Montessori Academy | Room 1 eNews

January 2013

Dear Room 1 Parents,

We hope your 2013 is off to a good start! We both came back at the beginning of January refreshed and excited to get back to working with your children. They were excited to share the events of their holiday – speaking in front of the class is one of the skills on which we focus. It’s hard to realize that at a young age, many children are very fearful of speaking out in front of a big group. We see the importance of giving the children a chance to share their thoughts and ideas in group because it helps them build self-confidence in themselves in speaking up clearly and making eye contact with others.

We are so excited to have a new student join our class- Brandon, who moved up from our Toddler Program. Your children have been very welcoming to him. It’s great to have such caring children in the class who show such empathy and concern for some of the younger children in the classroom. It makes the younger children really look up to these older students.

Thank you to those who attended our Primary Workshop on the topic of Practical Life last week. We spent the hour explaining in detail this crucial aspect of a Montessori education and showed the core areas: Care of Self, Care of Environment, Food Preparation, Art, Large and Small Preliminary activities and Grace and Courtesy. In the beginning of the school year, Practical Life activities were geared toward preliminary works that teach one basic activity. Now, more advanced work will be introduced that will teach several steps, build concentration and refine fine motor skills. The children are learning about color mixing with primary and secondary colors.   They have also been receiving very popular lessons on food preparation with apple slicing, orange juicing, sifting and spreading. These real life skills help to increase concentration, prepare them for longer works with more steps, and focus on the fundamental skills of grace and courtesy.

Geography has been in full gear for the children. They have been learning about North America and have started learning about the United States. We were so thrilled to have last Thursday a special presentation from our very own After Care teacher Annette Ansari. She is originally from Jamaica so she did a presentation about the island, its customs, its food, and its music. She showed how Jamaican’s carry items on their head using a special cloth. The children loved being able to try to balance fruit on their heads! She brought in Jamaican bananas and also served delicious cornmeal porridge and Jamaican bread that she prepared. It was amazing and the children had a wonderful morning. We have attached a few pictures of that morning for you to enjoy. Many shared afterwards that they wanted to visit Jamaica some day! We are so lucky to have such a diverse school!

As you know, flu season is terrible this year. Please be sure to keep your children home until they have been fever free for over 24 hours.   As a class we continue to go over the importance of washing hands and how hands carry many germs. Coughing into their arm is a way that we teach them to cover up their cough by not using their hands. Sometimes adults may take for granted that they know how to use a tissue. Some children don’t have the muscle strength to take one tissue from a box and blow into the tissue. These are just a few things that we teach for Care of Self that is always ongoing in the class. By using these simple measures here and at home it will help everyone to stay healthy and to not be exposed to illnesses if possible.

School Reminders:

If you requested retakes of pictures, our picture day is January 16 at 8:30 in the MPR.

Remember, we still encourage you to visit our classroom. Simply contact the office, and they will arrange a time for you to come and observe your child at work

Respectfully,

Andrea Johnson and Mellynne Dickason

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