World History Day

Thank you for all of your hard work, creativity, time and skills to make World History Day a success!  

The dinosaur age really came to life in our room due to the wonderful activities created by our parents, including crafts, cookie decorating, dinosaur footprints, and even a dinosaur nest!

  We also traveled to other periods in history, including the age of invertebrates, fish, early man, and a trip to China.  A fun learning experience was had by all!  Thank you!

Our first Parent/Child night was well attended and enjoyed by all.

Thanks also to our wonderful parent volunteers who read stories and do crafts with our students.

November Events:

8th Teacher In-Service – No School

11th Veterans Day – No School 

13th Taiko Drums Assembly

14th Picture Retake 

19th Kindergarten Red Rock Field Trip

25th-29th Thanksgiving Break – No School

September Community Helpers

This month we learned about typical community helpers, such as doctors, firemen and police women, just to name a few.  We discussed how a community is formed, including the role each person plays as a contributing member. We also spent some time talking about the peace rose as a tool for solving disagreements.

Dr. Montessori observed how being peaceful influences our abilities to feel at ease, to concentrate, and to consider the needs of others.  In 1948 she commented, “Peace is what every human being is craving for, and it can be brought about by humanity through the child.” Our students embraced their roles of being peacemakers in our classroom and began to experience the positive results of this teaching.  

We also discussed how taking on the role of leadership fosters the growth and development of both the leader and the person being helped or nurtured.  Practicing these communication skills helped the children understand the responsibility and importance of being in a community, and learning how to take care of themselves and each other. 

A heartwarming moment came this month when one of our youngest friends decided to challenge herself to work with the step board. To the sheer delight of our kindergartners who were watching in the wings, they cheered her on (in the quietest possible way). When she completed and cleaned up her work, our “cheerleaders” were asked how they were feeling right now. “Happy, excited, and warm inside,” they replied. These same feelings are shared by teachers when we watch our students work diligently, and especially when students receive new lessons and then work independently with the materials. 

Reminders:

October brings two all-school events to campus.  First, the PTO Fall Festival on Friday, 10/18 and then World History Day on Thursday, 10/24.  On World History Day, each classroom is transformed to represent a particular epoch of history and students get to “travel” to different classrooms sampling activities, food, and art activities reflective of that time period.

We will also host our first of three parent/child nights on Thursday, 10/10 where parents are invited to the classroom and shown a sampling of favorite works by their child.  We invite families with last names starting with A-M to visit the classroom from 4:30-5:15, and families with last names starting with N-Z to visit the classroom from 5:15-6:00. Please let us know if you have a scheduling conflict and prefer the other time.

Welcome back to the new school year!  We are focusing on executing functioning skills within the classroom including: locating jobs on the shelves, how to use the materials, and how to properly place them back in their special spots. 

Much of our discussions center around grace and courtesy, and how we conduct ourselves in the room while working around our classmates. Moving our bodies more slowly with purpose and focus helps our students build their coordination, and eventually increases their level of concentration. 

There are seven main academic areas of our classroom including: language,  math, sensorial, practical life, science, cultural, and art. Each one of these areas is defined by the shelves holding specific materials.

Work is placed on the shelf in a manner which is useful and interesting. The introductory (easiest) work is on the top of the shelf going from left to right, with the most challenging work positioned on the bottom of the shelf.

In early October, we will be hosting a Parent/Child night where you will have a chance to visit our classroom with your child and have them show you some of the works they are doing. Please look for more details at the door as we get closer to the date.

September themes:

Safety and community helpers

Nutrition and food groups

Plant vs animal

Land and water

Apple studies