Holly Jolly December!

December is full of music, giving, and celebration!

Montessori learned about sound waves and vibrations this month 

using tuning forks and 

real instruments.

The trumpet has three valves.

Use the striker and mute when playing the bells.

Mrs. Manzano played three stringed instruments--mandolin, guitar, and cuatro.

The violin has four strings. The guitar has six and the mandolin has eight!

Sarah, Amalia, and Ellie played the flute for us. 

We enjoyed a Christmas show with KayDee Puppets.

Afterwards, Mortimer Mouse tasted our ears!

 Mrs. Zaiser came to tell us about Kenya, . It takes about 20 hours to fly there!

She brought a Maasai shield just like the one on the Kenyan flag.

Montessori is counting and rolling pennies for the Maasai school's Water Management Project.

"Water is life" in Kenya.

We packed backpacks for our rafiki in Kenya.

We sent a note or drawing with each backpack.

Each backpack got crayons, colored pencils, a pencil, and a sharpener.

Our rafiki will be ready for school!

Mrs. G-W helped us celebrate Hanukkah.

The menorah has eight candles for the eight nights of Hanukkah.

We decorated the Christmas tree

with balls

and candy canes.

The Owls used patterns to bead candy canes for their own trees.

They grates onions for latkes and 

kneaded dough to make gnocchi. Yum!

Stringing popcorn

took time and patience (and a few samples!).

The birds will have a happy holiday!

There is holiday work in Montessori--grinding,

embossing,

matching,

drawing,

reading,

gluing, and

sorting,

Strike up the band!

We are counting the days until Christmas!

Take life as you find it but don't leave it the same.--African Proverb

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

FOUND: Fall!

When you look for fall it is important to use all of your senses.

Deciduous trees have beautiful leaves

but they need raking!

You can find fall at McCrillis Garden

and in our classrooms.

Learning about trees,

apples,

and oranges is interesting work!

Using a ricer to make mash potatoes

after peeling them takes lots of hand-eye coordination.

In Hands On Science the Owls used cornflakes and water

to explore how the stomach works.

Tasting Fuji, Pink Lady, Cameo, and Granny Smith apples

and making a graph of our favorites took tasty decisions!

Applesauce takes lots of chopping and slicing, but it smells delicious when it is cooking!

The Lunchers made corn bread, adding eggs,

milk,

and lots of stirring.

Teamwork is dream work!

The Owls visited the new "far park"

and discovered twirling,

sliding and 

climbing make fall fun!

Sometimes fall is full of raindrops

but it is always a time for friends!

Sweet Gifts

"That best portion of a good man's life, 

His little, nameless, unremembered acts

of kindness and of love."

           ---William Wordsworth

November is candy time in Montessori!

Each student brought some candy from Halloween trick-or-treating to add to our collection.

Then the candy was sorted. Is this chocolate? Is this chewy?

Decisions, decisions!!

We counted lots of chocolate bars.

When you are packing a bag for a gift, be sure to include a variety!

Think: What would you like to receive?

And, don't forget a lollipop!

We filled many gift bags for Gift of Peace and hope everyone enjoys a sweet treat!

One hundred bags of candy will be delivered to Gift of Peace by the Agnew family. Many thanks to Tom in grade 8 for helping us continue this tradition for nine years. I know the sisters appreciate the children's generosity. But even more importantly, they appreciate the love and care each child put into packing his gift bags.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."
                                                    --Aesop

Happy Thanksgiving!