SHOW AND TELL
Bring a simple machine.
(Screwdriver, egg beater, Velcro, zipper, spring, etc.)
Topic: Machines
How machines make our work easier
The value we’ll be studying is self-reliance, which is having confidence in our own abilities.
For cooking, we’ll make orange/banana shakes.
Outside, we’ll make bubble sculptures and cityscapes.
The songs we’ll be singing are The Wheels on the Bus, It’s a Small World, One Hammer, and Do Your Ears Hang Low?
For creative dramatics, we’ll play thread the needle and eggbeaters.
Our art activities are painting with wheels, cars and trucks, and painting with stencils.
For motor development, we’ll work on flexibility with yoga poses. For vestibular function, we’ll spin, roll like a roly-poly, and hang upside down.
BRAIN FUNCTION
The brain is an incredible thing. Recent brain research is confirming so much of the Montessori methodology, and it’s waving huge red flags on some of our child-raising practices. The list below of suggestions to increase brainpower is from Teaching with the Brain in Mind. It’s a positive list. Sometimes it’s useful to study these lists from a negative perspective, as in “how often do I not do this?” There’s a lot of material here. You’ll have to interpret and apply each phrase.
0-18 Months
Emotion - Provide loving care, healthy stress response, hugs, laughter and smiles; bond with your child; avoid harshness.
Motor - Encourage crawling, sitting, pointing; use balls, rattles, a large variety of manipulative toys, mobiles; handle, touch, and rock your child frequently, avoid stroller and infant carriers.
Vision - Use many 3-dimensional objects, a variety of movements, color identification, avoid TV.
Auditory - Use short phrases and talk all the time; repeat sounds, use melodies and chants.
Thinking - Be over-curious about your child’s world; do simple counting; demonstrate cause and effect.
Music - Sing lullabies; give your child rattles; repeat rhymes; provide early exposure to common traditional songs and nursery rhymes.
Nutrition - Mother’s milk is best; avoid excess juice; avoid artificial colors and flavors.
18-60 Months
Emotion - Role model feelings and empathy; provide a joyful home; set clear rules; avoid harshness.
Motor - Encourage active games, spinning, drawing, walking, running, balance activities; give your child freedom to explore, never use a stroller.
Vision - Play attention games and eye-hand coordination activities, teach how to focus, provide outdoor time, avoid TV.
Auditory - Provide exposure to longer sentences, second languages, larger vocabulary, all in a variety of contexts.
Thinking - Use demonstrations; ask how, when, where, what, who; teach basic math and principles of science, question and allow questioning of everything. Look up the answers if you don’t know.
Music - Sing; play instruments or take your child to observe people who play an instrument; listen to structured, harmonic music.
Nutrition - Eat a wide variety of foods and balanced meals high in fiber; avoid artificial ingredients and trans fats.
Coming Up
Parent/Teacher Conferences - The time is coming up to talk about the students’ progress. We have scheduled conferences the week of October 28, we’ll start the week off with the infant class on Monday October 28, and the toddler class will have conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday 29, and 30. October 31, and November 1. for the primary class. Sign up forms will be posted by October 1, for you to select a time slot for you to visit with your child’s teacher.
Picture Day – On Tuesday October 1, the photographer will at the school to take individual in sibling photos. If you would like to have your child in special clothes for their picture they should arrive at school in their special clothes and we will help them change in to play clothes after their photos have been taken. Look for the information flyer in the foyer as you enter the school by September 23, to choose the type of background you would like.
Miscellaneous Materials - We find that companies occasionally have paper and envelopes they are trashing, but that material can be very valuable to us. Please make a mental note to salvage things you think we could re-use. In addition if you have old magazines with pictures the children can cut out for various art projects please consider bringing them to the school.
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