February 2016

February was another busy month at Stephanie's English Montessori! We worked hard everyday to get ready for the End of Year Program which was on February 27th.

Our students in Love and Dream classes practiced their songs, dances, speeches and Peter Pan play many times this month. We had a lot of help from our Musical English teacher, Miss Ashley and our Nanta teacher, Miss Grace, and our teachers Miss Stephanie and Miss Maura. We also appreciate all the help from our moms and dads who practiced with us at home!

At the beginning of February, we took a break for the Korean Lunar New Year and the school was closed from the 8th to the 10th. We hope everyone enjoyed the time with their families!

In Dream class we made a Valentine's Day card for our mommies and daddies, to give them on February 14th.

February 27th was the big day at SEM, when we finally had our End of Year Program. We arrived at school early and took some photos with our friends and got ready. The show was a lot of work, but we had so much fun performing and showing our families what we could do. Dream class performed Nanta and their song, It's a Small World. Love class performed the play, Peter Pan, and the hip hop dance, The Fox.

We gave out certificates to our graduating or leaving students. We were very sad to say goodbye to them and hope that we will see them again someday. In Dream class, we said goodbye to Edward and Elsa in Love class. We'll miss them! This year, Kevin graduated and will start elementary school in March. We're so proud of him! We wish him the best of luck at his new school.

We're really looking forward to spending another great school year with all of our returning students and we can't wait to meet some new friends in March. I'm sure that we'll have a lot of fun learning together and getting to know each other during 2016.

See you again soon!

January 2016

We've been working really hard this month! In February, we will have our Year End Program, so in January we had a lot to do to get ready for it. We have been practicing a lot of different things that we're excited to show everyone next month.

Dream Class is learning a dance to the song "It's a Small World." We've been practicing a lot with Miss Maura and our Musical English teacher, Miss Ashley. 

In Dream Class we also started doing Nanta lessons this month, with our new Nanta teacher Miss Grace. We're learning two songs that we will perform in February. Nanta is a little difficult, but lots of fun!

Love Class has been practicing their hip hop dance with Miss Stephanie, to the song "The Fox" by Ylvis. It's a really funny song and the dance is going to look great- we can't wait to show everyone soon!

In Love Class, we are also rehearsing a play based on "Peter Pan" with Miss Ashley. We're making a lot of progress memorizing our lines, learning our songs and having fun performing. Both classes are also working on their speeches. If you have time, please help us practice at home!

This month we studied geometry and learned the names of many shapes. We studied their properties as well, such as the number of sides and points. 

   

   

There were many birthdays in February. On the 8th, we celebrated Elsa's birthday. She showed us her handmade album- it was so cute! She turned 6 this year.

   

  

  

On the 19th we had a party for Hilda's 4th birthday. She had many cute pictures to show us, too! We wished her a happy birthday and had some yummy cake after lunch.

   

   

   

Finally, on the 25th it was Amber's 6th birthday. We loved seeing her family photos and exchanging presents. 

   

   

February will be another busy month, but we're looking forward to showing everyone all our hard work soon!

December 2015

December was a busy month at SEM, with the holidays, studying a new theme and preparing for our end of the year program. This month we studied the earth and learned about the oceans and continents. We also learned about some countries on each continent. It was really interesting to learn about the language, food and culture of different places!

On December , we had an International Food Day. For lunch, our teachers prepared some delicious food from other parts of the world. We ate cazuela, a kind of chicken and vegetable soup from Chile, onigiri, which are rice balls with tuna and mayonnaise inside from Japan, and quesadillas from Mexico, a kind of cheese sandwich made with tortilla bread. We loved trying all the new food!

We had four birthdays this month: first was Irene's 5th birthday, on December . Irene showed us some cute pictures of herself as a baby with her mom and dad. We had a party for her with some presents and cake, it was lots of fun!

    

Next was Kevin's 7th birthday on December . We had fun, but it was a little bit sad, since he will graduate soon and this will be his last birthday party here at SEM - but we wish all the best for him as he grows up and continues his studies. We loved seeing his photos and eating delicious birthday cake with him.

    

    

It was also Ms. Stephanie and Ms. Maura's birthdays this month. We even had some cake to celebrate!

At the beginning of the month, we all helped decorate the Christmas tree. Everyone hung an ornament where they liked.

    

We made some special crafts this month to get ready for Christmas. With our art teacher, Ms. Sunny, we made music boxes that we decorated with colorful Christmas trees on top. 

   

   

And with Ms. Maura, we made some paper wreaths to decorate our classroom.

In Dream class, we learned the song Jingle Bells, and even went on a pretend "ride" on a one horse open sleigh!

The week of Christmas, our old friends Jin and Jun came to visit us from Seoul! It was great to see them again and play together. We missed them a lot! They helped us choose some dishes from a stocking to bring to our Christmas Potluck Party.

   

   

On December 24th, we had our big Christmas party. Everyone dressed up in suits and dresses and Santa Claus came to visit! He brought us some wonderful presents and wished us a Merry Christmas. 

We ate a big potluck lunch, with so many delicious things provided by our families. We had sandwiches, chicken, cookies, juice and much more. 

After lunch, we had a fun surprise - a magician came to our school! He performed an incredible magic show for us. We loved seeing all of his amazing tricks!

From December 25th until Monday, January 4th, was our winter vacation. We enjoyed the time at home with our families and hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday.

Best wishes in 2016 from everyone at SEM! 

Happy New Year!