Our Week

We spent a lot of time doing work outside on our deck this past week to take advantage of the sunshine. Here are photos of some of the work happening inside and outside the classroom lately.

Variation of the numerals and counters materials for 1:1 correspondence 

Practicing coordination and grace and courtesy for Mother's Day Tea

Transferring tiny eggs from a nest using tweezers

making a hanging bead stair 

addition with the decimal (base 10) system materials, also known as the golden beads

working with the positive snake game

Researching the definitions of the parts of a caterpillar

addition with the number rods

making a diagram for the parts of an insect

push pinning a triangle traced from the triangle metal inset, a writing preparation material

examining a blue jay feather in the nature basket

decorating invitation for Mother's Day Tea

Spring Practical Life

The daffodils bloomed in Maine this week and provided inspiration for the practical life area. 

pouring from one cup to another

transferring eggs from a nest using tweezers

scooping eggs into a basket

transferring water droplets with a pipet

pouring pom pom balls from one cup to two cups

stacking nesting boxes

pinning flowers to a line

hanging up seed packet print fabric using cloths pins 

Earth Day!

Everyday is Earth Day in our Montessori classrooms! Montessori classrooms awake a child's sense of awe and wonder about the Earth from an early age. Dr. Montessori believed in giving children experiences in nature and viewed the natural world as part of the classroom environment. She wrote, "The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth." In our toddler program and continuing through the upper elementary classroom, the Montessori environment creates opportunities to cultivate a child's curiosity and respect for the world around him/her on a regular basis. Children learn to care for plants within the classroom and in the outdoor environment. Nature is incorporated into scientific, geographic, and in cultural studies.  In the Montessori curriculum, cosmic education shows the interconnectedness of all things in the universe. By teaching children to be stewards of the Earth, we instill a sense of global awareness.

 Around Earth Day we do a project as a school to promote environmental awareness in our community. This year Meadowbrook Montessori is participating in the twentieth annual Earth Day Groceries Project. Hannaford grocery in Yarmouth, ME allowed us to borrow paper grocery bags and the children decorated them with environmental messages. We returned the bags to the store to be passed out to shoppers that request their groceries be bagged with paper. We hope people will think about reusing or recycling their grocery bags. The people in our neighborhood will get a very clear and positive message that the students at our school care about their environment.