Millhopper Montessori School Oct 2010 News

Fall, 2010

montessori monitor current topics >>>

Fall Festival Thursday, October 28 5:30 - 8:00pm The 2nd Annual Millhopper Montessori School Fall Festival is sponsored and organized by the MMS PTO. The event will be held the evening on Thursday, October 28th on the MMS East Field. All MMS families are encouraged to attend this night of family camaraderie full of food, fun and a variety of activities. For more information or to volunteer contact the MMS PTO President, Lonnie Phillips or contact your PTO Classroom Representative. Be on the lookout for more information in the upcoming weeks!

For more information go to www.millhopper.com

Healthy Children Early to bed, early to rise, really can help make you wise!

By: Christina Miller, President It is that time, and the children have returned to school, eager to share all of their summer experiences. Along with the gathering of children into classrooms comes the sharing of germs. While it is a wonderful goal for a child to have perfect attendance, it is very important to keep your child home from school if he or she is sick. The spreading of the germs likely occurs before a child’s symptoms appear, but it is important to remember that germs can still be spread afterward. It is equally important that the sick child needs time to rest and recover. The time for this can be difficult to evaluate especially if he/ she is jumping on the couch and appears to feel better. Remember that school is different from a living room, and children can tire easily as they are healing from an illness while attempting the routine of a school day.

The well known but often neglected formula for having a healthy child is a good diet and enough sleep. Teach your child about the four food groups, and let your child help select from the food groups as he/she plans lunch for the next day. There are many books and websites that are full of ideas to help think outside the PB&J, such as www.laptoplunches.com/ideas and www.cyh.comHealthTopicsHealthTopicDeta ilsKids.aspx

Making sure your child gets enough sleep is vital to his/her health. When children don’t get enough sleep the consequences are well researched and predictable. According to sleep researchers, a child’s mood and temperament deteriorate first, followed by a loss of will to participate in work or play. Then, it can get difficult for a child to organize and react appropriately as well as reflect on his/ her own behavior. Higher level thinking skills also become compromised.

During deep sleep, growth hormones are released which are advantageous to growth and a healthy immune system. In the July 2003 Red Book magazine, Stacey Colino wrote about how to help your child develop healthy sleep habits. She outlines the “five sleep robbers” as allergies, computer games prior to bedtime, chocolate and caffeine, snoring (obstructive sleep apnea), and watching TV before bedtime.

Inda Schaenen, in her book, The 7 o’clock Bed Time, reflects on how important a bed “time” is and how it allows for an unwinding of the day. She recalled the time when her daughter said, “I don’t want today to end,” as she was leaving her room. She didn’t want it to end either, but she explained that time will not stop for anyone, and we are each responsible for our manner of traveling this trip of time. She wanted her daughter to get enough sleep for the trip (continued page 2)

Healthy Children Continued >>> as she acknowledged that nearly half the trip is itself that journey in the dark.

If your child does not have a bedtime routine, has difficulty waking and falling back to sleep at night (especially without your assistance), and shows symptoms of inadequate sleep, I strongly encourage you to read Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber, M.D. and The 7 o’clock Bed Time by Inda Schaenen.

I hope you find a routine that works well for you and your child. It will need to be a ritual that is easy to follow on relaxed as well as hectic days and be one that you not only feel good about but can actually look forward to at the end of your day. It is a wonderful gift to give to your child and yourself.

PTO Classroom Representatives Ms. Crystal Sorrow: Shachar Amdur & Peggy White Ms. Christina Eckstein: Niya Dix Ms. Renee Brohamer: Jeff Hale Ms. Elizabeth Falls: Rhea Bush Ms. Jackie Johnson: Jacqueline Lind Ms. Anita Bender: Gabriela Castellanos & Theresa Brewington Mr. Richard Aslanian: Deeta Adkins & Robert Mackritis Ms. Christina Miller: Jennine Brandt Ms. Sherilyn Farris: Jeanne-Marie Clune-Hrivnak & Trish Petty

PTO News>>>

A Letter from the PTO President By: Lonnie Phillips On behalf of the PTO, I would like to welcome back students, parents, and staff. We are off to another great year at MMS. I can't believe it is already October! PTO is in full swing. We held our first meeting in September and plans for the Fall Festival are under way.

Many of you have volunteered to serve on a committee or as classroom representative. Thank you for your willingness to get involved. If you have not yet signed up but would like to volunteer as a classroom representative or to serve on a committee, please let the front office know. Also as events come up we will ask for volunteers in specific areas. Even an hour or two can be a big help and is greatly appreciated.

