Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 30
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We
are finishing up our unit on Australia and have discussed the types of
materials to use from our recycled projects of Sydney Opera house and
Sydney Harbour bridge - I can't wait to
see what your child is creating! We also completed a sewing project
that incorporated math, recycled products and design.
Monday:
Ecology: riddles
Math: missing addends, venn diagram review
Language: structuring sentences
Geography: what does digaridoo sound like?, animals and landmarks of Australia,
assemble map of Australia: pin poking work, ABCs of Australia: fairy bread, Commonwealth
Handwriting: 2 pages
Tuesday:
Geography: continue working on Australia maps, writing names of states
Ecology: recycle game, what can be recycled, talk about recycle projects: Sydney Opera House or Sydney Harbour bridge
Art: directed line drawing - Sydney opera house
Engineering: inventions
Handwriting: 2 pages
Wednesday:
Practical Life - sewing project, spring themed, (math) length and measurement
Language: reading/sound table
Zoology: marsupials
Engineering: inventions
Writing: opinion writing - do you prefer a cat or a dog
Math: length and measurement - longest to shortest
ABCs of Australia: E- echidna
Handwriting: 2 pages
Thursday:
Practical Life - continue sewing work
ABCs of Australia: G-great barrier reef, H-honeyeater
Language: reading/sound table
Math: memory game - tens and ones recognition
Zoology: parts of a kangaroo
Art: directed line drawing - koalas
Geometry: Triangular box lesson
Handwriting: 2 pages
Friday:
Language/Writing/Art:Read/
Math: length and measurement/practical life: flower project
ABCs of Australia - I: invertebrate, J: jumbuck
Engineering: inventions: Why was a fork a necessary invention? a marker? a tape dispenser?
Handwriting: 2 pages
Video: marsupials (full day) https://www.youtube.com/
Have a great weekend!
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 29
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Good afternoon Montessori Kindergarten Families,
Week 29 is in the books! As we prepare for MAP testing, we also continue to learn and grow in our math, language, science and geography experiences. The week we also started our Ecology unit. The quarter we are learning a new morning song "If I had a Hammer" - here is a link to the song: ______
MONDAY:
Math lesson: tens and ones place value review
Writers Workshop: review sequencing of a story
Writing: personal narrative
Geography: Australia - is it a continent or a country?
Language: noun/verb review
Sound table
TUESDAY:
Geography - Uluru art project and informative writing
Video on Uluru:
Engineering: What is an invention?
Review: telling time
Handwriting
ABCS OF Australia: boomerang
WEDNESDAY:
Finish ulura project
Talk about Student Treasures book collaboration
Read/Spell/Draw
Math: length and measurement review
Invention: What problem does it solve?
Video: Kid President on inventions - ______________
THURSDAY:
Math: What is a Venn diagram
Prepare for MAP testing
Language: antonyms/synonyms/homonyms review
Sound table
Art: Directed line drawing - kangaroo
Continue working on student book
FRIDAY:
Ecology lesson - land/water/air
pollution vs clean
Zoology: What is a marsupial?
Video: Why do kangaroos have pouches? _______________
Math: review skip counting - 2s,5s,10s
Continue working on student book
Have a good weekend everyone. MAP testing is next week so please make every effort to be on time to school and have your child eat a hearty breakfast.
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 28
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This
week was filled with celebration over watching your children take
ownership of their learning. So many beamed as they shared the
concepts they have learned. My highest JOY is to see their
confidence grow over these last weeks in the classroom in their
reading, writing and math skills. Thanks so much for partnering with me
to help guide their mental, emotional and academic lives.
As
I mentioned in an earlier email, I discussed with the class a Spring
Break project where they create a map of their room, home and
neighborhood. I leave it up to the student as to
his/her interpretation of what "neighborhood" means. We will discuss
this more as a class when we come back from the break.
