Donna's Bumblebee Room
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Conferences are just around the corner and it doesn’t seem like we’re more than halfway through the school
year. Stella is already asking me about the Graduation Play!
I must take this opportunity to thank all of our volunteers so far. I know washing the classroom rags, getting
books from the library or pet-sitting isn’t on your list of priorities but it definitely takes a load off of Barbara
and I. My volunteer Reading Listeners (can’t think of an appropriate name for them) are getting in plenty of
hours now. We recently added Olivia Rigby and little Amelia Lester to the group. Olivia is the most excited
about this new accomplishment and must have asked me about 20 times when it was her turn to read (she had
to wait while Kim Kuhle tested some Kindergarten readers). That only tells me how ready she is. I am so
happy for her. Amelia came to me and said that she could read books so I immediately tried her on our first
book “Max”. It only took her about 10 minutes (not counting our fire drill time) to read it. I can tell that she
reads at home as she kept re-positioning my finger as I pointed to words. I don’t think I do it quite the same
way as her parents.
Emili has been quite the little helper lately and Kelsey appreciates it. Kelsey wanted to do some ‘research’
(which requires looking at an informational book, reading it, gathering information from it, spelling out your
thoughts with the moveable alphabet work –which most of the time is one sentence- and then copying your
words onto paper). Kelsey asked Emili to do it with her. Although Emili does all of the work (Kelsey isn’t
reading or writing yet), she gets some practice at research and learning how to work with younger peers. It’s
also a great ‘teaching’ opportunity for her. Kelsey, on the other hand, enjoys working with someone who is
patient with her, and understands her curiosity and energy. It’s also a great ‘learning’ opportunity for her.
Let me insert here that children will remember this kind of nurturing from an older peer. The younger children
always look up and admire the older ones in our classroom. It’s not unlike when you were a freshman (or
sophomore) in high school and how the seniors were always the focus and hub of the school. You were always
flattered when a senior even talked to you! It was also more fun to be paired with an older student as a
learning partner, rather than have to listen to the teacher. Every year I hear my students talk about some of
our former students and how a particular one was very special to them. (Fortunately, they will not always
remember when the older children wouldn’t let them play with them outside).
Luke has also been very patient in offering his assistance to Sneha. One day when Sneha had just finished
working with our Cylinder Blocks by banging them on a table (she likes to make loud noises and is also not able
to control her movements yet); she took out our Matching Shells work. Yes, the thought running rampant
through my head though not spoken aloud was “Oh No- those are breakable!” However, Luke was watching her
take out the shell pictures and tries to match them to the actual shell. He saw that she was having some
trouble so he brought over a chair and sat beside her and helped her. He even showed her how to handle them
so delicately.
At least three times a week Shiven and Tommy M. ask to do Addition with the Golden Beads (decimal system).
They’ve been introduced to Exchanging Categories which is when you count ten of a category; you exchange it
for one of the next higher category. This is the ‘concrete’ or hands-on version which makes is clearer in their
minds before they are shown later how to do it on paper. At the end of the lesson, I tell a story using them as
characters. The last story requested by them had to include robots. I tell you it helps being able to think fast
and have a creative mind.
Last week I showed Joel and Alexander how to work with Flash Cards. First we worked with the Addition ones.
They are both catching onto the system of counting in their head and then adding the next number on their
fingers. For example, 7+5=….Hold up the smallest number on your fingers. Count to the highest number in
your head (7) and keep counting on the 5 fingers you are holding up. They both seemed to love it. Now Joel is
asking to learn the Subtraction Flash Cards.
Autumn is now comfortable asking Barbara for Sandpaper Letter Lessons. She enjoys this time with Barbara
(as do many of the children). Autumn and Stella worked with the Moveable Alphabet the other day taking turns
spelling names of animals. Although I try to suggest animals that can be spelled phonetically (dog, cat, pig)
they want to spell ones like zebra or gerbil. They’re not phonetic, but they are the child’s choices so we just let
them go for it. Zebra will end up with a ‘u’ at the end because of its phonetic ‘uh’ sound and gerbil will start
with a ‘j’.
Gage is becoming quite comfortable in our room. In fact, he and Aby like to stroll the room either helping or
visiting with the other children. I gave a group lesson the other day on How to Watch Someone Work. I
showed them how you tap someone and ask if it’s ok to watch their work. (I also showed them what to do if
that person tapped says ‘no’). If the person says ‘yes’ then we watch with our hands behind our backs and
our mouths closed so we don’t disturb what they are doing and so we can become better observers. We then
took turns asking each other if we could watch their work. My three ‘askees’ were Dorothy, Stella and Luke.
Gage and Aby imitated the lesson perfectly, even quietly walking away if one of the askees said no. I would love
to report that they remember how to do that every day, but alas, it usually takes several lessons before the
children start to ‘get it’.
I enjoy being greeted by KimberAnn in the mornings when she strolls into my office and shows off her new
princess outfit or hands me a picture she created at home. I remember when her brother came to school; he
too wanted to greet me in my office in the mornings. But when KimberAnn came with him, she would rather go
right into the classroom and have Barbara show her some work to do while her mom and I chatted. I guess the
newness has worn off now that it’s HER room. KimberAnn has been working on the Beginning Sounds of
words and also on counting objects correctly.
Aaron likes to work with our Bead Chains where he learns to count by either 3’s or 9’s or 10’s or whatever. He
likes placing the labels by the beads. It is a self-correcting lesson and he discovered that the other day. When
counting by 8’s he said that he couldn’t find the label for ‘65’. I asked him to count again from where he left off
and that’s when he counted to 64. Lo and behold, there was a label for 64!
Sitara’s cursive writing is so beautiful! She has finished all of our italic and cursive writing books and now just
writes whatever we or she can think up. Sometimes it’s the names of all of the children, or rhyming words.
The other day I asked her if she wanted to write a card to someone she missed from last year. I brought out a
note card and showed her how to write ‘Dear Esther’ on it. Then she just wanted to say ‘I miss you’ (which is
good because she writes big and the card is little). Next I showed her how to write the name and address on
the front, and because of the size of the small envelope, she wrote her return address on the back. We walked
to the office together to get a stamp and now it’s ready to be mailed!
Tommy H. was very cute to watch the other day when we went outside for Early Release. It was a nice day and
the halfway children love it when they get to go outside and play on the playground. This day, Tommy H. was
running around following Sneha. He stopped a minute just to tell me that he loved Sneha. Then I watched him
go to the small slide and stretch his arms across the bottom. Sneha climbed to the top and came down under
his arms, giggling. How cute!
Berlyn was watching Shiven putting the numbers 1-100 in order on the Hundred Board. She then asked if she
could do it. Although she doesn’t recognize those numbers out of order, she was able to figure it out (the
numbers are sorted in groups of ten) and had little trouble doing the work. She was very proud of herself and
immediately wanted to do it again.
Recently, Dorothy has been getting a few lessons in Language and Grammar. She learned about Adjectives and
most lately, some new sight words. I have 5 envelopes of sight words: Puzzle Words #1 being the easiest
words. #5 being the hardest. When a student can read every single word in the envelope and don’t leave any
left for me to read, they’ve ‘beaten’ me and get to move onto the next envelope. She is proudly on # 2 and
almost has them mastered! Recently she started writing in a journal where she can make up her own stories or
record things that have happened in her life. She is also practicing spatial awareness in letter placement and
learning about capital letters and punctuation.
I’d like to thank all of you and your children for the lovely valentines and gifts I received. The children always
like for me to open mine in front of them and enjoy my reaction to theirs. I really appreciate the time many of
the children took to write on their valentines, too.
I am also very touched by the kindness and thoughtfulness of some of the children. For the last couple of
weeks, nearly every day one of the children says very sincerely to me “I hope your foot feels better, Miss
Donna”. See what great caring children you have!
This month we will be having our 30 minute conferences. I will probably not include a classroom report in our
April edition of the newsletter as I will have already had plenty to share with each of you.
year. Stella is already asking me about the Graduation Play!
I must take this opportunity to thank all of our volunteers so far. I know washing the classroom rags, getting
books from the library or pet-sitting isn’t on your list of priorities but it definitely takes a load off of Barbara
and I. My volunteer Reading Listeners (can’t think of an appropriate name for them) are getting in plenty of
hours now. We recently added Olivia Rigby and little Amelia Lester to the group. Olivia is the most excited
about this new accomplishment and must have asked me about 20 times when it was her turn to read (she had
to wait while Kim Kuhle tested some Kindergarten readers). That only tells me how ready she is. I am so
happy for her. Amelia came to me and said that she could read books so I immediately tried her on our first
book “Max”. It only took her about 10 minutes (not counting our fire drill time) to read it. I can tell that she
reads at home as she kept re-positioning my finger as I pointed to words. I don’t think I do it quite the same
way as her parents.
Emili has been quite the little helper lately and Kelsey appreciates it. Kelsey wanted to do some ‘research’
(which requires looking at an informational book, reading it, gathering information from it, spelling out your
thoughts with the moveable alphabet work –which most of the time is one sentence- and then copying your
words onto paper). Kelsey asked Emili to do it with her. Although Emili does all of the work (Kelsey isn’t
reading or writing yet), she gets some practice at research and learning how to work with younger peers. It’s
also a great ‘teaching’ opportunity for her. Kelsey, on the other hand, enjoys working with someone who is
patient with her, and understands her curiosity and energy. It’s also a great ‘learning’ opportunity for her.
Let me insert here that children will remember this kind of nurturing from an older peer. The younger children
always look up and admire the older ones in our classroom. It’s not unlike when you were a freshman (or
sophomore) in high school and how the seniors were always the focus and hub of the school. You were always
flattered when a senior even talked to you! It was also more fun to be paired with an older student as a
learning partner, rather than have to listen to the teacher. Every year I hear my students talk about some of
our former students and how a particular one was very special to them. (Fortunately, they will not always
remember when the older children wouldn’t let them play with them outside).
Luke has also been very patient in offering his assistance to Sneha. One day when Sneha had just finished
working with our Cylinder Blocks by banging them on a table (she likes to make loud noises and is also not able
to control her movements yet); she took out our Matching Shells work. Yes, the thought running rampant
through my head though not spoken aloud was “Oh No- those are breakable!” However, Luke was watching her
take out the shell pictures and tries to match them to the actual shell. He saw that she was having some
trouble so he brought over a chair and sat beside her and helped her. He even showed her how to handle them
so delicately.
At least three times a week Shiven and Tommy M. ask to do Addition with the Golden Beads (decimal system).
They’ve been introduced to Exchanging Categories which is when you count ten of a category; you exchange it
for one of the next higher category. This is the ‘concrete’ or hands-on version which makes is clearer in their
minds before they are shown later how to do it on paper. At the end of the lesson, I tell a story using them as
characters. The last story requested by them had to include robots. I tell you it helps being able to think fast
and have a creative mind.
Last week I showed Joel and Alexander how to work with Flash Cards. First we worked with the Addition ones.
They are both catching onto the system of counting in their head and then adding the next number on their
fingers. For example, 7+5=….Hold up the smallest number on your fingers. Count to the highest number in
your head (7) and keep counting on the 5 fingers you are holding up. They both seemed to love it. Now Joel is
asking to learn the Subtraction Flash Cards.
Autumn is now comfortable asking Barbara for Sandpaper Letter Lessons. She enjoys this time with Barbara
(as do many of the children). Autumn and Stella worked with the Moveable Alphabet the other day taking turns
spelling names of animals. Although I try to suggest animals that can be spelled phonetically (dog, cat, pig)
they want to spell ones like zebra or gerbil. They’re not phonetic, but they are the child’s choices so we just let
them go for it. Zebra will end up with a ‘u’ at the end because of its phonetic ‘uh’ sound and gerbil will start
with a ‘j’.
Gage is becoming quite comfortable in our room. In fact, he and Aby like to stroll the room either helping or
visiting with the other children. I gave a group lesson the other day on How to Watch Someone Work. I
showed them how you tap someone and ask if it’s ok to watch their work. (I also showed them what to do if
that person tapped says ‘no’). If the person says ‘yes’ then we watch with our hands behind our backs and
our mouths closed so we don’t disturb what they are doing and so we can become better observers. We then
took turns asking each other if we could watch their work. My three ‘askees’ were Dorothy, Stella and Luke.
Gage and Aby imitated the lesson perfectly, even quietly walking away if one of the askees said no. I would love
to report that they remember how to do that every day, but alas, it usually takes several lessons before the
children start to ‘get it’.
I enjoy being greeted by KimberAnn in the mornings when she strolls into my office and shows off her new
princess outfit or hands me a picture she created at home. I remember when her brother came to school; he
too wanted to greet me in my office in the mornings. But when KimberAnn came with him, she would rather go
right into the classroom and have Barbara show her some work to do while her mom and I chatted. I guess the
newness has worn off now that it’s HER room. KimberAnn has been working on the Beginning Sounds of
words and also on counting objects correctly.
Aaron likes to work with our Bead Chains where he learns to count by either 3’s or 9’s or 10’s or whatever. He
likes placing the labels by the beads. It is a self-correcting lesson and he discovered that the other day. When
counting by 8’s he said that he couldn’t find the label for ‘65’. I asked him to count again from where he left off
and that’s when he counted to 64. Lo and behold, there was a label for 64!
Sitara’s cursive writing is so beautiful! She has finished all of our italic and cursive writing books and now just
writes whatever we or she can think up. Sometimes it’s the names of all of the children, or rhyming words.
The other day I asked her if she wanted to write a card to someone she missed from last year. I brought out a
note card and showed her how to write ‘Dear Esther’ on it. Then she just wanted to say ‘I miss you’ (which is
good because she writes big and the card is little). Next I showed her how to write the name and address on
the front, and because of the size of the small envelope, she wrote her return address on the back. We walked
to the office together to get a stamp and now it’s ready to be mailed!
Tommy H. was very cute to watch the other day when we went outside for Early Release. It was a nice day and
the halfway children love it when they get to go outside and play on the playground. This day, Tommy H. was
running around following Sneha. He stopped a minute just to tell me that he loved Sneha. Then I watched him
go to the small slide and stretch his arms across the bottom. Sneha climbed to the top and came down under
his arms, giggling. How cute!
Berlyn was watching Shiven putting the numbers 1-100 in order on the Hundred Board. She then asked if she
could do it. Although she doesn’t recognize those numbers out of order, she was able to figure it out (the
numbers are sorted in groups of ten) and had little trouble doing the work. She was very proud of herself and
immediately wanted to do it again.
Recently, Dorothy has been getting a few lessons in Language and Grammar. She learned about Adjectives and
most lately, some new sight words. I have 5 envelopes of sight words: Puzzle Words #1 being the easiest
words. #5 being the hardest. When a student can read every single word in the envelope and don’t leave any
left for me to read, they’ve ‘beaten’ me and get to move onto the next envelope. She is proudly on # 2 and
almost has them mastered! Recently she started writing in a journal where she can make up her own stories or
record things that have happened in her life. She is also practicing spatial awareness in letter placement and
learning about capital letters and punctuation.
I’d like to thank all of you and your children for the lovely valentines and gifts I received. The children always
like for me to open mine in front of them and enjoy my reaction to theirs. I really appreciate the time many of
the children took to write on their valentines, too.
I am also very touched by the kindness and thoughtfulness of some of the children. For the last couple of
weeks, nearly every day one of the children says very sincerely to me “I hope your foot feels better, Miss
Donna”. See what great caring children you have!
This month we will be having our 30 minute conferences. I will probably not include a classroom report in our
April edition of the newsletter as I will have already had plenty to share with each of you.
Camas Montessori School