Mrs. Lopes: Field Trip to Flanders

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

On Thursday, our Kindergarten children went on a field trip to Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury, CT.  This was a great introduction to amphibians and the life cycle of a frog.  The children first took a hike through the woods to a pond.  Once at the pond they were introduced to some of the species that live there and were given nets to do some exploration on their own.  We had so much fun catching tadpoles, newts, dragonfly nymphs, and even a large green frog!  We then went on a hayride through the fields where we witnessed a blue heron searching for food.  We also learned about the beaver family who built a lodge in the nature center’s pond and continues to dam up the town’s water supply.  We got to talk with one of the nature center’s staff who was unclogging the pipe while we were there and said he has to unclog the pipe every 2-3 days!

I would encourage you all to visit the beautiful Flanders Nature Center for a fun outdoor family activity: www.flandersnaturecenter.org.

In addition to a field trip, we also had a few toddlers visit our classroom this week and on Tuesday we had a visit from Maggie, a member of the Newtown Strong Therapy Dogs!

Wishing you a peaceful week,

Amanda and Heather

Mrs Semmah: The Love of Geography

Posted on by Kaoutar Semmah

One of the many gifts a Montessori education brings is a lifelong love for geography. There are two main purposes of presenting geography to our three to seven–year-old children. First, to help the children visualize the Earth and localize our country and state, and second, to learn about other countries and cultural differences.

Maria Montessori divides geography into physical geography, cultural geography, political geography, and cartography. We introduce physical geography to three year old children through the sandpaper globe and show the land and water. The political geography includes the globe of the continents, the painted globe, and the puzzle map of the world with the continent outline map that is known as control of errors.

Every day, the children visit the Geography area, either to explore the globes or to use the continent puzzle maps. Our classroom has just three year and four-year-old children. However, there is always a level at which even the youngest children can have a sensory experience that will prepare them for a deeper understanding in the future.

Wishing you a peaceful long weekend.
Kaoutar and Sara

Mrs. Doyle: Our Future Is So Bright Please Put On Your Shades!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

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.

  • Anchor:  Wants to be a You Tuber with his own channel.
  • Everly:  Wants to be a veterinarian who makes everyone’s pets feel better.
  • Lily:  Wants to be a teacher who teaches big kids about plants and berries or a dentist because they get to give everyone the best toys.
  • Marin:  Wants to travel the world and study rocks.
  • Wilder: Wants to be an event planner like his dad.
  • Emma:  Wants to be a mom and have two children.
  • Greyson:  Wants to be an artist whose work is hung all over the world.
  • Landon: Is only 4 and a half so he won’t make a decision until he is 5 in June.  He will definitely let us know though!
  • Luca:  Wants to play soccer or football for a team with blue uniforms.
  • Olivia: Wants to be a paleontologist who studies everything there is to know about dinosaurs.
  • Theo:  Wants to be a wrestler who wears a red, white, and blue uniform but is not sure of his wrestling name yet.
  • Virginia: Wants to be a scientist who studies lions and tigers.
  • Bodie: Wants to build houses.
  • Emma Jo:  A crafter who makes butterflies and sells them to everyone.
  • Isla:  Wants to work at Sacred Heart University and be a teacher.
  • Micaela: Wants to drive an excavator.
  • Saanvi:  Wants to be a cook who makes a lot of buttered pasta.
  • Stephen:  Wants to be a doctor who treats zebras and horses or maybe a policeman or fireman.
  • Zara: Wants to be a scientist or an artist who paints.

Wishing you all a week filled with peace and love!

Michelle & Liset

Mrs. Semmah: Bird Sounds

Posted on by Kaoutar Semmah

Last week the children were so engaged in learning sounds around us and we continued into this week by learning about our birds theme and we came up with more listening games to add to our theme. Listening to birds’ sounds added to the children’s excitement and learning. This is a simple, yet effective activity of seeing photos of different birds and listening to the sounds they make. The children were so engaged and also enjoyed imitating the birds’ sounds. We also learned about the life cycle of a duck and a robin and their chicks. The children loved the book Have you Heard the Nesting Bird. This is an enjoyable book about unique bird songs with beautifully illustrated bird pictures. This week we also released our three beautiful butterflies on the playground. It was a very beautiful moment watching the children so keen on following butterflies and wishing them a happy life.