So
you may wonder what the thought process is behind teaching Geography
from both a global and personal perspective concurrently. This link
offers some wonderful insight as to why this
is part of the Montessori tradition: https://www.
Monday:
personal narrative review
sequencing/handwriting sentences
choose your math
new works in Practical Life area
Write the room: length and measurement
Geometry review - 3D objects - three part cards
Tuesday:
Science - Uranus painting and video: https://www.youtube.
Time - review of parts of the clock; the role of the hands on the clock
Begin creating Solar System books
prepare for student led conferences
Wednesday:
1/2 day
science - Neptune painting and video: https://www.youtube.
diagramming sentences - small group work - nouns, articles, is there a verb?
math: what is a number sentence? how do you create a picture from reading a number sentence?
sight words spelling/dictation
Student led conferences
Thursday:
1/2 day
Science - create our new planet presentations day 1
choose your math
choose your language
Student led conferences
Friday:
1/2 day
Science - create our new planet presentations day 2
new language work in the classroom
free choice full classroom
Thanks
to everyone who sent in disinfecting wipes! We are cleaning and
preparing the room for another quarter of joyful learning. We
appreciate each of you.
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 27
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Good afternoon Montessori Kindergarten Families,
The following is the newsletter that I missed last week:
Monday:
Begin discussing Opinion Writing
Video: "Red is Best" - https://www.youtube.com/
Writers Workshop: Work on parts of a sentence
Science: Mercury painting
Opportunity to do a sewing work
Lesson on time - Video: https://www.youtube.
Tuesday:
Review of facts about Mercury
Time: 3 part cards
ILP progress testing
Handwriting
Science: Earth painting
Your choice math and language
Wednesday:
1/2 day
ILP progress report testing
Science: Mars painting
Thursday:
ILP progress report testing
your choice: math and language
Science: Jupiter painting
Mars video: https://www.youtube.
Post narrative writing exercise all week
Friday:
Science project - create nebula jars
Review of student work - prepare for student led conferences
Time - :00 and :30, parts of a clock
Jupiter Video: https://www.youtube.
Thanks for your patience!
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 26
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We had our field trip. It was such a great way to hang out and enjoy each other's company. What an incredible environment to experience together. We had a short week but there was no interruption in our learning process. We continue to work through our Astronomy unit focusing on Venus, Saturn, Nebula and phases of the moon. Speaking of the moon, we learned about Snow moon. We let Saturn inspire us to complete our informative text for Writers Workshop. We learned about Rosa Parks, taking advantage of having ridden a bus on our field trip and we created a collage to extend the learning (and of course an excuse to create art!). We continued studying nonstandard measure. And everyone has now had a lesson on the moveable alphabet. This material allows the student to focus on phonetic sounds and allows those who struggle with writing to begin to practice spelling.
MONDAY:
NO SCHOOL
TUESDAY:
field trip
WEDNESDAY:
- Government: Statue of liberty line drawing and video: https://www.youtube.
- nonstandard measure
- moveable alphabet
- phases of the moon
- Rosa Parks https://www.youtube.com/
THURSDAY:
-Language - fix the sentences
-Venus/facts about Venus
-Video: Saturn https://www.youtube.
-Lesson: phases of the moon
-sound table
FRIDAY:
-read/spell/draw
-Writers workshop: Venus
-sight words/sound table
-nebula video https://www.youtube.com/
Have a great weekend! I am looking forward to seeing you all at the Montessori Fundraiser on Saturday.
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 25
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Good morning Montessori Kindergarten Families,
Valentines
Day AND cooking and all the learning that occurred in between - what an
incredible week. Your child may have told you we are tracking the
amount of days it takes to 'grow
a first grader' by adding a bean to a jar every day. It is fun to
watch the 'days' add up. I see such growth in the area of reading,
writing and math. Thanks so much for your assistance at home with
counting not just 1-100 but with concepts like 'what
comes before' and 'what are the 2 numbers after...' - very helpful
concepts as we deepen our math skills. For phonics, questions like
'what is the middle sound you hear' or 'what other word do you know that
starts with..." are important to language growth.
