Current Elementary I Families
Learn more about how to support your children, our students, while classes are suspended.
Please scroll down to see a repost of the emails that you have been sent from our classroom teachers. Newest emails are posted first.
June 12, 2020
Dear Families,
We are offering a change of pace for our final week of remote learning. We would like to offer some exciting learning explorations; these would include fun cooking activities, read alouds science experiments, and more. All individual zooms And most small group zooms will be replaced with explorations. Biology groups will stay as scheduled, so we can all witness the life cycle of a chicken, as the eggs being incubated are scheduled to hatch soon. Also, the Kit reading group will continue and increase to 4 days instead of 2.There will be no work plans.
All class morning meetings will take place each day, and students will be expected to share a work of which they are proud. This could be a project, a piece of writing, a timeline, a sculpture or something they have mastered in math or any other work they have enjoyed. We will have a few students taking turns to share each morning.
For the science experiments and crafts, most materials will be provided in bags at our Monday pick up/drop off. The ingredients you need for the cooking project on Monday are listed in the document below.
-EI Team
June 9, 2020
Dear Families,
It is so hard to believe we are nearing the end of the school year!
On Monday, June 15, we would like you to drop off any school books/supplies at Bridgeview between the hours of 12-3. We will have a small folder of end of year activity materials ready for you to pick up as well. If you cannot come on Monday, you can drop off books etc. in the bin outside the school any time during the week, and we will do our best to send you materials electronically if possible.
Next week we are planning to infuse some fun into our zoom classes and groups by doing some end of year activities and games. In addition, we would like each student to choose one work they are proud of from distance learning. Students could choose their state reports, or a piece of writing, a work of art...anything that is meaningful to them. It should be ready to present, so now would be a great time to add finishing touches if needed. Students should write down why they are proud of that particular work.
On Friday we will make the last Friday phone calls of the year.
Sincerely,
-EI Team
P.S If you would like to set up a visit to see Rebecca's goats over the summer email her at Rcohen@bridgeviewmontessori.org
May 11, 2020
Dear Families,
We hope you have have picked up your new materials at school, as well as your child’s belongings.
Our weekly zoom schedule is now confirmed. We only made changes to Biology times . The new Biology times are:
First years: 12:30 Wednesday
Second years: 1:30
Third years: Thursday 1:00
Exciting news: we have added a whole class morning meeting to our Friday schedule. It will be so wonderful to all be virtually together on the same screen.
From this point forward, your child’s zoom sessions will stay at the same time every week, unless you request an additional time or a change.
Although this week you will still receive an email zoom invite, next week meeting ID's and passwords will only be on your child’s work plan.
Soon each family will be able to submit their child's work into a digital folder. As soon as we are ready to go, we will be sure to provide you with instructions for how to use this new feature. We will view the folders regularly and send weekly feedback.
Finally, if you need to contact us immediately for technical assistance or emergency questions, please use Class Dojo. If you have deleted the app and need a new invite, please contact Oona.
We look forward to another great week of learning ahead,
EI Team
May 6, 2020
Hello Families,
We just wanted to share our new morning meeting times with you.
To best fit families needs, the following schedule will occur for morning meetings:
1st years @ 8:15 with Oona Monday-Friday
2nd Years @9:15 with Rebecca Monday-Friday
3rd Years @ 9:00 with Staci Mon-Wed-Fri
All Zooms will be 25 min in length to accommodate for transition time.
Also going forward you will receive zoom invites in your email, and they will no longer be embedded in the work plans.
As for hard copies of student work, we would like to start a drop off of completed work, and pick up for new work starting this Monday. Mailing has proved to be too unreliable and costly thus far. This Monday we will have a drive through style drop off/pick up between the hours of 1:30-3:30pm.
-EI Team
May 1, 2020
As we enter week 7 of online learning we are working on crafting a new normal. We are inspired by our students ability to adjust and create wonderful works, projects, and research.
Marin even invented her own set of grammar cubes to help with her sentence analysis using wooden blocks!
New Class Offerings
Next week we will be starting to have morning meetings by grade level. Staci will be leading the 3rd year morning meetings Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:15 so feel free to join in!
Oona and Rebecca will be switching leading the first and second year meetings at 8:15 Monday-Thursday, so feel free to join us.
These will be casual meetings to get the work period started for the day, and to catch up with one another in a structured setting. It will also be a great time to ask any questions about that day's work plan.