Have a great weekend,
Kaoutar and Sara

Mrs. Lopes: Enjoying the Outdoors

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

“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 time exploring the outdoors!

Wishing you a peaceful week,

Amanda & Heather

Mrs. Lopes: An Exciting Week in Primary!

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

We have had a busy and exciting week here in Primary!  Completing our butterfly life cycle study, beginning our last continent study unit of the school year, and attending a program about sound presented by the Everwonder Children’s Museum!

This week our caterpillars finished their metamorphosis and came out of their chrysalises as beautiful painted lady butterflies.  We finished up our study of the butterfly life cycle this week by observing our butterflies for a few days and then releasing the butterflies out on the playground.  It was so fun to watch the butterflies flutter away and the children enjoyed tracking where they all flew off to.

As we finished up the study of the butterfly life cycle, we also began our last continent unit of the school year, Australia.  Australia is such an interesting continent due to its size and the fact that many of its native animal species are only found in Australia.  We will be exploring the animals, culture, and landmarks of Australia over the next few weeks.

On Thursday, the Everwonder Children’s Museum came to our school to present a program about sound.  The children listened to a book about familiar sounds and learned how we get to hear those sounds.  They also learned how sound travels through solids, liquids, and gases.  After the introduction, the children had the opportunity to explore making sounds with different instruments and materials, as well as make a rain stick to bring home.  They all throughly enjoyed the invitation to make lots of noise!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Amanda & Heather

Mrs. Semmah: Sounds Around Us

Posted on by Kaoutar Semmah

On Thursday, we had a visitor from the EverWonder Children’s Museum.  She facilitated with the class some scientific experiments to help the children “see” sounds. We hear all different types of sounds every day, however, have you ever explored sound at a visual level? How is a sound created? Through some scientific activities presented to the class, we learned that sound is a type of wave and the children had a chance to visualize sound waves by exploring a variety of sound experiments.

First, our guest explained the significance of being a scientist by listening, observing, and asking questions about things around us. Then, she asked each child about their favorite sound?

  • Soren likes lion sounds
  • Jonathan loves dog woofs 
  • Levi likes cat sounds
  • Carter prefers dog sounds
  • Ella V. likes elephant and cheetah sounds
  • Rusher prefers to hear a dinosaur roar
  • David loves birds’ tweets
  • Joey likes the piano sounds
  • Christopher loves dogs and banjo sounds
  • Lucia loves unicorn sounds
  • Remington likes cricket sounds

It was very sweet to hear the preferences of each child and observe their engagement. Our visitor and sound expert also read a book about different sounds around us. Then, using different recycled tools to demonstrate the relationship between sound and wave, we explored sound vibration levels and learned how the vibration size determines the volume. A larger vibration yields a louder sound and a smaller wave results in a softer sound. Our visitor also talked about rain sticks and how people in the past who lived in rainforests used them to send messages to one another. The cool visual experiments helped us see the passage of sound through matter and learn how sound travels through solids, liquids, and gases. The children enjoyed being little scientists, experimenting with different sounds around us. They also had lots of fun creating their rainstick and bringing it home.

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Kaoutar and Sara

Mrs: Doyle: A Busy Week!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

On Thursday, Everwonder Children’s Museum visited FWM for an in house program to teach us about sound. We listened to a story about sounds that were familiar to the children, explored sound waves, vibrations and even made our own rain stick!  We learned how sound travels through solids, liquids and gases.  The highlight though was using everyday objects to create unique and sometimes very funny sounds.

Our five painted lady butterflies emerged from their chrysalises this week. We were lucky to see them do so during class time!  Also on Thursday, we carried our butterfly habitat to the butterfly garden in the play yard and released them. It is always a moment of wonder and beauty to see the life cycle of a butterfly unfold before us.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Michelle & Liset