Montessori Newsletter #2 Brought to you by clouds, eggs, fun food and art.

Sensorial Painting Cool Aide Paint This is a great smelling experience. You'll need: White or light absorbent paper Old cups or jars Paint brushes

In several cups add a few tablespoons of water to different colored powdered drink mixes. Let your child paint with these wonderful smelling paints. After the painting dries, your child can scratch and sniff the paint.

Summer clouds. Clouds are dramatic in the summer. They are a large part of our surroundings and weather conditions. Clouds are a part our atmosphere (sky) where there are many gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor.

How do clouds form? When water evaporates or becomes water vapor it goes up in the atmosphere (sky) because it is lighter than the air. The temperature gets colder in the higher part of the atmosphere (sky) and the water vapor condenses or turns into water or ice. The water drops and ice crystals turn into clouds. When water is a gas you can't see it in the sky. When it turns to liquid or ice it forms into a cloud.

Try this. Look at the bottom of clouds. Do they look like the bottom of an egg carton? These clouds have lots of rain and are ready drop lots of water. Are the clouds thin? These clouds have very little water in them. The color of clouds Usually clouds are white but sometimes they look gray. Clouds turn gray when they are full of water. A very dark gray cloud is called a thundercloud. Have you ever heard thunder? Thunder happens after lightening. If you see lightening and count slowly till you hear the thunder you will know how far away the lighting was. For every number you count tells how many miles away the lightening was. If you counted to 6 that means the lightening was 6 miles away from you. A greenish cloud usually has hail in it. When hail falls it is like round ice cubes hitting the ground, cars and even your house.

What happens to clouds?

After the cloud's water falls to the ground the cloud turns back into a gas (water vapor.)

What is fog? Fog is a cloud that is on the ground. You can walk through a cloud when it is foggy outside!

Clouds help our weather. Clouds are like a blanket at night covering the earth. They keep the earth warm. Clouds help keep us cooler during the day by blocking some of the heat from the sun.

There are many kinds of clouds. There are at least 30 names for them. The three main kinds are: 1. Cirrus (SEER-us) clouds are highest in the sky. Cirrus means curl which describes these clouds perfectly. 2. Stratus (STRAT-us) clouds are the next highest in the sky. Stratus means layers. 3. Cumulus (KYOOM-you-lus) are closest to the ground. Cumulus means swelling.

SEE lesson 3 for more cloud ideas. http://montessorimom.com/lesson3.html

Look at the clouds and try to determine what type they are. Are they low to the ground or up high? What shape is the cloud? Here is a great link for clouds. http://schoolscience.rice.edu/duker/weatypeclouds.html

Wildflower links As you wander through the meadows taking pictures of wildflowers here are some free links for wildflower identification. Here is a great link for identifying wildflower http://www.wild-flowers.com/ British Wildflowers http://www.reticule.co.uk/flora/ or http://www.naturescape.co.uk/

Nova Scotia wildflowers http://www.blupete.com/Nature/Wildflowers/Wild.htm

Ontario Canada Wildflowers http://www.wildflowers.reach.net/ California Wildflowers http://www.calacademy.org/research/botany/wildflow/ Kansas Wildflowers http://www.calacademy.org/research/botany/wildflow/ North Carolina and Southern Appalachians http://ncnatural.com/wildflwr/flowrpg.html Texas Wildflowers http://hotx.com/wildflowers/TXflowerpage.html

Here is a free general wildflower coloring book http://www.nps.gov/plants/color/gallery.htm

Desert Plants and Wildflowers http://www.desertusa.com/flora.html

Southeastern U.S Wildflowers http://2bnthewild.com/ Missouri Wildflowers http://www.missouriwildflowerguide.com/ North Dakota Flowers http://www.missouriwildflowerguide.com/ Oklahoma Wildflowers http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/okwild/ Southwest Colorado Wildflowers http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/ Florida Wildflowers http://www.flwildflowers.com/

Eggs E is for egg Science Fun You will need 2 eggs, one hard-boiled and one raw. Hold the hard-boiled egg upright(on its end) Let go of the egg. What happens? (It rolls over several times) Spin the hard boiled egg. What happens? (It spins fast) Do the same for the raw egg. What happens? How is it different from the hard-boiled egg?

ABC cooking Egg Cream Drinks This old fashioned drink is fun to make and drink. You will need : 1/2 cup chilled whole milk or soy milk You can used flavored milk such as chocolate milk or vanilla soymilk Or add your own flavor, such as 1/4 cup chocolate or fruit syrup, vanilla flavoring, fruit juice, etc. Chilled club soda or seltzer A long handled spoon Straw

Have your child put the spoon in the glass, pour in milk and then slowly pour in soda until glass is 3/4 full. (This will make the milk foam!) If you are adding flavors, pour syrup or flavoring into the center of the foam. Stir syrup and remove spoon.

What makes the milk foam? (There is carbon dioxide in soda and seltzer so it makes a chemical reaction to the milk)

Party time Ice cream bag shakers In a sandwich bag (zip shut) put in a 1/2 cup cold cream, milk or soymilk Add 2 Tablespoons sugar, maple syrup, chocolate syrup or honey Close securely In a large zip shut, bag- put in ice till 3/4 full. Add 1/3 cup of any type of salt. Place the small bag with milk in the middle of the large bag. Secure and shake back and forth until the small bag gets firm. Cut the bottom of the small bag and squeeze out your homemade ice cream. Variation: You can add any goodie to this, nuts, fruit, jelly beans, peanut butter and jelly etc.

Reading Tip: When you have finished the lower case alphabet phonetic sounds

-you can teach the upper case letters next.

After your child knows some of the lower case vowel sounds and basic consonants you can do the moveable alphabet. It is fine to use several sets of magnetic lower case letters that you buy from a discount store. Or you can make the letters, consonants pink and vowels blue. When introducing the first words, say the word, such as 'pan" Ask your child to help find the first letter of the word, p. Slowly say the word again and ask your child to find the last letter of the word, n. Once again say the word, pan, and ask your child if he or she can find the letter that is in the middle. If your child has trouble at first, just do the beginning letter and end letter of each word. Then add the vowels later.

Here is a word list of the first phonograms and more information for the moveable alphabet http://montessorimom.com/readingreadiness.html

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