We had a nice couple days filled with Thanksgiving music, stories, projects and of course, Stone Soup! The children enjoyed cutting and washing their vegetables on Tuesday and finishing up their Thanksgiving turkey project. The children were very excited about Stone Soup on Wednesday morning, when they smelled it cooking. It turned out to be very delicious, although some children preferred eating the cheese, breads and crackers. It has been a great process this month reading through the different versions of the story, talking about sharing and community, preparing our vegetables and finally sharing Stone Soup together. Thanks to the volunteers who brought yummy food and helped serve and clean up.
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Sunnybrook Montessori School is an independent preschool (ages 3-7) in Lancaster, NH. For over thirty years Sunnybrook has been a vibrant community for children and their families. www.sunnybrookmontessori.org
Friday, November 27, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Our big accomplishment this week was reading every Stone Soup story we have. While we saw the differences in them, the same lesson of sharing and community was apparent in all of the stories. We read, 'Growing Vegetable Soup' and that sparked discussion about what vegetables would go into our soup and how they would prepare them by washing and cutting.
We discussed the Thanksgiving story and read some more books about the pilgrims and the Native Americans. We've continued singing our 'Over the River and Through the Woods' song during music and we were able to read the original version of the book as well.
We've begun a new project! The Gatelys have given us a map so that we can track Tommy's dad on his ship. We made a tiny ship that we placed on our map and when we get updates from the Gatelys we read them to the children and move our ship to the new position. We were surprised to learn that the ship travels at 13.8-18.9 MPH...as one of our Kindergartners said, "That's not so fast." The children were also excited to learn that there were 300 pick-up trucks on board and helicopters land on the flight deck.
On Thursday morning the children were treated to a science experiment by Iza and began making a Thanksgiving craft with Tammy. Along with everything else, the children have been busy doing their important work!
We discussed the Thanksgiving story and read some more books about the pilgrims and the Native Americans. We've continued singing our 'Over the River and Through the Woods' song during music and we were able to read the original version of the book as well.
We've begun a new project! The Gatelys have given us a map so that we can track Tommy's dad on his ship. We made a tiny ship that we placed on our map and when we get updates from the Gatelys we read them to the children and move our ship to the new position. We were surprised to learn that the ship travels at 13.8-18.9 MPH...as one of our Kindergartners said, "That's not so fast." The children were also excited to learn that there were 300 pick-up trucks on board and helicopters land on the flight deck.
On Thursday morning the children were treated to a science experiment by Iza and began making a Thanksgiving craft with Tammy. Along with everything else, the children have been busy doing their important work!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
We started talking about Thanksgiving this week by sharing some stories about the pilgrims and the native people of North America. We also read a sillier Thanksgiving story called "Over the River: A Turkey's Tale". That sparked an interest in singing, you guessed it..."Over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house we go..."
We've also been reading our Stone Soup stories. The children very much enjoy singing along to, "Some Friends to Feed" a version of Stone Soup done by Pete Seeger.
In continuing with our study of the Rainforest we made colorful rain sticks (which the children quickly re-named Rainforest sticks) which we used to make the sound of rain while we sang our Rainforest song. They turned out to work better as music shakers anyway.
On Thursday we made Rainforest friendship butterflies. The children traced their hands and then cut them out to make butterfly wings. Then they traded one of their wings with a friend and kept one for themselves. They glued them together and decorated them. Beautiful butterflies were made and the older children were so thoughtful about helping the younger ones with the tracing and cutting.
Thanks to Iza we now have a copy of, "This Land is your Land" on CD and they have enjoyed singing along with great enthusiasm during music. We also finished listening to 'Peter and the Wolf' and continued our discussion about instruments in the orchestra.
We've also been busy working with our materials. It was a great Sunnybrook week!
We've also been reading our Stone Soup stories. The children very much enjoy singing along to, "Some Friends to Feed" a version of Stone Soup done by Pete Seeger.
In continuing with our study of the Rainforest we made colorful rain sticks (which the children quickly re-named Rainforest sticks) which we used to make the sound of rain while we sang our Rainforest song. They turned out to work better as music shakers anyway.
On Thursday we made Rainforest friendship butterflies. The children traced their hands and then cut them out to make butterfly wings. Then they traded one of their wings with a friend and kept one for themselves. They glued them together and decorated them. Beautiful butterflies were made and the older children were so thoughtful about helping the younger ones with the tracing and cutting.
Thanks to Iza we now have a copy of, "This Land is your Land" on CD and they have enjoyed singing along with great enthusiasm during music. We also finished listening to 'Peter and the Wolf' and continued our discussion about instruments in the orchestra.
We've also been busy working with our materials. It was a great Sunnybrook week!
