Today we celebrated our very sweet, little Ms Z’s life with her beautiful family. Ms Z is an old soul. She is so mature, she has a way of brightening our day by just her bright smile or willingness to help. She is a loyal friend, a fun playmate and a joy to be with.
#birthday #celebrationoflife #montessori #6yearsold #riveroakacademy #funfriday
Playdough is very sensorial and when you make it yourself, it teaches practical life and often naturally becomes a social event.
#celebrationoflife #homemadeplaydoh #sensorial #montessorisensorial
Day 8 of loose parts play, building a house of bricks. What a difference from the first day!!! From flagstone floors to brick upon brick walls (which they discovered were not very stable) to staggered brick laying which they had observed from nearby brick homes and were much more structurally sound as they built up.
We marvel at our learner’s concentration, perseverance, teamwork, enthusiasm and the length of time they spend on this activity, just how much they enjoy it immensely.
#looseparts #loosepartsplay #bricklaying #bricks #masonry #mason #brickhouse #houseofbricks #scaffolding
What a treat to have Sharon Duncan, founder of Waseca Biomes meeting with us online this morning, sharing her knowledge on biomes to engender understanding of our natural world.
#wasecabiomes #wasecareadingprogram #biomes #readers #coreskills #montessori #riveroakacademy
Brilliant rays of sunshine brightening our outdoor classroom on a beautiful morning.
#magicalmornings #sunshine #raysofsunshine #sun #magical #outdoorclassroom #riveroakacademy
If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.
-Maya Angelou
We played a game “Wipe that smile off your face” yesterday. We realized that it is harder to stop a smile from forming than it is to give one with our whole heart.
Sometimes we save our worst feelings for those who mean the most to us. We smile and offer kindness to a stranger but neglect to give the same courtesy to those we love.
It is the quality of our relationships that best predicts our life-long happiness and health.
LET’S SMILE MORE!😀😁😊😁
#smile #connection #connections #authenticconnection #happy #happiness #healthyrelationships #happyrelationships
Fun Friday game of Shut the Box.
A big part of enjoying math is making it fun.
#shutthebox #math #mathgames #makemathfun #mathisfun #riveroakacademy #funfriday #friday #games
Close encounters with a snake yesterday. We have some very brave learners who wanted to keep him/her as a pet.
We now know more about snakes and whom to call whenever we find another one. Our snake catcher was very kind to have sprinkled snake deterrent containing cinnamon, clover, and cedar oil just in case.
#snakes #pygmyrattlesnake #snake #snakesafety #rattlesnakes #
We used sand trays this week in both studios for development of prewriting skills to improving on our handwriting skills.
#handwriting #finemotorskills #writing #sandtray #salttray #sandtrayingwriting #montessori
Our very young learner read a book all on her own. We’re so proud of her and it is apparent that she is very proud of her self too.
#read #readalong #heroreader #readaloud #primerreader #rhondareaders #riveroakacademy #hamster
Tuesday morning gravitated towards writing on sensory trays to using the movable alphabet and reading.
This is what free choice core skills looks like.
#coreskills #reading #encoding #decoding #freechoicecoreskills #riveroakacademy #spelling
Our last day of the session kicks off our Halloween celebration. 🎃
Ms Tina is creating some elaborate face paintings of some mythical creatures.
#facepainting #halloween #party #art #riveroakacademy #halloweenparty
Math Monday includes a game of hopscotch.
#hopscotch #hopscotchmath #math #funwithmath
Our learners are building up on their number sense with the bead chain. They found the square and cube of the number 5. Also writing the larger numbers on blank arrows helps with their number writing skills.
#longbeadchain #montessori #math #montessorimath
We are enjoying the beautiful weather in our Outdoor Classroom as we tackle Writer’s Workshop this afternoon.
#writersworkshop #writing #outdoorclassroom #nature #nouns #collectivenouns #propernouns #pluralnouns
Yesterday’s survivor challenge was learning about knots which started with an activity that required teamwork, clear communication, and a lot of patience.
Each knot in the rope was its own unique challenge.
