Mrs. Hood: Observing and waiting!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

“We cannot create observers by saying ‘observe’, but by giving them the power and the means for this observation and the means are procured through education of the senses” – Maria Montessori 

The grass is getting greener, the birds are chirping louder, and after a long winter, we continue to happily observe how the Earth wakes up from its deep slumber. Even though we witness this season every year, it feels so magical every time!

Like Dr. Maria Montessori, we believe that nature is a patient teacher and that Earth is our classroom. Corresponding to how we teach children in the Montessori tradition, nature provides us with both concrete and abstract learning for students of all ages. At our level, children have experiences that introduce them to marvelous wonders by using all five of their senses to comprehend concrete things and build a foundation for understanding the processes of natural life, plus children absolutely love the outdoors! Lately, even the shoes come off!

On that note, we have great news: Our very small, hungry caterpillars have arrived, and the children seem in awe!  The amazement in your children’s eyes is indescribable, but we can tell you that they seem very excited about our new visitors. For the next few days, your children will be able to observe the metamorphosis of a butterfly. Meanwhile, our bird studies have provided endless fascination as our feathered friends grace us with their presence at the window feeder, accompanied by the occasional comical squirrel.

This week, as we savored the sensory delights of juicy kumquats, marveled at the treasures of nature brought from home, and came together to celebrate one of our youngest students’ second birthday, we were and are reminded of the richness of our curriculum and the sense of community that binds us all together.

In these moments of shared discovery and wonder, we hope you find as much joy and fulfillment as we do. May the magic of springtime infuse your days with warmth and wonder, and may you enjoy every precious moment with your loved ones.

Enjoy the weekend,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Mollie

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

Friendship development in toddlers is an intriguing process, marked by significant milestones and stages. Here’s a breakdown of how it typically unfolds:

In the early stages, toddlers engage in parallel play, where they play alongside each other without much interaction. They may observe each other’s activities but don’t actively engage together.

As toddlers grow, they start to engage in associative play, where they begin to interact with each other during playtime. They may share toys, take turns, or mimic each other’s actions.

As children mature and develop social skills, they start to engage in cooperative play, where they interact with peers to achieve common goals or participate in group activities. This stage encourages collaboration, communication, negotiation, and empathy.

These stages of play are not strictly sequential, and children may engage in multiple stages simultaneously or move back and forth between them based on their interests and developmental needs. In a Montessori classroom, the environment is carefully prepared to support and facilitate each stage of play, allowing children to learn and grow at their own pace.

It has been exciting to witness the blossoming of friendships among the children both in the classroom and on the playground. 

This week, we learned about white button mushrooms. If you ask your children where they grow, they will probably tell you, “in the dark, in the dirt.” They may also tell you that their teachers both love mushroom pizza! We examined the stem and the cap, and the children enjoyed taking a closer look using a magnifying glass. Not everybody was willing to try a piece of mushroom, but we kept offering – we engaged in our food-tasting lesson all week long! The class was fascinated by the mushrooms and truly enjoyed exploring them.

Looking forward to an exciting week ahead! Christine & Lizette

Mrs. Hood: Listen Up!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

In a world filled with distractions, developing concentration and focus is becoming increasingly challenging for young children. Sensorial works in Montessori education promote the development of these essential skills. Toddlers engage in activities that require sustained attention, such as sorting objects by size or shape, arranging objects in a specific order, completing puzzles, and more. These tasks demand concentration, enabling toddlers to develop their ability to focus for extended periods, a skill that will benefit them in all areas of life.

This week, we initiated our studies on birds. Cardinal, blue jay, woodpecker, robin, warbler, indigo bunting, and oriole are names you hear over and over in our environment. The children also received a lesson on the birds’ calls and songs. Children are learning to identify each bird sound through a fun work where the children press a button, hear the bird, and have to match the picture card with the sound. As every work in our environment has a control of error built within it, the child has the opportunity to self-correct by matching the color dot behind the card to the color of the button, helping the child to match the sound to the correct bird. As children practice this work, they will learn to identify the birds just by listening, and they won’t need to look at the back of the card anymore to be successful. After the children have matched the sound to the picture, they reinforce their visual skills by matching the picture to the model of the bird, learning to recognize them visually as well.  To say that this has been a big favorite work is an understatement! It has been precious observing the children taking the time to listen carefully and observe the details of the birds’ pictures. We hope you can take time with your toddler around your backyard and listen to some birds singing! Your toddler might surprise you by recognizing the name of the bird!

On another note, we had a super fun food-tasting lesson this week. We explored mushrooms! Thanks to the Calcagnini family, we enjoyed some special mushrooms from their mushroom farm! The children explored lion’s mane, trumpet, and oyster mushrooms. They enjoyed the tactile sensation of these different mushrooms. Some of them really enjoyed the taste and kept asking for more.

Lastly, Grandparents and Special Friends Day was a success! Thanks to all the families that participated! The children are always so excited to show off all that they can do!

Enjoy the weekend,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Mollie

Mrs. Wilson: Earth Day and Grandparents and Special Friends Day!

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

This week, we started by making Earth Day placemats. We used green and blue markers on a coffee filter and sprayed it a few times to watch the colors spread and create a beautiful Earth-like pattern. In addition, we have started recycling plastic, paper, and cardboard packaging as our contribution towards the environment. During recess time, the children pretended to clean up the trash (sticks, rocks, and mulch) on the ground and filled up the dump trucks together.

