A Look Inside the Window of E5
E5 students are starting the year off right, getting right back into downward dog!
Yoga
We have resumed our morning yoga ritual. Beginning our day with a rested and focused mind has been helping each of us. Deep breaths and getting ourselves centered has been an amazing way to start our day. Thank you Ms. Joanie!!!!
History
We launched our Pioneer unit with a visit from a real life “mountain man.” Scott Sorenson told stories, shared animal pelts, and sang us beautiful songs of our past. We listened and were intrigued with his choice to live like the Mountain Men of our past, like Jedediah Smith and Kit Carson. We researched several men from Nevada’s past and gained an understanding of why they were here and how this is an important part of our state’s history.
Writing
We will be working on publishing writing that involves creative fictional narratives. We will rely heavily on our schema from books we have read in the past. This is always an exciting unit and the students are looking forward to the process.
Science
We are still in our Ecology unit and are moving into adaptations and animals. You can talk to your child about camouflage and behaviors that animals display to help them adapt and survive in their environments.
Spelling Bee
Special congratulations to Matthew as he will move forward in the Scripps Spelling Bee competition. He will represent the sixth grade class and compete against two middle school students. Way to go Matthew!!!
You can read more from E5 and get tons of information and pictures from all the classrooms by visiting the Classroom News page. Check it out often — and remember to Subscribe!
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Ms. Arlene Gets An Unexpected Letter
One of our teachers, Ms. Arlene Dreitzer, received an unexpected letter from a former student recently.
Dear Mrs. Dreitzer;
Greetings to you from Washington, D.C. I hope that you and your family are well. I have wanted to contact you for quite a while to express my sincere appreciation for your influence and role in my life … you were my 6th grade teacher at P.S. 235 in Brooklyn, NY! The other day at work I was called into a “brainstorming” meeting — you came to my mind immediately because you were the person who introduced me to brainstorming nearly 30 years ago. The great memories from our 6th grade class came flowing back: the “Bear Necessities” vocabulary wall; The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck; Animal Farm; and how could I forget Damn Yankees, our class play! So many years have come and gone, but you stand out as one of the best educators that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. Indeed, I started out with the aspiration to teach! I was a student teacher in a middle school in Harlem and used Lord of the Flies as my first text! (Thanks for paving the way.) I later turned to international development and am working and living in Washington with the World Bank. I’m so grateful for the chance to express my thanks and affection to you, dear Mrs. Dreitzer! “Many women have done well, but you excel them all!”
Says Ms. Arlene: “I believe I had this student in 1983. I taught in a magnet public school for gifted and talented children. I recall that it was a 6th grade class of 40 students and I taught every subject. The school was called The Lenox School or P.S. 235. The program was called the Soar Program and students took an entrance exam to attend.”
Ms. Arlene has been at Foothills Montessori for eight years as a Middle School Language Arts Teacher and Reading Specialist. She has 41 years of teaching experience, a MS in education, and has completed an additional 30 credits above her Master’s degree. She loves literature, etymology and teaching, and has made a positive mark on many students throughout her long career as an educator. We are so lucky to have Ms. Arlene at Foothills Montessori.
Introducing “Window Wednesdays”!
Every Wednesday we will spotlight one of our Classroom Blog posts to give you a little glimpse inside our busy classrooms. To kick it off, let’s look into the window of E1. (This news is a little bit old, as we are just getting back from the holidays.)
[h4]Inside E1 — Week of December 21[/h4]
- Two students win the Scripps Spelling Bee
- We make snowflakes to send to Newtown, Connecticut
- For our Element Personification project, we create comic strips, children’s books, clay models, stop motion videos and more to make the elements come to living, breathing life!
- We make muskets and try out for the state militia as part of Thrilling Thursday in history class
Simply click on the link below and enter your password to see the rest of the posts and more fabulous pictures. We hope you enjoy!
(If you forgot your password, please contact the front desk at 702-407-0790. And if you haven’t done so, remember to Subscribe to your child’s classroom blog — you’ll get instant updates sent to your email inbox and never have to worry about remembering to log in!)