February 9, 2012
Dear Parents,
The Australia Presentation Schedule is now posted. Please discuss with your child a day and time that works for your family and then follow the directions on the page to sign up.
100th Celebration: We are going to celebrate the Centennial of Arizona statehood by bringing in collections of 100 items. Your child may bring in any collection of 100 items as long as they can carry it in by themselves and it's not highly valuable (no diamonds or $100 bills!). =) They can be as creative as they want, either making or assembling their collection items.
Have a great weekend!
Feb. 5, 2012
Dear Parents,
We have had a lot going on in the class this past month. We've experienced the beginnings of the Universe from the Big Bang through the creation of Earth and the development of life into the Middle Ages time. We are now heading towards present day really quick! The students have enjoyed seeing how things have changed over time and using quill pens, calligraphy and "type setting" have been just some of the highlights. We've also had a great time learning to do our math problems, but we've had to translate from Roman Numerals to modern numbers in order to do our work. It's been challenging but hopefully some of the children were able to decipher the Roman Numerals on the Super Bowl this past weekend. =)
Now on to the "The Rubber Band Effect". For lack of a better name, I've called this part of the school year the "the Rubber Band Effect" time. This is when the 3rd years prepare to make the move to 4th grade next year. Unfortunately, this involves disrupting some of the calm that has been present in the class the last few months. As the 3rd years get excited to move up and are sidetracked by thoughts of what's to happen next, the 2nd and 1st years start to rise to the leadership roles in the class they will take over next year. But when the 3rds realize they will be moving and leaving our class, which has been their home these last few years, they try to take back their leadership roles which causes uncertainty with the 1st and 2nd years.
Each year this "Rubber Band Effect" starts to appear around the time that placements start being talked about. Please understand that while this is a normal occurrence each year, each student in the class responds to the upcoming changes in different ways. We are already starting to notice some 1st and 2nd years starting to take on leadership roles in the class, while others are unsettled and starting to act up. An increase in discipline write ups and calls is very normal around this time. Usually the students who are having difficulty with the changes going on want to be sure that there is some consistency by testing the rules being enforced. Usually after one or two incidents and chats with parents, these students stop testing the boundaries and again start making appropriate choices.
Just to update you on things coming up during the next month and a bit beyond:
Field Trip: Friday, February 10th, to Camelback High School to see a play by the Camelback Drama Club. All Elementary 1 classes will be attending.
Valentine's Day: Students may decorate a box or bag at home to bring in on Feb. 14th. Your child is welcome to bring in Valentines for 26 students, but please limit the candy. Also, just have your child sign their name in the from part of their Valentines. It is very difficult to hand out specific Valentines to each student as their boxes may not be clearly marked with their names. We will have work time as usual but will pass out Valentines around PE in the afternoon.
Hats On Day: Friday, February 17th wear your hat in remembrance of Scott Adams, a former student, who passed away of brain cancer.
President's Day: No School on President's Day, Monday, Feb. 20th for all students.
Fat Tuesday Pancake Bake: We will have our annual Pancake Bake on Tuesday, February 21st. Details and signups will be out soon so watch your email!
Leprechaun Traps: It's never too early to start to work on your Leprechaun Traps for St. Patrick's Day. We have been so close to catching one but those pesky little Leprechauns always give us the slip. Let's try to catch one this year before they trick us with some really awful messes in our classroom! This is a fun, family activity (but purely optional). Just a couple of notes: Leprechauns are 2 inches tall, love shiny gold things, and since they will be stuck in the trap over the weekend they will need some food (they love chocolate!) to help them survive the weekend. Watch for further details coming soon.
Australia Researches: We will again be working with the students in class on their research projects. We will wrap up work right before Spring Break so all work will come home then so your child can wrap up their project and written report during the rest of March. I have a few books already in the class for students to use but if you can assist your child with a trip to the library to get some sources to bring in by Valentine's Day that should give us time to get a jump on the brainstorming and notecard stage of the reports.
