This Week in the Tulip Room

It is happening and we can’t stop it! The end is near and everyone is moving up! If we had our choice this would all stay the same forever, but change is inevitable and it is about to happen to the Tulip Room. At 12:00 Thursday we will all grow again. What a wonderful and mournful time of year!

We have had a busy couple weeks, with finalizing our Spring Committee groups, having a booth at the Community Showcase, opening a Snack Shack during lunch, hosting the first ever CGM dance, penny race finale, as well as completing our daily work…how exhausting and fun for us all.  We also prepped for our zoo trip with “Biome Research Teams” who researched plants & animals and biome info related to those we will see at the zoo. We also took a trip to an Indian’s Baseball game for Baseball in Education, where we watched a game and filled out a packet connecting baseball to curriculum areas. Then we rounded it off with some Wiffleball, to practice baseball skills/terminology.

We are celebrating “lasts” right now; we had our last library trip (except for  a drop to do this week), our last Spanish class, our last Yoga class, our last Art class, our last full Thursday, our last “Fun Time Friday”, our last work plan of the school year…we are sad for lasts and ready for break!

Some calendar notes:  Tuesday is cleaning day, we will be gathering things that need to go home for the summer, please help check your child’s cubby Tuesday and Wednesday for papers, slippers, etc.  Wednesday we will be going to the zoo ALL DAY! Pack a lunch that doesn’t need warming, water bottle & sunscreen as we will be there all day. Also be sure if you are in running club that you have a water bottle, Wednesday will be our last run (we will try to run a complete mile).  Finally Thursday will be our day at Westside Park on Main Street. We will meet from 8:30-12:00. We will enjoy time at the park as well as our “Mini-Relay” where, beginning at 9:30am, we will walk/run/have fun for 24 minutes to raise money for the American Cancer Society, and it represents the 24 hours a day that cancer patients spend with their battle. Join us for fun, a good cause and a great time! Pack a picnic lunch and bring the whole family!

We know we say this a lot, but we are really thankful and grateful to be a part of so many amazing people’s lives, both big and short.   We couldn’t ask for a better place to be than where we are now! We are sad and excited to see this year end and a new one begin. Have a safe and happy summer! We will miss you tons!

This Week in the Tulip Room

Another big week! We are counting down the days until summer break, we are excited to sleep in and ready to be sure we fill these last few days together with all the things we want to do! Today we filled out our May calendar so the children can see all the fun filled days ahead , so they can see the few days we only have “normal” activities happening, because there are things they would like to fill them with. We are thinking a posted calendar of activities will become a norm in our classroom next year! But as we look at this calendar again we realize the small amount of time we have left together……everyone will be back next year, but with new friends and a year older and a grade level higher and so really, it will never be the same. This time will be over (and it was an amazing time) and another time will come and we are equally excited for this next time as we are feeling mournful for the time that is gone.

This week we spent time playing kickball and tag in the field and had an awesome visit from an Indy Parks staff person who gave us a presentation on reptiles and amphibians.   We also made piñatas for our upcoming Cinco de Mayo (or should I say Siete de Mayo) celebration that we will have on Tuesday. We will be busting a piñata, making salsa and learning a Mexican hat dance.

We discussed and did activities that relate to skin safety, nutrition and being active, and the children were challenged to get 60 minutes a day, 5 days a week of activity, as well as to eat 5 fruits/vegetables per day and practice sun safety for the next 30 days.  These are all part of our Relay for Life and American Cancer curriculum lessons.  The children also planned three fundraisers they would like to host. One is a hat day! Coming up Friday, May 10^th, the children may wear a hat to school for a minimum donation of 50 cents. We began a “Penny Race”, where we are racing the other classrooms to fill a jar with pennies. We are also seeing which class might fill the most jars.  The children have decided they would like to have a school dance. So on May 17^th, it’ll be a Beach Party dance at CGM, from 7-9pm.  The children have decided they would like to have the option to invite an outside guest; whether from another school or from a primary room or a family member (it is an Elementary +1 event). Ms. Kristen and Ms. Melissa are working on putting together the dance songs, games & food, if any of you are interested in helping with the dance please see us, we would welcome the help. Admission to the dance will be a minimum $2 donation.  We also began registering the children as members of the “Plunkett’s Pack” Relay for Life team so that they may ask friends and family to support them in this cause via email and Facebook. The website to access your child’s account is www.relayforlife.org/martinsvillein and their user names are their names along with your house number, with the password being their names.  Look for info about the mini-relay to come home next week.

We also made our own laundry soap, as part of our “personal hygiene” unit that we are working on.  Look for other personal hygiene work to come home, such as a hair shampoo that they will try and then perform a “focus group” activity with, filling out a survey and discussing likes/dislikes. Then a “keeping your body clean” activity including making our own body wash.

It was the second week of running club. We reviewed stretches and running manners then discussed action/reaction, in accordance with moving our bodies horizontally as opposed to vertically while running. We also learned a couple new and fun warm up stretches, “the mummy” and “the bottom kicks”.  We ran 1 minute, walked 3 minutes to complete our mile and returned to the school sweaty and smiling.  The children made and consumed fruit salad before their run as their “reward” for attempting the challenge and to load themselves with carbohydrates and healthy sugars. It’s so amazing to see their interest in hydration and nutrition and in making their bodies healthy! This next week’s challenge is to repeat the 1 minute run & 3 minute walk for 1 mile two separate times! Good Luck!

JUST A NOTE! Our last day of school will be a half day and will take place at Westside Park. It will include Mini-Relay for life activities and a 24 minute walk as well as fun and a picnic lunch. It will take place from 8:30-12:00. You are welcome to join us!!

Before that time, however, we have trips planned to the Zoo, to study the biomes, on May 22^nd and an Indians game, for Baseball in Education, on May 13th. We need to know if you are planning on attending either of these trips with us, by May 10^th for the Zoo and by Tuesday for baseball.  We will also be sending 2 more sets of 2 students to the Refuge and will be taking some children on small outings to pick up supplies for their Spring Committee projects.

Mark your calendars for May 11^th 1-4 pm; Center Grove Montessori will be hosting its first community showcase.   At the showcase there will be local vendors, as well as Montessori materials and materials made by the children.  The Tulip Room will have table selling homemade birdseed and snacks.

Elementary Encore must have 5 registered by May 10^th and we are just one shy of that so please register soon! We would love to spend some extra individualized time with your child!

In the Tulip Room we are constantly striving to become more and more  aware of the effects the adults have on the children, as well as the effects the children have on each other; through noise levels, expectations, daily schedule, cycles and external/internal motivators. In our minds this week we are letting go of the children meeting the expectation we have of them and encouraging them to expect more from themselves, we are letting go of making “excuses” as to why we “couldn’t “ do something (actually we discourage using the words “I can’t” in the classroom) instead we can use the words “I can” (i.e.” I couldn’t focus because of the noise” can be changed to “I can focus in the other room where it is quieter” or “I can move myself away from my friend who I was talking to in order to get my work done”) and we are looking at how we can speak differently to each other and we wanted to share some websites that, we have felt gave us some good advice about how we can speak kindly and effectively with the children.  It is so refreshing and exciting to challenge ourselves to something new and to see things that we are already doing and feel good about them!

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/07/12/dont.say.to.child.p/index.html

http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/5-things-parents-shouldnt-kids-171300904.html#!d7gKp

http://www.oakhavenmontessori.com/thoughts_speakingto.html

Have a kind and joyous week!