// Weeks of May 27 (Field Day!) and Jun 3 //
// Curriculum Update, Mid-May //
Week of May 20th
How is the year coming to an end already?!
We had such an awesome week full of fun from performing in our End of the Year ceremony, to releasing our butterflies in the park, to tie dying our tee shirts for field day, to enjoying some bea-u-ti-ful weather outdoors (finally!), and everything in between! This time of year is always super busy but SO much fun for everyone. Thank you to all of you for coming to watch your children perform. They worked so hard and were all so proud to share their songs and words of wisdom with you. We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did!
We hope to see you all again next week for Field Day on Friday, May 31st. Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!
Week of May 13th
What an exciting week! We came in on Monday to discover that our caterpillars are snuggled tight in their chrysalises. We carefully transferred them to their insectlore net and we’ve been observing everyday for subtle changes. We can start to see the butterfly wing colors through the chrysalis and it’s very cool to see up close. We cant wait to have adult butterflies in our classroom!
In addition we have been rehearsing hard for our End of the Year Ceremony next week. We had our official rehearsal on Wednesday and it went wonderfully! The children are so pumped to share their songs and words of wisdom with you. Just a reminder that the End of the Year Ceremony for Indigo Room and Yellow Room is next Wednesday, May 22nd at 9:30am. Hope to see you all there for this special day!
If you haven’t already, please provide a washed, white tee shirt for your child. We will be tie dying next week in anticipation of Field Day at the end of May. We are so excited for all the fun that the end of the school year has in store for us!
// week of May 20 //
// week of May 13 //
Parent Association Meeting Notes
May 10, 2019
Ø HUGE, HUGE, HUGE THANK YOU FOR THE THOUGHTFUL AND CREATIVE TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK CELEBRATION~ STARTING THE DAY WITH CURBSIDE HELP AND THE ENDLESS TREATS HAVE BEEN APPRECIATED!!!!
Ø HUGE THANK YOU TO HOLLY (JETT’S MOM) AND JENNIFER (LUCAS AND ARI’S MOM) FOR ORGANIZING THE WEEK AND BEING INCREDIBLE PA COORDINATORS FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS. HUGE THANK YOU TO JULIA (HARRISON’S MOM) AND YASSMIN (AIDAN AND NOAH’S MOM) FOR AGREEING TO THE BE THE PA COORDINATORS FOR THE 2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR
Ø THANK YOU for supporting the Book Fair ($6,500 was raised) and donating boots!
Ø CONGRATULATIONS to the HPMS Basketball Team for playing an incredible game verses Village Montessori~ we finally won (46 to 18). The UE team won against Stevens (18-16).
Ø Please enjoy the video on the HPMS balloon launch (yes, that’s really the curve on the Earth from the balloon launched by HPMS students). This project has been happening for four years:
· Year 1 ~ focus was on altitude
· Year 2~ focus was on creating an environment for an insect to go into space (balloon had a hole and ended up in a lake)
· Year 3~ focus was on creating an environment for a small mammal to go into space~ students had ethical concerns if it didn’t work so they changed it to using the air supply to launch a rocket (but no trash was to left in space)
· Year 4~ focus is on communication~ there will be a live stream on the 6th floor for K students and up to watch on May 21
Ø Upcoming Events (it’s that time of year!!!) ~ EOY Celebrations begin at 9:15 on the 6th floor unless otherwise noted:
· May 21~ Blue/Red Room EOY Celebration
· May 22~ Indigo/Yellow Room EOY Celebration
· May 23~ Orange/Silver Room EOY Celebration
· May 24-27~ School Closed for Memorial Day Weekend
· May 28~ Homework Discussion ~ 6 pm
· May 31~ Field Day (PLEASE KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE SUG!!!!)
· June 4 ~ Earth Room EOY Celebration at 9:30
· June 5~ Sky Room EOY Celebration at 9:30
· June 6 ~ Ocean Room EOY Celebration at 9:30
· June 11 ~ UE/MS EOY Celebration & 8th Grade Graduation at 6 pm on the 6th Floor
· June 12 ~ Last day of School
o PA Meeting ~ 9 am
o WEE & Bridge EOY Celebration at 11:15 am for Wee and Square, 11:00 for Circle and Triangle
o End of the Year Picnic~ “BYOB”~ Bring Your Own Basket & Blanket at 5 pm in Hamilton Park
o HPMS will provide plates, utensils, water and treats.
o Please bring food for your family (or buy dinner at the Farmer’s Market!)
· June 19 ~ Silverman Golf Tournament supporting HPMS
Ø Year Book is now available for purchase~ please keep an eye out for the SUG
Ø Discussion for next year…thoughts about fruit as the go to birthday snack (child shares their favorite fruit with the class) and changing the snack sign up (parents bring in one item once a week instead of enough snack for the class for an entire week).
// Week of May 6: Curriculum Update //
We started off our week with a very special 5th birthday celebration. Happy birthday to Nispriha! 🎈
The excitement is in the air as we continue to observe our caterpillars and noticed that they nearly tripled in size since last week! It’s amazing how fast they grow and they have already started making fibrous strands which will soon become part of their chrysalis. They have been very busy eating and walking around their tiny habitats. We can’t wait to see what happens next. The children have also been very busy learning about different types of butterflies, the parts of the butterfly, matching butterfly patterns and learning about their lifecycle.
