We asked the children what they loved about summer and what their plans were for this summer.  We hope you enjoy their answers as much as we did!

Simone:  I love to go to my grandma’s pool and sometimes to get tanned.
Jonathan: I like to go to Wolf Park Pool with my mommy and daddy. I would love to do swimming lessons.
Ella: I’m going to the lake with Soren and getting muddy. It can be so much fun.  
Ruscher: My favorite part about summer is going to the beach with my grandparents. 
Casey: I’m going to the Zoo and looking at the animals. I’m going to the playground and playing at my nanny’s house.  
Levi: I’m going to the pool and walking on the bottom of the pool. No one will help me, I will do it all by myself and swim with my mouth closed.
Elsie: My daddy will open the pool, and I’m going to swim all by myself.  
Charlotte:  Playing in my house and swimming at the pool.
Carter: Swimming in the pool because it is so sunny and I see lots of green trees.
Remington:  Swing with my daddy at the pool, go on the boat, and playing at the playground.
Lemon: Going to the pool, watching TV, and going to the playground.
Lucia:  I love having my birthday in the summer. I love pool parties too.
Oliver: Making a fort on the tree. 
Savina: I like summer. I like swimming at the pool, and I like the playground. 
David: I like summer, and I get to swim with my daddy and my family. I get to tan with my mom.  

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Kaoutar & Sue

“There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature; to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in nature,”- Maria Montessori 

Being outdoors ignites a unique excitement and curiosity in children that cannot be replicated in the classroom (unknown).

Every day your children spend time learning, working together, and exploring our natural playground. Daily outdoor learning helps to develop healthy, active lifestyles and routines for the children, while providing them with hands-on experiences in our natural world. Our beautiful natural playground provides unique experiences to stimulate the children’s creativity and contribute to their appreciation of nature.

Helping children develop an appreciation for the outdoors is one of the significant benefits of regular outdoor play. The outside world is full of beautiful sounds, sights, textures, and life. Exposing children early on to the beauty of the world around them can be the perfect way to boost the aesthetic development of a child, allowing them to be more aware of all the beauty around them.

Here’s to rising temperatures, longer days, and the opportunity to spend extra time exploring the outdoors!

Wishing you a peaceful week,

Kaoutar & Sue

It’s always a little startling to realize that the end of the school year is quickly approaching. May is an amazing month because we look back to see all that we have accomplished and take stock of what we have left to do. Each child’s learning at this point is very much cumulative and continues to build upon all of the skills that have been mastered since August. A perfect example of this is the kindergarten animal research project the children have been working on for several weeks. We start this project in late spring because we need a foundation of reading, writing, geography, science, and even math in order to be successful. I was ‘interviewing’ the kindergartners for the About The Author section of their books, and, as typically happens, several other children quickly wanted to be interviewed and share their future career aspirations. Their answers are sure to brighten everyone’s day.

Simone:  I would like to be a ballerina, an ice cream girl, and a nurse.

Jonathan: firefighter because I would like to fight a fire and a swimming teacher.

Ella: a veterinarian because I would like to take care of every animal. 

Ruscher: a construction worker and a singer.

Soren: I would like to run a circus and be a scientist. 

Casey: a veterinarian because I would like to help all my favorite animals. 

Levi: I would like to be an astronaut and also a scientist that connects Dinosaurs’ bones.

Elsie: Ice skating teacher

Charlotte:  a ballerina and a doctor

Carter: a firefighter and an astronaut because I would like to go to Venus and Neptune. 

Remington: I like to be a firefighter and a swimming teacher. 

Lemon: a chef because I love to cook food. 

Lucia: a ballerina, a mom, and a horseback rider. 

Oliver: a monster truck driver. 

Savina: a ballerina,  a swimming teacher, and a music teacher.

David: I want to own a restaurant, and I would like to be an artist and a music teacher. 

Katie: dog trainer because I have three dogs, and one barks all the time, and I don’t like that. 

 Wishing you all a week filled with peace and love!

Kaoutar & Sue

On Monday, the Kindergarten children spent time at Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury. We began by taking a hike through the woods to the Botany Pond. The children then had the opportunity to catch and identify amphibians, reptiles, and insects. We found tadpoles, beetles, newts, giant water bugs, and salamanders. We observed turtles resting on a rock, fish swimming, and even found one of those elusive frogs. When we were done, we released any living thing we had collected and climbed aboard for a tractor ride. Finally, we were able to get up close to a beaver lodge. It was informative and impressive to speak with a Flanders volunteer, who explained how and why the beavers dam up a culvert each night. Walking back, several children shared what a great day it was! Flanders is open to the public, and we encourage you to take advantage of this amazingly beautiful nature center. They also offer several summer programs. You can find more information on their website.