We
completed our South America study this week and projects started to go
home on Friday. The other hands on activities associated with this study
are being saved for the Student Led
Conferences coming up - sign up genius link will hopefully be sent by
the end of this weekend. This conference is not mandatory and if you are
not able to attend, I am happy to send home the portfolio your child
created - please allow your child to present
the information inside to you so he/she can experience the pride of
his/her accomplishments. Conferences are held the first week in March.
1/2
day students took some work home on Friday. Because of Picture Day and
Valentines Day, I was not able to cover everything I planned during
class time so I wanted to make sure they
were able to work on the concepts by sending them home.
MONDAY:
- CVC middle sounds
-History: how to read a calendar
-length/measurement using unconventional materials (how many paper clips long is this pencil?). Review of estimation concept
-read/spell/draw spelling
-Create the sun using rays, symmetry, warm colors
-Handwriting: b vs h (lowercase)
-Science: Mars video https://www.youtube.com/
TUESDAY:
-Writers workshop: sequencing FIRST, THEN, NOW - How to build a snowman in three steps
-CVC middle sounds
-Black History Month: Jackie Robinson https://www.youtube.
-Art collage: Jackie Robinson
-Geography: map a part of the room
-Science: Jupiter https://www.youtube.
WEDNESDAY:
-PICTURE DAY
-Science: Forces of motion review
-Government: Study of Abraham Lincoln
-Science: Review of planets, order, rotation, orbit
-Sound table
THURSDAY:
-VALENTINES DAY
-Valentines Box Fashion show
-Practical life: making jam - blackberry and strawberry/taste test
-Artist of the Day: Jim Dine - create 4 Hearts inspired painting https://www.tate.org.
FRIDAY:
-Geography: create a map of the room - north/south/east/west
-read/spell/draw spelling words
-write the room South America
-math journal
-Government/Writers Workshop: Draw Abraham Lincoln, write 2-4 facts about his life
-science: Is Pluto a planet? https://www.youtube.
Thanks so much for all the support our community feels from you all.
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 24
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Good afternoon Montessori Kindergarten Families,
February
brings new opportunities to learn more about the world around us. This
month's main themes are the Solar System and Black History Month. We
are exploring these topics with our
art and writing components and well as our language and sorting work.
We continue to discover the main components of a good sentence:
capitalization, spacing between words and punctuation at the end of the
sentence. We expand these ideas in our writing by
asking ourselves: does the sentence make sense and does the
illustration I create contribute to the words I have written. We have
the pledge of Allegiance about 90% memorized and we started learning the
National Anthem. We learned about Ruby Bridges and
we talked about Mercury and Venus. We rounded out the week with a
quick review of compound words and (action) verbs.
MONDAY:
-American Landmarks review: Empire State Building, Grand Canyon, Betsy Ross, Mount Rushmore, Statue of Liberty
-Write your numbers: how high can you go? 20? 40? 60?
-introduce blends through rhyming words
-what is a paragraph
-read/spell/draw activity
-missing addends
TUESDAY:
Length and measurement - longer/shorter
-National Anthem
-Create the cover of your book: You are a Writer!
-5 rules of writing
-black history month
-Lesson: map a section of a room
-Introduce Barak Obama, Nelson Mandela, Jackie Robinson, Harriet Tubman
-Video: Library Mouse https://www.youtube.com/
WEDNESDAY:
-Forces of motion: push/pull/both
-verbs review
-who is Ruby Bridges? https://www.youtube.
-Introduction to the Solar System - learn song "We are the planets" - https://www.youtube.com/
THURSDAY:
-sewing lesson
-bald eagle line drawing and graphing - write informational text
-handwriting
FRIDAY:
-Ruby Bridges art project
-Complete the Sentence worksheet using sight words; does the sentence make sense?
