Dear Parents,
 
We celebrated Passover on Monday and Tuesday.  We listened to some Passover stories.  Our favorites were: Passover, by Ronni Schotter and Hooray! It's Passover, by Leslie Kimmelman.  We then created "Matzoh Men" by making crayon rubbings for the body, making accordion arms and legs, and then adding a face and hair. They look so adorable hanging on a clothesline in our classroom. We also learned a new song called "Oh, Do you Know the Matzoh Man?" We then made matzah brie (fried matzah).  You can not believe how excited they were as they each cracked open an egg.  Not only did they enjoy making it, but they loved eating it, as well.  Matzoh is a traditional food eaten on Passover.

 

On Wednesday and Thursday we celebrated Easter.  Some of the Easter stories the children listened to were:  Lets Get Ready for Easter, by Joan Winne; Clifford's Happy Easter, by Norman Bridwell; and TRex Cottontail, by Lois Brambling.  The children colored eggs and decorated Easter baskets.  They also made crayon resist Easter egg paintings. 

Music this week with Michelle and Yina was lots of fun!  The children played the "Whistle Game,"  and practiced with the rhythm drums.  They also started learning line and space notes on the Music Staff.

I wish you and your family a Happy Holiday!

Love,

Miss Bonne

Newsletter

March 22, 2013

Dear Parents,

This week, the children have been learning all the shapes and numbers. They have also been busy counting everything in sight.  They counted the goldfish and grapes during snack time, the shapes on the alphabet rug, and the kites on our calendar.

The children sorted all the different shapes and then counted how many of each shape there were.  They then made shape counting books.  First they wrote the number in their books, then counted out the amount of shapes they needed for each number, and finally glued them into their books.  Hopefully, they will save their books and continue practicing with them.

Music with Michelle and Yina was so much fun this week!  They introduced an exercise to the children that involved shaking a large sheet up and down to music.  This helped the the children understand rhythms.  They also tapped out Popsicle stick rhythms on resonator bells.

"Big Joe" the storyteller visited our school on Thursday. He told several stories to the children, using various puppets and stuffed animals.  The children just loved listening to him.  I never saw them laugh so much.

Rachel's mom, Kathryn, taught a yoga class to the children.  They

certainly had a great workout!  She was fantastic! 

 

 

 

We look forward to learning about Passover and Easter next week.

Love,

 

Ms.  Bonne







March 15,2013 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

What a great week we had in the Quarter Note Class!  The children learned all about our five senses.  We listened to several stories about each one of our senses such as: My First Puppy,by DK Publishing; My Hands, by Aliki;  Helen Keller, by David Adler and My Five Senses, by Aliki.

After learning about the five senses the children created a "Sensory Person."  First they traced and cut out an oval shaped face. Then, they glued on eyes with eye lashes, a cotton dipped in perfume for the nose, bells for the ears and red licorice for the mouth. Finally we traced and cut out their hands out of sandpaper. Not only did each one come out adorable, but it was such a great sensory learning experience as well.

We continued our senses unit by making a texture collage.  Each child glued on a variety of textures to their paper such as smooth, rough, shiny, ziz-zag, and furry.  After gluing on each textured item, they described how they felt.

 

We then used smelling jars to try to decipher what each smell was.  Most of the children knew the smell of cinnamon, coffee, and pancake syrup but did not recognize the smell of butter and perfume.

We filled small containers with bells, rice, stones, and beads.  The children tried to shake them and find the matching pair.  The children did an amazing job matching the sounds.

We had a special performance this week by William.  He did such a great job playing the violin.  It is amazing how well he performed after only a few lessons. 

The children enjoyed music this week.  They worked with their box violins and went on a "twinkle parade." The children practiced the Popsicle stick rhythms and learned how to do a rest.They also learned Forte (loud and soft) in piano.

We had a small Saint Patrick's Day celebration by making green pudding and dipping a Keebler Elf cookie in it.  They also cut and  decorated green shamrocks (the national emblem of Ireland).

I would like to thank all of you for the delicious breakfast you provided for the teachers.  I am  so lucky to have you and your children in my class. You're the best!

Love,

Ms. Bonne

Newsletter

March 8, 2013

Dear Parents,

We commemorated the life of Dr.Seuss by reading One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  The children traced and cut out a  fish bowl shape and then painted it with corn syrup and food coloring.  They added various colored fish to it, which of course included red and blue fish.  We also read several other Dr. Seuss books to the children, which they really seemed to enjoy. 

We  continued our recycle theme by painting recycled boxes, gluing them together and creating amazing sculptures.  Your children have learned the meaning of the Three R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle this week.  Hopefully, they will practice at home as well.  We have been steadily filling up our recycle container in the classroom. 

In music this week, the children practiced writing the G Clef. They also practiced clapping to the rhythmic sticks. They even composed their own rhythms. The children also practiced using their box violins.

 

 





Next week we look forward to learning about our five senses.

Reminder:  Newton Chinese Cultural Festival on Saturday from 9:30am to 5pm.

 

 

Love,

 

 

Ms. Bonne

 

 

 

 



Dear Parents,

This week we learned all about recycling.  The children also learned a new recycle song.  "R-E-C-Y-C-L-E, recycle, its really up to you and me, RECYCLE."  Some of the stories they enjoyed listening to were:  Should I Recycle?, by Mike Gordon, Recycle, by Gail Gibbons, and Gabby & Grandma Go Green, by Monica Wellington.  We recycled single serve cereal boxes,  push up ice cream cups & sticks, and scraps of colored papers.  The children made the most fabulous recycled trains with them.  They also cut strips of paper and glued them together to make train tracks.  They had so much fun racing their trains around the track.  We now have a recycle bin in our classroom.

We celebrated two birthdays this week.  Happy Birthday to Jack and a Happy Birthday to Rachel! 

In music this week with Michelle and Yina, the children worked with their box violins and learned the notes of the DO scale.  It is amazing how much they have grasped in such a short time.  Next week the children will be learning about Johann Sebastian Bach, the German Composer.

We had a special visitor this week, "Ted Tungsten",  the mad scientist! He performed  lots of different experiments with the children. He brought in dry ice to show the children how to make smokey bubbles. He also taught us the difference between an acid and a base by making the liquid change colors. He made smokey water for the children.  They go so excited and and were wondering if there was a monster in the bucket.

A special thank you to Kathryn, Rachel's mom, for teaching yoga to the children.  The children all loved it!

 

 

We experimented with colors today.  Each child was given a dropper, a piece of wax paper and red, yellow, and blue water-color paint.  They used the droppers to add different colors to the wax paper to see what colors they could make.  They discovered that when you mix red with  blue you get purple, and when you mix red with yellow you get orange. And finally they discovered that when you mix yellow and blue you get green.  That was a great learning experience for the children.  Not only did the children learn how to make different colors but they learned how to use an eye dropper, which is not easy.

 

Reminders:  Faculty concert on March 3rd at 4:00 PM.  Tickets can be purchased in the office or at the door.

 

Please bring in recipes for the Suzuki School cookbook.

 

Next week we look forward to continuing our recycle unit.  We will be making recycle sculptures.

 

Love,

 

Ms. Bonne