Australia Presentations: Presentations will be the first 2 weeks of April prior to AIMS testing week. A signup will be posted on the Web site this week. Please discuss with your child a convenient time to present and then follow the instructions on the web site to select a slot.
Here are the topics chosen by the students:
| Amin | Termites |
| Ava B. | Platypus |
| Carmen | Skink |
| Charlie | Komodo Dragon |
| Conner | Surfing |
| Emily | Koala |
| Nico | Tasmanian Devil |
| Olivia | Pygmy Possum |
| Stefan | Box Jellyfish |
| Tanner | Red Dragon |
| Brad | Tahiti |
| Bridget | Canberra |
| Emilia | Sydney Opera House |
| Garret | Victoria |
| Giselle | Opal Mining |
| Jack | Boomerang |
| Samantha | Stradbroke Island |
| Shea | Queensland |
| Ava F. | Tasmania |
| Cael | Melbourne |
| Isabella | Great Barrier Reef |
| Jonas | Lamington National Park |
| Makenna | New Zealand |
| Meiling | Outback |
| Sasha | Crocodile Hunter |
| Shelby | Sydney |
Have a wonderful week!
~ June, Lisa and Maria
1/6/12
Dear Parents,
We just wrapped up a wonderful week of studying the first 2 Great Lessons by Maria Montessori. These were the Big Bang and Life Comes to Earth. Next week we'll be on to the Fundamental Needs of Man, the Timeline of Writing and the Timeline of Math.
The students had a ton of fun exploring new lessons along with the return of some favorites, but they were stymied by the lack of paper and writing utensils. =) Now that humans are about to appear in our lessons, we plan to solve that problem as well as explore the impact of humans and their needs for shelter, protection, nutrition, writing and math as well as others.
We're on the hunt for feathers and papyrus plants in the hopes to make our very own paper and quill pens! If not, nature will supply as we learned today with our making of homemade mini-brooms/sweepers.
It's been a great return and start to the new year. We'll keep you posted on our continued progress through time and our continued exploration of Maria Montessori's 5 Great Lessons!
Also, we want to wish Siena our best as she leaves our class to study with her brothers at home with their teacher mother, Christina. What a great opportunity but we will miss her greatly. She stopped by today to say goodbye, but as we say in our class, "Once a Junebug, always a Junebug!" So it's a "See you later!" instead.
Have a great weekend!
~ Ms. June, Ms. Lisa and Ms. Maria
Now here is some news from Ms. Lianne and Ms. Maria in our Outdoor Environment (O.D.E.):
1/6/12
Greetings and Happy New Year!
It is great to be back and outside with this beautiful weather. We have many new and exciting activities and lessons planned for the upcoming weeks!
We have begun studying volcanoes, and will be performing volcano eruptions. We are incorporating this with “parts of a river” and maps; we are going to be creating a large scale geographic town that features all of these topics.
Materials needed are liter bottles, sand, soil, newspaper, and modeling clay.
We began woodworking this week, and had a great response from the children. We are in need of any tools, and LOTS of wood! There are also wood building kits at stores such as Home Depot and Walmart (materials and directions to build birdfeeders, tool boxes, etc) that are very useful and fun.
We are hoping that the weather is going to stay warm, so that we can start our gardening again! We are looking for Herbs and edible plants which will be used with a nutrition lesson that is around the corner. Potted and hanging plants are always a welcome donation to make our space even more beautiful!
Finally, we need the following items donated for other ongoing experiments:
Baby jars (or any other small glass jars)
Recyclable containers (OJ/milk jugs, ice cream containers, 20 oz bottles)
Plastic cups
Food coloring
Garden/woodworking gloves
As always, thank you for all that you do and for all of your donations. Have a wonderful 2012!
Ms. Lianne and Ms. Maria
Meadowbrook ODE