Montessori Academy | Room 9 eNews

November 2012

Dear Room 9 Parents:

It is difficult to believe that November has arrived so quickly! The children have grown in so many ways already since they began in August, and we are very pleased with their progress.    Our students have been hard at work on many new materials and topics in the classroom. In geography, we are beginning our focus on North America this month. In science, we are beginning our study of living things with works on living vs. non-living and plant vs. animal. We will focus on botany this month with many works about plant life.

Our kindergarten students have had an exciting few weeks recently. They had a wonderful field trip to the Owl Creek Nature Sanctuary. They enjoyed a hayride, learned about owls, had an educational nature hike, and each got to choose a big pumpkin to take home. The kindergartners began November with their first visit to the Lower Elementary classrooms, and they were very excited to glimpse their future as first graders in our wonderful elementary program! They even had what we affectionately named “picky picky manuscript week” to refine their writing of lowercase manuscript letters and write “like first graders!”

We are continuing to accept donations for the Second Harvest Food Bank this week. Share with your children the joy of helping others by letting them help select and bring in non-perishable food items to donate. We have a big box outside of the classroom for the donations, so let’s fill it up!

As promised, we’re beginning a series of discussing the many gifts, beyond our wonderful academics, that a Montessori education gives your child. This month’s focus is on community.   The Montessori environment is set up so that our children are learning how to be productive, responsible, and respectful members of a community: We share the work in the classroom (and the teachers as well). We put our work away nicely so that it’s ready for the next friend. We clean up our own messes. We walk carefully around the class to avoid stepping on someone else’s work. When our friends are trying to concentrate, we have to control our desire to talk. We speak kindly and use our good manners.   We help our friends when they need us. The children have a lot of freedom and a lot of responsibilities. These are “real world” lessons that our children learn all day, every day. We are thankful for this gift in the Montessori classroom!

As we approach our Thanksgiving break, we would like to express our gratitude for the wonderful families we have in Room 9! We thank you for your purchases at the Book/Materials Fair last month. The children really enjoyed opening the special gift box to share their gifts with the classroom. Thank you for the many ways you volunteer to help our classroom. We recognize that ALL of you support us in so many ways: bringing your children to school on time, supporting the Montessori philosophy in your homes, taking the time to read all of our communications, and giving us your kind words, notes, and smiles. We are truly thankful for ALL of you, and we are grateful each day for the privilege of spending time with your wonderful children!

We wish you all a wonderful week off for Thanksgiving, filled with family, friends, and some good food of course!

With deep gratitude,
Mia Lee & Tanelle Murphy

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