Jambo Kenya!

Today Montessori learned to say hello-- "jambo" and thank you--"asante" in Swahili!

                        Mrs. Lloydie Zaiser from KEST came to teach us about Kenya.

                          We studied the globe and found North America and Africa.

We learned it takes one whole day to get to Nairobi--17 hours in a plane plus one flight change and a lot of waiting in London. Kenya is far across the Atlantic Ocean!

 

                                   The Kenyan flag has four colors and a Maasai shield.

             Maasai shields are made of cow hide, and wood. They are painted with beautiful designs.

                                        We could see the cow hide on the back!

Kenya is famous for its animals! We used story telling baskets to play an animal sorting game to figure out which animals ate meat and which ate plants. The people eat both in the US and in Kenya! Did you know "water is life" in Kenya?

We are sending backpacks to our "rafiki" (friends), the children of Nyumbani Village, so that they will be able to go to school.  We are including drawings and colored pencils for them as our Christmas gift.

Asante to all our parents for helping us share a bit of Christmas joy!

Meet the Brass Family!

The Montessori children have been exploring the science of sound this week.  They learned that sound travels in waves by dropping a stone into a bowl of water. They learned that sounds are caused by vibrations using a tuning fork to see and feel its vibrations. Now we are investigating how musical instruments make sounds and even change pitches with the Montessori Bells as well as the violin, flute, clarinet, and the brass instruments. We are also wondering how Mozart, Beethoven, and the Beetles wrote music!

       Mr. Broome brought his euphonium (tenor tuba), trombone, and trumpet to school Thursday.

He showed us how the mouthpiece works.  He needs to buzz his lips to make the sound.  It takes practice!

                              The trumpet is smaller and plays higher notes.  It is loud!

                                           The trumpet has valves that change the pitch.

        The trombone has a slide to lengthen the tube and change its pitch. We liked hearing it slide!

Tubas have very long tubes that curve.  They also have valves.  They can play very low notes!

                           All of the brass instruments have a bell.  Tubas are biggest!

                                   Mr. Broome played "Jingle Bells" and we sang along!

        It takes practice to play an instrument well--just like writing, reading, skiing, or riding a bike!

                     Thanks, Mr. Broome! Now we all want a trumpet for Christmas!

You can join Mr. Broome and about 100 tuba and euphonium players at The Kennedy Center Millenium Stage for "Tuba Christmas" on December 18 at 6 PM.

A Miracle!

Mrs. Getlan-Watson and Mr. Ungerman, Zoe's dad (gr.8) came to our classrooms to tell us the story of the miracle of Hanukkah.  They told us the story of the Maccabees saving the Temple in Jerusalem long, long ago. When the Temple was ready to be rededicated, they found only enough oil to light the menorah for one night. It was going to take Judah eight days to get more oil. A great miracle happened and that one jar of oil lasted eight days!


We learned how to light the menorah and play the dreidel game.

       The Owls peeled and grated potatoes to make latkes. They added onion, eggs, and a little flour.

                  Yum! "Latkes, latkes, good to eat. Cook me up a Hanukkah treat!"

Power of One

    "To the world you may be one person but to one person you may be the world."

Montessori has been immersed in candy!

The children first decided on categories and then began to sort all the candy they collected for House of Peace. It was sweet work!

                                                   Let the counting begin!

                              What has been sorted and counted can be graphed!

Following the "Golden Rule" the children made sure that each bag they packed would be one they would like as a gift themselves.

                                              From candy to colored pencils???

 "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
                                                                                             --Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

Mr. Powers read Galimoto to all three Montessori classes to help us launch our next service project-- supplying backpacks and pencils to the children of Nyumbani Village in Kenya. Our gifts will make it possible for them to attend school.  Did you know that all children in Kenya are required to have a uniform, backpack, and pencils in order to attend school? Unfortunately, that cost is prohibitive for many families!

We are also reading Wangari's Trees of Peace, One, and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind to learn how one person CAN make a difference.

" You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."                                                                                               --John Wooden

Falling into Learning

Montessori is learning all about the season of fall.

         The children used their senses to discover signs of fall in McCrillis Gardens:

     Crunching leaves! Gigantic leaves! Rough pine cones! Red holly berries! Hard acorns! Singing birds! Scurrying squirrels! Mowers vacuuming leaves! Gardeners trimming plants!

         

    Rakes, brooms, and wheelbarrows create wonderful piles of leaves on the playground!

The leaves of deciduous trees turn red, orange, yellow, magenta, and brown before falling to the ground.

                    Trees are large plants with a trunk, branches, leaves, and roots.

                             Why do plants have stems? Why do trees have trunks?

             Do plants need light, water, soil, and air? What will happen to a leaf if we cover it in foil?

Leaves make food for the tree and have stems, veins, petioles, and blades. The Botany Cabinet is used to trace and label blade shapes. Our violet's leaves are cordate.  Grass is linear. The dogwood leaves are ovate.

                        Those veins and stems "pop" and make great leaf rubbings!

Montessori is falling in love with fall!

            "The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness--John Muir