In the spirit of love and generosity, we are so grateful to our families who contributed to our community service project.  Ms. Melissa and Ms. Nancy made two trips to the Henderson Animal Care and Control with an abundance of food, blankets, paper towels, and pet toys.

The staff at the shelter were impressed with the amount of donations and the materials were exactly what they needed!  We toured the facility and saw many cats and dogs that looked so sweet and eager to have a life with a family.  We were impressed with how clean and well cared for the animals appeared.

If you are thinking about adding a furry friend to your family, this is a good place to begin your search.  The Henderson Animal Care and Control is located at 300 E. Galleria (Henderson, NV 89011 702-267-4972).

Our Valentine Day celebration was sweetened by the making of heart shaped pancakes, strawberries, and whip cream.  

Thanks to Karri (Gabrielle’s mom) and Mae (Vivian’s mom) for mixing and cooking the pancakes for us.  

Students came to class wearing their comfy pajamas and spent the morning doing Montessori work in between playing games, doing crafts, and exchanging valentines.

We also appreciate all the families who drove and chaperoned our Kindergarten students on their field trip to the Estes McDoniel marine lab.  

Final look of our ocean wall.

It is such a great opportunity for our students to be hosted by Estes McDoniel 5th grade students and to learn about marine animals that were discussed in class.  We know that pairing tangible experiences with book learning really makes the difference in the level of understanding and engagement for our students.

Counting in Spanish.

REMINDERS

Dr. Seuss Day, Thursday 3/2.  Children are encouraged to dress up as their favorite Dr. Seuss character.

Completing a book on the parts of a fish.

Teachers will be attending the American Montessori Society conference and students will be dismissed at 11:15 am on 3/9.  No school for students on 3/10.

Learning how to read a friend’s emotions.

Parent/Teacher conferences are coming up:

•  3/23 half day dismissal at 11:15am  
•  3/24  no school for students

A great big thanks to Alex, Sydney and their families for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.

Thank you to all of our families who attended Parent/Child Night.  Unraveling the Montessori method and understanding its effects upon your child from a holistic perspective is an ongoing process.  Seeing and hearing your child demonstrate a work is useful in helping them to feel positive about their knowledge and gives you insight into how they are learning academically.

As Montessori teachers, our aim is to create an environment that is orderly, stimulating, inviting and easy for the child to interact with the materials.

Labeling ocean animals.

We introduce concepts from a concrete point of view so the child can use as many of their senses to grasp the concept.

Pin punching the 7 continents.

For instance, working with our Language materials, we introduce the sound of “a” by playing “I Spy”, a simple game to help them hear the beginning sound of a word.  The child is given a plastic ant and is asked to identify it.  We ask if they can hear the sound at the beginning of the word “ant”.

Once they are beginning to associate the sound of “a” with the word ant, we have them trace a sandpaper version of the letter “a.”  

This literally creates a neural pathway where the child associates the sound and the feel of the letter at the same time.  Once the student can identify the beginning sound of an object and associate the symbol (letter) that goes with it, we introduce sound sorting.

Students then handle objects whose name begins with the sounds they are practicing and place the appropriate object with its corresponding sound (ant goes with “a”, squid goes with “s”, etc.).

As the student retains the sounds they are learning, they can then group sounds together and build words.  “A”, “n”, “t” can be sounded out individually, until the child realizes that those three sounds together form the word “ant.”  

Other language materials where the “a” sound is found in the middle of the word.

Once decoding is in place, the student begins to recognize more and more words, and reading has begun.  This process of moving from the concrete to the the abstract  is applied to all areas of the classroom including Math, Language, Spanish, Science and Cultural.

Using a “circle map” to create a “tree map” about the planet Venus.

The same principle of teaching sound recognition and then building words is used by Ms. Deana in her Spanish lessons.

Working with Spanish sounds.

Building words in Spanish.

Hand painted ocean wall.

This “ocean wall” is painted fresh, by the Kindergarten class every March, when we are studying the oceans.  It brings to life the ocean environment and gives the Kindergartner students the opportunity to give tours about ocean plants and animals to our younger students.

Exploring the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

Completing a book about the parts of a fish.

Working with number rolls.

REMINDERS

Friday, 2/17 Kindergartners will celebrate their 100th day of Kindergarten.

Working in Espanol with Ms. Deana.

Monday, 2/20 there is NO SCHOOL as we celebrate Presidents’ Day.

Wednesday, 2/22 Kindergartners will visit Estes McDoniel Marine Lab.  Please provide your Kindergarten child with a sack lunch and have them wear their FMS field trip shirt.

Making a valentine.

THANKS

Thank you to all of our families who are helping to make the Galaxy Dance an “out of this world” experience for our student body.

A great big thanks to Guillermo, Omer, and their families for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.