12/15/2020

Hello and Happy Holidays, P1 Families!

December brought chilly weather and poems and songs about mittens and snow.  We learned that there are many different holidays that are celebrated around the world at this time of year including St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and Chinese New Year.  We had fun reading stories and looking at pictures of the many different items that are used to decorate and represent some of these holidays.  Students also enjoyed a fun Friday that included Ugly Sweater Day!

In addition to our regular Montessori academic work, this month brought lessons on trees.  We had a chance to observe the leaves changing color and falling off branches, leading to discussions of deciduous trees (that lose their leaves) and coniferous trees (that stay green all year long).  We learned the names for the parts of the tree in English and in Spanish:

Arbol – Tree

Hojas – Leaves

Ramas – Branches

Tronco – Trunk

Raices – Roots

We also studied the continent of Europe and many of its famous buildings.  Students had fun assembling a model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, located in Italy and matching pictures to labels of different historical structures in Europe.  We also learned about some of the interesting animals that live in Europe.

Ms. Angela, our FMS art teacher, designed a beautiful project for all the students.  Each child decorated a  Peace Pinwheel with words or pictures that represent peaceful feelings or ideas.  The Pinwheels were then put on display outside the front of the school.  This project helped promote our Peace curriculum and brought recognition to the Peace Pole that is planted at the front of our school.  We were able to take a mini “field trip” to view all of the pinwheels.

December photos of P1 students

Winter Break begins on Monday, December 21.  School resumes on Tuesday, January 5th.  We wish all our families a peaceful, safe and happy holiday!

Thank you!

Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini

November Work in P1

November flew by as we had time off for Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving Break.  We hope all our P1 families enjoyed some relaxing time together as we get ready for the upcoming holiday season.

During the month of November, we had the opportunity to learn about North America and our desert.  We learned that deserts have very little rainfall, temperature extremes and strong winds.  These factors make it difficult for plants and animals to survive, but there are some that are uniquely suited to our Mojave environment.  Coyotes are very adaptable animals that can thrive in many different environments, including deserts, forests, mountains and cities.  Road runners need very little water and are fast enough to catch and prey upon rattlesnakes.  Prickly pear cactus plants provide food for many desert animals and can even be eaten by people!

Some of our Spanish vocabulary this month included the names of some desert animals:

Tortuga – turtle

Correcaminos – road runner

Serpiente – snake

Escorpion – scorpion

Halcon – hawk

Desierto – desert

Caballo – horse

Tribu – tribe

Fruta – cactus fruit

Conejo- Rabbit

Here are some photos of our students working on different lessons and activities this month.

November work in P1

As December arrives, so do cooler temperatures.  Please make sure your child brings a jacket to school in the morning.  Even though the afternoons can be quite pleasant, the Outdoor Classroom can be downright chilly in the morning.  We are requiring that students wear a jacket outside with Ms. Gayle while they explore the Outdoor environment.  Please make sure jackets are labeled with your child’s name.

This month, we will be learning about trees, places and animals of Europe and some of the many holidays that are celebrated around the world in the winter.

Thank you for your continued support!

Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini

Reading in the Montessori classroom is developed through phonics.  This multi-sensory approach is unique in that it has children building words (encoding) before actually reading them (decoding). Developmentally appropriate activities allow children to build their own understanding of how sounds are represented by symbols, and these symbols are joined together to form words.

Students begin phonics work by learning to identify the beginning sound of a word through games such as I Spy.  Simultaneously, they work on learning the symbols that represent sounds with the sandpaper letters.  When several sounds and symbols can be recognized, students work on sound sorting activities by pairing objects with the appropriate beginning letter. 

When children have learned the phonetic sounds, they are ready to begin word building with the moveable alphabet. They begin by building to two or three letter phonetic words (those in which all the letters make their most common sound, like dog, pig, ram, bat, etc.). In order to allow the children to work independently, they are given small phonetic objects which represent the words they are to build. Later, pictures of phonetic words can be introduced for variety and additional practice in word building.

