On Wednesday, August 20th, we had some special visitors at school, Mr. Mike the Reptile Guy and The Reptile Experience!  Mr. Mike brought with him 5 reptile friends for us to learn about and to meet up close.

First, we met a Greek tortoise named Zorba.  The children and Mr. Mike talked about how tortoises have no teeth and that they are different from turtles because they cannot swim.  Tortoises are turtles that live on land!  Mr. Mike also told us that while Zorba is a Greek tortoise, our classroom tortoises are Russian tortoises and come from southern Russia.

Zorba snacks on some lettuce while the children learn about Greek tortoises.

Inga pets Zorba the Greek tortoise.

Next up was the spiky tail lizard named Sahara.  The lizard is from Africa and the children loved getting to feel the tail and watching Sahara try to hide under Mr. Mike.

Sahara tries to escape from the group circle!

Sylvi carefully holds Sahara as her mom and Dora watch.

After Sahara was safely tucked away, Mr. Mike unveiled a knotted up blue pillowcase… and from it, he brought out a ball python named Ms. Butters.  Ms. Butters gets her name from her coloring.  When it was time to put Ms. Butters away, Mr. Mike carefully tied up the blue pillowcase again so that she wouldn’t escape and hide in our classroom.

Ms. Butters slithers towards us! Eek!

After learning about Ms. Butters, the children got a chance to hold her.  Many took advantage of the opportunity!

Following the ball python, Mr. Mike introduced us to Melvin, the blue tongued skink.  We learned that skinks are a mix of lizards and snakes.  Skinks can even tuck their legs away and slither just like snakes!

Mr. Mike tries to get Melvin to slither for us.

After we learned about skinks, we had a chance to hold Melvin and he even licked our noses!

Dora carefully holds Melvin.

Theo watches as Ava takes her turn to hold Melvin.

Mirabelle waits for a kiss from Melvin.

Sylvie isn’t sure she’s ready for a Melvin kiss!

Nose kisses from Melvin for Hanna!

For the grand finale, Mr. Mike brought out Peaches… a Burmese python!  Peaches is only a few years old and currently weighs a little more than 20 pounds, but she could grow to be much larger.  Peaches was born in Mr. Mike’s basement, along with her 19 brothers and sisters.  Peaches and her mom still live in Mr. Mike’s basement.  We also learned that while Peaches is a yellow color, most Burmese pythons are more brown and white, so that they can hide easily in the wild.

Mr. Mike introduces Peaches to us.

After learning about Peaches, Mr. Mike gave us a chance to touch Peaches and then to hold her if we wanted.  The children and Ms. Gay were very brave and let Mr. Mike wrap Peaches all around them.  After watching them, I even got brave enough to do it, despite my serious fear of snakes!  After everyone had a turn, the children helped Mr. Mike put Peaches away for her trip back home.

The children get one final chance to feel Peaches before she heads home.

The children help lift Peaches up and back into her cooler.

Later in the afternoon, I asked some of the children to share with me their favorite thing about having Mr. Mike and The Reptile Experience at school.

Hazel: “The big yellow snake because it was big.”

Isla: “I liked that we got to wrap the snake around us and the animals were squishy.”

Francis: “I liked the big huge lemon snake.”

Audon: “I liked when the lizard licked my nose.  It felt soft.”

Ruby: “Petting the snakes because the snakes feel good because they’re squishy.”

The top two moments were when Melvin licked our noses and getting to wrap Peaches around our necks.  The children did a great job during the presentation staying calm and quiet, and Mr. Mike was impressed with not only their knowledge about reptiles but also with the great questions they asked.  Mr. Mike and The Reptile Experience was an amazing educational presentation and we will definitely have him and his friends visit LHMS again!

Cheers,

Ms. Meera

On Wednesday, August 13th, we went on a field trip to the Blast!, an indoor park in Eagan, MN.  We spent the morning climbing to the top and then racing down on curvy slides!

Jayden and Lila first practice on the smaller slide before trying out the larger slides.

Kate pauses to smile before finding her way through the maze of slides.

Smiling, happy children at the Blast!

Eloise takes a break in one of the tunnels.

Carter and Francis get trapped in a rocket ship!

Scout jumps for joy!

How many children can we fit in the rocket ship?!?

Freddy and Lenny loved the Blast!

The children loved running through the indoor playground and were definitely exhausted when we got on the bus to head back to school.  Mr. Eben did an excellent job of keeping everyone awake on the ride back!  The children had lunch when we returned, did some work, and then both children and teachers were ready for rest time.  🙂

It was a great field trip and a fun way to spend the morning!

Cheers,

Ms. Meera

This summer Mr. Eben has been taking LHMS students fishing.  All the children have gotten a chance to go at least once, and Mr. Eben is hoping he will be able to take everyone a second time too.

Before the children could go fishing, they had to prepare for the adventure.  They helped Mr. Eben build the coolest fishing wagon in the neighborhood, equipped with plenty of fishing poles, a tackle box, and room for water and lunch boxes.

The LHMS fishing wagon is ready to go!

The tackle box is fully stocked. Mr. Eben is prepared for anything!

Mr. Eben would select a few children to take with him fishing and they would leave from the school after morning snack, around 10:30.  The children would get their lunch boxes and Mr. Eben would get water.  Then, they would walk to Lake Harriet from the school and set up a spot to fish for the afternoon.  There were enough fishing poles for each child to have their own and they learned how to cast and watch for when a fish had been hooked.  The children had lunch by the lake and would return before rest time.  They returned to school exhausted but always smiling!

Mr. Eben talks to the kids about their fishing technique while they get their lunches out.

The children watch Mr. Eben cast fishing lines as they eat their lunches.

I asked the children what their favorite thing about fishing with Mr. Eben was, and here are their awesome answers!

Lenny: “I loved catching fishes and eating lunch.  Oh and singing songs with Mr. Eben!”

Drew: “I liked that almost everybody with me caught a fish.  I didn’t but that’s ok.”

Hanna: “When he casted it, the fish came right on the hook!”

Isla: “I was the only one who caught a fish in my group!”

Dora: “Because we get to be free for a little bit in the sun.”

Malek: “I caught one fish and it cut off one eyeball!”

Scout: “Mr. Eben said he would help me try to catch a devil fish.”

Lenny can barely contain his excitement after catching a fish!

Josh shows off his catch!

While they may look like trouble, the boys were well behaved and had a great time fishing with Mr. Eben. 🙂

Ruby snags a fish!

Dylan proudly shows off his fish!

Inga’s catch of the day!

Fishing adventures with Mr. Eben has been a highlight of the summer and the LHMS students love it.  It is always fun to hear about their afternoon by the lake and hopefully the weather will stay nice so that the adventures can continue.

Cheers,

Ms. Meera

On June 17th, we took a field trip to the Bunker Park Stables.  We went to these stables in the fall and loved it so much that we added a trip in the summer as well!

The children were divided into four groups and each group got a chance to ride ponies, groom and lead ponies, and take a hay ride.  The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed the field trip.

Working with the ponies was the highlight for most of the children, and they did an excellent job of containing their excitement and staying calm while around the ponies.

While waiting for their pony rides, the children practiced their riding technique. 🙂

Audon loved the pony ride!

The children continue to wait patiently for their turn to ride a pony.

Scout is lucky enough to get Mr. Eben to lead her pony!

Lila gets some help as she leads a pony in the barn.

Ruby is a natural equestrian!

We also took a hay ride along the stable’s trails and the children loved listening to the sounds of different animals and looking for plants and flowers.  They even got a chance to jump down and play half way through the hay ride.  It was the perfect way to calm the children after the excitement of working with ponies!

Eloise sits peacefully, enjoying the hay ride.

Jack plays with the straw on the hay ride.

Halfway through the hay ride, we stopped to stretch our legs and play on the sand hill. 🙂

Hay rides are always better when shared with friends!

After the ponies and hay rides, we had a picnic lunch at the stables and ran around the grounds.  The children also practiced their tree scaling before heading on the bus back to LHMS!

Dylan scales a tree after lunch.

Theo jumps down after bravely scaling the trees!

It will come as no surprise that most of the kids napped during rest time!

Cheers,
Ms. Meera

On Wednesday, May 21st, we had our spring graduation program, Le Programe Fantastique…  And it was a smashing success! The children and the teachers were so happy that our family and friends were able to come to the program.  The children were amazing and the performance was definitely one to remember.

Each child that is graduating this year and heading off to kindergarten or 1st grade in the fall was given a solo or a feature performance in the program.  All the children practiced intently for the weeks leading up to the program and their hard work paid off.  We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did!

Runa and Dylan welcome everyone to the program.

Oscar, Isaac and Henry lead the children as they sing the Zoophonics alphabet song.

Bruno and Mira are featured during “Freight Train.”

The graduating children receive their diplomas!

Anja closes the program with the “Adios” song and Esme and Hanna thank our audience for their attention.

For both the children and the teachers, our favorite song was “Iron Man” and based on the feedback we received, we think it was everyone else’s favorite too!  Scout’s mom Meredith was able to capture a video of the entire song and uploaded it to YouTube.  Check it out here: Iron Man by Lake Harriet Montessori

As the YouTube link got shared on social media, it was picked up by WCCO’s This Morning.  While I was not awake at 6 AM to see it, according to a few parents and grandparents, they saw it on TV.  I managed to find the link on their Facebook page. Either way the children were excited to learn that they were famous!  🙂

After the program, we headed down to the gym where we met our family and friends and enjoyed a delicious potluck dinner. Thank you to everyone for bringing such delicious food and drinks!  It was such a fun celebration!  The teachers are so proud of the children and all their hard work.  It has been amazing to watch our graduating students learn and blossom in their time here at Lake Harriet Montessori.  They will be missed!

On April 17th, Lake Harriet went on a field trip to see the Jim Hodges exhibit at the Walker Art Museum.  The children and the teachers had a great time!

During the week before the field trip, Ms. Gay spent time talking about Jim Hodges art with the children.  The children learned about how Jim Hodges did not like his paintings, so he started to make sculptures using materials that were not usually considered beautiful, such as jeans, lightbulbs, and fake flowers.  The children learned that good art makes you ask questions!

By the time the field trip came, due to our group discussions, LHMS children knew more about Jim Hodges than most visitors.  Click on the link below to see their awesome reaction to the video about Jim Hodges, prior to going into the exhibit.

Jim Hodges Walker Art

After entering the exhibit, Ms. Gay took a moment to talk to the children about proper etiquette in the museum.  We reminded the kids to walk, to whisper, and most importantly, not to touch any of the art!

Ms. Gay talks to the children about the rules of the art museum. Most important, don’t touch any of the art!!!

After that, we guided the children through the exhibit.  We took a moment to sit under the bells, so they could look up and see the beautiful colors Jim Hodges used for the bells.

The children sit under the bells as Ms. Gay talks about different forms of art, such as the bells.

From there, we continued to move through the exhibit.  The children enjoyed walking through a hallway that had mirrors placed so that light could bounce off in different directions, creating cool reflections.  Explaining the light refraction to preschoolers is not easy, but they definitely enjoyed the reflections!

We moved on to look at a wall hanging created by sewing together different scarves and pieces of fabric.  The children loved the bright colors.

We stopped to look at a wall hanging created using many small scarves.

Before leaving the art museum, we spent some time in the last room of the exhibit that displayed a large denim tapestry.  The tapestry weaved together different pieces of denim to create a large piece that looked like the waves of the ocean.  After admiring the piece, the children took time to draw their favorite piece from the exhibit before we left the museum.

After returning to school, we incorporated what we saw in the museum in our classroom.  We used fake flower petals to create art that now hangs in our classroom.

We created flower petal art inspired by what we saw at the Jim Hodges exhibit!

Ms. Gay also created work for the children inspired by a piece of Jim Hodges’ art, The Latin Rose, that we saw at the museum.  The Latin Rose was made using tar paper and tape.  The children painted on glue and sprinkled glitter to create their own Latin roses, and at the same time, exercised their fine motor skills!

The children made their own Latin roses, inspired by Jim Hodges.

The Walker Art Museum field trip was fun and educational, and hopefully, the children gained an appreciation for different types of art expression!