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. 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.

Creating a map of South America.

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 and helps tangibly guide the children towards caring for the materials and each other in the classroom.  

When it is easy to find specific materials in their proper place on the shelves, students are then 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. Also, students become aware that their actions can affect and improve their learning with this attention to process.

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.

We enjoyed a recent presentation by three African drummers.

REMINDERS:

Winter break begins on Monday, December 23 through Friday, January 3rd. Teacher in-service is on Monday, January 6 (no school for students). School resumes on Tuesday, January 7. 

Completing her self portrait.

THANKS:
Thanks to Valentina, and her family for supplying healthy and beautiful snacks, as well as flowers for our classroom.