After the child has mastered two and three letter word building, he or she can begin matching reading cards with the objects.  Reading activities such as Phonetic Flip books are introduced so children can practice 3 letter phonetic reading focusing on a single vowel (‘a’ words), then move onto further reading activities such as the Ha-Ha Game (cards with 3 letter phonetic words using all 5 vowels) early Bob Books.  As children master phonetic reading, sight words, silent ‘e’ words and consonant digraphs (th, ch, sh, etc.) and vowel digraphs (oa, ue, ie, ai, etc.) are introduced leading to more advanced reading skills.

Here is a link with further information on phonics and why they are helpful in the reading process.

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/how-phonics-contributes-reading-success/#:~:text=Phonics%20instruction%20helps%20the%20reader,the%20easier%20the%20reading%20task.

Here are some photos of our students in different levels of reading practices.

11/15 Blog Photos

The weather is getting a bit cooler, especially in the morning.  Please make sure your child has a light jacket for the Outdoor Classroom.  This area is still in the shade of the school during the P1 students’ time and it can be quite chilly!  Please make sure jackets are labeled with your child’s name.

Thank you for all your continued support and, as always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini

October in P1

This month we learned about vertebrates and the bones in our bodies.  Students had the opportunity to work with a skeleton floor puzzle to give them some hands-on learning about how our bones fit together and the names of different bones in our bodies.  We also studied pumpkins, our 5 senses, the continents of the world and learned about mammals.

Here is some Spanish vocabulary that we practiced this month:

Huesos – bones

Esqueleto – skeleton

Craneo – skull

Falanges – phalanges (the bones of the fingers and toes)

Calabaza – pumpkin

Semilla – seeds

Mamifero – mammal

Murcielago – bat

Monos – monkies

Bruja – witch

We also spent some time preparing for International Children’s Day!  Students were thrilled with the opportunity to “travel” to the exotic continent of Africa!  We explored batik printing on fabric (the cloth can be used as a lunch placemat), danced to traditional African Drum music, went on a safari and collected animal models (that each child can keep).  We learned that there are over 800 languages spoken on the continent of Africa and practiced counting to 10 in Swahili.  We looked at pictures of the rich variety of wildlife that live on the savannah, observed the Great Pyramids of Egypt and enjoyed bananas, dates and chocolate that are all produced in different regions of Africa.

Next month, our studies will keep us close to home as we learn about North America, the United States and the Mojave Desert.  We will also take some time to study reptiles and compare them to mammals from last month.

Here are some pictures of some of our favorite jobs in the classroom, as well as some pictures from International Children’s Day.

10/30 Blog photos

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

Thank you!

Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini

One of our goals in the Montessori classroom is to develop global awareness in our students.  What does this mean?  At the Primary level, global awareness involves teaching students about different nations and cultures.  Our aim is to develop in our students an understanding that while there are many different people in the world, we all have the same feelings and we even share similar experiences such as playing, learning, and spending time with friends and family.

Developing this idea in our classroom begins with the study of the world and its continents.  Our first lesson begins with our globe and learning which parts represent the water (blue areas) and which parts represent the land or continents (colored areas).  Each continent is represented by a different color and we sing a song to help learn the names of each one.

This work is revisited each month as we learn about different parts of the world, the people, animals, cultures and unique features (mountains, rainforests, buildings and structures, etc.) of each continent.   The students are fascinated by the fact that other children live, play and go to school in different parts of the world, just like they do.  Our aim in building this awareness is to develop an understanding that we are global citizens and are connected to each other through shared experiences such as learning, playing, eating, and traveling.  

“From a young age, each child should begin to understand that they are individuals who are a part of the human species, a member of society, and on a much larger scale, a citizen of the world. By nurturing this awareness of the world, the child will begin to develop a universal understanding and appreciation of all life on earth.”  Maria Montessori

Here are some pictures of our students working in P1.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nM1txfXR7CRemZlE1m3znUMfsURB5nr6?usp=sharing

This month, we have also been studying pumpkins and bones, learning poems, and songs about Halloween.  Here are a few of the poems you may be hearing from your children!

Five Little Pumpkins Poem and 3 Little Witches Song with Ms. Melissa

https://endeavorschools.box.com/s/wlt0bm8pcb1dcjr8rc5dq6cuuaws7j7d

Thank you for attending Parent Teacher Conferences earlier this month! It was so nice to connect with everyone. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. Thank you for your continued support!