SJES 2013 Feb News

2013

February

NEWS

Montessori Education Loree Birkenback

This month we hosted two Montessori education events. The first focused on Toddler, which is for children ages 18 months to 3. Charlotte, Coral and Anna discussed the Toddler’s day and shared not only a variety of works, but the goal of each. One of our touch points was the “cycle of activity”. The cycle of activity is defined as long periods of concentration on a particular task that the child feels internally compelled to complete. In a toddler’s world we are looking for a child to choose a work, designate a work space, focus on the work and put it away when they are finished. We also watch to see if the child puts away their mat or rug and pushes in their chair. The most important thing is that the child chooses independently and can focus on the work…the completed cycle sometimes doesn’t come until later for certain children, but they still reap the benefits of the work!

Our Primary Montessori education class was designed for the parents of 3-6 year olds. Julia presented Practical life where she reminded us of its purpose; to strengthen: control of movements, hand-eye coordination, independence, concentration, sense of order, development of muscles, indirect preparation for reading and writing, and grace and order.

Tamara presented the Sensorial works and their correlation to learning. She shared Aristotle’s quote “Nothing enters the mind that did not first enter the senses‌â€? to emphasize her point. Maria Montessori believed that children did not really comprehend the sensorial materials until they had them in their hands, feeling their weight and dimensions as they carry the pieces to their rug or placed them on their mat. Each lesson isolates a particular sense.

Diana discussed the Primary language curriculum. She demonstrated the journey from the sandpaper letters in which a child begins to learn their letter sounds and the formation of the letters to a third level student’s ability to read and write stories.

Diana asked that we keep in mind that each child’s journey is slightly different and will happen when the child is ready. We, as parents can help by reading stories, saying the alphabet with the correct phonetic sounds, and by exposing our children to a rich vocabulary.

Anne shared the hierarchical order of the magical Montessori math materials.

Numerals can be found all over the classroom…from snack to the one hundredth day of school! Anne touched on the “awareness of the child” and it’s important connection to the work they choose and are ready for. The each material is a building block for another! Mathematical Mind: The mental capacity of human beings to organize and categorize impressions and experiences. The mathematical mind has an impulse to produce order out of disorder.

Elizabeth and Ashley walked us through the Montessori Cultural and Peace works .

Ashley aslo discussed our Chapel and how it impacts our spiritual growth. Elizabeth correlated many of our cultural works with our Children’s Garden! “Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”

Our Chapel time is at the very heart of our mission. Chapel lessons and Ashley’s message of God’s great love for us are imbedded in our staff, classrooms and entire school. Ashley’s favorite Maria Montessori quote is “Growing up in this way, they have no bashfulness, no timidity, no fear. They show pleasing self-confidence, courage, a calm knowledge of things, above all, faith in God, the author and preserver of life.”

I’m very proud of the talented staff here at St. James Episcopal School and thank them all for sharing their great passion for teaching, learning and loving.

Loree

MDO

Chloe spreading peanut butter onto a side of bread

Canyon is peeling an orange

Hello all! We have been busy little workers since we have finally added independent food works. The children love any type of food work. Adding these works into our classroom changed the whole dynamic of our classroom. They have done anything from juicing oranges, slicing bananas, Spreading peanut butter, and peeling clementines. We will soon be adding egg peeling and slicing. We are also wanting more cooking type food snacks. The children love to prepare food and it is so important for them at this age. We are asking that anyone who has signed up please try to add in some extra produce or bread or eggs for the children to be able to have independent food snack. We thank you in advance for any additional food items that our brought to us.

Don't forget that spring break begins Friday march 8 until Monday march 15.

