SJES NEWS
November 2016
A note regarding the election: Dear Parents,
I know many of us were affected by the election, but did you know that some of our own SJES children are also talking about it? While it is so important to share our views in a child friendly way, please be aware that your child is soaking in everything they are seeing and hearing.
I am reminded of the 1976 election that was also a close call between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. I was 14 years old, and because of my parents’ reaction to Jimmy Carter winning, I was positive America as I knew it was coming to an end! My parents were incredibly loving and supportive and really had no idea the impact their reaction had on me, but I felt a sense of doom. I’m not sure how much time passed before I finally felt a sense of peace and normalcy enter our household, but I clearly remember realizing things were going to be okay. Ironically, after his presidency Jimmy Carter became a prominent humanitarian that my parents and I have the upmost respect for these days! While I wonder if any President can live up to all our expectations, I know there are enough people who promote peace, love, compassion and unity to counter balance any one person’s actions. As human beings, we all fundamentally seek a sense of stability in our family, community, and our own state of mind. Drastic and sudden changes, whether they are experienced as positive or negative, can feel overwhelming and difficult to process.
A young child attempting to process such big feelings can feel scary and unsettling. We can foster stability and calm for children by continuing with our normal routines. By creating a sense of normalcy, children can find ways to process what they are feeling in secure and comforting ways. We are listening when the children express their fears about the election, but are careful not to insert our own feelings.
No matter what is occurring in our surrounding world, the core values of St. James Episcopal School remain strong. The foundation of our Christian Montessori Method lies in peaceful coexistence brought about by educating children to embrace diversity and practice tolerance. Our students, faculty and staff will go about the business of teaching and learning while promoting these foundational beliefs. When things outside of the confines of our school seem chaotic and confusing, your children can know that while at school, their lives will remain harmonious and dependable. With hopes of peace and promise for the future, Mrs. Loree
Dear Parents,
It’s hard to believe that November has already come and gone! We hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with faith, family, friends and delicious food! We have talked about what we are most thankful for all month, but practice gratitude every day throughout the year by singing a blessing before every group snack and lunch. Sung to the tune of “Frere Jacque,” it goes like this:
“God, our Father, God our Father, We thank you, we thank you, For our many blessings, for our many blessings, Amen, Amen.”
If you don’t already have a special blessing of your own before meals, your child would be delighted to teach this to you and your family! We continue our work with shapes, colors, counting and more. This month’s colors are purple and brown, and our shape is the triangle. We also discussed the concepts of “over” and “under” by reading a children’s favorite, Going on a Bear Hunt. We enjoyed singing all of our favorite Thanksgiving songs, including “If You’re Thankful and You Know It,” “This is the Way to Grandma’s House,” and “Turkey Dinner.” We even danced the Turkey Dance!
MDO
The Imagination Playground always makes rainy days fun!
Isabelle is sorting by shape and color.
The children always enjoy working in our beautiful garden, and this month was no exception. They love crushing the eggshells and sprinkling them on the plants! They also look forward to our weekly cooking projects. Most recently, we prepared a Citrus Mint salad, with mint fresh from the garden, and a Oliver enjoys hammering pegs into slow cooked applesauce that the little pumpkin. tasted just like fall! Many thanks to Carey Wootton, our Snack and Nutrition Coordinator, for all of her hard work and great ideas.
Now that we are well into the third month of school, we Jacob puts the finishing touches would like to take a moment to remind you of the on the Citrus Mint salad. importance of letting your child walk into school on his own, and even carry one or more of his belongings. In her book, The Secret of Childhood, Dr. Montessori devoted an entire chapter to walking with young children and strongly believed that “A child who can walk must never be carried.” Walking encourages a young child’s independence, confidence, and more. We realize that walking at your child’s pace will require some extra time and patience at drop-off and pick-up time, but the results will be well worth it. This month and always, we give thanks for the opportunity to serve you and your children! We are all truly blessed. Your MDO team, Eva Soldevilla, Mary Peterson, & Pamela Pedraza
Elliott makes our windows sparkle and shine!
"When children come into contact with nature, they reveal their strength."
The Discovery of the Child by Maria Montessori
Whether in the classroom or in the outside garden, Toddler 1 is taking care and learning about the nature around them. Polishing leaves, watering or misting, arranging flowers, crushing egg shells to fertilize the soil, and feeding birds, we are very busy experiencing the hands on approach to nature.
Lyndon, misting the plants leaves.
Gardening activities are part of the St. James curriculum. Much like their indoor work, the children work outdoors with child-sized tools and self-directed lessons. The whole class is learning how to arrange flowers.
