February Facts from Room 5

v  It snowed!

v  We are getting quicker at putting on our winter gear

v  We have had lots of fun sledding down our Montessori Mustang Sledding Hill

v  We have read books about:

o   Abraham Lincoln

o   George Washington

o   Louis Armstrong

 

 

 

 

 

 Here are some questions to ask your son/daughter?

1.    George had?  (false teeth)

2.   George’s usual bedtime was? (9:00 p.m.)

3.   What did Martha, his wife call him? (old man)

 

4.   Abraham Lincoln wore a black hat because? (he kept important papers and letters in it)

5.   How tall was Abraham with his hat on? (7 feet tall)

 

6.   What did Louis sell to make money? (onions)

7.   How much money did Louis pay for his first trumpet? ($5.00)

Celebrating Snow!

The children in Room 4 have been discovering many ways to artistically celebrate the snow.  Many children enjoyed making snowflakes by twisting together pipe cleaners and then stringing on beads.  They also punched snowflakes with a decorative hole punch, and cut out many beautiful coffee filter snowflakes, which we are currently displaying on our window.  Snowmen have been an important theme: many children created their own snowman with construction paper and glued the pieces together.  Children took turns building a snow friend out of boxes, and enjoyed sorting buttons before counting and matching them to the dots on five snowmen.  Our classroom has been a panorama of beautiful, wintry art.

 

Pin-Pricking a Snowman

Snowman Building Craft

Button Counting

Snowflake Punching
 

Steps to Parenting the Montessori Way: Part 5

• Learn to wait.  Some things people want to give their children or do with them are more appropriate at a later age.  Be patient;  the optimal time will come.  Stay focused on where they are right now.

• Help your child start a collection of something interesting.

• Help them learn to sort: the laundry, silverware, etc.

• Watch at sunrise.  Watch a sunset.

• Analyze your child's wardrobe, and build a wardrobe aimed at freedom of movement, independence, and freedom from distraction.

• Make regular trips to the public library, become familiar with the librarians and how the library works, and enjoy books together.  Borrow books and help your child learn the responsiiblity for caring for them and returning them.

• Arrange time for both parents to attend parent-teacher conferences.  Speak together in preparation for the conference, and write down questions.

• Assign regular, age-appropriate household tasks that need to be done to maintain the household (perhaps setting silverware and napkins on the table, sorting, recycling, dusting, watering plants, etc.)

• Refrain from replacing everything that gets broken.  Help children learn the value of money and the consequences of actions.

• See that your child learns to swim (the younger the better).

Excerpt from Tomorrow's Child Magazine, September 2012

Valentine's Day



February is approaching quickly and everywhere we see displays of pink and red hearts in the spirit of Valentine's Day. At TMA, the young children share their friendship with each other by bringing in valentines for everyone. (While we know this is a special time, at TMA we dwell on it only briefly at school.) We encourage you to talk with your child about 'being a friend' or 'acts of kindness' toward others especially at this time.

Whether your family participates in giving valentines or not, each child will have a bag for collecting valentines others may bring in.  All valentines need to be marked To: Friend   From: _____ (insert your child's name). 

The normal schedule for the day is:  Arrival 8:20 - 8:35,  individual bags will be placed around the line and as the children enter their classes, the may distribute their valentines to the bags and then go about their work.  The whole process is wrapped up no later than 9:00 and then the children are able to go about their normal day--participating in Spanish, library, and classroom activities.  The teachers will make sure each child has a bag in their tote to go home.

Thank you for following these guidelines and allowing us to continue on with this way of acknowledging this day of friendship at TMA.