Northeast Stars Preschool - DC

Let's talk about our Montessori Material Moments. This week is about Constructive Triangles 🔺

Our Stars are having a blast at summer camp! 🌟

This week, we're learning simple phrases in languages from around the world and exploring cultures, cuisines, and their flags! 🌍 The children learned about the Great Wall of China, built over 2,300 years ago and stretching over 13,000 miles across 15 provinces! We reinforced this lesson by using paper bags to construct our own Great Wall of China. Each friend decorated a brown paper bag, and then we worked together to build a wall, dividing the classroom. We also colored pictures of Chinese lanterns!

This week, learned so much about the five senses! 🌟

Our friends participated in activities that engage their senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. We explored our ability of stereognosis—the skill of identifying objects without seeing, hearing, tasting, or smelling them. We closed our eyes and used touch to determine what the objects in front of us were. We also wore blindfolds and used our teacher’s voice and sense of touch to guide us around the classroom. Our friends learned how our eyes help us see and locate things in daily life. We also had a sight scavenger hunt, searching for something red, a triangle, the number two, and five of the same thing. 👀🔍

🌟 This week at Northeast Stars Summer Camp, we’re exploring the five senses. Our friends will participate in experiments that intrigue the senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.

We talked about how we use our tongues to taste food, one of our five senses. Our Stars were invited to a taste test to try different flavors. They loved the sweet flavors of strawberries and honey, but we got mixed reviews for the sour taste of lemon juice! 🍓🍯🍋

The children also participated in a touch scavenger hunt. We asked them how they use their fingers, then invited them to find items that felt hard, soft, smooth, rough, squishy, prickly, wet, and cold. This scavenger hunt can be done indoors or outdoors. 🕵️‍♂️🌳

Let's talk about our Montessori Material Moments. This week is about Red Rods 🔴

Have you ever done smelly painting? 🎨👃 We filled four small cups with different spices, one spice per cup. Then we added some water and stirred each mixture together. We learned that smelling is one of our senses, and we use our noses to smell things. Each friend took a turn to smell each cup of paint. Then, our friends were invited to paint a picture using the "smelly" paints. 🖌️

We also talked about our sense of pain and words to describe how pain feels. We learned that we can feel pain because of our sense of touch and the pain receptors in our bodies. Fun fact! The retina does not have pain receptors, so if you look at the sun too long, you can hurt your eyes. ☀️👀

We've been learning what a bird's nest is and what it does! 🪺

We learned that birds build nests for just one reason—to hold the birds' eggs and the baby birds after they've hatched. Because of this, birds build their nests to provide three things: camouflage, shelter, and safety. Some nests are hidden in high grass to keep predators from finding them, which is an example of camouflage.

Our friends got to make their very own nest today!

We've been discovering a variety of flowers and ways to use them! Our friends learned about the life cycle of a flower, made floral arrangements, and experimented with flower petal colors. 🌺✨

Have you ever wondered what happens if you change the color of the water that flowers drink? We did, too! We conducted an experiment by placing cut flowers in water dyed with different colors and observed the effects on the flower colors.

Flowers and plants drink water through their roots, but in cut flowers, water travels from the cut directly into the stems and petals. This is how a flower can turn red if it drinks red water or purple if it drinks purple water. 🌹💧 Our Stars are so excited to check on their colorful roses in the morning to see their progress! 🌟👀

Maria Montessori made an interesting assertion: by refining the child’s sensory and aesthetic sensibilities, we prepare their moral sensibilities! She believed children who develop an appreciation for the aesthetic harmony in nature, discerning order and beauty, are more easily morally educated.

This week we will be discovering a variety of flowers and ways to use them! 💐🌸 Our stars worked with flower arranging. Montessori flower arranging helps children exercise motor skills when inserting the stems into the vase with care, and improves hand-eye coordination.

This week, we’re exploring the fascinating world of flowers! 🌸 Our friends will learn about the life cycle of flowers, create beautiful floral arrangements, and experiment with the colors of petals!

We planted chia seeds using cups, soil, and water. Our Stars carefully scooped soil into their cups, sprinkled chia seeds on top, and watered them. Throughout the week, we’ll water, tend, and observe our growing plants! 🌟

Gardening helps children develop a scientific mind by observing nature and asking questions like, “Why do we water flowers?” and “When will our seeds grow?” It also fosters respect for nature and a sense of responsibility as they care for their plants. 🌿

Our friends are learning about the animals we can find on a farm 🐔

We all know the question, "Which came first: the chicken or the egg?" To explore this, we did a farm-themed science activity! This fun approach helps children learn and remember the chicken life cycle. On average, a chicken lives between three to five years, with some breeds living longer. They have three distinct life phases: egg, chick, and chicken. 🥚🐣🐓

After learning about the life cycle, we crafted and played a game called "What Am I?" In this game, we looked at pictures of a chicken in each stage and discussed what we saw. For example, we showed a card and said, "This is a picture of a hatchling." First, we looked at each card individually. Then, we laid down three cards, pointed to each, and named it.

Our friends are learning more about the animals we can find on a farm!

Today, our friends explored sensory work around the classroom. We “herded sheep” by throwing a bunch of cotton balls all over the floor. We explained to our Stars that someone left the gate open and the sheep escaped! 🐑 They herded the sheep back into their fenced area so they would be safe.

Our friends also explored a corn kernel sensory bucket. We talked about farmers who grow corn on their farms and that corn kernels are dried up pieces of corn. The children used spoons, measuring cups, and bowls to scoop, pour, and transfer the corn kernels 🌽👩‍🌾

We take pride in our teaching team at Northeast Stars! Let's meet Ms. Adia Brooks ⭐👩‍🏫

Our focus this week was reduce, reuse, and recycle! ♻️

Our friends learned how to plant a seed, make apple bird feeders, and turn trash into treasure!

During circle time, we discussed the phrase reduce, reuse, and recycle. Then, we sorted different items into the recyclable categories of metal, glass, paper, and plastic.

We talked about why recycling and reusing things is good and how we don’t want to pollute the planet!

We also talked about where the wind comes from 🌬️ We learned that wind is the movement of air! We also discussed how wind helps pollinate the flowers.

Our friends showed us different ways to produce wind. Some friends flapped their arms, some blew their breath, and we even had a friend use a piece of paper to fan themselves!

Our focus this week is reduce, reuse, and recycle! ♻️

Our friends are learning how to plant a seed, make apple bird feeders, and turn trash into treasure! We talked about germination. We learned that germination occurs when a sprout shoots up from a seed.

We planted beans today, which we will take home on Friday. Planting seeds is a great hands-on activity that helps children learn how nature works, the growth process of plants, and responsibility and patience in caring for something.

This week has been full of fun music! 🎶

We learned about castanets -- small hand-held instruments that click together to make wonderful rhythms. You can find them in Spain, Italy, and Portugal, too!

Our Stars made their own castanets during the art period. We used some sturdy paper, pairs of buttons, and glue.

After their craft was dry, the students put the button castanets between their thumb and first finger and clicked away! We can’t wait for another fun week at summer camp!

We are having fun discovering different styles of music! 🎶

Our friends learned about the different tones in music. We filled three glasses with different amounts of water. The first one had just a bit of water, and the last one was almost filled. We tapped the three glasses at the same time and listened to the different tones. Each glass will have a different tone. We learned that small vibrations are made when you hit the glass. This creates sound waves which travel through the water. More water means slower vibrations and a deeper tone. Try this out with your Star at home!

Let's talk about our Montessori Material Moments. This week is about Moveable Alphabet 🔠

This week, our friends participated in fruit and vegetable washing, making sweet and savory treats, and learning about how food fuels our bodies!

Today, our Stars made fruit kabobs 🍈🍇🍓🍊 This activity helps with developing hand/eye, hand/mouth coordination, and learning movement skills.

Our goal is to make preparing food fun, and to encourage testing new flavors and foods. We used strawberries, grapes, oranges, and melons to make fruit kabobs. Check these out below and make these with your Star at home!

This week our friends will participate in
🍊 fruit and vegetable washing
🍬making sweet and savory treats (alongside their guides)
💪🏼 learning about how food fuels our bodies!

Today, the students practiced fruit cutting. This activity helps develop order, coordination, and independence in the children. It strengthens the finger muscles and increases concentration.

Our older friends were given a small cutting board and butter knife to practice cutting strawberries and grapes. After we finished cutting our fruit, we made a fruit salad for snack time!

Meet our remarkable educators here at Northeast Stars! Take a second to meet Ms. Trezure Wallace ⭐👩‍🏫

Our friends did a chemistry experiment! 🧪👩‍🔬

Our friends explored the way different materials react together. We used rice, baking soda, a clear jar, water and food coloring to conduct a science experiment. We filled a clear jar 3/4 of the way full of water and mixed in the food coloring of our choice. After this, our friends added in 1 TBSP of baking soda, stirred, and mixed completely. Next, we added in 1/4 cup of instant rice! Our friends were so excited to watch the rice “dance” inside of the cup!

Check out our experiment below and try this out with your Star at home!

This week is all about science! Today, we learned about solutions and solubility. Solubility is the ability to dissolve into (become a part of) another substance.

We practiced pouring sugar, salt, flour, and oil in water to see if they were soluble. We found that sugar, salt, and flour mixed into the water, but the oil did not. Our younger stars practiced dry pouring the salt, sugar, and flour into water 💧

Our older stars practiced wet pouring water into salt, sugar, flour, and oil.

This pouring activity helps children develop independence, fine motor control, self-correction, eye-hand coordination, and concentration. Every part of the pouring process requires careful manipulation. The child must learn to grasp the pitchers in a certain way. They must control how much they tilt the pitcher, affecting the amount of the pour.

If a child spills, they learn to clean up, experiencing firsthand cause and effect and the importance of controlling their movements

Let's talk about our Montessori Material Moments. This week is about Sand Tray!

Our Stars have had a dino-riffic week here at Northeast Stars! 🦖

Today, our friends learned about fossils! We learned that fossils are remains of plants and animals from the past. They can be bones, teeth, or even footprints. Most fossils are found in sedimentary rocks. Fossils can be millions of years old.

For today’s activity, our friends created a representation of dinosaur fossils! This activity is a process art activity that helps preschoolers learn while they create. The act of doing the project is more important than the result, but it is still a lot of fun!

We are all so excited to continue learning about dinosaurs! 🦖

Our friends spent independent learning time playing with dinosaur figurines and exploring our new dino dictionaries and other books from the library. During circle time, we discussed the different kinds of dinosaurs that lived on Earth thousands of years ago, like the t-rex, triceratops, and pterodactyl.

We also learned about volcanic eruptions 🌋 Volcanic eruptions happen when gas bubbles inside magma, or hot liquid rock, expand and cause pressure to build up. This pressure pushes on weak spots in the earth's surface, or crust, causing magma to exit the volcano!

Today, our friends learned about dinosaurs! 🦖

We learned that the word dinosaur means “terrible lizard,” and, like lizards and snakes, dinosaurs were reptiles. Some dinosaurs were fierce hunters and carnivores (meat-eaters), while others were peaceful plant-eaters (herbivores). These ancient reptiles lived on land, laid eggs, and built nests.

For our activity, our friends stomped around wearing homemade dinosaur feet. This game helps children develop proprioception, understanding where your body is in space. It involves balance and spatial awareness.