It was lovely to have all of the grandparents and special friends. The children were excited to show off all their favorite lessons and to introduce their friends and teachers. We hope they had as much fun as we did!

Food Tasting: This week, we tasted black and Spanish olives. The majority of the children liked the black olives the best.

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

The highlight of the week was Grandparents and Special Friends Day. We saw true joy on the children’s faces as they showed their loved ones around the classroom. Thank you all for coming and taking an interest and spending some special time with your beloved toddlers. 

We also celebrated a friend’s birthday this week. This birthday was a little different, as he was the first to turn three years old! We enjoyed doughnut holes as we listened to Happy Birthday by the Ting Tings and read a book about a dinosaur who played baseball. The children’s favorite part of celebrating their friends’ birthdays is to look at their baby photos. It is truly heartwarming to see them take such an interest.

In celebration of Earth Day this week,  we delved into discussions about our precious planet and the importance of taking care of it. We emphasized the significance of properly disposing of trash in either the garbage or recycling bins. The children had the opportunity to paint Earth using blue and green paint, which represented water and land. 

We’ve been exploring fascinating African wildlife, including zebras, giraffes, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, elephants, and more. Our learning journey has involved reading books, visual matching activities, puzzles, and, of course, vocabulary enrichment. 

We tasted both black and green olives this week. A handful of the children could not get enough of the green ones; a few seemed to like the black, and another group did not appear to be fond of either type. There are hundreds of different types of olives, so we encouraged the children to try others at home. We discussed olive oil, as the connection was brought up by one of the children. 

Enjoy the weekend! Christine & Lizette

Mrs. Hood: Band time!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

Maria Montessori used the scientific method to study children’s natural learning processes. She found that the child absorbs the culture they are in effortlessly and without fatigue between the ages of birth – six. Whatever the child is exposed to is internalized by the child and accepted into the child’s own being, imprinted on their soul. If a child is surrounded by music, the child will be a musical person. If a child hears their parents singing, the child will sing. If a child sees their parents dancing, the child will dance.

She called this the child’s “Absorbent Mind.”

In our environment, children are exposed to meaningful music experiences every day. Whole-body movement songs, singing, finger-plays, and instrument times are always part of our morning routine. There is a shelf exclusively for musical instruments, and these get rotated during the year so children learn the names of the instruments they are playing, and they learn how to play them properly. One main part of our group music lessons includes grace and courtesy. Through this, the children learn to recognize the importance of being polite and waiting until everybody gets their instrument before selecting a song and grabbing their instrument to play! This is a great exercise, especially for toddlers who tend to be so impulsive, but we are happy to report they all are so capable at this!  Children are directed to recognize hand gestures for tempo, dynamics, and their favorite: the closing of the song. They all love to hold their fists up and watch how everybody’s instrument stops at the same time! Their smiles say it all! We call this our “band time.”

As always, we had fun exploring food, and this week, we enjoyed some delicious avocados! We also spent meaningful time outdoors enjoying this beautiful spring weather, from feeling the soft breeze and warmth of sunny days to having a blast and getting soaked while jumping in puddles under the soft rain!

Lastly, children explored the color orange this week by mixing yellow and red paint in the easel, playing games around the classroom to look for orange objects, and talking about the different orange objects they chose to bring for Sharing Time! We had great fun!

Enjoy the  weekend,

Mrs. Andrea and Ms. Mollie

Mrs. Wilson: Here, Birdy Birdy! Oh Hello, Muddy Puddles!

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

Our week was full of fun experiences. We kicked off the week by taking advantage of the beautiful weather and spent some quality time outside, enjoying the warmth of the sun and soaking up some vitamin D. I introduced the children to the Pikler Triangle, and they had a blast climbing it as far as they felt comfortable. Some climbed only a few rungs or up the ramp while others were ready to climb up and over. I must say, they were all quite impressive!

On Thursday, we had a super fun activity where the children painted white cardboard tubes to make binoculars. We headed outside to see if we could spot any birds, but unfortunately, we only saw a couple of birds that flew away quickly to avoid getting wet from the rain. But you know what? The children didn’t mind at all because they found lots of muddy puddles in our driveway! We put the binoculars away and jumped and splashed in the puddles until our clothes were completely soaked. What a great time we had!

Food Tasting: This week, the children had the opportunity to taste garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas, in three different ways. First, they tried the garbanzo beans as they are, then they all tasted it as hummus, and finally, they tried them toasted. The children seemed to enjoy the different varieties.

As we head into the warmer weather, I just want to remind you that even in the rain, we’ll still be going outside, so please send your child in with rain boots and a raincoat on rainy days. Can’t wait to see what next week brings!

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

 

This week, many of our discussions revolved around instilling a deep respect for books. We have placed a few regular books onto the bookshelf, (as opposed to board books) and have discussed the importance of caring for them tenderly. As always, we’d love it if this could be reinforced at home. 

In addition to books, your children love music! As soon as we finish singing one song, their symphony of “more, more, more” begins. I will attach one of their recent favorites, called These Are My Glasses, by Laurie Berkner. The children love to open and close their imaginary book.

Additionally, we’ve delved into the world of yoga, exploring various poses together, fostering mindfulness and relaxation.

The children explored the versatility of chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans. They eagerly embraced the experience, delighting in the chance to spread hummus onto pita bread. 

We all enjoyed the rejuvenating spring weather this week on the playground. We took a walk and found buds growing on trees, as we discussed the change of seasons. 

We are looking forward to the week ahead! Christine & Lizette