"EGG"sploration Stations!

To celebrate the spring season and to expand on our egg hatching this week, we decided that the last day before our vacation to set up "egg"sploration stations. We had parent volunteers stay and work a station as the kids were able to explore EGGS!

There were 7 stations that asked 7 different questions.

What does the inside of a raw and hard boiled egg look like?

Which egg spins better, a hard-boiled egg or a raw egg?

What happens when you place an egg in water?

How much does an egg weigh and how many coins equal the same amount?

What does it look like after it is in dye? (I just love big kid helper pictures!)

We used a mortar and pestle to grind up the egg shells.

We made "Egg in a Nest" for our snack!



How does it taste?





Can you guess the circumference of the egg?



Holding the chicks!

"S" and his mom spinning eggs!

Chicks- Day 3

I think our little family is complete with 9 sweet baby chicks! They are so cute and it is going to be so fun to watch them grow. Here are the latest pictures of our little ones!

They always stay all cuddled up together!

Our little happy family!

So sweet!

Chick Watch- Day 2

I don't think one student walked into school today! They were all so excited and ran up the stairs and went straight to the incubator! We had two more hatch over night to join "Jelly Bean" this morning. We had one hatch during our lunch and one during our afternoon class. It was very exciting to watch the children as they experienced this new life! Here are the latest pictures.

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There is one about to hatch and the other one comes over to meet her!

Welcome to the world little chick!

This one was strong. Within a couple minutes of being born, it was walking around!

The afternoon students were able to watch a chick hatch!

Just starting to come out!

Almost there!

Once again, they are very social! As soon as they are born they stick together!

"C" holding Jelly Bean

Our New Babies!

We are so excited! 21 days ago, we started up an incubator and added 24 fertilized eggs. After much care turning them, watching the temperature and charting the days...We hatched our very first chick!! As of this weekend, we started to see eggs wiggle on their own. This morning we were watching as the first crack started. We could see what looked like an eye blinking and ever hear a small "cheep". My kids and I were so excited so we came back to school this evening to find our little chick had just hatched. There are a couple more starting and the new one will be able to move to the home we have built for them tomorrow!

We want to thank the Neifergold family for letting us borrow the incubator, getting eggs and building their home! This is such a great experience for our school, we are very thankful!

Day 21- First thing in the morning, we have our first crack!

This was how much more it opened up by the time we left!

She is out! We named this chick "Jelly Bean". She is still all curled up!

Anxiously waiting and watching!

Jelly Bean

This one is checking out the world before he hatches! (Can you see the eye?)

Famous Montessori Students

Within our community, Montessori is very new to many of us. I personally did not know about Montessori until I was in high school. We are just a small piece of a very large community. There are Montessori schools all over the world and it is flourishing in many areas. I thought it would be nice to share what other well known people have also taken the Montessori path!

 Here a video of the founders of Google giving credit to their success to their Montessori education!

•  Larry Page, Co-Founder of Google
•  Sergey Brin, Co-Founder of Google. Recently, this article· was written which describes how Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, remembers his Montessori experience.
•  Peter Drucker, Management Guru
•  Prince William and Prince Harry, English royal family
•  George Clooney, Academy Award-winning actor
•  Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon
•  Anne Frank, famous diarist from World War II
•  Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian painter and Architect
•  Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
•  Will Wright, designer of The Sims
•  Katherine Graham, former owner-editor of the Washington Post. “The Montessori method—learning by doing— once again became my stock in trade…” from Personal History by Katharine Graham
• Sean Combs, Sean ‘P.Diddy’ (formerly known as Puffy) Combs, RAP mega-star
• Julia Child, famous chef, star of many TV cooking shows and author of numerous cookbooks Chef
• Helen Hunt, Academy Award-winning actress
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel Prize winner for Literature
• Joshua Bell, American violinist, owner of Stradivarius violin
• Lea Salonga, multi-awarded Filipino-American singer and Broadway actress
• Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, former editor, former first lady (John F. Kennedy)
• Berry Brazelton, noted paediatrician and author
• Kami Cotler, actress (youngest child on long-running series The Waltons)
• Melissa and Sarah Gilbert, actors

Famous people who chose Montessori schools for their own children:

• Stephen J. Cannell, TV writer-producer-director (The Rockford Files and many other)
• Patty Duke Austin, actress
• Bill and Hillary Clinton, Former President and New York Senator
• Cher Bono, singer, actress
• John Bradshaw, psychologist and author
• Yul Brynner, former actor
• Marcy Carcy, TV producer
• Michael Douglas, actor
• Shari Lewis, former puppeteer
• Yo Yo Ma, cellist
• Willie Nelson, musician, has a Montessori school on his ranch
• Elizabeth Berridge, actress
• David Blaine, street magician
• Jennifer Granholm and Daniel Mulhern, Governor of Michigan

Others with a Montessori connection:

• Bruno Bettelheim, noted psychologist/author, was married to a Montessori teacher
• Thomas Edison, noted scientist and inventor, helped found a Montessori school
• President Wilson’s daughter trained as a Montessori teacher. There was a Montessori classroom in the basement of the White House during Wilson’s presidency.
• Erik Erikson, anthropologist/author, had a Montessori teaching certificate
• Jean Piaget, noted Swiss psychologist, made his first observations of children in a Montessori school. He was also head of the Swiss Montessori Society for many years.
• Mister Rogers, children’s TV personality, strong supporter of Montessori education
• Alexander Graham Bell (inventor) and his wife Mabel founded the Montessori Education Association in 1913. They also provided financial support directly to Dr. Maria Montessori and helped establish the first Montessori class in Canada and one of the first in the United States.
• Alice Waters, restaurateur and writer, is a former Montessori teacher

Around the World with our Discovery Class

We had a hole in our week that we wanted to fill with a class. Thursday afternoons became our "Discovery Class". Every Thursday, we travel to another Continent and study different countries and cultures. We talk about languages, traditions, clothing, animals and our favorite is FOOD! We have become quite the culinary group with our new and exciting recipes! So far this year we have made Irish Soda Bread, West African Lime cake, Egyptian candy, quesadillas with homemade salsa, Pavlova, and pasta from scratch! Today we had cheese tasting and chocolate fondue (we were in France!)

Here are some pictures from our adventures!



Trying and rating different cheeses. Brie and Colby were a a hit!



Trying our hand at an Eiffel Tower with marshmallows and toothpicks!

The boys arcitecture!

Nothing better then chocolate fondue!

Our sugar cube pyramids! There are so many things you can make with food!

For Africa, we made drums and Lime cake...this round table is one of our favorite places!

I had to add this one...they decided to give Mrs. Bromley some love!

African masks

Making Salsa. Pumpkin cutters are perfect for children to use. They cut the food and not little fingers!

For Australia, we made Pavlova (it is like a meringue) with yogurt and berries on top! Yummm!

So good!

New Work!

As I learn new lessons, the best thing to do it use it right away. Here are a few new lessons we have introduced this week.

Mrs. Bromley and "C" are working with Compound Words. There are pictures of compound words with a basket of objects. The child says the word and find the two words that make up that word in the obects. For example the word football, the child will find a foot and a ball to put them next to the card! It is also fun to guess the word by looking at the objects and finding the picture that matches!

This group of children are playing Bingo! Their game boards have the letters on them and the caller picks a letter from the bag for the group. Games are a great way to have children working together, having fun and LEARNING!

"B" is working the the "I Spy" box. There are objects in there and we identify them by the initial sound. "I spy with my little eye, something that starts with "sss".

 

This is our new teen board. It is a wonderful way to introduce the numbers 11-19 with the symbol and quantity. We use the colored beads and golden beads to let the children build the numbers. They can start to see the relationships between the numbers.

Addition is a fun activity to do with a friend. There are many steps, but it is always fun to work together. Each of the children set up the small numerals on a mat. We then build each addend with the small numerals on a tray.

Then it is off to the "bank" to build the numbers with the golden beads. This picture shows that we had three bankers ready to help!

Each child builds their number with the golden beads on the rug. Here is the number 4738 + 3251

Then the two children add their golden beads together and place the larger wooden numerals for each place value. When all beads are added up, the answer is right there! It is very fun to watch the golden bead grow. What a great introduction to addition!