Children's House Room 7

April News

In April, the children will be learning about Island and Volcanos. We will discuss how volcanoes are formed as well as islands! We will be learning parts of a turtle. Our book for the month will be Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We are looking forward to our Easter egg hunt. 🐇

March Recap

In March, we learned about all the different types of dinosaurs and Africa. The children’s favorite Dinosaur was the T-Rex! They colored their very own dinosaur after learning fun facts. They really enjoyed our sensorial bin work this month full of different types of dinosaurs with green magic sand and trees! They also really loved dissecting our dinosaur eggs that contained small dinosaurs inside. The children also learned about Africa as we looked at the different clothing they had, the children found the patterns so amazing! We even traced Africa and colored it green after finding it on our map. We read lots of fun Dr. Suess books. Their favorite story was Green Eggs and Ham. We then moved on to growing our very own beans. The children were fascinated to see how their beans grew! At the end they tried to draw the life cycle of their bean and of course had the opportunity to take it home to share with their family. 

Our children have been practicing numbers by using the 100 board and colored beads to count. They have also been practicing their letter sounds by using pictures to match the letter. The children have also been practicing their fine motor skills using metal insects. They really enjoyed tracing all the shapes and making fun colorful patterns inside of them. The class has really been working hard on keeping our classroom clean. They have been doing an amazing job of cleaning up after themselves. They have been using our dustpan, broom and spray bottle with soap and water as well as cleaning cloths.

February Recap

February was all about Cultural Awareness & Friendship! We started off the month by celebrating Lunar New Year. We had a fun coloring page to go along with it. We also talked about Black History month and what it meant. We read various books and talked about all the people that were marked down in history. We then moved on to learning all about Asia! The children colored their very own Asia and knew how to find it on the 7-continent map. They also loved learning about all the different clothing attire they have in various parts of Asia. We had a fun job with pictures to match and we went over it all together during circle time. We also read our book of the month, Little Blue Little Yellow. The children learned how mixing blue and yellow made green. They had a fun Venn diagram that they painted.

The children really enjoyed going out to the garden and picking out lettuce that they had the opportunity to eat. Our Valentine’s Day party was a success! The children loved passing out their cards to all their friends. We have been practicing kind words and good manners. Children practiced saying thank you after receiving their cards and waiting patiently. 

January Recap

In January we learned all about Antarctica. We went over the climate it has and how it is the coldest place on earth. The children looked at pictures of Eskimo people and what they wore. They were fascinated by how different their clothing is. The children loved our book of the month The Mitten; after reading it we colored our very own mittens. After coloring them we cut out all the animals from the story and glued them on our mitten. We also learned about all the animals that live in Antarctica, for example penguins, polar bears, and walrus. After learning about all the animals, we looked at different animal footprints and tried to guess what animal they belonged to. We also did parts of a penguin using our three-part cards job. We also learned what hibernation means and what animals hibernate like snakes, bears, skunks and squirrels. We did a fun cutting page to go along with this. The children had the opportunity to categorize whether the animal hibernated or migrated during the winter.

Our class has been working very hard on their sounds and numbers. The children really enjoyed putting the numbers 1-20 in order on our hundred board. One of their favorite jobs this month has been the lock and key work. We also continued working on our manners by saying please & thank you. We have been practicing our sounds with our letter sound work with pictures and by signing the letter sound song. Our enrichment has been full of fun activities. Their favorite was making snowflakes by gluing small blue pieces of paper onto a picture of a snowflake.

December Recap

In December, we discussed how various cultures celebrate the holiday season. We read books all about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas. The children had many fun crafts for the month like candy canes and ugly Christmas sweaters! We also had lots of fun cutting work on our art shelf from cutting different reindeer shapes to cutting different patterns on Santa’s beard! We put up our own Christmas tree in our room with many different ornaments that children brought from home. We also read our book of the month, The Giving Tree, and we discussed the joy of giving and receiving. We had so much fun practicing our two Christmas songs, Santa Clause is Coming to Town and Feliz Navidad all month long. The Children were terrific during our Christmas performance. We also had a festive Christmas party with so many yummy treats. The children really enjoyed all the yummy food. Thank you to all our parents for coming to our performance. Also for participating and helping us have our Christmas party. 

The children have been practicing their fine motor skills with various work such as tweezers, stringing, and dressing frames. We practiced our letter sounds by singing a song and using our sandpaper letters for language. We worked on our bead stairs for math and number rods. The children enjoyed doing this work. They were introduced to the triangle box and practiced nicely. We also practiced cleaning up our areas and the children really liked wiping down their tables with soap and water. 

