Mrs. Lopes Class: Welcome December!

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

With the holidays approaching and the start of a new month, the children came back into an environment full of new lessons and materials to explore. This month we will be learning about the continent of Antarctica, food groups, and we’ll be discussing the various holidays celebrated around the world in December. One such holiday we talked about this week is St. Nicholas Day, which is celebrated on December 6.  St. Nicholas was a bishop in Europe. He was born into a wealthy family and at a young age made the choice to give away all his possessions to those with none. He is known for his kindness, generosity, and taking care of the young and in need. We learned that St. Nicholas would leave small gifts or treats during the night for the less fortunate in his community. St. Nicholas has evolved over the years into the Santa Claus we recognize today. Many people around the world celebrate St. Nicholas day by leaving a pair of boots outside their door. So in the spirit of the season, we decided to leave a pair of boots outside our classroom door. To our surprise, the boots were decorated and filled with candy canes the next morning!

Wishing you a peaceful week,

Amanda & Heather

Mrs. Semmah Hanukkah Celebration

Posted on by Kaoutar Semmah

Teaching children about the diversity of the world starts with learning about other people from different cultures. The holiday season is an opportunity for the children to know about the different holidays around the world that focus on loved ones. Hanukkah  is one of the holidays that provides a time for people to focus on their loved ones, share good foods, and participate in family traditions.

Last week we celebrated Hanukkah, the festival of lights, in our classroom. After reading the book My First Menorah, the children had a chance to know what a Menorah is.

I also showed them a menorah that holds eight candles,plus a very special one called a shamash in the center and is used to light a new candle every night to celebrate Hanukkah. All the children joined the big table to share the delicious potato latkes, sour cream, and apple sauce.  It was very nice to see the children celebrating and having fun, they also decorated some dreidel art projects. The Hanukkah sensory bin was popular among the children. It includes black beans, blue feathers, blue beads, blue pom–poms, and blue and white dreidels. During the holiday season, we celebrate many holidays, including Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas. It is a cultural lesson about different celebrations of different people and sharing the joy and happy moments of the holidays.

A big thank you to Kenyon and Lidia for organizing this Hanukkah celebration. We also appreciated all the parents who have devoted their time and generosity in bringing in the delicious latkes, sour cream, and making the apple sauce from scratch. Children enjoyed every bit of the food.

Lots of love and peace.

Kaoutar and Sara 

Mrs. Doyle: It’s Off to Work I Go!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

When a child works, he does not do so to attain some further goal.  His objective in working is the work itself. – Maria Montessori

One of Maria Montessori’s more well known quotes is “play is the child’s work.”  We’re sure by now you have heard your child talk about their work at school. Dr. Montessori preferred the word work rather than the word play, to describe the learning process children are constantly undergoing. Work conveys the amount of effort that children put into their physical, social, emotional, and academic growth. As adults, our definition of work has a very different meaning.

Children are driven by a strong unconscious internal growth process to seek out experiences that will meet their needs. Our role as Montessori teachers is to provide a well-prepared environment that encourages children to be independent and learn at their own pace. The children are free to choose their work and to use it repeatedly. So, while they are ‘working’ each child is also building independence, coordination, self-discipline, and concentration.

Enjoy your work!

Michelle & Liset

Mrs. Lopes: Our Human Body

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

Do you remember wondering as a child how things worked in your body? Where does our food go? Why do we blink or sneeze? How do we get the hiccups? The human body is truly a mystery to the child’s mind and having an in-depth human anatomy lesson is a great way to explore these topics. Using Montessori materials is a wonderful tool for reinforcing the learning and expanding on a normally very difficult subject for children to grasp. Providing lessons like these to children is what sows the seeds for future scientists, doctors, and teachers!

This week your children were introduced to the wonders of our human body. We first introduced and named the parts of our body we can see from the outside. We then began to discuss how there are many parts of our body we cannot see from the outside. Your children were introduced to several of the major organs in our body and their purpose. The children enjoyed exploring and engaging in all the human body works on the shelf.  We have also started our unit on nutrition and the food groups.

On Wednesday, December 1, we celebrated Hanukkah in our classroom.  The children listened to the book Hanukkah Haiku and then shared a snack of latkes, applesauce, sour cream, and apple cider.  Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to contribute to this fun activity, the children really enjoyed it!

Lots of love and peace,

Amanda and Heather

Thanksgiving Celebration

Posted on by Kaoutar Semmah

Thanksgiving is a holiday when we think about our values such as gratitude, charity, and community. We read a book about gratitude, and we ask children about things they are thankful for. It is so adorable and precious to hear their answers for the things that they are grateful for. Last Tuesday, we baked two banana breads, one for our classroom and the other one for sharing at our school. The children were so happy to measure some of the ingredients, crack the slimy eggs, and mashed the bananas. Each one of the children had a turn to mix the ingredients with a spatula.  On Wednesday, the children joined the big table to enjoy the snack that they made with lots of love and joy, appreciating their friendship and adoring the company of each other.