-MDO

Ayden and Ali spooning mashed strawberries into our pancake batter

Ayden helping ms. Lindsey flip the pancakes

Ali pouring the pancakes onto the griddle

Toddler

The Ties That Bind Community is something that we think about a lot at St. James. In fact we strive to make the environment more like a home and less like a classroom. Within the room, the things that bring us together are friendship and mutual respect, both appropriate themes for February. It is an interesting thing to watch the beginnings of friendship form in children so young. Friendship and social play are quite advanced behaviors that many children won't fully grasp for years. In a Montessori Environment, where emotional intelligence is supported and resect for others is fostered, children often form early friendships. Children also begin to collaborate or share what they are working on. This happens during snack preparation for example. The children work together to achieve a common goal.

Learning to work as a team, collaborate and treat others with respect are lessons that will stay with your child a lifetime.

- Ms. Hixon

Tip!

This month is full of pink, red and white hearts. The class has been enjoying all the heart stickers, heart cookie cutter play dough work and of course sorting pink and purple hearts. The felt board story in the classroom is about loving one another and using our manners and most of all respecting others and our community.

Potty learning has been going great, we remind our new learners to visit our potty more frequently.

The independence in our bathroom routine has made for more time to have lessons in tooth brushing and hair brushing.

In music, I have added the glockenspiel, to our music time. The children had so much fun learning how to play an instrument.

My time in Houston this month was very enlightening, but was very glad to be back home and in the classroom with my amazing class.

Mrs. Anna and Ms. Bea

Spring is coming, Spring is coming!! Ms. Coral's class has been anticipating spring for some time!! The children have been socializing like spring bees this month. We have been working on many group activities and art projects in February and the children have thoroughly enjoyed the socialization aspect of the classroom.

Valentines Day was a big day in our classroom; we had each child put their own Valentines Day cards in their friend's bags to take home after the party (the children loved having control of their own Valentines). After, we all gathered together in the reading corner to read a new book "I Love You, Stinky Face". The whole class was in awe at the decorations and quickly became busy eating their delicious food.

With the St. James School auction quickly approaching, Ms. Loree has been busy herself, going from classroom to classroom getting projects prepared for the silent auction. This replaced our garden time last week, however the children did not mind one bit and stood in a group around a table with Ms. Loree in amazement at their friend's vases being painted. They turned out beautiful!

Group projects and activities are a very important part of the toddler community here at St. James. During these times the children are free to chat with one another and discuss various things about our projects. In doing this, we as teachers, have become astonished as we watch them help each other work and notice the careful way they speak to each other with kindness and peace.

Astrid, Vivian, Korah and Madeline showing off their beautiful Valentines bags!

Ms. Loree helps the children decorate their vases for the school auction.

sweet friends socialize while working

Helping Ms. coral with a flower arangement

Ms. Coral reads “I Love You Stinky Face” to the children on Valentines Day

Primary

Ms. Julia and Ms. Tamara

We would like to point out of the importance of the parents to be involved in their children’s education, and how it benefits your child, here are a few examples of how to be involved in your child’s education: •

Be a reading parent. Offer to come in to read to the whole class of

• children or to individual children who need more support Participate in PTA’s Teacher Appreciation Week by organizing a breakfast or lunch.

•

Get to know your child’s teacher by introducing yourself and scheduling a brief meeting.

• Create a community bulletin board at the school to post information or ideas.

•

Participate in American Education Week, sponsored by the National Education Association by visiting the school and classroom.

•

Record yourself reading books onto tapes so children with reading challenges can enjoy them.

•

Offer to drive other students/families to school-related events they wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend.

•

Invite other parents to join you when you volunteer at school.

• Join your PTA.

There is some research on parental Involvement in Education: The report, a synthesis of research on parent involvement over the past decade, also found that, regardless of family income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to: Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level programs Be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits Attend school regularly Have better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school Graduate and go on to postsecondary education *(see A New Wave of Evidence, Southwest Educational Deve ment Laboratory, 2002 in references below).

When parents talk to their children about school, expect them to do well, make sure that out-of-school activities are constructive, and help them plan for college, their children perform better in school.

So even If you are not able to be helping in school your children beneficial by you talking to them about their day, about works they are doing, and with the Montessori Compass this will help open the communication with you child and teacher, and you will be able to be a part of your child’s education.

