2013
April
NEWS
Cycle of Activity Montessori Based Work at Home
Loree Birkenback
This past Monday Morning Montessori topic was how to initiate a cycle of activity with Montessori based work at home. Montessori defines a cycle of activity as a child: 1) choosing an activity; 2) completing the activity and returning the materials to the proper place; 3) experiencing a sense of satisfaction 4) choosing it again and again until they’ve mastered the skill. You can see this at home as your child falls into patterns of his/her day. Simple ways to increase this necessary skill is by offering specific work just for your child. Care of self and care of environment are most appealing to toddlers and Primary age children.
Some staples for your home: A couple of rugs that the child can easily manage themselves Placemat underlay Oilcloth underlay for messy works (water, polishing, painting) Trays Baskets Small pitchers Turkey baster for strengthening whole hand Eye droppers for strengthening pincer grasp Small spoons, tongs, ladles for transferring Bead stringing Knobbed puzzles for toddlers, more challenging puzzles for older children Items for pouring: rice, lentils, beans, sand and food dye for water Containers for opening/closing Cleaning up items: small whisk and dustpan, broom, mop, sponges, rags, pail Child size furniture- small table and chair for working and independent snack; dresser, a comfy reading chair Child-size plate, bowl, utensils When you see your child can memorize all the steps on a consistent basis, it’s time to add a sequence or introduce a slightly more challenging aspect of the work. Remember, Maria Montessori tells us to “Never do for a child what they can do for themselves�. Suggested Books: How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin Montessori Insights for Parents of Young Children: Applying Montessori Principles in the Home by Aline D. Wolf Teaching Montessori in the Home by Elizabeth Hainstock
Sensory Work at Home...
Lemon Rice Recipe for SensoryTubs
Supplies 1 gallon size plastic zipper - topped bag 6 cups uncooked rice 1 Tbsp of yellow food dye 1 tsp. of lemon extract
Directions: 1. Place rice in the bag 2. Add dye and extract. 3. Seal the bag, squeezing out as much as the oxygen as you can 4. Knead until color saturates the rice. Spread it on plastic to dry overnight and you’re ready to use! 5. For lavender rice, fllow the same recipe but use purple dye and lavender oil.
Cloud Dough Recipe
Supplies Baby Oil Flour
Directions: 1. Mix the Baby Oil and Flour in a large container 2. Use 1:8 Ratio 3. We use 1/4 cup baby oil and 2 cups four 5. There you have it..cloud dough! It looks like flour, but holds it shape when pressed.
MDO
Holden is climbing up the climbing wall. He was really excited he could do it because the last time he tried he was not able to make it to the top. Success!
Ali is making faces in the mirror
Wow! We can't believe it's already the end of April. The time has flown by this year and the children have learned and grown so much. We can't even begin to describe how smart all of your children are. We are gearing up for a lot of fun in our last month together before summer...be checking your child's cubby for list soon for all of the upcoming activities! Our MDO toddlers have blown us out of the water this year with potty training. :) We are up to 26 children completely potty trained this year. That is the best we have ever done. Thanks for all of your support in getting this done with us. We hope to see everyone at our end of school picnic on May 17th. Have a great month y'all!! Your MDO teachers.
Toddler
Noah builds the broad stair while other watch and work
Tip!
Eloise and Talula measure and pour dried pasta and beans in our sensorial tub
A busy time in Ms. Charlotte’s class: Going vertical and learning about time and sequence over snacks The children in T1 are itching for new experiences as the year draws to a close. The focus and concentration match the desire for more difficult and challenging work. Often this means introducing extensions of the tried and true favorites in our class. For example, the broad stair has become a favorite again as three year old children who have mastered building the stair discover new ways to build from largest to smallest. The most popular way to explore this material now is to build it vertically. This requires great precision, balance and height (accomplished with a special stool and a bit of help from a teacher.) Allowing new exploration of a previously mastered work is a great way to introduce new vocabulary (vertical and horizontal for instance) and to get children thinking about familiar things in new and creative ways.
Another way “old has become new” in the toddler class is through one of our favorite circle time books, Today is Monday, by Eric Carle. We present this book on the felt board and read it as a lesson about sequence. The story defines the order of a week in terms of meals: Monday – string beans, Tuesday – spaghetti, Wednesday – zoup! All with the back drop of Eric Carle’s beautiful and whimsical illustrations. Each day last week we tried the snack that correlated to the story and walked through the time sequence of the week. Who knew learning could be so delicious!?! Finally, the year is drawing to a close and I want to invite all parents with children transitioning into a primary classroom to attend the short Parent Education meeting next Tuesday, May 7th at 5:30 pm in the Parish Hall. It has been a privelige to watch the children learn and grow this past year and we are excited to support you both in this next step!! All the best, Ms. Charlotte, Ms. April and Ms. Lilly
April showers bring May flowers!