-missing addend review
-what comes before/after
-informational text writing - come up with your own topic
Did I forget to send the video link last week on The White House? Here it is! https://www.youtube.com/
Have a great weekend!
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 23
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| photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@anniespratt |
Good afternoon Montessori Kindergarten Families,
This
week was filled with art projects that focused on South America and
writing assignments that focused on Government. I am always blown away
by the incredible abilities and talents
I have the privilege of witnessing in the classroom. Students got a
crack at drawing George Washington and The White House - both of which
are on display - and we created Maracas and many have finished their map
of South America. In Math, we are reviewing
length and measurement and we are working on how to find the missing
addends in single digit addition problems. And we celebrated a birthday
and did another one of our amazing cooking adventures. Plus we
officially welcomed two new students into our community.
ONE
MORE THING: the South America projects have been INCREDIBLE! Thank you
for supporting this amazing way to learn and grow in our knowledge of
the world. Please encourage your child
to finish up her/his project to present next week as we are finishing
up our study of South America.
MONDAY:
math journal
History lesson: how to read a calendar
work on map of South America all week: assemble and write country names and label map
Food tasting: plantains
History Lesson: the age of trees (looking at tree slices)
Draw George Washington
Video about George Washington: https://www.
Handwriting: number practice/writing sentences
Choose your math
TUESDAY:
Video: How to play maracas https://www.youtube.
Book: "Katie and the Spanish Princess" by James Mayhem
Review: American Landmarks
Draw The White House
Choose your math
WEDNESDAY:
Art masterpiece - Kandinksy - work on fundraiser project
Math Journal
Math lesson: How to find the missing addend
Handwriting/Language/Writing Informational text - write about The White House
Language Lesson: pronouns
Book: "Have you seen my Elephant" by David Barrow
THURSDAY:
Cooking Experience - Peruvian Chicken Soup
Listen to Peruvian Music: https://www.youtube.
Language Lesson: conjunctions
Handwriting/Writing Review: punctuation marks - question mark/exclamation point
Sound Table/reading
FRIDAY:
South America ABCs topics
Fun facts about Maracas
Full day: Maracas art project
1/2 Day: sensorial/practical life
Work on South America maps
Sound table/reading
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 22
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This
week feels like we are getting back into the swing of things. Our 100
day celebration was this week and the students had a great time hanging
out with the other three kindergarten classrooms.
We continued working on South America in our micro discussions of
Geography and continued working through what Geography means in our
macro discussions - topics such as how do people live in other parts of
the world. We continued our Forces in Motion discussion
in Physical Science talking about what items roll and also what other
way objects can move (back, forth, up down, zig zag, etc.) We continue
to talk about the difference between fiction/nonfiction/poems and worked
on how to assess the main characters and
the setting of a story. We have begun soft introductions of
multiplication through skip counting and various works in the
classroom. And we are working hard on number writing practice.
A
HUGE THANK YOU for the fantastic projects that have come in over the
past few weeks for discussion. This by far is the BEST way I have found
to help with peer to peer learning about
the World we live in. NEXT WEEK is the last week to bring in the
projects as we will move on to our next Continent in February in order
to ensure that I am able to at least touch on each one before the
students move to First Grade.
One
last thing (before I get into the week's activities): One of the
expectations of first grade is that each child has to be able to count
to 100. Will you check with your child and
see if they have mastered this skill yet? If he/she has not, you can
find easy and fun ways to have him/her practice this concept. (1) Have
them count random items like buttons or blueberries, (2) find counting
songs or counting videos for them to watch
are just a few ideas.
MONDAY: NO SCHOOL
TUESDAY:
-We have math journals that we work in each week that include all concepts we need to master before moving into first grade.
