Way up high in the apple tree

Now that fall has arrived (if only the weather would take notice!), we've started learning about some of the changes we see around us in nature. We've also begun talking about apples! Here are a few of the apple works you will find on our science shelf right now.

Apple dot-to-dotParts of an apple Making apple patterns

Coloring an apple book (If your child brings one of these home, encourage him/her to read it to you. If s/he is not "reading" yet, have him/her point to the words as you read them.)

Making an apple collage Our apple graph: We tasted a yellow apple, red apple & a green apple to see which kind we each like best. Here's our graph!

Besides our fall studies, our younger students have also been working on some other skills which are part of Metro's standards. One of those is skills is sorting objects/pictures by size. Another one is sorting by color & shape--this work allows the children to practice both concepts.

I look forward to seeing some of you at our Curriculum Night this Thursday. Enjoy your Fall Break!!!!

Rites of Passage

One of the most important aspects of becoming a kindergartener is getting to go on your first field trip! The kids look forward to this for 3 years and the day of the first field trip is filled with excitement. The day always starts with one of the highlights--the bus ride.

This field trip was to Honeysuckle Hill Farm. We've never been here before so even I was excited!The kids were excited to be going "out of town."We started with a hayride pulled by a tractor.

Interestingly enough, there was no hay on this hayride! But there was plenty of dust :)We saw a bunch of farm animals. There were cows...

donkeys...

more cows....

& a rooster.

We managed to find our way through the corn maze.

And we heard a really interesting talk about how the honeybee helps to pollinate the pumpkin patch.

We got to "milk" a cow.

And even saw some baby chicks under the heat lamp.

The honeybees were very cool...and busy at work!

All in all it was a great day!!!!

Work, work, work!

You may have noticed that if you ask your child what he played with at school today, he may look at you with a puzzled look. That is because in the Montessori classroom, we refer to our "play" as the children's work. We want to honor their learning & experiences by refering to it with a word that connotes importance. These children are working. All day long they are working to make sense of the world around them, to learn new skills & to make connections to previous knowledge. They are learning to both become a productive, contributing member of a community as well as to become a strong, independent individual. Refering to the work they do all day as anything less would be a disservice to our students. So, the next time you pick up your child, ask them, "What WORK did you do today?" You just may get a very different response!


And speaking of work...here are some photos of the fabulous work taking place in the classroom lately:

Composing stories with the Movable AlphabetSorting obects by initial soundsLessons with the Golden Bead MaterialMore Golden Bead work Working with our class photo two-part cards (matching each child's photo with their name)Working on the Hundred Board Making an apple collageDoing Dot-to-Dot Apple workSpelling words with the Movable AlphabetWorking with shaving cream at the easel Exploring early algebra with the Binomial Cube Skip counting the beads on the Hundred Chain

Free Art Exploring patterns with necklace making

Cleaning up after a spill

More stories with the Movable Alphabet

Sorting objects by size

Watercolor painting & writing your name

Work with the spelling box

Spelling words with the Movable Alphabet

Sorting objects by initial sound

More Movable Alphabet work

Sorting objects by color

Learning about the animals of North America

Hundred Board work

Phonemic awareness activities with the sound bags

Work with the Discriminatio of Grains (a sensory sorting work)

Phonogram work (spelling "ee" words)

Golden Bead Fetching