News from the Lower Elementary
With all of the new students in the Lower Elementary classroom, we have certainly felt quite grateful to have Vickey, our beloved intern! With her assistance in the classroom, we are able to more effectively work with each of your students, one-on-one! We are also proud of our classroom and our students and we are confident that Vickey is acquiring a very enriching and enjoyable experience this semester!
A portion of the Cultural curriculum changes monthly. We began the year studying the Solar System and the Universe and its wonders. We examined the characteristics of each of the planets, including the best known moons of each, and we examined the "life" cycle of a star. We went on field trips to the Cincinnati Observatory Center and the Drake Planetarium. We have been working on the huge concept of our place in the Universe...from our Milky Way Galaxy, to our Solar System, to our Planet Earth, our continent of North America, our country of the United States of America, our state, our city...all the way to our home addresses! We have also moved into the study of North America, including its biomes, flora, fauna and cultures. Students and their families are researching various North American animals they have selected; the presentations are during the last week of October!
Many visitors to our classroom are attracted to the many and varied pets we have! Our classroom pets include representatives of the five major classes of vertebrates:
- Fish -- betta
- Amphibian -- mantellas (tiny, colorful frogs native only to Madagascar!)
- Reptile -- Treeco, the female giant day gecko
- Birds -- zebra finches, located in the Library/Office
- Mammal -- Sydney, our sugar glider (a small, nocturnal marsupial native to Australia -- she hangs out in a little fabric pouch all day, around the neck of the child with the much-coveted job of "animal care"!)
We also have several invertebrates:
- Myriapoda/Chilopoda -- Wiggly, our giant African millipede
- Insecta -- Moja, Mmbili, Tatu, Nne, Tano, Sita & Saba, our giant Madagascan hissing cockroaches and our collections of feeder crickets and flightless fruit flies
- Arachnids -- our newest addition, Rosa, the Chilean rose-hair tarantula, will be joining our classroom menagerie in a few weeks, when we begin studying South America!
October is National Fire Safety Month: We have visited the Greater Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport and its special fire department, and we visited our friendly, neighborhood fire department of Bellevue/Dayton and "Fireman Joe"! Please remember to take the time to discuss fire safety at home with your child(ren)! Establish and practice an escape plan with two ways out, review what to do if the smoke alarm goes off, and change your smoke alarm batteried when you set your clocks back on Oct. 31!
Reading Material Available
Did you know that we have a shelf of Montessori and related books available in our school library? Additionally, the school receives a magazine, "Tomorrow's Child," specifically geared toward parents and families associated with Montessori education. Feel free to borrow these!
For your convenience, several issues of "Tomorrow's Child" are located in a white basket on the preprimary cubbies. Please return them when you are finished. Better yet, recommend them to others!
For further reading, below are some titles that are by and about Maria Montessori and/or the Montessori Method. Some of these books may be available in our library, to be checked out for you by Melissa or a teacher.
The Montessori Controversy by Chattin-McNichols c.1992
Montessori in Contemporary American Culture by Loeffler (ed.) c.1992
Maria Montessori: A Biography by Kramer c.1988
Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work by Standing c.1957
By Maria Montessori (older writings, despite copyright):
Education and Peace Clio Montessori Series c.1992
The Formation of Man c.1975
Education for a New World c.1974
What's Been Happening in the Preprimary?
In the Preprimary classroom, the school year began with a week-long orientation to the classroom and classroom procedures. Daily activities include discussion of current events (e.g. cicadas, hurricanes, birthdays), the calendar (days of week, month, season), the silence game, a fiction/nonfiction book during story time, lessons, snack, and songs/movement games. Most recently, we have sung songs pertaining to fall, Johnny Appleseed, and Halloween.
One day the students spent part of the morning peeling and cutting apples. With these we made applesauce in a crock pot. On the following day we prepared applesauce pancakes (see recipe below).
On the science shelves, students were introduced to the concepts of plant/animal, nonliving/living, and air/land/water. Insect works have included parts of the honeybee, insects vs. arachnids, insect types, etc.
