Montessori Classroom News April 27, 2018

The peas we planted inside have sprouted! We are amazed each day to see how much they have grown. 

On Monday, the first few tiny sprouts had emerged

Every day we could see that the sprouts had grown taller and new ones emerged

Look what's growing in our garden!

This week we also filled our raised garden beds with soil so we can start planting in them next week! 

Everyone contributed to the project

We learn this poem as a song with motions 

A Little Seed 

By Mabel Watts

A little seed for me to sow

A little earth to make it grow

A little hole, a little pat

A little wish, and that is that.

A little sun, a little shower,

A little while… and then, a flower!

Language Tip of the week:

“What do you think?

Ask your child for their opinions & ideas in your conversations. When they ask a question, sometimes you can respond with “What do you think?” instead of answering right away. (e.g., questions like, “Where is that dog going?” or “Why do I have to wear a hat?”) You can also ask them what they think the weather will be outside, what they enjoyed doing that day, anything!

Benefits for your child: 

- build their mental comprehension and analytical skills, 

- practice speaking and explaining. 

You’ll also learn about your child’s perceptions of the world and what is important to them. 

With some rainy days in the past few weeks, we've discussed where the rain comes from and what happens to the rain on the ground. We talked about evaporation and set up our own experiment. The water level in the open cup is slowly decreasing as the water evaporates, but stays the same in the covered cup. 

Notes & Reminders 

Wed. May 23^rd– 12pm dismissal

Parent-Teacher Conferences 1:30-6pm

Wed. May 30^th– 10am Prayer Service in Honor of Parents

Our class is working with 3^rdand 7^thgrades to lead this prayer service for the school. Parents welcome to attend!

Friday, June 15^th

Montessori end-of-year program – 9am

Join us in the classroom for refreshments, a slideshow, and some of our favorite songs & poems from the year. 

This is our last day – no school for Montessori students June 18-20th

Parents with students in grades 1-7: 

We will finish our program by 10 so you can also attend the 10am awards ceremony in the church.

Montessori Classroom News April 18, 2018

A special activity we introduced this week was planting seeds. Everyone helped with different parts of the process

With a small wooden tool, the older children can make little pots out of newspaper strips

Ready for planting!

Demonstration of how to fill newspaper pots with potting soil

Filling the pots

Adding a seed to each pot

Watering

Cleaning up the spilled soil at the end of the morning

The Sound Game 

(“I Spy”) 

To become effective readers and writers, children need a strong awareness of the sounds that make up words. We play this game often in the classroom, with 4 levels to match to each child’s developmental stage. More practice at home is helpful, as long as it feels fun and playful for your child – the key is that they feel successful.

In the classroom we have a special box of objects
we use for the "I Spy" game

Level 1: You say the beginning sound of an object and the child identifies the object. 

Start simple! (“I spy something you’re holding that starts with ‘fff’” when a fork is the only thing in their hand) and gradually make it more challenging (”I spy something on your face that starts with ‘nnn’” )

Other variations to try at home:

1) Sound out the names of objects around your house and in your daily life with your child.

2) Sound out the name of an object without saying the whole word and have your child blend it back together to find what the object is (e.g. “ch-ee-z” or “sh-ir-t”)

Important Dates 

(some changes to the school calendar)

Friday, April 20^th– Half Day (12pm dismissal, no aftercare)

Wed. May 23^rd– 12pm dismissal

Parent-Teacher Conferences 1:30-6pm

Friday, June 15^th

Montessori end-of-year program – 9am

Join us in the classroom for refreshments, a slideshow, and some of our favorite songs & poems from the year. 

This is our last day – no school for Montessori students June 18-20th

Last call for Pennies for Peace

Send in any coins you have collected by Friday!

Montessori Classroom News April 12, 2018

Spring themes and activities  

• Africa is our continent focus for geography, culture & science. 
• Amphibians, especially the life cycle of frogs 

• Seeds, soil, and how plants grow. We hope to soon start planting in our new outdoor classroom garden beds that are under construction. 

We soak dry limas in water with food coloring. Amazing how much they change in just a few hours!

The children learn to slip the seed coat off and gently open the two halves to discover the baby plant.

Other new activities this week:

We added binoculars as an option to use on the Observation Stool

 Carrot peeling and chopping! We emphasize  safety techniques that enable children to use real tools for preparing food.

Painting with watercolors

Making our own hummus

Word Game: Groups 

Choose a category, and then work with your child to name as many things as you can think of in that group. This game builds your child’s sorting & categorizing skills and also reinforces and teaches new vocabulary words. 

Example categories: Furniture, clothes, food, fruit, animals (or mammals, insects), things with wheels, things in the air, etc

Poem of the Week

Last night I saw upon the stair

A little frog who wasn’t there.

She wasn’t there again today.

Oh, how I wish she’d go away!

Our adaptation of “The Little Man Who Wasn’t There” by Hughes Mearns

Notes & Reminders

Friday, April 20^th– Half Day (12pm dismissal, no aftercare)

Uniforms for May & June

Your child may wear navy blue knee-length shorts(or skort – skirt with built in shorts) in May and June. They can also continue to wear navy pants. We have some second-hand shorts for sale – email Ms. Cheryl if interested.

Last call for Pennies for Peace

Send in any coins you have collected by next Friday!