Newsletters 2024-25

Additionally, around this time of year, we often see a rise in colds and other illnesses in the classroom.  Especially with children at this age because many of our students are still learning to cover their coughs and sneezes and independently blow their noses. The children hear us talk about germs and quelling the spread, but since we cannot see germs, it can be hard for them to understand how that happens.  Monday was the perfect time to define germs and then to demonstrate just what happens even though we can't actually see it happening.  We swabbed 8 germy places:  inside our nose, inside our mouth, the bottom of a shoe, the toilet flusher, the door handle, a cubby door, the sink faucet, and the sink drain.  Then, we had to place the Petri dishes in a dark box and set it in a warm place while we waited.  Just like every good scientist, they were extremely patient all week.  And the results were shocking!  Shocking enough that it made the wait feel well worth it.  So gross though!  However, we didn't want to end the week on a shocking or gross note, so we added one more quick (and easy enough to do at home) experiment to our day.  It also emphasizes the importance of handwashing because it demonstrates how quickly the "germs" (cinnamon in this case) move away from the soap!  We also used this as an opportunity to review the proper hand-washing procedure and do our best to keep everyone healthy at school! This is the experiment if you'd like to try it at home:  germ-experiment    It's well worth your time!

 

It sure looks like Fall in the Mountain Room!  The children truly enjoyed finding the new work on the shelves as they went about their week.  And, we named some of the tell-tale signs of the changes of season...how the sun seems to be slower to rise, evenings seem to arrive a little earlier, the mornings are cool and the evenings can be chilly but understanding that the earth continues to tilt away from the sun is a little harder to wrap your brain around because it doesn't feel like the earth is moving under us!  This is a great time of year for after-dinner walks.  Find a memorable landmark along your path and note how the sun seems to move.  Remind them that it's not the sun that's moving, it's our spot on the earth that is!  If you want to take it a step further, go outside one night while the sun is still up and use some painter's tape to mark the shadow of something and make a point of checking on your mark once a week.   

 

Sadly, during our Staff Inservice Day last Friday, we were told that we could no longer have our African Dwarf Frogs in our classsroom.  It is considered a Health and Safety violation for this age group.  Bah humbug!!  But we turned the bad news into something good, and had our first official class vote.  After the lost snake debacle, Ms Licorice had to find a new home which meant the Aspen room children were really sad.  When we narrowed the solutions to our frog problem down to just 2 (and there were so many!), the children unanimously voted to gift our frogs to the Aspen Room.  And they have paid us back in kindness!  Each morning, the Aspen Room children place the frogs out on the table in the hallway so the children can stop by for a visit as they make their way back to our classroom.  It seems like the frogs are happier too because they are much more active in that new spot so they are so much more fun to see!

 

The 3 States of Matter/ Sorting by Solids, Liquids or Gases (Science)

Folding Clothing (Practical Life)

Story Sequencing (Language)

Introduction to 3D Shapes with the Geometric Solids (Sensorial)

Fingerprint Trees (Art)

 

Next week's Sound of the Week is "e" as in egg, elephant, ellipse, everyone, even numbers, exit, enter, Elmo, energy, and elk.