-does it roll science experiment/graph
-write five sentences about the topic 'flowers' and draw a picture to go with the story and label the items in the picture
-create 10 frames (math)
-blue footed booby, finches
-continue to work on South America map
-landmarks: Mount Rushmore, White House, Stature of Liberty
-number writing practice practice booklets
WEDNESDAY:
-100 day celebration
-peruvian masks project
-read/spell/draw
-Lincoln Memorial, capital building, Alamo
-sound table/reading
THURSDAY:
-sort objects by length (math)
-observation table/group projects presentation
-skip counting chains/multiplication
-what is a fiction book? What is the setting of a story?
-alphabetical order
FRIDAY:
-differences between fiction/non fiction/poems
-using nursery rhymes to identify sight words
-direction things can move
-fill in the missing number/sequence of numbers
-bald eagle/American flag
-people around the world/what are people like who live on different continents
-Video:
Knuffle Bunny - what is the setting of the story? who are the main
characters? What words would you use to describe the story?
South America ABCs this week: harpy, Inca, jaguar, kinkajou, llama
Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Looking forward to more adventures together next week.
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 21
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Hello Montessori Kindergarten Families,
Welcome to our first full week FULL DAYS back on campus! We ended this week in a spectacular way at the Multicultural Fair. Thanks so much to our parents that had tables at the event! And thank you to those who came and walked the Fair with the class. I truly hope you enjoyed it as well.
The following is a brief recap of the week. We have begun to delve into the foundation of History and Geography and in the next couple of weeks we will begin our Ecology unit:
MONDAY:
-Physical Science — Force of Motion: occurrences on the playground. We talked about all the devices you can find on a typical playground and what force you would use to create movement: PUSH/PULL/BOTH. We also created some ramps in the classroom and charted on graphs the following information: Does it go down a ramp? Does it knock down a box? using everyday items
-Handwriting: lowercase h,b
-math: addition and subtraction (student’s choice)
TUESDAY:
-History: defined as the “study about how people, places and things in our world have been recorded on our Earth”
Lesson 1: How do we keep track history? the class was introduced to instruments used to mark time: kitchen timer, clock, watch, calendar
-Language: writing sentences that end in verbs
-Math: what two numbers comes before/what two numbers come after, recognizing numbers out of order (this is a GREAT ONE to practice at home!), domino math
WEDNESDAY:
-conjunction review — and — and introduce or
- Geography: South America — carnival, dolphin, empanadas
-Geography lesson using a map of Arizona, a compass and a small container of dirt. Geography is defined as “ the study of people and places in our world, and how the Earth has and is still changing today.”
-handwriting: q,x
-MOLA art (a style of artwork found mostly in South America)
THURSDAY:
-Discussion Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Video: Kid President (1st 2.5 minutes)
-Sentence building: “He had a dream”, what is your dream?
-Geography: South America — futbol
-Reading Comprehension: “My New Friend is so Fun” by Mo Willems, What are the characters, what is the setting? How can you figure out what the setting is?
FRIDAY:
-MULTICULTURAL FAIR
-Forces of Motion: roll/does not roll
-Review: Geometric solids (which shapes tend to roll)
-Geography lesson: primitive map making
Lesson: “A map is a picture that tells a story. Maps can make a large place look small. Maps show what a place looks like from up high. Some maps tell us about the weather while others tell us about where to find places/things and how to go from one place to another.
“Maps were first drawn with a stick in the dirt and then on cave walls. Later maps were made of clay. silk, parchment, sticks, paper, etc. Today you will find maps on your computer or iPad or GPS.
“1st map symbols were very simple and childlike. Symbols used were to indicate specific things like mountains, population. lakes, etc.
“People that make maps are called cartographers.”
-Geography: South America — Galapagos Island (review of land and water forms — archipelago)
Blue footed booby and finches are found here — try to research what they look like and bring a picture to school on Tuesday.
-handwriting/writers workshop — label parts of a person: head, feet, leg, hand, ear
REMEMBER: make your t-shirts for the 100 Day Celebration on January 23, 2018
Have an adventurous 3 day weekend!