The difficulty changed with each knot, with where they were on the rope.
Every time a knot was untied, they got more slack and were able to do more with the rope.
“What is an example of a “knot” you untied in your life—a challenge that you thought was in the way, but once it was untied (or broken down) you realized you got more slack, more room to grow?”
#knot #knots #teamwork #halfhitchknot #collaboration #team #riveroakacademy
#nomanisanisland
After working hard and stretching our rubber bands, we also make time for play.
#playislearning #playhard
Survivor Quest Week 2:
Our learners have learned about edible flowers and insects; have bravely eaten them too. Yum!!!
#edibleflowers #mealworms #crickets #survivor
We give thanks for the dedicated men and women who put their lives at risk so that we might continue to enjoy ours.
Our Thanksgiving celebration begins!
We have so much to be thankful for.
Our neighbor rafter of wild turkeys came to graze on our grounds this morning as they normally do daily and our neighbor donkey, Otis, came for some treats which we were more than happy to provide. 🦃🥰 🐴
#happythanksgiving #thanks #gratitude #thanksgiving #happy #weloveourschool
A person’s path doesn’t look like anybody else’s. We all learn our own way, at our own pace. After all, it is not a race but instead is our very own unique journey.
The highest expression of gratitude is by living it. We are so grateful for the ease of living with gratitude day in and day out with our families and our ROA “framily”.
Happy Thanksgiving! 🙏🏼
What a great idea!
Natural Learning
December 3 at 7:23 PM ·
🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Collect a pine cone that still has its seeds in tact. If you put it in a small pot (keeping the majority of the pine cone out of the dirt) and water it a small amount (1/4 cup) everyday, you can grow a small pine tree in your home or classroom! Try it with the children in your life!
🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
It’s Fun Friday! We are making salt dough ornaments.
#christmas #ornaments #saltdough #riveroakacademy #funfriday #practicalmath #sensorial
Our last day of session and Christmas party brings to mind how grateful we are for all that we have. Our learners way of giving back is an assembly circle of putting together care kits for the homeless which may be “small” things to us but may be “big” things to them.
#gratitude #holidaycarekits #carekits #christmas #begrateful #giveback
Celebrating our family and friends and knowing that they are what gives us every reason to be grateful and to be joyful today and all year round.
Merry Christmas! 🌟
No matter how big the hill, or how long the journey may seem to be, start.
You can't finish what you don't begin.
Here’s to a promising start of a New Year with endless possibilities.
We are focusing on Architecture this session and what better way to learn about how things are built than hands-on building with loose parts.
Their brick structure has come@a long way and now has a deck and stairs.
And the best part of working in our outdoor classroom is “ no masks”.🥳 🌬
We want to nurture in our children a sense of genuine accomplishment with every challenge, however long that may take. We know that mistakes, failures and trials build courage, resilience and grit one lesson at a time. Showing mastery, practicing what they learned in a relevant, real-world application, authentically learning is our goal.
https://www.riveroakacademy.org/post/mindset-shift
We celebrated the life of a sweet hero this week who walked around the sun.
We’ve witnessed great strength of character growing within your calmness and serenity. Our quiet warrior.
We look forward to seeing you casting more of your light and sunshine in the year ahead. 🌞 💓
A musical performance by a few of our learners. We love their creative enthusiasm and initiative to deliver music from their hearts. ♥️ 🎶
Announcing our 2021 Children's Business Fair is now open and accepting applications from 6-18 year-olds from our surrounding area who exhibit an entrepreneurial spirit.
We have 13 spots available open to the public.
To apply, please go to https://www.childrensbusinessfair.org/jacksonville
Please come and support our young business owners.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
North East Florida Children's Business Fair 2021 Group
A very sweet ROA parent contributed her art and the story of her struggle to our blog this week when fear kicks in, leaving her doubtful and questioning if she made the right decision by pulling her children out of the standard way of learning. This is a story of her courage to see beyond what’s visible.
https://www.riveroakacademy.org/post/courage-to-see-beyond-what-s-visible
This session’s architectural quest brings in many relevant skills from different disciplines that are interconnected and not siloed into separate subjects like math, science, reading etc. Isn’t that how life is in the real world?