The Fall Festival will be held on October 28 from 5:30 pm until 8 pm. Each class will host booth activities, coordinated by the classroom representative. Please ask your classroom representative how you can be involved with your classroom booths.

Volunteers are needed for set-up, operating shifts for the booth, and clean up. The PTO voted to fund expenses for the festival this year so that families can focus on buying tickets and donating their time. The Fall Festival is a great way to get to know other MMS families and it is a lot of fun!! I hope you will make plans for your family to attend.

The next PTO meeting is scheduled for November 16th at 6:00 pm. Please plan to come! We will be discussing how we plan to use PTO funds, the dinner theater, and plans to enhance the Early Education and Preschool/Kindergarten playgrounds.

Meeting

Minutes

Montessori Monitor >>>

Beginners Ms. Crystal Sorrow, Ms. Elizabeth Sheehan & Ms. Lonnie Phillips In the Little House we began the year with lessons in Grace and Courtesy. The Little House class is made up of many students who are coming to school for the first time, and it takes many days for students to adjust to the order and sched-

ule of the school day. August is filled with learning to walk in a line, sit during line time, choose work off the shelves, and with learning how to use words to talk to teachers and peers respectfully. Often a child first entering school is used to requests being fulfilled immediately or is used to parents doing small tasks for him/ her. In the beginner's class in this Montessori environment we work hard to encourage a child to explore what he or she can do independently. This can also be a big transition for a child. Each August we work on lessons for cooperating and working respectfully in the Montessori environment.

Play-dough helps us develop fine-motor skills and concentration. It is a great sensorial work and helps us explore.

Sarah is playing the cajon. The cajon is also known as a beat box, with the person sitting on the instrument using his or her hands to create music by rhythmically striking the front or edges of the box.

September unit study >>>

SPORTS! In September the Beginner's Class is studying sports. Sports is a great early unit because all sports use gross-motor as well as fine-motor skills.

Young students love physical play with balls and need practice to refine the all-important grossmotor skills. The sports unit give students the chance to see athletes of all ages enjoying sports and allows them to try some basic skills at their own level. Many days on the playground during our sports unit the students kick a soccer ball, field baseballs, throw footballs, and practice skills to help their coordination.

Being physical at any age is very important, but the Beginner's

Class is a critical time for students to be practicing gross-motor skills.

Children who are not exposed to gross-motor development and physical skills can be delayed in this area during a most critical period. This is when students are building muscle memories that will stay with them throughout life.

Building muscle control and coordination is important for a welldeveloped young child.

Preschool

Ms. Renee Brohamer & Ms. Lily Tajalli The school year has started off wonderfully! We started out learning the procedures of the classroom and care of ourselves, others and our environment.

We found out that we learn about the world around us through our five senses and we began exploring the sense of sight while at the same time learning about colors. We tasted fruits in primary colors and later we made other tasty creations by mixing primary colored foods to make secondary colors.

about nutrition. The children are learning about the food groups. In our exploration of the grains group we read the story of the “Little Red Hen” and we discussed the process of from where bread comes. The children ground some grain and made some flour. After a week of hard work grinding the grain we made bread with some of the flour we had ground. It was delicious!

Continuing in our quest for knowledge we explored the dairy group and We explored our sense of touch by learned that many of the foods we eat comparing rough and smooth objects as are made from milk. Last week dairy well as hard and soft objects. We also farmer Linda Lussier visited us from found that we can know what an object Lussier Dairy. She brought a calf and is simply by using our sense of touch. lots of delicious milk. She explained One of the children’s favorite lessons is about how the farmers care for the the mystery bag. They feel for assorted cows so that they will produce healthy objects in the bag and identify it by milk. We also watched a video about touch before looking at it to verify the life on a dairy farm and we simulated proper identification. We will continue milking a cow by hand with a rubber our sensory exploration throughout the glove. next several weeks.

We’re having a great time exploring so As a part of learning how to take good many of the wonders around us. care of ourselves we have been learning

Painting with primary colors

Yummy fruit kabobs

Grinding the wheat Above: Milking Right: a visit from a calf

This bread is delicious!

Montessori Monitor >>>

Preschool Ms. Christina Eckstein & Ms. Martha Donaldson The month of September was certainly a busy one in our classroom!

