We Had a Great Time!

October was an exciting month with two very special events, Fun Day and Mikan Picking for the 4-5 year olds and a Teddy Bear’s Picnic for the 2½~3 year olds.

For Fun Day, which was based on books and reading for Montessori and Elementary School, all of the Montessori children enjoyed the story “Today Is Monday” by Eric Carle.  For our “costumes” we all made our own crowns with the characters for “Today Is Monday” and learned the song which you may have heard them sing at home (♪Today is Monday, Today is Monday.  Monday spaghetti, All you hungry children, come and eat it up…….♪).  The children love the song and we still hear the children sing the song spontaneously from time to time!  As a whole school event, we were asked to decorate our doors with a story so that other students from other grades can come to see the door.  Our class chose the story “Ten Red Apples” by Pat Hutchins.  After reading and talking about the story, each child colored and cut out an apple or one of the characters in the story.  The children did very well and we could see that their coloring and cutting skills are improving every day!  Then, half the class stayed to welcome visitors to our door and the other half went around the ES corridor to look at everyone else’s door displays and then we exchanged jobs.  All of the doors were fantastic and full of thought!!  The rest of the day went smoothly with visits by other teachers (Ms. Lee, Ms. Culek and Mrs. Okaguchi) who read stories to us as well as helped make the book markers the children took home.  The best part of the day, however, were the delicious ice cream and gelatos the children had as an afternoon snack!!  It was an exciting day for all!

Decorating the Door with the children's pictures.

Decorating the Door with the children’s pictures.

 

Visiting the ES classrooms with our crowns!

Visiting the ES classrooms with our crowns!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. O

Mrs. O

Ms. Lee

Ms. Lee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you teachers for working with us 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Culek

Ms. Culek

Yummy Ice Cream!!

Yummy Ice Cream!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

img_1448  img_1450

We Love Fun Day!

We Love Fun Day!

 

Mikan Picking was another exciting event.  The children split up into 3 groups—4 year olds and 5 year olds, who went mikan picking at staggered times and the 2½~3 year olds, who stayed back at school to have a special “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” morning.  The little ones had a good time going at their own pace and doing activities which were just right for their age level.  For the older children, despite the inclement weather, the 4 year olds were able to enjoy the event and were excited that they could eat the mikans freshly picked from the tree!  The 5 year olds started out the picking just fine, but just as they finished eating and picking and the last few mikans went into their bags, the rain started to come down.  This did not discourage these children; we went to a covered area and ate our lunch standing up!  Although we dreamt about having a picnic lunch on the lawn, this rare experience was fun and the children were happy and ate very well.   It was an exciting experience for all of the children and the teachers too! J  We hope you enjoyed their present of freshly picked mikans.

I found one!

I found one!

I can't decide which one to pick!

I can’t decide which one to pick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm taking this one!

I’m taking this one!

Twist and pull....I got it!

Twist and pull….I got it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is my bag full?

Is my bag full?

Should I eat this one or take it home?

Should I eat this one or take it home?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I definitely eating this one!

I definitely eating this one!

LUNCH TIME!! Thank goodness for the roof covering.

LUNCH TIME!! Thank goodness for the roof covering.

 

Now, the month of November has quickly swept in and is already trying to sweep out!  The days seem to be flying.  It was a month of many of us getting the early round of the flu.  We thank parents who have taken the extra day for children to recuperate after having a fever.  It always helps to be safe.  The children have been working hard and diligently.  We continued learning about pumpkins and autumn.   We had a history lesson about the first American Thanksgiving and learned about the Pilgrims and the Native American Indians.  This got us inquiring about why the Native Americans were called Indians.  The children are so good about picking up information and it is always exciting as a teacher to offer interesting information about various topics.  We will be moving on into the month of December soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Are Busy Workers!!

A full month of school has already finished and Ms. Sallie and Ms. Barbara’s Class has been working hard with many different activities in the classroom.  There are 5 areas in a Montessori classroom:  Practical Life (Activities of Daily Living), Sensorial, Math, Language and Cultural.  Children go around the classroom choosing their own work which they have been presented (lessons), sometimes needing a little encouragement.  We have been talking about doing challenging work with good concentration.  Even though it is still early in the school year, most children surprise us with what they choose and are interested in doing.  We would like you to take a peek at what the goes on during our work time—a little of everything…!

*PRACTICAL LIFE:

We can do our buttons on our smock!

We can do our buttons on our smock!

Getting ready to zip up our jackets in the winter.

Getting ready to zip up our jackets in the winter.

We also work on how to tie a bow.

We also work on how to tie a bow.

We learn to care for our classroom.

We learn to care for our classroom.

 

*SENSORIAL:

We can hammer the shapes to make pictures.

We can hammer the shapes to make pictures.

We love working with puzzles!

We love building puzzles!

The Binomial Cube

The Binomial Cube

The Sound Boxes

The Sound Boxes

 

*MATH:

Unifex Cubes (Numbers 1-10)

Unifex Cubes (Numbers 1-10)

Numbers and Counters (Numbers 1-10)

Numbers and Counters (Numbers 1-10)

Teen Beads and Board-Recording (Teens and Tens)

Teen Beads and Board-Recording (Teens and Tens)

Addition with Number Rods (Operations)

Addition with Number Rods (Operations)

 

*LANGUAGE

Reading/Looking at books in the Library Corner

Reading/Looking at books in the Library Corner

What sound can I hear in the middle of "pet"?

What sound can I hear in the middle of “pet”?

Making 3-letter phonetic word

Making 3-letter phonetic word

Reading 3-letter phonetic words

Reading 3-letter phonetic words

 

*CULTURE

Science - Looking at Reptiles

Biology – Looking at Reptiles

Botany - Parts of a Flower Puzzle

Botany – Parts of a Flower Puzzle

Art - We love to draw!

Art – We love to draw!

We must put the date stamp on our work.

We must put the date stamp on our work.

 

Welcome!

Ms. Sallie and Ms. Barbara welcomed 22 children including 6 new boys and girls to our class for the 2016-17 school year.  We will be uploading our class blog at least once a month (and sometimes in-between), so please look forward in finding out what the children are working on and/or interested in.  We will also be informing you of any changes in schedule and other important or good-to-know information too.  We hope to share as much as we can with you through Ms. Sallie and Ms. Barbara’s Class’ Blog.

During the first few weeks of school, the children will be learning/re the everyday routines of the class as well as having basic presentations which often are forgotten over the long summer, such as pushing in chairs, rolling and unrolling mats and the various process of doing various activities, starting back with the simpler and moving on.  As you are already aware through our class calendar, the children will visit the library on Fridays with the 5 year olds going every week and the 3 and 4 year olds going every other week.  Movement classes are also an exciting part of the week.  There is a rotation between Gross Motor Movement and Creative Movement which take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Show-and-Tell will be on Mondays and Thursdays and will be for the children who received the special yellow Show-and-Tell bag.  The children are welcome to bring in up to 5 items in the bag, but not toys.  Snack time is also an important part of the children’s morning.  We will have a group snack time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and individual snack time (as part of an activity) on the other days.

We are already off to a good start with the children and would like thank you for the support you have given us.  If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please do not hesitate in contacting me in person or by email.