3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 11.24.25

Dear Chai Tots Parents,

Thanksgiving week is here! This short week, we will be finishing up crafts to celebrate the holiday. Gratitude is a central theme in Judaism and one that we regularly encourage as Montessorians. All classrooms will be discussing gratitude. We will model expressing three things for which we are thankful, while helping our friends to find examples in their own lives and express it. 

In the Montessori environment, gratitude is a key component of peace education, and grace and courtesy exercises. Beginning in our infant room, children are encouraged to use sign language for please and thank you, and encouraged to tidy up and put away materials. In the toddler and 3-6 environment, we model saying “excuse me,” as well as how to walk around others’ works. Grace and Courtesy lessons are offered naturally throughout our work periods so that children have the tools to gracefully move about their environments and are equipped with the phrasing to use when life inevitably bumps into them! 

Our 3-6 students will be cooking together in the classroom this week. One item on the menu is corn. The cultivation of corn was an important agricultural contribution made by Native peoples. It is almost universally liked by all kids too! 

As adults, we reflect on the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday with warmth, remembering that, historically, this day brought peace and cooperation to Wampanoag and the English. We wish all of our Chai Tots families a peaceful Thanksgiving holiday, and want you all to know that we are grateful for you and your precious children!

Warm and cozy Thanksgiving wishes,

Chai Tots Morahs

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 11.17.25

Dear Parents,

Warm greetings! Following last week's first snowfall of this school year, it's wonderful to see the children wearing their cozy seasonal outfits.

We are beginning our study of North America just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. At this time, we will focus on The United States of America.  When we study a particular continent, we will cover a variety of topics such as animals, countries, flags, climate, food, and culture. Some key activities include the North America puzzle map which our children will build, trace or even pin punch to create their own map and the flags of countries in the orange continent. Our study of trees and leaves will also center around the flora in North America. In addition, we will also focus on the mammals of North America  - moose, deer, bison, and brown bear.  This dovetails into our study in Zoology about mammals.

For Thanksgiving, our Gimmel team will exercise their culinary skills to prepare a sumptuous meal and celebrate with a family style lunch with their peers and Morahs. Our older friends are creating a lovely menu and we are sure this event will turn out to be a special experience and it will also sharpen their food prep skills.

At this time of the year, there is an uptick in falling leaves due to the colder weather, which indicates that trees are conserving energy and water to last through the winter. In our Gimmel  room, the children are sharing their fun fall activities such as raking leaves, jumping in the leaf pile and collecting colorful leaves. We took this great opportunity to present the Montessori leaf cabinet, which has 18 wooden leaf shapes.This lesson indirectly prepares children for botany by giving them the language to describe different leaf shapes. This activity stimulates the child’s interest in the study of nature and understanding the different types of trees, for example, evergreen trees who keep their leaves green all year and deciduous trees whose leaves change colors and fall off. During play time our young friends often collect their best leaves and bring them to their  Morahs  and we encourage them to match it to one of the leaf shapes from the cabinet. We included activities around this topic such as parts of a leaf, tracing the leaf and making their own booklets. While our younger friends enjoy matching, counting and coloring leaves, our older friends will learn the names of different leaf shapes such as spatulate, sagitate, elliptical, oblong, obovate, orbiculate, ovate, and cordate with Montessori control cards.

A gentle reminder: please label your child's snacks in a suitable container (instead of Ziploc bags, which children find difficult to reseal independently) and label water bottles with their names. Also, please label their extra set of clothes.

Have a wonderful week!

Morahs Uma, Kara, Kristy and Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 11.10.25

Dear Families,

Thank you so much for taking the time to join us for Parent–Teacher Conferences! We truly enjoyed connecting with each of you and sharing your child’s progress and growth. We hope our conversations helped you see where your child is on their learning journey. Home and school partnership plays such an important role in your child’s development — when we work together, we can best support their independence, confidence, and love of learning.

This week, we’re introducing a new activity in our Practical Life and Art areas called “Magic Clay.” The children will use markers to color plain clay, mix colors to create their favorite shades, and then shape the clay into something special. This hands-on work strengthens fine motor skills and hand muscles — an important foundation for developing a good pincer grip, which later supports writing. Once finished, the creations will dry on our drying rack and be ready to take home on Fridays!

