Community Unit

5 field trips and 2 visitors! We have been very busy at the Treehouse this month! Here at the Treehouse we wanted to take advantage of everything this beautiful town has to offer. As an educator I believe there is equal academic value in children exploring new places, meeting new people, and experiencing new things. It opens their minds, increases their flexibility in new environments and allows them to be comfortable asking questions and learning from other people. Thank you to The Juicery, Art with a Splash, The Portsmouth Fire Station, Officer T.J Potter, Mayor Blalock, Flatbread and The Portsmouth Music Hall for welcoming us with open arms. I also want to thank the Treehouse kids! They were respectful, kind, and engaged during EVERY experience. Simply put, THANK YOU Portsmouth, we are so lucky to be a part of your every-growing community!

Outer Space!

The Treehouse explored Outer Space during the month of March. We read books, built comets, created our own solar system, and built "name" rocket ships to name a few. What was wonderful to see was how the students took other materials like magnatiles, legos, boxes, etc. to build space ships, planets and satellites. They continuously asked for more space themed books to be read to them during lunch and snack and wanted more, more, more! They were intrigued by Pluto and were begging to include it in our Solar System art project! Overall, I think we could have devoted another entire month to this vast subject! We have been learning about the letters I, E, G and M and recognizing numbers 1-10. We also have been studying shapes during morning meeting. They love the Octagon! Oh and we received a visit from the Leprechaun AND the Easter Bunny!

Human Body/Nutrition Unit

During the month of January we studied our bodies and how to keep them healthy. We began by learning about our bones, muscles, parts of our bodies and our five senses. We then transitioned into learning about how food and exercise keeps our bodies healthy! We examined our snacks and identified if they were green light (healthy), yellow light (kind of healthy) or red light foods (unhealthy). There was a lot of debate over goldfish, PB&J sandwiches and pirate booty! We decided on yellow! We turned our dramatic play area into a supermarket and invited AJ Govoni to the Treehouse to teach mediation and yoga! Overall we feel the students took away the understanding that how we treat and take care of our bodies through food and exercise effects our health! Oh and its always okay to enjoy a cupcake every once in awhile! 

Montessori's Practical Life

Here at the Treehouse we practice a "hybrid" philosophy. This means that we practice all different types of philosophies within our unique setting. I modeled the Treehouse's environment from the Reggio Emilia philosophy. We practice play-based learning to develop social skills and more traditional practices when learning letters and numbers. I have always been drawn to a certain area of Montessori's philosophy called "Practical Life" so we incorporated a section into our classroom. Practical life is an area in the Montessori philosophy that encompasses skills practical to everyday life. These activities benefit the child because it develops control of movement and hand-eye coordination that form the basis for writing and cognitive skills. Basic practical life exercises include pouring, spooning, transferring, lacing, buttoning, etc. The students are loving it, view them in action!

A visit from the Dentist

During the month of January we are studying the human body and nutrition. Part of that means keeping our bodies healthy. We had a visit from Portsmouth Pediatric Dentistry who showed us x-rays, explained how to brush our teeth correctly and taught us what foods are good for our teeth and not so good for our teeth. Check it out!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have welcomed two new students to the Treehouse! Max and Eleanor have been welcomed with open arms by our students and have hit the ground running! We have been learning about the letter P, crafting xmas ornaments and soon our "elf on the shelf" named Cookie will make her debut! Cookie will be watching for good listening, kindness and most importantly children having fun! We have also incorporated "story time" at the library every Thursday. Ms. Mary reads stories, incorporates movement and blows bubbles! The teachers noticed that the students were "pretend" writing and playing office so we set up a literacy center that includes fun paper, pens, envelopes, sand for writing, dry erase boards, ABC bingo, a word wall, etc! This will hopefully inspire students to become excited about letters, reading and writing!

Find out what we've been up to over the past few weeks!

We are definitely in full swing here at the Treehouse! We have been learning about the letter C and reading TONS of books about all things Thanksgiving! We have learned about the first Thanksgiving, Native Americans, Pilgrims, food, family, etc. Hayes, Violet, Esen, Liam, Max, Brooklyn, Alice, A.J and Francesco - I am thankful for YOU this year. You are all filled with personality and make me smile everyday! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A is for Apple, Making Applesauce, The Gundalow!

This week we studied the letter A. We measured ourselves in apples, made applesauce, hunted around the room for the letter A and practiced writing/making the letter A using different materials. We also had our first field trip to the Gundalow! The kids had a blast meeting animals that live in our local waters and explored the Gundalow boat. They went down below into the sleeping quarters and raised the official Piscataqua flag.

Music Class, Letter H, Getting outside while we still can!

One of the greatest parts of educating in a city is being able to utilize the resources that Portsmouth has to offer! On Tuesdays and Fridays we will be visiting the Seacoast Repertory Theater for Music/Theater class. So far we have explored movement, dance, singing and took a tour backstage! This week we studied the letter H and continued to study everything Autumn! We also got outside as much as possible to play, collect leaves, and watch the season change! 

Fairyhouses, the Letter T and Exploring Prescott Park

Ms. Katie (my sister and interior designer of the Treehouse) visited on Thursday to meet the children and help us with our Fairyhouse! Thank you for all of the amazing building materials! We also explored the letter T by building the letter out of materials in the classroom. This week we went to Prescott Park twice to gather even more materials and check out the waves and wind generated by the hurricane.

All About Me Bags

The All About Me bags helped us as teachers get to know our students. We discovered their strengths, goals, likes, and personal interests. This was a fun way for students to tell us about themselves!  It also helped develop friendships and recognize others in the class that have similar interests. This can become a starting point for fostering relationships among students. Finally, it helped develop oral communication skills...it is important to have students practice public speaking and active listening!

Treehouse Happenings...