DECEMBER 2010

Middle School Update 2

Pre-K Updates 3

Lower El Updates 3

1895 8th Grade Test 4

Pre-K Harvest 5

Dates to Remember 5

Inside this issue:

Important Dates:

Jan. 3: School Resumes

Jan. 13-14: 1st-8th

Grade Conferences

Jan. 19: Sally’s Class

Open House

Jan. 20: Mary’s Class

Open House

Jan. 21: Jo’s Class Open

House

Jan. 24-28: Sibling and

Continuing Enrollment

Hermosa Montessori

Community Times by Sheila

A Holiday Wish

As the month of December draws

to a close, I would like to take this

opportunity to wish you Merry

Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and

Happy Kwanza. May you and your

families be blessed with joy and

happiness during the holidays

and in the new year.

Virtues: Generosity From: “The Virtues Project”

When I recall the children that have presented me with small gifts throughout my career, I can remember their joyful faces and pleasure in giving. These gifts of generosity, given with pure intent and joy have included such things as drawings, a small toy from home, a bag deemed special, or a gift a student has saved money to buy. I do not forget the look their faces display while practicing generosity, and hope to remem-ber the lessons I learn from the children, especially their heartfelt

displays of generosity.

The virtue of generosity is impor-tant to consider during this month of December and the season of “giving.” The Virtues Project de-fines generosity as giving and sharing. “You share freely, not with the idea of receiving some-thing in return. You find ways to give others happiness, and give just for the joy of giving. Generos-ity is one of the best ways to show love and friendship. You are prac-ticing generosity when you are:

Thoughtful of the needs of others

Notice when someone needs help

Give freely without expecta-tion of reward

Give fully without holding back

Are willing to make sacrifices for others

Use wisdom about sharing treasured belongings.”

As adults we understand the meaning of concentration, the act of concentrating as one focuses attention. The term as related to children recognizes that even very young children can and will focus intently on some aspect of the environment that is essential for their development. From a Mon-tessori perspective, concentration refers to an intense focus on an activity, or something in the envi-ronment in which the child en-gages attention. In the pre-school classrooms teachers allow and

facilitate this concentration through the activities presented in the prepared environ-ment. The children’s faces often reflect this intense concentration which is sometimes erro-neously interpreted as “unhappy” children, as during a period of intense concentration our eyes and mouths are not in the usual happy position of “smiling.”

Montessori Dictionary: Concentration

P a g e 2 H e r m o s a M o n t e s s o r i

Art Department Intern

Madeline was Carol’s intern. She helped with

lower el classes and making abstract

paintings. Madeline organized and

bagged up lower el holiday presents

and taught two workshops. One work-

shop was working with Michael’s class

making a box of her own design. The

other was with the fourth graders

making origami holiday ornaments.

Madeline was a wonderful help with

all the prep work for art class!

As part of Hermosa’s innovative middle

school program, all students recently spent a

week working with adults in a real world

setting. At school students learn job inter-

view techniques and write business letters

and a resume. Seventh grade students com-

plete their internships in one of Hermosa’s

classrooms and work as a teaching assistant.

They are responsible for planning and pre-

senting lessons, as well as assisting teachers

and students. Eighth grade students are

responsible for arranging the details of their

internship in an area that interests them in

the local business or service community. This

provides an opportunity to demonstrate their

emerging young adult skills, as they contact

and converse with potential “employers.”

After completing these internships all stu-

dents receive feedback from their

“employers.”

On The Job Training: Middle School Internships

Middle School Poetry

Middle school students are studying poetry in Language Arts during this cycle. In the last week prior to winter break they focused on English sonnets and studied iambic pen-tameter, rhyme, and purpose of this form of written expression. Below are some won-derful student written sonnets. By Haley Hornung Often too heavy the tears of earth fall And many times they blind us like our own From tree to tree white sparkles cover all By angry winds or storming clouds they’re blown.

By Joel Sanchez If one thing my heart is to be broken And thy be as solid as a rock And my soul be crushed cause thee art smokin And thy heart be protected by a lock.

.

P a g e 3 H e r m o s a M o n t e s s o r i

Pre-K Updates

by Diego

“Recycling is a very important job. Recycling helps the earth get clean.” Hard plastic can now be recycled. “We recycle paper and bottles” from Jo’s, Mary’s and Sally’s classrooms. “Anika from Sally’s classroom takes the recycling into the office.” In Mary’s classroom, I am the designated recycling person. Everyone from Jo’s classroom recycles.

“Actually, today is my family’s recycling day, and this morning me and my sister, Emma, watched the recy-cling men pick up the bin and put it in the truck, with the arm. When he was coming back down the other side of the street, I heard glass fall from one of the bins in the truck.”

Lower Elementary Classroom Updates DON & DIANE’S ROOM REPORT

by Gloria P. and Skylar D.

Hi! In Don’s class in December it has been

really fun because we have been starting to

do projects. Don’s class has a new student,

her name is Ana Paula. She can speak a fair

amount of English. She is from Mexico and

speaks Spanish. We call her Ana for short. In

music we sang some holiday songs. We also

do dances. The day before yesterday was

art. In art we did painting with designs that

will make dragon

scales for our Chinese

New Year dragon. The

dragon will be in our

parade. We elected

class officers. The

president is Calista,

the Vice President is Gracie, the Secretary is

David, and the treasurer is Lily. We just had

our class meeting led by our officers. We

talked about what our special day is going to

be. It is going to be Christmas, winter, and

Hanukah. Have a very good day!

AMY & REBECCA’S ROOM REPORT

by Calista O.

In Amy’s class this month we researched

constellations. I did Leo the Lion. We got to

make pictures and

then we put spar-

kles over them. We

also did reports on

Europe. I did mine

on Russia because I

love ballet. Amy

brought us French bread and gave everyone

some. It was so cool. We did geometry too.

The third year students learned the parts of

a circle. Kelly and I even made up a song

about geometry. Amy got a kick out of it.

We also learned about phases of the moon

and everybody brought home a paper where

we had to mark down the moon phases

every night and we still are doing it. We are

looking closely at a tree and seeing how it is

changing.

MICHAEL & SUE’S ROOM REPORT

by Nikhil

We learned that light can go around the earth seven times in one second. One day, one person from Mad Science came to our class, he did experiments with dry ice, it was a lot of fun.

by Esha

In art we made Christmas ornaments. There’re so many to choose from. You can pick three. We use clay to make ornaments and a cookie cutter to shape them. They are then cooked in the kiln. We then paint them. We made other stuff like bird pic-tures. We take our art work home on Tues-day.

by Sonia

Michael’s students have been doing projects on king cobras, tigers, Florida and ante-lopes. Some students did it alone and some did it with another student. They used pic-tures, boxes, poster boards, play doh and things from nature to make their product. Then they present it to the class and parents are invited too.

Photos at right:

Fiona Poulsen playing with a butterfly. These photos were captured by her mom.

P a g e 4 H e r m o s a M o n t e s s o r i

Could You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895?

My son recently sent me the 1895 eighth grade exam from Salina, Kansas. I found it quite interesting especially in light of the continual decline in public education. Through the many years of Hermosa’s programs, I have heard numerous comments from parents who question the high expectations that Hermosa’s teachers have of all students, and the rigorous curriculum that we offer. I have noted that if students and parents share high expectations, students are able to meet the challenge. Compared to these questions from Kansas in 1895, our curriculum doesn’t look too demanding!

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per are, the distance around which is 640 rods?

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kan-sas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whit-ney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

8. Name events connected with the fol-lowing dates: 1607 1620 1800 1849 1865

Orthography (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following: Alpha-bet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?

2. What are elementary sounds? How clas-sified?

3. What are the following, and give exam-ples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diph-thong, cognate letters, linguals?

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spell-ing. Illustrate each.

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.

8. Mark diacritically and divide into sylla-bles the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispro-nounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabica-tion.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does cli-mate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of North Amer-ica.

5. Name and describe the following: Mon-rovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba,Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the wa-ter of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 from Salina, KS. USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Val-ley Genealogical Society and Library in Sa-lina, KS and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.

3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.

4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.

5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for prin-cipal marks of Punctuation.

7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of gram-mar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for inciden-tals?

5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per m?

Pre-K Harvest Celebration

P a g e 5 H e r m o s a M o n t e s s o r i

"Four-year-old Colten (student in Mary's pre-k) took these photos of his classmates dressed up in their Wampanoag regalia and enjoying the harvest festival which they made themselves."

Web Page Changes

I am happy to announce the completion of Hermosa’s new web page. The new site provides

parents with opportunities to see and hear more about Hermosa’s innovative curriculum and

the many ways your children are provided with opportunities for growth experiences that pre-

pare them for life in the 21st century. There will be a continual update process, so be sure to

check back often to see the recently added videos.

Dates to Remember

Jan. 3 School Resumes

Jan. 10-12 8th grade Research Presentations

Jan. 13,14 1st – 8th Grade Conferences

Jan. 17 Civil Rights Day NO SCHOOL

Jan. 19 Sally’s class Open House 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 20 Tucson Symphony Orchestra 10:00 a.m. (On campus)

Jan. 20 Mary’s class Open House 6:30 – 7:30 p.m

Jan. 21 Jo’s class Open House 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 22 Pancake Breakfast 10:00 a.m. (Everyone is invited!)

Jan. 24-28 Sibling and Continuing Enrollment for 2011-2012

Jan. 26 Skate Night – Skate Country on 22nd, 6-8 p.m.

Jan. 31 Silent Journey & Discovery 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.