Dear Toddler 2 Parents, 

The children enjoyed doing so many Practical Life works this month, from food preparation to tasting a pumpkin, sour and sweet apples, tomatoes, and cucumbers. They also enjoyed several lessons in grace and courtesy, like how to move about in the classroom, wash our hands and the definition of personal space. They also flipped pouches with rice inside with a spatula and were introduced to some new pouring works.

The students love working with Sensorial materials. This month we created color wheels using a circle piece of cardboard and clothes pins. The children colored varies pieces the same color to create a matching game. Scent bottles were introduced with the smells lavender and mint. They also listened to the sounds of a bear and monkey vocalizing to try to decipher between the two of them.

The spindal box and sand paper number lessons are becoming a math favorite and we introduced the small red and blue rods work. They continue to improve tracing numbers.

The letter sounds of the month were A, M, S and C. Children learned the sounds by finding and working with objects in the room that begin with those sounds. They also practiced tracing the letters with the sand paper letters. The children continue to practice name recognition and name tracing, and to combine object to pictures items that go together, such as car parts and clean supplies. We have also enjoyed classroom reading of "Little Elliot Big City" by Mike Curato and "Animals to Count" by Brian Wildsmith.

This month, the students learned about the Continent of North America beginning with a discussion on our home state of California and (the state flag, animal and flower) as well as our city of Alameda.

Thank You to the Silcox family for our laundry basket, the McGirl family for donating puzzles, the Long family for donating wash cloths, the Hall family for donating hex bolt work, the Biggs family for donating playdough, laminating sheets, and utensils and to the Mack family for donating the pumpkin. Please check your sheets from back to school night or the list on our classroom door for much needed donations to our classroom. Thank you in advance for all of your support.

Pre-Primary 2

Dear Pre-Primary 2 Parents,

 

The children are settling in nicely. Every day we are seeing more independence and less teacher direction, which is always the goal in a Montessori classroom. 

 

The children's favorite works are Practical Life. It is divided into 4 categories: care of the environment, care of self, grace and courtesy and control of movement. In care of the environment, the children are dusting, carpet sweeping and cleaning up after themselves. In care of self, we are really focused on hand washing, how to properly blow your nose and how to cough/sneeze in your elbow to keep the germs to a minimum during cold/flu season. If you can practice this at home, that would be most helpful. In grace & courtesy, we are still working on carrying a tray, saying please and thank you without reminders, and how to get attention from a teacher. In control of movement, the children are working on using a screw-driver, opening and closing containers, tonging and pouring. In Montessori the child is encouraged to finish an activity and put back the work where they found it. This is ongoing work since they are constantly learning new work. Doing this at home also reinforces this behavior and is greatly appreciated.

 

We have been discussing the subject of children of the world and for this new cultural unit, the children of North America. We learned a continent song that helps reinforce our knowledge of the 7 continents. We also introduced living vs non-living things. That was a lively discussion and we had quite a few giggles. Our first animal of study will be the reptile. We also are working on the calendar daily, and introduced the season of fall, days of the week, month of the year and what year it is.

 

We will be starting sharing day on Wednesday, November 8th. Sharing days will be Wednesday and Friday. You can sign up at the conferences for the day you prefer. We ask that all sharing items are educational and no toys please.

 

Rainy season will be here shortly. We are asking for donations of indoor activities that we can have on hand for playing indoors. Some examples are: Legos, wooden blocks, dress up items, and board games for preschoolers. If any parents would like to help with our costume, please let me know as soon as possible.

 

Thanks for helping with any transitions. All the children come to school happy and ready to work. This is such a wonderful sight to see. 

 

Best,

Tiffani and Danilo

Primary 3

Thank you!

Nina and Dawn

 

Elementary - MESA

Greetings Primary 1 Families,

We have been hard at work this month in our beautiful new classroom. We started by reinstating our grace and courtesy lessons, these include how to roll/unroll a work rug, how to get/put away a work, how to push in our chairs, how to watch one's work and how to use kind words. We have also been giving lessons on self-care, how to put on a jacket; hands in holes overhead, how to blow our noses, and how to wash our hands, on top of numerous other self-care lessons that happen throughout the day. The children have been loving the practical life area this month, children have been lacing, poking, and transferring October away. The favorite works on the shelf are the lacing work and the poking work. These works take lots of quiet concentration to finish.

 

The children ejoy using the pink tower and brown stair with the extensions cards to make designs and they are coming up with their very own designs. The children are discovering the geometric solids. We have been comparing them to similar shapes in our classroom. For example, the students noted that the pink tower cube is similar to the geometric solid cube.  

