Elementary students learned about adding pennies and dimes by creating their own store called “The Montessori Food Department.”
From their blog: “Our first graders are practicing adding dimes and pennies. They decided to name their store The Montessori Food Department. They worked together to make their ‘store’ where they could buy items and count money. It was a great success!”
Read more on the E4 Blog (FMS Parents only).
FMS is getting ready to expand its garden area this year, thanks to the help of our wonderful staff, parents and students. We are planning to build new planter boxes (thanks to the gracious assistance of a few FMS fathers); fix the sprinklers; and start planting! One of our elementary teachers, Ms. April, is spearheading this exciting new development with the hopes of teaching the children more about nutrition, health and the natural environment. If you would like to get involved, please contact her at ap***@fo*****************.com. We really have some amazing, knowledgeable and proactive parents in our community and we can’t thank you enough.
This week, middle school students got involved by cleaning out the garden and researching best planting practices. On their classroom blog, E4 writes:
“Thank you to Middle school friends for researching and cleaning our garden! After finding out some facts about the plants in our courtyard boxes, they cleaned and cut back tomatoes, peppers, and sunflowers. Next, they provided us with a list of plant information. We are preparing to build more planters and add more sprinklers. Now we know we can always turn to our middle school students for knowledge and assistance! It was interesting to learn how to care for sunflowers and tomatoes. Here are some helpful hints:
Stay tuned for more garden expansion updates!
Foothills Montessori School is a private Montessori school serving families in Henderson, Las Vegas and Southern Nevada.
Let’s take a peek inside E5 this week, where students are learning about tectonic plates, metacognition, and living a writerly life:
“Our first week was amazing, and filled with some exciting community building activities! From post-it note competitions, to ‘Saving Fred!’, our students have started to build a solid foundation of working together to solve problems and using different strategies to brainstorm creative solutions. We are thrilled with our intelligent, kind and thoughtful class and can’t wait to see them thrive this year.
Our 6th years taught our First Great lesson this week, starting with the birth of our universe and spanning to the formation of planets. Concepts such as the Big Bang theory, centrifugal force, gravity and tectonic plates were covered. We are so proud of our 6th years hard work and preparation.
Elder Mary assisted in teaching the first great reading lesson on Metacogniton. We modeled the importance of thinking while we read, truly enjoying our literature! As the year continues we will touch upon more great lessons in both Cultural and Reading. We have also launched our Writers Workshop. During our ‘Sacred Writing Time’, the children have been exploring various collection strategies. These strategies will help them when they feel like they feel like they have writers block. Ask your child today about any ‘seeds’ they may have written in their notebooks. Often time conversations about their writing in school will help them remember a great story for their notebooks. We encourage the children to live a writerly life, observing, taking notice of the small things, and pausing to capture a seed and record it in their notebooks.
We will keep you posted on the happenings of our E5 community. Our blog is a great place to see reminders of important dates and events that are coming. Thank you all for your continued support at home!”
–E5 Teachers
Visit the E5 Blog for pictures (FMS Parents only)
Foothills Montessori School is a private Montessori school serving families in Henderson, Las Vegas and Southern Nevada.
Recently our lower elementary students, along with their parents and teachers, enjoyed a wonderful weekend sojourn at Zion National Park. We camped, hiked, built campfires, and enjoyed peaceful, quiet times admiring the beauty of nature.
Says Madison: “My favorite thing about Zion was the second year hike. We saw two frogs, a stink bug and a deer. When we walked a little farther, we saw the same deer again. We skipped rocks, saw the Big Dipper and Orion’s belt. Cassidy found an owl!”
For some great pics and more stories, check out the E4 and E2 classroom blogs!
[button url=”http://elementary2.fmsparents.com/” target=”_blank” size=”small” style=”coolblue” ]E2 Blog[/button]
[button url=”http://elementary4.fmsparents.com/” target=”_blank” size=”small” style=”coolblue” ]E4 Blog[/button]
In honor of Earth Day (Monday, April 22), all of the FMS classrooms have been learning about ways they can take care of our planet and live in more sustainable ways as part of their units on ecology.
E5 students have committed to reduce their energy usage by taking shorter showers, recycling and unplugging electronics when not in use. They are also learning about the “Story of Stuff” and about how the mass consumption and throwing away of all of this “stuff” is hurting the environment.
They decided to do an “alternative birthday gift registry” as a way to reduce and reuse. Sometimes, new isn’t always better!
Next week, students are going to Whole Foods to learn about how our food gets to the grocery store and the logistics behind this process. They will also learn how to cut down on wasting food and food packaging containers.
E5 is requesting donations of old t-shirts as part of an “upcycling” project.
For more on what each of the classrooms are doing to learn about the earth and ways to protect it, check out the classroom blogs!
Many students have been out and about on field trips recently, learning in a sensorial, hands-on way.
Primary and Kindergarten students went to the Natural History Museum, where they learned about dinosaurs, sharks, wild animals, fossils and more. They also recently visited the Estes McDoniel Marine Lab, where they explored the many creatures of our amazing oceans.
Elementary recently visited the Nevada History Museum and Springs Preserve. They have now built their own model wagon trains which are now on “a journey.”
Our middle schoolers are now in California at Pali Adventures, which is sure to be a truly unforgettable experience. We will have to wait until Ms. Erica and the rest return to hear all about it!
For more news and a TON of great pics, check out your child’s classroom blog!
Last week, parents of upper elementary students were welcomed into the classrooms for our annual Upper Elementary Parent/Child Night.
From the E6 Blog: “The students and teachers of E6 welcomed their parents back to school for an evening of lessons, puzzles and games that utilized the problem-solving skills acquired in upper elementary. Parents and students worked together to solve math challenges and word puzzles. They enjoyed creative practice in direction following and using their imagination to write sentences and short stories. Students tested parents’ knowledge of states and capitals and sorted animal crackers into biomes. It was fun to see so many of our families working, learning and laughing together.”
Plus, it snowed!! Check out more pics on the E6 Classroom Blog.
[button url=”http://elementary6.fmsparents.com/2013/02/01/parents-and-students-who-work-together-learn-together/” target=”_blank” size=”small” style=”coolblue” ]READ MORE[/button]
Ms. April, Head Teacher in E4, has been chosen as our new Staff Spotlight.
“Ms. April is a positive thinker. She would always acknowledge me even if I got something wrong. She has a great sense of humor.” — Hank (former E4 student; currently in E5)
You can read more about Ms. April below.
[button url=”https://foothillsmontessori.com/april-dane/” target=”_blank” size=”small” style=”coolblue” ]Read More[/button]
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!
[button url=”https://foothillsmontessori.com/classroom-news/” target=”_blank” size=”small” style=”cherry” ]Classroom News[/button]
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]
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!)