Living in Texas in spring is quite an experience to say the least. With the temperature changing quite frequently, dressing for the day can be quite confusing; especially for a toddler. Ms. Coral has introduced a new dressing/undressing work for the children to practice their fine motor and dressing skills as they try on a hat, scarves, gloves and socks. As we approach May, the children have begun to notice all of the new flowers in bloom. What a perfect time to practice taking care of the environment!
Flower arranging is one work the children enjoy and take much pride in as they get to choose a place in the classroom where their beautiful flower gets to sit and bloom while they work. Puzzles are a popular work among toddlers. Many puzzles are made primarily for matching. While we do match our puzzles, Ms. Coral's class has become intrigued with lining up the puzzles pieces, stacking them, or even making a circle out of them before matching them in the appropriate place. Giving the children freedom to make their own choices in how they do their work, if appropriate, is the best freedom you could give them.
Being in a toddler community helps the children feel loved, respected, and cared for. Music time such as "shaker" time is a great way to encourage community within a toddler environment. Giving the children directional cues such as "shake high" or " shake low" or "shake faster" or "shake slower" is an excellent way to help them understand rhythm and get a few wiggles out before playtime. Shaker time seems to be one of the children's favorite activities at St. James.
great way to encourage community within a toddler environment. Giving the children directional cues such as "shake high" or " shake low" or "shake faster" or "shake slower" is an excellent way to help them understand rhythm and get a few wiggles out before playtime. Shaker time seems to be one of the children's favorite activities at St. James. Ms. Coral
Astrid is being so careful with our classroom baby as she puts her down for a nap
Noah shows off his beautiful spring flower arrangement
Korah and William practice a new dressing/ undressing work with a hat, scarf, gloves and socks.
Alex C. Concentrating on his animal puzzle.
We are very excited to see that the April wind has made our toddlers fly into the spring season. Our toddlers are happier than ever spending their time outdoors on the playground. The natural playground has allowed them explore nature in the most beautiful way. They enjoy watching the plants grow, nature walks, the climbing wall and building sandcastles in the sandbox. In the classroom, we’ve introduced new works such as gluing painted egg shells, sewing, and arranging pattern blocks. This time of the year, we’ve noticed the children have become very independent and have more focus on completing each work and start a new one. Many of the older toddlers have even had a lesson with the pink tower and the broad stairs. They are enjoying brightly colored paintings at the easel, where we have
introduced two colors of paint and color mixing with primary colors, and also learning about the plant cycle flower arranging. Their mornings consist of sweeping, mopping and table scrubbing to beautify our classroom. Table setting is a popular independent work in our classroom. Each child has the opportunity to set the tables independently and is responsible for preparing our lunch environment. Mats, plates, glasses, silverware and napkins are part of the lunch routine. They love this work and it’s a perfect learning moment that will prepare them for primary. We are so thrilled and happy to see the children blossom during this time of the year. They have grown so much! T2 Team Mrs. Anna and Miss. Bea
Primary
Wow! It’s hard believe that the month of April has come and gone so quickly! The children are enjoying he warmer weather and we are fast approaching the end of another great school year. There has been so much exciting work happening lately. Nico, Lukas, Henry, Sophie, and Austin have all completed several long skip counting chains. The chains are a concrete introduction to multiplication, allowing the children to practice counting by twos, threes, fours and continuing up to tens. Leo, Allie, Mason, Eddie, and Sophia worked together to completed the 100 board and then traced or wrote all the numbers from 1 to 100! Danielle, Claire, Max, and Parker have been practicing writing words and sentences with the moveable alphabet. Lily, Brooke, and Summer made beautiful flower arrangements and placed them throughout the classroom.
Madison is continuing to work on the map of the United States and Conor knows how to do all the phonetic object boxes in our classroom. We have also had a great time learning together about the life cycle of a ladybug. We have a ladybug habitat complete with live larvae for the children to observe. Thanks Amy Duplan! The children learned that a ladybug begins life by hatching from an egg as larva, then becomes a pupa, and finally a mature ladybug! We are looking forward to watching our larvae complete their metamorphosis! We will release the ladybugs into the garden when they are mature!
-Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Ashley
GRACE AND COURTESY In a Montessori classroom the lessons in Grace and Courtesy set a tone of respect and kindness. As you observe daily, the students are shown how to shake hands at the door each morning. They learn to wait and be patient when needing help from a teacher or when waiting for a turn to have morning snack. From our practical life serving works the students learn to say "Yes please", or "no, thank you." We always have several boxes of tissues in the classroom and students are consistently encouraged to use them as needed. We work on "conflict resolution"-----the students involved talk and work out their differences in the presence of a teacher and the teacher intervenes and helps as necessary. Closing classroom doors quietly is emphasized and practiced. The students are expected to walk around "rug works" without stepping on another students work. When a work is dropped or broken and scatters all over the floor the student is taught to pick/clean up independently. The third level students teach lessons in grace and courtesy as they help younger students as needed. Being in the Montessori classroom for the kindergarten year allows the child to experience this role of leadership. Mrs. Barrineau and Ms. Ana
We would like to start off by thanking all the parents who volunteered their time to put together our two beautiful art projects for the auction! Both the Rainy Day quilt and the Metal Inset Mural came out even better than what we could have imagined! We celebrated Earth Day in April and have had many lessons about planet Earth as a result. We have had lessons on recycling, water conservation, sustainability, and how Earth is the only planet known to support living things. Our recycling lessons have included recyclable vs. unrecyclable, how to clean food containers for recycling, and what can be composted. On Earth Day, we took a “nature basket� onto the playground to be filled with favorite items from nature. It was so fun to see them really pay attention to things outside and choose their favorites. These items included clover, dandelions, rocks, sticks, pebbles, and various types of seedpods. In the afternoon, the children put all the nature items onto a large work rug and sorted them into piles. Then the second level students wrote the names of each item with the moveable alphabet and then copied these names onto handwriting paper.
In gardening, the children have observed the caterpillars on the fennel plants. This has initiated many lessons on different types of butterflies and the life cycle of the butterfly. The children are very excited about the caterpillars that are in the butterfly station in the school hallway and we have been going there to see if we see any changes in the caterpillars yet. We have had an explosion of interest in other zoology works in the classroom as well. The children have been very interested in learning the parts of the frog (amphibian), turtle (reptile), horse (mammal), and fish (aquatic animal). Several children have been working really hard on learning these animals and making books about them or pricking out the puzzles. It seems to us that the coming of spring has given the children an increased attraction to works that have to do with nature and animals. For a final note, the weather is starting to warm up, so we ask you to please send your children with labeled water bottles each day. There will be a green bucket just inside the classroom door for your child to place their water bottle in. We will be keeping the water bottles in the classroom during the day for the children’s personal use. -Ms. Julia and Ms. Tamara
The month of April is so much fun in the classroom! The children seem to feel totally comfortable in their environment; it has become a safe place to experiment, explore and try new things. Each day is exciting with new works being created by the children as they follow their interests, assisted by the adults both with encouragement and in finding materials needed to complete projects. The transition from home to school is flowing: interests sparked by activities, books and events that the children want to write about or research. An animal book brought from home inspired a week long “Animals of North America” research that five children worked on, each at his or her level of interest. It seemed the perfect time to bring out our lovely new Vertebrates: a fish, a frog, a coral snake, an owl and a serval. Language and Science Works are symbiotic in the classroom with the children’s natural interests in animals, for example, supporting work in writing and reading. Because children of this age learn first sensorially, we definitely need to visit Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Ashley’s classroom to observe their snake and birds. In addition to greater independence seen in work choices, the children are also displaying more independence and cooperation within our small classroom community.
Ms. Kalindi and I can ask an older child to assist a younger child when we are busy (or even when we are not!) Our goal is to be able to stand back and watch the children working. It is at this time of the year when suddenly the room is totally silent: everyone is concentrating at the same moment! Then if someone needs a hand, it is beautiful to see a child nearby help button a smock, pick up spilled pieces or give a quick lesson. April brings more of these small joyful moments for which we all are quite grateful! Anne Bailey and Kalindi Holbrook
Hannah is thrilled with her Large
Audrey
Movable Alpha-
concentrates on the
bet work:
lock and key work.
the LONGEST word ever!
Aubrey is using a
Tip!
wooden puzzle piece from the Map of Canada to punch out the shape of Manitoba, a territory of Canada.