 

The students love to use all forms of math materials. Some children are using the spindle box (1-9) while others are using the addition strip board. Most of the children have been using either the teen or ten board this helps strengthen our recognition of numbers as well as quantity.

 

Our letter sounds this month are M, A, and T. Most children have learned and mastered these sounds and will be moving onto I, C, P, and O, H, and L. The children use the metal insets daily, which assists in strengthening their pincer grasp and will help with future handwriting. Another favorite from the shelf is the chalkboard and white board, some children decide to free write, and some decide to write their name. We have been using the checker board chalk board to help with letter and number practice (writing) the children really enjoy this and will ask a teacher daily to help write out the first ones so they can continue the rest. Some children use the sandpaper letters as a guide and need no help from a teacher.

 

We have had several circle discussions about the 7 continents, the names of each continent and where they are in the world as well as where we are in the world. This month we began talking about North America and the different countries within it, and where we are within the continent of North America (country, state, city, school). Try asking your child, "What is the biggest country in North America?" as this became a big discussion during circle.

 

Please don't forget to check your Parent Folder, directly outside the classroom. Please also check all posted bulletins on the bulletin board. Our Fall celebration is coming up on October 31st, we could use a few parent chaperones for the bus to and from the Taylor campus, please speak with Nicole or Emma if you are available to help us.

 

Thank you!

Nicole and Emma

Primary 2

Dear Primary 2 Parents,

 

"Every child is a different kind of flower, and all together make this world a beautiful garden."                                                                                            

 

We are so happy and relaxed to be back at the newly renovated Encinal Campus. Children are comfortable and getting used to the routine. Due to the fires in Northern California, we spent some time indoors and discussed precautionary measures to be taken in the event of a fire, as well as the impact of fire on the people living there and nearby and the effects of smoke on our health. We had some fun indoor Lego time too.

 

This month we introduced food preparation exercises, to include Melon Balling. Children loved preparing them and sharing them with friends. We also did some sorting and grinding of cinnamon sticks. It smelled great! Every Wednesday and Friday, we take care of the outdoor plants. We try to make sure that our garden is growing and looks beautiful.

 

We continue to play various letter sound games with the children. We are also learning and revising sounds on daily basis during circle time. We introduced an object hunting and matching work with their appropriate beginning sounds. Older children are reading phonetic books and are creating their word book. They are also learning the Japanese words for: thank you, good morning and afternoon, thanks to Katsuko.

 

Students continue their progress in linear counting and we are now looking forward to introducing skip counting. Some of the younger children are working on the basic numbers and are learning to put their quantities together. We are also working with addition and subtraction materials such as the addition snake game and the addition/subtraction strip board. These assist with concrete understanding of abstract ideas by allowing the children to put certain quantities together and helping them to notice the differences between quantities before and after putting them together or taking them away.

 

This month we read several books including, "To Be a Kid" by Maya Ajmera and John D. Ivanko and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. We invite two children every day to pick a book of their choice to be read during the circle time. Grace and courtesy lessons continue to be a part of our daily circle time. We discussed how to be in the classroom vs. how to be when outside on the playground. We participated in the "Great CA Shakeout" on October 19th at 10:19 AM by practicing an earth quake drill followed by a discussion on the causes and definition of an earth quake.

 

The children have begun practicing a Japanese song for the upcoming Winter Festival. It will be a surprise. We would like to give a big "Thank you!" to all the parents who helped us move back to our campus, and to Caryn Hoadley-Wetstone for the delicious banana bread and Katie Freed for the air purifiers. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming parent observations and the parent/teacher conferences.

 

Regards,

 

Hurma and Katsuko

Cultural Room

The MESA Music class is off to a great start. The returning students jumped right back into learning the Ukuleles and the new students are picking it up very quickly. We have learned a few exercises, including a fretting and chord exercise, and we have started looking at how to follow a chord chart. 

The students are learning (or relearning for some) "Three Little Birds," by Bob Marley. It's our intention to film the students performing that song, then send the video up to the children in Santa Rosa, who may need some uplifting entertainment. 

 

It's really exciting to learn a musical instrument, but it's also a lot of work. Please don't worry if your child becomes frustrated while practicing. Let them take a break and go back to it in a little while. Speaking of practicing, it's very important that the students take their ukuleles home every weekend and some weeknights. They need to be spending a little bit of time working on the instruments each night. 

 

Thank you,

Steve