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!

Discovering Traditions

One of the best ways to promote peace is to give our children great insights and appreciation of others’ cultures. We have been learning about winter celebrations around the world. To enhance learning and make it meaningful, we talk about how our community celebrates the holidays. 

During circle time, we tell stories, dance, recite poems, and play games honoring a holiday. “Agua de limones” is a group game to play before “Las Posadas,” for example. We place herbs and spices in our practical life, science and geography shelves for our children to find and explore. In art, children have enjoyed making tissue paper art, “papel picado,” and coloring patterns with rich colors inspired by our Kwanzaa lesson. 

As 2019 comes to an end, we look forward to continued growth and success in the new year. We have all grown a little closer, happier and merrier in December.

Hope you all have a wonderful winter break with friends and family, and we look forward to hearing about all of your children’s favorite memories they make this holiday season!

January Unit

Solar System

Constellations

Antarctica

Polar Animals

School Resumes 1/07/2020

No School: MLK Day 1/20/2020

Kindergarten Enrollment Night 1/29/2020 @ 5:00 p.m.

First Grade Enrollment Night   1/30/2020 @ 5:00 p.m.

Desert life……

So we thought a desert was just a dry empty place. Looking a little closer, we have learned about the wonderful plants, animals and people who used to live there. We learned that many of the animals in the desert are nocturnal. During the day, we might not see them on our hikes because perhaps they are resting inside caves, burrows, underground tunnels, or possibly inside a cactus!

The animals have adapted to needing little water, mostly just getting it from the plants they eat and even then, they have to work hard to get it! The plants themselves are also fighting to stay alive. They too are creative and adaptive to the climate, covered with thorns and tough leathery leaves to fight the heat and animals that want to eat them. Lastly, we learned that we live in a rain shadow desert, surrounded by mountains stopping most or all rain clouds from getting to us. 

Favorite activities…

We brought in play dough for the children to shape into a cactus and we covered them with toothpicks. We also experimented with desert soil vs. regular dirt. A fun game was introduced where a child hides under a few Montessori mats while another child is a ‘fox’ trying to guess what friend ‘turtle’ is in its burrow. A favorite activity has been playing with sand and building a desert habitat for out artificial plants and desert animals.

Events…

Our kindergartners are taking a trip to Red Rock Canyon and hiking on the Lost Creek Children’s Discovery Loop Trail. This self-guided interpretive trail introduces children to the many different features of the Mojave Desert including pictographs, areas of desert life, and breathtaking views. This field trip is a special tradition for our kindergarten students. 

Last week we were a great audience for the Taiko drummers from Japan!

Reminder…no school from November 25th – 29th for Thanksgiving break.