In addition to the air/land/water work, students were given lessons on the names of the planets and a general introduction to the solar system. One of the most popular works in this area (Geography) was the child-sized astronaut jump suit.
Since we are currently moving from the study of insects to that of the human body, "Stuffy," a 5' tall stuffed human, visited, along with Kevin, from the Cincinnati Museum Center. Kevin's program included a discussion of nutrition (junk food vs. nutritious food), the esophagus ("food tube"), large and small intestines, stomach, heart, etc., as well as lots of student interaction. Kevin does a fantastic job with our children.
Prior to Stuffy's visit, Kevin did a wonderful, informative, interactive insect program for the entire school. The teachers enjoy his programs just as much as the children!
Last week our class visited Fireman Joe at the Bellevue/Dayton Firehouse. There we learned about smoke detectors, 9-1-1, "stop, drop, cover, and roll," and safe meeting places in case of a fire. The children were allowed to climb into 2 fire trucks.
Recipe for Applesauce Pancakes
(makes about 25 apple cakes)
2 apples
2 cups pancake mix
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil
Optional: 1 cup chunky applesauce instead of apples
1. Wash apples. Leaving skins on, either grate them or chop them finely.
2. Mix all the ingredients except the oil. Mix until smooth.
3. Heat an electric skillet to 325F. Coat the cooking surface with about 1 teaspoon of the oil.
4. Drop 2 tablespoons of batter for each apples cake into the skillet. Fry 2 minutes on each side, or unit golden brown. Recoat surface with oil and make next batch.
5. Drain apple cakes on paper towels. Eat warm.
6. Serve with applesauce, if desired.
~ contributed by Miss Jenny
Volunteers Seldom Get Enough THANK YOUs!
The teachers, staff and students wish to thank the parent volunteers who have already been quite busy helping us at Cornerstone!
- Thanks to Karen Dansberry, our library more closely resembles a real library -- the books are once again organized and alphabetized, but Karen doesn't stop there! She does a great job of locating seasonal books or books applicable to what the classrooms are studying!
- Thanks to Kathy Baur, we have a warm and friendly face to greet the children each morning and welcome them safely into the building!
- Thanks to Brenda Brown, Miss Gretchen has help with the youngest Art class on many Friday afternoons!
- The Sherrys provided great refreshments for the Open House and the Parent Meeting!
- Barb Barth has kept busy most weekends with CMS laundry!
- Trish Messman has been wonderful in the Art room in the mornings and very helpful in the Preprimary classroom as well!
- Renee Marquette has been doing a great job shopping for materials Melody and Jenny have needed for the classroom!
- Kyle Meadows helped the Upper Elementary with their fish tank, repaired a Lower Elementary shelf, welcomed the Upper Elementary on a field trip to his farm and acquired another computer desk for the library!
- Cate Brown has been popping in to listen to readers and do file box with the children in the Lower Elementary!
- Melissa has gone above and beyond her office job in the assistance she has provided to students, teachers and to the school at large!
- Amy DesJardins has been doing a super job assisting Melody and Jenny with the Preprimary morning recess, AND she found time the first week of October to work on cleaning the classroom in preparation for the Open House!
- Kelly Curry, too, put in time that first week of October, cleaning shelves and sanitizing materials!
- Kathleen Hardy cleaned the floors in the Preprimary classroom on the afternoon of Friday, October 8!
- Chris Bachman did windows in the Lower Elementary classroom that afternoon!
The following people joined in on the hard work and the fun at the cleaning night on Friday, October 8:
- Sherri Smith
- Donna Snyder
- Suzanne Becker
- Gail & Jim Bacho (accompanied by Andrea, grade 5, and Kaitlyn - a former student who came just to clean!)
- Renee Marquette
- Sue Witte
- Dina Velkly
- Kathy & Ron Baur
- Joe Theis and Upper El student Alicia
- Stephan Fedak
- Jon Atkinson
THANKS to all of YOU, we certainly had a school environment to be proud of on Sunday, October 10!