The children grind egg shells, feed birds and scrub rocks. They learn about worms and soil, observe sun and shade, listen to sounds, and identify colors and plants. They reflect on nature to experience an inner quiet and peace. These activities reinforce a respect for all living things. Mrs. Anna and Mrs. Andrea
Friday gardening lesson, egg shell crushing to help fertilize and nourish the soil of all the plants in the garden. Maddox and Fulton touching and smelling the Rosemary in the garden.
Toddler 1
Hello Toddler 2 Parents,
We can't believe November is almost over and we are gearing up for Christmas. We have been discussing being thankful. The children are thankful for their families, clothes, and food. During group we have learned the sign for turkey, thankful, and pumpkin pie. A BIG thank you for all the parents that helped set up and serve our Thanksgiving feast. We appreciate your help. We made homemade applesauce this month, and the older children helped peel and core the apples.
Yummy! Hazel loved the cinnamon applesauce.
Toddler 2
The weather has been beautiful and we have enjoyed every minute being outside. It is so fun watching friendships being made.
Connor and Olivia taking a break from running around to enjoy the cool autumn weather.
Nacho and Domenico playing soccer.
The cooler weather is approaching, so please be sure to check all hats and coats are labeled with names in them. We hope everyone gets to slow down a little and spend some family time together over this Thanksgiving break. Toddler 2 Team
Winnie loves to sing outside.
Normalization in the classroom is something we strive for from day one. We have been practicing the children coming in, putting on their shoes (with help), and choosing work to their needs. The children are getting into routine of taking their shoes off and putting them back on as we go outside and return inside. Practicing and modeling how to put on shoes and socks at home is a great thing to do with your toddler and will help transition times in the classroom. We are working hard on this with the children daily. On the shelves the children are now enjoying: fall stamps, stickers, gluing feathers on a turkey, as well as buttoning feathers on a turkey to practice fine motor skills!
Jones works hard gluing Indians and pilgrims for thanksgiving.
Luke carefully sorts fruit into separate sections of a dish.
November is the month of "Giving Thanks" so we are talking about what we are thankful at circle time. Many of the children are thankful for their pets and "lovies" as well as their immediate families. It is a time to acknowledge everything we have and everything we love.
Keeping the classroom clean and neat are two things we teach the children to take pride in. Many children like to help wipe down the tables with towels and soapy water, while others prefer to sweep and push in chairs so friends are safe. We are learning how to work together and be a team in Toddler 3.
Harris puts two pictures together to make a match. :)
Briggs works with the number tumbler (counting to two).
Happy Thanksgiving, Toddler 3 Team Ms. Coral, Amy, Brittany
Alexandra loves our Imbucare pipe cleaning work!
Toddler 3
Dear Toddler 4 Parents,
Happy November! What a wonderful start to the month with cooler weather and fun seasonal works in the classroom. The children and teachers have been talking all about Thanksgiving and what we are thankful for during our circle times.
Penelope is expanding her yoga skills during work time.
Friends playing together in the sand pit.
Just as it is important to focus on fine motor skills, it is important to work and expand gross motor skills. Gross motor work lay the foundation for the use of fine motor skills. Maria Montessori knew how integral movement is to intellectual movement. “Movement helps the development of the mind, and this helps find renewed expression in further movement and activity.�
Logan is using his arm and leg muscles to climb up the climbing wall.
In the classroom, gross motor movements include movement around the room such as moving chairs and tables, pushing an object, or simply walking. In practical life, the children have also been introduced to window washing and table scrubbing. When the weather is beautiful, the children are able to play on the playground equipment such as the climbing frames, balance board, slides, and swings. On rainy/bad weather days, the children enjoy the imagination playground, which is a wonderful gross motor activity. They are able to build structures with the big blocks, crawl through tunnels, and scoot around the Parish Hall with the red scooters.
We hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving! Love, Ms. Ashley and Ms. Amanda
Toddler 4
Mae and Chapel work in building structures with the Imagination play blocks.
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Dear Primary One Friends And Family,
We are well on our way into the school year and in the midst of the Holiday Season! Time really flies when your are busy at work and having fun! I do wish it would begin to feel like Autumn, though. I'm sure the colder weather is right around the corner and with that in mind, we ask that you begin working with your children on putting on and taking off their jackets and sweaters. In the classroom we will also work with our dressing frames so that the children can independently zip and button as needed. It is always best to "help the child help himself." Please also remember to label all outerwear. The first year children are really enjoying works that lend themselves to writing. We are seeing a lot of metal insets and tracing letters. Many of our youngest group are showing an interest in writing their names and moving through the initial sound object boxes and folders.
