Blog

Elementary

CMS — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 01:40:19 +0000

Elementary students had great fun last Wednesday coming to school in jammies, eating pancakes and sausage for breakfast, and joining the Preschool for the mask parade and singing with Derrick. They also enjoyed putting the birthday bags together for CCC. Lots of thought went into which cake mix goes with what frosting, which goes with what party plates and candles, that match what pillowcase in which to assemble it all! Thank you to everyone who donated items for this project; students took 33 bags over to Clemson Community Care (CCC) on Thursday.

Our next CCC project will be putting together casserole bags. Students will collect and assemble the components and attach a recipe card. Please help out by adding canned tuna or chicken, cream of chicken or mushroom soup, canned milk, canned peas, or a 12 oz. bag of egg noodles to your grocery cart in the next weeks.

The Juniors also enjoyed lessons on graphing. We turned excitement that lingered from the Fall Festival and that mounted over Halloween festivities into collecting and graphing data, including which festival activities were most frequented by the group, and which items were most collected Halloween night. Students have begun conducting their own surveys and graphing their data.

All Elementary students are preparing for their second book share this Friday afternoon! Dioramas of settings, acting out scenes, 1st chapters of sequels...we can't wait to see what's in store.

Peanuts - Marjory

CMS — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:03:07 +0000

Our presentations on the Rainforest went great! Each of the Peanuts did a fantastic job!

A topic of interest this week will be what is an election? What is voting? Why do we vote? The students will create a ballot, and cast votes for their favorite character (they will nominate their own characters). We will not get into politics, but will talk about the two parties; Democrats and Republicans. This will be very brief, fun and educational.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Pre-Primary - Trish and Sam

CMS — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:47:03 +0000

October was busy and fun! We enjoyed Halloween games and songs, making masks, and our parade on the playground with Derrick. Sam carved our pumpkin and put a candle inside.

We would like to welcome our newest student, Nora.

Peanuts - Marjory

CMS — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:10:06 +0000

Peanuts have been working hard on preparing for thier presentations. Parents, please have your Peanuts bring thier projects in Tuesday so they can practice. We are looking forward to our parents being here on Wednesday; please arrive at 1:00pm so we can start promptly. Also, Friday we are going to the Tri Arts Center to see "SkippyJon Jones". We will leave at 9:00am, and return at 11:00am.

Primary 1 - Susan and Patrick

CMS — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:42:29 +0000

We have an exciting week coming up. Our pumpkin is scrubbed and ready for carving….well, almost. First, we will need to gut our pumpkin. While doing so, we will ponder whether a pumpkin, which isn’t very sweet on its own, is a fruit or a vegetable. We will also discuss the parts of our pumpkin just as we did our apple.

We will be making Aztec sun masks this week for our Halloween parade. On Wednesday, we will all be wearing our pajamas. Around mid-morning, we will march around the playground in our beautiful masks while Derrick entertains us with his fun songs. The week will culminate with a tasty snack of pumpkin pancakes. Like I said, exciting!

Primary 2 - Marjory and Judy

CMS — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:06:51 +0000

Our school year just keeps rolling along! The children are busy in every area of the classroom. The worm bin is finished and our food waste is being turned into rich fertilizer. We will now study the part of the worm, and the differences and similarities between earth worms and red worms.

Now that we know that Earth is the planet we live on, we are going to learn about it in more detail. We will start with the layers of the Earth and then talk about the continents. This brings us closer and closer to home.

Pre-Primary - Trish and Sam

CMS — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 17:46:32 +0000

Wednesday, October 31st will be "Pajama Day"! Everyone gets to wear your favorite P.J.'s. We will be making masks in the classroom and celebrate on the playground with a mask parade.

It's time to change out your child's extra clothes, so as you bring in warmer extras, we will send home the ones we have.

NOTE: Please send mittens, not gloves. It is much easier for children and teacher alike.

Primary II - Susan and Patrick

CMS — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:08:26 +0000

Autumn has already begun to bestow its beauty on us in various shades of orange, red, yellow, and green. We will celebrate the beauty of this month beginning with an experiment to extract the colors out of a leaf and discuss why leaves change color. We will also learn about the parts of a leaf and various leaf shapes, and to identify the different types of leaves that we see every day on our playground. You may even find a leaf rubbing, a marble painted leaf or a leaf book come home in your child’s backpack in the coming weeks. We would love to have your child share a cool autumn leaf they find (on the ground) on a hike, a trip to the park or in your backyard. Happy hunting!

Primary I - Marjory and Judy

CMS — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:02:17 +0000

Next week we are going to continue our study of the Solar System. We will talk about each planet and learn the order in-which they fall in the system. On Wednesday, we will celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday with a special snack that the students will make. We will also have apple tasting, and we will graph our apples by color, taste, likes and dislikes.

We have two timelines next week. River's on Wednesday, and Anastasia's on Thursday. Remember there will not be school on Friday, due to parent conferences. If you have not signed up the sign-up sheets are on the bulletin board on the porch.

Primary II - Susan and Patrick

CMS — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:11:00 +0000

Music with Mr.DerrickBread Cutting

Sorting is an important preparation skill for reading, writing, and math. Sorting exercises are often found throughout Montessori classrooms. Next week, we will begin sorting our recycling bin into paper, plastic, glass, and cardboard. We will also discuss why recycling is important and which materials can be reused and which will go to the recycling center. This will become a regular weekly activity.

We will be having our parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Conference reports will be sent out electronically on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let us know if you would like a hard copy as well. Conferences are 20 minutes long. Children are not permitted to attend. We will be meeting in the Pre-primary Classroom (Trish and Sam’s room).