Happy Halloween

Montessori celebrates Halloween in all areas of the classroom. It's fun--and it's learning:

          We have read lots of Halloween stories about pumpkins, bats, and witches.

          We have practiced our fine motor coordination hammering golf tees into a pumpkin.

We worked with pouring, pin punching, and tweezers to develop fine motor coordination and pencil grasp.

          We have created lots of spooky art--following directions and practicing sequencing.

    We have learned how to extend patterns and use symmetry to bead Halloween necklaces.

  We have created a jack-o-lantern, learning all the parts of a pumpkin--skin, meat, pulp, seeds, stem.

             We have counted pumpkins 1-10 and made double patterns with weaving.

We have learned about our bones by labeling a skeleton and making parts of books--skull, ribs, femur, patella, spine, clavicle, radius, tibia...

We have collected data about our costumes and created a bar graph. What a surprise to see everyone dressed up!

The Lunchers visited Homestead Farm.  They meet some farm animals, rode in a hay wagon, picked pumpkins and played in the straw. Afterwards, they wrote class books and journal stories about their adventures.

Trick-or Treating was fun, but don't forget candy for Mother Teresa's House of Peace!  We are planning to sort, count, and graph our candy collections before making gift bags. Getting candy is good--giving candy is even better!

      " Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace."
                                                                                                   Mother Teresa

Whether the Weather?

Ms. MIM has arrived just in time for Halloween! She loves words with Many Interesting Meanings!

The Owls went for a walk in the rainy weather. They had to decide whether to take the umbrellas.

       Which should they choose? They did not take a witch along--only Montessori children!

                  Wait a minute!  Weather and whether??? Witch and which???  HOMOPHONES!

A homophone is one of two or more words that are pronounced alike but different in spelling and meaning.

The Owls walked to the playground. Two children shared one umbrella. Ms. Canter went too.

 Then it was time for Reading Buddies!  Second grade read  books to M II and M III. One was red!

Some fish were blue, but the no wind blew under the sea.  At least, we did not see it!

Ms. MIM taught us that we can find HOMONYMS too! Homonyms are two or more words that are spelled and pronounced alike but have different meanings--like school, present, jam, swing...

Meet Ms. MIM!

                                             Balls are a ball of fun!

                                             These bars are not granola bars!

                                              In the fall the leaves fall.

                                                 Two sons enjoy the sun.  

Whether in the wagon...

           ... or while playing with dump trucks, the playground is fun in all kinds of weather.


      Our Word Detectives are searching for more MIM words for our list. They are everywhere!
                                              Words are wonderful!

Feelings and Friendship

The Lunchers have been learning about and naming feelings in guidance.  They have helped Sammy Snail learn all about his feelings, too!

They have leaned that there are two types of feelings--Wanted (happy, confident, calm) and Unwanted (sad, worried, angry, frustrated).

The Lunchers learned a new word this week--Friendship. How feelings are handled is an important part of friendship! They are beginning to read How to Be a Friend by Laurie and Marc Brown. They discussed lots of ideas about how to be a friend.

                                              Friends help each other.

                                               Friends play fair.

                                                          Friends listen!

                                                 Friends share and take turns.

                                               Friends work out problems!

                   Friends support each other. They stick up for you! They include you in their games!

                                            Montessori is a place for friends!
Teaching social skills is both art and science. Montessori teachers and guidance counselors team up to provide lessons and practice. Lessons include developing self-awareness as well as identifying feelings in others(facial expressions, body language, "reading the scene"). Time for practicing the language of feelings is included.  We use role play, puppets, and picture books to model how to be open to the possibility of compromise and how to become a flexible thinker and problem solver. The most difficult skill for all is a life skill--the art of responsive listening! Practice makes better!

Yummy, Yummy!

Fruit Salad Day in Montessori is very special.  It is purposeful work since we are making snack for the whole class. It is also language arts, math, and science!

First we label all the ingredients--apples, bananas, watermelon, kiwi, pineapple, pears, grapes...

Then we cut the fruit in half to see what's inside. Where are the seeds?

                               Next each child selects the fruit he or she will cut, slice or chop.

                                   Concentration and...

                                            ... fine motor skills need practice.

                        Using a knife is a challenge whether you are a Luncher or a morning child.

                                 When completed, the chopped fruit goes into the salad bowl.

                                            And when the bowl is full, snack is ready!

                    Yummy, Yummy! Fruit Salad always tastes better when you make it yourself!