Snow Welcomes the Third Quarter

Happy Snow day, everyone! I hope you are all warm and comfy.

The last week  was full of one on one conversations with your children. I had formally assessed each child to see their growth. Although sometimes it may seem "scary" to be tested on "what you know", I used this opportunity to also check in with my students. The conversations we had were brief but each child had something they wanted to share. It might have been about a sleepover with a friend or getting picked up by grandma at dismissal. It was nice listening to their stories!

Looking ahead, next week will be super busy! We have several celebrations in line. Valentine's Day, 100th Day of school and Chinese New Year! Get ready for an overload of pictures. =) Let me know if you would like to volunteer making "100" headbands or Chinese lanterns. We would need assistance between 10:00-11:30 during work time. If you can't make it, please consider purchasing some of the materials we will need. It is posted in our Amazon Wish List. Thank you in advance!

Also, we are beginning our unit for Black History Month! Check out my newly purchased collection of book for this unit! Do you have any book recommendations for Black History Month? Would you like to come read to our class? Please reach out to me if you are interested.

To end our Hibernation-Migration-Adaptation unit, we chose a bear breathing exercise during our Silence and Mindfulness activity time. Ask you child to show you how! =) 

Here's another video of us reviewing the 3 Cares (yourself, others and environment). We used the children's daily pictures to sort and discuss where the pictures (their actions) fit within the 3 Cares. We can't wait to share the book we made for this activity with you!

There's more! Last week, I was email by Education.com. They said they enjoyed our blog and thought to share some paper extensions with us. (All I could think of was, "Wow, someone besides my classroom families read our blog! Yay!")  Please consider visiting their site. They have a variety of extensions in different subject areas.

"Education.com aims to empower parents, teachers, and homeschoolers to help their children build essential skills and excel. With over 12 million members, Education.com provides educators of all kinds with high-quality learning resources, including worksheets, lesson plans, digital games, an online guided learning platform, and more." Find more worksheets, activities, and games at education.com.

Here's a peek in our classroom. Enjoy!

... admiring our classroom timeline

Ms. Castillo interviewed Cameron about the 3 Cares pictures he sorted.

Garvit practiced his weaving skills.

Stefan chose the correct key to open varying locks.

Frances explored the world through the Continent Map work.

Charlie shared his Water Calligraphy work and gave his classmates a presentation.

Zoe punched took lots of time and focus to punch out this heart.

Amelia comparing weight using the Baric Tablet work.

Julieta gave the Sewing work her full attention.

Ibrahim completed 3 equations all by himself!

Sophia R. created a water color version of the Continent Map.

Zoe was inspired with Sophia R.'s work and chose to make a North American one.

Daniel and the Parts of a Horse work.

Focused and concentrated

Roy matched different sounds using the Sound Cylinders.

Kindergarteners sharing their stories to their Peanut Butter partner during Writer's Workshop.

Kindergarteners sharing their stories to their Peanut Butter partner during Writer's Workshop.

Kindergarteners sharing their stories to their Peanut Butter partner during Writer's Workshop.

Mindfulness in the Classroom

"My hope and wish are that one day, formal education will pay attention to what I call education of the heart." -Dalai Lama

The children have been enjoying our lessons on culture and peace. Last week, we traveled to different places in North America. We explored artifacts from different countries and the children shared their own experiences.(So, don't forget to get our class an artifact on your next trip! =)) Room 101 continues to enjoy and learn from the old and new presentations they've been shown. 

Welcome to North America!

Another highlight from last week was our lesson on the Love Light. It has been so beautiful watching our Montessori silence evolve into a holistic silence and peace throughout the day. Previously, we would do silence as we ready ourselves for the work ahead of us. We have incorporated so much more to our silence. Everyday, we remind ourselves of our love light and reflect on how we can make it shine by improving ourselves and helping others. I think the term often used to describe this is, Mindfulness. It is a beautiful concept and I like to think that in our room, we are working towards our own mindfulness: personally and as a community. Here are ways for children to be mindful. I also have added some new books and materials to Room 101 Amazon Wish List. Please consider helping out our room with some items that will tremendously help support the students' learning and community building. Thank you in advance.

Our Love Light

I give the children calming oil during silence before they start their work time.

Silence Game

They are thinking of the first work they will do for the day.

It is bittersweet that we had to say good bye to Eliza. We will miss you so much, Eliza! Take care and come visit us soon. 

We wish you well, Eliza!

Lastly, I am sharing some pictures of our wonderful field trip to the Shedd Aquarium. It was awesome seeing so many happy parents and children all in one place. 

Enjoy your weekend!

See you at school,

Mrs. Guerrero

Charlie and Maya with the Banker's Game (Fetch Game)

Isabella and Garvit explored the North America Artifact Box

Daniel building words with the Magnetic Word Building work.

Sophia A and the Alphabet Matching chart

Frances reviewed the Parts of a Tree

Xitlali and the Shaving Cream work

Jena concentrated on her art work.

Zoe made her own Parts of a Horse

Winter matched pictures and initial sounds.

Roy made number sets with the Spindle box.

Graphing presentation using M&M's candies!

We are at the aquarium!

Dolphin show.

Daniel and Sasha 

Sophia R. reenacted the dolphin show with our Whale Scrubbing work.

Sophia R. wrote her journal entry about her reading.

Room 101 in action.

Natalie explored the geometric solids.

We are proud of our work!

Zoe created her Fractions Inset book.

Noah and Ibrahim wrote sentences using the Moveable alphabet.

Jena and the Flower Arranging work.

We made snow to explore animals in winter (hibernators-migrators-adaptors)

"We made a pattern."

Maya and Charlie building teen numbers with the Teen Dice Game.

Daniel composed sentences using the weekly sight words we are working on.

Thank you, Nayah for helping our class create bird feeders to take home.

I was gave the Sound Cylinders presentation.

Jena was excited to try it out right away!

Isabella chopped celery.

Leslie peeled and chopped garlic for our chili.

Stefan explored lines with the Shaving Cream work.

Addition to the 1000's

Zeia making a graph on colors.

Roy graded and built a tower using the Blue Knobless Cylinders.

Sebastian picking the perfect flower to use for Flower Arranging.

Daniel chopping celery.

The students' beautiful flower arranging work on display.

"Look, I was just published!" -Noah
 (sharing his Writer's Workshop story to a visitor from Room 103)

Sebastian concentrated on scrubbing the whale squeaky clean.

Garvit read an Elephant and Piggie book in the Library.

Roy is happy with his completed work.

Leslie added color to our room by choosing the Flower Arranging work.