 Brandy's Corner:
"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." This quote by Mark Van Doren truly sums up what each of our teachers want to do on a daily basis; assist discovery.
Maria Montessori designed her educational philosophy to empower the child to learn through experiences in the environment around him. Our students are free to explore and discover within that prepared environment. The Montessori classroom is designed to allow each student to discover; discover the art of language, the order of mathematics, the curiosity of science.
Here at Absorbent Minds we are dedicated to empowering our students with skills and values they can carry with them throughout their life. Even as adults we tend to learn better and retain more when we experience something rather than just read about it. The gift of learning and discovering is something that can never be taken away. This is the gift we want each of our students to take away from their experiences at Absorbent Minds.
~Brandy.
Kids Stuff Coupon Books
 Absorbent Minds Montessori School is launching our Fall Fundraiser to help enrich our program and classrooms with more educational materials. The valuable, family-friendly KidStuff Coupon Books are available to order beginning Tuesday, November 10th through Monday, November 30! The cost of each book is only $25.00 and our school earns a 50% profit on each book we sell! Also, your family will receive one FREE book worth for every 5 books you sell! Use just a few coupons and save more than the cost of the book!!! You will enjoy great savings on clothing, shoes, toys, sporting goods, electronics, activities, food and more!!! (with coupons such as.. Kohl's, Sears, Macy's, Pizza Shops and much more...) Share the benefits of the KidStuff Coupon Books with family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. They will appreciate the opportunity to buy a book and save money! KidStuff Coupon Books make great gifts too! Each family will be given one sample book to use as a demo. This book will be sent home the week of November 9th. We think this book will offer a great value to our families and their friends and we hope it will be a successful fundraiser too! |
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 Cooper's Corner:
October has been a heavenly month as the students have been studying Outer Space!
We started the first week with the Moon. We spoke about and described the characteristics of the Moon. Students then created their own Moon images with sponge shapes. Next, we discussed the Earth's surface including craters. In our Math area the children counted craters and placed them on a paper Moon. The students were made aware of why the Moon seems to change its shape. We introduced each phase and provided photographs for the children to compare shapes. The children were also given an assignment where they could observe the moon and document what they saw. Both the teachers and students truly enjoyed hearing about and viewing the finished products. Lastly we touched on Neil Armstrong and his role in space exploration. The children had a blast flexing their arm muscles in order to remember the name "Armstrong"!
In the second week, the Sun was our focus. The students were fascinated to discover that the Sun is merely a star and a large ball of fiery gases. After describing the Sun the children used Q-tips to paint their own depiction of the Sun. The next discussion was the importance of the Sun to Earth. The children were made aware that Earth would be lifeless without the Sun. We spoke about how the Sun helps plants, animals and people grow. We mentioned how the Sun provides the largest source of energy and light on Earth. A science work was made available where students could identify the things that need the Sun's nourishment to grow and those things that don't. Then the students could cut and mount the living things on a paper Sun. Day and night were explored next. We discussed differences between the two and what causes each. The children enjoyed turning out the lights and shining a flashlight on a globe to further gain a better understanding of this concept. The children's creative juices were put to use when they participated in constructing a mural of the night sky. Various art supplies were used such as sponges, cardboard tubes, rolling brushes, and spray bottles. Their masterpieces will be displayed at our Art Extravaganza!
The planets came next. We started with the Solar System and all of its parts. The children learned that our sun is the center of the Solar System and that all of the planets orbit around it. We discussed the order of planets from the Sun. In Math, the students constructed a solar system where they worked on naming, recognizing and putting the planets in proper order themselves. The rest of the week we concentrated on each individual planet. We discussed specific characteristics of each such as land, weather, atmosphere, temperature, moons, and distance from the Sun. Many students put together an "All About the Planets" booklet which included pictures and fun facts about each planet. In Language, the students were asked to draw a picture of an imaginary planet and write a short summary describing their discovery. The children learned many fun songs about the Solar System. Their favorite was called "They'll (planets) be Orbiting Around the Sun" which was sung to the tune of "She'll be Coming Around the Mountain." The students formed a circle where one child stood inside to represent the Sun and the others orbited around to represent the planets.
Our last topic was Space Exploration. We first focused on astronauts and their role in space discovery. We talked about how well informed and trained astronauts need to be to take on the challenges of visiting space. The children looked at pictures of astronauts in their space suits and learned the functions and purpose behind each part. We touched on shuttles and their transformation through out time. We mentioned English scientist Isaac Newton and his three laws of motion. The next topic was telescopes. We discussed various types of telescopes and showed pictures of how they have changed through time. We mentioned names like Galileo and Hans Lippershey whose experimental endeavors with early telescopes improved our knowledge of the universe. The students had a blast creating their own telescopes out of paper towel rolls, wax paper, and plenty of sensational star stickers!
