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Summer Time Fun!

7/27/2014

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Monday:
Group A introduced the 2nd to last letter of the phonetic alphabet, letter Kk! We always explored the different seashells I brought from my trip to Europe! everyone was so interested and very gentle with the shells.
Ms Lizzie was still on vacation, so Ms Arielle took Group B, and Kinder Blossom to the table for some work time, which they all loved.

after nap, Miss Vanessa joined and had some fun yoga stretches for the kiddos.



Tuesday:
Today Group A worked on their Kites, decorating their construction paper with glue, buttons, beads, and other items found in the atelier!
Miss Lizzie came back today and her and Miss Arielle joined their groups for group time.

Vanessa joined us again for yoga, everyone loved having a double dose of miss Vanessa!!!!

Wednesday:
Today we had a joined show N tell, Group A focused on their letter K, i presented my keys, Ivy brought a alphabet card with the letter K and a picture of a kangaroo on it! Noah showed off the "king" from our castle in the dramatic play area.  Ancel showed his cape and mask, while Asher and Teo brought their favorite truck of the week! :) Miya showed us a crystal, that she asked Arielle to use, and Ben brought a map of the US and the Continents. Hank and Wren just wanted to observe. Miss Arielle showed us some of her favorite crystals in a special bag her friend made for her.

Miss Daphne joined us for Spanish in the afternoon.

Thursday:
I was in the office today. Sorry for no pictures! but we had a great day!!

Friday;
We started our Splash Day/Magdalen's last day with a fun dance party! and balloon party!
When we came back out, Miss Toni and Miss Liz set up work stations to splash, wash dishes and clothes, and somewhere to hang them! Many friends enjoyed using the wash board and showed their friends how to use it.

After nap, everyone decorated Magdalen's Farewell Card, before presenting it to her! Primary Sunflowers will miss her much! We closed out our friday afternoon with a blacklight dance party, before heading outside for more dancing fun!!

xoxo
Dom-Dom










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A Week of Heartfelt Goodbyes

7/21/2014

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Monday 

On Monday morning, we had such an art-filled day for all of the kids! Ms. Liz's Group worked on coloring in pictures of Spain and Portugal, decorating them with glitter, and practicing our sizzler skills by cutting the countries out and then gluing them to construction paper. Ms. Lizzie's group worked on gluing pictures of themselves in action and decorating the mural board with colorful markers. Kinder blossom practiced reading BOB books and "word on the wall" which is always a big hit with our young readers.

In the afternoon, we had Ms. Vanessa do an energy-filled yoga class with the students. It has been a lot of fun to witness the differences in yoga instructors and how the children are receptive to both teaching styles. Ms. Vanessa teaches a class that is highly active, silly and filled with games. Ms. Liz (of The Little Yoga House) teaches a class that is much more mellow and works hard to calm the breath and minds of our little yogis. The students really seem to enjoy yoga from both teachers with not much of a preference for one instructor over the other. It goes to show how open-minded and adaptable the kids truly are!



Tuesday

What a bittersweet day it was as Tuesday marked the day for Ms. Jackie's last day teaching at Green Sprout (tear). I remember the young Ms. Jackie who came into our school with little teaching experience but an unmistakable passion for knowledge, education, the arts and most importantly, children! Ms. Jackie was one of the first teachers for many of your little sprouts so many of them have a deeply rooted love and connection to Ms. Jackie. We thought it would be best to honor and celebrate this day with a morning dance party on the playground with the entire school. We laughed, we cried (alright... I cried), we smiled, we sang and we boogied! It was a special day and it was loaded with fun! We will all miss you so much Ms. Jackie! 

As for the rest of the day, we enjoyed a stained glass art project that was inspired by Ms. Dom's European adventure and visits to historical cathedrals. We also enjoyed a calm yoga class with Liz before running, digging, exploring and jumping around on the playground. 


Wednesday

All of the kids were eager to do Montessori work time on Wednesday and show off some of their skills to Ms. Sandy and Ms. Toni, who couldn't resist watching your students hard at work! After our focused learning time, we decided to opt out of group time and do one big community circle time because we had such low numbers and all of the kids were eager and excited to introduce their show and tells! It is always so exciting to see the assortment of materials, objects, toys and books that come in on Wednesday mornings! It is such an important learning experience for the kids to practice their public speaking skills, learn the importance of responsibility with personal property and to expand their vocabulary when hearing and saying new nouns and adjectives to explain their precious show and tells. 

On Wednesday afternoon, we had Spanish with Ms. Daphne, learning about different jungle animals! We also had an opportunity to explore the rearranged centers. Ms. Liz thought it would be a good idea to move things around and bring in some new toys, such as the airport, for the kids to feel re-engaged during afternoon free-play. After Spanish, we cleaned up and got our dance on during a black light dance party for Tristan and Hunter who were celebrating their last day at Green Sprout! 