The students really enjoyed the farm unit. They learned about farm families, the importance of farms and the products we receive from them. They also examined the parts of a horse and made a corresponding booklet. Our simulated cow milking experiment was a class favorite. The parts of an apple, its lifecycle and the various types of apples were explored this month as well. Apple crisp and applesauce were prepared and also enjoyed by the class. Another area of study we examined was the five senses. The students “researched” the parts of the body that correspond with the senses by cutting out pictures in magazines and gluing them on the picture of themselves that they created. The children also loved studying the great composer of the Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach. They found out that he was also a great organ and harpsichord player. Our artist of the month was Piet Mondrian. The students created their very own works modeled after his neo-plastic style. They came out spectacularly!

Push–pinned farm scene.

Mondrian Creation

A Look Into October>>> Our October unit brings us to the study of the community. The students are exploring different careers and creating maps of various venues such as our own classroom community. Secondly, with Halloween just around the corner, the children are discovering the wonderful world of spiders. The season of Fall is also the perfect time for the students to examine leaves, identifying the different types and their parts. The students’ appreciation of art and music is deepening as they study Seurat and Mozart this month.

Our visit with the calf

Above: Five Senses Sorting Work Right: Land-Water-Air Animal Classification

Preschool/Kindergarten

Ms. Elizabeth Falls & Ms. Widline Senecharles

Practical Life & Development Art Sewing

Parts of a Horse Book

Addition with Counters

It is hard to believe that six weeks

powerful desire to do so. This

of school have already gone by!

drive sets the stage for all future

During the first few weeks, we

learning. In the Montessori envi-

concentrated on establishing rou-

ronment we provide an exciting,

tines and important ground rules.

stimulating and educational envi-

The children have adjusted well to

ronment for the children to do this

their new classroom and new les-

exploration.

sons are being added daily.

Our next unit studies will take us

Each year, the beauty of the Mon-

into exploring How a Seed Grows

tessori classroom unfolds. Within

and the Life Cycle of a Tree. This

the Montessori environment, we

will lead us into our first Geogra-

are able to enhance our curriculum

phy study; South America and

with thematic unit studies. During

Tropical Rainforests.

the school year, you will see our

In Language, daily journal writing

classroom change from time to

(for Kindergarteners) is one of

time, depending on our current

their favorite activities. Each day,

unit studies. During the months of

the children copy the date and a

August and September, we have

written journal prompt from the

been concentrating on “Down on

board. They answer the prompt

the Farm” and the Food Pyra-

phonetically (“inventive writing”)

mid. Within these units, we have

and then get to illustrate their an-

been able to study farm animals,

swer. As the year progresses, the

life on a farm and proper nutrition.

children love to see how far they

The children enjoyed learning

have come in their writing ability.

about and making a book on the

Some of the children are working

Parts of a Horse. Presentation of

on becoming more solid with their

these curricula is achieved by plac-

letter sounds. They enjoy working

ing materials throughout the class-

with the Waseca Reading Program.

room (integration) related to these

This Program was designed to

themes. These materials include

phonetically break the English lan-

books, music, push pinning, lan-

guage down into manageable

guage activities, etc. Children do

pieces to be presented sequentially.

not have to be taught to explore or

The sequence of presentation fol-

question; they are born with the

lows that used by the Orton-

Gillingham approach to reading

dren love to sing! Some of their

and compliments the Phono-

favorite songs include: Move Fast,

Graphix and Montessori approach.

Move Slow; Worm Workout;

Throughout the year at Story

Pocket Full of B’s; One Small

Time, we will be reading books

Voice; Puff the Magic Dragon;

pertinent to our ongoing unit stud-

Ollie the Otter and You’ve Got a

ies as well as Caldecott Award

Friend. To also help develop gross

winners, classics and studying

motor skills and concentration I

various children’s authors. We are

have introduced the children to

currently reading works by Tomie

movement exercises using bean

De Paola. I have also just finished

bags (Bean Bag Alphabet and

reading our first chapter book,

Bean Bag Bop) and having relay

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” by Roald Dahl

races with wooden eggs balanced

to the class.

on wooden spoons. The children

In Math, activities involving one-

are learning how to work as a

to-one correspondence (0-9), num-

team!

ber rods, bead stair, teen numbers,

Cooking: As a classroom tradi-

the 100 board, the bead chains and

tion, in honor of Johnny Apple-

the four operations of math are

seed’s birthday and the beginning

currently taking place in the class-

of fall, the children learned how to

room. On a weekly basis, the chil-

make a homemade apple pie!

dren are becoming more confident

We are excited about this year!

in their mathematical abilities.

We would like to thank all the

All throughout the year, we will be

parents who have so generously

doing Developmental Art using

made, purchased and donated

various media in the classroom.

items for the classroom. You are

Some of our art projects have in-

such strong advocates for your

cluded: painting with watercolors,

children and we are happy to be

Q-Tip painting, painting by marble

working together with you! We

rolling, fruit prints and dog sock

are looking forward to our first

puppets. We will also be studying

Parent Night of this school year

the works of Monet, Picasso, Van

on Tuesday, October 12th!