~Mrs. Cooper |
 Mr. John's Corner:
Children love animals and I enjoy teaching the children about different types of animals. This month we started discussing mammals. I chose mammals because we are mammals. We learned that mammals have hair or fur, are born alive, and drink their mother's milk when first born. We learned that mammals are warm blooded (their body temperature remains constant) and that they are vertebrates (have spines). We learned that dolphins and whales are mammals and that the bat is the only mammal that can fly.
We then flew with the animals called birds. Birds have feathers, are warm blooded, and are vertebrates. Students learned that all birds lay hard shelled eggs and have wings. All birds have wings but some birds are flightless (cannot fly) such as the penguin, ostrich, and emus. We read a story about a duck called Ping that lived on the Yangtze River in China.
We swam with fish the next week. We learned that fish are cold blooded (their body temperature changes to the temperature in their environment) and are vertebrates. We learned that most fish have scales, gills and fins, and some fish lay eggs and some fish are liver bearers (babies are born alive). We introduced a new word, "habitat." This is where something lives and the fish's habitat is the water. The children were thrilled to learn that the shark is a fish. We read the books, "10 Great Fish," and "Crazy Fish." We introduced a gluing art project where the children glued various sized and colored sequence which represented scales to an outline of a fish. Many colorful fish were created that week.
Next we hopped into our discussion of amphibians. We all agreed that the frog was the most popular amphibian and that amphibians are cold blooded and vertebrates. We also learned that their skin is moist and soft and that they can live BOTH on land and in water. Amphibians lay eggs but the eggs have no shell; they are like jelly. We read the books, "Bad Frogs," and "The Princess and the Frog." The art project this week was coloring, cutting, and gluing the eyes, mouth, body, and legs of a frog. Some very unique frogs were made.
Then we slithered our way into discussing reptiles. We came to the conclusion that the snake is the most popular reptile. We learned reptiles are cold blooded, vertebrates, lay hard shelled eggs, and have scales. Some of the books we read were "All about Reptiles" and "You Should Stay Away From Snakes." The art project wasa cutting and gluing craft using different shapes to create silly snakes.
Kindergarten
My kindergarten students had a big dose of geography this month. Ask them the definitions of a lake, island, bay, peninsula, gulf (not the game), harbor, cape, isthmus, straight, chain of lakes, and archipelago. We learned where all the continents are located and something special about each continent. We learned that North America is the continent on which we live, South America has the rainforest, and Europe has countries such as France, Germany, Spain, England, Italy, Sicily, and Ireland. Africa has lions, giraffes, and zebras. Asia is the largest continent and Australia is an island called "the land down under." We learned Antarctica is the coldest continent. We discovered we live in the western hemisphere and to our surprise after learning about the equator we also live in the northern hemisphere. We also looked at a puzzle map of the world and found that the Atlantic Ocean is to the east of North America, the Pacific Ocean is to the west, Hudson Bay is to the north, and The Gulf of Mexico is to the south. We then looked at things closer to home such as Ohio (we live in this state), Summit county, our city, and finally our address and phone numbers. We briefly touched upon our neighboring states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana.
~Mr. John
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Enrichment Activities:
 Spanish:
by Courtney Seckinger
Señora Lisa has been teaching the children many new Spanish words this month with a Fall Festive theme. The children are now
able to say fall (caída), apple (manzana), pumpkin (calabaza) and spider (araña) and many more! Señora Lisa plays many games with the students to help with memorization. They are each asked to join in many guessing games and memory games to figure out and learn the new words.
Spanish class has also been a time of learning new songs. At the beginning of each class the students sing a Hello and Welcome song. They have also been learning the Itsy Bitsy Spider in Spanish too!
The students have learned their colors this month! You may have heard the famous "Color Song" in Spanish. I encourage you to ask your child about this one! It is always a favorite. Students also have continued to review their numbers in Spanish, as well as many animals. Señora Lisa plays a fun game with the children where she hides an animal and each student is asked, in Spanish, the name of the animal and where it is located in the room. It is great to see them absorbing so much and learning how to "habla español" at such a young age.
Señora Lisa always comes to class with her guitar ready to entertain the children and challenge them to learn more and develop an appreciation for the Spanish language and culture.
 Music
by Courtney Seckinger
Ms. Lisa continues to educate and entertain the boys and girls in her Music class each Tuesday. This month the children were introduced to musical notes and touched on music theory. They were taught about whole notes, half notes and quarter notes. They learned what each note looks like and how it sounds. They practiced the notes by using rhythm sticks to the music of Hot Cross Buns. The students are now able to recognize each note and tap out their beats.
