Today, we said goodbye to March, and also goodbye to each other for the duration of our Easter break. I hope everyone finds time to rest, recharge, and reflect during this most Holy time of year.
Yesterday and today, we sent home palms with your child. These palms were blessed by Father Bryan, who suggests to us to put them someplace special, where we can look upon them and remember God's love, for one whole year. Then next year, they may be returned to Church to be turned into ashes for Ash Wednesday. Ms. Rachel also passed this assignment on personally to every child at dismissal, as she handed out the palms. We also had some fun decorating and dyeing eggs! We sent them home today, so please, please, please check bookbags for the hard-boiled egg to promptly refrigerate it! Each student's egg is special and unique, just like them. As we say goodbye to March, and hello to April, we also say hello to new classroom themes. We will be learning more about Spring, and reptiles, and respect for the environment, in recognition of Earth Day. We recycle and compost every day in the Children's House, but this coming month, every child will have a chance to make their own recycled paper. We have been diligently trying to send home winter gear, as backpack space permits. There are still a few odds and ends of hats and gloves. We will keep endeavoring to send them home after break. Finally, thank you to all the families who donated to the Food Drive. Bless you for all you do! Happy Easter!
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Hello again and Happy Spring, all Montessori families! Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, and next week begins our third and final trimester of the school year.. We sent out our second trimester report cards, via e-mail, yesterday. If you didn't receive your child's report card, please let us know through Remind app. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email Ms. Krista or Ms. Teresa (see Contact Infos and Schedules page on this website).
Students came home today with a shamrock necklace. This isn't just a cute Spring/ St. Patrick's Day activity, it is symbolic of an important religious lesson. Ms. Rachel told our children that St. Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the Holy Trinity. One leaf for the Father, one for the Son, one for the Holy Spirit. Each student pinched off a shamrock from the plant Ms. Rachel brought in, which she then enclosed in the plastic so they could wear it for the rest of the day. In the countdown to Easter, Ms. Rachel is also talking about the Stations of the Cross with the children each day. We buried our "Allelujas" a while back, and now learn about this solemn time when Jesus was being persecuted and his journey to crucifixion. But the good news is, at the end of this journey, he was resurrected into everlasting life! And we will sing "Alleluja!" once more! . We have been counting, from day 1, every day of school, by adding one little golden unit bead to a dish. Every two weeks, it becomes another child's afternoon job. Once we got ten unit beads, we traded them for a ten bar. On March 4, we finally got to trade ten ten-bars for a full hundred square. Then, we decided to count to 100 in a different way - using the color bead bars from 1-9. Each 3 -and 4-year-old student colored in a picture of one color bead bar, and our Kindergarteners' special job was to label each bead from 1 to 100! We are still counting! Every day, one student adds another little, golden unit bead to the cup, to go along with our hundred square. March is our month for learning about fish and other creatures of the oceans. Our students are now classifying animal pictures into mammals, insects, birds, and fish: Each time another class of animals is added, we have a full-group lesson to review the previous classes, and introduce the new one. We are also learning about food groups this month. We are using the MyPlate model of nutrition. Our main focus is that we learn to identify if foods are fruits, vegetables, grain, protein, or dairy. The children are starting to identify these food groups in their lunches! On a final note, the weather is changing as we move to Spring. Please continue to dress your child for the weather, keeping in mind that our morning playtime is considerably cooler than the projected high temperature for the day. We want our kiddoes to have fresh air and exercise as much as possible! Thank you!
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Ms. Teresa is just one of the three fantastic teachers in St. Mary's Montessori Children's House! |