Next week we will also be starting biology group lessons by grade level on Fridays. Our topic will be life cycles. We are currently looking for some tadpoles to keep in our aquarium at school as we begin our studies. If anyone knows where to find local tadpole eggs, please send us an email!
There will also be weekly math groups meeting as well.
If you have a conflict and cannot attend a group just let us know.
New Digital Work plans
In addition, on Monday, work plans will be provided digitally for all students to add structure, and help families navigate the work period. All your child's new zoom times can be found on their work plans. You will receive a work plan on Monday for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And you will receive another work plan on Wednesday for Thursday and Friday. Zoom times, meeting ID's, and passwords can also be found on the work plan.
This is all a work in progress there may be conflicts or mistakes, so please be patient with us.
Firm Request
We need families to be more consistent with sending in your child's work. This way we can see their progress, plan accordingly, and give them the feedback they deserve, just as we would do at school. We look forward to getting updates and photos several times a week from each student.
Fun Suggestion
Attached you will find some fun Hink-Pinks, which are challenging brain teasers. Be careful, the answers are on the second page, so try not to peek.
-E! Team
April 8, 2020
Dear families,
As we embark upon week 3 of remote learning, we would like to thank you all for your effort, communication, and collaboration over the past weeks. We are so happy to have amazing families like yours to partner with during these strange times.
Click on calendar to expand.
If you are looking for some activities to spice things up, try one of these:
Some sensational scavenger hunt ideas:
https://primaryplayground.net/scavenger-hunts/
Also, don't forget about Mystery Doug, there are new episodes released each week.
https://mysterydoug.com/mysteries/april-fools
Some students have been running low on reading material, and have requested books from the school. We have been bagging up the books and leaving them on the outside of the Orange Room door. Let us know if you would like to have a fresh set of books bagged up, and we would be happy to leave them out for you to pick up.
Another set of works is on its way to you via snail mail in case you are running low on math activities, writing prompts, or spelling/phonics work. Each envelope has a cover page included that explains the types of works you will find inside. If there are any questions feel free to ask us, and we would be happy to ZOOM with your child to clarify anything.
Please know that these activities are there for you to pick and choose from according to your child’s interests and needs. We have tried to include Montessori materials whenever possible. In addition, we will continue to make project suggestions and post video lessons to stay true to the Montessori philosophy that children learn best through meaningful exploration and the senses. We are more than happy to supplement with standard worksheets in any subject area of your choice.
We miss our students terribly and look forward to the time when we will be together again soon. For now, we are grateful for your collaboration and cooperation.
Sincerely,
Rebecca and Oona
E1 Team
A message from sandy, our head of school
April 7, 2020
Dear Elementary Families,
First of all, I want to thank you so much for supporting your child's schoolwork at home. We know it's been a big effort. I just want to remind you that your child's teachers are spending hours every day to prepare and coordinate meaningful lessons. It is our expectation that each child will participate wholeheartedly in lessons at home. In addition, it is very important that you document your child's work and regularly send photos and/or links to classroom teachers. This way teachers will know how best to support your child's progress. You will receive a modified progress report at the end of the school year from your child's classroom teachers. These reports will be based on your child's participation, effort and progress. Thank you so much for helping to complete the cycle of learning.
Sincerely,
Sandy Head of School
April 1, 2020
Dear Elementary I Families,
Click on image to enlarge.
I have included a flyer for the Poetry of Peace contest if you are interested in participating. This is optional. The due date is now May 8. If you would like to submit one poem for the contest just email it to us, and we will send it along for you. We would like to have all the submissions by 4/15. Once again this is optional, although we know that some of our 3rd year students have really looked forward to participating.
Let us know if you have any questions,
-Rebecca
March 31,
Hello families,
We wanted to share a couple of videos with you! Oona has done a reading of "Feathers for Lunch" by Lois Ehlert. The second video is how to make a bird feeder out of recyclables. After the activity, if you want, you could study a bird that you see at your feeder, and complete a bird report which will be mailed out to you on paper. You could even graph the many types of birds and how often they appear in your backyard. As shown in the photo below.
Enjoy!
-Rebecca and Oona
Enjoy.
