Montessori Materials

The children from Room 4 have been enjoying the use of materials in the classroom.  Returning students have been excited to reacquaint themselves with favorite projects, and new students are enjoying the discoveries of trying works for the first time.  We are learning the joy of intrinsic motivation and how to independently choose developmentally appropriate materials.

Learning how to carry the Red Rods and grade them longest to shortest

Independent work and concentration

Learning letters by their sound, rather than by name

Matching quantity to numeral

Matching the cylinders by sound

Self-expression with the Movable Alphabet

Self-expression with the Movable Alphabet

Learning how to snap

The joy of accomplishing something yourself, and cleaning your crocs

Concentrating on rolling an apron

Azul

Room 3 welcomes Azul the Beta to their classroom!

Concentration

The students continue to concentrate and enjoy their work time in EC.

Babydoll Washing includes lots of steps the child needs to remember

The Hanging Bead Stair

Concentrating on a puzzle

Working on a puzzle with numerals 1-20

Stringing Beads

Dry Squeezing, strengthening the hand muscles

Working on learning the sounds letters make with the Sandpaper Letters

Working on the Binomial Cube

Babydoll Washing

Pin-Pricking and then assembling a map of North America

Salsa Time

Ms. Becca Lute (Annika's mom), who is a Registered Dietitian, came to visit room 3 in the afternoon recently to make corn and bean salsa.

We had a lesson on the nutritious food groups and talked about the other group of "sometimes foods".

The children chopped green onions, cilantro, and tomatoes.

We mixed those with corn and black beans.

Then we enjoyed the salsa with blue corn chips!

Creating Emotional Safety

Separation

Tips for Talking to your child about his/her day

Greet your child/children when they are buckled in the car.  This is a good time to sing together or inform him/her of the plans for the next little while.

·         Create a ritual that signifies a specific time for you to talk about what happened during the day at school—this may be in the car, over a snack, while preparing dinner, or possibly during the winding down routine leading up to bedtime.

·         Some Specific Questions:

o   What was the best thing about school today?

o   Did anything surprise you at school today?

o   Can you show me with your hands what you did at school today?

o   What made you happy while you were at school today?

o   What is something you discovered at school today?

o   Did Senora Poloche visit your class today? Spanish classes are on Thursday morning.

o   Did you sing with Mrs. Horner today? Music classes meet each Monday morning.

o   Ask about the classroom pets

o   Who was your friend today?

o   How were you a friend to someone else today?

o   Who did you sit by at lunch or share a snack with today?

o   Did you read a book or sing a song at school today?

We hope this will help you engage in conversation with your child at school—often times the question, “How as your day?” is difficult for young children to comprehend or deal with appropriately.

Thank you!

The Early Childhood Teachers

Greetings from Aftercare

Aftercare activities include:  

• Reading books
• Snack time
• Art projects (last week we decorated our recycling box.)
• Puzzles
• Using some Montessori Materials
• Playground time

 

 

 

Room 2 at Work

Room 2 has been busy with purposeful work these first weeks of school. We have many of our friends staying full day this year for the first time and the transition has been amazingly smooth.