Mrs. Hood’s Class: Rainbows and Energy!

Posted on March 6, 2020March 9, 2020 by Andrea Hood

Color recognition can provide children with essential learning tools in life. For example, in mathematics, color recognition is used to categorize, sort, compare, and organize. Additionally, as children learn to identify colors and use color as a language tool to describe things, it develops and strengthens their ability to communicate effectively.

Colors are part of our daily lessons using the different materials, games, books, songs, and activities in our environment. However, this week we focused on studying the colors of the rainbow and children just loved it!

Even our show and tell time focused on children’s favorite colors. As expected, children enjoyed showing the items they brought and talking about them with their peers.

Children also enjoyed working on creating a beautiful rainbow marbled sun catcher using glue and food coloring. We can’t wait to use them to decorate our classroom windows!

We had the great privilege to have our first parent volunteer working with the children this week. Children learned to make delicious energy balls, using gluten free oats, ground flax, cinnamon, sea salt, sunbutter, honey, vanilla, and they had a choice to finish it up with either raisins or chocolate chips…or both! So yummy!!! Children really seemed to enjoy participating in the mixing of ingredients, the sensorial experience of making their own ball, and devouring their finished product! It was a great day!

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it at home!
http://www.keeleymcguire.com/2016/02/nut-free-no-bake-sunbutter-energy-bites.html?m=1

We strongly encourage all parents to share their talents with the children and schedule a visit. Is always so much fun when the children invite their parents into our special “world” at school. We love it and also appreciate your support in following the guidelines to make these visits a successful event.

For food tasting, children enjoyed exploring rainbow carrots. That’s right! We studied the parts of purple, white and orange carrots! And we all enjoyed the sweetness and crunchiness of them! This vegetable received a standing ovation by all!

Note: We are excited to let you know that all our toddlers who will be moving up to our Primary program in the Fall of 2020 will be visiting a Primary classroom next week with the goal of getting them acquainted with the environment and teachers. Kindergarten students can’t wait to welcome our toddlers and work together in the environment. It’s going to be a great experience for all!

Mrs. Wilson: Sensory Exploration and Color Matching

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Cynthia Wilson

Some of our toddler children have shown us an interest in colors. This week I introduced a color matching work using colored frogs and colored dots. We started with a group lesson where the children picked a frog out of the basket. The child was asked if they knew what color it was and if they could put that frog on the matching dot. This lesson is now available on the shelf for the children to use.

Another fun activity the children enjoyed was splashing water and bubbles in the sensory bin. Some even thought it was fun to put bubbles on their faces. There was so much joy, laughter, bubbles, and water everywhere! This activity gave them the perfect opportunity to receive a lesson using the mop.

Food Tasting: Asparagus was not as big of a hit as the past foods they tried. Everyone tasted it but about five of the children asked for more.

To help with language and communication we implemented an old telephone into the classroom. This was a big hit and surprisingly the children knew what it was used for. It was fun to watch them hold the handset to their ear and talk into it.

Enjoy the rest of the photos!

Mrs. Wilson, Ms. Sara and Ms. Heather

Mrs. Hood’s Class: Show and Tell and More Fun!

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Andrea Hood

Due to the increasing amount of vocabulary your children use and recognize now, this week we introduced an activity beloved by all the children: Show and Tell!

I personally love this activity because it provides an opportunity for your child to develop expressive language as they learn to create and construct language. This act involves organizing ideas in sequence so they will make sense when communicated with others, choosing the words to say, and constructing a clear syntax. It’s a lot of work for our little friends but they ALL did such an amazing job!

Another reason why we added this activity to our environment was because of the enhancement of confidence it gives to your child: As they share something of themselves with one another, they gain confidence in becoming the focus of the group’s attention. They find out others are interested in them, they discover that there are things that they know about, and they feel good about themselves doing it! It was truly priceless to see their smiling faces and how proud they felt when they had a turn to share. It is never too early to start practicing public speaking and there is nothing better than allowing confidence to develop in a safe and familiar environment. Also, receptive language development is promoted as children listen to and comprehend the meaning of the speaker’s words. Children were so present, respectful and engaged in the activity that it seemed they didn’t want to miss anything!

As guides, we also use Show and Tell as an opportunity for observation and informal assessment of abilities. It gives us a lot of information about speech and language skills, social skills, emotional needs, levels of independence, and self-esteem, as well as children’s interest.

I cannot express how excited each child was to show their friends their favorite item and talk about it! From the youngest to the oldest, from the most introverted to the most extroverted, the children were just so happy and engaged! We thank you all for your support and for taking the time to write those little notes in each child’s bags! It really helped us! We can’t wait for next Wednesday to come!

Children also enjoyed and engaged in all the new works in the environment throughout the week. They are truly like little busy bees!

For food tasting we explored Brussels sprouts. Some children really enjoyed it and some not too much. At least we got a request for our next food tasting: chocolate corn! What do you think?… I will try to figure out how we can make that possible while you enjoy this week’s pictures!

Have a good weekend!

Mrs. Hood’s Class: Normalization!

Posted on February 21, 2020February 27, 2020 by Andrea Hood

In Montessori education, the term “normalization” has a specialized meaning. “Normal” does not refer to what is considered to be “typical” or “average” or even “usual.” “Normalization” does not refer to a process of being forced to conform. Instead, Maria Montessori used the terms “normal” and “normalization” to describe a unique process she observed in child development.

Montessori observed that when children are allowed freedom in an environment suited to their needs, they blossom. After a period of intense concentration, working with materials that fully engage their interest, children appear to be refreshed and content. Through continued concentrated work of their own choice, children grow in inner discipline and peace. She called this process “normalization” and cited it as “the most important single result of our whole work (The Absorbent Mind, 1949).”

The children in our environment are on a great path to “normalization.” Every morning we get to see its signs! We also watch with joy how children have internalized the routines, and transitions are more peaceful! They recognize their friends and feel comfortable sharing and working together. Deep friendships are developing and expressions of love and care for each other are more evident.

In another note and in continuation with our winter studies, children made an imaginary trip to the south pole where they met a family of penguins. Children learned that penguins are birds that don’t fly. Penguins also swim in cold water and eat fish and other sea life they catch underwater. Penguins also spend half of their time on land and half time inside the water. Children enjoyed the sensorial exploration of touching the solid ice and submerging their hands inside the cold pool to help the family of model penguins swim and catch some food.

For food tasting, children enjoyed exploring asparagus! I remember presenting this food item last year to some of our current students. The result was not very positive then. However, this time most of the students kept asking for more! We hope this serves as encouragement to you in not giving up on reintroducing new foods to your toddlers. You (and they) will be surprised!

Mrs. Wilson: Sensitive Periods – Refinement of the Senses

Posted on February 21, 2020February 27, 2020 by Cynthia Wilson

Fascination with sensorial experiences (taste, sound, touch, weight, smell, etc.) results with the child learning to observe. Absorption of the world around us through our senses is crucial to development. It helps us refine our sensorial discrimination and supports the integration of primary reflexes. We all process the senses in varying ways. This is one reason why food tasting is an important part of the toddler curriculum. Exploring a variety of fruits and vegetables each week helps the toddler learn to categorize the different tastes, such as sweet, bitter, and sour. This week the children explored and tasted limes. Watching the children’s reaction to that first bite was comical, as you can see in the photos.

Mrs. Wilson, Ms.Sara and Ms. Heather

Mrs. Hood’s Class: Celebrating Friendship!

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Andrea Hood

“A friend is one of the nicest things you can have and one of the best things you can be” – Douglas Pagels

Children had a blast preparing for our Friendship Celebration! They exercised their fine motor skills to create their beautiful Valentine’s bags and they were super excited to share their valentines with each of their friends! We talked about the importance of being a good friend and ways we could demonstrate love and care for them. We focused on one expression that promotes happiness in our brains, a hug. Children had fun choosing friends to give big hugs! It was priceless!

Children also enjoyed a special homemade fruit salad during our friendship celebration! There was so much love in the air!

We thank you for all your donations to make this day so special!

We hope you have a great little break and a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mrs. Hood’s Class: Love Is In the Air!

Posted on February 7, 2020February 7, 2020 by Andrea Hood

“Of all things, love is the most potent.” – Maria Montessori

As Valentine’s day is approaching we have taken the opportunity to talk more intentionally about love and friendship to the children. Through new books, games, songs and social opportunities, children have had the opportunity to practice kindness and express love.

One of the main highlights this week was the introduction to a very special project. We call it “the mailbox work.” This is a multi-step work used to strengthen pre-writing skills in our students while reinforcing the concept of care for others. The first step is to choose a friend’s picture. This helps the child to maintain the focus on the activity. Then the child chooses a piece of paper and creates a beautiful card for his/her chosen friend using colorful pencils. The child then folds the card, place it inside the envelope and can ask one of the guides to help them write the name of the friend and then the child places it inside the mailbox. One of the details they seemed to like a lot was licking the border of the envelope to seal their message. 🙂 Children enjoyed making cards for their friends and at times for themselves. Self-love is equally important, right?

On February 12th, we will be having a friendship celebration in our classroom. Giving and receiving valentines is a special part of a child’s school experience and one they truly enjoy! This is a great opportunity to help children think about friendships. Whether you purchase or make cards, sit with your child as they create or sign them and talk about their classmates and what it means to be a good friend. There are 16 students in our class. Please have your child sign with your help the back of each valentine. Leave the envelope blank (with no specific name on it). This enables your child to distribute his/her valentines in a more independent and successful way.

For food tasting, children enjoyed exploring a kiwi! And this one was a big winner! Children really liked it!

We are looking forward to meeting with you all at Parent-Teacher conferences next Thursday, February 13th and talking about your child’s progress at school.

Please enjoy one of our Spanish songs the children have been practicing for weeks. We are confident most of the children are able to sing it for you now.

Saltan los conejitos (the bunnies jump)

Saltan, saltan los conejitos ( They jump, they jump the bunnies)

mueven, mueven sus orejas largas. (They move, they move their long ears)

Cavan la tierra muy presurosos (They dig the earth very fast)

cuando escuchan alguien llegar (When they hear someone arrive)

¿Será mamá?, ¿Será papá? (Will it be mom ?, Will it be dad?)

Trala la la la larala.

Mrs. Wilson: Sweet Surprise!

Posted on February 7, 2020February 7, 2020 by Cynthia Wilson

This week the children were invited to participate in a small group activity. Wednesday they made a special sweet treat to share with their family. The children worked together to mash up strawberries and add in the other ingredients. They even had an opportunity to taste their product. On Thursday the children marble painted heart shaped doilies for their Valentine’s Day bag.