The second year students are doing more work with the moveable alphabet and teen boards as well as simple addition problems with the beads and games such as the “snake game�.
The kindergarten class is doing very well with their spelling words which they write on paper everyday, as well as build with the moveable alphabet. The stamp game is another popular work that teaches "carrying" and place value. Culturally, we talked a lot about South America in the past few weeks as well as North America. We have been teaching the students the Pledge of Allegiance. The students had a great time learning about my assistant Ms. Anna's brother, Trey. He is a rescue swimmer in the Navy. On Veteran's Day we prayed for him and all of the men and women who serve or have served our country in the military. We also wrote Ms. Anna’s brother a letter. A picture of our letter is on Montessori Compass. We have had many discussions on what it means to be grateful and what we are grateful for. God, family and friends consistently top the list. Ms. Anna and I hope you enjoy all of that and more this holiday. Happy Thanksgiving, Ms. Amaris and Ms. Anna
Primary 1
“The first essential for the child’s development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy.�
Hello Primary 2 Parents,
- Maria Montessori.
We are now settling into our second week of November. These past few weeks during fall have gone by swiftly. The children are happily making new friendships in the classroom. We have been closely observing the older children and how proudly they take their role as leaders in the classroom. They genuinely like assisting and being wonderful role models to our first year students. It is one of the many beauties in the Montessori environment.
We have had the pleasure of being able to have "food tasting" as a group activity this year. It is such a fun and enriching activity during our circle time. This week, we were able to taste roasted brussel sprouts. They were a hit; most of our students really enjoyed them! Before tasting food we always mention how important it is to try something new; we'll never know if we like it if we don't try it.
Primary 2
The second and third year students are thriving in the challenging works they have been given lessons on, such as, addition with cubes, the moveable alphabet, and the multiplication bead board. We are also working diligently with the first years on new lessons, and most importantly the sand paper letters and numerals.
Lastly, we would say that during this time the children are slowly becoming normalized in the classroom atmosphere. In Montessori education, the term normalization doesn't mean “average" or "usual." It actually refers to a unique process we observe in the child's development. We notice that when children are allowed freedom in a classroom suited to their needs, they gradually thrive in whatever they choose to do. It's rewarding for us as their teachers to see the students so concentrated on everything they desire to do. We are looking forward to seeing their progress during the year. We hope this gives you a glimpse of what occurs in our amazing environment. Thank you for all of your support! Happy Thanksgiving! Mrs. Barrineau & Ms. Sheila
Primary 3 parents,
This school year is flying by and we are enjoying every moment of it. This past month the children have really blossomed. We are seeing such maturity in our second year children who are becoming young leaders of the classroom. Our younger children have been busy strengthening their fine motor control to begin the process of writing. Our kindergarteners have officially taken on the roll as young teachers and have been giving lessons on material they have already mastered. Our favorite classroom activity this month has been learning the phonics song, the children have been reciting it constantly and are enjoying singing it to their friends.
We find this time of year the children tend to get very excited over the upcoming Christmas season. This upcoming month we will be focusing on incorporating educational work into celebration of Christmas. We will talk about how different cultures celebrate during this time of year as well as how we celebrate at Saint James. In the practical life area we will be grating spices and herbs to fill our classroom with the smell of the holiday. We will be doing holiday cooking projects and talking about what it means to serve others. This time of year is magical for the children and we are excited to be part of the joy. We hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving! -Mrs. Eloise & Ms. Jaymie
Primary 3
The holiday season is officially upon us! As soon as Halloween was over, the children quickly transitioned to discussions about Christmas and our jolly friend Saint Nick. It seems so easy for them to skip over Thanksgiving because the idea of being thankful and having gratitude is such an abstract concept at this age; however, the wonderful thing about the Montessori classroom is that these abstract concepts can be all-inclusive in our curriculum!
As a Montessori teacher, we are able to give the children ideas of what the word ‘thanksgiving’ actually means by allowing them to experience these acts daily. The Grace and Courtesy curriculum does not require a shelf in the classroom, as it pertains to abstract ideas that the children observe in their everyday classroom environment. Since the beginning of the year, we have learned how to care for and respect the classroom. We discuss how lucky we are to work in such a special place that is filled with lovely materials. We also come up with ideas on what we can do as a classroom community to keep everything nice and beautiful.
Primary 4
The children also learn how to respect, love, and be thankful for all of the wonderful friends in our classroom. We work on kindness and peaceful interactions to help us solve our problems. If a friend spills a work on the floor there are immediately six little hands ready to help. If the children have issues with each other, they go get the Peace Rose to peacefully resolve their problems.
