// Weeks of May 27 (Field Day!) and Jun 3 //
// Curriculum Update, Mid-May //
Week of May 13th
Our caterpillars are now in chrysalis! We continue to observe the metamorphosis and we noticed how the J phase must have occurred over the weekend when we were not here.
The children learned about still life paintings and have been creating beautiful watercolors of roses in a vase. We are also hearing beauty as they continue to practice for the End of Year Ceremony!
We are also planting different seeds and observing how long it takes for a sprout to emerge.
Week of May 20
It was a very special week!
We began with our End Of Year ceremony where all children presented a spectacular performance. More so, it was a joyful moment for our kindergarten students as they completed their three-year cycle in the Early Childhood program. They celebrated by singing English and Spanish songs, playing musical instruments and leaving heart-warming advice to their younger friends. Our first and second levels cherished their own accomplishments, too, then sang and supported their kindergarten friends.
Lo and behold, four butterflies came out of their chrysalises this week! The moment that the children have been waiting for. They witnessed this metamorphosis in our classroom from eggs to caterpillars to chrysalises to butterflies —and yes, they were very patient. So, we all watch them go by the garden at the park and celebrated with a picnic!
Our gratitudes—
We would like to thank all the parents for spending time with us at the End of Year ceremony and celebration. We appreciate your warm presence and kind words!
A big thank you to Mr. Sebastian for being a dedicated Music teacher and bringing out the best in all our Red Room students!
And to the wonderful and courageous children of Red Room, thank you for your sharing your talents with 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 //
Last week, we welcomed very tiny caterpillars into our classroom. We learned how to observe them with our eyes so that we can let them grow. We also discussed the lifecycle of a butterfly and learned that the mother butterfly lays eggs on a leaf, then small caterpillars eat their way out, next the caterpillars eat and eat and become large, they then find a leaf to hang on and form a J shape, next they make a chrysalis, and finally a butterfly comes out! We will keep track of this process in our classroom and see how long it takes.
We also had a presentation on our Cosmic Address. We all live in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is in our Solar System, we are located on Earth, we all live in North America, in the United States, in New Jersey, in Jersey City, in a home, and we are people made up of energy. Phew!
We look forward to celebrating all our growth this year on May 21st at our End of the Year Ceremony.
Please send in a plain white t-shirt by May 20th so we can tie dye them for field day on May 31st!
// Teacher Appreciation Week //
// curriculum update: May 3 //
We continue to discuss the life cycles of frogs, birds, and butterflies. We learn how these animals change as they grow and we practice new words like tadpole and chrysalis.
We are also spending time to prepare for our End of the Year Ceremony on May 21st.
We are enjoying our conferences as we celebrate all our Red Room friends have accomplished this year!
// week of April 29 //
// before & after spring break: look how much we have grown! //
// It's April! //
We have been celebrating a few spring birthdays over the past few days. We have also been talking about the season. We sing a song that goes
“Spring is here!
Spring is here!
How do you think I know?
Spring is here!
Spring is here!
_______ told me so.”
We filled in the blank with the names of flowers and animals that we see in spring. We learned what daffodils, forsythia, cherry blossoms, crocus, and tulips look like. We went on a walk to see the daffodils and cherry blossoms on 8th streeet. Ask your child to show you the spring blooms in our neighborhood!
// Week of April 1 //
// Week of March 25: Curriculum Update //
During our teacher in-service, the Red Room Team worked hard to clean, organize, rearrange, and put out new work and the children noticed! Ask them about the changes in Red Room. We welcomed spring and therefore have many new spring works, including making daffodils, painting rainbows, scooping eggs, and grinding lavender.
Today, we discussed rainbows and a friend showed us how to use a flashlight and a vase of water to create a rainbow!
// Week of March 25 //
HPMS is celebrating World Down Syndrome Day on March 20! Wear your jeans and/or silly socks, too.
// This week.... //
This week, we have been learning about reptiles! Blue Room allowed their pet tortoise to come for a visit so that we could observe a real reptile. We noticed that it has scales, it has dry skin, and it has ear holes instead of ears. Some friends shared information such as reptiles are cold-blooded so they bask in the sun to warm up and go somewhere cold (like water) to cool down. Many friends also shared that most reptiles lay eggs. We continued this discussion with work in the classroom such as creating a parts of the turtle book, identifying reptile characteristics, tracing our turtle puzzle, and learning the lifecycle of a sea turtle. We have also been reading many books about reptiles and learned that most reptiles take care of themselves from the time they hatch! Ms. Carlene brought in her pet turtle and we discussed the parts of the turtle, learning big, science words like carapace (shell) and plastron.
We are also discussing planet Earth. We are beginning a discussion on what is inside the earth. We learned that the outer core creates a magnetic field to protect Earth. This sparked a discussion of what does magnetic mean. The children have been sorting magnetic objects from non-magnetic objects.
// 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
This week is Montessori Appreciation Week and we are celebrating what we love about our Montessori school. We read “Our Peaceful Classroom” by Aline D. Wolf and “Maria Montessori and her Quiet Revolution” by Nancy Bach. A kindergarten friend read us the book “Jack Goes to Montessori School” by Allyson Collins. We were able to relate to these stories as they paint a picture of what the Montessori classroom is like.
Everyone has helped to create celebratory posters, paintings, and stories that honor Dr. Montessori. Some children did crayon rubbings of the sandpaper letters to create a sign that says “Our Montesssori School”, the kindergarteners sewed a sign that says “I <3 Montessori School”, others created a poster of the Bead Stair by cutting and gluing circles, others created maps and globes, others wrote about their favorite Montessori work, others painted a portrait of Maria Montessori, and others made posters of their favorite Sensorial works. Come see the beautiful work displayed outside of Red Room!
Week of March 4th
To celebrate Dr. Seuss, we read two of Ms. Michelle’s favorite Dr. Seuss books- “The Sneetches” and “The Lorax”. “The Sneetches”, as the children pointed out, has a message much like that of Dr. King- that what matters about a person is who he or she is on the inside. “The Lorax”, we realized, teaches us to take care of the planet and that trees, clean water, and clean air are important.
We have new process art on the art shelf! The children spread paint under a piece of plastic wrap with their fingers. We looked at the finished pieces and all noticed different things in the art.
We have begun our March birthday celebrations as well. Happy birthday Anika!