In January Verde classroom was working on the music appreciation unit. We talked about different ways of making music: with our voices or musical instruments. We talked about musical ensembles and the role of a conductor. We talked about strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion instruments. We looked at their shapes, learned their names and listened to the sound they make. We played listening games and tried to guess what instrument it was by listening to its sound. But most of all we just enjoyed listening to beautiful music. The children were the most impressed when we watched together a video recording of Bolero by Maurice Ravel performed by Vienna Philharmonics under Gustavo Dudamel. They were able to see up close how musicians play their instruments and listen for the instruments’ sounds. They could also observe a conductor at work and see different ways he moves to express the way he wants the musicians to play.
In February we have already started talking about differences between vertebrates and invertebrates and five classes of vertebrates. From this we will move on to the study of fish, their habitat, body parts and life cycle.
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We had a lovely time in Verde in December. We finished our unit on Europe and tried some more European food. We shared our holiday traditions and read aloud holiday books children brought form home. Ms. Tessa (Freija’s mom) came to cook with us and Ms. Allison (Ender’s mom) shared with us the story of Hanukkah. We were also busy making holiday gifts for our families.
In January we are going to talk about musical instruments, orchestras, bands, choirs and people performing music. We would love a visit from a parent who plays an instrument and would like to give a us mini concert. Please let me know if you are interested. And Happy New Year! In November we turned into explorers and went on to learn about the continent of Europe. We found it on the globe, we talked about its size and the many countries that make it up. We looked more in depth at three countries: Poland, France and the United Kingdom. We explored their customs, languages, famous people and landmarks. We listened to music by famous composers coming from those countries and admired art by their famous painters. We found those countries and their capital cities on the map and looked at their flags. We also tried the native foods: from Poland – vegetable salad, France – crepes, the United Kingdom – tea and scones.
We are enjoying our exploration so much that we are going to extend it into the month of December. We will also talk about different holidays we celebrate this holiday season. Leaves, leaves, leaves… October was all about leaves. We went on wonderful fall walks to see changes in nature and collect leaves. We sorted leaves by shapes, colors and sizes. We looked at them up close and learned names of parts of a leaf. We talked about the function of leaves and why some plants lose their leaves for winter and some don’t. We discovered that leaves are green because of chlorophyll in them and how it helps plants absorb energy from the sun in the process called photosynthesis.
In the second half of the month we talked about visual arts. We looked at paintings by Peter Breughel and discussed different ways in which artists can tell stories and create moods in paintings: facial expressions, movement, colors and the object of their painting. In October we also started to work with the Incredible Flexible You curriculum to work on social skills and social awareness. We have been enjoying reading the story books, singing songs and doing follow up activities. In November we are going to embark on a journey to Europe and talk about the people, plans, animals and customs and tradition of Europe. If you have traveled to Europe or come from Europe and would like to share your experiences with us we would love a visit from you. Please let us know! What a busy month it has been! Everyone looked so happy to be back at school and see their friends and teachers after the summer break. We welcomed four new students and their families to our community and guided them through their first days of school. Thanks to Allison, John and Ender who hosted our class get together, we had a chance to socialize outside of school and get to know each other better. But most importantly everyone has been working very hard. I was very happy to notice that everyone was eager to pick up where they left off in June and kids have been asking for new lessons and learning new skills. We talked about kindness and how important it is to be polite and kind in our daily life especially when we communicate with others. We reviewed class rules and safety procedures and even had our first fire drill. I was impressed how smoothly it went and how fast we were able to get to the playground. The school year is off to a wonderful start!
In October we are going to study leaves: how are they built, what types of leaves are there and what are their functions. We are going to use big words like chlorophyll and photosynthesis and see what leaves need to grow. We are also going to talk about art and how we can tell stories through visual arts and music. In early May the weather turned nice and we were able to be outside a little more. We studied flowers and insects this month. Children learned some popular flowers' names and the parts of the flower and were able to dissect specimens into its parts.
We had some wonderful opportunities to explore and observe insects this month. We went on a bug hunt and were able to watch two groups of caterpillars go through their life cycle. The children learned the parts of an insect and a butterfly. Some children made books showing the parts. We learned that insects have an exoskeleton. Children were given an opportunity to match scaled up pictures of insects with their x-rays. Some of us were surprised to learn where butterfly’s and other insect’s organs and sensory inputs are located. For example, butterflies taste with their feet, smell flowers with their antennae, and their hearts and stomach are in the butterfly’s abdomen which is the last section of the butterfly’s body. The children found insect vision interesting. They were able to look through a complex and simple lens to see how an insect might see the world. We also discussed how insects see a different part of the light spectrum. To make this idea more concrete for them we brought in a TV remote and a camera which had a lens that could see the light from the remote control. Children were excited to see what otherwise was invisible to our eyes. Some children enjoyed matching pictures of flowers taken through camera lenses that imitated the way a bee, butterfly, or human might see the colors of same flowers. We also connected this idea to how insects find and pollinate flowers. This led us to explore the ways that some insects are helpful and harmful in our gardens and how we use some of the products made by insects. Towards the end of our study children watched the completion of the pupa’s metamorphosis into a butterfly. We were fortunate that they came out of their chrysalises during school hours and were surprised to see the red waste substance called meconium that spilled out of the chrysalises as the butterflies exited. The children waited so quietly and patiently while watching this process. A couple butterflies dropped to the bottom of the butterfly garden and climbed up the netting to straighten and dry out their wings. Later we were able to observe the butterflies use the straw like proboscis to drink the juice from the oranges. We finished our study of insects the first week of June by releasing the butterflies to lay eggs and complete their life cycle. In April we traveled the world map and found ourselves in South America. We explored culture and life within South America. We looked at the flags of various countries, and explored a variety of fauna and flora native to the country.