In the Culture area, we are practicing visual discrimination skills with our 3-part cards. These cards are a wonderful Montessori material that help children build vocabulary, concentration, and attention to detail. Each set includes a picture card, a label, and a control card (with both picture and label). Children match and name each part — for example, the body parts of a horse — or explore differences among various mammals. This activity not only strengthens observation skills but also deepens their understanding of the world around them.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and partnership.
Have a wonderful week! 

Warmly,

Morahs Kristy, Uma, Kara, and Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 11.03.25

Dear Parents,

Thank you to the grandparents/parents who attended our Grandparents Day last week. We hope you had a wonderful time painting bird houses and spending the morning with your loved grandchild/child. We heard everything about your time together after you left!

This week, we’re going to introduce our art easel to the class! In a Montessori classroom, an art easel is not merely a tool for painting but a key component of the "prepared environment" that promotes independence, fosters creativity, and develops a range of physical, cognitive, and emotional skills. It is available for a child to use freely and independently whenever they feel inspired. We emphasize the process of creation, rather than the final product. The easel encourages children to explore and experiment freely without the pressure of producing a perfect-looking result. 

After the free expression of the process, children need to clean up the easel which encompasses the same tasks as the table scrubbing work. We also call the easel work "a long-process work".

In the Practical Life area, we are switching our pin punching work to pumpkin pin punching. Pin punching is an activity where children use a push pin to punch holes along the outline of a shape, allowing them to punch out the shape from the paper. It builds fine motor skills, concentration, and hand strength needed for writing by strengthening the pincer grip as they hold the pin. This activity also teaches attention to detail and can be used to reinforce other lessons, such as recognizing shapes or continents in other areas of the classroom. It is a challenging work for our younger friends.

For our older children, we are going to make a pumpkin life cycle booklet in the afternoons. 

We are looking forward to meeting with each of you during Parent/Teacher Conferences to discuss your child’s progress so far this year.  We have already seen so much growth and learning within this amazing group of kids! Thank you in advance for making the time in your busy schedules to meet with us. Your partnership allows us to best support your little ones.

Have a wonderful week,

Morahs Kristy, Uma, Kara, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 10.20.25

Dear Parents,

Hope you enjoyed the wonderful holiday! We welcome everyone back to our first full week of school in a while! We can't wait to spend more time with everyone.

This week, we are introducing shaving cream in our Art area. For setting up the work, we have a big tray, shaving cream, a pitcher, a sponge, a basin, a bucket, and a big towel. Students can enjoy the texture of  the shaving cream by creating an art on the big tray. They practice their fine motor skills by spraying the shaving cream and then use their fingers to draw an art. After they finish, the students will clean up the work which is also the important part of this work. It is the same process as table scrubbing. We call this type of work "long-process work". By extending the process, children are able to practice their abilities in independence, coordination, concentration, and sense of order within this one work. They will need to carry the pitcher and bucket to the sink. Pouring water from the basin to the bucket requires good coordination of their body. Using a sponge to clean up the whole tray requires full concentration and longer attention span to finish the task. It's going to be a very fun, purposeful, and popular work!

We are also introducing scrubbing a large round pumpkin in the Practical Life area. This work provides excellent opportunities for appropriate, meaningful and purposeful movement. It gives children a way to repeat and refine movements that are essential to their growth and learning.  This repetition also promotes a deep concentration and sense of order.  Through these important works, children begin to notice the strengthening and sharpening of their fine motor skills.  This begins to build their confidence in an amazing and natural way, as they come to recognize themselves as capable and competent! 

In the Zoology area, we are introducing mammals. We'll begin with horses using real-life animal puzzles to learn about body parts. 

We have been enjoying the beautiful flowers that Eva brought for us. Thank you, Eva! 

Have a wonderful week!

Morahs Uma, Kara, Kristy, and Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 10.13.25

Hello, wonderful preschool families!

We are excited to zoom into another joy filled week of time spent learning and playing together! This month, one focus of our classroom lessons is transportation. Many children seem to have a natural love of all things that go, whether on the land, in the air, or through the water. Our friends are enjoying sorting, labeling, matching, counting, and even painting with different vehicles throughout the classroom! It is wonderful when a favorite, familiar topic reinvigorates the excitement for exploring new lessons and activities!