Wishing you a peaceful weekend.

Kaoutar and Sara

Mrs. Doyle: Giving Thanks

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

 

The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life. 

    –Maria Montessori

For many, the holiday season is a time for giving. Perhaps more than ever, it is so important for our children to understand that giving does not have to be a materialistic gift. Simple and heartfelt words of love and friendship will last much longer than most anything that can be bought from a shelf. It can be an amazing and powerful gift to our children, if in all the hustle and bustle of the holidays we take time to slow down and model being grateful.

This week we asked each child to share what they are thankful for. While their messages will make you smile and warm your heart, there is beauty in their simplicity.

Anchor–      My dog Sasco because I like to play with him.

Bodie–         My birthday trucks because I can play with them all day long.

Emma–        My sister Evie because she loves me.

Emma Jo–   For the calendar in my classroom.

Everly–         My dogs, Joey and Georgia because I love them so much.

Greyson–     My Mom and Dad because they always let me play outside.

Isla–              My brother Ewan because he shares everything with me.

Landon–      The Paw Patrol movie and I will get to watch it one day when I’m older.

Lily–              My Daddy because he is going to take me to work with him.

Luca–            Curious George because he makes me laugh and the movie Luca because it has the same name as me.

Marin–          My whole family because they make me feel so happy.

Micaela–       My Mom because she loves me so much.

Olivia–          Going to Maine because my whole family is there.

Saanvi–        My sister Simrin because I play with her all the time.

Stephen–     My Mommy and my Daddy because I love them.

Theo–            Star Wars the movie because I love the whole series so much.

Virginia–     My brother George because I love him.

Wilder–        I get to learn new things at school.

Zara–             My Mommy, my Daddy and my sister because I miss them when  I am not with them.

Liset and I are grateful for the time we spend with the children each day and for the relationships we develop with each of you.  Wishing you all a week filled with peace and love.

Michelle & Liset

Mrs. Lopes: North America

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

This past week, the children have been immersed in exploring the first of seven continents; the continent we live on, North America.  At the beginning of the week we introduced the continent of North America with our continent puzzle map. When using this lesson, children are taught to take one country out of the puzzle at a time and match it to the control map. The control map helps the child see where each country is located on the continent and helps the child to independently put the puzzle back together. The children also enjoyed engaging in our other North American themed works on the shelves, which included native animals, traditional clothing, topography, and flags of North America.

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.

During our study of North America, we have been discussing the importance of Thanksgiving and the feeling of gratitude. We have enjoyed sharing with each other what we are all thankful for!

As a side note, we also had a special visitor in our classroom on Monday!  Elara brought in her pet turtle, Mrs. T, to share with us.

Some fun facts about Mrs. T:

– age: 37

– species: Eastern box turtle

– loves to eat strawberries, raspberries and meat!
We all enjoyed petting her and getting to observe her during our morning work cycle.  Thank you to Elara and her family for bringing her in!

Best,

Amanda & Heather

Mrs. Semmah: The Silence Game

Posted on by Kaoutar Semmah

The Montessori Silence Game is a sensorial lesson that is introduced in the primary classroom. It is a calming activity and patience activity that can be implemented at home too. This week I introduced a Silence Game for our morning meditation before we start circle time. By this time of the year, children have been practicing other types of “control of movement” practices, such as walking on the line, scooping, pouring, and moving the chair quietly.

This is how we play the silence game in our classroom. I model for children how to sit crisscrossed without movement and close their eyes using my whisper voice.

We are going to do a morning meditation, stretch your body, move your neck, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and make silence. You may hear some sounds in our classroom or outside our classroom. Then, I take two deep breaths and I close my eyes. All the children take two deep breaths and close their eyes. We sit still quietly for a few minutes. Then I say: I open my eyes to you, I open my heart to you, together we open our hearts to the sun, to the cloud, together we join our hearts this Monday morning. We hold hands together and we raise them. After all the children open their eyes. I ask them if anybody heard something during the silence game. Remember when we read a book, you can make silence and quiet your body. You can make silence any time, isn’t that great. You can stop at any time and take a deep breath. It is very helpful to make silence when you are sad or tired.

This is a very wonderful peaceful activity that I have implemented through my years of teaching as a part of our daily routine. The children love the silence game, and it also contributes to” normalization”.

As a side note, we also had a special visitor in our classroom on Monday!  Remington brought in his pet turtle, Mrs. T, to share with us. Children loved Mrs. T’s company and  they were very nice and gentle with her. Thank you to the Muller’family.

Some fun facts about Mrs. T:

– age: 37

– species: Eastern box turtle

– loves to eat strawberries, raspberries and meat!

Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving,

Kaoutar and Sara