Spring is here!

We have had a very busy Spring here at Sourdough and I apologize for the lag in blog updates.  Here are some of the important things I have missed!

We studied dinosaurs in March and the theme was a big hit with the children.  Nadine did a special line time in the upstairs classroom trying to help us understand just how huge dinosaurs were. We even took an all-school field trip to the Museum of the Rockies to learn from the experts.

Angie shows us the tools paleontologists use to recover dino bones.

The ladies in the room behind Angie were putting together real dinosaur skeletons.

The rod shows the size of a Long Neck's head in comparison with its neck.

Asher looks at dinosaur eggs.

The Triceratops skeleton had a baby beneath it that looked like it was breathing.

Megan helps some friends with their dinosaur craft.

Dinosaur leg bones are taller than us!

Some dinosaur eggs were the size of basketballs.

Nadine introduces our new classroom pets.

Ella & Hannah color their dinosaur finger puppets.

What a great day at the museum!

 

Love Is...

As we celebrated Valentines Day last week, the word "love" has been a hot topic at Sourdough Montessori.  Love comes in many ways and has many definitions.  Here are some ways we have shown love for others at our school.

Connor & Kieran work on a challenging lesson.

Walter & Kieran work together.

Charli, Orin, & Finn use teamwork to put together the Solar System Puzzle.

Hazel & Soren help the classroom by sharpening pencils.

Hadley shows Rhiannon a new lesson.

Connor, Walter, Luka, & Kade play outside.

Sofia & Robbie hold hands.

Mia shares a banana slice with Caitlin.

Ella & Walter put on a puppet show for their friends.

Reese & Rhiannon water our plants.

Audrey helps Connor clean up.

Learning With the Children

I keep finding something new to learn from the children.  Many can entertain themselves endlessly while being alone and find enjoyment from the most basic of things.  They can create games with only cups, or sticks, or markers.  They can find joy and entertainment in anything and everything.

"A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm."  ~Bill Vaughan

Ryan pretends to be the teacher & reads a story to his class of 3 year old boys & stuffed animals.

Rylin & Lucy take a ride on the sled.

 

 

 

 

Walter works on a project.

Ryan paints with a balloon.

Robbie enjoys getting messy.

Fergus, Mia, & Hazel are a good sledding team.

Too much fun! Ryder fell asleep on the cubby room floor.

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and caught up on rest and family time over the break.  It is apparent that the kids needed a break, because they have returned refreshed, refocused, and excited to be at school.  And we are excited to have each and every one of them back, as they make Sourdough such a special place.

Kade works on the Big Display, counting quantities from 1 to  9,000

Josie and the yellow tower.

Hannah focuses on the color wheel.

Kamiah is a hard worker.

Robbie teaches Jen opening & closing boxes.

Lucy built a big tower!

Maya works on the North America map.

"The soul is healed by being with children" -Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian Novelist

Stone Soup

"Bring what you've got, put it in the pot, 'cause we're making stone soup."

Every fall we read the book Stone Soup with the children and get to make a community soup.  It is a great way for us all to learn about how a small contribution from each person, can benefit the group as a whole.  Each child brought a vegetable to share and Anne Gibson helped them prepare the food for the soup.  Thank you all for the food donations, and thank you Anne for cooking with the kids.

We're excited for Stone Soup.

Josie adds a vegetable while Megan reads the story.

Mabel shares her vegetables.

Mia adds a tomato.

Anne helps Turner & Connor peel carrots.

Anne works with Josie, Walter, & Mia.

Luka chops carrots.

Maya gets ready to peel a potato.

Music with Jackie

Ever heard your child sing the song "Johnny Appleseed, Johnny Appleseed..." or watch them scamper around pretending to be a squirrel?  Every Thursday morning the children get a special visit from Jackie, our music teacher.  I was lucky enough to sit in with one of groups, and their faces and smiles showed how much fun they were having. They really enjoy breaking up into small groups and using their voices and bodies to make music. 

Acting out a song.

Moving with the music.

Making a rhythm with our hands.

Scampering around like squirrels.

Sourdough Squirrels.

Halloween Festivities

Our Halloween celebration at Sourdough Montessori was nothing but Fun.  Halloween group lessons were set up around the school, the children participated in a costume parade, and even The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything visited our classrooms.  A big thank you goes out to Sarah Meltzer and Ania Bulis who played games and crafted Halloween masks with the children.
Hope you all had a fun and festive holiday!

Mia & Hadley

Vaughn & Cole dress up

Rylin as Snow White

Joren is a shark.

Greta

Acting out the story of The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything.

 

 

"One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child" - Maria Montessori