Puddletown School News

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2010-03-31T13:43:00.001-07:00

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Donations to Haiti

2010-03-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Dear children and families of Puddletown,
What a celebration there will be when the children of Haiti receive your generous donations! Thanks so much for sharing and caring!
Sasha Kramer
SOIL
http://oursoil.org/

Intergenerational garden

2010-03-29T14:27:00.001-07:00

Earlier in March, Cole and Eric Merten measured, planned, built and delivered two beautiful raised beds for the Lavender class intergenerational garden. We plan to get two more beds so the children and residents can work side by side in the garden. The beds are behind the courtyard by the back parking lot of the Holgate Center. We are looking forward to growing edible and useful plants while also growing relationships with our neighbors. Many thanks to Cole's family for getting us started and to Emily for carefully planning and executing this wonderful project.
If you are interested in helping with the other two beds, please let me know.

Rhombus, Reniform and Rembrandt

2010-02-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

Rhombus, Reniform and Rembrandt
Edward Fidellow

Your child’s education in Montessori is different – so different that it makes you shake your head in wonder and say, “Is this something my child is really learning?” As parents we want our children to excel at reading, writing and math. Yet their Montessori education leads them through strange and esoteric materials. (At least they are foreign to most adults.)

Why would a three year old need to be versed in geometry? Fine, a nice circle, a square and maybe a triangle but what purpose for an isosceles triangle, parallelogram or a rhombus? Then if that is not enough esoteric learning, your child moves on to the botany cabinet. How many three year olds need botany? They are introduced to leaf forms like spatulate, orbiculate, sagitate and reniform. Most of us adults can’t even pronounce them let alone know what they are.

If that is not enough diversity in the curriculum, Montessori education then introduces them to the whole world of art. They meet Picasso, Monet and Rembrandt. What in the world was Dr. Montessori thinking? And where is the math and reading?

There is a unique method (no it is not madness) in this approach. Your child is absorbing a tremendous amount of learning and stimuli and beginning to gain the skills of observation and visual discrimination - which is the ability to see differences. The Montessori child is effortlessly gaining a lifetime skill – the ability to see. Yes, we are born with sight but sight is passive where all the images come to us. When we observe, we actively focus our sight. But even focusing our sight does not always let us see what is there. For example, we have all seen pictures that if you look at them long enough the image changes into something else – like the two faces and the goblet or the old woman and the young girl. Skills and even talents need to be trained and refined. A Montessori classroom provides an unending panorama of activities that train and refine the ability “to see”.

Though education is primarily reading and math based, life is about having a clear vision of what is present (and what could be). And though the introduction to geometry (rhombus), botany (reniform) and art (Rembrandt) is rudimentary, it is absolutely foundational to clear-eyed success. For your child everything is new and exciting. To be able to put a name with a form or a shape not only gives great intellectual satisfaction but is the beginning of power to organize, define and categorize the world that is seen.

Enjoy the voyage of discovery as your child, with bright new eyes, sees the world for the first time. It is this power of visual discrimination that gives strength and focus to the power to read. It is also this power that breaks the world of math into distinguishable pieces with the ability to see patterns and processes.

Montessori truly gives your child the gift of sight!

Sage Daily Story 1/26/10

2010-01-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

Today is Tuesday, January 26, 2010

We saw a mom and her kid might come to Puddletown next year. Bella [the fish] is still being aggressive. Amy walked across the street and saw us on the sidewalk. Josie made bread today for extended day snack. Owen made bread yesterday for our morning snack. Georgia was absent today. We read a book about Pablo Picasso. He is a famous artist. He was real. His dad taught art. When a city blew up with bombs and people got hurt, Picasso got angry and he painted a really big, mad painting about anger because he thought war was awful. He made some paintings that are like blocks. It looked like it had cubes. That's called Cubism. He painted a lot of blue paintings and that is the blue period. Blue is a sad color. He felt sad and lonely. There was a rose period but it didn't last very long because of the Cubism. Cubism was the last one he did. The sawing guide is in a different place.

The end.
Love,
Clara, Josefina, Josie, Shannon, Isa, Amy, Xan, Nola and Owen

Julio!

2009-12-10T21:32:00.000-08:00

Tim from the Audubon Society visited on Tuesday. We got to pass around several wings, skulls, and talons of birds of prey. There was a dead golden eagle in a box that was very heavy. After the slideshow and passing around parts of many different birds, Tim brought out Julio. Julio is a great horned owl that lives at the Audubon Society. She is a girl even though they thought she was a boy so named her Julio. She made squeaky noises and stood on Tim's special glove. We didn't touch her but got to watch her while she looked around Puddletown. We turned out the lights so we could see her eyes get bigger. She was cool!