We are also continuing to enjoy time spent in the Sukkah! The children have worked hard creating beautiful decorations that make the space feel extra special. They even worked to make their own small Sukkah on the playground! The pride they feel at helping to create items of significance for our celebrations is truly heartwarming. We love watching them realize that they are capable of making real and significant contributions!

As we head into a week of more fall-like temperatures, please be mindful of clothing choices each morning. While we may have some wet or chilly periods, we try to allow the children to enjoy the outdoor environment as often as possible.  Proper footwear for running or climbing, and a cozy layer with a hood or a hat can go a long way toward keeping your little one comfy while playing outdoors! Thank you so much for all you do to help them be prepared for each day of fun and learning!  We are so thankful for all of our Gimmel families!

Warm wishes for a healthy and happy week, 

Morahs Uma, Kara, Kristy, and Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 10.06.25

Hello, wonderful preschool families!

This week marks the beginning of Sukkot, which is one of the children’s most anticipated holidays of the year! We are busy preparing decorations for the Sukkah, practicing shaking the Lulav and Esrog, and looking forward to festive meals enjoyed together in the Sukkah! Although it will be a short week of school, with Tuesday and Wednesday off for the holiday, it will be a week packed full of fun and learning!

Practical Life is a very important area of the classroom, particularly for our youngest learners.  These lessons, which include daily tasks such as pouring, scooping, scrubbing, and buttoning, are designed carefully with the young child’s needs and capabilities in mind. Practical Life activities support the development of fine motor skills, refining the movements and control of the fingers and hands through intricate movements and repetition.  Developing and extending the ability to concentrate is also a highlight of Practical Life activities, preparing the child’s focus for lessons in all areas of the classroom. Through regular work with these materials, children also develop independence and confidence in their own abilities. This helps them not only the classroom, but all areas of their life and learning!

This week our Practical Life area will shift to incorporate signs of the season. The children will be invited to carefully hammer golf tees into the thick shell of a pumpkin.  This activity is always a favorite, as the large orange pumpkin certainly draws the child’s attention.  Quickly, one discovers the challenge this activity holds.  Holding the tee in place, aiming the hammer, and using the proper amount of pressure requires great concentration and a lot of practice! The children will also have the opportunity to use tweezers to pluck seeds from the face of a sunflower. This precise motion is great strengthening work for the small muscles utilized in pencil control!  

We are looking forward to a week of celebration, learning, and togetherness!  

Morah Uma, Kara, Kristy, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 09.29.25

Hello, wonderful preschool families!  

We hope that you all had an inspirational Rosh Hashanah and a joyous start to the new year! Yom Kippur (day of Atonement) brings a more somber air to this week. With Morah Chaya the children will be reading the Story of Yonah and the big fish and learning about friends feelings - being kind and helpful and sorry if they get hurt.

In math, we will be introducing the balance scale.  We aim always to let our Mitzvot, good deeds, outweigh our misguided choices in life. We will experiment with the comparison and balance of various objects. This activity allows the children to try their hand at making predictions and thinking critically. How many plastic teddy bears will it take to balance out six large glass marbles? How many pebbles will it take to equal one large stone? Through practice and repetition, the children will get a solid sense of the weights of various objects, as well as how things relate to each other.  

We are turning our sights toward fall this week as well. We have a new art and nature activity planned. On an outdoor walk, the children will be encouraged to “pick a paintbrush,” selecting a unique, natural item to use as an art tool! We cannot wait to see their creativity shine through, as they utilize their own special paintbrushes to paint. Whether with brush-like strokes or stamping impressions, the qualities of each natural “paintbrush” will shine through each child’s artistic expression!

In science, our sink or float experiment will continue with the exploration of weight and density. The children will have the opportunity to carefully prepare a tub of water.  In this tub, they will test whether various objects sink or float. Just before placing each new item in the water, the children will predict whether it will sink to the bottom or float to the top.  After observing what the item does in the water, we will encourage the child to use descriptive language and comparison strategies to discuss why they think that happened. There always seem to be a few items that surprise our young scientists, which makes this activity so much fun!

We hope that the week ahead brings joy and good health to you and your family!

Gmar Chasima Tova, May we be sealed for a good sweet year!

Morahs Kara, Uma, Kristy, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 09.15.25

Hello, wonderful preschool families!

