We continue our unit learning about apples. Last week, we learned about the parts of an apple; this coming week, we will explore different kinds of apples. This will involve two new activities for our class. We will have food tasting, and the children will vote for their favorite kind. When we do food tasting, our rule is that everyone must try one polite bite. If a student doesn't like a food after one polite bite, then they don't need to have any more. We use this rule to encourage reluctant children to try new things.
We continue to go outside daily, often twice a day. The weather is still warm and clear, and we know in this area that will not last much longer. Children, especially young children, need movement. When we ask them to sit still past their endurance, their attention becomes scattered, and learning is inhibited. Because of this, we use the playground to help them use their natural energy, and keep circle time short at the beginning of the year. Of course, in a Montessori classroom, movement is built into so many lessons, which helps! However, the movement in the classroom is expected to be controlled and slower; on the playground, they can really exercise all muscles to their potential. Read for Fun, Read to Learn On another note, the Montessori Kindergartners have begun receiving books to bring home weekly. Parents, please read these books with your child every night. Encourage your Kindergartner to find certain words in the text, or to memorize the whole book. The more children are exposed to text, the more likely they will have reading success. We also assign reading with a teacher or to a friend through the students' weekly work lists. But please don't forget to also read books for bedtime, for quiet time, or just to enjoy a good story! In our classroom, we read often at circle, and this year, we are listing all of the books we read together, so there is a visual representation of how many stories we've enjoyed.
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What a busy week we've had! We've gone through our first five days of a regular school schedule. Every day, the children have worked on choosing work, finding their own appropriate work space, and, when finished, returning it to the shelf ready for the next person to use. It is a new responsibility for some of our young students. All children have also practiced sitting peacefully at circle, lining up to walk to specials, serving themselves snack, and asking teachers for help. These are the base skills needed for academic work to begin. We've also had a couple of fire drills.
Our four- and five-year-olds have begun drawing and, when appropriate, writing in journals every morning. Since this is the first task of their school day, it is important for your child to come to school on time, so as not to miss out on this important handwriting practice. Our five-year-olds have also begun choosing projects from the teacher-composed weekly work lists. Work lists are used to ensure that the Kindergartner is learning and practicing the appropriate skills for their level, while giving them choice in their work. Work lists help our Kindergartners learn about time management and negotiating priorities. Ideally, when a work list is completed before Friday, the student may choose work on his or her own. Next week, we will begin studying apples, our theme for September. We will learn about the parts of apples, how they grow, identify different kinds, and by the end of the month, we will use apples to prepare a special dish together! On another note: about half of our class has signed up for Remind texts or e-mails. If you haven't, please do so. You can text @mheadt to 81010 OR email [email protected] (the subject line can be blank), to automatically sign up for messages from the Montessori Children's House teachers. We know that, especially at the beginning of the school year, there can be a lot of information coming from a lot of sources. Papers going home can get missed; messages passed on verbally can be forgotten. So, this year, the Montessori class will try out the Remind App. You can sign up to get Montessori notifications through text or email. Just follow these simple instructions: We hope to see lots of parents sign up for better communication!
Remember, if you need to reach me, Miss Teresa, you can call or text 716=435-5783, from 8 am - 8 pm, or e-mail [email protected]. I respond to messages within a day.
Dear Parents,
One of the children’s favorite times is when they bring in the snack for the rest of the class. Snack is self-served, chosen by the children when and if they are hungry. Serving sizes are written and drawn by the teaching staff for portion control. Enclosed is a schedule for each family to provide snack for one week of the 2015-2016 school year. Snack is not a meal; examples of some common snack servings are 3-5 crackers, 1 oz. of cheese, 3 oz. of yogurt, 1/2 banana, 1/3 of a cup of cereal, 1/3 of an apple, 1/2 cereal bar. It is a small amount to give the child a boost of energy for their learning day. The Montessori Children’s House will strive to accommodate special dietary and allergenic needs. Please let us know as soon as possible if your child has any dietary restrictions or needs. We do ask that you bring in peanut-free, tree-nut free, and cheese dust free snacks. The full snack list is on the school website, under the heading “Student Life” and “Approved Snack List.” We encourage parents to bring three fruit and/or vegetable snacks for every two carbohydrate and/or dairy snacks. Common Snacks: Carbohydrate pretzels tortilla chips popcorn crackers (snack crackers, saltines, etc) graham crackers animal crackers rice cakes Dairy cheese sticks (cheddar, mozzarella, monterey jack) block cheese yogurt Fruit apples bananas pears melon(honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon) raisins, other dried fruit grapes strawberries blueberries peaches nectarines pineapple oranges Vegetables green, yellow, orange, red bell pepper celery baby carrots green beans cauliflower cucumbers grape or cherry tomatoes avocado broccoli Again, please consult the school’s website for the complete list of safe snacks. We will send home a reminder on the Friday before your snack week, along with a few suggestions for snacks, based on what we’ve had in the previous weeks. Thank you for your participation and cooperation! Ms. Teresa, Ms. Krista, and Ms. Rachel Snack Schedule 2016-2017 September 11 - 15 Ava Jelsovsky September 18 - 22 Liam McGuire September 25 - 29 Matthew Cumbo October 2 - 6 Alexander Tyx October 10 - 13 (No school Oct. 9) Adam Murphy October 16 - 20 Grayson Valentine October 23 - 27 David Mineo October 30 - November 3 Ben Shouldice November 6 - 9 (no school Nov. 10) David Rivera November 13 - 17 Grace Caruso November 27 - 30 (no school Dec 1) Evelyn Boland December 4 - 8 Aliza Ansari December 11 - 15 Wania Ahmad January 2 - 5 (no school Jan. 1) Nico Sfintescu January 8 - 12 Callum Lucey January 16 - 19 (no school Jan. 15) Parker Lucas January 22 - 26 Declan Kelly January 29 - February 2 Ilija Adnrijevic February 5 - 9 Henry Nevins February 26 - March 2 Violet Gugler March 5 - 9 Emma Cohen March 12 - 15 (no school March 16) Abby Warren March 19 - 23 Piper Zgoda March 26 - 28 (no school March 29-30) Rory Rappleyea April 9 - 13 Elizabeth Tracy April 16 - 20 Crystal Ross April 23 - 27 Francesca Mineo April 30 - May 4 Will Kisailus May 7 - 11 Sonia DeSilva May 14 - 18 Vincenzo Gamel-Misso May 21 - 24 (no school May 25) Catherine Cumbo May 29 - June 1 (no school May 28) Addison Tyx June 4 - 8 Adelaide Tauriello June 11 - 15 TBD
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Ms. Teresa is just one of the three fantastic teachers in St. Mary's Montessori Children's House! |