February 2013
Dear Room 9 Parents,
February is a busy month in the classroom! We will have our Valentine’s Day party on February 14. After a short work time, the children will exchange cards in the morning, followed by a group snack of special treats. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to bring food for the party! Please dress your child in Valentine colors on this special day. We will take lots of photos for you.
Our classroom has been transformed again with new work. The Practical Life and Art areas reflect a Valentine theme in colors and materials. We have also begun one of the most popular Practical Life works: food preparation! We have started with sandwich making, in which the children make small heart-shaped cheese sandwiches. We will soon add orange-juice making, where they can use a juicer to make their own little cup of fresh orange juice. These works require the children to wash their hands, get food from our refrigerator, and wash dishes afterwards, so these are skills you can encourage at home.
We are getting ready for our study of Asia in the Geography area, and we have so many beautiful materials to help the children learn about different Asian countries and cultures: flag making, pushpin and stamping, tangram puzzles, animals of Asia, a small Japanese garden, cards of famous locations, Chinese brush painting, and more. We would love to have some parents get involved in our study of Asia. If you would like to send in some special food, come and share photos or special cultural items, teach a little bit of another language, or help your child prepare a short presentation, please let us know.
Our Science area will also be changing this month. We will continue our study of vertebrates with reptiles and amphibians. With puzzles, cards, a frog life cycle, animal x-rays, and more, children will be learning all about these two animal groups. Do you know what a carapace is? Do you know the differences between frogs and toads? Can you locate the ventral scales on a snake? Your child will be learning a lot of interesting facts!
February Montessori Gift: This month we’d like to remind you of the gift of a multi-year curriculum all in one classroom. Do you know that our Primary curriculum extends far beyond a three-year curriculum? We have materials that easily extend into second and third grade work in the academic areas. Even our Practical Life, Perceptual, and Art areas are always changing. This is why children can stay with us for three and even four years and never run out of work to do! Also, because our materials are on the shelves and visible to the children (rather than in workbooks and handouts from the teacher), the younger children see what is ahead for them and are able to develop that motivation to move through the materials. The older children have a strong sense of accomplishment as they see how far they’ve come. It is an amazing curriculum!
The year is halfway over, and we are so pleased with how far all of the children have come. We look forward to sharing your child’s progress at our upcoming conferences!
Tanelle Murphy & Mia Lee