March 31, 2020
Dear Elementary I families,
Rebecca and I are available for zoom lessons everyday except for Fridays. Please feel free to request a Zoom lesson for your child when you reply to our morning check ins. Zoom lessons are great for a check in, to work on a specific area of need, or just to have a face to face academic conversation.
-EI Team eiteachers@bridgeviewmontessori.org
March 30, 2020
Dear Elementary I Families,
We just want to say you are all doing such an amazing job at adjusting to remote learning. We truly appreciate your flexibility as we all figure this out, and continue to reflect and make changes as needed.
A more comfortable amount of communication should be in our future as we get more acclimated. In fact going forward your child will receive one email from a teacher in the morning that will include comments on prior work, as well as offering one suggestion for new work.
We want to remind you all to CC Suzanne (slawson@bridgeviewmontessori.org) when sending along all of your wonderful photos. We love seeing photos of your child's work or fun outdoor excursions like these.
Stay Safe, Oona and Rebecca
March 26, 2020
Dear Elementary I families,
Check out Rebecca doing some static addition with the stamp game.
Caption: In Montessori “the hand partners with the brain to form intellect”. By using this material your child will prepare themselves for future work with all math operations. This material can be used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Coming soon: Dynamic addition!
March 23, 2020
Dear families,
We will be having email response hours on weekdays Monday-Friday from 8-9:00 am, and 11-12:00 am, which will be before and after work periods and zoom conferences. This is a great time to ask questions for upcoming or prior assignments.
Oona: omelanson@bridgeviewmontessori.org
Rebecca: rcohen@bridgeviewmontessori.org
We will both be at school communicating daily with each other, and we will both be commenting on your child's work that is sent in.
Going forward, you will receive a daily morning email with individual suggestions of things for your child to work on that day. In addition, we will check back in at the end of the day with your child to see their work that they completed.
Going forward we will only be using email, not Dojo, for communication purposes.
-EI Team
March 23, 2020
Dear families,
We hope this newsletter finds all of you well and enjoying this time together at home. We are going to send our newsletter every Monday morning. Instead of summarizing student learning, we will provide suggestions for different activities to put on your child’s work plans for each subject area in place of /in addition to the activities we already sent home. Our motivation is to support you in your child’s learning . If you need help with anything, have questions, or feel overwhelmed reach out to us. We are here to help.
Rebecca and I have been learning to use ZOOM to teach lessons remotely to meet the needs of your child. If you need some support on any activity in the form of a zoom lesson, reach out to us via email or Class Dojo.
Some of you have jumped right in to a full school routine, and some of you took a break to process this change or are taking small steps to add home learning into your lives. No matter where you are with this process, we want you to know it is ok!😊Please continue to communicate your ups and downs, and by all means, keep sending pictures/videos because we really miss your kids!!!❤️
We are also beginning to establish some book groups for second and third year students.
You will be receiving an invite to join Reflex math in the mail this week. Please login as soon as possible and try to have your student engage with this program 15 minutes/3 times weekly.
Below you will find activities to plug into your child’s work plan. We are trying to just do one or two suggestions per subject area per week, to keep from overwhelming families. These are things you “May Do”, not “Must Do” in place of something we have already given you on any given day, to provide some spice. If you need more or just want something different let us know.
Keep family close, Oona and Rebecca.
Grammar: Nouns
Day 1:
1.On a piece of paper in your notebook on each line, next to the left margin, write a letter of the alphabet in order.
Example:
A
B
C
D
Until you have written the whole alphabet
2. Think of a noun or find a noun in your house or a book for each letter of the alphabet.
Example:
A apple
B. ball
C. Cape Cod
Day 2
3. Write common next to your noun if it is common or proper next to your noun if it is proper (specific name of a person, place or thing; always begins with an uppercase letter)
Example:
A. Apple. Common
B. Ball. Common
C Cape Cod. Proper
Challenge: Can you think of a common noun for your proper nouns or a proper noun for your common nouns. Remember, proper nouns always begin with capital letters!
Extension: Create a common noun book and a proper noun book. You can do this using paper or you could get fancy and try downloading the Book Creator app . It is very user friendly and allows you to use photos, type, write or draw.
Writing Choice 1:
This assignment was “created” by Queenie, our E2 guinea pig, currently staying at Oona’s house. she has some questions for you. Please write back!!!
Dear kids,
I had to write to you and tell you about what has happened to me. Oh, you didn’t know I could type? I’ve learned so many things from watching you!!!
