* * Show and Tell * *

Bring a picture of one of our presidents.

(Coins and bills make a handy resource.)

Topic: Presidents

Get familiar with people

who have led our country.

The value is responsibility, which is to take care of something of value. Leadership is the willingness to take responsibility.

For manners we’ll learn to make introductions and more about table manners.

Outside we’ll play mirrors and shadows.

The songs we’ll be singing are Getting to Know You, Happy Talk, America, America the Beautiful, God Bless America, and Lean on Me.

Our art activities are dictated drawing, kiss on a heart, jump-up heart, and cherry tree.

Creative dramatics will be the legend of the cherry tree and having an election.

For motor development we’ll build coordination with playing upside/over. For body development, we’ll work on vestibular function with musical chairs, blindman’s bluff, twirls, and elephant walks.

PICTURE THIS

On one side of the picture: Now that it’s cold, one of our parents is determined that her child not be exposed to the 40-degree weather. The other side of the picture: A few weeks before this we began mainstreaming a two-year-old who has had nine surgeries since he was born. His mother is insisting that we make no special accommodations for him. We stand by as the child struggles to walk, to see, and to feed himself. What is it about the parent of the normal child that makes her protect her child from life experiences to the point that she handicaps him – and the parent of a handicapped child that sets up challenges and hurdles so that her child can be normal? Maria Montessori reasoned that if the retarded children in her care could be challenged to the point that they became normal, how much more could a normal child attain if he was given enhancing situations and opportunities?

There is a classic Montessori story about a child who is walking with his teacher. They pause to watch a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. After a while, the child can no longer stand watching the butterfly struggle, and he carefully removes the cocoon from the butterfly’s body and holds the butterfly up on his finger. After a few moments, the butterfly tries to fly. With its weak wings, it flounders to the ground to die.

Work and challenge and vision make us strong. Positive attitudes and success and knowing that “I can do it” make us achievers. Creativity and integrity and truthfulness make us good. If we constantly think about how we can’t go outside when it’s cold and we’ll fail if we try and a little bump is unbearably painful, then we’ll never know what we could have accomplished. We can’t let our little children sit inside and do only safe things. Greatness was never accomplished by being unchallenged. If it’s cold outside, take a coat. If I have a little sore throat, I can take a bunch of vitamin C and go to bed early. If the work is hard to grasp, I can try to learn it another way. We must all persevere and develop good coping mechanisms and reach for the brightest star.

Coming Up

Valentines Day – Every child should bring enough valentines to give one to each child in the class. It’ll be a simple, quiet celebration of sharing that morning of Friday, Feb. 14. You could extend that sense of community for Valentines in your family. You’ll only need to have your child’s name on the card and if he can write consider on doing a few cards a day.

Know Your Presidents? – We’ll be learning about Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower. If you’re a little shaky on what’s significant about some of the various presidents that we are using as role models, ask to see our enrichment curriculum.

classroom news

When given a few options Jocelyn chose the picture cards. She confirms her knowledge as she says the name of the object on the card and also learns the names of some new objects to help with her growing vocabulary. Note: the pictures cards are not cartoons or drawing but instead pictures of real things. Mirzad selects a work that helps to improve finger grasp, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. After having a lesson on the tong transfer work Mirzad seeks out this work daily. This work also indirectly prepares children for reading and writing.