I still remember Tristan's first day at Green Sprout, specifically I remember Tristan's ENORMOUS lunch! Ms. Toni and I looked at this 1 year old's PB&J sandwich, banana and snacks thinking that maybe Allen mistakenly switched his lunch for his sons. Nope. Sweet, pre-tot-aged Tristan ate the entire thing by himself! This grand lunch for a 1-year-old is a mere metaphor for Tristan's desire to take a big bite out of life. He has filled our days here with so much laughter, it is hard to say goodbye but we know he will rock kindergarten! 

Thursday

With clouds in the sky and a high chance of rain, our class opted out of having splash day, this doesn't mean that we didn't fill our day with fun adventures though! We decided to spend a little extra time outside in the morning in case it started to rain. We decorated treasure bags and filled them with special finds around the playground. After running our legs out for a bit, we came inside to do our Montessori work time. Water exploration, matching various container and jars with the appropriate lids, looking at insects through the magnifying glass, building puzzles of Europe, and lining washers and bolts up from smallest to largest were some of the most popular works of the morning! 

After a long and restful nap, we woke up and read "It's Christmas, David" which has been one of our most popular books for Christmas in July. Many of students already know the book by heart so they love to read the story out loud as an entire class, giving our teachers' vocal cords a little rest. After our story, a special guest arrived, Chef Rich Reimbolt (aka Liz's boyfriend). With Dom in France at the moment, Liz thought it would be fun to have a juice, cheese and baguette tasting because why should Dom be having all the fun?! Chef Rich helped lead the special activity by talking about what was in some of the different juice varieties and some of the flavor profiles that might shine through. It was the most sophisticated class of 3-5 year olds I ever did see! 

Friday

With such an incredible (and loud) thunderstorm we had into the early morning of Friday's school day, we decided to take advantage of the natural puddles and mud formed in our playground. We filled up sensory pools with rocks, mulch, dirt and water and gave each of the sprouts a toothbrush to use as a scrubber. Our class loved running around the playground, belting Disney classics and discovering different treasures to scrub clean with their toothbrushes in hand. About half of our students embraced the natural puddles, jumping around and making a mess, while the other half opted to stay clean and play on the monkey climber. With temperatures at such a rare low for the month of July, everyone (especially the teachers) were relieved to be able to hang out outside without feeling like we spent an hour in a sauna! 

During the inside portion of our day, our class really enjoyed working together to build a Milky Way puzzle. We had a play date with Genevieve and Jackson and the older kids were very patient and helpful in allowing our younger friends to have turns connecting the puzzle pieces too. We have been discussing the importance of how our older students are teachers to our younger friends so it is crucial that we practice patience and offer a helping hand when needed.

Friday also marks Olive's last day at Green Sprout. I don't think I have ever met a child who knows about as much about music as I do. Nor do I know a child who returns home to her parents looking as clean as when she was dropped off in the morning. Olive's sweet smile, generous heart and eagerness to challenge herself scholastically reassure us that even though she is not going to be at Green Sprout, she will thrive! Her family is moving to Houston which brings great sadness to our entire staff here at Green Sprout (she has been with us since she was an infant!), however, we expect lots of pop-ins when her family returns to Austin for future visits! 


Love, 


Ms. Liz 



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Magnet Fun (7/7-11)

7/14/2014

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Welcome back friends!  We certainly hoped you all enjoyed the long weekend.  A lot of our friends returned from vacation this week and we couldn't be more happy to have them back!  Our beloved Dom Dom will be beginning her vacation on Tuesday.  She will be traveling to Europe for 2 weeks with her family.  We will all miss her dearly but MIss Liz will be stepping in for her.

Monday:  This morning Miss Lizzie and Miss Dom gave presentations to our new Montessori works we have in the classroom.  MIss Arielle worked with the older kiddos with the 'Movable Alphabet.'  During small groups Dom showed her group where exactly where she will be traveling on her trip.  Miss Lizzie introduced the unit we will be working on this week which is physics.  Today we played with magnets, discussing the words "attract and repel".  We also took a little field trip  to the Toddler room to explore more magnet games. Kinder Blossom began their unit of 'Bob Books'.   This afternoon we enjoyed yoga with Miss Liz whom we also haven't seen in awhile because she has also been on vacation.  

Tuesday:  We spent most of our morning today exploring all the new books Miss Arielle got from the library!  We all loved looking the the Science books and asking many important questions.  During small group time Miss Liz (Dom's group) continued to read the new library books.  Miss Lizzie's group painted using nuts, bolts and magnets!  We chose what colors we wanted to squirt on our paper, then used the nuts and bolts to spread the colors on our paper.  Each one turned out absolutely fabulous.  Kinder Blossom continued to read their Bob Books and discuss Kinder.  This afternoon we enjoyed playing in the dramatic play center while others used stampers to paint pictures.  We also enjoyed yoga with Miss Vanessa.