They work together and form meaningful social relationships, but most importantly, they learn how to think independently, respect the ideas of others, and problem solve peaceful solutions to resolve issues. The classroom becomes this busy little hub of gratitude that the children have subconsciously created for themselves. How lucky we are as teachers to experience this on a daily basis and how lucky we are as adults to be able to have these constant reminders of how bright the future can be with children who are learning how to work and play together so perceptively. With thankfulness and gratitude, Ms. Sarah and Ms. Bianca
We are continuing to embrace fall in art this month! It is so beautiful outside, it's hard to imagine that the holiday season is upon us.
The kindergarten students finished their "5 Little Pumpkins" project this month, and the second level students are working on a pumpkin drawing with chalk pastels. Chalk pastels are a wonderful medium for children to work with. They are very similar to sidewalk chalk - something all children are familiar with - but they are softer, and blend together beautifully. The children have enjoyed getting their hands dirty, and experimenting with mixing different colors.
In technology, we have been working away on our digital image project. The Kindergartners are so creative, and I love the ideas they come up with to draw! I have enjoyed watching their progress as they become more comfortable working with the tablet and stylus. The final project of all of their hard work will be wonderful!
We have also been working on a digital version of Scholastic Weekly Readers called "Let's Find Out." This month, the digital magazine is filled with stories of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. The students have learned all about the Pilgrim's journey to the New World on the Mayflower, and how the Wampanoag taught them how to grow and harvest corn. It is a perfect lesson for the week before Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving break! Gobble, gobble! Ms. Hanna
Art & Technology
November in the Children’s
Garden We discovered a large Roly Poly family living under our Peanut Pumpkin. The children had a great time peeking under and using the magnifying glass to even find Roly Poly larvae!
The Primary children learned how to play the Living Non-living game in which you search and mark 3 things that are living and 3 that are not. We sang a song to the tune of Frere Jacque:
“It is living, it is living, I know why, I know why. It breaths and grows and changes, It breakths and grows and changes... It’s alive, it’s alive.”
Cole believes the scarecrow is non-living!
Andrew designating the fish as "living"
Happy Gardening! Mrs. Loree
Rhys says all of the rocks are non-living!
It is hard to believe that it is almost December, the year has flown by. I have enjoyed getting to know your children this year. They make me laugh at the end of the school day. It will start to be chilly in the afternoons, students from Toddler 1 & 4, Primary 1 & 2 will bring their jackets to ASC. When they are done playing outside, we will place their jackets in baskets in the hallway outside of the library. Please remember to check the baskets at the end of the day for your child’s jacket. The large navy blue baskets are for Mrs. Amaris’ (Primary 1) and Mrs. Barrineau’s (Primary 2) classroom and the small white basket is for Mrs. Anna’s (Toddler 1) & Mrs. Amanda & Ms. Ashley’s (Toddler 4). Primary 3 & 4 will keep their jackets in their cubbies and Toddler 2 & 3 will have their jackets in the ASC cubbies.
Speaking of winter gear, please make sure you label your child’s jacket and if the jacket had a previous owner, please write your child’s name in the garment as well. We always like to go outside in ASC and sometimes this can be the coolest part of the day because the sun is starting to set. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call me. Lisa Wilson
ASC
"Sing to The Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of the saints"
Psalm 149:1
We have had some beautiful services this month beginning with our November birthday blessings and Eucharist. Father Gardner taught us about All Saints Day, when we honor and remember all those who have gone before. Our next lesson focused on family and forgiveness, with the story of Joseph and his many colored coat. We learned that even when others make a sad choice, we can forgive them and God can turn what was meant to be harmful into something good. In chapel art with Ms. Hanna we made beautiful little "coats." The next week in chapel art we got to make frogs and snakes to represent just two of the many plagues we learned about in our service. Zane made a wonderful "pharaoh" as we sang "Let My People Go" in our lesson about Moses. Moses heard Gods call through the burning bush, obeyed and kept faith against many odds. This past week we have discussed traditions, one of them being Thanksgiving. Once the Native American Indians showed the pilgrims how to plant and grow corn they had plenty. There is a legend that I shared that says they would put 5 pieces of corn on their plates as a reminder that:
God loves us God provides for our needs God gives us friends God gives us people who love us God hears our prayers and answers us
In chapel I used candy corn pictures instead of kernels, I think they are prettier, either way maybe it's a tradition you could start in your families for remembering all good things come from God. Happy Thanksgiving! Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Ms. Amaris
Chapel