“Just Keep Swimming” ~ Nemo

From the comfort of our homes, we are like most of you…holding on day by day, exercising, playing games with the kids, supporting and learning in new ways, and working differently. Even though it seems dim right now, it doesn’t mean we stop shining! We are very new to this behind the scenes role. During this time, we have learned to appreciate the littlest of things that didn’t seem essential to us. Now, we understand that this is the only way we can reach you and continue to teach our children.

We have learned to appreciate TECHNOLOGY and can’t wait to continue growing in this area, to inspire our children even from behind a screen. Thank you for allowing us to enter your homes, lending us your trusting hearts, and believing in our ways. Know that we are working very hard and our goals continue to be the same. Our hearts are full today because of you. We are so lucky to walk this tricky time alongside you and your beautiful children. We are so thankful and motivated by all your love and beautiful messages.

As the days go by, we will continue to update you and provide you with more resources and enrichment activities on BOX, Zoom, and also check out our P2 facebook page! 

Wishing you all good health and peace. 

MUCH LOVE

Ms. Jessie, Ms. Sadie, Ms. Julie

Dinosaurs are fascinating! 

We have started our dinosaur studies with “What is a reptile?” Reptiles thrive in hot places. Chances are we might have a reptile living in our backyard.  If you find an animal laying in the sun that has a backbone, dry scales, and is cold blooded, then it must be a reptile. This is a wonderful time to discuss amphibians too. We compared both groups, finding similarities and differences too. Most of these animals are oviparous, reptiles look like their parents right from the time they are born, while amphibians don’t! 

This was a great opportunity to introduce the word metamorphosis and life cycles. We have objects for each stage and hands on science experiments. For example, we immersed chia seeds in water and allowed them to inflate. This gave us a realistic visual for frog eggs. They were clustered, slimy, and perfectly bubbly to help us imagine we were holding frog eggs! Some of us even ate them.  

On our science shelf, we are using realistic dinosaur models for hands on activities that are a perfect introduction to paleontology. We’ve been having lots of fun putting together Montessori-inspired activities using replicas, dinosaur pictures, and puzzle maps! In addition, we have a tray containing dinosaur books, coloring pages, scissors, glue, and a stapler to make into a booklet or help with student’s research. 

Around this time of year, our children are a little older and are ready for cooperative games such as memory games, sorting, exchange games, I spy, dice, graphing, etc. These activities could be made into cooperative games where children work together, take turns, and problem solve. It’s also a great opportunity to teach good sportsmanship.

At the end of an activity or game, the children are invited to shake hands with each other and say, “Good game!” It’s helpful for children to learn the social etiquette for games without the emotions involved in winning and losing. Hopefully, that will make it easier for them to remember to show good sportsmanship during an actual competitive game.

Valentines Party

Our children enjoyed a delightful morning with friends and parent helpers. We prepared and enjoyed a savory Valentines snack! We made thumbprint heart magnets to share with our family whom we love and appreciate so much. At the end of our festivities, students exchanged Valentines cards and treats with friends, while gathering around circle for a pajama story time. 

Mindful Play

At recess, our kids hit the playground with tons of excitement and stopping has sometimes become just so hard to do. Our ninjas, cats, and heroes are often so engaged in their roles that they are not paying attention. Teaching children about boundaries early on is a must and an ongoing journey.  Our new generation is spending less time outside resulting in less opportunities to practice social and gross motor skills. February is a wonderful reminder to all of us to strengthen our relationship with ourselves and others. We encourage parents to touch base with your children and talk about the importance of safety. Manners are a great place to start! 

Field-trip

Our field trip to the  Discovery Children’s Museum was a success! Our children loved exploring the exhibits on every level with all types of hands on activities for all ages to enjoy.  From interactive science galleries, as well as sliding and climbing structures, to an environmentally friendly city filled with familiar buildings and businesses. Time flew by! While some of us wanted to stay for a few more minutes, others took advantage of a snooze on the ride back!  Thank you!

Under the sea!

We have been learning about the layers of the ocean. Starting at the top “Sunlight Zone” to the very bottom “Hadal Zone”, where it is dark and cold. We visited each level and learned about the animals living in the warmer zones. The sea creatures that can survive at the very bottom of the sea were the most exciting to study. To demonstrate the ocean’s layers, each was represented by gradient blue where the top layer is the lightest and the darkest is at the bottom. 

We extended the lesson to color mixing. On our water shelf, we have color experimenting which is when students carefully transfer water tinted with color dye from one small jar to another with a long pipette. This strengthens fine motor control and concentration. We noticed our younger friends simply loved sucking up the water in the pipette and carefully squeezing it out into the other container. Kindergarteners discovered new colors. They observed the color becomes more intense when adding more dye and darker in shade.

In Spanish, we worked on creating the ocean layers on felt-sheets with shades of blue. Then, we sorted sea creature figurines into their zones. This was a very fun activity and easy to extend to our food chain song, “Pececito Nadando en el Agua.” Further research included “explore it” trays with a variety of ocean books, seashells, sea stars, shark teeth, and even a blow fish skeleton!

What has been happening in our Space?

We have been tilling the soil and cultivating an environment that will lay the foundation for a lifetime of learning, exploring, and community.

Our Kindergartners met with Farmer Yolie to plant eggplant and pepper seeds. But first, Farmer Yolie taught us about what grows in the summer. We looked at some seeds that may just look like sleepy dry seeds, but will actually become alive and active with the right ingredients and care.  

Year of the Rat 2020

Brandee (Elliot’s Mom) visited our classroom and joined us in our Winter celebrations around the world. She talked to us about some of the traditional customs and food people in China do to celebrate the New Year. We all received a red envelope with special tokens inside of it for us to keep for good luck, like Chinese children receive on this very special day. We ate sweet mandarins and made a cute rat hat craft. It was so much fun to learn about other ways children and their families celebrate holidays in other countries.   

We have also blasted into outer space, learning the names and order of the planets and explored them in a variety of hands on ways. Some of the activities we did included games, experiments with magnets, spheres, and ice. We also used materials in the class to help visualize the size and distance of a planet from the sun.  

A favorite fact we learned…Saturn is so GIANT that 95 planet earths could fit inside of Saturn and it would float if it landed on an ocean! Children built a large sphere out of play dough representing Saturn and pulled apart smaller balls from it to form 95 “Earths” out of it.

Mark your calendars

Thursday, February 13^th Parent Child Night: last name A-M 4:15-5:00, N-Z 5:00-5:45

Monday, February 17th Presidents’ Day: NO SCHOOL 

Friday, February 21st  Discovery Museum Field Trip. Please have your child wear their red, FMS Montessori shirt.

We will have a sign-up sheet available at the end of next week for approximately 10 parent volunteers who would like to chaperone the field trip to Discovery Museum. If you’re not able to join us this time, there are more classroom volunteer opportunities and another field trip to look forward to in March. 

Thank You!