Snowflake matching job (not an easy task).

Happy new year to all of our families!  We have gotten off to a great start this year, as each of the children returned to school eager and ready to meet the challenges of being in a Montessori classroom.  

A quiet, engaged hum has descended upon the room as we see the children working with purpose, concentration, and looks of deep satisfaction.  

We are focused on learning about the solar system, space, and the constellations during the month of January.

Learning about our solar system is always fun as we begin to explore amazing concepts like how big the sun really is in relation to the planets, and could we live on other planets.  

Using a spatula to scoop out “planets” and “stars.”

We sing a planet song that describes the order of the planets and the fact that they all rotate around the sun.

Language acquisition in a Montessori classroom is a continuous process where real terminology (names of the planets, vertebrate, invertebrate, etc.) is introduced and practiced regularly.

Blue step board work;
matching shapes.

Now would be a good time to watch a sunset with your child and experience the transition from day to night (the rotation of Earth on its axis).

Kindergarten work and art being done at the same table.

Although it appears like Earth is stationary in space, our planet is actually moving 67,000 miles per hour around the sun.  It takes 365 days for Earth to make a full rotation around the sun.

Shoe polishing, developing fine motor skills and concentration.

Looking up at the night sky can also fuel wonder in your child as they begin to tune into the natural environment around them.

Completing a multiplication problem.

As we were making our January calendars with a depiction of the Big Dipper, we learned that literally the same calcium that makes up the human skeleton was created originally in the birth of our sun.  We really are made up of stardust.

Completing the decimal layout.

REMINDERS:

No school on Monday, 1/16 in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Building words, in Spanish.

Working with the 0-9, hanging bead frame.

Learning to tie a shoe.

THANKS:

Thanks to Gabriel and his family for bringing in delicious and healthy snacks for our classroom.

Matching letters on the blue step board.

Working on a Spanish language job.

Working in our cultural area.

Doing the “100 board.”

Squishing black play dough in her hands.

Winter break is here, giving us a chance to reflect on the year and all of the growth and changes our students have already shown.  

We see the positive effects of the children having clear expectations from us in the classroom.   Every day we are delighted by the ability of our students to complete deeper and more meaningful tasks.

Winter break provides us with a chance to relax, read, and spend unhurried time together.

Setting up home routines will make it easier for children to enjoy the free time, as children generally feel more confident and supported when they know what is expected of them.

Children love to sort items and truly delight in contributing the care of the family. It might be a good time to introduce unloading the dishwasher (starting with the utensil basket), sorting laundry, matching socks, and being responsible for returning toys and games to their assigned places.  

Daily feeding of pets could also provide your child with the chance to contribute to the care of the overall family.  

Being mindful that process and routine are the deeper lessons conveyed to a child when they are doing a task, let the results (product) be less important than the act of doing something positive for the family.  

Most importantly, we sincerely hope that this time together is flavored with peace and joy.

Building the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

We were so pleased with the winter performance, “December Gifts,”

and are greatly appreciative of Ms. Diana (Gabriel’s mom) and Ms. Brianne (Alex’s mom) for taking the lead in painting the shirts worn during our program.  

Completing the 1-10 hanging bead stair paper.

Special thanks to Ms. Mae (Vivian’s mom), Ms. Karri (Gabrielle’s mom) and Ms. Celeste (Cora’s mom) for baking special marshmallow cereal wreaths with us this week, they were delicious.

REMINDERS

Winter break is from Monday, December 19th through Tuesday, January 3rd (school closed).

School resumes on Wednesday, January 4th.  

No School on Monday, January 16th in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. day.

Kindergarten enrollment information night is Wednesday, February 1st.

First grade enrollment information night is Thursday, February 2nd.

A special thanks to Raania and Vivian, and their families, for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.

A great, big thanks to E6 for sharing holiday stories and snacks with us!

Developing a relaxed and firm grasp of a pencil is a major milestone for the primary aged student.  It begins with the strengthening of the hand and finger muscles and then training the thumb and first finger to grasp objects effectively.  This is also known as the pincer grip, and is one of the keys for fine motor skill development.

It is the foundation for learning how to write comfortably, for using scissors, buttoning buttons, and eventually for tying a shoelace.

In the Montessori classroom, we emphasize the development of the pincer grip by having a wide variety of grasping and tweezing jobs.  There is also ample opportunity for early writers to practice their skills by tracing their name, and other work like tracing letters and numbers.

It is easy to spot a student who is early in this process, as they tend to “fist” the pencil instead of holding the pencil using the pincer grip. Often it is the repetition of helping the student realign their grasp that begins to build the muscle memory of holding the pencil correctly.  

Using scissors effectively can also take time and practice.  Starting with the correct grasp of the thumb is the first step.  Then coordinating the three fingers to hold the bottom part of the scissors is the key to cutting.  

Once it has clicked in the student’s mind how to use the pincer grip,

than other activities requiring fine motor skills come a little easier such as holding utensils, buttoning a sweater, and even learning how to zip a zipper.

We were delighted to have Victoria Bloyd (Kendall’s mom) and Stephanie Vause (Vanessa’s mom) share some North American traditions with us.

Victoria, Kendall and her sister (Teighlor) shared a summer vacation trip to a Native American settlement in the south, and they brought ample pictures and artifacts for the students to observe.

Stephanie set up a tortilla making project in the kitchen and each student enjoyed sampling the fruits of their labor.  Thank you very much for your thoughtful and interesting demonstrations.