Calf Visit

Sensorial: Pink Tower and Brown Stair

Gogh, Cezanne and Matisse.

Music and Movement: The chil-

Educational Play: Gross Motor & Social Development

Preschool/Kindergarten

Ms.. Jackie Johnson & Ms. Kathleen Long Our class is humming along! We have a wonderful group of students. The kindergarteners have adjusted well to using work plans and are enjoying their P.E. and technology classes. The preK children have also transitioned well to our classroom and have achieved a nice balance between child and teacher directed work. In addition to math, language, and Learning the Advanced Code handwriting, the class as a whole has been receiving lessons in Spanish, science, geography, music, art, sewing, practical life and grace & courtesy. With the latter we have been having discussions about self-control and observing the golden rule.

Print Making

Magnet Construction

Practical Life: Tonging

For science, we began the year by studying nutrition.

The children are learning about food groups, and the general benefits derived from each type of food. I do not teach the food pyramid per se since it is difficult to conceptualize at this age, and is susceptible to nutritional fads. My focus instead is to encourage them to eat a variety of wholesome foods including foods with naturally occurring color (i.e., fruits and vegetables), whole grains, proteins and dairy. We also talk about the importance of trying new foods and trying foods more than once, since many food preferences are acquired. To stretch their often finicky palates, we have been preparing different foods in the classroom, and sampling foods during circle time. Our shake-a-salad was a hit.

In the afternoons, we have been doing art, sewing, food preparation, or nutrition related activities; and in literature, we are reading James and the Giant

Shake A Salad

Dot Dot Dash

Food Group Sorting

Sewing: Running Stitch Peach. We are looking forward to doing more afternoon activities outside as the weather gets cooler.

We are having a great start to the year. We are having lots of fun and already forming wonderful friendships!

Concentrated Cutting

Montessori Monitor >>>

First & Second Grades Ms. Anita Bender & Ms. Susie Long This school year is off to a great start. The first graders are getting used to having a daily Work Plan and are developing an invaluable sense of organization. Also, they seem happy about having a binder and several notebooks where they keep their work. The second year students in the classroom have been an incredible asset to the first year students. It is an honor to have them back in the classroom and seeing them share their knowledge and excitement.

In a 6-9 year old Montessori class the curriculum includes special presentations of material that introduce concepts to the children with a visual presentation. One of the most fascinating characteristics of Maria Montessori was her ability to connect life at the moment with life in the distant past. She understood the growing imagination of the elementary aged child. Her goal for the elementary school child is to have a holistic approach to understanding the Universe.

We have been discussing how to take care of our environment and our classroom. We also have been working on respecting each other and the classroom, and learning rights and responsibilities.

The materials available in the classroom help lead the children into becoming independent thinkers. Our goal is to follow each child and to guide him/her into making the right choices within his/her environment. We use worksheets that you see coming home as a supplement to reinforce the materials being introduced in class.

In Geography, we have covered Map Skills and the four cardinal points (N,S,E,W). We reviewed the compass and how it aligns itself with magnetic North. We will also put some of the Science experiments we are studying into action during the first of five Great Montessori Dramatic Lessons. We are also working on the concept of time through the use of calendars and timelines. Language, reading, math, geometry, science and problem solving skills are part of the children's weekly work plan. You may also see work coming home that has symbols above phrases or sentences. Maria Montessori designed symbols to represent all of the parts of grammar and the child uses the parsing symbols to help learn the functions of our words.

Overall, I think everyone is adjusting to the classroom beautifully, making new friends and facing new challenges that go along with the maturity and accountability that comes with this age.

Special Thanks >>> *To all of the families who have donated classroom material, yarn, plants to care for and/or special snacks to the classroom. *We appreciate the donation of Box Tops for Education, please continue to collect and bring into class. *For ordering from the Scholastic Books website it has added more books to our classroom library and every time you order online we get an additional certificate for a new book for our classroom. The children have enjoyed shelving these new books into our classroom library. Please check out the Scholastic website at scholastic.com. Our class code is GPFKF. *For representing our classroom at the P.T.O. and helping to prepare for the Fall Festival. *For participating in all of the activities during Spirit Week!

Second & Third Grades Mr. Richard Aslanian & Ms. Suzi Rumsey Welcome to the second and third grades class. We are off and running with the new school year and are happy to report that we are doing well, working hard and learning many new things.

