(Hello, everyone! I hope you are having a peaceful and healthy Easter Break. I just wanted to take a moment to discuss plans for the rest of the month of home learning.
Lessons have been heavily online-based, with learning games and activities. While I believe these pages have their important place, I will be trying to introduce more hands-on activities that can be accomplished at home, which fully embrace the Montessori philosophy of concrete exploration of materials. While there have been many suggestions of these kinds of activities in our Activity Lists (link found at the end of this newsletter), I will be recording lessons showing how these can be accomplished, and learning can be maximized. Again, these are all simply suggestions; we want our families to have options! We will be exploring nature in honor of Earth Day, paying special attention to the new spring life all around us. Also, of course, recycling and conservation will be important topics of learning. We will also delve more deeply into color-mixing using common materials at home for some hands-on fun! Thank you for all you're doing during these unprecedented times. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions, concerns, or anything you want to talk about! Communication is important to make the most of home learning!
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Hello from our Virtual Montessori Children's House! I hope this newsletter finds you all healthy and safe.
We say goodbye to our eventful March, and hello to a new month of learning today. I know families have been deluged with so much information, and we appreciate all you are taking on! Our expectations during home learning are staying fluid and flexible. We absolutely understand if you can't completely follow the suggested Montessori Kindergarten and 4-year-old schedule. Every lesson in the email and on Google Classroom is meant to be a suggestion, not a mandate. We do encourage the 5-year-olds especially to do as much as possible, as we want them to be on track for First Grade, but understand that it might not realistically happen as parents juggle working from home and possibly helping more than one child with home learning (or having younger siblings to care for). That said, I want to talk to you about a benefit of Montessori learning. As other kinds of classes are wondering about whether to review or delve into new content, this is not a big question for the Montessori class. With the three-year learning cycle, a student who was with us last year has been introduced to each new theme once or even possibly twice before. An upcoming example will be our lessons in animal classification. Three-year-olds, whether in the classroom or at home, are simply introduced to the concept (and I introduced it this year with a little song!). This year's three-year-olds can watch the video lesson, much like they would have watched the lesson during circle time in the classroom. Returning students are able to delve more deeply into the topic, as they are reintroduced to animal classification. Instead of passively watching a lesson, or open-endedly exploring with the material, older children can do some sorting of animal models or pictures on their own. Or they may choose to do research on one class of animals that interests them. We call these more in-depth projects "extensions." Extensions are for students who want to explore the topic more in a direction of their choosing. Through introductory lessons and extensions, the level of learning progresses from "introduced" to "learning" to "mastered." Another aspect of Montessori education that I'd like you to keep in mind is repetition. Please encourage your child to repeat lessons and games that interest them, especially if they still find one somewhat challenging. Perhaps one lesson that was accomplished with your support can be completed independently the next time. Repetition builds mastery. So, the suggested lessons are simply introductions, ideas that may spark an interest. But please, gauge your child's interests and abilities and try to follow them from those points. That said, we will do our best to move on to the April themes for our class in a way that works with distance learning. We will talk about color-mixing, defining primary, secondary, and tertiary colors (just in time for dying Easter eggs). We will also learn about Earth Day (usually when we make recycled paper). And we will review all classes of animals that we've been introducing all year long. As always, Ms. Krista and Ms. Teresa are available via text, Remind, and e-mail. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out! And please keep those photos and emails of your Home Learning Adventures coming! |
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Ms. Teresa is just one of the three fantastic teachers in St. Mary's Montessori Children's House! |