Connecting science and cultural units to the practical life area

"I climbed up the apple tree
 All the apples fell on me
 Apple pudding
 Apple pie
 That was very good
 Oh my!"

The last few weeks we have been studying apples. We sang apples songs, talked about the parts of apples, and learned about Johnny Appleseed. Most of our cultural and science units are carried throughout all curriculum areas. While we were studying apples, the practical life area of the classroom had beautiful apple bowls, apples for scooping, and apples for stirring. Here's a glimpse of the the practical life shelves.

There are three practical life shelves. The shelf pictured  to the left is for pouring, scooping, and squeezing activities. The next shelf pictured below is for twisting activities, sewing and threading, and care of self. The third shelf is for care of the environment; sweeping, plant watering, window washing, etc. (sorry no photo).

The practical life materials aid in the development of coordination, concentration, independence, and order. As with all areas of the curriculum, the materials are carefully prepared to isolate a particular skill, be attractive, complete, and allow a child to work independently.

The materials are arranged on the shelves from left to right and top to bottom by order of the sequence of skills.
                                                                                 A favorite work was using an apple hole punch
to make a "bushel" of tiny construction paper apples to take home. We do love to collect
things! And though we don't realize it we are
also strengthening our hands and developing our fine motor skills in the process.

pom pom squeezing

Another favorite work was using putting pom pom "apples" into individual apple shapes in an apple ice cube tray. This work helps to practice using a pincer grip for writing, while building concentration and a sense of order. One of the tenants of the Montessori philosophy is repetition. Repetition is very important in developing fine motor coordination.

Using the apple cutter with play-do helped us to get ready for food
                                                         preparation with apples. We have already practiced rolling a ball   during prior play-do lessons. After rolling a ball of play-do, a child carefully centers the apple cutter over the play-do and presses down to create perfect "apple" slices.

apple cutter with play-do 

apples with cinnamon recipe

Sitting with a friend; enjoying conversation and the apples with cinnamon that they prepared

                                                                                 

International Day of Peace

On Friday September 21, 2012 Meadowbrook Montessori School celebrated the International Day of Peace with a school-wide peace walk. The primary class created peace flags with their thoughts about peace and the elementary class lined West Street with Pinwheels for Peace. We walked from West Street to LLBean, where we sang "Light a Candle for Peace". 

Peace education is the foundation of the Montessori philosophy. Dr. Maria Montessori said "Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war". In the primary classroom the peace curriculum starts with the introduction of the classroom ground rules, how to be respectful of the Earth and each other, and how to resolve problems respectfully using peaceful language. We have also begun talking about peacemakers with a story of Maria Montessori. The elementary classroom has been talking about peace during class meeting. They have talked about using peaceful language, getting your voice heard respectfully and listening. 

Click to see more photos of our International Day of Peace Walk

Wow, time certainly flies when you're having fun! The first two weeks have flown by. Old friends were reunited and new friendships have been made.

Our second and third year students settled right in to the classroom routines. They have been great models for the younger friends to learn the ground rules and routines of our days together. We are learning grace and courtesy. We practiced interrupting a teacher or friend politely by putting a hand on his/her shoulder. We practiced bathroom etiquette (knock before you enter, one friend at a time, flush, wash your hands, and turn off the light). We practiced taking a work mat out, carefully unrolling it and smoothing it on the floor. We practiced walking around the work mats so we can be safe with the materials and respect our friends work. We are very eager to learn from all of the materials!

serious meditation

This week we had music on Tuesday with Mr. Andrew. We sang a few songs that the class learned last year, including our favorite, the "Crawdad song". We are also learning to sing "Sing Peace Around the World." We will sing this song after the school wide peace walk to celebrate the International Day of Peace. We started yoga on Wednesday afternoon. We had yoga outside on the playground and began with quiet meditation, followed by learning mountain, down dog, and tree pose. Lastly we had free pose-the children can show a pose that they created or share a traditional pose that they have learned.

Working with the geometric solids. We found objects in the classroom that are cones, cubes, and spheres then we graded them from smallest to largest.

Writing words using the moveable alphabet that have one or more consonant blends

Working on building coordination, concentration, independence and order while strengthening his pincer grip for writing