SHOW AND TELL
Bring a picture of a part of the US.
(Seacoast, mountain, Statue of Liberty, etc.)
Topic: US Geography
Our land from sea to shining sea
The value is self-reliance, which means to have confidence in our own ability and judgment.
For safety we’ll learn how to be safe with people we don’t know.
Outside we’ll do a trust walk.
The songs we’ll be singing are America the Beautiful, Deep in the Heart of Texas, When the Saints Go Marching In, Them Bones, Dixie, and Camptown Races.
Our art activities are napkin ghosts, Halloween resist, cotton swab skeleton, mummy, and cheesecloth ghosts.
Creative dramatics will be practicing how we’ll respond to strangers.
For body development, we’ll work on stamina with racing, jumping jacks, and squat jumps. For motor development we’ll do motor planning exercises with obstacle course, cotton ball blow, animal walks, and wormy.
Today seems to be such a totally different world from what has ever been. Things that used to work are not what we want today, but old truths seem to be more true now than ever before. For our children, whose worlds will be even more different, these formative years are the times that set thinking patterns and coping skills. No system of education works better than Montessori. The education for life that is inherent in the Montessori classroom begins with the basic premise that no person can educate another. Each of us has inside ourselves the drive to search for the skills and knowledge we need to accomplish our life purpose, the little child most of all.
For the youngest child, small brooms and dustpans are available in the practical life area of a Montessori classroom to develop manual dexterity and concentration. Tiny spoons enable the child to practice over and over a difficult tool manipulation. Tiny pitchers enable the child to pour from one container to another, understanding gravity and the concept that volume does not change regardless of its shape. The hand literally becomes an instrument of the child’s mind. In the sensorial area, the child learns to isolate senses of sound, touch, and smell, those senses that are our input for knowledge. The child learns depth perception and sequencing.
As the child matures and becomes aware of other children beginning the fascinating study of mathematics, the child wants to manipulate the spindle box and cards and counters. That innate drive to understand what others know rises naturally in the ungraded classroom, and the child eagerly asks for a lesson in the bead material. The rich variety of in Montessori invites the child into sink-and-float concepts or magnetic and non-magnetic. That vital ability of being able to think critically for oneself evolves from the child’s own observations about how an item floats on the surface or sinks to the bottom. He observes for himself that the cylinders fit only one way into the block of knobbed cylinders. As the child begins to explore her world, concepts such as island, continent, and Asia become something she thinks she has always known because it came so naturally and easily in Montessori during a “sensitive period”.
If you’ve been at the school for a while, you may think all programs do these things. Tain’t so, Magee. And at some point, probably during adolescence, you’ll find yourself debating some pretty fundamental value questions with your critically thinking child. Somewhere in your inner being, you’ll be thrilled that your child has at some point learned to direct her own efforts, to think for himself, and to go forward purposefully; that, in fact, your child is educated for life.
On the Calendar
Anniversary – We like to wish our Ms. Patty a happy 20th anniversary. Ms. Patty has helped countless infants learn to hold their own bottle, take that first step, discover the mirror, and set up at the table to feed themselves, to list a few. Our infant classroom thrives thanks to the loving and caring nature of Ms. Patty.
Play Time – At the school we discourage gun play of any kind any support you can give is welcomed.
Cut Fingernails – Sometimes when children are at play accidents occur one preventable accident are scratches; please remember to cut your child’s finger nails so they don’t unintentionally scratch their classmates or themselves.
Giving project – Every year the school has a giving project if you know of a family, or you have a favorite organization that caters to the needs of children please let us know. The giving project is where we show our students the importance of giving, in past years we’ve had toy drives, sponsored a family in need via a wish list, collected shoes and sock for the homeless.
Halloween Carnival – We’ll be needed parents to bring Halloween trinkets for prizes at the various booths by October 30
I Can Do It – The safety section of our enrichment curriculum will be focusing on stranger safety. As a part of the theme, the children will be acting out how they can react to difficult situations. If you would like to continue the same conversation at home, check out our curriculum.
CLASSROOM NEWS
In the toddler class Leo has taken interest in the spooning and pouring work. This work indirectly helps to develop the skills necessary for reading and writing. Jad is familiar with the sounds of the letters in his name, after hearing the name Johnny Appleseed, Jad joyfully proclaims, “His name starts with a J just like my name.”
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