What a Fun Friday! Music 🎶 Movement 💃🏻 and Art !🎸Our learners made their own guitar out of recyclables.
Music is physical for this age group and they learn through a range of different short activities and games. After a hard week’s work, this is a great way to burn off energy. 🏃♀️
We received new shelves today so we invited our learners to help assemble. It was not easy but the look of satisfaction on their faces shows how proud they are. Priceless!
#practicallife #montessori #shelves
A special lunch guest today is a professional architect who kindly shared his journey and shared his college portfolio and current floor plans. They were so proud to share their very own floor plans with him.
Thank you Patrick Kern of RS and H Firm for taking the time out of your busy schedule to be with us this morning.
#architecturequest #architecture #floorplans #elevations #
We value authentic learning. So instead of a final exam, our learners lead a Learning Exhibition for an audience of their peers and parents.
Instead of memorizing answers to predetermined questions, this encourages them to think critically, solve challenging problems, and develop skills such as oral communication, public speaking, research, teamwork, planning, self-sufficiency, goal setting...skills that will help prepare them for the real world.
#pbl #realworldlearning #authenticlearning #makinglearningvisible
Our latest blog post from one of our amazing parents and middle school guide, Melanie Black.
She writes about her shift from parent of a child from a traditional school to being a parent of a child at River Oak Academy and how instead of focusing on homework, testing and grades, her son is now able to flourish in a self-driven environment where he is engaged in meaningful and relevant learning, his joy of learning reignited.
https://www.riveroakacademy.org/post/changing-the-education-paradigm
RIVEROAKACADEMY.ORG
Changing the Education Paradigm
We had a special guest, Ms Diana @italiancookinglessons
We got to make authentic Italian pizza from scratch. 🍕 Our kitchen became a learning lab involving all of our senses learning valuable practical lifetime skills that our learners are not likely going to forget. What a Fun Friday!!!.
For the next 2 months, we are focusing on an Entrepreneurship (E-ship) Quest.
This week, our learners are discovering what would motivate them in forming their own businesses-
helping people, making money, having more freedom or all of the above.
They are going to discover:
1. more about themselves and what they love.
2. as much about entrepreneurship as possible
3. how to create a business for our upcoming Children’s Business Fair on May 29th from 1-5 PM.
The fair will be open to the public so mark your calendars!To learn more, www.childrensbusinessfair.org/jacksonville
We are beyond excited to see what they come up with!😁
We had some special guests this week during our Entrepreneurship Quest time, a doctor who owns a private rheumatology practice and an owner of a marketing agency. They each had a unique story as to why they felt a calling to start their business. The need for more freedom and to have more opportunities to help more people are what compels them to do what they do. Listening to their stories was truly inspiring.
#entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #businessowner #rheumatology #marketing #bootstraptortoise
Weeks after a few of our learners had stumbled upon a nest of eggs... they were gently cared for, cleaned, each egg, named and lovingly placed in a protected habitat while researching what kind of eggs they are...one of these well-loved eggs hatched today revealing that they are indeed lizard eggs. Great rejoicing as baby JJ emerged from his egg. We are now eagerly anticipating his siblings’ appearance. 🦎 🦎 🦎 🦎 🦎
😃
Real world Science!
#realworldlearning #scienceintherealworld #lizards #authenticlearning #learningtobenurturing
#curiosity #discovery #exploration
We are looking to hire a sculpture artist who can instruct clay sculpting, wheel throwing for children ages 5-15 on the 1st week of June, 2021.
RIVER OAK ACADEMY
Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
What happens when things don’t go according to plan? We look to our own learners for a solution. One of our learners lead PE with fun games that focused on sportmanship, being a team player, and to quote one of our youngest learners “It’s not about winning, it’s about doing your best”! 😃
Finding joy in seeing your friends succeed.
Now that’s winning in our book.
What a FUN FRIDAY!!!
#pe #basketball #physicaleducation #teamwork #sports #sportsman #itsnotaboutthewinning