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 20
Good evening Montessori Kindergarten Families,
What a great first week back at school. So many students have clearly experienced many ‘aha’ moments over break and things that seemed difficult before we took the break now seem ‘so easy!’ Hurray! We began discussing South America in our Geography studies, began to work on crafting informational texts and in our History lessons began to discuss the passage of time. We are marking how many days until we become official first graders by placing a bean in a jar everyday. We have a new morning song called “Oh Mr. Sun” that we sing every morning. And we have begun to listen to the morning announcements over the P.A. system and stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance in keeping with our guidelines for our Social Studies unit. We also began talking about Forces of Motion from our Physical Science unit and discussed what items produce movement by needing to be pushed, which ones need to be pulled and which ones we can do both with. And we are back on schedule to have visits with Farmer Sean.
Thanks to all who were able to attend Parent Teacher Conferences this week. It is truly a joy to be a part of your families for this year (that is going so quickly). I hope you can feel the love, appreciation and commitment I have to the role I play in the life of your child.
Monday:
History: passage of time/how do we ‘mark’ time
ABCs of South America: Andes mountains
Writing/Language: Read, Spell, Draw cvc, cvvc, cvcc words
Farmer Sean visits
Handwriting: lowercase r,n
Tuesday:
Geography — begin pin poking work for map of South America
ABCs of South America: Bolivia
Math: what number comes before/what number comes after
Science: push/pull forces of motion
Reading: word match cvc words
Wednesday:
Language — types/names of vegetables (healthy eating)
Language/Writing: introduction to conjunctions; using ‘and’ to join 2 sentences
1/2 day
Thursday:
South America Structures: Creating a structure that embodies the styles of homes found in South America. Discuss the similarities/differences of homes found in United States: balconies vs. patios, size of windows, height of buildings, color.
Write an informative narrative about South American Homes
1/2 day
Friday:
free choice
sound table
Practice saying the Pledge of Allegiance
listening to announcements
Isaac’s show and tell: a device for practicing handwriting using a magnet and ball bearings
1/2 day
REQUEST: Can everyone please send in a composition notebook for us to compile this new quarter’s work in the classroom?
Thank you! And I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren
Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 19
Photo by Martin Bekerman on Unsplash
Good morning Montessori Kindergarten Families,
Happy Christmas Eve morning! Finishing up the last days of 2018, we have so much to be thankful for. The friendships that have been built and the love and care shown in our community have been a beautiful to experience. We hope that your family enjoys this time together as we reflect on this school year and look forward to all that 2019 has to offer. Thank you for the
generosity of your gifts, donations and time in the classroom.
Monday:
Montessori Beads — what
numbers make ten/number bonds
numbers make ten/number bonds
Writers Workshop:
Informative text: scarves
Informative text: scarves
Video: History of Santa Claus —
Art/Cultural — complete Dreidels/discussion about the Hebrew letters displayed on the dreidel
Music Program practice
Character Trait: Helpful
Sing Christmas songs
Tuesday:
Music Program Practice
Finish Writers Workshop: scarves
New writing lesson: read/spell/draw
Group Art Activity: Sight words- color by sight words Ornament
Sound Table/Reading with me
Wednesday:
finish all holiday projects
Jingle jog
Language review: rhyming/what does not belong/beginning sounds — 2 person groups
Mini Art Walk — dreidels/ornaments/Christmas Cats
Sound Table/Reading with me
Read/Spell/Draw
Book: “Jack B. Ninja” — what is the setting of the story
Choose your math
Thursday:
½ Day
Color by Sight word/Christmas Tree
Writers Workshop: Mittens — topic sentence/structure of a sentence/create your own sentence
Friday:
½ day
Snowman collage/directed drawing
Movie: Frosty the Snowman
Enjoy the break dear families! We will miss your kiddos and look forward to coming back fresh and ready to begin our adventures as we talk about preparing for first grade at our parent teacher conferences the FIRST WEEK back at school. Make sure to sign up on the link sent in the prior email.
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren