Waterworks with Sydnee and Esme

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Supplies Needed:

·      Designated work space

·      2 bowls (similar in size)

·      Water

·      Sponge

·      Rag or towel (for clean-up)

Directions (all of these can be done by your child):

1.    Find a work space that you do not mind getting wet.

2.   Fill up one of the bowls, about halfway.

3.    Place bowls side-by-side

4.    Place sponge in the bowl with water.

5.    Squeeze the sponge in the bowl with water, transfer the sponge to the empty bowl, and squeeze it again!

6.    Continue until the empty bowl is filled with water, and the other bowl is empty.

Objectives of this work:

·      Practices dexterity, fine motor skills

·      Helps child practice clean up water messes

·      Child gets a visual of moving the water from one bowl to the next

·      Sensory: child feels the temperature of water, water trickling from sponge to bowl

Virtual Parent Meeting

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What a treat to “see” so many of you at our first virtual Parent Meeting! You are all truly missed.

We are inspired by your commitment to supporting your children and to staying connected during this challenging time of uncertainty.

Last night’s parent meeting can be found here:

Organizing Montessori Morning Work Periods at Home

Your teachers are listening to you. We will weave in your concerns at home into weekly Parent Meetings.

Stay tuned as Nia House shifts into this new learning paradigm.

Animals of Nia House

By: Sydnee Richmond

       Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well, staying positive, and staying healthy! For this activity, you can discuss with your family some fun facts about our beloved friends at Nia House. They miss you all and cannot wait for you to be back! If you have any questions, comments, or even corrections please feel free to contact me! I hope you all enjoy learning more about our Nia House Animals!

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 Name: Passion Fruit

Breed of Chicken: Lohmann Brown Chicken

Passion Fruit is one of our larger, red-brown chickens we have here at Nia House. Passion Fruit is considered a “teenager.” She loves to walk around on the grass as well as hang out in the chicken coop.

Name: Zebra

Breed of Chicken: Plymouth Rock Chicken

Zebra is also one of our larger chickens at Nia House and, you guessed it, looks like a zebra! She is black and white and has a beautiful textured print to her feathers. You can find her in the grass with Passion Fruit or in the chicken coop.

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Name: Bone

Breed of Chicken: Buff Orpington

Bone is one of the two smaller chickens at Nia House and she is the best flyer and jumper of the four. She has smooth feathers and is yellow, orange, and white in color. Bone loves to walk around in the garden behind the sand box and loves to dig in the dirt!

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Name: Honey Fluff

Breed of Chicken: Half Silky

Honey Fluff is the most distinct chicken of the four, as she is very fluffy and has some rough-looking feathers. She is the shortest of the four and you can usually find her rolling in the dirt in one of the planters. Honey Fluff and Bone are very good friends.

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Name: Angel Fish

Type of Fish: Angelfish

Angel is a solo fish in her tank and is a larger, white fish. She has two grey stripes and has very large eyes! Angelfish are very smart in nature and actually recognize their owners.  She loves to swim past the children as they wave to her in Alexis’s class.

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Name: Too many to name!

Type of Fish: Platy Fish

These fish live in Amanda’s classroom and there are a lot of them! These little fish are yellow, black, orange, and white in color. They originate from Central America and the male fish are smaller and brighter in color than the female fish.

Name: Freya and Bay

Type of Bunny: Holland Lop

Freya and Bay used to not get along very well, but have adapted very nicely to being coopmates. They live in their coop behind the playhouse and have lots of hay to comfort them. They eat many greens, such as carrot tops and lettuce, and the children love to come around and “feed” them hay they find in the yard. Freya is our white lop ear and Bay is our brown lop ear. These two are very soft and are in the preschool yard.

Holland Lops are often highly active, are energetic and playful, and love cat toys, which keep them entertained and happy.

Holland Lops originate in the Netherlands and can live to be 10 years old.

For more information on Holland Lop rabbit behavior, click here.   

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Name: Hamburger

Breed of Tortoise: Russian Tortoise

Hamburger is our tortoise that lives in his terrarium in Ayako’s classroom. He eats lots of leafy greens and loves to nuzzle in the dirt. The light in his terrarium is called a UVB light and, just like all reptiles, Hamburger needs it to produce Vitamin D3, calcium, and other nutrients.

The popular Russian tortoise is a small tortoise native to many different countries—not just Russia, but also Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, China, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and others. It prefers a generally dry climate with seasonal variations in temperature from hot to quite cold, well below freezing. 

It is thought that in the wild, Russian tortoises’ activity levels are at their peak for only about three months of the year. They will sometimes spend more than six months hibernating through cold temperatures, and during the peak of the hot season they will dig in and aestivate, often without moving for weeks at a time in order to avoid the extreme heat at the surface. They are most active, therefore, early in the spring, when reproductive efforts take place, followed by a period in the fall when they spend time fattening themselves up prior to the long winter ahead. 

More information on Russian Tortoises

Can you help me find my cup?

We like to think that the impact of our education is lasting. Nia House aims to create life-long lovers of learning. We hope to share in values that nurture healthy decision making.

Montessori encourages care of self, care of others, and care of the environment. While care of the environment can be as simple as sweeping, scrubbing a table, or composting, it extends into the choices we make about the longevity and impact of  the day-to-day things we use.

Life Without Plastic not only shares in this vision, they directly support Nia House in executing it! Life Without Plastic has provided Nia House with stainless steel cups at whole sale cost. For the past ten years, Nia House has purchased a cup for each child and inscribed it with their name. The cups are used daily at Nia House. When children graduate, they take their inscribed cup with them for home use and as a memory of their years here at Nia House.

 While at Nia House, these cups play a significant role in our children’s day.

 At 18 months, children come to Nia House to begin their journey of  self-care and meeting their own needs. When toddlers are thirsty, they  find the stainless still cup inscribed with their name and pour their very own cup of water. At lunch, after washing their hands, toddlers come to their lunch tables to find their cup, with their name.

Every morning, the primary aged children, ages 3 to 6 years old, take a tray of cups, napkins, and silverware to set tables in preparation for lunch. They are able to look at the cups and identify which friends are sitting at their table. At lunch time, the children ask one another and their teachers, “Can you help me find my cup?”

We are so grateful to Life Without Plastic for supporting our community’s goal of being waste-free and in sharing with our children that items can be reused and, like learning, made to last.

Life Without Plastic has amazing products that you might want for your home or waste-free lifestyle. lifewithoutplastic.com