SHOW AND TELL
Bring a bone
Topic: US Geography
Our land from sea to shining sea
The value is self-reliance, which is to have confidence in our own ability and judgment.
For safety we’ll talk about what strangers we can trust to help us and what we can do for ourselves if we are in danger.
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.
For creative dramatics we’ll practice doing the things we learned about safety.
Our art activities are napkin ghosts, paper bag pumpkins, Halloween resist, cotton swab skeletons, and mummies.
For motor development, we’ll work on stamina with racing, jumping jacks, and squat/jumps. For motor planning we’ll do obstacle courses, cotton ball blow, wormy, and animal walk charades.
THE AGE OF IMPRINTING
Before around the age of six, the brain simply accepts what’s put there; whether it’s learning a language, understanding math concepts, knowing the names of continents, or trusting that the people in your life mean good for you. When we adopt the Montessori philosophy, it has enormous implications. When Dr. Charles Schwarzbeck turned his attention to Montessori techniques, he made these observations:
“After about an hour into the morning, the noise level has increased, and there are some small squabbles. The teacher moves to the center of the room and says, “Watch me, children.” She then stands motionless and quiet, encouraging the little ones to do the same. She gets the children to pay attention to how silent and immobile they can be. Their attention is totally focused on their little bodies. All the children are enjoying this challenge. They seem proud of their shared competence. Curiously, the children enjoyed the sensation of immobility and silence; they took pleasure in the silence itself. Montessori technique calls this the “silence game”. Through techniques like this one, Montessori approaches help young children to focus on regulating their bodies so that they can pay attention. Individual discipline is emphasized before anything else.
Everyone cannot do the same thing at once. There is only one of each type of equipment in the classroom. There is no alternative but to wait for a classmate to finish before beginning the same activity. The child has to respect the work of a classmate because this is the reality in the daily classroom experience.”
From Will Wright, SimCity designer: “Montessori taught me the joy of discovery. It showed you can become interested in pretty complex theories, like Pythagorean theory, say, by playing with blocks. It’s all about learning on your terms, rather than a teacher explaining stuff to you. SimCity comes right out of Montessori - if you give people this model for building cities, they will abstract from it principles of urban design.”
Linda Wallace in the Houston Chronicle reports on a list developed by human resources managers as essential skills needed to succeed in the 21st century. They included critical thinking and problem-solving, professionalism and work ethic, oral and written communications, and teamwork and collaboration. We continue to affirm what Montessori imprints on our children from the very beginning. Ask your child’s teacher to show you the progress sheet she uses to guide your child’s emotional intelligence to be able to cope successfully in his future.
Coming Up
Halloween Carnival – The volunteer list is up and we’ll need some parents to help change the children into school clothes and help out at a booth. Be on the lookout for trinkets you can bring to be used for prizes.
School Decal – As a way to combat crime and a way to recognize who should be in our parking lot we have our school decal. The decal can be placed on the rear of your vehicle, parents taking persuasion when you do not see it. The few times theft has occurred in our parking lot it was during morning drop off.
Classroom News
The concept of the mixed aged classroom also applies to the infant and toddler class. We watch as Asher the newest addition to the toddler class is being welcomed by his new older classmates who makes a point to help by reminding him where to put his lunch box. Kinsley now independently walking, daily observing classmate Michael walk freely about the room may have helped to motivate her.
“They are aware of those around them, and one often sees the small ones intently watching the work of others, particularly the older ones. In doing this they absorb much more than it seems, and are already preparing themselves for more active social participation in the community of the class.”
Maria Montessori
The Child, Society and the World.
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