It is hard to believe it’s the end of the 2022/2023 school year in Lower Elementary Class 1. We had an incredible year of learning, friendships, fun, and field trips.
This week we finished up the last of our science collection presentations. We had a successful Field Day. Students enjoyed the board games, movie, class party, and picnic. It was the best end-of-the-year week that I can remember. Thank you to all who helped make it a success.
We hope each student immerses themselves in interesting, vocabulary-rich books that open a whole new world of reading. Have a wonderful summer. See you next year!
Each day this week we had an afternoon of presentations on the year-long science collection. The topics were unique to each student. A wealth of information was presented. Many excellent questions and comments were posed to the presenters. We all enjoyed each and every presentation. I hope your child had fun preparing and presenting the presentations.
We ended our science studies this week by dissecting an owl pellet and researching types of owls. Almost every group of students started the dissection by stating how disgusted they were with the look of the pellet. Within a few minutes, the comments changed to “Wow!”, “Amazing! ” and even “I am going to be a Paleontologist!” Many students wanted to dissect another pellet. I told them that Amazon sells owl pellet dissection kits for around $7.
Next week is going to be a busy week. We wanted to let you know the following: Monday is Field Day. Your child should dress appropriately. Don’t forget the sunscreen. Lunch will be provided so cancel your lunch if you purchased a school lunch. Also please send in a prewashed white T-shirt for us to use on Tuesday. If you purchased a field day T-shirt for your child you may use that T-shirt.
Tuesday is our tye dye day. Each student will bring home their tye-dyed T-shirt to be rinsed until the color does not run off. Then the T-shirt should be washed and dried so that your child can wear it on Wednesday if they like.
Wednesday is board game day and our class party. Lunch will be provided so cancel your school lunch order.
Thursday is our last day of school. We will be having a picnic. Your school lunch is fine for the picnic if you ordered one. Please have your child dress appropriately and don’t forget the sunscreen. Dismissal is at 1:00. There is no aftercare.
We are certainly feeling appreciated this week! Flowers, candy, cards, and gift cards bring a smile every time. Thank you all so much. The classroom is full of all the beautiful flowers you sent in for us.
This week I will be offering owl pellet dissection to small groups of Lower Elementary students. Students will observe all safety procedures during the dissection. The activity is not required so students will have other options besides the dissection. As always, feel free to reach out to us with any questions.
A few reminders for upcoming events:
Monday, May 15 is the day the science presentations are due.
It’s been another wonderfully productive week in our classroom. Students have an established routine. They are independent students who start each day planning their work and carrying out what they planned. In this way, students have taken ownership of their education. They are self-motivated and self-rewarded. It is truly a joy to witness the progress each student has made since August.
We were all happy to have the third year students back with us after their Camp McDowell trip. They enjoyed sharing the highlights of the trip. All of the first and second year students are looking forward to their time at the camp when it is their turn.
Students had fun writing their own poetry using poetry prompts from American poet, Joseph Fasano. In addition, students copied their original acrostic poems and displayed them in the hall for viewing.
Math lessons were given on four-digit dynamic subtraction, multiples, and calculating percentages from fractions. In geometry, we are continuing our study of angles by identifying the parts of an angle. We also looked at types of angles. Lessons were given on how to use a protractor to measure angles. In addition, each student is practicing completing as many addition or multiplication problems as they can in five minutes.
Cultural lessons this week included a lesson on cloud research, a close-up look at reptiles, a study on occupations in Alabama based on geographic location, and a look at local community citizenship.
Third year students began SAT testing this week. Testing will continue next week as well on the following dates: Wednesday, May 10, Thursday, May 11, and Friday, May 12. Please have your student at school early so that they can calmly prepare for their test. Also, make sure your child has a healthy breakfast to start the day.
Don’t forget the Art Show and Spring Musical is next Monday, May 8. Viewing of the art begins at 5. The musical begins at 6:30. We hope everyone can attend.
We sent home the final homework assignment for the year. Yay! We also uploaded it to the google classroom platform. Your child will take all of the collection forms done throughout the year and create a presentation with facts, examples, pictures and anything else of interest related to the topic. Your child may create a digital presentation, a poster board, or any other form that works for your child. We will have presentations beginning the week of May 15. As always feel free to reach out to us with any questions.
Many people do not realize that Maria Montessori was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was convinced that the solution to world peace will come from the children in the world. Lessons promoting peace were included at the very start of the first Montessori schools. At Bruno Montessori, peace education is included in every classroom on campus. The Peace Ceremony is a natural outcome of the classroom lessons and a crucial community-building event. The Lower Elementary students were the leaders of this Peace Ceremony and they did a wonderful job. We all look forward to having more Peace Ceremonies next year.
Our garden is flowering again. We recently planted zinnia and nasturtium seeds as well as the lavender plants donated by Frank Fritz. The coreopsis and blueberry we planted last year are blooming now. When weather permits, we eat lunch outside right next to our garden and compost bin. Students have enjoyed watering, weeding, and caring for the garden. They also like to add organic matter from their lunches to the compost bin.