After all of the fun and excitement of our farm trip and beekeeper visit last week, we are so excited to dive into all things Rosh Hashanah!  The bees and apples have found their way into all areas of our classroom.  This week, we will take a closer look at the life cycle of an apple tree.  After visiting the farm, the children have shown increased curiosity about just how an apple goes from a seed planted by a farmer to a fruit we select at the grocery store.  Imagining all of the time and care that goes into producing these sweet fruits certainly helps us appreciate and enjoy them even more!

We will be enjoying apples in multiple ways this week!  The children will be invited to try and compare the taste of different colors of apples.  They will be encouraged to notice and describe the unique properties of each apple, utilizing words like crisp, sour, sweet, juicy, and crunchy!  It will be fun to discuss and compare our preferences, as we take a vote for our favorite apple afterward.  

The children will also have the opportunity to slice and prepare their own apple to snack on during work time.  After choosing a half apple (sliced horizontally), they will carefully line up the apple slicer with the core in the center. With even and steady pressure, they can then press down, creating perfect slices for snacking! This task, seemingly simple for adults, will require great focus, planning, and coordination.  Children take such pride in independently preparing their own snack, making this a great activity to try out at home too!

On Friday, we learned all about how hard our tiny buzzing friends, the bees, work to pollinate flowers and make honey!  This week, we are comparing and studying all different types of bees.  Through work with a beautifully detailed set of three part vocabulary cards, the children are able to compare the slight differences in details like size, color, and body shape of different types of bees.  We are also learning the names of some of the different varieties!

We are so excited for all of the fun and learning this week has in store!  Wishing you all wonderful week!  

Morahs Uma, Kara, Kristy, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 09.08.25

Dear Parents,

The children have adapted to their environment and have gotten into their daily routines, including choosing works independently during the morning cycle. Our kindergarten and older friends are genuine leaders as they demonstrate the works and guide the younger friends. This makes our community collaborative and peaceful. Almost a month into the school year, the Morahs understand each child, their interests and strengths; we will continue to observe them and fully support them in their growth.

In geography, we will be learning about the continents - their names, shapes, and locations - using the Montessori globe. Each continent on the globe is represented by a distinct color - North America in orange, South America in pink, Europe in red, Africa in green, Asia in yellow, Australia in brown, and Antarctica in white - which helps the children to identify the continents and their locations. Each continent has slightly raised contours in the globe, so that the children can touch and feel the differences between the continents and oceans. Other key activities include using the world map puzzle, and the older friends will pin-punch the shapes of the continents, following the sequence of tracing, pin-punching and gluing the continents in their appropriate location to create their own world map. This activity requires commitment and focus. The younger friends will sort animal figurines and place them in their native continents using a control book as guidance. We will also be learning the popular Continent song, which helps the children learn the names of the continents through an auditory approach. This activity is engaging and brings awareness about the world around them. 

The afternoon friends had a fun science activity, collecting individual samples of land, water, and air in Ziploc bags. While the first two were relatively easy, the scientists had to run around the playyard and fill their bags with air. It was a difficult task because air is invisible.

Morah Chaya has started laying the groundwork to create art projects for Rosh Hashanah. The children are excited when they hear about the upcoming Holiday, the stories around it, and the related traditional foods. 

Have a wonderful week!

Morahs Uma, Kara, Kristy, and Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 09.02.25

Dear Parents,

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend!

This week, the students will be introduced to the concept that our earth is made of land, air, and water. The young child begins his/her cultural study with an understanding and knowledge of the immediate environment, learning sensorially, which is the basis of Montessori philosophy. The sand-globe and map are examples of concrete materials in the study of geography. For instance, the spinning sand globe gives the students a clear understanding of the concepts of land and water in our planet as well as provides a concrete sense of the Earth's shape and a visualization of the proportions of land and water. Further, the children will sort animal cards based on whether the animal lives on land, in water, or flies in the air. 

In Language, our young friends are drawn to metal insets. This eye-catching material includes ten metal shapes—each a different geometric form—framed in pink with a blue metal inset, each featuring a knob for easy handling. These shapes, including a square, triangle, circle, rectangle, and more complex forms like the quatrefoil and ellipse, allow children to explore various geometrical concepts while strengthening their fine motor skills. Tracing these geometric shapes further help the children prepare for writing, art, designs and color combinations. It also helps with concentration and focus.

