Montessori Classroom News November 21, 2017

Reading tip: Interactive reading

Holiday breaks can be a great time for some extra reading with your child. To make the most of your reading time, encourage your child’s involvement in reading the book. Here are a few ideas to try:

-       Before you read a book, take a picture walk and see if you can make predictions (“What do you think this book will be about?”) based on the pictures. If your child seems hesitant or unsure, you can model making predictions yourself.

-       While you’re reading, pause at a suspenseful point to ask your child what s/he thinks will happen next.

-       You may also pause at different points in the story to explain new words, notice something interesting in the illustrations, or wonder about something in the story.

Most importantly, remember to have fun and enjoy the story with your child!

Counting Poem One, two; buckle my shoe Three, four; shut the door Five, six; pick up sticks Seven, eight, lay them straight Nine, ten, let’s do it again [Repeat as many times as you want; the last time end with: Nine, ten, that’s the end!]

The Leaves are Green

A traditional rhyme

The leaves are green, the nuts are brown.

They hang so high they won’t come down.

Leave them alone ‘til frosty weather.

Then they will all come down together.

Thanks for the hats!

Lorraine Teyssiers, the aunt of a volunteer at the school, knit a hat for every child in our class. Enjoy! 

Montessori Classroom News November 2, 2017

In connection with our trip to the farm, we have been learning the song “Los Pollitos” (The little chicks) in English and Spanish:

Los Pollitos:

All the little chicks say pío, pío, pío
When they are hungry, when they are cold

Mama chicken looks for corn and some wheat

That will give them dinner; that will give them heat

Under her wings, the chicks she will keep

Until the morning the little chickies sleep.

Los pollitos dicen pío, pío, pío
cuando tienen hambre, cuando tienen frío.
La gallina busca el maíz y el trigo
Les da la comida y les presta abrigo.
Bajo sus dos alas, acurrucaditos,
hasta el otro dia, duérmen los pollitos.

Word Game: Opposites Play a game where you name a word and your child says the opposite. Examples: - up/down                - wet/dry - cold/hot,               - short/tall - over/under           - in/out - clean/dirty     - happy/sad        Another way to play is to ask a question that confuses a pair and let your child correct you. For example, “Is fire cold?” “Is water dry?” Once your child has the hang of opposites, you can offer to let your child say the first word, and you come up with the opposite. (Don’t worry, if you’re stumped, you can always ask your child for help!) Thursday, Nov. 16 Parent-Teacher Conferences Our fall conference is a time for us to share with you about your child’s work and interactions at school, discuss any questions you have, and together decide on some goals for your child’s school year. We look forward to the time to connect and strengthen our parent-teacher partnership!

Pumpkins

We continue our exploration of pumpkins into November, learning about the parts of a pumpkin, how they grow, and trying different foods from pumpkins. 

Montessori Classroom News October 25, 2017

Farms! In preparation for today’s trip, we have discussed that most our food comes from farms! We have many farm-related books and activities. Ask your child what farm animals they know and what they can tell you about how pumpkins grow.

The Kind Stranger

We learned that Jesus often told stories to teach people. When someone asked him who counts as a “neighbor” in the commandment “love your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus answered with the story of the Good Samaritan (the Kind Stranger). In the story, a Jewish traveler was injured and in need of help. While a Jewish priest and a religious teacher hurried past on the other side of road, a Samaritan (a low-status foreigner) was the one who had compassion and helped the injured person, acting like a neighbor to them. We discussed how we can be a neighbor to anyone who needs our help. The children often request to sing “The Neighbor Song”:

Chorus: Hey, hey, you’re my neighbor now (2x)

Hey, hey, you’re my neighbor today, everybody sing,

Hey, hey, you’re my neighbor now (2x)

Hey, hey, you’re my neighbor today.

Verse 1: When you’re on the road-road-road

To Jericho-cho-cho

And you walk by-by-by

Someone who cry-cry-cries

Take their hand-hand-hand

And help them stand-stand stand!

Tell them “Hey, hey, you’re my neighbor today”

Verse 2: When you’re on your way-way-way

Some rainy day-day-day

And then you see-see-see

Someone in need-need-need

Don’t be shy-shy-shy

And pass them by-by-by

Tell them “Hey, hey, you’re my neighbor today.”  

Montessori Classroom News October 18, 2018

Bucket filling and Bucket dipping

We read the book “Have you filled a bucket today? A daily guide to happiness for kids” by Carol McCloud

A few key ideas from the book that we continue to talk about at school:

-       Everyone has an imaginary bucket to hold our good thoughts and feelings about ourselves

-       When its full, we feel happy; when it’s empty we feel sad and lonely

-       We can help fill others’ buckets by doing kind and helpful things – even just a smile. Filling someone else’s bucket also fills your own bucket!

-       Doing and saying things that are unkind dips from someone’s bucket – and dips from your own bucket too.

-       When we notice someone feeling sad or upset, we can think of a way to fill their bucket to help them feel better – and we will feel good too!

There are many video recordings of the book online if you’d like to read the full book at home.

                  Greetings

We are practicing how we greet one another. We make eye contact, smile, shake hands, and say “Good morning, ____!” to each other. The children each exchange a greeting with a teacher when they arrive to the classroom in the morning, and can also practice with each other.