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, rocketed back to the planet Earth, and are now exploring the first of seven continents; the orange continent, our continent, North America. We will continue to explore the plants and animals native to our continent, map North America’s countries, examine topography, and study how a continents’ 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.

Global Culinary Night is Thursday, November 14th, from 6:00-7:00 pm.

Pumpkins can be found everywhere in October. Who knew this squat symbol of fall was ripe with opportunities for learning?

This week your children explored the life-cycle of a pumpkin. They read books and authored stories of their own. We used math to estimate the number of seeds and measure the circumference of our class pumpkin. We carved, then smelled, touched and baked the treasures found inside our pumpkin. Your children had fun exploring and learning from nature.

Pumpkins can be found everywhere in October. We have enjoyed sharing pumpkins in a new light. A seasonal hands-on learning experience that supports math, science, sensory, and language development, as well as curiosity.

Take time to stop and smell the pumpkins!

Enjoy your week!

Michelle & Jeannine

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.  A child’s concrete thinking, understanding, and desire to label and name everything they learn about, makes this a wonderful unit of study.

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 night time we can see the moon, stars, and some planets.  We learned about the largest 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 circling around it.  The children then 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.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Michelle & Jeannine