Dear Parents, 

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us this summer! Each and every child brought a very special element to our program. The children were able to share their knowledge, their personalities and their opportunities with peers from every classroom at Westshore Montessori.  Because of the smaller group of children we have during the summer program, the children are able to take part in themed activities that were broken down in each of the 6 weeks. 

During the first week’s theme, Wings, Stings, and Crawly Things, the children explored the world of bugs. Some molded scorpions out of clay in art class, and others created collage “bugs” in the classroom. The children learned the important role that bugs and especially bees play in our ecosystem through related books, songs and finger plays. 

The second week, Farm Week, allowed the children to explore all of the different aspects, animals and types of farms that exist. Through the use of sequencing, and nomenclature cards, the children learned about the gifts that animals on the farm give to humans. The children also had the opportunity to learn from and take care of our community garden. They took part in keeping the garden healthy by picking weeds, watering, and at the end of the week they were able to make stamp art with fresh peppers and apples! Some may have been counting sheep, but Westshore children were very excited to make and share cotton-ball sheep with you!

The third week, Dinosaurs, allowed the children to explore the world of dinosaurs, and just how long ago they walked the earth. The popular work from this week was dinosaur washing. Taking part in this work is more than making our dinosaur nice and clean. It introduced the importance of taking care of their materials and their community, as well as fine-tuning those fine motor skills and following a process that consisted of several different steps. Some were also very proud to have painted dinosaurs at the easel!

The fourth week, Zoo Animals, the children learned the difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals, which animals they can see in a zoo, and the food that those animals eat. They painted with orange and yellow and completed a group art project with Ms. Michelle. 

Week 5 was Ocean and Water. The children enjoyed singing along to “the waves in the ocean” song, and painting in blue, green and red. They listened to the book A House for a Hermit Crab, and were able to decorate their own hermit crab home. In art class they created fish wind socks, and some made their very own shark puppet! During this week, the children had the opportunity to learn about the five layers of the ocean, which animals occupied each of them, and how some fish have what is called bioluminescence. After learning the names of the ocean’s layers and taking part in a matching activity in the classroom, the children took part in a group science experiment and created the five ocean layers in a jar for the classroom to share.    

This past week, Space, allowed the children to explore our solar system. They painted in purple, white and black to create some beautiful universes all their own. Through song they learned that our solar system consists of eight planets and that our planet is called Earth. We talked about how our solar system has one star, and that our star’s name is the sun. They also had the opportunity to read and listen to books about the constellations, the important job our sun has, the planets, and our moon. Many enjoyed making their own moon and stamping their moons with paint and tin foil. The big word they learned this week was atmosphere. 

Good luck to our students who are embarking on new adventures! Westshore will miss you dearly! We are very excited to see our returning students in just a few weeks!!

Sincerely from our Summer Program Crew of 2019,

Ms. Jessica, Ms. Jules, Ms. Shun-Shun, Ms. Susan, Ms. Show, Ms. Diana, and Ms. Sarah