India.

“Who knows what the national animal of India is?”  Yes, tiger!   We learned about what the national flag symbolizes, the many languages spoken in India, the food, customs and festivals, dresses, currencies, and much more.

We tried practicing an Indian dance.  We also smelled the different spices used in Indian cooking and tasted homemade Indian treats. That was the best part!

  

Next week we will learn about Germany and the United States…  to be continued.

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Our busy bees

Our class, in fact all three Montessori classes, received a surprise gift of a Lego box.   It’s too early from Santa Claus, isn’t it?   So guess from whom?

It was from the Elementary School Student Council, who had asked the PSG (Parent Support Group) for Lego boxes for all the Montessori and Elementary classes.  The PSG generously granted their wish, and… the Student Council members were at our door to make the delivery.  Thanks to the PSG and the Student Council, the children are seen busy expanding their imaginations during lunch recess.

Observing the patterns of the seashells with a magnifying glass. Hmmm.

Matching the lids to their containers.

Constructing a colored map of Japan, as well as learning the names of the geographical regions, including Kanto where we live.
Knobbed Cylinder blocks: matching the cylinders to the right sockets of varying depths and widths.
Knobless cylinders: building a 10-cylinder tower with cylinders of the same height but narrowing widths, stacked in the correct balancing order.
Working in pairs: matching the colors.
Sorting pencils of different colors, into groups of the same color
Show and Tell time: sharing time.  What are you showing us today?
 Pouring activity.
Working in pairs: taking turns matching cards to complete the pictures.
 We are responsible to clean the floor after lunch.
We made crowns.  Now let’s make bracelets!
 Creation with magnet shapes to make a three-dimentional object.
Who lives in this colorful town?
Our favorite time in the Library: we choose our own books.