Cultural lessons this week included an introduction to clouds, Earth Day, amphibians, and citizenship. The cloud lesson was given in the outdoor classroom. The geese and goslings joined our lesson each day! We have also focused on writing acrostic poetry. We are all enjoying the daily presentations of memorized poems from students.
An important tradition at Bruno Montessori is to have the third year students attend Camp McDowell. They left on Wednesday and returned on Friday afternoon. To welcome them back, the remaining first and second year students got together in small groups and wrote Acrostic Poems about each third year student. Each group created a portrait of each student to accompany the poems.
Digital media and technology are evolving at a dizzying pace, both unlocking extraordinary opportunities and posing real risks for young people. Students are using the immense power of the internet and mobile technology to explore, connect, create, and learn in ways never before imagined, both in and out of the classroom. At the same time, tech use can bring up ethical challenges such as cyberbullying and misinformation and health issues related to media balance and social and emotional well-being.
We see these as teachable moments. We believe that digital citizenship skills have become essential for students in the 21st century. That’s why we are committed to teaching our students how to be digital learners, leaders, and citizens. We believe teaching these skills goes hand in hand with the Montessori philosophy of educating the whole child. In a world where technology and information are everywhere, Maria Montessori would see the value in teaching kids to become safe and responsible digital citizens.
Joseph S. Bruno Montessori Academy has just been recertified as a Common Sense School, an honor that recognizes our efforts in teaching digital citizenship to young people and engaging the entire school community in this important discussion. The recognition acknowledges our school’s commitment to helping students build skills that are essential for their well-being today—and for the opportunities, they’ll have tomorrow.
This honor is provided by Common Sense Education, part of a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology.
We are one of the more than 80,000 schools across the country that use Common Sense Education’s groundbreaking educational resources. As a result, our students are better equipped to navigate the digital world and use devices for learning.
Our field trip to the National Weather Service in Shelby County was a big success. When we arrived at the weather station, we broke up into three groups. We rotated through activities set up at the weather station: weather forecasting, weather safety, and weather balloons. Meteorologists gave informative and impactful presentations. Students had time last week to prepare meaningful questions. After each presentation, students asked excellent questions. Everyone learned something new (even the teachers!). Hopefully, your child brought home a fun collection of items from the weather station. Thank you to all the meteorologists for their dedication and patience.
This was a short week due to our Monday off. We still managed to get a lot done. Third years worked on math and fraction reviews and had an introduction to decimals. We are continuing with dynamic subtraction and subtraction of fractions. A group lesson was given on acrostic poetry. Students will be writing their own acrostic poems in the coming week. Sentence analysis and grammar lessons were presented. Many students gave informative presentations on their science collection for the month of April.
Don’t forget to help your child memorize a poem for homework due on April 28th.
STEAM day was a huge success! We had a broad spectrum of topics presented by more than fifteen speakers. The presentations were engaging and thorough. Students were inspired and excited by our STEAM presentations. Thank you to all the wonderful presenters.
Gardening is back in our class!! After losing most of what we planted from the December freeze we were happy to plant Zinnia seeds and donated Lavender from Farmer Frank Fritts, one of our STEAM presenters. Students excitedly pulled out the dead plants and weeds and added them to our composter. We are looking forward to a flower-filled garden this Spring.
Reminders for upcoming events:
Monday April 10 school is closed.
Wednesday April 12 is our field trip to the NOAA weather station at the Shelby County airport (please arrive at school no later than 8:15 due to our 8:30 departure)
We hope everyone enjoys this long weekend. See you on Tuesday!
Everyone is excited about the upcoming Spring Break. We were still able to accomplish a lot during our work time. Lessons on both static and dynamic subtraction have been presented. Many of the first year students have had an introduction to using the checkerboard for multiplication. Lessons on contractions, commas, and parts of speech have been presented. In addition, many students have been writing explanatory paragraphs about something they know how to do.
Students had four cultural lessons this week: Maria Montessori as a Peacemaker, Landmarks around the world, an introduction to weather, and a close look at echinoderms.
The week after Spring Break is conference time for those who wish to meet with us. You should have received an email from Genie inviting you to a conference. If you would like to meet but did not see an email please reach out to us: at carolyn@brunomontessori.org or genie@brunomontessori.org.
On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, we will have STEAM day presentations from parents. Let us know if you want to present.
We hope everyone enjoys the week off next week. May the weather be favorable for lots of outdoor activities.
We all enjoyed our Pi Day celebration in Lower Elementary at Bruno Montessori. We had four activities: calculating pi with various containers, graphing pi, doing Piku poetry in the Haiku method, and creating a paper chain with the numbers of Pi. We also had a pi maze and word search. Lastly, we ended the celebration with an apple pie. We reviewed the parts of a circle and then cut the pie into 45 slices. Thankfully it was an extra large pie!
This week was the last week of the third quarter. We completed all previous cultural lessons. We also had a fun quarter review in the outdoor classroom. Ms. Genie was the Jeopardy hostess and the creator of the game. The class was broken into two teams. The categories were: grammar, word study, math, fractions, and time or money. Everyone enjoyed the game while reviewing what we learned this quarter.