Auction Basket Ideas As you know the auction is coming, and you can participate and involve your child in helping you pick out items, our basket theme is rainy day, here are some suggestions of things to bring for the auction basket: Play dough Books to read Coloring books Unisex rain boots and rain coat Puzzles Age appropriate board games Arts and Crafts also age appropriate Building blocks Legos Activity books Children’s Music Audio Books Matching game Sewing activities Certificates for cooking classes, karate, ballet, dance, you name it!

We can not thank you guys enough for all the help and support you give us!

- Ms. Julia and Ms. Tamara

Our children have really enjoyed the month of February! Everyone had so much fun preparing for Valentine's Day. Each child had the opportunity to decorate their own Valentine bag. It was a great opportunity for everyone to have an individual art lesson on how to cut, use paste, and then how to clean up their work area. The children were also very excited about all the Valentine's work in the classroom! There were pink blocks on the language shelf that the children could use to spell out the words love, hugs, and kisses. Older children had fun using small pink and purple counting hearts to complete simple addition and subtraction facts. We made red salt dough for the practical life shelf complete with heart cookie cutters. More works for the month of February included Valentine sorting, heart punching and pasting, and opening and closing hearts. Seasonal work adds interest to the classroom, but it also a great way to help the children understand the passage of time, seasons, and when special holidays occur throughout the year. Our classroom Valentine's Day party was a huge success! Each child had the opportunity to pass out their Valentines out to their friends and they all enjoyed having lunch together and making Valentine crafts! Thanks to all of our wonderful parent volunteers; we appreciate all you do!

Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Ashley

Parker has mastered the Cards and Counters!

This Lesson is sometimes called a “test� for all of the Lessons of the Numbers to Ten. The child who can independently set out all of the counters as beautifully as Parker has, with the numbers in sequential order, is ready to move on to working with the Golden Beads. Did you notice how this work also gives the sensorial impression of odd and even numbers?

Emma is counting Snack Cups, putting them in rows of tens.

She counts 2 tens and 4 units. She knows that today we have 24 children for snack.

Jayla is totally absorbed in her scrubbing work, uninterrupted by all the 100 day activity around her

On 100 day the children taped our 100 number line to the floor and then laid their paper chain on top of it to see if there were 100 loops on the paper chain. Everyone got involved, some children counting tens, some tying yellow yarn to mark the tens and others placing blue Large Number Cards at each ten. The result? Our Paper Chain has 134 loops!

Santiago, Parker and Hannah are matching the blue Tens Cards.

We have two sets.

Violet arrived on Valentine’s Day with a Bouquet of Valentines!

It is so nice to watch students grow and

words. Phonetically, of course, but this is the

learn and mature. The third level students

beginning of learning to spell words. When

are writing some absolutely wonderful stories. the students reach kindergarten, they begin We are diligently working on handwriting

taking weekly spelling tests. The first level

and CONSISTENTLY turning in neat work.

students have been working on basic phonics.

They have been doing their regular "folder

Those are the basic language works we have

work" which consists of different language

been working on. But the entire class has

and math works. I rotate the math works

been choosing works from every area of the

between addition, subtraction, dynamic

classroom. We have Practical Life,, Sensorial,

addition stamp game, multiplication bead

Art Cache, Art Easel, Math, and Language

board and division bead board. The students

works that are independently chosen. We do

do each of those math works once a week.

stay busy! The students are also doing a great

They are getting to the point where they can

job of cleaning their tables and dishes after

do the works independently, with occasional

lunch. The full day students must clean and

help. The second level students are working

straighten the classroom every afternoon. This

on moveable alphabet at least two times a

involves the students independently looking

week. This, many times, is teacher requested.

around the classroom and discerning what

We have two moveable alphabets out all day

needs to be done. Following the Montessori

long every day and we rotate the students

philosophy we do not direct their every move

through them. There has been some major improvement in putting together the sounds in -Ms. Barrineau and Ms. Ana

In the Garden with Ms. Loree

February in The Children’s Garden.

