Week of 9/22 - 9/26

The transitions from home to school are becoming smoother as students become familiar with the rhythms and routines of the classroom. Occasionally, an eager student will arrive, fleet of foot, and race out the door in a bid to join friends on the playground...Or to explore the great outdoors... at least the great back yard.
We introduced a new outdoor activity this week, hammering, and it has been unanimously embraced by the students. The work includes: a child sized hammer, nails, and safety goggles.
It has quickly risen in popularity, with a line often forming in anticipation of its use. Each student enjoys the chance to pound a few nails into our resident stump

Monday marked the first day of a new season, AUTUMN. We discussed the changing leaves, the cooler temperatures and harvesting. We stepped into our backyard, to the welcome sight of a pear tree, thick with ripe fruit ready for picking...So we picked them and cut them up...
We added a few delicious ingredients (1 arrowhead mills yellow cake mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 c. applesauce, 2T pumpkin spice mix, 1 c. water and lots of loving attention)...

And after a great deal of mixing by several small and capable hands...We poured the mix into a greased bundt pan and baked at 350 for 45 minutes.

Then of course we ate it... but I am sure you guessed that. To continue this exploration of Autumn harvest fruits, Angelina brought in a wide variety of seasonal apples, eight different types to be exact (as well as a few pomegranates and some peaches from our tree). The students took turns cutting and sampling these ripening flavors of Fall.

This was another great opportunity for the children to practice their food preparation skills and the group nature of the activity, provided a setting for socializing. There was a good deal of conversation on the topic of Apples... "I like the green ones", "the purple ones are sweetest", "I like these... the Asian pears...would you like a taste", "no thank you, they taste funny", etc.

We are also singing a fun seasonal song on line:

(tune of London Bridges)

All the leaves are falling down,
falling down,
falling down,
Twirling swirling to the ground
It is Autumn.

All the leaves are falling down,
falling down,
falling down,
Red and Yellow, Orange and Brown
It is Autumn.

In closing, I would like to add a disclaimer. When highlighting an activity or theme, there is always a danger that we may overlook the nuts and bolts of the classroom and the environment. Our classrooms are a hive of productive, self directed activity. The students are choosing work from all areas of the class and are developing a focused and concentrated approach to their lessons. It is difficult to provide an exhaustive overview of our week, but it is our hope that these snippets provide a window, however narrow, onto the week and foster communication.

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Have a wonderful week and we look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

Sept. 15-19

What an exciting week, full of activity and exploration.

A student is pictured sweeping a portion of the walkway on the playground. There weren't any wood-chips or dirt clods to be found at the culmination of her exertions.
Dirt? Did I mention dirt? Well, we began our initial explorations of geography this week with a study of land and water. We introduced the initial lesson on line, examining the qualities of soil/land first, immediately followed by an exploration of the qualities of water.
We also introduced the sandpaper globe, a globe on which the land areas are rough and tan, while the water areas are smooth and blue. The tactile qualities of the surface prepare the child for understanding the concepts of landmass, continents and countries.

To further this idea we introduced a work on line that distinguishes between animals that live on land and those that live in water.

A student is independently engaged in this land/water sorting activity.Several students enjoyed the land and water tray set up on a table.
Additionally, the first of our land and water forms are available for the students use. The landforms are three dimensional representations of various land and water formations. Here you see the lake form and the island form. These trays serve to illustrate the inverse relationship between an island and a lake. To work with this activity a child fills the pitcher (to the fill line) with water and pours this water into the lake form and around the island form. The result... A LAKE and AN ISLAND.
Of course, land and water, weren't the only happenings in our classroom this week. There were many, many more.
A few examples:

Shannon is giving a lesson with the circle drawer from the Geometric Cabinet.

Belle and a few students are fine tuning their auditory skills with the sound cylinders.
And this student is matching the color tablets in Color Box II.
We hope this window into your child's week has been enjoyable. We look forward to seeing you next week. Remember Back to School Night for our class is scheduled for next Thursday, September 25th, beginning with a potluck at 6 and culminating in a presentation at 7.