Our visit to the Oregon Food Bank

2009-12-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

Before Thanksgiving the extended day took a trip to the Oregon Food Bank to deliver all of the food we collected at Puddletown during our food drive. It was a wonderful experience for all of us. The children took such pride in loading all of the food on to the scale to see the total weight. We also got a tour and saw a really big freezer (that we went into!), volunteers working, a tons of food that has been collected by people just like us that donated to people in need. We donated 482 pounds of food!!!!
Thanks to Herc (Xan's dad) for sharing the photos below.

Giving thanks

2009-11-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

Both classrooms had a wonderful time enjoying the Thanksgiving potluck. Some children tried many new and interesting foods. Others had a big plate of mashed potatoes ;)
Thank you to all of you for making our celebration such a delicious success!
Have a safe and happy holiday.

Friday in the Lavender classroom

2009-11-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

While subbing for Emily today in the Lavender classroom, I took some photos of the children working. Enjoy!

Rye and Tim work on a special project for the upcoming auction.

Cole discovers the treasures in the mystery bag.

Alex practices cutting.

Louie works with clay.

Max paints a picture.

Sam and Tim refine their handwriting with the metal insets.

Anatole folds laundry.

Bald eagles

2009-11-04T10:11:00.001-08:00

Yesterday the Sage children got to see two bald eagles at the park. We watched them in one of the Douglas Fir trees at Kenilworth park before coming back to school for lunch. Photos by Cheryl.

Our visit to see the residents (and their birds)

2009-10-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

For Halloween we went to visit the residents and sing some seasonal songs for them. It is always a please to see the joy on everyone's faces during these visits. We stopped and sang to the birds too!
Thanks to Cheryl Willson for coming along and taking photos.
Happy Halloween!

"Halloween" by Rye, age 5 1/2

2009-10-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

Halloween
The ghosts are so scary
The night I don't like
The monsters make me scared

Wish List

2009-10-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

There have been some requests for our wish list. The links are to provide examples.

PUDDLETOWN WISH LIST
Dollhouse furniture (wood or other natural materials preferred)
Small butter churn (http://www.patented-antiques.com/images/WEB-Sale-Cats/ZZ-CSGN/CIcook/D2qt/P5100011_small.JPG)
Hand Wheat grinder (http://cgi.ebay.com/new-hand-crank-manual-grain-mill-wheat-flour-grinder_W0QQitemZ350261139847QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZRSS:B:SRCH:US:101)
Big- 2 or 4 hole buttons
Small pitchers (creamers in sets)
Small,clear drinking glasses
Biographies for young people (picture books)
True story books
Portable CD players (discman)
Classical music cds
Glass eye dropper bottles
Assorted locks and keys
Good quality cordless phones (2)
Boy’s underwear (for spares)

If you have any of these items and would like to donate them to Puddletown, please let us know. Thanks!

Mr. Fuzzypants

2009-10-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

During our "fish walk" during the first week of school we met a cat that lives by Kenilworth Park. He was friendly and sweet and let many of the children pet him. The next week we noticed that while we were at the park, the cat would join us. Rye from the Lavender class named him "Mr. Fuzzypants." Mr. Fuzzypants likes to hang out on the play structure, walk the curb around the bark chips, and be close to the children. He often arrives when we do and leaves at the same time. He is very patient and soft. We look forward to spending many more days at the park with him.

Harvest Season

2009-10-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Dale, the head of maintenance at the Holgate Center, has once again, generously donated pumpkins for all of the children at Puddletown. Monday morning was that much more exciting with the mudroom overflowing with 50 very large pumpkins. Many children came to school today with stories of where they put their pumpkin and how much they are looking forward to seeing what's inside!

Thanks again Dale!

Fish walk

2009-09-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

The extended day children walked a long way to the fish store to get new fish for their classroom.

The Lavender classroom got a new beta fish and plant for the tank. They named the fish Napoleon (a synonym for blue)
The Sage children got four platies and a decoration for their new tank. They named the fish after flowers and plants we saw on our walk: Lavender, Rose, Bella & Japanese Lantern.

During our walk we sampled figs and blackberries, met several cats and dogs, and saw plenty of beautiful gardens. We saw Elliot just as we were leaving the fish store! We stopped in Creston park on the way back for a picnic and some time to play on the playground.
It was really hot and by the time we returned to Puddletown, we were all ready for a rest and cold drink.

First Day!

2009-09-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

The extended day children had their first day back to school today. Weylin's baby boy stopped by to meet some of the Sage children.
We are excited and ready for another year!

Another wonderful year

2009-06-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

Photo taken by Aimee Sisco at the Puddletown graduation and end of the year picnic.

Congratulations to our graduates:
Ben, Flora, Rory, Kevin, Jakob, Harry, Ruby, Jackson, and Regina. You will be missed.