We are beginning to see small signs of spring in our garden…crocus are peeking up and the sage is showing new growth. We’ve learned how to use the soil rake and the hoe this month - Happy gardening everyone! - Mrs. Loree

Madison is cleaning the soil rake. We also learned the parts of the bulb and planted a Paper white Narcissus in each classroom We are eager to amend our soil and plant our spring crops over the next few weeks!

Lukas is demonstrating the proper way to use the soil rake. Many of the children choose to wear gloves when they garden. We keep ours clipped as matching pairs in a bucket for easy use. After a child uses a tool they are in charge of cleaning it before putting it away. I use play sand mixed with motor oil and a variety of brushes. The sand does a great job of cleaning and the oil lubricates the metal.

I

n Art, we are making scratchboards! This is a fun way that the students can learn to use shapes and

figure out what colors would work best. I believe the hardest part was making sure they were able to color the full shape in with no white spaces! After coloring, we were then mixing a special black paint that is able to scratch off and you would be able to see the beautiful colors through the design. We used portfolio pastels and the “special� black paint was mixed by using 1 part acrylic black paint and 1 part dishwashing liquid. If any parents would like to try it at home, make sure you fill in those white spaces and when scratching, use a kabob skewer!

Art with Ms. Judi

Technology with Ms. Judi

I

n the month of February, the students in technology have started to explore with the website, Starfall. This

website is an educational, interactive website that helps the student to follow through each activity by clicking and choosing the right word or sentence to match. Each activity could include shapes, patterns, math or even some seasonal fun ones such as Valentine’s Day. Harper is seen here matching the 2D and 3D shapes and Dawson is helping the character go through the maze by following the pattern.

A

s February has quickly come and gone we have been very busy in Chapel. This month we were able to introduce the liturgical season of Lent. Lent is a time to reflect and prepare ourselves for the Easter season. The children discussed that many of their families have different ways of observing Lent. Some families give something up during this time to practice penitence and self control. Some families take on something such as reading their Bibles everyday to obtain a new discipline. While others simply inwardly reflect on their lives and relationships with God during the Lenten season. Did you know the forty days of Lent are representative of the time Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying?

Taking time to center our lives and become closer to God is important at any age. I encourage you each to

take time during Lent to reflect and prepare for the great celebration of Easter!

W

e wanted to children to somehow experience the physical representation of Lent. We found a way to do this through the Lenten Alleluia work. All the children had a chance to write out Alleluia on the movable alphabet and then transfer those letters onto paper. We then sealed those letters into a plastic bag and buried them in the prayer garden. We will then dig them up after Easter when we can say Alleluia again! The children discovered for themselves that this was similar to the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus!

Blessings, Ashley Woodruff Christian Education Directer

The after school care area continues to be a burst of activity. I have been thankful for the wonderful weather this school year. Each age group continues to have a lengthy outside playtime between snack and activities. The ASC has continued to grow and there are a large number of children staying in the afternoons. Ms. Lindsey has joined the ASC staff on Monday afternoons to help with the primary students. We have plenty of staff to cover our large numbers but we ask that you reserve a spot. The snack is prepared before the children arrive in ASC and if we happen to have drop-ins that we are not expecting, it makes it difficult to prepare more snack. If you arrive after 3:30 to pick up your child, please make sure that you let me know that you are taking them. Just a reminder if your child is a toddler classroom, Mrs. Barrineau’s Primary Classroom or Mrs. Bailey’s Classroom, their jacket will be in a basket in the ASC room. Tip! Please be sure to take their jacket when you pick them up. As always, if you need to reach me after 4:00 p.m., please call the school phone 214-348-1349.

Happy Spring/Winter,

Lisa

Tip!

Upcoming Events March March 8th- 15th Spring Break

Oct 31

March 29th Halloween Parties Good Friday - No School Noon Dismissal

April April 1st Easter Monday - No School April 15th Monday Morning Montessori with Loree Birkenback