The color mixing activity using different media like play dough (solid) and colored water (liquid) remains popular. The reactions of the children experiencing the color changing right before their eyes are magical, where red and blue makes violet, while yellow and red makes orange. Seeing the children’s face light up in joy when they discover a new combination is a treat to watch.

Thank you to Ella for bringing a colorful bunch of flowers! The classroom is looking vibrant with various flower arrangements made possible by our children.

Have a wonderful week!

Morahs Uma, Kara, Kristy, and Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 08.25.25

Dear Parents,

Hope you are enjoying the break from the hot temperatures! We are happy to see the children getting acclimated to their Gimmel environment.

Science is an important part of our Montessori  curriculum! The fundamental lesson about the differences between living  and non-living has been introduced.  Our students are learning the concepts through sorting objects and pictures into the two categories, based on whether they exhibit attributes such as breathing, growing, moving. and reproducing. Further, our older friends are growing their individual indoor plant and observing the growth to understand that it is living. They are super excited to take it home and care for it. The younger friends are learning to water the plants in the classroom as a practical lesson, under the guidance of Morahs; this activity also underlines the concept of living vs. non-living things.

We have started introducing the Montessori color mixing activity with the primary colors. Part of this activity is science and part of it is sensorial. Color is one of the foundational components of art making. It helps children explore the world around them, recreate it in their unique ways, and talk about their art. Learning color mixing helps children to develop creativity, where they experiment with different colors to create any hue imaginable.

As we start our work-cycle at 9 AM, we would love to have all our students present to start our day promptly. 

Also as a followup, we mentioned last week about our Share Day (Show and Tell program) that is held every Tuesday. Please help your child to bring one item of their choice to show to their classmates, and remember this item should be small enough to fit into a backpack.

Have a wonderful week!

-Morahs Uma, Kara, Kenzie, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 08.18.25

Dear Parents,

A warm welcome to all our returning children and families, as well as those who have joined us for the first time!

We have created a peaceful and engaging educational environment based on the Montessori method and curriculum. Our goal is to support each and every student to have a joyful learning experience. We are already noticing children practising independence, learning the classroom routine, and enthusiastically exploring the learning materials.

We will start by introducing Flower Arranging as an activity in Practical Life. This gives the children an opportunity to appreciate the color and fragrance of different flowers, and instills care and love for nature. The activity involves a young child choosing his/her favorite flower, carefully cutting the stem, choosing a vase, pouring water through a funnel into the vase, inserting the flower, and finally carrying and placing the flower vase on a table of his/her choice. A complete sequence of this work (including the subsequent cleanup) gives a sense of accomplishment and immense satisfaction to the child. What a great lesson in Grace & Courtesy to learn at a young age! In order to support this work, all the children will take turns in bringing home the flower basket given out every week. We request parents to send flowers (home grown or store bought) with their child on the following Monday. 

Our students' favorite Show and Tell program will be held every Tuesday. Please help your child to bring one item of their choice to show to their classmates. This is a great opportunity for them to describe their special items in their own words, promoting public speaking and communication skills.

Please use stickers, labels or permanent markers to label the following items. Labeling these items will be helpful for children to organize and keep track of their belongings. Also it helps morahs to spend more quality time with students. 

  • Water bottles

  • Snack containers

  • Extra change of clothes in a zipper bag.

We look forward to getting to know each child and working with them to make a successful year!

Have a wonderful week!

-Morahs Uma, Kara, Kristy, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 05/19/25

Dear Wonderful Preschool Families, 

What a spate of fun-filled activities we have had the last weeks of school! We had an awesome farm trip riding on the school bus, field day, Trike-a-thon and a fabulous Alef-Bet party! 

Our Graduation Day is on Wednesday, May 21. We are so happy to congratulate our kindergarten graduates! They are hard at work polishing their speeches about their future aspirations. We wholeheartedly thank the families of the graduates for trusting us through the entire three year cycle in Gimmel room.

In Montessori education, the third year is crucial. These children benefited with the beautiful Montessori concrete materials, which continually build an excitement and interest in learning. Further, in the third year, they developed leadership skills. It’s a year of maturing and developing empathy and respect for others, self-confidence, and an enthusiasm for school and learning! They enhanced their reading skills, deepened their math concepts, and most of all turned into role-models for their younger friends, patiently guiding them with activities. We thank each family for giving this gift to your child.

