Mrs. Carroll’s Class: Enter STARLAB

Posted on by Cindy Carroll

 

The primary students got to experience the wonders of our solar system inside a portable planetarium brought to us by The Children’s Museum of West Hartford. Our experience started with one of the staff members sharing stories of old that explained what was in the night sky. He continued to share that people would look up into the sky and connect the stars in shapes of different animals. To spark the children’s imagination, the presenter brought in a milk snake for the children to feel and examine first hand. They were able to then use that mental image when they went into the STARLAB to try to find the constellation, Serpens.

When the children were ready, the presenter brought the classes into an inflatable STARLAB. This amazing structure allowed the children to sit inside as 3-D images were projected on the walls around them. They watched the sun set and constellations appear above their heads!  The children were so excited to experience the stars all around them, but the best part of the experience was taking off from Earth and landing on the moon.

 

 

 

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: STARLAB Planetarium

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

 

The primary students got to experience the wonders of our solar system inside a portable planetarium brought to us by The Children’s Museum of West Hartford. Our experience started with one of the staff members sharing stories of old that explained what was in the night sky. He continued to share that people would look up into the sky and connect the stars in shapes of different animals. To spark the children’s imagination, the presenter brought in a milk snake for the children to feel and examine first hand. They were able to then use that mental image when they went into the STARLAB to try to find the constellation, Serpens.

When the children were ready, the presenter brought the classes into an inflatable STARLAB. This amazing structure allowed the children to sit inside as 3-D images were projected on the walls around them. They watched the sun set and constellations appear above their heads!  The children were so excited to experience the stars all around them, but the best part of the experience was taking off from Earth and landing on the moon.

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Doyle & Mrs. Lyga

Mrs. Carroll’s Class: Joyful Citizens

Posted on by Cindy Carroll

These last few weeks have been a particularly busy and exciting time with your children. We have traveled through space, explored the eight planets, discovered that the sun is a star, rocketed back to the planet Earth, and are now exploring the first of seven continents; the orange continent, our continent, North America. We will continue to explore the plants and animals native to our continent, map North America’s countries, examine topography, and study how a continents’ proximity to the equator impacts its climate.

The Montessori cultural studies curriculum provides children with an opportunity to explore the whole world including the continents, countries, people, animals, terrain, music, and arts. Children use didactic Montessori materials to familiarize themselves with the needs of all humans for such things as food, housing, and clothing. This early cultural awareness helps cultivate independent, joyful citizens of our world.

We were delighted to have the Botsford volunteer fire department visit the school on Wednesday. The children were introduced to basic safety skills, and how firefighters dress for emergencies. Fire safety starts an early age. It is always a good time to speak with your child about fire safety and introduce her to family meeting points, escape routes, and emergency phone numbers.

Enjoy your week!

Cindy & Sharlene

Ms. Kayser’s Class: Fire Safety

Posted on by skayser

It is hard to believe that the month of October is already behind us. It seemed like just yesterday that the children came into the class for the very first time, eager, yet cautious, to see what this new environment would bring for them. In these two short months, your children have been nothing but busy, taking in every experience we have given them and constantly looking toward what they will learn next!

This week we got the privilege of meeting the Botsford volunteer fire department and learned about fire safety. The children were so excited to meet them and hear about the important lessons they had to teach us about how to be safe in case of a fire.  Take some time this weekend to speak to your children about the presentation and what they should do if there is ever an emergency at home; they were so engaged and gave very thoughtful responses to the volunteer firemen, I bet they will really enjoy sharing everything with you!

The whole class got to go outside the school and explore a fire truck and even carry the hose! A few children from the primary classes even got to dress up as firemen and show the classes how to properly stop, drop, and crawl to safety in case of a real fire.

Our class spent time after the presentation writing letters to the fire department for them to display at the station. The children really hope the firefighters enjoy the letters and pictures!

Thank you to the volunteer fire department and all the men and women in the department who dedicate their lives every day to keeping us safe.

Ms. Kayser and Ms. Alli

Mrs. Doyle’s Class

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

After learning the names of all seven continents and then identifying them on the globe, we are so excited to begin our monthly continent studies. This month we begin by studying North America. Now that the children can identify North America on the globe, we introduce the puzzle map of North America. This is a great opportunity for the children to learn geography from different types of materials.

The children learn that the entire continent of North America actually consists of several countries, twenty-three in total. We introduce the name of each country. We talk on an age-appropriate level about the animals, food, climate, and people found on North America.