Wishing you all a week filled with much peace and love.

Kaoutar & Sue

Continuing our study of insects, we are thrilled to welcome five caterpillars to our classroom. It is so exciting to observe each step of the fascinating life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly. Right now, our caterpillars are busy eating and growing bigger every day. During this incredible period of growth, they will shed their exoskeletons four times and grow more than ten times their original size! When they have finished growing, the caterpillars will climb to the top of the cup. Once there, they will hang from the paper disk in a “j” shape under the lid. Finally, they will shed their exoskeletons one last time before they pupate and form a chrysalis. Ask your children to update you on what is happening each day with our caterpillars. The discussions taking place among the children about the caterpillars are amazing.

Spring is the perfect time to go for a nature walk and bug hunt, and that’s exactly what we did this week. Going on a nature walk is a simple, fun, and meaningful way to spend time outdoors. A bug hunt is a really fun way to help incorporate what we are learning about insects inside the classroom and what we observe outside in nature. The best thing about a bug hunt? Once the children get in the habit of learning, observing, and studying insects, their reaction is less likely to be, “Aarrghhhh, a bug!”

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love,

Kaoutar & Sue

We are hard at work becoming entomologists. This is always a favorite unit of study for the children. An entomologist is a scientist who studies insects. We began our unit by discussing what we already know about insects, what they are, and what they can do. We discovered that insects are slimy, little, gross, soft, and hard. Insects can crawl, sting, bite, eat, fly, walk upside down, and jump. We learned that insects lay eggs and have antennae, and three main body parts, a head, thorax and abdomen, eyes, and six legs. Insects are also cold-blooded, have an exoskeleton, and many have wings. Finally, we found out why a spider is not an insect. Ask your child to see if they know why.

We also welcomed five tiny caterpillars to our classroom. It is so exciting to observe each step of the fascinating life cycle of the painted lady butterfly. Right now, our caterpillars are busy eating, spinning silk, and growing bigger every day. During this incredible period of growth, they will shed their exoskeletons four times and grow more than ten times their original size! When they have finished growing, the caterpillars will climb to the top of the cup. Once there, they will hang from the paper disk in a “j” shape under the lid. Finally, they will shed their exoskeletons one last time before they pupate and form a chrysalis.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Kaoutar & Sue

We are now studying the continent of South America in our classroom. South America is pink on the Montessori map and a topic of great fascination for the children. It is a beautiful region with vibrant cultures and traditions and a wide range of climates and terrains.

South America is the fourth largest continent in our world and comprises twelve individual countries. It is connected to North America by the Isthmus of Panama. An isthmus is one of the landforms we study. Brazil is the largest country in South America, and the major languages spoken are Spanish and Portuguese.

Located in South America, the largest rainforest in the world is the Amazon Jungle. So it makes sense that we start to explore the rainforest as well. The rainforest is an ecosystem with a dense tree canopy that lets very little light through. To be considered a rainforest, there must be more than 60 inches of rain each year. Rainforests also contain over 40% of the world’s animal and plant species. There are four layers in a rainforest; each layer receives different amounts of sun, rain, and wind and is home to various species.

As the weather gets warmer, now is a great time to check the extra clothes in your child’s locker to see if they should be changed from winter clothes to spring/summer clothes.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Kaoutar & Sue

First the education of the senses, then the education of the intellect—Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori believed there is a sensitive period for a child’s development of their senses. Although the senses are an integral part of our lives, children have the greatest potential to develop and retrieve them during their early years. It is precisely this idea that demonstrates the purpose of Sensorial materials in the Montessori classroom. The Sensorial materials are powerful tools that allow children to become aware of their unconscious impressions and bring these impressions into conscious awareness. Additionally, they enable your children to create a basis of order in their minds, allowing for the intelligent exploration of their environment.

This week we are beginning our study on the five senses. What better way to teach this than to use popcorn? Popcorn is a multi-sensory snack as it incorporates all five of our senses. It might just be our most appetizing science unit yet! Did you ever notice that when you make popcorn, somehow the entire family knows about it and shows up to have some of this favorite treat?

We begin by discussing our five senses and how we use different body parts to learn about things in our environment. For example, our noses are for smelling, ears are for listening, eyes are for seeing, hands are for touching, and our tongue is for tasting. We learned that sometimes we use more than one sense at a time.

Next, each child had the opportunity to handle popcorn kernels to observe what they saw, smelled, and felt. We record all of our observations as we go along. Finally, we used an air popper to pop some popcorn. Now we can include our observations about hearing and tasting as well.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Kaoutar & Sue