Our science studies are based on space and earth science this year.

We experienced the Montessori Great Lesson on the creation of the universe and space. This lesson encompasses a large amount of impressionistic materials that open the students’ minds to what possibly may have happened in the beginning.

Subsequent lessons have been based on types of galaxies, star classification, and an in depth study of our solar system. We enjoyed our field trip to the SFC Kika Silva Pla Planetarium and are looking forward to class projects in November.

In Social studies and history we have been practicing our mapping skills,

working with longitude and latitude, legends, continents, the oceans and learning about the seasons. We have all practiced our phone numbers and addresses and have talked about the importance of this information. We are looking forward to our presentation of a Historical Timeline at the end of October. Each student has received a person of importance from history and will be portraying this person during a school wide presentation.

Participating in Spirit Week was once again an enjoyable and learning experience. Many thoughts and lessons come out of this week, with the culmination being about school pride and our Millhopper Family helping the community to be a better place.

Thanks to all of the families for your support of our endeavors.

Montessori Monitor >>>

Fourth & Fifth Grades Ms. Christina Miller, Ms. Susan Salvatore & Ms. Erin Sorel Students in Ms. Tina's class have been adjusting to their weekly routines and setting good habits in place to help themselves stay organized this school year. Students have gotten used to keeping track of their assignments using Snapgrades, the class assignment board, and their school planners.

As the weather cools down, 4th graders have been warming up for some gardening activities. In the classroom we examined seeds and seed packets to find out information about when, where and how to plant different types of crops. Students consulted a Florida vegetable planting guide to learn more about fall and spring crops in our part of the state. Soon Ms. Wendy, Sophie's mom, will be helping us plant our fall crops.

Here's a look at what students have been up to in some of their academic classes: 5th graders in US History with Ms. Susan Hansen have finished a study of Native American cultural regions in the United States and have begun learning about European exploration. Students enjoyed participating in a simulation of underwater archaeology. They examined ruins of explorer ships and artifacts related to the motivation for exploration, new technology, and new products in the New World.

4th graders in Florida History have completed a review of basic geography concepts including latitude and longitude and other map skills. Students started getting to know our state by completing their own map of Florida. As we progress to our study of Florida's native tribes, students will take a field trip to Morningside Nature Center to learn about the native Timucua people who lived in this part of Florida. We will also visit the Florida Museum of Natural History to view their exhibit and participate in hands-on activities related to the various tribes that once lived throughout our state.

Fourth grade writers are preparing for the annual Florida Writes test in March. This statewide writing program prepares students to write 5 paragraph expository essays, with an emphasis on focus, organization, conventions and supporting details.

In Science class with Ms. Carol students have been learning about variables and how variables affect the outcome of an experiment. Students set up a pendulum experiment to test the effect of the length of the string on the number of swings the pendulum made in a given length of time. Students made graphs with their data and learned about how scientists use graphs to make predictions and why reliable data is so important.

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MMS Spanish >>>

Ms. Jeanne-Marie Hrivnak Hola mis amigos. We’re having a wonderful time getting to know each other in all of the Spanish classes (Beginners-8th Grade). We have been studying the geography of the Spanish speaking world and have also begun to study the holidays, traditions and customs of those twenty-one very diverse countries. We began our study with Spain as we explored the origin of the language, the geography, the customs, traditions, expressions, accents, music, art, food, industries, lifestyles and other diverse aspects of the history and the people of that beautiful and amazing country. We were able to tour Spain through a special movie maker project that Ms. Jeanne-Marie created and through the Promethean board. In September we celebrated the Central American and Mexican Independence Days, and in October we will celebrate El Dia de la Raza (Race Day or Columbus Day), El Dia de los Muertos, and National Hispanic Month in the United States. We will continue to share and celebrate the diversity of the Spanishspeaking world with the students throughout the year as we explore different countries. Although Spanish-speaking people all over the world may differ in many ways, they share a love of their language and a desire for world peace.

Beginners, Preschool & Kindergarten We have been learning greetings, introductions and expressions of courtesy and have been conversing in Spanish regularly. Through conversation and the use of songs, puppets, finger-play activities, models, pictures, and charades we are able to learn and use Spanish vocabulary. In September our focus was on the human body. We discussed the parts of the body, the senses, and taking care of our bodies by eating healthy foods and staying active (sports). We have described physical and personality traits, emotions, and feelings of others and ourselves in the class and in photos.

