Dear P1 Families,
This month’s blog is an opportunity to say thank you for all your support this year! We hope you enjoyed your child’s Montessori Moments video and we also enjoyed talking with you for Parent Teacher Conferences this month.
The end of the month blog will have pictures and updates on our March units of study.
Thank you!
Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini
2/28 Blog
This month we explored the Ocean and learned about fish. We had the opportunity to compare fish to mammals and reptiles from earlier studies and discovered that fish are truly unique! Fish have scales, fins and tails that are designed to help them move through water. They are able to breathe underwater by using gills and lay eggs to have their babies.
We also learned about some very interesting animals that live in Australia. Kangaroos and koalas are types of mammals called marsupials.This means the mothers have a special pouch to carry the babies after they are born. Australia is also home to a very unusual mammal called the platypus. This is the only mammal in the world that lays eggs!
Ms. Kini taught us about Chinese New Year. This year is the Year of the Ox. People born in the year of the Ox are considered to be honest, dependable and determined. Families celebrate this 15 day long holiday by cleaning their homes (but only on the first day of the celebration) and spending time with their families. Children may receive new clothes or gifts of money in red envelopes. Often, people watch fireworks and parades. Ms. Kini read a fun book about Chinese New Year and showed a story on a felt board about how the animals of the Chinese zodiac got their characteristics. She also brought in a Chinese New Year hat making art project that the children were able to put together and take home.
We also had some Valentine’s Day fun in our classroom on Friday, February 12. Children enjoyed wearing pajamas, playing games, doing art projects and decorating sugar cookies for a snack!
Here are some pictures of our many activities this month.
In March, we will be learning about dinosaurs, amphibians and some of the many cultures of Asia. Don’t forget to sign up for Virtual Parent Teacher Conferences held from March 10 to March 12. If you did not receive the Sign Up Genius email, please let us know. We look forward to talking with you about your child’s progress!
Thank you for your support!
Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini
2/15 Blog
Montessori curriculum is based on giving children exposure to concrete materials first, then giving them incremental opportunities to build more abstract concepts.
What do we mean by concrete? The children are able to hold a material in their hands. Montessori Math is unique in that math skills are developed through hands on materials first. They physically hold, carry and manipulate materials to gain a complete understanding of the concept of quantity.
Children initially experience concrete 1-10 concepts in Sensorial by doing activities such as the Pink Tower, Brown Stairs, Red Rods, Knobbed and Colored Cylinder. All of these activities have ten physical components to them (10 cubes, 10 stairs, 10 cylinders, etc.). While we do not count these components, children work with them and unconsciously experience what 10 items feel like. The materials are carried individually to a workspace on the floor, built or organized, then returned, one piece at a time, to their proper location in the classroom.
Montessori math materials stem directly from the Sensorial materials by utilizing the physical feel of 1-10, then adding the more abstract idea of a symbol: the number that corresponds to the physical quantity.
Number recognition is taught after the concrete materials are introduced, then the two concepts are paired together. In this manner, children develop a thorough understanding of not only numbers, but what those numbers represent.
Examples of Early Montessori Math materials include:
The Red and Blue Rods
The Spindle Boxes
Cards and Counters
and the Short Bead Stair.
When concepts of 1-10 are mastered, children move onto concepts of Teens, Tens, Hundreds and Thousands using the same process of introducing the concrete material first, then learning the symbol or number that represents the quantity, then pairing the two concepts together.
The materials are symbolic or representative of something else (a number, perhaps), and that symbolism changes over time until children are ready to let go of the materials and find solutions on paper or even in their heads. This idea of mastering a skill without the assistance of materials is what we refer to as abstraction.