Harper and Landon are making waffles for snack!
Bennett and Ethan collaborated to write this sentence using the Large Movable Alphabet.
Landon, Andrew, Jayla, Evellyn, Santi and Bennett are having a lot of fun experimenting with Ethan’ s “grow balls”.
In the Garden with Ms. Loree
The Children’s Garden in April This month we’ve been doing what the children refer to as “big work”…moving our rich pile of nutrient rich soil from the parking lot into the beds of our garden. We have new wheel barrows that have helped make the work one of the most sought after activities! We have also planted radishes, peanuts, cucumbers, green beans, wax beans, snow peas, tomatoes and a tomatillo plant so far. There are a lot of exciting things happening in the garden, but the thing drawing the most attention in our garden are the caterpillars on our fennel! From our research, we believe these to be black swallowtail caterpillars. We’ve been able to talk about the life cycle of the butterfly and name the parts of the butterfly. An interesting fact about our particular caterpillars is that they have a bright orange forked gland called the osmetrium. The osmetrium looks like a snake’s tongue and emits a pretty powerful stink to scare away potential predators! I’ve asked the children to be respectful of all living creatures in the garden, so we may observe the caterpillars but may not touch them. We also have caterpillars in the indoor butterfly garden on the ramp. Can you find the hiding caterpillars?
Happy Gardening!
I
n Art, the children began sculpting with Clay! They learned what a pinch pot is and how to
make it. The 4 year olds made little creatures and the Kindergartners made cats, dogs, or mice. The children had fun getting dirty and down to “earth� with the air-dry clay. We will continue to paint and decorate our little pinch pots!
Art with Ms. Judi
Technology with Ms. Judi
T
echnology is always fun when you are learning! Star fall is great incorporating different subjects and learning tools to keep each student engaged
in the website. Some of the games in Starfall have math and the kids enjoy telling each other how fun each game is. They also help each other navigate through it so they may all enjoy it at the same time. The website even has themed subjects for holidays and special occasions. Recently, we had Earth day and the children went through the game and sorted the trash and learned about the Earth. As always, we also have the lego robotics for the students to continue to receive hands-on experience working with the legos and computer.
A
s April is coming to a close we have been reflecting on all the wonderful stories of the school year. Every child has heard a story this year that has
truly impacted them in some way. Even though they may have only heard the story once or twice, something about it has remained within them so that they remember the story even into adulthood. As a child I loved the parable of the lost sheep. I’ll never forget a game we played in Sunday school with a tiny sheep toy. Our Teacher told us that God was like a good Shepard and we were all His little sheep. If any of us forgot about God’s great love and wondered away, God would be a good Shepard and look for us until we were found. Like the Shepard, God always takes care of us and protects us. This idea made me feel so safe in life and know that God will always protect me. When we are close to God we recognize his calling and follow him. As God’s flock, we are in need of his shepherding from the time we are tiny lambs until we are old muttons (name for an old sheep). In chapel is week, I was able to share this special parable with the children. They had so much fun trying to find the tiny sheep in the chapel that was lost and playing the listening game to see if they could hear my voice. This would be such a fun Bible lesson to learn and game to play at home. I hope all of your enjoy the teaching and continue to learn and grow in the knowledge that God is our good Shepard and He loves us so much! Blessings, Ashley Woodruff Christian Education Director
Is the sheep hidden in the roses?
Audrey concentrates on the lock and key work.
Tip!
We Found It!
The year has flown by and May is approaching and along with April showers and May flowers, the Texas heat is starting to increase and making playtime a little warm. Well, warm today, cold tomorrow. With all of the confusion of the weather, we seem to have a surplus of jackets that have been left in the classroom baskets. If you are missing a jacket or sweater, please check the baskets in the ASC area, there is a very good chance that you will find the missing item. We will work hard to keep the children hydrated; drinks are offered often and encouraged. There is not a need to bring a water bottle to ASC, we have the drinking fountain on the playground and in the building. I am having a lot of late pickups and I ask that you call Tip!
if you are going to be late. After school care ends at 6 p.m. The ASC staff cannot leave until everyone is out of the building, thank you for your consideration of their time. Lisa Wilson
Tip!
Summer Camps 2013 Click for more info
Upcoming Events May May 17th End of School Picnic and Head of School day
Oct 31
May 27th Halloween Parties Memorial Day Noon Dismissal
May 31st Last Day of School - 10:30 Dismissal