The 2024-25 school year with Gimmel students and families has been wonderful. We thank the parents for trusting us with their precious children. We are so happy for all their accomplishments. We look forward to welcoming all the returning students in the coming school year. Best wishes for our graduates as they continue their journey in learning! 

Have a great summer with friends and family!

-Morahs Uma, Kara, Kenzie, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 05/12/25

Dear Parents,

We are sure you had a wonderful Mother’s Day celebration with treats from your adorable children and family! 

We want to take this opportunity to thank all the parents for taking time to discuss your children’s academic and social development during last week's Parent Teacher Conferences. The trust and support from parents help us make each school year an enriching one for our students. We truly appreciate the confidence and backing you provide. The parents are a child’s first teachers and you have been great role models for your child!

It’s hard to believe the end of the school year is fast approaching. We are getting ready for kindergarten graduation, and the students are eagerly looking forward to this event! They are practicing their songs with Morah Joanie and putting the finishing touches on their graduation speeches. NOTE: The recommended dress code for the graduating students is formal: dress, or white shirts and dark pants.

Our Gimmel friends are immersed in their classroom activities, learning about the body parts, life-cycle, and metamorphosis of a butterfly. In addition to that, the kindergartners are busy reading a series of challenging books and chapter books independently. These students serve as leaders and role models in our environment, as they often help their younger friends with their work.

Thank you for all the thoughtful and lovely gifts on Teacher Appreciation Day! We are grateful to you for taking the time to show your love and support for us. We truly enjoy working with your children and will continue doing our best!

Lag B’Omer, a celebration of unity, will be held this Friday with a super fun field day program. Please send your children in appropriate shoes for an active day!

Also Sunday is our End of the Year Trike-A-Thon! We hope to see you there.

Have a wonderful week!

-Morahs Uma, Kara, Kenzie, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 05/05/25

Dear Parents,

Welcome to May! This is an exciting month filled with many special events.

The children had a wonderful experience at their own Chai Tots Art Gallery during our annual art show. Your presence and appreciation added luster to the children's sense of accomplishment and mutual admiration. We witnessed our students enjoying their own artistry and also complementing their peers whole-heartedly. Their joyful expressions and laughter filled our school. This event again underscores the peaceful, multi-age group benefits in a Montessori education!

Learning about money is an important aspect of mathematics and economics, and this concept of money is often presented in the Montessori environment. Dropping coins into the Tzedakah box is always the first favorite activity for the children when they enter the Gimmel room. Children are experiencing the coin-polishing activity in the Practical area, using a salt and vinegar solution. Our younger friends enjoy sorting the coins based on size, while our older friends are working on learning the names and values of the different coins; this also includes a study of combining smaller value coins to get bigger values, such as 5 pennies make a nickel. Most of all, the kindergartners love exchanging coins for dollars with their Morahs. This is similar to the Montessori Golden Bead Bank Game.

Gimmel friends are able to notice a lot of roly-polys, bees and flies active in our backyard. This is the ideal time for our unit study on insect life and the main focus is on butterflies - their types, colors and life-cycle, which emphasizes the metamorphosis from egg to adult butterfly.

Our graduating kindergarteners are working hard on their research, referring to many books, and collecting the facts for their presentation. Their enthusiasm and commitment to navigate the facts is admirable!

Have a wonderful week!

-Morahs Uma, Kara, Kenzie, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 04/28/25

Dear Parents,

We are sure you are enjoying the bright Spring season! It's hard to miss the colorful blooms all around us. It is also timely to start our flower unit study, where the children will be learning the facts about flowers, such as the different types of flowers, their shapes and colors. The older students will learn the names of various flowers and make their own booklets. The younger friends will enjoy the Montessori flower puzzle activity to learn the parts of the flower. We will then dissect various flowers to understand their parts and functions. We are excited for warmer weather so we can see more flowers bloom on our trees and in our gardens!

To celebrate Earth Day, our students planted sunflower seedlings, as well as zinnia and wildflower seeds in our garden. They are eagerly expecting to see the "flowers of their labor!"

In continuation of our study about birds, our class is in the process of conducting a group science experiment using vinegar to dissolve the shell of an egg thereby creating a bouncy egg. 