Reminders

Kindergartners are visiting Sunrise Senior Living Center of Henderson on Wednesday, December 7th to share their holiday singing cheer.  Please have your child wear their green FMS field trip shirt.

Our winter performance is on Tuesday, December 13th at 9:30 am.

Winter break begins on Friday, December 16th with half day dismissal at 11:15am and school resumes Wednesday, January 4th.

Completing the “100 chain.”

A big thanks to Cora and McCoy, and their families, for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.

A major component of the pre-school/Kindergarten experience in a Montessori classroom, is learning grace and courtesy.  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 that we spend time teaching the students.  

Recently, Ms. Melissa gave a lesson on the “good, kind deeds tree,” a concept that author Sonnie McFarland portrays in her book “Honoring the Light of the Child”.

 This book develops a peace curriculum that can be used in the classroom to help students understand that everyone experiences difficulties in life and offers ideas and activities to promote positive problem solving skills.  Communication through words and acts of kindness are recognized as ways to handle difficult situations and help our classroom be a peaceful place.

Black Elk’s medicine wheel.

Turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones of peaceful resolution.

Helping to make the “good, kind deeds tree” flower.

In our classroom, when students do something from the goodness of their hearts and help another student, or help to care for the classroom environment, we invite them to place a flower on the good, kind deeds tree.  

Over the course of a day, the tree can be full of flowers, bringing a positive reflection of the behavior in the classroom.

We’ve also spent some time talking about “tattling” to a teacher with the underlying intent of getting the other person in trouble.  As the children learn to speak directly to each other instead of trying to pull the teacher in as mediator, there is a softening of the edges and students develop the skills to work out difficulties independently.

Finally, we continue to use the Peace Rose as a symbolic tool of communication where children can take turns talking in order to verbalize their feelings and show the other child the effects of their behavior.

The dialogue between the students is measured and shared, where each child gets the opportunity to speak and to listen.  When resolution is achieved, the children each hold the rose and declare “friends” or “peace.”

A big thanks to the parents who helped in the preparation and implementation of World History Day!  We truly appreciate your talents, assistance and your support.

And a special thanks to our Middle School students, Keji, Riley and Ashlee  for facilitating the World History Day activities in our room.

REMINDERS:

Feeding a tortoise.

Kindergarten field trip to Red Rock Canyon on Friday 11/18.  Please wear your bright green FMS shirt and pack a sack lunch.

Working with North American animals job.

Half day dismissal on Wednesday 11/23 at 11:15am for the Thanksgiving Break.  Here’s hoping that we all have a bountiful and beautiful break, spending time with friends and family.

A Kindergartner student helping a pre-K student do a three part card job.

Completing the “100 Chain.”

Thank you to Riishab and Alex, and their families, for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.

Showing the versatility of triangles:

World History day is part of a three year cycled curriculum that is celebrated school wide.  This year, P1 is bringing the earliest invertebrates alive in our classroom.  

Most of the Earth was covered in water 5 billion years ago.  Do you know what was alive then?…jellyfish, sea stars and trilobites.

Early sponges were also making their debut.  The entire FMS campus participates in this annual event.  Each of the classrooms are converted to represent a particular period in time, starting with the invertebrates in P1 and ending with the Renaissance period in E6.

This event not only teaches the students relevant facts and features of those time periods, it gives the whole student body the chance to interact with each other.  Middle school students will spread among the four primary classes assisting where needed.

Next year we will do “International Children’s Day” followed by “Celebrate America Day” the year after.  Parents are welcomed to sign up to help out during the event on October 27th.

Students will be dismissed at 11:15am and we encourage parents to come a little early (10:45) to watch the whole school parade around the campus.  Thanks to all of our parent volunteers who are helping to make World History Day a big success.

Reading buddies is a wonderful opportunity for our class to interact with lower elementary students in E3 to read stories together.  On a weekly basis, half of our students visit E3 and half of E3 students visit P1.

Many of our students are reading or early readers, so they too share their reading skills with the older students paired with them.  Many of the first graders were students in our primary class last year, so our current students experience their friends and peers from a different point of view.  It also builds confidence in our primary students to visit E3 and to share some of their skills with their reading buddies.

Teaching a cultural lesson about continents and oceans.

Learning to identify emotions in Espanol.

Thanks to Dr. Rooman Ahad (Raania’s mom) for visiting our classroom with her doctor’s bag and teaching us about anatomy and the human brain.  It was really fun to use the stethoscope to hear our heart beats.

The delicious smell of cooking pumpkin bread filled our school kitchen as Karri (Gabrielle’s mom) and Celeste (Cora’s mom) helped the children make pumpkin bread.  Thanks very much for your time, for providing a great recipe, and giving our students a 5 senses experience!

REMINDERS

November 1st we will retake our classroom picture.

Completing Black Elk’s medicine wheel of peace.

The tree of peace, found at the intersection of the “black road of difficulties, or life lessons” and the “red road of peace.”

Kindergarten field trip to the fire station on Wednesday, 11/9 from 1:00pm-2:30pm.  Please have your child wear their bright green FMS t-shirt.

No School on Friday, 11/11 (Veteran’s Day) and on Monday, 11/14 (teacher in-service).

Taking care of our environment.

Individual picture retake day is Thursday, 11/17.

Kindergarten field trip to Red Rock Canyon on 11/18 from 9:30am-1:00pm.

Practicing grace and courtesy, by serving banana slices to friends.

We appreciate Jacob and Omer, and their families, for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.