"I figured out that the world is full of letters and words and I can read them all because I know the sounds." - Ben Kassof (age 6), talking at his birthday celebration about when he was four and learning to read.

Weylin and Andrea's baby shower

2009-06-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Today the Sage classroom celebrated the upcoming arrival of Weylin and his wife Andrea's (pronounced On-dray-u) baby.
The children brought gifts and Andrea and Weylin joyfully opened them while the children excitedly explained each present. They shared some muffins and a salad and sang some songs.
Thank you to all of you who put such care into creating or buying Weylin and his family such thoughtful gifts.
It was a great event.

In the garden

2009-05-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

Genevieve and Nola cutting flowers from our garden to use for flower arranging.

Lavender classroom photos

2009-05-13T10:26:00.001-07:00

There are new photos being added to our picasa album. The photos were taken by Emily of the children working in the Lavender class. Please check it out. The link is on the right of the news page under "LINKS." I'll be adding more throughout the week.
Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

Illustration by Flora, age 6. "Heal the world, stop global warming"

Thanks to Wendy (Josefina's mom) for coming in and making newspaper pots and planting sunflower and sweet pea seeds with the Sage children.

Spring at Puddletown

2009-04-09T09:47:00.001-07:00

We are all enjoying the amazing Tulip Magnolia and the ornamental cherry trees that we continue to be amazed by every day.
Happy spring!

Lavender News!

2009-04-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

A Warm Spring Greeting to each of you,
I hope this finds you well. It is hard to believe that it is April already! The children have been busy welcoming Charlotte Storrs (Rye’s younger sister), Louie Boxer (brother of Owen from the Sage room) and Alex Johnston. The youngest children have realized that they have knowledge and skills to share and more and more of the 2nd year children have joined the seasoned 3rd year children in confidently lending a hand whenever they notice a need. More children have blossomed into readers and writers and more have discovered their love of math! All have taken ownership of their classroom environment and are becoming more and more independent each day.
Let’s take a brief glance at your child’s growing ability to be a functionally independent person. To be able to do something, by and for one’s self, without being a burden to others, is the definition of independence. Being functionally independent, means being able to take care of your own basic needs: dressing yourself, eating without assistance, drinking when you are thirsty, washing your own face, getting a tissue when it is needed, using the bathroom as needed, being able to communicate when you need help or sharing your likes and dislikes, etc. Many of you were able to watch Edison’s Day, via the video link that Andrea sent out. I have heard positive comments from many people who were inspired to new heights after watching this. Some people have found that a few simple changes in the home environment have produced dramatic effects. The kind of harmonious relationship with a child presented in Edison’s Day is possible. As adults, we can either support the development of independ-ence--removing obstacles, or we can become an obstacle in the way of this natural path.
In the classroom, I have been observing that there are some recurring situations involving clothing and independence. I would like to share a few thoughts on the matter:
Clothing and Functional Independence at School
1. Please encourage your child to dress him or herself in the morning. If there have been any challenges around this at home, you can assist the process by laying out 2 acceptable choices for each item of clothing (taking into account weather and whatnot). This is a great start to the day and helps the child transition into the classroom, where s/he can do many things for his/herself.
2. Please avoid clothing items that have cartoon characters or are costume-like. After great consideration and much observation, it has become clear that these types of clothing are very distracting to the child who wears them and to others in the classroom. Assist your child in choosing simple patterns/solid color and comfortable items for school.
3. Please encourage your child to “dress to his/her ability level”. If your child cannot snap his own jeans, please redirect him to different pants. If your child cannot tie her own shoes, please redirect her to different shoes. This assists your child’s development of confidence and frees him up from de-pending on someone else (and spending what-can-be-a-lot of time waiting) for help.
4. If your child is still working on developing an awareness of when to go to the bathroom, please make sure s/he has plenty of clean easy-to-get-on-and-off clothing stocked in his/her cubby each day.
I look forward to meeting with you in our conferences this week. For those of you who are able to attend Steven Hughes’ presentation on “Modern Par-enting: Tips ,Tricks and Traps” tomorrow night (7-8:30, tickets available on-line at www.oregonmontessori.org), I look forward to seeing you there. Also, we have our last parent night of the year scheduled for Monday, April 20th. We will look at the materials of the classroom and the ways children learn through their senses, its direct relationship to the brain and how the materials of our classrooms support your children in this process. Please continue to share ways that you have been successful in assisting your child’s independ-ence in the home with me and with each other. They make delightful stories.
Warm Regards,
Emily Westberg, Lavender Guide

Valentine's visit with the residents

2009-02-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the Odd Fellows Home and the Friendship House to hand out Valentine's cards to the residents. We sang "You are my Sunshine," "The helping song," "Make new friends" and some other Puddletown hits.