One of the main highlights this week was a fun Sensorial experience we had, to close our apple studies. Your children dissected an apple and oh boy! They really seemed to enjoy it!

With senses full of curiosity, children touched, observed, smelled, peeled and cored a delicious apple. The children found it very fun and interesting to use the handle of the peeler but their eyes really sparkled and the smiles bloomed when they started watching the skin of the apple peeling and falling on the napkin. They also helped break the apple into pieces and place it inside our crock pot to be cooked and turn into a delicious apple sauce! The next morning we gathered as a class and the children got to enjoy the fruits of their work.

Food preparation is one of the main areas in our Practical Life curriculum! There are many benefits to involving children in food prep. Even the pickiest of eaters has been known to be more willing to try things when they have had a hand in preparing it. These works also help develop fine motor skills, build coordination, and create a sense of community, as well as increase knowledge of nutrition, science, and math. We will continue to provide experiences like this throughout the year.

I encourage you to make experiences like this available at home as well. Here are just some examples on how you can include your toddler in food preparation at home:

• Scoop cereal into bowl
• Add milk to cereal
• Wipe up spills with small towel
• Take plate to the kitchen
• Prepare a sandwich
• Spread sun butter/jelly/cream cheese on crackers
• Peel and slice a banana
• Peel a mandarin orange
• Peel and cut an apple with assistance
• Wash fruits and vegetables
• Make orange juice
• Pour glass of water or milk using a small jug- use small amount of liquid to avoid large spill
• Drink from a glass
• Follow a recipe with assistance using measuring cups
• Set the table/clear the table
• Wipe the table
• Sweep the floor -use  dustpan and brush

Enjoy the weekend,

Mrs. Hood and Miss. Bethann

One of our goals at FWM is to create caring, empathetic students who are capable of thinking beyond themselves. It was Dr. Montessori’s vision that a peaceful world, starting with children, would make the world a better place. Community service is one of our Montessori strategies to help develop and educate the whole child. Students learn the joy of giving of themselves and develop compassion because of these real, practical life, volunteer experiences.

A couple of times a month our Middle School students visit our environment and work with our toddlers. They do so by reading and working together with the different materials displayed on our shelves. They assist your children in how to put on their shoes and jackets, how to clean their face and hands, they look for ways of comforting their younger peers when they are having a hard time, and they love to join in the fun when we sing, dance and play games together. They are great role models and your children love when they enter our environment and get to spend time with them. 

In continuation with our apple studies this week we explored a Granny smith apple for our food tasting lesson. Children were in awe to see the apple this week was green! Some actually found it funny! They were expecting something red, like last week. Skin, flesh, stem, core and seeds are vocabulary words we are repeating often these days. 

As an extra  Sensorial addition we worked on an apple stamping art piece. Children enjoyed dipping the apple halves into different color paints and stamping them all over their papers! They were so proud of their work! 

As a fundamental Practical Life skill, your children have been working diligently on learning to take off and put on their shoes! It’s hard work for them, but we are so confident they will master it as they keep practicing. 

The favorite books this week have been : Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See by Eric Carle, Row, Row Your Boat By Jane Cabrera and We All Go Traveling By by Barefoot books. “We are the Dinosaurs’ by Laurie Berkner and “Shake Your Sillies Out” by Andy Mason were the top hits musically this week. 

We wish you a healthy and peaceful weekend, 

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Bethann 

One of the main highlights of our week was our first lesson on food tasting. As children grow beyond the infant stage, they begin the journey to independence as toddlers. Many parents notice this change in their children when it comes to mealtime, as they begin to hear a resounding, “No!” when it comes to eating the foods they once loved and trying new ones. In order to help families, we have integrated food tasting into our toddler program as a way to ease children into the idea of trying new foods by teaching them all about the food and encouraging them to participate as a group.

This week we introduced some delicious red apples!

Children were really excited to see the food tasting tray covered. They knew there was a surprise and they immediately gathered quietly around the tray. There were smiles and expressions of awe at the moment I removed the towel that was covering the apple. This fruit was presented as a whole first, then cut in front of them, presented as half, and then served individually. In our conversation, we included such adjectives as cold, big, smooth, red, and tasty to keep adding to our vocabulary. Children observed while I slowly picked up a piece of apple and placed it inside my mouth, tasting it slowly and dramatically, with the purpose of encouraging curiosity and expectation when it was their turn to taste. They immediately started to ask for their turn to taste it! They really liked it! This lesson is a favorite every year and we can’t wait to explore all the different food items in our list each week.

This week we also celebrated our first birthday in the classroom. Always a joy to see those smiley faces feeling seen and cherished!

We also had the great opportunity, after a couple of years of not being able, to gather as school and celebrate the International day of Peace. Each year, the International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) is observed around the world on the 21st of September. Established by the United Nations, Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.

On this day, Montessori schools from around the world join together to sing for peace. The song travels around the globe over a 24-hour period, starting with New Zealand and ending with the Hawaiian Islands.

Maria Montessori truly believed in peace education as she felt that world peace can only be achieved through education. In Montessori, we strive to give children the tools to live at peace with others and settle conflict in a peaceful manner.

While you enjoy some of your children’s pictures, we encourage  you to put the volume up on this beautiful song and remember that each one of these little ones are so deserving to live in a peaceful world. So let’s work together for it!

Enjoy your weekend,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Bethann

Your children have started to settle little by little. There are less tears everyday at drop off time and more dancing and giggles throughout the morning. As your children’s confidence and trust have increased, they have started to explore the environment more intentionally. They have even started to socialize with some of their peers. Those that are able to say a few words have started to recognize and call their friends by their names.

As the children continue to use their freedom of movement and freedom of choice, some ground rules have been introduced. One of those rules is Respect for Others’ Work. In traditional school settings, children this age are encouraged and even expected to share. Sharing is a very important concept, but for children of this age it’s a task that they are not developmentally ready for. In our environment we encourage the concept of taking turns instead. This encourages patience, mindfulness, independence, order, and concentration. Children don’t feel threatened by the idea that another child will take their material away, instead they can peacefully work with the material until they are done. When children want to work independently we encourage them to say: “This is my work. Please don’t touch.” We also encourage the children to observe quietly how other children are working with a material. It’s so fun to see that even at this young age children are able to work on mastering these skills! They just need the encouragement to do so.

Another rule we introduced this week is We Respect our Materials. As guides, we model slowly and consistently throughout the morning the importance of carrying and handling our materials in a gentle way. If one of our students decides to throw a piece of material across the room, we encourage them to use one of the balls instead and we verbalize to them in a few words how we should use the materials. “We throw the ball.” “We are gentle with our materials.”

On another note, children had a blast exploring our school’s gym and our toddler outdoor space. They have been practicing how to sit in a community circle, how to transition from place to place, and they all did a great job on our first fire drill this week. Some of the children’s favorite songs this week seemed to be: “Walking in the Jungle” by Super Simple Songs, “Walk Around” by Nancy Kopman, “The Goldfish” by Laurie Berkner, and of course “The Wheel on the Bus” by Cedarmont Kids and “Old Mc Donald Had a Farm.”  

Enjoy the pictures of your beautiful children, 

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Bethann