Have a great weekend.

feedback

We are interested in receiving some parent feedback regarding this blog. We know it is a new way of receiving information about the classroom and your child's day. It may be unfamiliar or even unwelcome, or you may be loving it. Either way we would like to hear from you. You can post your comments here by clicking on the tab immediately below this post that says COMMENT ( it is preceded by a number) and signing in. If you would prefer to contact someone directly please email Angelina, at lloydangelina@yahoo.com.
Thank you so much.

week of 9/8-9/12

Fall was definitely in the air this week. Students arrived to school (at least on Monday) bundled in jackets and sweaters. Undeterred by the dropping thermometer, they hurried outside to enjoy the changing weather.When you visit a Montessori classroom, you may hear us talking about the various elements of our classroom environment. For instance, there are sensorial activities, math activities, language activities, cultural activities and more. This week I would like to focus on demystifying the Practical Life area of our classroom. Practical Life exercises are Montessori activities which reflect the tasks adults perform daily in order to care for themselves and those around them, and to maintain the environment in which they work and live. Practical life is the foundation of any home or Montessori community.
A few examples of Practical Life activities include:
Wiping your nose
Washing your hands
Preparing food
Washing dishes
Feeding the animals
Cleaning the house
Polishing a candlestick
Buttoning your coat
Tying your shoe
Doing the laundry
Many of these things we (as adults) may take pleasure in, some of them may fill us with dread, while still others are performed without any thought at all. NOT SO FOR YOUNG CHILDREN! A child genuinely enjoys the activities of Practical Life. These exercises help the child to develop a sense of order, coordination, concentration, and independence. In addition, they help him/her acquire important skills, maintain his/her environment and foster a sense of responsibility.

This student has chosen to do a food preparation activity. He has washed his hands and is focused on the task at hand.

He selects a piece of bread from the bread tin and carefully cuts it into several small pieces.

After cutting the bread, he walks through the classroom offering the prepared bread to his friends. This act of service is a big point of interest and also a wonderful opportunity to practice our grace and courtesy.
The ensuing conversation goes something like this:
"Excuse me, would you like a piece of bread?"
"Yes, please", the child takes the bread, "Thank you."
"You're welcome.".
This continues until all the bread has been dispersed.

Inviting a child to join us in the preparation of a meal or mopping the floor, turns a potentially monotonous activity into a memory maker, particularly when we keep in mind that for him or her it is all about the process, rather than the product.

We'll see you again next week.

week 9/2-9/5

The weather is beginning to show signs of fall, with its cooler mornings and shorter days. We spent the week celebrating the remaining summer hours by playing in the sun and water while we were outdoors.
These two students are fishing with magnetic poles, a popular water table activity.


Each week we will be featuring an activity in the Montessori environment. It is our hope that these little windows into the classroom will be informative, foster community and encourage an ongoing dialog.

The sequence of the Language Area begins with the development of the child’s oral communication, starting with oral language lessons that increase vocabulary. Then the child is introduced to sounds and symbols. These lessons help the child to identify the sounds each letter makes. The exploration of sounds and symbols begins with the ‘I Spy’ game. This activity helps the child develop his/her auditory skills and fosters the child’s awareness that spoken words are composed of individual sounds.

We begin an initial lesson by removing several objects from a box, saying the name of each one and emphasizing the first sound as we do. Once all the objects are laid out, we place an object (for example, a mop) in one hand. With the other hand we form a spyglass to peer through.

"I spy with my little eye, something that begins with a "m'" (here we are using the phonetic sound).

The child then guesses, "mop", and so on, incorporating more objects as appropriate.

Children sometimes, require varied repetition of this game to ascertain its objective and to discriminate among the sounds.

After initial sounds are isolated, we can play the game listening for ending sounds and then middle sounds.

It was another wonderful week of getting to know one another and the classroom.

We look forward to the weeks and months ahead. See you soon.