Dear Apple Families,
It's hard to believe that we have reached the mid-year point of the school year! It never ceases to amaze me how fast time goes by.
Thank you all so much for supporting your child with their work on their research projects! The students did a phenomenal job! Third years did such a great job with their writing, presentations, and 3D projects! We all enjoyed hearing about our Earth's history. Second years shared a bit about their country and an artifact. Some even brought delicious food for us to try! First years hung their continent posters up and we did a museum walk through to preview their hard work and chat about what they learned. Everyone seemed so proud of what they accomplished! I was surprised to see so many children excited about presenting in front of the group!
Creative Movement has been such a joy for students. They really look forward to their time with Hughthir creating rhythm, dances, and shapes with their bodies. I am so thankful that the students are having this opportunity.
Over the course of the month, students participated in the Native American Experience and did some flint knapping, leather bracelet making, and feather smudging. They were thrilled to have this experience again and enjoyed the activities they were able to do.
Student book clubs have been running regularly and students seems to enjoy this time with their peers. We have also begun student intervention groups for math and reading for those who need additional support based on their benchmark testing. If you are curious about whether or not your child participates in those programs or what the programs entail, please let me know.
In language, students are exploring skyscraper work which is a lot of puzzle like work. They are discovering antonyms, synonyms, singular possessive nouns, compound word trains, contractions, to share a few. First years have rekindled their love for the moveable alphabet and spelling words by picture cues.
In math, students continue to work across all operations. Materials of interest are golden bead work (used for all operations), small bead frame (used for + & -), stamp game (used for all operations), dot board (used for multiple addends), flat golden bead frame (used for multiplication), multiplication finger charts and tile boards, the hundred board, snake game (used for + & -) and bead box work (used for all operations). Some students have begun practicing finding factors of a product, exchanging (AKA borrowing) in all operations, finding the area of a figure, geometric shapes, and the basic concepts of point, line, surfa
ce, and plane.
In writing, students were introduced to the word choice trait and how to make their writing m
ore interesting by their word choices. First years explored writing about a process; for example the life cycle of a butterfly or changes in the seasons and applying an action verb to describe the change. We have also continued our learning of the parts of a story; setting and the problem. We will continue our work on the sto
ry parts in preparation of upcoming book reports. More information to come
! :)
In culture we have explored finding land and water forms on an imaginary island, the water cycle, parts of a volcano, parts of a river, different types of terrain, and the 3 types of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). We did the Third Great Lesson, The Coming of Humans. Students explored what makes humans so different from other mammals, how the human brain has evolved and how that impacted how early humans lived, and also the Fundamental Need of Humans (what we need in order to survive).
In art, students had an opportunity to do texture art by creating an illustration on a white sheet of paper then selecting a textured sheet to color over and create texture in their art piece.
Peace is what every human being is craving for, and it can be brought about by humanity through the child.
Maria Montessori's quote about peace is a great reminder of what we are here to do for children, help them learn to resolve conflicts peacefully. This is one of the amazing things about Montessori schools. The goal is to instill respect, care, fairness, responsibility, trustworthiness, and citizenship in every child. This encourages children to use their words, instead of actions, in a kind and thoughtful way. Each person is listened to with respect and has their turn to talk, sharing how they feel through the use of "I" statements. Ideally, issues are resolved independently and with unanimous agreement. The adults in the environment only intervene when it appears that the children need support or a child asks for an adult to assist them. Children develop empathy through this practice of patience and understanding. However, there are times when feelings are hurt or things are said and done that have a negative impact on children and the adults may not be aware. That being said, if your child ever reports to you that they feel they are being hurt by another child or feel unsafe please let me know. As the Lead Guide, I want to ensure that all children to have a voice, feel safe, and are loved in our community.
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Valentine's Day Reminder
We will celebrate Valentine's Day on Tuesday, February 14th in the afternoon. Please work with your child to make a Valentine for each student in our class and apply a positive character trait that describes that person.For example: Molly ~ friendly or Josh ~ funny.
In honor of our healthy food policy, please do not send in candy with the valentines.
Bring the valentines to class on by February 14th for our celebration, along with approximately 1/2 cup quantity of fruit. Please have the fruit cut and ready to serve.
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Winter benchmarking has begun and will continue over the next few weeks (NWEA, AIMS Web, Delta Math and Reading A to Z).
Friendly reminder -
We ask that all sweet treats and candy be left at home and that a healthy snacks option is sent to help your child refuel for concentration. Here is a great website for healthy snack ideas:
BIG THANKS
A special thank you to Anneke Wegman and Michelle Mork for volunteering to listen to emergent readers
AND Kallie Craker and Julie Yoffy for guiding book clubs!