When a child is ready to learn about basic operations, there are plenty of materials to support them. Montessori math uses the golden bead material; first to build numbers into the thousands. For example a single golden bead represents 1, a group of 10 beads are strung together in a straight line for 10, and 100 beads are affixed into a flat square. The thousand cube is as large as 1,000 of the original single ‘1’ bead. Once a child is able to build a visual representation of a number, the beads are used to teach basic operations. Young children are able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers into the thousands using this material. They first learn with static problems – that is, with no exchanges – and then move on to more complex, dynamic problems. They quickly learn that ten 1s is equal to one 10, and they do this by holding those numbers in their hands.
Long and Short Chains are a continuation of the short bead material. These materials incorporate sequential counting that can also be used for skip counting which, in turn, aids building addition and multiplication skills.
In this manner, math concepts are easily understood and students are able to practice a wide variety of functions.
Here are some examples of our P1 students working with Montessori math materials.
Thank you for all your support!
Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini
P1 Blog
1/31
This month was particularly fun as we learned about snow and cold weather and how animals live in the polar regions of our world. We discovered that penguins live in Antarctica and the southern polar regions of the world but polar bears live in the northern polar regions. We discussed how to build an igloo and even had a practice model in the classroom that could be made with sugar cubes!
Our students also were fascinated with facts and information about the planets in our solar system. We learned that the sun is a star and all the planets in our solar system orbit around it. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are rocky planets, but Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are gas giants. Of all the planets in our solar system, only Earth is capable of supporting life as we know it.
Here are some pictures of our students working in our classroom this month.
February is right around the corner and with it comes a new unit of study. We will be diving into the oceans of the world as we learn about fish and other marine life. We will also be studying the unusual animals of Australia and learning about marsupials. Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, but we will be celebrating it in our classroom on Friday, February 12 with some fun activities and art projects.
Ms. Diana, Ms. Kini and I would like to thank all of you for your support and consideration this year as you have all adhered to our COVID policies. We know this is a trying time and we truly appreciate all your support as we all do our best to keep our children healthy and safe.
Thank you!
Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini
P1 Blog
1/15
One of the most frequently asked questions in P1 is “When will my child start speaking in Spanish?”
Language acquisition is a skill that takes time. Typically, a child’s first words in their native language are spoken around 10-14 months of age. From there, children learn simple words, begin to speak in phrases, then more complex sentences as their knowledge of the world grows. By the time children begin preschool, they have a fairly large vocabulary in their native language, can ask questions, understand some basic abstract concepts (like emotions) and speak in complete sentences. This process takes years.
Starting to learn a second language means beginning this process again. However, because children have a greater capacity to speak and understand language, they are able to pick up skills faster.
The first Spanish component the students experience is listening to Ms. Diana give simple instructions for daily classroom functions (wash your hands, stand up, sit down, line up, etc. ) and hear repeated words such as snack, lunch, days of the week, months of the year. Children hear simple Spanish words first, absorb and process information and vocabulary using materials in the classroom. This is called Pre-production or the “silent period”. Students often mimic the words they hear, can identify pictures and follow simple instructions.
In the Early production stage of learning, children can answer questions with a yes or no and may start to say short phrases in Spanish. Their vocabulary is growing and they are able to identify pictures, numbers and follow more complex instructions.
During the Speech Emergence stage, children can answer questions or speak with three or more words in simple phrases and patterns. Students can understand the general idea of a story with pictures, are able to identify numbers, do linear counting and build simple words with the Spanish moveable alphabet and syllables. They are singing songs and reciting poems in Spanish, but may not fully understand the words they are saying.
When students reach Intermediate Fluency, they are able to read and write simple words, speak in simple phrases and sentences and perform basic math functions (such as addition and subtraction) in Spanish. Students may also begin to communicate with each other in simple sentences, play Spanish speaking games with each other and are able to follow more complex directions from their teachers.
Spanish language is enriched each month as we study a new topic and incorporate more vocabulary. These skills are reinforced each year as children have the opportunity to practice lessons and remember concepts from previous units of study.
Here are some pictures of our students working with Spanish materials and activities.
P1 Spanish Photos for 1/15 Blog
As always, we thank you for your support of our classroom and our school!
Thank you!
Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini