These last few weeks have been a particularly busy and exciting time with your children. We have traveled through space, explored the eight planets, discovered that the sun is a star, and rocketed back to planet Earth. We are now exploring the first of seven continents, North America.  You may hear your children call it the orange continent. This is because on the Montessori globe and map, North America is indeed orange. We will continue to explore the animals native to our continent, map North America’s countries, examine topography, and study how a continent’s proximity to the equator impacts its climate.

The Montessori cultural studies curriculum provides children with an opportunity to explore the whole world, including the continents, countries, people, animals, terrain, music, and arts. Children use didactic Montessori materials to familiarize themselves with the needs of all humans for such things as food, housing, and clothing. This early cultural awareness helps cultivate independent, joyful citizens of our world.

In addition, meet Jack, our veggie skeleton prepared by the kindergarten students last week on Halloween.  It is always so wonderful to hear the children say they don’t like this vegetable or that one and then devour all of it!  On Tuesday, November 8th, we were treated with a special presentation about Diwali organized by Ms. Paromita, Ms. Hema, and a few of the parents.  We had so much fun learning about this holiday, as well as the dancing, food, and crafts.

Wishing everyone a week filled with peace and love!

Amanda & Hema

Welcome to our pumpkin patch!  There are pumpkins everywhere in our class. Having pumpkins in the classroom provides so many opportunities for the children to observe and to introduce basic science and math concepts.

In Practical Life, we have pumpkin spooning, pumpkin pouring, and pumpkin grasping. In Science, we learned about the parts of a pumpkin and the pumpkin life cycle. We compared pumpkins and categorized them as small, medium, and large. We are using our five senses to determine what pumpkins look, smell, feel, sound, and taste like.  In Math, we were faced with the very difficult question of how you measure the circumference of a pumpkin. We counted the lines/ridges on pumpkins and learned why some pumpkins have more and some have less. We are experimenting to see if a pumpkin will sink or float.

On Thursday, October 20th, we were so excited to have the Botsford Fire Department return to FWM, to teach us all about fire safety. The children asked very thoughtful and intelligent questions and had a great time learning all what to do in a fire, the equipment fire fighters use and even got to spend some time on a fire truck.  Last Tuesday, we had a small in-class Harvest Celebration where each child had the opportunity to visit our “pumpkin patch” and pick their own pumpkin, make a popcorn spider hand, eat a delicious snack and turn our class pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern.  All of this was possible because of parents helping behind the scenes.  A huge shout out to everyone for sharing their time and energy with us, to provide these wonderful opportunities for the children. We are very grateful and truly blessed.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love.

Amanda & Hema

We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.    –Maria Montessori

We are beginning our study of the solar system. Bringing some of the wonders of the universe to the children is exciting and one of their favorite units that we study. By nature, children are inquisitive, observant, and eager to learn about the world around them. With their concrete thinking, understanding, and desire to label and name everything they learn about, we start by introducing the components of the universe, especially our own solar system.

We begin by discussing what the children think the solar system is. We know that as we look up at the sky during the day we can see the sun and at nighttime we can see the moon, stars, and some planets. We learned about our closest star, the sun. It is made of gas and gives us light and heat. Our sun is the center of our solar system, with planets orbiting around it. The children learned the names of the planets, in order from the sun. We also learned fun facts about each planet and will do hands-on activities to explain revolution and rotation. Below is the song we are singing to help us learn the names of the planets in our Solar System.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love.

Amanda and Hema

When we introduce new concepts or materials to the children, we often do so using a three-period lesson. This is an important tenet of Montessori education and it helps to move the child from basic understanding of a concept to mastery.

Period One is the introduction stage. In this stage we are isolating new vocabulary to the children. For example, if we are introducing the color tablets, we say, “This is blue.”  Repeating that statement and allowing the child to manipulate the blue color tablet are crucial during this stage.

Period Two is all about association and recognition. It is often a separate lesson. We do not ask the children to remember the vocabulary or recall the concept.  We are simply reinforcing the concept taught in Period One. We use words such as “Show me the blue tablet,” or “Can you place the blue tablet on your lap?”

Period Three is the recall stage and the first time we ask the child to remember the concept independently. We ask them, “What is this?” when showing them the blue color tablet. We are careful not to begin Period Three until we know they are ready for success.

Every time a child masters a new concept it builds the foundation for the next lesson or concept to be taught.

On Wednesday, the Kindergarten children had the opportunity to visit New Pond Farm in Redding.  We had a wonderful time walking around and learning about the different animals that live on the farm. We met ‘Sugar’ the cow and her newborn calf, chickens and sheep.  The highlight of our field trip was when the children used previously shorn fleece, washed and combed it and then made a bracelet to keep.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Amanda & Hema