Bergamo Spotlight

As we all know Bergamo had a wonderful May planned.

A quick recap - they had a garden going in, chickens that were coming, and would eventually be born, doing an art project as a class for the Art Show, caterpillars and the butterfly release, a play, and hoping for a chicken coop.

With that said, the chickens arrived after 21 days in the incubator to keep the eggs at the perfect temperature. Before the arrival, the Bergamo class was able to step into a dark room and see the embryos inside the eggs using a high powered flashlight to candle them. This is where we learned that we would hopefully have 11 out of 12. Within the last few days, we had eight baby chickens hatch their way into the world.  We have four types of chickens that made a showing. We have Welsummers, Rhode Island Reds, Single Comb White Leghorns, and Light Brahmas. 24 hours after birth the eight chickens were moved into a big plastic tub as a brooder and living happily at 100* degrees with food and water and filling the room with sweet sounds.  For the last few weeks, they have spent their time under the heat lamp and chirping and cheeping their way through lessons. Summer living arrangements have been made and about four chickens will return in the fall once the chicken coop is here. Thank you Gilbert Family for being their summer family!
 

I stopped by and checked in on the five caterpillars, and all of them are in the chrysalis stage of their lives. At the end of this stage - they will be butterflies. The butterflies were beautiful at final pic and were released at the end of last week. May their wings spread into this beautiful world.

In between watching the new aspects of life for the garden, the chickens, and butterflies, all of Bergamo has also been preparing for their play. At this point they are moving beyond the scripts and practicing without them. Costumes are in the process of being made and will be ready for the big production.

Bergamo Theater Presents: “Vacation on Mars”

I cannot wait to see what Vacation on Mars is going to be like.

The play was quite musical - a really fun way of learning about the Solar System. A few lessons I learned: The Moon loves his phases. The Sun can be a little gassy and often has hiccups from solar flares. Venus is hot and loves her place by the Sun. Earth is the best place to live.  Jupiter loves a crowd with her over 60 moons. Neptune is a great place to live; as long as you do not mind the windy atmosphere, negative temperatures ALL the time, and willingness to lose your asteroid belt. I also learned that Pluto is still sore about losing her planet status and would make a great vacation destination if just given the chance. Lastly, I learned I still have no idea what a vacation on Mars would be like, as we never actually made it there - due to the poorly chosen Travel Guides.

Thank you to all of the parents that helped with costumes, pictures, videos, and the cast party food!


            

Within their art unit - Bergamo took on the artist Van Gogh. Ms. Penny had a print of his most famous painting " A Starry Night"  cut into 24 squares.  The children then in turn recreated their own square with the use of pastels and blending techniques.
The question is - Van Gogh or Bergamo. You decide.

The original from the art show.

After the art show, Ms. Singer raffled the original art piece and was able to sell it for enough money to purchase a chicken coop. She took a picture of the original and made a poster sized print.  She can order a copy if you would like for $20 - that includes the 16 x 20 poster and a list map showing the location of each child's work. (If you would like one, please let Ms. Heather at the office or Ms. Singer know).

The replica - get your own copy.

And if all this was not enough, in the midst of preparing for the birth of chickens and butterflies - the Bergamo class was able to welcome the baby brother of Camryn - so precious. Congrats on being the "big sister", it is quite an honor! Plenty of love from all of us to the Goodwin family.

With that said, what a fun month Bergamo has had. Thank you, Ms. Singer and Mr. Chip. And, a quick shout out to Ms. Kelly and her artistic abilities; the backdrop for the play was amazing. 

I cannot wait to see what the next school year holds for Bergamo. Have a wonderful summer.  We are excited to see if you are spending it with us. If not, have a wonderful summer and we look forward to seeing you on the 14th of August - the FIRST day of school for MSM.

May Is Here!!

May is Here!!

May is going to be a busy month for MSM, so stay tuned for all of the details!

First and foremost: Class pictures are here and are $10 - payable at the office.

And, this is Teacher Appreciation Week. I have a list of our teacher's favorite things at the office. Please stop and get a copy for your teachers and important staff in your children's lives.

Secondly, we have the Annual Art Exhibition on the 7 May from 2 - 4 pm at Brennan Hall. All Primary and Elementary art projects will be on display.




Muffins for Mom - a chance to say thank you to all of our mother's!! May 12, from 7 - 8:30 in the main building.

Happy Mother's Day. 14 May. Thank you in advance to all of the mother's who love us, help us and do so many things. We truly appreciate all that you do for the precious ones, and all of MSM!!

Bergamo and Brennan Hall will be performing their theatrical performances - more details to come!!


Last day of School is 26 May!!  In honor of this day we are have a fun time planned. Join us for Splash Bash - Discovery Island from 5:45 - 7:45. Three different prices - details at the front office.



Memorial Day - a day to remember. We will be CLOSED.

First Day of Summer - 30 May. Summer Camps begin and there are a plethora of events for both Primary and Elementary students. Schedules will be available at the office. Any questions, comments, and/or concerns please contact me at the office.

And lastly, I have picked my Spotlight Class early - due to all of the wonderful things that are going on with this group!! Bergamo!! Ms. Penny, Mr. Chip and all of Bergamo has a fun-filled month planned and I am overly excited to see everything that is going to happen!!

Spring has Sprung in Bergamo: Info for Ms. Penny directly. Look at all the wonderful things happening.

Some of you may have already seen our new raised bed garden that is going in, if not stop by! It is so nice and we are looking forward to getting sweet potato slips in a few weeks to plant. The weather has not been cooperative with our installation, but Mr. Chip has been working hard with the children when it decides to cooperate! 

Our embryology unit is underway! We received a dozen fertilized chicken eggs on Tuesday and put them in the incubator.  We are studying daily about this process and have a large checkoff calendar counting down the 21 days until hatching with pictures of what the developing chicken embryo looks like. The kids have LOVED this. Some children have even started research on the many different chicken breeds.  For example, in our twelve we will be having Welsummers, Rhode Island Reds, Single Comb White Leghorns and Light Brahmas. 

Tying together both the garden and embryology units, in botany we dissected seeds this week to find that they too have embryos (little baby plants) just waiting to find the right conditions to begin to mature.  Many of you saw these in your Friday folders, and many will continue to come home as they were still a little wet to travel on Friday.  We also did an experiment to prove that plants have "mouths" called stomatas on the undersides of their leaves.  They not only take in carbon dioxide and hydrogen from the atmosphere, they expel not only oxygen but water!  We learned where much the humidity in our air comes from...leaves!

To top off the wonderful springtime season, we received five caterpillars this week that will become Painted Lady butterflies.  We will watch and learn from the whole process until we set five new butterflies free!  Can you tell this is my FAVORITE season??!! Pictures and updates to follow!!

With that said, May is going to be a fun and busy month!!

T1 Spotlight

All About T1~

This room has a collection of beautiful ladies who love and teach the precious little ones. Ms. Bonnie, Ms. Jaclyn, Ms. Nacole, and Ms. Maggie.

Each of the girls take the time to meet the toddlers on their own levels. Encourage learning, and help grow into the next age of life. Every day there is a collection of music genres, that encourage movement, mad dancing skills, and appreciation for all kinds of music. The favorites of the class are "Skinnamarink", "ABC's", and, "Baby Bumblebee." And I have even heard a few shouts of Roll Tide from Ms. Jaclyn - countered with a couple shouts of Go Tigers.

The toddlers are learning the colors, and learning about giraffes. They watched a video about April, the giraffe. Also, they love Pete the Cat and learned about his new shoes.

For the Easter Egg hunt - they made bunny hats and helped prepare for the Easter weekend.  Just a few pictures of the precious ones from this day.

 


 







During Circle time, the ladies have story time and have some Montessori work for the children to do. The ladies of T1 also are very  fun and creative with their art -  with each holiday the ladies of T1 are very creative as for each holiday. They have a fun and creative project for them to do and then add it to the Art Wall. The children have Feet of Love - Valentine's Day. Pie for Pi day, and Shamrocks for St. Patrick's. They also made Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Dr. Seuss's bday. And for Spring - the wall has a beautiful flower garden.

With that said, we want to say thank you to all of the ladies of T1. And, also extend our best wishes to Ms. Bonnie who will be leaving us this coming Friday for a new adventure. We wish her luck.

For everything Ms. Bonnie and all the beautiful ladies of T1.

Mid - Month Shout outs

Again, we have reached the second half of the month.

Just a few shout outs for the second half.

DO not forget the Science fair. The Brennan Hall students have done a wonderful job with their projects. Stop by and listen to all the wonderful ideas and what they have learned. It is quite a story. The Science Fair  will be up until the 19th of April.

Spring Break week is still in full swing - however it has been pleasantly quite and a fun week. The AM group got to experience the other playground and play with new items!! Fun times indeed. The PM and Extended day, has had a fun time hanging out with Ms. Mary and Ms. Julie. ASK has had a fun filled week with a bowling day, lots of arts and crafts, a nature hike in Conestee Park, and planted some beautiful flowers.

We will have ASK available all day April 17th, for those students who may need at as it a Snow Day for Greenville County Schools.

Stay tuned for next week's blog as it will feature my chosen class!! I have it picked out and am gathering all the info and pictures needed. It will be a fun post and a good read.

Also, remember we have the CPR class on 22 April beginning at 9 am in the Bergamo building with Ms. Penny and her mother. At this moment, I have two spots that are up for grabs due to two cancellations. Any takers, let me know immediately.

And, we end the month with another birthday. One more thing  . . . we are approaching Teacher Appreciation Day and I have made a get to Know Me list: info about all of the favorite things for each of the teachers and other MSM staff. I will make a post sometime next week, when I have collected them all. Or you can stop by the office and ask for your teacher's info. Any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out and let me know.

Have a wonderful rest of the month and may Spring be nice to all of your families.

Lastly, Happy Easter from all the MSM staff.                                                                     

April Showers

Happy April.

The first day of this month started of with a lot of rain and wind. Holy Tornado warning - Batman.

With that said - the month of April is going to be indeed busy. Again we have three birthdays this month. Mr. Chip, Ms. Anne, and Ms. Heather (the other one).

Reminder Shout - out: The Primary classes are having an Easter Egg hunt on April 7. Please bring filled eggs by April 6.
Ms. Faria AM @ 9 AM. (12 filled eggs)
Ms. Faria PM - with Ms. Mary and Ms. Teresa.
Ms. Julie and Ms. Therese @10 AM (12 filled eggs)
Ext. Day with Ms. Mallika and Ms. Jaquetta @9:45am.

Hope to see everyone!!


Science Fair - April 7 @ Brennan Hall. ALL of the classes will be able to attend and see the projects from all of the students and their hard work.

Spring Break Week - April 10 - 14.
There are sign - up sheets on all of the classroom doors. I also have a hard copy list in my office. Any comments, questions, and or concerns - please call me at the office.
Remember - if your child(ren) are part-time, in Extended Day, or part of ASK - there is an extra fee.

Happy Easter!! April 16th.

FYI: Greenville County Schools are having a SNOW DAY on April 17. Yes we are going to be open and provide ASK care if needed. Sign - up at the office.

Also - Ms. Penny is doing another CPR class - April 22nd beginning at 9 am in the Bergamo room. Cost:$20 - can be brought the day of class.  She has 18 spots all together and nine belong to MSM staff. If interested, please call the office.

FYI: Menus have been posted to Facebook - if a copy is wanted or needed - they are at the office.
        We have a new Yoga class coming to MSM. Yoga-2-Go, LLC is starting at fours weeks April - 24th - May 15th. Cost is $60 and ALL mats and props are provided. If you are interested - there is a permission form to be filled out. Any questions - please stop by the office.

Have a wonderful month!! And stay tuned for the next chosen class of the month.

Hard to Believe

It is hard to believe that the end of another month is already here. With that said, I just wanted to take a quick minute and look back at our month.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes to Ms. Sophia, Ms. Faria, and myself. My first birthday in SC was very nice and quiet and had a delicious cake!!

Within this month we had a spotlight look on the ASK students of MSM!! What a wonderful group of kids and great pics this month. Thank you again, Ms. Ryan for doing a wonderful job and all that you do. Look for the next class spotlight sometime in April.

Now to time for end of month announcements:

1. New menus and schedules are complete and ready for pick - up at your convenience.

2. Sign - up sheets for Spring Break are on the doors of each classroom. If your are a part-time, Ext. Day, or a Bergamo student, there is an extra cost for this whole week. Any questions, comments, and/or concerns - please contact the office.

3. Summer sign - up sheets are also on the doors. If you are 1st - 6th grades - then come to our fun Summer Camp spearheaded by our very own Ms. Ryan. She has a fun-filled summer planned. Pool days, homemade ice cream, hikes, parks, etc. Any questions, comments, and/or concerns - please contact the office. For Infant, T1, T2, and Primary - there are plenty of fun -filled activities planned as well, by our very own, Ms. Mary. And again, any questions, comments, and/or concerns - please contact the office.

4. DO not forget  - we are having Class Picture day 3 April at 9 am, so bring your best smile. This is only class pictures. Any questions, comments, and/or concerns - please contact the office.

5. April has many fun things planned so stay posted for more details.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and look forward to April's blog.

All About ASK

As promised - I have chosen this month's spotlight class. ASK!!

For those who do not know what ASK is - it is the After School Kids Program.

After a rough start to the new year with teachers leaving for multiple reasons - we have finally found the perfect fit for the ASK!! Ms. Ryan. Since she had been here, she has managed to bring the groups of your precious ones together with in learning activities and cleaned up the ASK room and made it their own.


Starting out - she has adding new classroom decorations, in which the children helped clean and organize. They revamped the reading corner, reorganized the shelves, and restacked the books in somewhat of an orderly fashion. Then she added a craft corner - a few cubbies with a plethora of craft supplies for educational learning time before outside play.

This month has been a fun month for the ASK group. They celebrated Pi Day by making Sugar Free Banana Cream Pie - fun times.

Silly boy

Can we eat this yet?

Pie!!!!!!!!!!

We discovered that Ms. Ryan is a bird whisper. On Friday 16 March - a bird flew into the front door and stunned himself. Ms. Ryan collected him and rescued him until he was ready to fly away again.

Ms. Ryan - The Bird Whisper

Meet Bunk - named by our special friend Ryley and Ms. Ryan.














On St. Pat's Day the class made some art and Lucky Charms Rice Krispie treats!! And, homemade slime!!!

Making Lucky Charm Snacks

 
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A little messy but these are going to be GOOD!!

I cannot wait to eat this!!

Time!!!

Along with all of the new décor, reorganizing, and making the ASK room a part of us - all of the fun activities. Indoor bowling, snow globe bottles, and so much more.

Also, Ms. Ryan has planned the Summer Camp activities - so please stay tuned for more information and a complete summer schedule.


Thank you Ms. Ryan for all that you have brought to the ASK.