We also learn some fun facts about our continent:

  • It is the only continent that has every type of major biome: tropical rainforest, desert, tundra, grassland,  and coral reef.
  • Mexico City is the largest city.
  • North America is the third largest continent.
  • It is bordered by three oceans, the Arctic ocean to the North, the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the South and West.
  • Canada has the highest numbers of lakes in the world and also the longest coastline.
  • Lake Superior is the largest fresh water lake in the world.
  • Greenland is the biggest island on the planet.

Have a peaceful week!

Mrs. Doyle & Mrs. Lyga

Ms. Kayser’s Class: Happy Halloween!

Posted on by skayser

Halloween is always such an exciting holiday for the children! The cool, crisp air, getting to dress up in a costume, and of course, the special treats we get to have after trick or treating, make for such a special and memorable night. This week the classroom has been buzzing with excitement for the much anticipated celebration.

This week we were lucky to have Luke’s parents, Jenai and Sean, come into our classroom and help us carve a class pumpkin!  The children got to vote if they wanted a happy or scary pumpkin, and then shared input on the decorations and shapes of all the facial features.

We were amazed with how intently they sat and watched as Sean cut open the pumpkin to reveal the gooey center. Each child got to take a turn at scooping out the inside of the pumpkin and investigating first hand what it feels and looks like.

Once the carving was complete, the children voted on a name and our pumpkin officially became a part of our classroom family. Welcome Mr. Smiley! The children spent the time after Mr. Smiley was finished to write stories and draw beautiful pictures about him for us to display.

We hope that you and your family had a fun and safe Halloween!

Ms. Kayser and Ms. Alli

Global Culinary Night is Thursday, November 8th from 6:30-8:00pm.

This is a FWM entire family event.

Grab your “passport” and travel along with us as we visit countries near and far, sampling foods at each stop! This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures.

Mrs. Carroll’s Class: Ripe For Learning

Posted on by Cindy Carroll

 

Pumpkins can be found everywhere in October. Who knew this squat symbol of fall was ripe with opportunities for learning.

This week your children explored the life-cycle of a pumpkin. They read books and authored stories of their own. We used math to estimate the number of seeds and measure the circumference of our class pumpkin. Our creative, amazing ideas for a jack-o-lantern came to life under the skillful carving of Ewan’s dad, Ross MacLean. Thank you Ross! We smelled, touched and then baked the treasures found inside our pumpkin. Your children had fun exploring and learning from nature.

Pumpkins can be found everywhere in October. Sharlene and I have enjoyed sharing pumpkins in a new light. A seasona,l hands-on learning experience that supports math, science, sensory, and language development, as well as curiosity.

Take time to stop and smell the pumpkins!

Global Culinary Night is Thursday, November 8th from 6:30-8:00pm.

This is a FWM entire family event.

Grab your “passport” and travel along with us as we visit countries near and far, sampling foods at each stop! This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures.

Cindy & Sharlene

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: Harvest Time!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

 

Welcome to our pumpkin patch!  There are pumpkins everywhere in our class. Having pumpkins in the classroom provides so many opportunities for the children to observe and introduce basic science and mathematical concepts.

In Practical Life, we have pumpkin spooning, pouring, pumpkin hammering, and even pumpkin scrubbing. In Science, we learned about the parts of a pumpkin and the pumpkin life cycle. We compared pumpkins to categorize them as small, medium, and large. We counted the lines/ridges on pumpkins and learned why some pumpkins have more and some have less. In Math, we were faced with the very difficult question of how do you measure the circumference of a pumpkin.

On Wednesday, we had a Harvest Celebration in our classroom. We worked together as  a class to decide how to carve our pumpkin. First, we brainstormed ideas of what shape the eyes, nose, and mouth should be and then we voted on it to make our decision. Every child had a chance to come up and scoop out some of the pumpkin pulp and seeds. We also voted on the name and “Violet” was the clear winner!

Our Kindergarten children had fun cutting and arranging an array of vegetables in the shape of a skeleton. As they were building and discussing the different parts of a skeleton, they had to decide which vegetables would work best to build “Skully.”  They definitely didn’t make any bones about eating their veggies this time!

Thank you to Meg (Elliot’s mom) for the amazing craft and Helena (Ellia’s mom) for the awesome snack! As always, there are parents working behind the scenes to help us and we are most grateful.

Global Culinary Night is Thursday, November 8th from 6:30-8:00pm.

This is a FWM entire family event.

Grab your “passport” and travel along with us as we visit countries near and far, sampling foods at each stop! This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures.

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Doyle & Mrs. Lyga