I have found myself in this new place. The food is great and my cage is nice and clean, but the other guinea pigs here are strange to me.
First, there is this this spotted one with long ears. She is ten times bigger than me, at least and has longer legs and a long furry tail. She also makes the most odd guinea pig squeal I have ever heard. It is high pitched , like mine, but short and super loud. Sometimes it makes me jump. I think I am starting to understand her, but I am not sure. She seems friendly and loves the way I smell (I do smell really good😊). What do you think she is trying to tell me?
There is also a blonde guinea pig here. She too has long legs and a long tail, but her floppy ears are shorter than The Spotted One. She is a mammoth-sized guinea pig, which you would think would be scary except she is so sweet. She lays next to my cage often . When I come out she watches over me and protects me from the squealing Spotted One. She never makes that loud noise. She just pads in and lays down and sends me looks of motherly love.
What do you think will happen next? Do you have any ideas about these Guinea pigs and what they want from me?
I miss you! Please write soon!
Love,
Queenie
P.S.If you want to write me in your journal and take a pic, that’s fine too! Oh, I would love if you would draw me a beautiful picture with your writing.
Writing Choice 2:
Go on a virtual field trip. There are so many free ones all over the world right now. Create a postcard about your trip. Make sure your picture is detailed and that your writing names the place, tells some facts and gives your opinion of what you experienced.
Copy and paste the links below in your browser for some virtual field trip travel.
https://adventuresinfamilyhood.com/20-virtual-field-trips-to-take-with-your-kids.html
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SvIdgTx9djKO6SjyvPDsoGlkgE3iExmi3qh2KRRku_w/mobilebasic?urp=gmail_link
https://www.wthr.com/article/cincinnati-zoo-start-home-safari-facebook-live-keep-kids-learning-during-their-time
Even though the weekend is over, seems like this could be fun and meaningful anytime. If the weather doesn’t cooperate you could use paper inside, take a photo and send to us for Class Dojo and Bridgeview website.
Science:
https://www.facebook.com/buggyandbuddy/videos/1727087147399400/
Left Photo credit: Wilder Child
It’s spring! Go on a nature walk in search of budding plants and trees. Sketch pictures of budding plants you find and use photo to identify.
Check out these awesome explorations!!
https://www.tanglewoodhollow.com/pages/freebies
Math:
Copy and paste this link into your browser. It is a digital version of the stamp game to be used for the math work that we gave you!!! So awesome!!
https://montessori.tools/
And... don’t be fooled by name of website-this activity is great for any LEGO lover-boy or girl.
https://frugalfun4boys.com/app/uploads/2018/03/LEGO-Math-Challenge-Cards.pdf
March 16, 2020 (later that day),
Dear families,
Hello!! We are happy to say we spent significant time today creating relevant work that will enable your students to continue their Montessori learning while at home. This is just to remind you we are offering a drive through pick up of materials tomorrow morning,from 10-12. We will conduct this in the same way we do morning drop off. If you are not able to come tomorrow, March 17, to pick up materials, please let us know as soon as possible and we will make arrangements. Thank you all for your continued support and cooperation. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any comments, questions and concerns. Be well!
Oona and Rebecca
March 16, 2020
A repost of an email from our Elementary I team:
Dear Families,
During school closure we are sending home a variety of works, focusing mostly on math, reading, and writing. Blank work plans will be provided for students to write down the works they will be completing each day. Please keep all work and work plans in their purple accordion folder and make sure to date all of your child’s work. We will also have some suggestions for projects. Having a designated work space might be helpful for your child to help him or her keep track of any work and supplies.
Tomorrow we will be providing families with a school drive-through option to pick up these packets. We will be at Bridgeview from 10 am to 12 pm, Tuesday, March 16th. Along with the packet we will be sending home our pea plants and window greenhouses for students to study using their plant observation booklets.
During the closure, please be in touch via email daily so that we can answer any questions you may have and collaborate together. If anything immediate arises we can both be reached via email from 8-10 am on weekdays.
Elementary I email: eiteachers@bridgeviewmontessori.org.
Please have your child contact us via Classroom Dojo or email on Fridays to conference with us and share how the work has been going and feel free to send pictures about how you are spending your time.
You should plan that your child will do about 1-2 hours of school related work each day. This work can be spread throughout the day or done all at once.
Thanks for your care,
-EI Team