Ms. Lisa's students also enjoyed taking on the role of an owl, squirrel and autumn trees. They danced around the room waving colorful scarves and singing their beautiful songs. Another class favorite is "London Bridge" and "Where is Thumbkin" with Ms. Lisa's creative finger puppets.
This past month the children played with many instruments such as tambourines and bells, while reviewing piano and forte. They also used their rhythm sticks to find the beat of many songs.
 Sign Language:
Have grandparents been coming home and signing with your children? I have heard from so many parents that our students have been signing at home and now the grandparents are in on it! All of the students were so excited to participate in sign class with their grandparents as an audience. Once they entered the room, though, I was shocked to see so many shy kids. I think grandparents learned more that week than the students!
This month our focus has been on color signs and a continuation of our "nice signs" unit. Last week, students colored pictures, asking for crayons using sign language. When each child's artwork was completed, they were asked to sign the colors used in the drawing. I got fabulous results!
Next month I plan on teaching objects. This is a very broad category, but I will focus more on objects found in the home and classroom. Things like this I think are most important when students move beyond a sign language program because they are signs that they can utilize everyday. We will also be continuing finger-spelling, asking students to actually spell their own names rather than simply recognizing them. I've found that, while instruction is necessary with finger-spelling, the students who are ahead in this area are those who spend time at the sign language alphabet poster during class time. It is not something you can force, but some students really enjoy practicing their manual letters during work time. When they are finished, they always come running up to show me what they can do. It's really exciting for them and rewarding for me.
I must say how impressed I am that most of our students can recognize their names when finger-spelled. The kids are really picking up on sign language quickly. Many of the younger students are ready for the Kindergarten curriculum I used last year. This means we have some very visual learners!
 Little Racquets:
by Lynn Buchinsky
Thank you for allowing us to teach your child the basics of tennis; forehand and backhand groundstrokes and volleys. Over the past six weeks, we have seen great improvement in your child's gross and fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, improved self-esteem and confidence during the Little Racquets program! We have built motor skills and confidence, learning teamwork and had a ball!
Over the past few weeks, we have sampled the following pretennis and tennis activities:
- Warm-up skills: catching and throwing the smiley face balls, shuffling around our "tennis court", identifying letters, colors and shapes on the racquets.
- Hitting forehands and backhands off of stationary cones with lady bug, rainbow, star, foam and spinner balls (ribbon attached) helped us focus on our groundstrokes.
- In addition, we have learned the high "five" volley which begins close to the net.
In conclusion, we have improved our coordination, kept our hearts beating strong, learned some tennis technique and worked on balance and footwork games. We especially love to play ABC forehand, duck, duck goose, "Jail" and tennis ball "sandwich" relay races. We have had a ball participating in the Little Racquets program with our friends from our class.
Grandparents Day
by Kelly Andamasaris
 Our students and staff look forward to Grandparents Day every year, and this year was no exception! For two days, grandparents filled our halls as they traveled around with their grandchildren. From the time our students arrived in the morning, we heard, "When is Grandma or Grandpa coming?" They couldn't wait until their grandparents arrived so that they could see their school and meet their classmates.
On Thursday, they enjoyed Sign Language Class with Ms. Brown. During class, our students and Grandparents learned to sign many colors like, brown, yellow, green, purple, pink and red. At the end of class, Grandparents were very impressed to see their grandchildren could recognize their name when it was signed to them.
 On Friday, our special visitors experienced Spanish Class with Senora Lisa. By the end of class, both students and Grandparents learned that "Abuela" means Grandma and "Abuelo" means Grandpa. They also reviewed their colors in Spanish, played a game together and listened to a very special story in Spanish and English about a Grandma and her very special helper. Next, our Grandparents and students enjoyed crafting Indian Cornstalk magnets together. Now every time our students and Grandparents see their Indian Cornstalks on their fridge... they will be reminded of their fun day together.
Lastly, our students invited their Grandparents to join them in their class for circle time. This was the children's favorite time! You could see their faces filled with pride as they walked them around their classroom and showed them all the things they love to do! Thank you to all of our Grandparents for making this a very special time for our students.
Fire Station Field Trip
by Courtney Seckinger
 The students at Absorbent Minds took their first field trip of the school year to the Cuyahoga Falls Fire Station. They were lead on a tour through the fire department and learned what it would be like if they were a firefighter for the day. The students were shown where the fire men and women sleep, eat and even their personal TV room where they relax after a hard day's work. After a quick slide down the pole, firefighter Frank showed the boys and girls how he looked in all of his gear. He taught them the importance of each piece of equipment and how it protects him from the heat, smoke and flames of a fire. He also reassured many children to not be afraid when a firefighter approaches with their gear on. He emphasized that firefighters are there to help save lives.
