Bonjour!
Today was the first French class with Madame. The children practiced introducing themselves in French. They guessed the English translation of several French words. A favorite word was chocolat. Madame helped us to learn the song "The More We Get Together" in French. We have been singing this song as a close to each day. The children were introduced to French history through the story of the Adventures of Asterix and Obelix, a popular French comic book series. They then colored cartoon pictures of the characters in the story.
au revoir!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Our Classroom Community
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| Reading to Friends |
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| Birthday Candle Walk for Celeste and Pearl |
If a child wishes to celebrate his/her birthday in the classroom we celebrate with "The Birthday Walk". For the birthday celebration the children gather at circle. A candle is placed in the middle of the circle on a work mat to represent the sun. The teacher lays out the names of the months as rays around the candle beginning with the month of the child's birth. The child is given the colored globe to represent the Earth traveling around the sun for each year of the child's life. Each child in our classroom community may have a turn walking around the candle. Please let me know if you would like to come to class to join in the celebration. You may make a time line with your child of important events in their life to share with the class if your child chooses to celebrate his/her birthday in the classroom.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
"The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth". - Maria Montessori
Hello Meadowbrook Montessori Families,
On Thursday afternoon, the children walked silently along the trails through the playground woods, as they were lead on a nature walk by Lynsey and I. We observed mushrooms, moss, caterpillars, berries, and more. We stopped to listen to a crow. We also stopped on the trails to talk about how to respect the living things on our playground, such as not shaking or picking leaves off the trees and how to observe the small creatures that may be found. We are lucky to have a natural playground at Meadowbrook. The children not only learn about nature there, but the natural environment encourages imaginative play and social development.
In our classroom we will have a nature basket designated for interesting objects found in nature. The children are always welcome to bring objects to this table and have the choice to share about the special nature object in circle or simply to place it on the table for others to gently explore or examine with a magnifying class. After a period we will send the object home with the friend who brought it, so that room may be made for other nature objects. A monarch butterfly caterpillar is visiting our classroom. The children enjoyed observing it this week. Lifecycle of a butterfly work and parts of a butterfly work were introduced. We hope to watch it complete metamorphosis. The children are also learning to care for our two classroom goldfish. Together we will decide on names for our fish.
I am very excited to announce our first primary classroom field trip. The primary classroom and the first and second year elementary students will be going to the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center for an interactive exploration of the salt marsh on Thursday, September 22nd. We are planning to leave school by 9:15 am and return to school by 12:15 pm. Field trip permission forms will be sent home in the communication folders next week. Please let me know if you would like to be a driver/chaperone for this trip. Led by marsh educator Linda Woodard and volunteers, the children will have an opportunity to experience the marsh first hand using their senses. They will learn about the adaptations of plants and animals unique to the salt marsh, look through algae for small critters, jump on the mud, and feel the marsh fish, the mummichog. Before our trip the children will be introduced to materials in the science area about plants and animals of the salt marsh and we will learn a song about the marsh together at circle.
Dr. Montessori said, "The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge." Children love to explore with their senses. Montessori had this in mind when she designed the beautiful materials of the Sensorial area of our curriculum. The Sensorial materials are grouped according to the sense which the material serves to isolate (Visual Discrimination/Auditory Sense/Tactile Sense/Thermic Sense/Olfactory Sense/ and Gustatory Sense). After the initial lesson on the use of the material, many of the materials can be explored while the child wears a blindfold to further isolate the sense. The aims of the Sensorial curriculum are the the refinement of the ability to observe, compare, discriminate, differentiate, reason, decide, solve problems, and appreciate our world. The materials assist the child in sorting the myriad of impressions that they have gathered through their ability to "absorb" their surroundings.
“The Child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope...hope for peace in the future.” Dr. Maria Montessori
Have a peaceful weekend,
Jill
P.S. - Please check the laundry, flower, and snack calendars listed under pages on the blog. Let me know what week you would like to sign up for laundry and flowers if you haven't already.
On Thursday afternoon, the children walked silently along the trails through the playground woods, as they were lead on a nature walk by Lynsey and I. We observed mushrooms, moss, caterpillars, berries, and more. We stopped to listen to a crow. We also stopped on the trails to talk about how to respect the living things on our playground, such as not shaking or picking leaves off the trees and how to observe the small creatures that may be found. We are lucky to have a natural playground at Meadowbrook. The children not only learn about nature there, but the natural environment encourages imaginative play and social development.
In our classroom we will have a nature basket designated for interesting objects found in nature. The children are always welcome to bring objects to this table and have the choice to share about the special nature object in circle or simply to place it on the table for others to gently explore or examine with a magnifying class. After a period we will send the object home with the friend who brought it, so that room may be made for other nature objects. A monarch butterfly caterpillar is visiting our classroom. The children enjoyed observing it this week. Lifecycle of a butterfly work and parts of a butterfly work were introduced. We hope to watch it complete metamorphosis. The children are also learning to care for our two classroom goldfish. Together we will decide on names for our fish.