Wednesday:  This morning during morning drop off we decorated painted rocks with googly eyes to put in our garden.  We then came inside for Montessori work time and Show and Tell.  This afternoon we enjoyed a block light dance party!  Yay!  Miss Ivy brought back the Secret Sack with an awesome flash light she used for camping last weekend.  We also decorated our own magnet using glitter, googly eyes, and tissue paper.  They all turned out so cute!  Miss Daphne was out sick this week, Miss Liz G.  led the Sunflowers in a yoga class.  

Thursday: We had an absolute blast during Splash Day this morning.  This afternoon since MIss Daphne was absent due to an illness we did a cooking project.  During lunch on Wednesday Miss Lizzie and Arielle asked the class what they would like to make, a lot of the kiddos said sandwiches.  We then asked what they would like to put on their sandwiches, the most popular answers were bananas and peanut butter. Yum!  This afternoon after nap we gathered at the tables.  MIss Liz bought us many different ingredients including peanut butter, Sun Butter, grape and strawberry jelly, honey, bananas, turkey, cheese, tomatoes, mayo and mustard.  Each Sunflower chose what they wanted to put on their sandwich.  We definitely had some very interesting combinations!  All the kiddos absolutely loved being able to build their own however they wanted.

Friday:  We had an awesome dance party outside this morning with the help of some 80's music.  The cool breeze and clouds made it extra special!  We also enjoyed tons of bubbles in all the pools for Splash Day!  This afternoon we had free play.  We also gave the Sunflowers another chance to do some Montessori work.  We then gathered at the tables to sing Miss Ivy happy birthday and eat the delicious cookies her Mom brought.  Her brother, Rye from the Pre Tot room joined us for the celebration.  What an amazing week we had in the Primary room!  

XO
Lizzie 
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Fourth of July Celebration! (6/30-7/4)

7/6/2014

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Checking on the garden and insects  before coming in for snack and montessori work time.

Group A began with the letter Xx, naming words and sounded out the letter, that makes the sound of "ks"! we finished up, and made our way to the table for some Art. I put down tape, on construction paper, in the shape of an X. They then painted around their tape, covering all of the white, before we peeled up the tape, revealing the letter Xx!!
Group B worked on Fourth of July art, with Mr Kenny, as Ms Lizzie was out. They enjoyed singing the Pledge of Allegiance, while decorating their Flags.
Kinder Blossom brainstormed different activities and ideas, to celebrate the Fourth.
After nap, a new friend, Ms Heather came to visit for yoga. They had a great time, stretching, and practicing picking up pom poms with their toes!
TUESDAY:
Group A worked on writing the letter Xx, using chalk. Group B and Kinder Blossom worked on Fourth of July decorations before we made our way outside. Together we came up with a physics activity. We created a wrecking ball, with some string and a sock. We built up some blocks and had friends take turns letting go of the wrecking ball, asking each friend what they predicted would happen. Jasper suggested we put Mulch in the sock, and Ms Jackie suggested we put sand. Each item or object that we used changed the strength and speed of the wrecking ball, which  many friends noticed and decided to bring other things to try out!
Ms Vanessa joined us after PM snack for a little yoga practice.
WEDNESDAY:
we started this morning with some new fourth of July inspired montessori works, including color recognition, and using tweezers to transfer cotton balls from one container to another.  We had Kai and Hunter join our group for a playdate which went great!  Group A had show N tell, Ivy showing off her USA flag, Ancel showing off his Cape, Teo showing his truck and me showing them a Xylophone! We then made our own xylphones using popsicle sticks and glue! Group B and Kinder Blossom also had show N tell, before heading outside.
after nap, Ms Arielle set up an art project for our friends to work on, making "fireworks" using clothespins and cotton balls. They were all very interested!
Ms Daphne was unable to make it, so we enjoyed a fun cooking project, our decorating Vegan sugar cookies, using sunbutter, organic chocolate syrup, sprinkles, using plastic knives to spread it all. and once finished we stuck a small USA flag in them :)
THURSDAY:
It was another successful Splash Day with a little bit of a fourth of July spin to it! Ms Toni and Ms Sandy made some natural bubble mix in different containers, and added food coloring to make them Red, White, and Blue! It was a big hit! We also had face painting for our friends who opted to skip splash day :)

We had two playdates, with Kian and Jackson, which went great! Ms Daphne joined us for Spanish in the afternoon, and we enjoyed Special made popsicles for Milou and Major last day at Green Sprout!

It was a splendid Week!!

XO
Dom-Dom














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    Jodie Goldberg, Ashley Wooten and Alex Cummins 
    Primary class co-teachers

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  • Home
  • Programs
    • Infant Daisies
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    • Primary Sunflowers
    • Kinderblossom Lilies
  • Curriculum
    • The Montessori Method
    • The Reggio Emilia Philosphy
    • Peace Education
    • Snack and Gardening Program
    • Extracurricular Activities
  • Community
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    • Community Events
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    • Parent Handbook
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