The students enjoyed themselves immensely and now have a better understanding of fire safety!
A Visit from Fireman LaRock
by Kelly Andamasaris
The month of October brought us a very special visitor to our school. Knowing our students had a field trip to the Fire Station planned, "Fireman LaRock" offered to come in and talk to us about Fire Safety.
Frank LaRock, the father of Evelyn LaRock, came dressed in full uniform and equipment. He demonstrated what a fire alarm or smoke detector would sound like when if it went off in a home. Our students learned about keeping their door closed at night and why it is important. They learned to touch their door to check if it was hot before they left their room. If the door is not hot, they need to "get low and go!" If their door is hot, they need to wait for help and open up their window and shout for help.
Fireman LaRock demonstrated many things to our students so they knew not to be afraid of the Firemen when they come to help. He showed them the axe they would use to cut through the door if it was blocked. He showed our students how Firemen get low to the ground and use the handle of the axe to "sweep" the floor to find them.
Lastly, their favorite, he put on his oxygen mask and demonstrated to our students how he sounds talking through the mask. Some of our students shouted, "You sound like Darth Vader!" Most importantly, our students became familiar with the process and intent of the oxygen and mask so it wouldn't be scary to them.
Each student was given an information booklet and a sticker badge to take home that day. Our staff and students enjoyed exploring Fireman LaRock's equipment and uniform and are very thankful he took the time to come in and teach us about fire safety!
by Brandy Franks
Students giggled with joy as they entered the halls for our Halloween party. We saw super heroes, princesses, movie stars and much more!
Once students arrived in the classes and saw each other's costumes, they began the day's festivities. Our Arts & Crafts helpers gave each child a paint shirt and all the necessary supplies to create happy-faced paper plate Jack-O-Lanterns, egg carton pumpkins and Batty Magnets for the fridge.
2-Liter bottles were flying, pumpkins were rolling and students were laughing as they tried to bowl during our Games! The Candy-Corn relay was more of a snack time than a relay, but each child loved participating. We also played Pin-the-Nose-on-the-Pumpkin, Monster Freeze dance and Pass the Pumpkin.
We want to send a special Thank You to all the parents who volunteered their time helping plan, organize and run our party! We really appreciate all you do for our students and your children!
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Montessori Tidbits
Mixed Age Groups in the Montessori Classroom
The term "mixed age groups" mean a class of students whose ages fall into a 3 year developmental cycle. Students in the classrooms of Absorbent Minds range in age from 2 1/2 - 6 years old. Children naturally form mixed age playgroups on their own. Children in families and neighborhoods have historically learned together and from one another. Mixed age groups provide the flexibility for children to learn at their own level of development and speed. The older children have the opportunity to hone their leadership skills such as leaning to be more patient and tolerant of others with differing abilities. Younger children are exposed to higher levels of thinking giving them the opportunity to grow socially by being around their older classmates. Mixed age classes prepare children for "real life" where groups of people with varying ages and abilities live and work together. The benefits of mixed age classes are boundless. Younger students emulate older students, understanding as they watch that they too have the ability to tie shoes, count and read. Older students learn to care for others and to delight selflessly in the achievements of their classmates. As they serve as role models they learn responsibility and the power of their own leadership. They may teach lessons or help check work and correct errors. Being able to re-teach a skill that has been previously learned enables the one teaching to learn as much as the child receiving the lesson. Re-teaching reinforces the previously-learned concept and moves the child toward complete mastery. It also helps develop independence and autonomy in the older child, something that is often lacking in traditional settings.
At Absorbent Minds children develop a sense of community connecting with other children in meaningful ways, seeing first hand how much we can learn from each other. | |
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Themes of the Week
Mr. John's Class:
11/2: Insects
11/9: Dinosaurs
11/16: Native Americans
11/23: Pilgrims/Thanksgiving
Mrs. Cooper's Class
11/2: Native Americans
11/9: Pilgrims
11/16: Pilgrims in America
11/23: Famous Native Americans
Upcoming Events in November:
9th Teacher In-Service Day
No School
10th - 12th Parent / Teacher Conferences
25th Thanksgiving Feast
Early Dismissal 12:00pm
(No Aftercare)
26th - 27th Thanksgiving
No School
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Box Tops were turned in for the first time this school year. We collected $82.20! Thank you all for your support! The next batch of Box Tops will be mailed in the Spring. Keep collecting!!!
We would like to send a special Thank You to Melinda McIlroy for all of her work coordinating, collecting, cutting and mailing in our Box Tops. Your hard work is greatly appreciated, Melinda! | |
