We had a wonderful February full of love and working together. We had a blast at our Valentine’s Day party and are so thankful for Ale, Priscilla’s mom, for decorating heart cookies with our friends. The children loved decorating their bags and receiving Valentine Cards from each other.

This month we have been learning about Australia, Oceans, and different animals. In practical life, the children have been able to create their own ocean scene. The children scooped blue jello into a cup, crushed up cookies for sand, and added a gummy fish to swim in the water. This activity was by far one of the favorites. Thank you to everyone who helped supply the ingredients for this project.

The Kindergartners explored marine life at Estes McDoniel Marine Lab. They were able to explore different animals and they even got to hold some. We had a great trip with a lot of great information learned.

Important Dates:

Friday, March 1st: Dr. Seuss Day

Saturday, March 16th: PTO Family Fun Run

Thursday, March 21st: Half-day dismissal at 11:15am; Parent-Teacher Conferences in the afternoon.

Friday, March 22nd: No school for students; Parent-Teacher Conferences all day.

Saturday, March 30th: Middle School Parking Lot Sale

“Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to make her learn things, but by the endeavor always to keep burning within her that light which is called intelligence.” ~Maria Montessori

Children have a natural fascination with words, which enables them to begin reading and writing before the age they are traditionally taught. When the child is at the greatest point of interest for language development, the materials in the Montessori classroom allows the teacher to take advantage of this time. Writing begins as soon as the child shows an interest in the spelling of words or in the learning of the sandpaper letters. Writing, or the construction of words with the moveable letters, will almost always proceed reading in a Montessori environment.

Once the child has learned the sandpaper letters, they are then ready to make words with the moveable alphabet. They start out building three letter words of different objects with a short vowel sound. The child will spend a considerable amount of time on the moveable alphabet and building the three letter words. They then can move on to building 4-letter words with blends. The child is now realizing that they can go back over the words they are spelling and pronounce the words. However, this step is not really reading. Reading implies an understanding of words which someone has constructed and this step happens when they are able to match a set of objects with a set of cards on which the names of the objects are already printed. At this point, the child must read the card in order to match the correct card with the correct picture. We can continue to develop language skills with the introduction of noun cards and command cards, which are verbs. These cards allow the child to read a command and complete the command like run, jog or jump.

Moveable Alphabet

The moveable alphabet is then used to create words that include phonograms. The phonograms are a blend of two or more letters that produce a single sound. The children continue to build on spelling and reading these words in a variety of ways.

Gradually the child learns sight words, and words with 2 or three syllables by doing many reading exercises that offer a variety of monotonous repetition. There are many books that help to develop their reading skills and are interesting to the children. It is important to remember that the age at which a child reads is not important, but rather in their readiness to read. If the child is forced at the wrong time or too early, then the child will get discouraged. The wonderful freedom within the Montessori classroom allows the child to be guided by their own interest, which determines their own progress. Reading is the most important key to future learning.

Wow, January was a blast! We had so much fun learning about Space, Antarctica, and Snow. The Solar System was a huge hit with the children. Their fascination and curiosity took them to new levels of learning. We also had some great experiences attempting to build a Roman Arch. The children are learning, growing, and making wonderful progress in their own individual ways.

The Kindergarten students enjoyed their 100th day of school. They created posters with 100 items, played games, and enjoyed a delicious snack. Thank you to all the parent volunteers that helped to make this day so much fun!

Important Dates:

February 5th: Parent/Child Night: 4:15-5:00 last name A-M and 5:00-5:45 last name N-Z

February 12th: Kindergarten Field Trip to Estes McDoniel Marine Lab

February 14th: Valentine’s Day Card Exchange

February 15th & 18th: No School; Teacher In-Service & Presidents’ Day

February 21st: PTO General Meeting: 8:30am Multipurpose Room