November Recap

We began the month of November by introducing children to Virtues and Values. We practiced using kind words towards each other and the different ways we can be helpful. For example, children helped one another do their beds. We then read our book of the month To Fill a Bucket and had a bucket of our very own. They were filled with stickers for every act of kindness they did throughout the month! It made them so happy to help others and helped them understand how much kind words can make a difference. During our circle time we discussed different ways they can be kind and helpful not only at school but at home as well. Children later moved on to learning the different parts of a flag and coloring their USA flag. We looked at different pictures with all the Landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, The Statue of Liberty, Hoover Dam and many more. Children practiced the 50 states song and introduced them to the puzzle map of California. We then explored parts of a tree with a very fun puzzle. After practicing the puzzle, they had the opportunity to color the different parts of a tree themselves.

We continued to work on our letter sounds and numbers. We have been singing letter sound songs every morning to help remember our letter sounds. Children really enjoyed learning about our primary colors. We had a very fun activity using food coloring and shaving cream. They all had the opportunity to pick two colors and mix them with the shaving cream in a zip lock bag to create a new color. They were so excited to take them home and talk about all the colors they can make with just their primary colors red, blue and yellow. We also went over parts of a turkey using our 3-part cards and had a cutting worksheet to go along with it. Their favorite part was the waddle. Lastly was our Thanksgiving Feast, which was absolutely amazing children enjoyed being surrounded by friends and sharing what they were most thankful for. Thank you to all the parents who participated and helped make our feast possible. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

October Recap

In October we welcomed fall and everything that comes with it. We talked about how the weather starts to change as well as the leaves on the trees. Children went out to the playground and noticed how some leaves were yellow, others green and some even brown and super crunchy. We read our book Going on a Leaf Hunt. We made our very own sensory bin with all kinds of stuff we found outside like a pinecone and different shaped leaves. The children had so much fun doing this. 

We continued to work in the classroom, learning all our new work. Children really enjoyed our eyeballs transferring job in practical life. We also learned all about planets. The children loved all the fun jobs we had. Placing each planet in order was their favorite. The children also made a fun hat, with all the planets, that they colored themselves. We also worked on learning how to complete a whole work cycle and how to work independently. The children were building their fine motor skills by using tweezers, spoons and even scissors. We practiced cutting with fun patterns and ghost. They had so much fun learning all about pumpkins from looking inside one to learning how they grow. We did a fun cutting page where we glued each part of a pumpkin. They even had the opportunity to paint their very own pumpkin. It was a blast! Lastly, we ended the month with our trick or treat event. The children had so much fun showing off all their unique costumes! Thank you, parents, for donating all those yummy treats! 

September Recap

The very first month of our school year was amazing! We started by getting to know one another by doing a mirror craft. We also sang many fun songs. During circle time, we shared our family pictures as well as our favorite color and foods. We also had a magnetic job with different parts of our body which children loved! Children were introduced to the land and water globe. After being introduced, we colored our very own globe showing only the land and water parts. We then moved on to introducing children to the seven continents using our map. We had a fun song that went along with it, that children learned so fast! Children did such a great job of coloring their seven continents afterwards. Our book of the month was The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. We made a fun painting craft our very own kissing hand. This book was perfect to help children know school is not a scary place but fun and exciting! Lastly, we went over parts of an apple and later had our first cutting page activity to go along with the work. 

We have been going over all our classroom/playground rules and how we can maintain a clean environment. During the first month we also focused a lot on normalization of the classroom and routine. We learned how to use a dustpan and spray bottle to clean our tables. Children were also introduced to several Montessori jobs during our circle time like the pink tower and knobless cylinders. They have really enjoyed our practical life shelves. A couple of their favorite jobs were the lock and key and the 7 continents large map puzzle. 

Summer 2024 Recap

Our summer adventure was a blast. During our first week we had a party in the USA theme. The children loved talking about all the different ways they celebrate 4th of July. We painted our very own fireworks using chalk and lots of glitter! We then continued the fun learning all about underwater sea animals and outer space. We read lots of books about sea animals. Children loved hearing about the beluga whale and sharks. During our circle time we looked at all the planets and learned fun facts about each one of them. 

During August we learned about camping! Many children shared stories of what they did when they went camping. We also had a fun card matching game that had all kinds of stuff you use while camping. Children of course couldn’t have an amazing summer without our fun water days! Children loved splashing in the water and sunbathing on their towels after. We also had yummy popsicles to enjoy in these hot summer days. I think their favorite part of all summer was the bubble party. They absolutely loved it! Overall, we had an amazing summer.