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I hope everyone had a great time at the Recess Monkey concert on Friday! We have some very energetic dancers in our class.
This week in Morado, we started with the second Great Lesson "The Timeline of Life." Continuing from the previous week's lessons about the beginning of the universe, this lesson focuses on just our planet and its history. The second Great Lesson breaks down the eras of Earth's existence and the different qualities and life forms during that time period. Students got to spread out the timeline and see how long the history of the entire planet has been and that only the very end of the timeline is where human history is. We started most of our classroom specialists, with students learning about Spanish, song-writing, and practicing singing together in chorus. P.E. will start next week. We also started our Literature Circles by having students choosing 1 out of 6 different books to read over the next few weeks. After they are finished they will meet with other students who have chosen that book and discuss different aspects of literature and their thoughts about the book. It has been great seeing older students help read to new students with the longer books. This week we also began reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe during lunch to prepare for our Seattle Children's Theater field trip next month. Next week, students will have their first spelling pre-test on Monday and will be bringing home words to practice during the week. Some lesson highlights from this week were a Noun Key Experience, an introduction to nouns and making lists of different nouns in the classroom with Mr. Ben and learning about geometric hierarchy with Ms. Mary and making larger and larger numbers. Some students going as far as nonillion, which is 1 with 30 zeros after it! Also with Mr. Ben, some older students did some practicing identifying different parts of speech in their own writing and Ms. Mary had students make graphs to show how many people are in their family and how old everyone is. Lastly, we would like to thank Sol's dad, who did a presentation with both the lower and upper elementary students about melting different metals and their applications.
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This week in Morado, the children became oriented to the classroom and were inspired by the first Great Lesson, “The Story of the Universe.” You may enjoy watching the “Powers of Ten” with your child as further inspiration:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=eames+power+of+10&view=detail&mid=1F9980E1934E859E41CE1F9980E1934E859E41CE&FORM=VIRE We gave a variety of key lessons to inspire wonder and further discussion, including an impressionistic experience of the Big Bang (Great Radiance) we call the “subatomic zoo”, an impressionistic view of stellar nucleosynthesis, a demonstration that air takes up space, a demonstration of matter changing state as its temperature changes, the story of Wegener’s idea that became the theory of plate tectonics, and a discussion of the differences between atoms, molecules, and cells. (Not all children had every lesson.) We read some creation myths and told about Cascadia, the piece of land which docked onto North America. We also talked about how to identify emotions in ourselves and others. Using a curriculum called “Zones of Regulation”, we introduced 4 zones in order to understand how our alertness level interacts with emotions: Green includes emotions that make it easiest to learn such as calm, focused, curious. Yellow includes higher-energy emotions, both positive and negative, that require care if you’re going to learn while feeling these—anxiety, excitement, and confusion, for example. Blue includes low-energy emotions like sad, weary, and bored. Red is the highest-energy emotions, including elation, terror, and rage. Have a good weekend! We hope to see you at the Back-to-School Barbecue this Friday. Ben, Mary, and Nune The children enjoyed taking a boat to Blake Island and glimpsing local Native American culture with the upper elementary class this week. Mr. Ben gave lessons on Lego robotics and Ms. Mary gave grammar and fractions lessons. Several children did the “operations dance.” Rumors that a baby mallard duck arrived needing our care are true. We are not open to giving a home to needy buffalo, however.
Next week, Friday is Crazy Hair Day for those who wish it. Children are also invited to bring board or card games from home to play in the afternoon. The same day, we’ll hold a talent show with each other as audience. Saturday, June 11 is the End of School Carnival, 10:00-1:00. Thank you all for the outstanding attendance to this year's Passion Project Reception. It was great seeing everyone there and a proud feeling of how successful it was this year. The children worked very hard, earlier in the week, practicing for the reception. It was a big help making sure everyone felt prepared and confident for the event.
With the shorter week, students had some time to relax while reading their Literature Circle books and some new science works. Other highlights from this week were a print-making lesson with Ms. Mary and a fun lesson on synonyms and antonyms with Mr. Ben. The last spelling list is a review of 25 words they had this year; it was sent home attached to their Rocket Math sheets on Thursday. The final test is on Friday, June 3rd. Dates to remember:
We hope everyone has a great long weekend, Ben, Mary, & Khavitha Last week students continued to work on their posters and reports, and some even planned rough drafts of their speeches. They also made their optional art piece with Ms. Michelle and will be completing them on Wednesday. With the great weather this week, students got to take breaks from their hard work and got to do some math lessons outside! Students got to play games that practiced different operations in math. The big highlight of this week was the opportunity for Morado students to preview the 6th graders' Island Night projects. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it on Friday. It is was wonderful seeing what they have been working on all year.
Upcoming Dates: Tuesday, May 24 - Passion Project Reception Friday, May 27-30 - No School Tuesday, May 31 - Tillicum Village Have a good weekend, Ben, Mary, & Khavitha Happy Earth Day! We celebrated by writing wetland poetry and singing songs with Eric Ode. We kicked off Passion Project season by getting books from the library and taking turns stepping onstage at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse so we could imagine the culmination of our work. Almost everyone has completed their project agreement so they can begin work.