As part of our study of South America, the children experimented with a dozen different musical instruments. They enjoyed discovering that the agogo bells have a couple different pitches, the cabasa makes a really interesting sound, and there are a couple of ways you can shake a ganza. We were all very excited about the book fair this month as well. We had a couple guest readers from the elementary classrooms and we found some time to discuss how to take care of the wonderful books that are brought into our classroom. Ms. PJ is expecting a baby in August. Towards the end of the month, some of the children had started to notice the size of her belly and were asking questions. We had a circle and the children asked questions and shared stories. Many of the children shared stories that they had heard about being in their mother’s belly or being born. Some children wanted to share where they fit in the birth order of siblings and cousins. One child was concerned that Ms. PJ would have to leave school. Ms. PJ explained that the baby was due in August and that she planned to stay until the end of the school year. Another child wanted to know how long a mom carries a baby and another wondered why it took so long to grow a baby. In early May we are going learn about flowers. In late May our study will move towards insects. We will be learning about their characteristics, body parts, and the life cycle of butterflies. In March we focused on mammals and explored their characteristics. We now know that mammals are one of the classes of vertebrates. They have skin covered with hair or fur, most give birth to their babies and feed them milk. We learned that the platypus and spiny anteaters are the only mammals that lay eggs and marsupials carry their babies in a pouch for some time after they are born. We were excited to discover that mammals live on land and in the ocean and some can even fly! We also talked about the mammal’s body parts and their functions and the ability to control their body’s temperature.
For art appreciation we looked at a fragment of the caves drawings from Lascaux Caves in France representing a bull, The Cat by Klee, The Goldfish Bowl by Matisse, The Zebra by Warhol, The Tiger by a Torrent by Kishi Ganku, The Fish by Calder, Black Bird over Snow-Covered Red Hills by O’Keeffe and Frog on a Lotus Leaf by Hsiang Sheng-mo and talked about different ways artists see animals and how people started to express themselves in art a long time ago, when they still lived in caves. In April we are going to talk about South America, it’s cultures, people, countries, fauna and flora. If you have ever been to South America and would like to share your experiences with us we would love it. Please let me know. February in Verde class was full of discoveries. We learned that biomes are regions of the world with similar climate, plants and animals. When you are trying to identify a biome you should always consider soil, air, water, energy from the sun, plants and animals. We looked closely at deserts, oceans, forests and grasslands and plants and animals that live in each of those biomes. We imagined and discussed how it would be to live in each of those biomes. We finished the month talking about landscapes as a form of art and ways in which biomes – places we live in – inspire artists. We looked at paintings by Brueghel, Gainsborough, Turner, Hiroshige, Signac, Van Gogh and Hopper, each different in its style and way of looking at nature. Brueghel and Signac made the biggest impression on everyone, Brueghel for all the wonderful details just waiting to be discovered and Signac for the style of his work – pointillism. We tried our own hand at drawing a landscape from pictures and our imagination and can’t wait for the weather to get better so we can do it in nature.
Also this month we caught the Olympics fever and talked about the winter sport disciplines and discovered that most involve either skies, skates or sleds. We had a lot of fun acting out different sports and imagining how far we could jump or how fast we could sled. Ms. Angela (Zoe’s mom) came to Verde this month too and introduced the kids to miso soup. They all had so much fun making it together and we heard the exclamations of kids enjoying its taste all through the morning. Thank you Ms. Angela! In March we are going to talk about mammals, their characteristics, body parts and life cycles. We will also look at how artists see animals and show them in their art. January in Verde was all about animals, both modern and prehistoric. We started the month exploring differences between vertebrates and invertebrates. Then we learned about five classes of vertebrates and studied reptiles and their characteristics, body parts and life cycles.
In the second half of January we switched our focus to the study of dinosaurs. We learned what a timeline is and discovered that dinosaurs lived long before humans evolved. We also learned that in Greek their name means terrible lizards, but in fact dinosaurs are a lot closer to modern birds then reptiles. We talked about different types of dinosaurs, their sizes, diet, way they moved. We also discussed who a paleontologist is, what does he do and most important HOW he works. We even had a chance to try our hands with our own dinosaur dig. In February we are planning on exploring different biomes of the world, their characteristics and learning how people and animals live in the desert, rain forest, mountains, near/in the sea. We will also explore landscape as a form of art. |
Ms. Rohini
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Montessori Children's House
5003 218th Ave. NE Redmond, WA 98053 Phone: 425-868-7805 [email protected] For Records Requests, please reach out to [email protected]. |
Founded in 1987
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