Lastly, we want to thank all of you for making us feel amazingly special this week. All of your thoughtfulness, cards, flowers, warm wishes, hugs, and delicious food was so appreciated. Thank you for sharing your children with us. Getting to spend our time with them and watch them grow into incredible young humans is truly the best gift ever!
// Teacher Appreciation Week //
// curriculum update: May 3 //
🐛🐛Our caterpillars finally joined the Indigo Room! 🐛🐛
On Thursday, we were joined by four teeny-tiny larva who we observed closely using a magnifying glass. We also read, Becoming Butterflies by Anne Rockwell, and learned the 4-step process that the lifecycle goes through — egg, larva, pupa and adult! We can’t wait to experience first-hand how these adorable caterpillars will change in front of our over the next few weeks. Once we have adult butterflies, we will release them in the children’s community garden of Hamilton Park.
We have also enjoyed reading all of the new books our classroom has received from the book fair. Thank you for donating them to us. They are such a gift that the Indigo Room students will enjoy for years to come!
Lastly, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us for Parent-Teacher conferences. We truly love having the chance to gush over your kids! 😉 We are so proud of each and every one of them and how far they have come this year.
// week of April 29 //
// before & after spring break: look how much we have grown! //
// It's April! //
This week we’ve had some warmer weather and have begun searching for signs of spring when we walk through beautiful Hamilton Park — buds on the ends of banches, bulbs sprouting from the soil, flowers blooming, robins and other birds making their appearance and children joyfully enjoying the warm sunshine on their faces. We’ve begun to incorporate spring into our classroom shelves as well by switching out our sensory bin, adding flower arranging to Practical Life, and of course, by continuing to explore bunnies. Did you know that wild rabbits and domestic rabbits are completely different species?! Blossom wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild because her survival skills only go as far as digging a hole under ground. Her coloring doesn’t camouflage with her surroundings in the wild, so predators could easily spot her. We’re so happy that we can take such good care of her in the classroom!
Thank you so much to Lucas for sharing snack with us this week, including his favorite snack — honey wheat pretzel sticks! Have a wonderful weekend.
// Week of April 1 //
// Week of March 25: Curriculum Update //
🐰 Bunnies, bunnies, everywhere! 🐰
Our classroom this week has exploded with work all about our favorite rodent—the rabbit. Blossom has inspired our bunny unit and the children have been reading and exploring all about these gentle creatures including their life cycle, their body parts, the difference between wild and domestic rabbits, their habitats and homes, what they eat, how to take care of them as pets, and much more. How exciting! Our Kindergarteners cannot wait to present our research at the Exploration Fair on Wednesday, April 10th at 6pm. We hope you can join us!
Thanks so much to Nispriha for providing snack this week, especially her favorite special snack — strawberry mochi. The children delighted and tasting this pink sweet after lunch. What a treat!
// Week of March 25 //
HPMS is celebrating World Down Syndrome Day on March 20! Wear your jeans and/or silly socks, too.
// This week.... //
IT FINALLY FEELS LIKE SPRING! We truly enjoyed being able to get back into our regular routine of enjoying both work cycle and the great outdoors this week. The fresh air and warm sun has felt so, so good. This week we revisited a favorite book of ours: Todd Parr’s It’s Okay to Be Different and discussed being inclusive of all people
// Week of March 11 //
Thank you to all who joined us for the HPMS Winter Gala! It was a BLAST!
// What we have been up to these days... //
Week of February 25th
As we celebrate another Montessori Education Week, we love to bring attention to the beautiful, didactic materials that she created and we hope you enjoy our hallway display that the children worked so hard on! However, we also hope that you notice the tenets of Montessori philosophy that your children embody and live out each and every day. These kids are incredibly independent and industriously hardworking. They care about themselves, each other and their classroom environment without reservation. They are learning to solve conflicts peacefully and speak to each other with confidence and humility. Most importantly, they come to school each day with huge smiles on their faces and genuinely love to learn. We can’t think of better qualities in our students to celebrate and we thank Dr. Montessori and our wonderful school for giving us the opportunity to, day in and day out.
We showed our appreciation and love for one of our favorite authors, Dr. Seuss, by enjoying a few of his books this week including Green Eggs and Ham and Fox in Socks. The children even sang him Happy Birthday (his birthday is Saturday, March 2nd)!
Thank you so much to the parents who sponsored us and our partners to attend the Winter Gala on Saturday. It means a lot to us. We hope to see you all there!
Week of March 4th
We started off the week with a little snow storm and though it’s almost spring, it has been too cold to get outside. Nevertheless, the Indigo Room children have been having a ton of fun getting their energy out on the 6th floor — playing soccer, making up imaginative games, and building really cool structures with the giant blue blocks. Our “block parties“ have turned into what looks like the construction of a small town with children joining together to work on building a ‘house‘, ‘gym’, ‘castle’ or anything else their imaginations can come up with. It’s been incredible to watch and they even get the chance to play and work with children from other Early Childhood classrooms at times.
In the classroom we’ve been changing up our shelves. Our favorite this week is a new addition to our food preparation area — making a bowl of cereal! This activity ties together many aspects of Practical Life including pouring, spooning, following multiple steps, and dish washing. Plus, you get to enjoy a yummy bowl of cereal! What is better than that?!