We started new literature circle books, which need to be finished by May 12. Third-years had a choice about whether to add a book to their schedule since they are joining the Upper Elementary for literature circles. Some of the lessons this week were: writing an outline, types of lines, animal and human migration, life cycles of plants, and the second Great Lesson (for those who missed it in the Fall.) Some also used their math skills to interpret an interesting article from the Seattle Times about wild tiger populations. For the Hop-a-Thon, we joined the Upper Elementary to count each other’s hops. The pledges children gather will raise money to cure Muscular Dystrophy. FYI, we have decided to move Music to Tuesday afternoons. Have a good weekend, Ben, Mary and Khavitha We hope everyone had a beautiful and relaxing spring break, we were so glad to have students back this week. Thanks to everyone who was able to attend the Early Bird Art Appreciation Event on Friday. Students were very proud (and tired) afterwards and it is great that you all got to see their hard work.
Students were finishing their art research projects this week. Some other highlights were a ceramics project with Ms. Michelle on Wednesday and being introduced to haikus by reading and writing some of their own. This was the first week of our new Kindergarten student Arjun, who is joining the Lower Elementary for the rest of the school year. Please welcome him and his parents Anupa and Rajeev. We also would like you to welcome our new, temporary, classroom pets. We are taking care of two new Lionhead bunnies, which will be going upstairs to the toddler playground once they are big enough. Their names are Ramona and Beezus, in honor of Beverly Cleary’s 100th birthday this week. Next week will be the kick-off of our annual Passion Projects. On Monday, students will be introduced to the projects, schedule, and requirements during class time. Also, on Monday we will be meeting with parents to go over similar details and answer any questions. We make slight changes to the projects every year so all parents will be getting information next week. On Wednesday, we are going to the Redmond Library so students can search for books on subjects they are passionate about and stopping by the Old Redmond Schoolhouse, to look at where they will be presenting next month. Research books will be checked out on a teacher’s account and stay at school. Lastly, we are slightly changing our weekly schedule. P.E. will be moving times from first thing in the morning to 1:30 on Mondays and 12:00 on Wednesdays. Mr. Robin, our P.E. specialist, requested the change. He wants to be able to play games and exercises using the parking lot, which is easier in the afternoon. There is also information on this year’s Hop-A-Thon that your child took home in their folders on Friday. Important Dates: Monday, April 18 at 3:45 – Passion Project Parent Meeting Wednesday, April 20 – Library Trip with Picnic Lunch – Please drop off car seats in the morning. Friday, April 22 – Earth Day Celebration with Eric Ode Have a good weekend, Ben, Mary, & Khavitha A special thanks to all who were able to make it to Math Day. It is great having such a wonderful and dedicated group of parents at our school. The week consisted of a lot of time to practice for Math Day. Students chose what they wanted to teach and practiced with each other what they were going to do and say. Students even gave lessons to the Upper Elementary students and were given lessons from them, too. We hope everyone enjoyed the event as we did.
Students were also excited that the new chicks are now large enough to hold and voted on names for the 6 chicks. Also during the week, students continued to work on researching for their art appreciation projects. Important Dates: March 28, 29, 30 – ITBS Testing for 3rd Graders April 1 – Field Trip, Gates Foundation April 4 – 8 – School Closed, Spring Break Have a good week, Ben, Mary, & Khavitha We hope you are all enjoying the 3 day weekend. Morado had a very eventful week this week. Our "Pennies for Peace" donation drive has ended and a large number of students helped count every single cent on Monday. The final count was over $300! On Tuesday, we had a visit from the Mercer Slough to talk about parts of a plant and different samples of plants the students might see on the trip the week. We still need drivers to the Mercer Slough on Thursday morning.
Please make sure, car seats are dropped off on Thursday morning. A highlight this week, students chose different biographies from the class library for Literature Circles this week. After reading the book, each student did a short independent research project on the person and shared them with their groups at the end of the week. 3rd graders also had their first Literature Circle meeting with the Upper Elementary and have a new chapter to read to this week in their book. Another highlight were lessons on "rock brain" and "super flex brain." "Rock brains" being very stubborn and wanting to not being adapt and "super flex" being the brain that is more pliable and accommodating to new things and ideas. Students also cooked some Indian flat bread, "Roti," and lentils with Ms. Khavitha. Have a good weekend, Ben, Mary, & Khavitha It was great having a few sunny days this week! Students got to have lunch outside a couple of times this week and had lessons outside on our nature trail.
Highlights this week was a Zones of Regulation lesson about Inner Coaches with Mr. Ben and Ms. Mary. We talked about how when we face something new or challenging we have an inner voice that says things like, “you can do this” and “keep going.” Students discussed different things inner coaches can say and how it feels after they succeed with help from their inner coach. Also, Ms. Khavitha took students out to have a leaf scavenger hunt, where student had to identity different types of plants around the school by their leaves. On Wednesday, students had an Art lesson with Ms. Michelle painting animals and backgrounds inspired by Henri Rosseau. Student had to choose an animal to paint and paint a background of its environment. 3rd graders were busy all week planning and helping cook dozens of foods with the upper elementary for their Colonial Feast. It was a huge hit and it was great to see how proud everyone was of the event. Important Dates: March 5 - Montessori Celebration (Elementary students will be singing) March 11 – No School for In-Service March 24 – Math Day (After School, Please Add it to your Schedules) |
Mr. Ben, Ms. Mary and Mr. RobinEl Salon Morado Lead Teachers Archives
April 2018
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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
Fully Accredited in Infant - Elementary II
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