November 21 & 22

This weekend 4 of our students met at First Landing State Park to join the Tidewater Appalachain Trail Club to help clean the Osthmanthus trail.  Other classmates will have opportunities to maintain the trail we have adopted throughout the school year.  This service project goes well with our study of the temperate forest biome!


We spent Monday preparing for the play!  It was so much fun to stay after school and have dinner together before our families joined us to see the final product of all the children's work. 


On Tuesday we enjoyed our traditional class feast.  The children prepared and cooked mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, succotash, stuffing and pumpkin pie (mostly) from scratch.  They set the table, made place cards, and used their very best manners throughout the meal.  They handled the clean up and had a great time from start to finish.  A big thank you to the DiGeronimo family for bringing our leftover stuffing casserole, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie to the JCOC.  


We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful long holiday weekend surrounded by family and friends!

November 14-18

We have begun our study of the biomes of North America.  We began by taking an imaginary walk across North America, moving through the biomes as we walked through the temperate forest, the wetlands, the grasslands, the desert, the mountains, the tropical forest, and the polar region.  Since we live in the temperate forest in Virginia, this is where we will begin our study.  We will be learning about the flora, fauna, and people of the biome.  A temperate forest occurs in an area where the climate is "temperate" and neither very wet nor very dry.  The forest is a climate creator.  Millions of trees breathe out moisture and oxygen, creating rainfall and cleaning the atmosphere, thus sustaining life.

November 7-9

At this point, with an understanding of the concept of biomes and a knowledge of the different biomes, we are focusing our study on the continents and the plants, animals, and people who live in the various biome of each continent. 


We have wondered about how the spherical shape of the globe can be translated into a flat map.  We have worked with the Continent Map and played the continent game.


Some of our older students have been working on a study of water for the Challenge 20/20 Project.  Challenge 20/20 is based on J. Frischard’s book High noon:  20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them and is offered by the National Association of Independent Schools.  We have been partnered with a school in India and a school in Canada to they identify local solutions to the global problem of the water deficit.  Together we are working to define and research a problem, identify a workable solution for our school’s community and context, and map out steps of an implementation plan.  So far students have begun their research on water use and conservation, treatment of water and where our water comes from.  They are planning an outing to discover some of the answers to their questions after they research.

Please make sure to take the time to work with your child on his costume over the long weekend.  Costumes will be due to school on Wednesday.  A note went home today with information about your child's chosen costume.  The play will be Monday, November 21st at 3:30.

We look forward to seeing you at conferences Thursday and Friday.  


Please remember that All Day Montessori is available for your child at no cost during your scheduled conference time.  This service is available for those students enrolled at our school only.  

October 31-November 4

Historical Halloween was a huge hit!  We would like to thank our parents for coming to our "Living Museum.”  **We will be providing other opportunities for parents to come into the classroom throughout the year.  In an effort to make sure all parents know about classroom events we will always send home at least 2 notices and post events on the blog.  It is very important to check your child’s bag each night for notices of such events and to check the blog weekly!

In continuing with our Biome study the children played "Predator and Prey."  They used higher-level thinking skills to synthesize and apply their knowledge of biomes by drawing and labeling their own biome.  They were also introduced to the biome mat which allows them to practice their grammar by composing creative sentences about the biome and played "Biome Questions and Answers" to review characteristics of biomes of the world.

On Friday we had a great time at our Scenery Sleepover!  We painted, played Pictionary, had a great pizza dinner and survived a power outage from the great Nor'easter of 2011!  Many thanks to Mike Fernandez for making the children pancakes in the morning (and for bringing the teachers coffee!)!