SHOW AND TELL
Bring something red, something white, and something blue.
Topic: Social Professions
Those professions we could do ourselves,
but we choose to pay someone else to do them.
The value is justice, which is being fair.
For safety we’ll practice safety at home, in the water, bicycling, and in the car.
Outside we’ll play lemonade and paint the town.
The songs we’ll be singing are When You Wish Upon a Star, John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt. He’s Got the Whole World, One Hammer, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame.
For creative dramatics we’ll pretend to be on of the professions we’re learning about this week. We’ll also pantomime activities.
Our art activities are water pictures, electrician’s sculpture, paper plate clown, and what surface is this?
For motor development, we’ll work on coordination by jumping. For proprioception we’ll do backward get-up, choo-choo train, back crawl, and palm push
THE DISCIPLINE OGRE
Frustration about the lack of children’s discipline was shared with an intern who is taking the Montessori training with a number of public school teachers who are seeking those same answers for their children. Almost parallel to this discussion we are seeing and hearing news articles about over stress in our whole society, stress over too much to do, too little time, drinking and eating too much, spending too much. Could it be that our beautiful and sensitive little barometers, our children, are reflecting a national phenomenon of lack of personal self-discipline? William Bennett’s Book of Virtues talks about self-discipline:
“In self-discipline one makes a “disciple” of oneself. One is one’s own teacher, trainer, coach, and “disciplinarian.” It is an odd sort of relationship, paradoxical in its own way, and many of us don’t handle it very well. There is much unhappiness and personal distress in the world because of failures to control tempers, appetites, passions, and impulses . . . . Rene Descartes once remarked of good sense that “everybody thinks he is so well supplied with it that even the most difficult to please in all other matters never desire more of it than they already possess.” With self-discipline it is just the opposite. Rare indeed is the person who doesn’t desire more self-discipline and, with it, the control that it gives one over the course of one’s life and development. That desire is itself, as Descartes might say, a further mark of good senses. We do want to take charge of ourselves. But what does that mean?
The question has been at or near the center of Western philosophy since its very beginnings. Plato divided the soul into three parts or operations – reason, passion, and appetite – and said that right behavior results from harmony or control of these elements. Saint Augustine sought to understand the soul by ranking its various forms of love in his famous ardo amoris: love of God, neighbor, self, and material goods . . . . But the question of correct order of the soul is not simply the domain of sublime philosophy and drama. It lies at the heart of the task of successful everyday behavior, whether it is controlling our tempers, or our appetites, or our inclinations to sit all day in front of the television. As Aristotle pointed out, here our habits make all the difference. We learn to order our souls the same way we learn to do math problems or play baseball well – through practice.”
For every one of the adults in our children’s lives to begin to practice personal self-discipline and to expect self-discipline from our children every day, then we can get to the world of respectful and respectable citizens that we know is possible.
On the Calendar
Independence Day Holiday – Notice that the school will be closed Tuesday, July 4, in honor of our patriot fathers who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to fight for the idea of independence. We’ll have “show and tell” on Wednesday
Safety – The children will be practicing safety scenarios for lots of different places, like in the car, on water, on bicycles, at home. One of the things they’ll want to learn is their full name, the names of their mother and father (not ‘mommy’), their street address, and a phone number of someone who can always be reached. They’ll practice saying this information loudly and clearly so they can get help if they need it. You can add to safety information as you go about your week this week.
Goodbye – Our wonderful Ms. Fae will be leaving our family and Friday July 7, will be her last day. Ms. Fae has been with us for seven years and has been a positive influence in the lives of so many babies; she will be missed.
Classroom News
Lionel Neikirk the newest student in the toddler class displays his confidence as he learns where things are in his new classroom, he is easily adjusting. Newest student in the primary class, Annabelle Gwin express while at home how much she loves her new school and joyfully greets her teacher with and morning hand shake.
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