Hi Everyone,
We got right back into the swing of things after the holiday break and it seems like January is flying by.
At the beginning of January we welcomed a new friend, Dylan. The older friends have been helping Dylan to settle into the classroom. At this point in the year most of the children have the hang of how the classroom works. The older children are accepting more responsibility and the younger children are becoming more independent. This journey towards independence has been ongoing.
It began with care of self. We have been learning to take care of changing into our slippers in the morning and putting our things away on the hooks in our cubbies. We have also been working to independently put on our snowpants, boots, and gloves to go outside. In the beginning getting dressed for the winter was challenging, but now we all have the process down. At first it seemed to take a long time to get ready, but if someone else had done it for us we wouldn't have learned to do it by ourselves. We learned to do it with guidance, respect, and time.
We have been learning to care for our classroom environment as well. This includes caring for the materials by using a work mat or table and putting our work away for the next friend to use. We have learned to clean up spills, sweep, water the plants and dust the leaves, arrange flowers, wash the windows, wash the tables, and dust the shelves.
During lunch and snack, we care for ourselves and the environment. We serve ourselves our own snack and when we are finished we wash our plate and cup and clean the table. During lunch we wash our hands, get a place mat and plate, and independently unpack our own food. We practice grace and courtesy when we chew with our lips closed and to have polite conversation during lunch. When we are finished we put away any left overs, put away our plates in the dirty dish bin, wash our place mats, and sweep up any crumbs.
The lessons in Grace and Courtesy often occur at circle when we talk about respect for ourselves, others, and our environment. We have respect for ourselves so we take care of ourselves and we have respect for the environment, so we take care of it as well. We do these things to care for our classroom and ourselves because we have been encouraged and allowed to do so. When independence is fostered, self-esteem grows. Montessori said "Never help a child at a task at which he feels he can succeed". Please think about how you can encourage and allow your child to be independent while getting ready for school, packing a lunch, or caring for his/her home environment.
Independence is what allows us to work throughout each of the curriculum areas of the classroom.
We are finishing up our studies of Africa. We have talked and read about the desert, rainforest, and savanna biomes of Africa. We talked about a few animals that live in each of these biomes. We read many books about culture in Africa. We were particularly interested in A Child's Day in a Ghanaian City and A Child's Day in an Egyptian City. We discussed the similarities and differences between the lives of the children in the books and our own. For example, in Ghana a basket with food and goods may be balanced on one's head while walking home from the market. We tried balancing a basket while doing walking on the line work in the classroom.
We used the planosphere map of the Earth and the puzzle map of Africa to create our own maps using the push pin. We aren't aware that we are also strengthening our pincer grip for writing while making our maps.
Lynsey talked with us the art of weaving crafts, baskets, and fabric in Africa. Each friend contributed to weave two beautiful hangings for our classroom using bits of yarn, twine, dried flowers, leaves, and twigs.
We have been talking about what animals we would like to buy for families in Africa through the Heifer International project. We have discussed benefits of each animals. For example, a goat not only provides milk and cheese for a family to eat and sell, but the kids that the goat may have can be given to other families to further benefit the community. The children can continue to collect money for the Heifer project throughout this week. We ask that all of the bottles be brought back to school by Monday, January 30th so we can begin sorting, counting, and rolling the coins.
We have also been progressing rapidly in our math and language areas. Many of us have started work with the golden beads to explore the decimal system (base ten), some are working with math operations using the golden bead work, and others are beginning the process of Addition for Memorization with the introduction of the number rods for addition. In the language area we are all working to develop our reading and writing skills. Many of us have started reading logs and we work on our writing skills throughout the day in all curriculum areas. We enjoy writing that allows us to record our work in our study of vertebrates (we are now working on mammals) and enjoy writing books related to our cultural studies.
Please check the January/February Calendar page and the Laundry, Snack and Flower pages. A date to note that was added to the February Calendar is Special Person Night on February 8th at 5:30 pm. This is an opportunity for your child to share the classroom with someone special to him/her.