We identified classroom objects, numbers, colors and some animals. "Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, Pies" ("Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Feet" in Spanish) was a favorite song and game as we learned the parts of the body as was "Simon Dice". In Ms.Christina and Ms. Liz’s classes we also studied the farm and learned the names for the people, animals, objects, and jobs on the farm. The children were fascinated to learn that the animals make different sounds in Spanish. All of the classes were excited by the visit from a dairy farmer and calf and we discussed the theme “From the Farm to the Fridge” in Spanish.

First through Third Grades We had fun getting acquainted and reviewing basic greetings and classroom expressions with the help of songs, charades, and role-play activities. It was so much fun to use TPR (Total Physical Response) to learn directional phrases and to give directions... We reviewed numbers and colors and went on to learn more numbers and how to say the day and date. We practiced this new vocabulary using our birthdays and holidays and by playing Bingo in Spanish.

We were also able to play “El color escondido” in which we had to sing a song and find a missing color. We used models, pictures, charades and other games to learn about classroom objects, expressions and activities. Roleplay activities have given us the opportunity to converse with each other in Spanish in a fun way. We will be discussing fall weather and activities as well as the solar system in October.

Fourth & Fifth Grades After reviewing basic greetings, feelings, numbers, colors, pronunciation we were able to get to know each other better by sharing our likes and dislikes using the verb “gustar” and the vocabulary for activities, pastimes, and sports. We went on to increase our vocabulary threefold by learning and using cognates (words that are similar in Spanish and in English). We also

shared our birthdays and favorite holidays as we went over the days of the week and months of the year. We have been using TPR to identify classroom objects and to give commands about activities and expressions in the classroom. In October we will cover fall vocabulary and weather and then talk about our families with the family trees we create in Spanish.

Middle School .Students are taught using a variation of the “direct method”. This means that the instructor teaches using the target language as much as possible. Through conversation, models, pictures, TPR (Total Physical Response), role-play activities and other visual and audio aids, the students learn the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in Spanish. This technique is effective because the students are able to hear the target language in a variety of “real life” situations in a fun way. A “communicative competency” approach to language learning supports the use of this method. When possible, we follow the teachers’ unit studies as a source for our themes throughout the year. By doing so, we are able to take a multidisciplinary approach to language learning.

abled us to do this quite easily. They are the following: introductions, greetings, well-being, feelings, age, origin, personality & physical traits, likes and dislikes. In October we will go on to learn how to express our needs and wants at home, at school, and in our free time. The 6th grade students have been very excited about the Spanish activities on the Promethean board.

7th & 8th Grades: In Spanish II we have reviewed all the material covered in Spanish I by writing and performing some incredibly interesting skits (They are available on our school website for your perusal.). We were able to learn how to ask many different questions and to use adverbs of frequency by talking about what we do in a typical week. Negation was also discussed as we talked about the things we never do. Time, 6th Grade: In Spanish I we have been dates, weather vocabulary factored into working hard to review all the Spanish our conversation as did the use of all the we have studied in previous years and basic verb forms. In October we will be are perfecting and expanding our vodiscussing our families in detail and crecabulary. We have begun to concenating power point projects to share with trate more on grammar, reading and the class. The 7th & 8th grade students writing skills than in the past, but we were especially talented at doing the continue to work regularly on our speak- “Cha Cha” for our celebration of the ing and listening comprehension skills.

Central American and Mexican IndeThe topics we have covered have enpendence Days.

Montessori Monitor >>>

Physical Education Coach Cam Parker Physical Education is off to a fast start. The first few weeks were filled with team building activities to help the students with their team concept and serving a role on a team. Presidential Physical Fitness Pre-Testing followed and went extremely well. Coach Cam thinks we have a genuine shot at the state title this year! Most recently we played our way through spirit week before gearing up for our first unit. Soccer will lead the way to go in conjunction with our sports league involvement. Students work on passing, shooting and dribbling with a focus on being able to control the ball. It looks like its going to be a great year in P.E.

MMS Sports Teams >>>

SOCCER Our Fall Soccer Season has begun with a record number of players and a flurry of activity. Practices have been hot, but fun and exciting to watch. MMS stresses team building, friendship, and enjoying our time on the field. Positive attitudes teach good sportsmanship. Our sidelines are filled with laughter, cheering, and most of all, big smiles! Come check out our games at Oak Hall on Saturdays and be part of the fun!

Welcome 2010

Ms. Sylvia Aslanian

Technology Peripheral A hardware device that is connected to a computer, usually by a cable.

Technology Buzzwords…. abound in the media center this month. Kindergarten – Fifth graders have been learning about parts of the computer, online safety, cyberbullying, and evaluating websites.

