Manipulating triangles from the triangle box.

As we approach the holiday season it is quite easy to be swept up in the hustle and bustle of activities, and to lose touch with the quiet routine of daily life.  In the classroom, we keep routine sacred. It not only gives us the guidelines for conducting a productive day, it brings a sense of security to our students because they know what to expect.

They also understand their role in this process.  Independence and movement in the classroom depends directly on the ability of our students to work respectfully with the materials, and then return the work purposefully to its proper place.  

Building with the brown stairs and the pink tower.

When students forget or ignore this part of the routine, we gently and clearly remind them of this process to ensure materials are ready for other friends to use.

Working with the knobless cylinder box.

The underlying expectation in our classroom is everything has its place and materials need to be ready for other children to use them. This readiness allows the whole room to function in an organic way as the children are able to reproduce lessons they were given by a teacher.

In the repetition of the lesson, they move from the initial understanding of the concepts to a mastery level of utilizing the materials.

Thank you to all our parents who chaperoned the kindergarten field trip to Red Rock Canyon.  It is one of our most anticipated field trips and we appreciate all the enthusiasm from parents to help us make it successful.  A wonderful natural playground in our Las Vegas backyard, we encourage you to visit Red Rock Canyon as a family.

Matching letters on the blue stepboard.

Every year, primary conducts a service project.  We will be implementing it starting the week of December 10th and more details will be coming.

REMINDERS:

Winter break begins on Friday, 12/21 with dismissal at 11:15 am.  School resumes on Tuesday, 1/8.

THANKS:

Thanks to Simon and his family for supplying healthy and beautiful snacks, as well as flowers for our classroom.

Grace and courtesy are foundational themes in a Montessori classroom.  Grace refers to how a child moves in the space, how they handle the materials and how they function overall in the room.  Courtesy refers to the manner in which students speak and act with their peers and towards their teachers.

There are continuous opportunities to practice grace and courtesy throughout the day, such as lining up to wash hands before lunch, lining up for recess, and  sitting attentively with the whole group during circle time. Courtesy is also modeled when the children have differences among themselves.

Learning how to interact with others and to engage in conflict resolution when things are not “going your way” are some of the key concepts we guide on a daily basis.

We’ve also spent some time talking about “tattling” to a teacher with the underlying intent of getting another child in trouble.  Instead, we encourage our students to get out the peace rose and talk through their feelings directly with each other. The use of the peace rose is taught through our peace curriculum.  Using the rose as a tool gives each child the opportunity to speak, while the other child is listening.

The peace rose.

When using the peace rose, we have taught the children to begin their dialogue with “I feel.”  This instruction helps each child to identify their own feelings and to quickly recognize the emotions of the other child.  Communication about how to solve the problem then takes place, with assistance from teachers if needed.  When resolution is achieved, the children each hold the rose and declare “friends” or “peace.”

Working together on 3-part cards of North American animals.

Completing the decimal layout.

Thank you to all our families who donated clothing for Project Homeless Connect, your generosity is greatly appreciated!

We enjoyed seeing our students teaching their moms and dads various jobs in the classroom during our first (of three) Parent/Child nights.  Thank you for making the time for this important experience.

Sand painting.

REMINDERS:

No school 11/21-11/23: Enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday!

Flags of North America.

THANKS:

Thanks to Ben, Alex, Logan, and their families for supplying healthy and beautiful snacks, and flowers for our classroom.

Tweezing beads onto a wooden North America continent piece.

We celebrated “America” last week, as the entire FMS campus was transformed to represent different regions of the United States. P1’s room represented the Midwest. With some careful planning (thanks Amalia) and plenty of creativity (thanks Sophia), we had milking cows in the barn, ice fishing, cheese sampling, crawling through a prairie dog habitat, and various crafts.

Thank you to all of our parent volunteers for helping us to create, setup, and run this special event.  We also appreciate our four middle school students, Tristan, Kassie, Sofia and Sarah, for volunteering in our classroom and for wearing such great costumes.

We were also visited by “Project Wild”, filling the multipurpose room with a variety of animals rescued from former pet owners.  

The assembly started off with “Larry” the legless lizard. He is known as the glass lizard because he is very delicate.

Unlike a snake, a legless lizard hears with ears and can shut his eyes using his eyelids.  We saw and heard a 4 weeks old baby goat and all it wanted was its bottle of milk. She really sounded like a baby crying for its bottle!

Our Primary Music Performance will take place next week, Tuesday, 11/6 at 9:00am in the multi-purpose room.  Please have your child wear dark, solid colored pants and their blue FMS shirt. Pants can be jeans. We look forward to sharing this performance with you.

We are hosting our first Parent/Child Night on Thursday, 11/15 starting at 4:15-5:00 if your last name begins with A-M, and at 5:00-5:45 if your last name begins with N-Z. Come experience your child sharing the jobs that they have learned in the classroom. You can see first-hand the materials they use and get a deeper sense of their daily activities inside the classroom.

REMINDERS:

No school on Monday, 11/12 in honor of Veteran’s Day.

No school on Tuesday, 11/13 due to a teacher in-service.

Kindergarten field trip to Red Rock Canyon on Thursday, 11/27 from 9:45am-1:00pm.  Please have your child wear their blue FMS shirt and bring a lunch packed in a disposable bag.

Thanksgiving break is scheduled starting Wednesday, 11/21 through Friday, 11/23.  School resumes on Monday, 11/26.

THANKS:

Thanks to McCoy, Linnea, and their families for supplying healthy and beautiful snacks, as well as flowers for our classroom.

“Freckle Juice” chapter book party.