Monday, November 9, 2009
It is Stone Soup season! We read our first two Stone Soup stories this week and the older children explained the tradition of Stone Soup at Sunnybrook to our younger and new students (I learned a bit as well). What a great story of community and sharing. I think we will enjoy reading all our different Stone Soup versions throughout the month.
We continued our study of the Rainforest with a great new book (thank you Randalls!) called "The Rainforest Grew All Around". The book offered us some interesting Rainforest facts and allowed us to sing a new Rainforest song (sung to the tune of 'The Green Grass Grows All Around').
As a group, during circle, we have begun to explore our different phonetic sounds...starting with 'A'. We review how to write the letter (upper and lower case) , the sound it makes, we use sign language to sign it and we brainstorm different words that start with that particular letter. It has been a nice supplement to our Montessori language materials.
We have been listening to "Peter and the Wolf" during Music & Movement time. In "Peter and the Wolf" each character is represented by a different instrument of the orchestra. The children each hold an instrument card and when they hear their character they hold the card up high so we all know what instrument we are hearing. Of course it does get a bit scary when the wolf comes around.
During work time, we had a lot of math materials out. Number rods, The Tens Board, addition and subtraction activities were all popular this week. The children also worked with watercolors, letter painting/stamping and performed some puppet shows.
Sunnybrook Montessori is looking for a BIG cardboard box we can make a puppet theater out of. When the children choose to do a puppet show we pull out the couch, but another school shared a great way to make a theater from a box, fabric and paint. Let me know if you think you have something that might work.
We continued our study of the Rainforest with a great new book (thank you Randalls!) called "The Rainforest Grew All Around". The book offered us some interesting Rainforest facts and allowed us to sing a new Rainforest song (sung to the tune of 'The Green Grass Grows All Around').
As a group, during circle, we have begun to explore our different phonetic sounds...starting with 'A'. We review how to write the letter (upper and lower case) , the sound it makes, we use sign language to sign it and we brainstorm different words that start with that particular letter. It has been a nice supplement to our Montessori language materials.
We have been listening to "Peter and the Wolf" during Music & Movement time. In "Peter and the Wolf" each character is represented by a different instrument of the orchestra. The children each hold an instrument card and when they hear their character they hold the card up high so we all know what instrument we are hearing. Of course it does get a bit scary when the wolf comes around.
During work time, we had a lot of math materials out. Number rods, The Tens Board, addition and subtraction activities were all popular this week. The children also worked with watercolors, letter painting/stamping and performed some puppet shows.
Sunnybrook Montessori is looking for a BIG cardboard box we can make a puppet theater out of. When the children choose to do a puppet show we pull out the couch, but another school shared a great way to make a theater from a box, fabric and paint. Let me know if you think you have something that might work.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! What a fun and festive week we had at Sunnybrook! We read some Halloween stories such as, "Los Gatos Black on Halloween" and visited the library for a special pumpkin-themed story hour. On Thursday the children enjoyed a special fall celebration. They painted pumpkins, did some apple stamping, played some games and enjoyed yummy snacks. Many, many thanks to the parents who were able to help set up, facilitate activites, clean up and send in goodies.
We wrapped up our George Washington studies and reviewed all of our facts we learned throughout the month. Our Friday group said goodbye to George Washington by doing some cherry tree math. Three cherries on one tree and two cherries on the other...how many if we put the cherries together? We also changed the "Noble Duke of York" song to "Brave George Washington" and sang about how he marched his men up and down and up again!
New to the shelves this week: Mystery Words! This was quite a hit with our beginning readers. The Mystery Word bowl contains tiny envelopes that correspond with our beginning reader books (also known as the blue, green, purple and red books)
.
A child places the bowl and the books on a mat and then chooses an envelope. Inside the envelopes are "mystery words", words from the book a child may not have been introduced to yet. Once the child has mastered all the mystery words they are ready to read the book. Learning the words from the book before actually reading the book ensures success, builds confidence and a love of language within the child.
Fall celebration photos:
We wrapped up our George Washington studies and reviewed all of our facts we learned throughout the month. Our Friday group said goodbye to George Washington by doing some cherry tree math. Three cherries on one tree and two cherries on the other...how many if we put the cherries together? We also changed the "Noble Duke of York" song to "Brave George Washington" and sang about how he marched his men up and down and up again!
New to the shelves this week: Mystery Words! This was quite a hit with our beginning readers. The Mystery Word bowl contains tiny envelopes that correspond with our beginning reader books (also known as the blue, green, purple and red books)
.
A child places the bowl and the books on a mat and then chooses an envelope. Inside the envelopes are "mystery words", words from the book a child may not have been introduced to yet. Once the child has mastered all the mystery words they are ready to read the book. Learning the words from the book before actually reading the book ensures success, builds confidence and a love of language within the child.
Fall celebration photos:
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