Here are some of our potential upcoming themes: Moon Watch, Harvest Time, Hibernation and Snow/Ice. We are currently ready to dive into the topic of Weather by keeping weather journals, making and using instruments of measurement and learning about temperatures.

Classes meet on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9 – 12 noon. Ages 6-9 are welcome to join us for a day, a theme, or the entire semester!

Warmly,

Rebecca  Wolf

I just read this article from the New York Times and wanted to share the link with you.

Tools of the Mind was a required text when I taught Foundations of Education at SUNY Brockport. The article talks about the vital difference between free play and guided play in the development of self-regulation in young children. A truly playful environment allows children to practice or rehearse many valuable social skills, including the delay of self-gratification and regulation, which, “is a remarkably strong indicator of both short-term and long-term success, academic and otherwise. In some studies, self-regulation skills have been shown to predict academic achievement more reliably than I.Q. tests. The problem is that just as we’re coming to understand the importance of self-regulation skills, those skills appear to be in short supply among young American children.”

To read the entire article, go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27tools-t.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Happy Reading,

Rebecca Wolf

I have received many inquiries about our music classes. Now that our home renovations are virtually finished, we are ready to begin our first music program!

Since mornings seem to be the preferred time, and most of my mornings are already booked with preschool and/or homeschool classes, I will be offering music at the beginning of my preschool class on Thursdays. We will begin at 9:00, when my preschool students arrive, and we will all enjoy a half-hour of music, fingerplays, singing, playing rhythm instruments, doing movement and dancing together.

This session begins on Thursday, October 1st from 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. here at the Sibley Learning Center. This will be a 4 week session ending on October 22nd. The cost is $5 per class. Please call or e-mail me (see the Contact page above) if you’d like to register.

Warmly,

Rebecca Wolf

Interested in the parent workshops I give on literacy? I’ll be speaking next Monday, September 14th at Holistic Mom’s in Pittsford, the Rochester chapter. Feel free to click the link below for more details. The fun starts at 6:45!

Rebecca Wolf

September HMN Meeting

Shared via AddThis

Hi there,

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

I am making plans for the fall and would like to know who will be attending preschool here and on which days (on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays from 9-12).

Please let me know if your older child might be interested in our Primary Homeschooling Group on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-12. As always, please contact me directly for individual tutoring or reading assessments.

Thanks for your help,

Rebecca

Summer Reading Camp here at the Sibley Learning Center begins August 17th through August 21st.

Our group will be exploring a mini-theme each day to provide exposure to lots of different ideas and activities. I have reserved Thursday and Friday for upper level activities, which will require more independent writing and reading at a minimum of a first-grade level. This will also give the children a sampling of what our Primary Grades homeschooling group will be like in the fall, except we will stick with one theme for 4 – 6 weeks rather than just one day once the school year begins!

The other purpose of the camp is to provide a fun “power start” for children beginning school/homeschool in the next few weeks. I hope to inspire our children to start exploring the themes that interested them during our camp together, so we hit the ground running when we start our group in September and select themes of study together.

Here is the week I am planning so far. We may have to switch our Bubble Day to Wednesday if the weather is uncooperative.

The general schedule, starting at 9:00 sharp, for each day will be:

1. Large group activities
2. Guided Reading and Writing in small groups
3. Snack time/story time
4. Center work for math and art
5. Play time
6. Parent pick-up at Noon

The daily themes are:

Monday: “Getting to know you” theme
Writing activity: All about me booklet
Art: I.D. bracelet
Play: parachute

Tuesday: “Water and weather” theme
Writing: weather booklet
Art: making rainsticks
Play: Experimenting with bubbles

Wednesday: “Garden plants and animals” theme
Writing: Butterfly/insect research booklet
Art: making a garden stone
Play: observing the life cycles of Monarch butterflies,
crushing eggshells to share with our earthworms,
compost

Optional afternoon activity: Visit the butterfly garden at Strong Museum of Play

Thursday: “Animals and Habitats” theme
Writing: Animal habitat booklets
Art: making clay animals
Play: Oh deer

Optional afternoon activity: Visit the Seneca Park zoo

Friday: “First Peoples” theme
Writing: Geography booklet of First Peoples and locations
Art: Aboriginal art (requires a t-shirt) and pictographs,
painting clay animals from Thursday
Play: talking stick stories, animal totems

Optional afternoon activity: Trip to Ganondagan

Please note: because the interest level in this reading camp has been so high, I am asking parents with siblings to not be here during the 9 – 12:00 time, so we can have full use of the house. This is different from my usual open-door policy only because I am expecting we will need more space this week. The entire family is, of course, welcome to join us for the optional afternoon activities. Thanks for your understanding!