I am very excited to announce our first primary classroom field trip. The primary classroom and the first and second year elementary students will be going to the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center for an interactive exploration of the salt marsh on Thursday, September 22nd. We are planning to leave school by 9:15 am and return to school by 12:15 pm. Field trip permission forms will be sent home in the communication folders next week. Please let me know if you would like to be a driver/chaperone for this trip. Led by marsh educator Linda Woodard and volunteers, the children will have an opportunity to experience the marsh first hand using their senses. They will learn about the adaptations of plants and animals unique to the salt marsh, look through algae for small critters, jump on the mud, and feel the marsh fish, the mummichog. Before our trip the children will be introduced to materials in the science area about plants and animals of the salt marsh and we will learn a song about the marsh together at circle.
Dr. Montessori said, "The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge." Children love to explore with their senses. Montessori had this in mind when she designed the beautiful materials of the Sensorial area of our curriculum. The Sensorial materials are grouped according to the sense which the material serves to isolate (Visual Discrimination/Auditory Sense/Tactile Sense/Thermic Sense/Olfactory Sense/ and Gustatory Sense). After the initial lesson on the use of the material, many of the materials can be explored while the child wears a blindfold to further isolate the sense. The aims of the Sensorial curriculum are the the refinement of the ability to observe, compare, discriminate, differentiate, reason, decide, solve problems, and appreciate our world. The materials assist the child in sorting the myriad of impressions that they have gathered through their ability to "absorb" their surroundings.
“The Child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope...hope for peace in the future.” Dr. Maria Montessori
Have a peaceful weekend,
Jill
P.S. - Please check the laundry, flower, and snack calendars listed under pages on the blog. Let me know what week you would like to sign up for laundry and flowers if you haven't already.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
“Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future.”
Hello Primary Classroom Families,
Lynsey and I are already having so much fun watching the children learn and explore in the classroom and outdoor environment. It was great to see their joy as they greeted old friends this morning and were introduced to new friends. The first week of school we will work to establish comfort in the classroom and build community by singing songs and reading books together. This morning we sang "Goodmorning, Dear Earth" (which many of the children already know), "Let's Sing Hello Together" (we sing each child's name), and we also said a thanks poem before lunch.
Lynsey and I are already having so much fun watching the children learn and explore in the classroom and outdoor environment. It was great to see their joy as they greeted old friends this morning and were introduced to new friends. The first week of school we will work to establish comfort in the classroom and build community by singing songs and reading books together. This morning we sang "Goodmorning, Dear Earth" (which many of the children already know), "Let's Sing Hello Together" (we sing each child's name), and we also said a thanks poem before lunch.
Give thanks to the Mother Earth
Give thanks to the Father Sun
Give thanks for the plants in the garden
Where the Mother and the Father are one
Bonappetit
In addition to building community and making friends, we are working on internalizing the ground rules and working to completion in the Montessori work cycle.
This afternoon we had our first group yoga and creative movement lesson. The children practiced unrolling and rolling their yoga mats and arranging them to make the rays of a sun. We talked about the importance of breathing during yoga and practiced the "bear breath" yoga card. We also read Peaceful Piggy Yoga. The yoga class finished with relaxation. Tomorrow the children will have music with Andrew from 317 music center.
I am sure that the children will be very tired this evening, as they had a busy day.
One reminder:
Please remember to drop of our children at the door of the lodge and not at the door straight into the classroom. The children will walk through the lodge to the cubbie room and then into the classroom when they have put their things away.
Have a great night!
Jill
The Prepared Environment
" With the realization that children absorb unconsciously from their environment, it became necessary to provide a seemingly perfect learning environment for developing children. The structured environment for learning involves a wide range of didactic apparatus, varied activities reflecting all aspects of the child's development, with everything being aesthetically pleasing and geared to the child's size, needs, and interests."
- Maria Montessori
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| Language Area |
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| Snack Area |
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| Practical Life Area |
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| Peace Place |
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| Sensorial Area |
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| view of the back room- Practical Life, Science, Sensorial, and snack |
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| view of the front room- Math, Language, Geography Areas, and book nook |
Monday, September 5, 2011
Welcome
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the blog for the primary classroom at Meadowbrook Montessori School. I am hoping that this blog helps to communicate important information about classroom themes, school events, and opportunities to build community at Meadowbrook. I also hope to have discussions about the curriculum that make Montessori a unique educational approach that nurtures a child's intrinsic desire to learn and puts him/her on the path to being to confident, self-motivated learner. One of the best ways to support your child's education is to learn about the Montessori approach, to have conversations with your child about his/her work in the classroom and to practice the Montessori approach at home. Below you will find a video from the Montessori Foundation, Montessori: Planting the Seeds of Learning.
Many of you have stopped by this summer to see our beautiful classroom after renovations. I will post photos soon!
I am excited for the 2011-1012 school year and look forward to seeing you in the morning!
Enjoy this gorgeous Labor Day!
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