We have been watching animated clips on computer parts and online safety housed at Brain Pop and Brain Pop, Jr. Some of these clips can be accessed via millhoppertech.com The students also have taken several online quizzes to help reiterate the concepts. In the Interactive Section under Computer Basics at millhoppertech.com they worked in several activities to help them to understand the terms they’ve learned. In the Be Safe section they were able to obtain their web license once they answered several questions about online safety. In addition the kindergarteners are learning to maneuver the mouse.

Answering questions in the Input/ Output Lesson.

Middle school students set up their accounts in Gaggle.net. Gaggle.net is a safe and secure online communication. Gaggle allows students to take advantage of current technology tools for communication, collaboration, and social learning.

Why is Gaggle Safe? Gaggle provides a safe collection of instructional and communication tools controlled by administration and teachers with spam, virus protection and content filtering.

Compliant with Federal Student Privacy Regulations (CIPA, HIPPA, FERPA, and COPPA)

Sixth Grade students utilize the Technology Lab to work on their Science Lab Homework. Foss "Chemical Interactions" is loaded on several laptops in the media center. This program simulates experiment the student do in class. By using the added component they can see the experiment several times to help them retain and understand the concepts they are learning.

Practicing Mouse Skills

What’s new in MMS Technology?

We have upgraded our internet service and will be upgrading our network. Look for new multi use computer tables that will be arriving for the Media Center in the next few weeks, built and donated by Ms. Amilda’s husband, Dr. Mark Clark.

Montessori Monitor >>>

Yearbook Ms. Martha Horter

2010-2011 Yearbook is Underway!

Our Middle School students are off to a great start creating our new yearbook.

Using the Lifetouch company on-line site, Webease, we are collecting wonderful memories and carefully preserving them into our yearbook. Our MMS yearbook includes students from all nine classes, plus music, art, science, drama, technology, reading, math, and many special events.

Our first step in creating the yearbook is to decide on a theme for the year. The M3S students worked in groups to brainstorm possible theme ideas. Each group then created posters to convey its idea for the theme. Theme ideas included: graffiti, 60’s (peace, love), Gators, Superheroes, Doodles and Candyland. Each theme idea was presented to the class and voting was used to decide on the final theme. The posters are now on display in the media center windows, and they are beautiful!

Yearbooks sales have already started. Yearbooks need to be preordered. This year payment options include; check, cash, credit card, or billing. The cost is currently $25, but will increase in October, so order early and save$$$.

Lulu Plays Pretend Author, Illustrator and MMS Grandparent, Manny Alonso joined our first through third grade classes on Friday, September 3rd in the MMS Big Room.

Liz from Mr. Richard’s class (whom the book is named after) acted out each pretended scenario while another student from the class read the book aloud. Books were for sale prior to and the day of the book reading. Manny and Liz stayed afterward and did a book signing with 10% of the proceeds to going to MMS.

Safety Patrol The Safety Patrol is in full swing and off to another GREAT year!

As a reminder, the drive-thru opens each morning at 8:40 and closes at 9:05am. The af-

ternoon drive-thru opens at 2:40pm and closes at 3:10pm.

When on MMS campus, please remember cells phones are prohibited. Please help us keep our children safe by keeping all of your attention on the task at hand.

Also, when leaving the school, please be sure to only turn right. If you need to go west, please make a U-Turn on NW 39th Avenue. Waiting to turn left out of the parking lot is not only dangerous, but also causes a bottle neck in our parking lot/drive thru making it difficult for those entering the school to get in. Thank you so much for your cooperation in this matter.

Keep Collecting...

Thank you to everyone for clipping Box Tops off of select General Mills products.

The Class that collects the most box tops will win an Ice Cream Party at the end of the school year! www.boxtops4education.com

Social Networking

Keep up with all things MMS on our social networking sites: www.facebook.com/millhoppermontessorischool www.twitter.com/mmsknights

Lunches Made Easy & Convenient!

Are you Going out of town and don’t want to have to worry about the babysitter making your child’s lunch or are you simply tired of making lunch everyday?

MMS has taken the guesswork (& headache) out of lunches!

We are excited to announce you can now order your child’s lunch online by the week, month, quarter, semester or year!

Simply go to our website (www.millhopper.com) and click the HotLunchOnline.com link to get started!