Registration Process:
Please e-mail me regarding which days you’d like to register your child for next week.
Again, I can accommodate more children on Monday – Wednesday.
Thursday and Friday’s activities will require your child can read and write on at least a first-grade level.

When you e-mail me to register, please include the following information:

1. Child’s name:
2. Child’s age:
3. The grade your child is entering this fall:
4. Child’s approximate reading level:
5. Days you are registering for:
6. Interest in joining us for the optional afternoon activities:
7. Your questions or comments:

Payment is due, in full, at the beginning of each session, $20 per session per child. There is a discount for prepaying, feel free to ask, if you are interested.

Thank you for your interest in our first summer reading camp. I hope you can join us for the fun!

All the best,

Rebecca Wolf

Starting in September, I will host a homeschooling group for primary grade learning. I’m planning for one hour of reading and writing, time for math and center work, theme-inspired projects, and one hour of play. I’d like to experiment with student-led projects/themes ala the Expeditionary Learning model to guide our explorations.

We’ll begin with an introduction to Montessori’s Great Lessons, which may take us into a study of Earth’s earliest periods. This will provide a great segue into a unit of study on First Peoples. If my animal-loving daughter has anything to say, we will also be studying Endangered Animals and Habitats at some point in the year, too.

Judging from the students who have already committed to joining us this fall, lessons will be geared to a first and second-grade level. Reading instruction will be differentiated by student progress, so students will be reading books at an instructional level without fear of frustration or boredom. Most of our students fall within a first-second grade level now, so that is where I plan to start.

Math instruction will be a combination of hands-on materials, such as the base ten blocks and Montessori’s golden bead materials, and more abstract representations of number as we progress. We may also draw from the Math-U-See Alpha and Beta programs as well as the Singapore Math workbooks.

There will also be numerous centers available that include: sorting, classifying, measurement, reading, writing, handwriting, geography, poetry, and art.

I plan to post our current theme, so if your child is interested in joining us for one specific unit of study, s/he may be free to do so, without having to commit to the whole year. If you are unsure about whether this group may be too sophisticated or too basic for your child, please give me a call so we can talk about it.

Class times will be Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 – 12. Fridays are reserved for field trips, independent project work, guest speakers, and whatever else strikes our fancy. Fridays can be here at the Center, or at a destination of our choice. I’m hoping parents will help coordinate our Friday agenda.

Cost will be around $20 a day, but check out my Financial Aid page if that seems out of your family’s reach right now.

Hope you can join us in the fun!
Rebecca Wolf

Thanks to all of the families who came out to celebrate with us today. The students performed one fingerplay and one song and did an excellent job.

I feel so blessed to work with such caring families and kids. I look forward to seeing everyone in the fall!

Love,

Miss Rebecca

Your school age child can earn a FREE book this summer, from Barnes and Noble!

Here’s How It Works:

1. Kids read any eight (8) books of their own choosing.

2. Kids use the Summer Reading Journal to tell us their favorite part of each book. A parent/guardian signs the journal when it’s complete. You can also get a Spanish-language Reading Journal.

3. Children bring their completed Reading Journal to a Barnes & Noble store between May 26th & September 7th, 2009.

4. B&N will give them a coupon for a FREE book, from a list of titles.

Here is the website for the downloads:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/summerreading/

Enjoy,

Rebecca

Well, I hope all of you moms enjoyed our preschool’s Mother’s Day tea today as much as I did! It was wonderful to see the children presenting moms with that special gift, card and flower. And they did a fine job with the food too.

Our menu included:

Potato and Dandelion Green Quiche

Spanish Rice

Tofu Squares

Wildflower Salad (with freshly picked violets and dandelions)

Mulberry Muffins

Acai Mango Zinger Tea, sweetened with White grape peach juice

Thanks to all of you moms out there for taking care of us!

Hugs,

Rebecca Wolf

My Mommy Cuddles Me

My mommy cuddles me
kisses me, hugs me and misses me
pampers me, praises me, always
amazes me

Washes my clothes for me,
tickles my toes for me,
giggles and talks with me,
and also goes on walks with me,
Says “sweet dreams” to me,
Sings sweet songs to me,
I am glad she belongs to me.