Some images from this past week...

 Making an America flag!

Watering plants.

Having a lesson with the binomial cube.

 Making a continent map!

 Finished product!

Meet "North" and "South"

This week we were so lucky to adopt two adorable dwarf hamsters!  They are a wonderful addition to our classroom!  We have had such fun watching them move about, watching them eat and fight with each other.  North and South were named by our afternoon children on Monday after deciding they should be named after the continents.  One child suggested North and South America and it was automatically shortened to North and South. 

These little guys are quite social!  Although they like to take naps during the day, often they are seen coming up to the sides and climbing up to get close to our faces.  They like to climb on top of their water bottle and run in their wheel!  We feed them every other day but often give them a cucumber slice as a treat! 

Verbs

 Some of our older children who are fluent readers are also beginning the study of grammar.  In Montessori, we follow the child and they were very interested in the grammar boxes in the classroom.  We decided to first play our verb game with the verb boxes.  Imagine charades with words they can read.  The children read the words and we take turns acting them out for the others to guess.  We then talk about how these are "action words." 

 We then decided they would make an illustrated verb book.  They thought of various verbs, wrote the word and then drew pictures.  We then copied each child's work, cut the papers and assembled the books. 

Here are some of the words they came up with:  hug, battle, fly, moving, kiss, run, go, bite, sing, eat, flip, spin, play, shoot (a basket!), knit, rip, creep, swim, button, walk, sneeze, kick, wink, nap, dig, sort, lock, cook, spit, knock, kiss and ride

G'Day Mate! Australia

This week we began to study Australia.  The children were able to choose to complete various dot paintings.  We had various animals and a sun available.  They enjoyed the technique of using a cotton swab to dab (dot) the paint on the paper. 

 We also had out an Australian pin map as well as coloring a map of Australia.  This complements out large continent puzzle map. 

Many children enjoyed making a "parts of a Kangaroo" book.  We learned that the kangaroo's front limbs are called arms like ours are!  It was also fun to learn that the baby in the pouch is called a "joey."

Some images from this past week...

 Teen board math work.  Doing an alphabet puzzle.

 Afternoon Lego sculpture!

 Making a Valentine!

 Helping to decorate a birthday crown for a friend!

A lesson on drinking tea with a friend.

Antarctica

Our last week of Antarctia study came to a close today.  All week long the children have been exploring the idea of a frozen surface and some of the animals that live on or near Antarctica. 

The grand finale to our study was when one of our fabulous Grandmothers (THANK YOU NANA!) came to tell us about her recent trip to this cold and frozen continent!  We learned about who lives in Antarctica.  We learned about scientists studying climate change.  We learned about how to travel to Antarctica.  We learned about the "penguin highway." 

 The talk was not all about penguins, other animals live there too!  Susan told us about the zodiac boats they would take to go see whales too!  We learned about how penguins waddle and some slide on their bellies.  They often walk in lines and push each other into the water.  They also leap out of the water to come back on land!

 Susan passed out many pictures of her trip.  One included the inside of a penguin's mouth.  It looks like there are teeth on this one's tongue!  We learned how the penguins eat krill and bring food back to their mate and baby chick. 

The children learned so much about Antarctica today! 

Again, thank you to Susan for coming to visit and tell us about Antarctica!

Valentines, Valentines, Valentines!

This past week (and last week) we had many Valentine activities on the shelves!  One was making your own Valentine bag!  The children wrote their name on ones side of a white paper bag and then glued on a red or pink doily heart on the other side.  They were all so happy to be able to have a bag so they could take their Valentines home! (Even better, it was one they made!)

 We also made Valentine cookies!  Here two older girls help out other children make the cookies.  (Afternoon children made the dough on Tuesday afternoon).

 They first wash put on an apron then wash hands.  Lightly flour the surface, roll out the dough ball, cut out the heart and then carry it on the spatula (!) to a baking tray on a different table. 

 On Thursday morning the children decorated the cookies with frosting and a tiny amount of sprinkles.  Before going home on Thursday they all ate the cookies!

Happy Valentines Day!