Weekly Menu Options: Monday* I Love NY Pizza

Tuesday Flying Biscuit

Wednesday Moe’s

Thursday Heavenly Ham

Friday Schlotzsky’s

3 Piece Chicken Finger & Potato Wedges

Oven Fried Chicken Strips (5-6 strips)

Cheese Quesadilla

Ham Sandwich

Cheese Sandwich

1 Slice Cheese Pizza & Side Salad

Chicken Quesadilla

Grilled Chicken Strips (5-6 strips) Chicken Burrito

1 Slice Turkey Meatloaf Pepperoni Pizza & Side Salad Oodles of Noodles with 2 Slices Cheese Butter Pizza Oodles of 2 Slices Noodles with Pepperoni Pizza Marinara Sauce

Turkey Sandwich Roast Beef Sandwich

Black Bean Burrito

Veggie Sandwich

Two Ground Beef Tacos

Ham Wrap

Veggie Sandwich Cheese Pizza

Two Chicken Tacos

Roast Beef Wrap

Pepperoni Pizza BBQ Chicken Pizza Chicken Caesar Wrap

Spaghetti & Meatballs 6” Turkey Wrap All orders come with a choice of Mac & Cheese or Mashed Potatoes *I Love NY Pizza is available to Beginner through Kindergarten students only

Turkey Sandwich

Turkey Wrap

Veggie Wrap Baked Spaghetti w/ garlic knot

Ham Sandwich

All sandwiches come with lettuce, tomato & cheese.

Sorry, no special orders.

All orders come All orders come All orders come with Baked Lays All orders come with a biscuit & with tortilla Potato chips, a with Baked Lays 8 oz. bottled chips, salsa, a chocolate chip Potato chips, a water chocolate chip cookie & 8 oz. chocolate chip cookie & 8 oz. bottled water cookie & 8 oz. bottled water bottled water

1st - 8th Grade: To place orders for Piesanos on Mondays Contact Anita Bender, 352-375-6773 or 2anitabender@gmail.com

Questions? Contact Ms. Sherilyn Farris at mmsm3s@bellsouth.net

Calendar October 2010 Monday, October 11 Tuesday, October 12 Tuesday, October 12 Tuesday, October 12 Tues., Oct. 12 - Thurs., Oct. 14 Friday, October 15 Friday, October 22 Thursday, October 28 Thursday, October 28 Thursday, October 28 Friday, October 29

Sally Foster Sales Begin Ms. Elizabeth Falls’ Parent Night 4:30-6:00 Ms. Renee Brohamer’s Parent Night 4:30-6:00 Mr. Richard Aslanian’s Parent Night 6:15-7:45 Middle School R.O.P.E.S. Trip Holiday - UF Homecoming Fall Picture Re-Take Day Sally Foster Orders End Mr. Richard’s Class Historical Timeline - 11:00am Fall Festival - canned food collected for Gainesville Harvest Student Holiday/Teacher Workday

November 2010 Monday, November 8 Tuesday, November 9 Wednesday, November 10 Thursday, November 11 Thursday, November 18 Tuesday, November 23 Wednesday, November 24 Thur., Nov. 25 - Fri., Nov. 26 Mon., Nov. 29 – Fri., Dec. 3

First through Eighth Grade Report Cards mailed home Teacher Work Afternoon – 3:30-5:30 Early Childhood/Kindergarten Teacher Lunch Meeting Holiday - Veteran’s Day - Flex Day Vocal Ensemble/Theatrical Choir Performance (“Joy”) at MMS Elementary/Middle School Thanksgiving Luncheon Holiday Thanksgiving Holidays Scholastic Book Fair at MMS

December 2010 Friday, December 3 Saturday, December 4 Tuesday, December 7 Wednesday, December 8 Thursday, December 9 Mon., Dec. 6 - Mon., Jan. 31 Monday, December 13 Tuesday, December 14 Wednesday, December 15 Friday, December 17

First through Eighth Grade Interim Reports mailed Gumshoe High A Totally Teen Mystery - 4:30pm, dinner served at 5:00pm Teacher Work Afternoon – 3:30-5:30 Early Childhood/Kindergarten Teacher Lunch Meeting Sixth, Seventh & Eighth Grade Science Fair - 10:00-12:00 Judging MMS In House Re-Enrollment Period for School Year 2011-2012 Middle School Spelling Bee Middle School: Festival of Dionysus Middle School takes the Florida Writes Assessment Test Winter Shows: Ms. Christina Eckstein’s & Ms. Renee Brohamer’s classes 9:30 AM Ms. Elizabeth Falls’ & Ms. Jackie Johnson’s classes 10:30 AM Ms. Anita Bender’s & Mr. Richard Aslanian’s classes 11:30 AM Ms. Christina Miller's & Ms. Sherilyn Farris’ classes 12:30 PM School day ends after each show – no after school program available.

Mon., Dec. 20 - Fri., Dec. 31

Winter Holiday’s