All our little artists are excited to welcome their families and friends to our Annual Art Show on May 1.

Have a wonderful week!

-Morahs Uma, Kara, Kenzie, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 04/21/25

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! The children were so happy to see their classmates and the newly hatched quail chicks. Quail chicks are born with open eyes, and they are good eaters. Our friends are wondering about the quails' diet to support their rapid growth. Also, the students learned that the favorite diet for quails include soft body bugs like spiders, caterpillars, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, and more. The quail chicks have the ability to walk and run right away and they are social birds. Gimmel friends are enjoying these adorable chicks and love to observe their activities. 

Children are inherent learners. In a Montessori environment, the children follow their curiosity learning through hands-on exploration and discovery, focusing on observation, experimentation and drawing their own conclusions about the world around them. As we mentioned before, the Montessori science curriculum covers a wide range of topics studying plants and animals.

Mammals unit studies were added to our science shelf. Mammals can be found all over the world from the freezing tundra to the scorching desert, and even in the ocean. The well known mammals in and around the house are dogs, cats, horses, cows, and humans. Our students will learn the characteristics of mammals, such as they are warm blooded, some have fur and rather than laying eggs, they give birth to live young. Our older friends will learn the characteristics of their favorite mammals, such as horses, dogs and cats, and about their diet.

In treating animals with care, children get to practice grace and courtesy. They get an opportunity to learn that different pets require different care in handling. In Gimmel, children take turns to feed their class pet fish (Goldie biscuit) and now our quail chicks give them another opportunity to learn about caring for animals.

Our students are excited for our annual art show on Thursday, May 1. Colors play a crucial role in creating art. Exploring different color combinations can lead to unique and unexpected results adding a sense of creativity. Please save the date for the popular art show created by our children.

Have a wonderful week!

-Morahs Uma, Kara, Kenzie, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 04/07/25

Dear parents,

We start our short week with model Seder, singing songs and listening to stories with Morah Chaya. Our kindergarten friends are so excited for their trip to Rockwern academy to celebrate and experience Passover!

In our Montessori environment, we try our best to bring the elements of nature from our beautiful earth into the child’s universe. Our science curriculum covers a wide range of topics. Studying plants and animals and their life cycles are going ahead at full throttle.

Our Gimmel room is active with the lifecycle of Quail eggs. We are expecting the chicks to hatch in 16 days. This activity has triggered the students' curiosity to learn all the facts about quail habitats. Also, children are so happy to see the parsley herbs sprouting and they are excited to take the seedlings home and grow them in their own garden.

Our Gimmel friends are constantly talking about their travel plans, meeting friends and families during the upcoming spring break. Enjoy the spring break, take time to plant a tree or a garden, walk along a creek or a river, enjoy open air picnics and read a book with your children in the great outdoors. Such experiences are endless and the results of time spent in nature gives the children a sense of peace! 

We want to thank the Westheimer family for providing the quail eggs for our bird unit study.

Have a safe and fun spring break and a wonderful Pesach!

-Morahs Uma, Kara, Kenzie, Chaya

3-6 Gimmel Peek at the Week 03/31/25

Dear Parents,

Warm April greetings! The warm spring weather is perfect for us to grow our herbs such as parsley, basil, thyme and mint. Also, we are in the process of planting indoor flower and vegetable seeds. Children always enjoy planting and watching the sprouts grow.

Our popular farm animals unit study has been added in our language curriculum. The farm is used as a language resource in the Montessori environment. It provides a platform for  a range of activities including language enrichment, vocabulary, grammar and of course reading. The farm set materials include a barn and miniature farm animals. This is a great Language activity for every level. Our younger friends will identify the animals with the I spy approach, while our older friends will label the names of the animals, and our kindergartners will continue to learn nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech that might be used on the farm. They will then proceed to build longer sentences using the words from the lesson. 

Our Kindergarten group has been showing great progress and independence in reading. Their enthusiasm and comfort level with comprehension skills are notable. As Morahs, it is heartening to see this momentum! At this time we want to again thank our wonderful, loving Morah Paula for her time in listening to and guiding our children with their reading assignments every Wednesday. Our students enjoy reading with her!

Have a wonderful week!

Morahs Uma, Kara, Kenzie, Chaya