Group work

In the third year, many more lessons become collaborative.  Here Kyleigh and Piper are working on creating a map of Europe and working on their cursive writing skills.

Three Year Cycle

Why the third year?  Here is a great example of two friends working together to solidify their knowledge of sounds.  It is great for the older children to be able to play with giving lessons and fun for all.

Student Teacher and Division

Here our student teacher, Emily, gives a lesson to three children in our classroom on division.  Did you have that smile on your face when you learned division?  Montessori is so much fun!

Wood Polishing

Practical Life lessons are always fun.  Theo polished many things made from wood materials on this day.

The Hundred Board

The hundred board is a lesson that is great for recognition of patterns when counting.

Collective Exercises

The first time the children receive a lesson on addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, they all begin with the collective exercises.  These lessons are often the first collaborative work children do in the classroom.  Here Campbell and Megan were setting up to play addition.

Our Lunch Song

Many parents have most likely heard your children singing some of our songs.  At lunch each day we sit down and sing this song before we begin eating.

The Earth is good to me
and so I thank the Earth for
giving me, the things I need,
the sun and the rain and the apple seed,
The Earth is good to me.

Hope you enjoying knowing all of the lyrics

Earth Day Celebration

Earth Day is today.  We are going to have an all school celebration with Joan where the children will really see how much they've learned this week.  We will also sing songs and have a special lunch in honor of this day.  Thank you for providing your child with support of wearing our classroom color-black.

Samadhi and Teens Counting

Counting to ten is just the beginning, here Samadhi is working on the teens boards.

Hudson and Painting

Hudson is painting this wonderful pictures.  It is so fun to see how different each child's art is.  They are as unique as each person in our room.

Campbell and Hammering

I just presented hammering for the first time today.  It was very exciting for all the children and everyone is looking forward to getting a lesson.  The outdoor environment becomes more enjoyable now that the rains are not constant.

Artist in Residence

Joan sharing dance and movement for our artist in residence this year.  We will be having a Earth Day celebration with the children on Friday.

Practical Life

Orange juicing and apple slicing are favorites in the classroom.  Jack soon discovered after working very hard to get all the juice out of this orange that he doesn't really care for fresh squeezed orange juice.  But it is the process that is important.  Jack now knows he can squeeze the juice and offer it to a friend to drink.

Recording Linear Counting

Sean worked on the chains and recorded his work in a short chain book.  The chains are always very exciting to get and give lessons on.

Pink Tower and Brown Stairs

Theo explores the relationship between the brown stairs and pink tower.  So many wonderful ways to create designs with these materials.

Cursive

Kyleigh and Piper who are both attending our elementary program in the fall are beginning to learn cursive.  More collaborative work happens as the children get older in the primary.

Isa and Moveable Alphabet

It is wonderful that as the children learn to spell using phonetic sounds that they are able to write ideas and stories.  Isa was writing to her future baby sister.

Comfortable running shoes next week

Hi Parents,
Please make sure your children have good shoes to move in next week with our Jumping Joan returning for a fun week of activities.
Thanks

Button Sewing

Sewing is a very popular lesson in the classroom.  We begin by teaching burlap sewing and then progress to button sewing and embroidery.  There are many fun extensions that can be done in the classroom which the they all enjoy.

Check File Folders

Parents, if you could try to check file folders either at pick up or drop off, many of them are full as we are now putting paintings in them to go home.  There is not  a lot of room and they are getting full.  Also, there are the sign up forms for pictures in your box right now, if you have not already picked yours up and would like to order pictures, please fill out the form and return it to me.  Thank you.

Heaven and Spindle Boxes

Heaven is concentrating on the spindle box lesson.  This is presented after children have worked with the number rods.  It allows the children to explore quantity and the concept of zero as a value as there are no spindles placed in the box labeled 0.  

Class Pictures

There are order forms for our class pictures located in parent files.  Pictures will be taken on April 20.

Class Auction Project

Here is a preview of our class auction project.  I hope one of our families will get this wonderful item in the bidding.  Thank you to Hollie Elliott for helping make this all possible.  Also I would like to thank all of the families who donated the great dress up clothes for our box.

Happy April Birthdays

Happy Birthday to Megan, Isa, Piper, and Lincoln.

Elementary Poetry Reading

Thank you to the Elementary students who shared poetry with our extended day.  Some of these children have returned as reading buddies for our older students.

The Thousand Chain

The thousand chain is often a work that is impressive to watch.  Here is Jacob recording the labels from his work at the thousand chain.

Jack and the Brown Stairs

Here is Jack at the brown stairs.  It was wonderful to observe that shortly after this picture was taken, several kids gathered to watch him working with the material.  It developed into a group exploration where the children with the assistance of Jessica built the brown stair up on end to build a very tall tower.  The children were in awe of how tall the brown stairs were when placed in such a way.  Exploration of materials is encouraged in the classroom each and every day.

This is Sheila and Megan playing subtraction independently with the golden bead materials.  It is great to see children of different ages working in cooperation to share their friendship and knowledge.

Bread baking is a new addition to the classroom.  Sydney's family was kind enough to donate the toaster over that made this possible.  The children bake bread daily and then share with the classroom as our snack. This has often been a lesson I offer to older children who have developed the reading skills to navigate the lesson independently by reading the recipe.
As the year continues I hope to provide baking opportunities for those who are not yet reading.  We do have throughout the year other food prep lessons such as orange juicing, banana slicing, apple slicing, and coffee grinding.  Baking is a wonderful addition to the classroom.

Thank you to Megan's mother Wei for providing our extended day lessons in Chinese.  The children look forward to this experience each week.  We began this shortly after the Chinese New Year and have continued to have lessons as often as we can.  Thank you to Wei for providing the children with this experience.

The wonderful exploration of animals from each continent.  Painted and Sandpaper globes are the first introduction in the classroom to geography, but further exploration of the world can and is explored by children of all ages in the environment.