We are entering the glorious season of Fall in the Mojave! Please send your child to school with a jacket as it can get breezy and cold especially in the mornings when they work in our outside classroom. It is very important that jackets are labeled with your child’s name, as you can imagine when jackets are misplaced, it is much easier to find the right owner if we can verify with their names. Thank you!

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Many jobs in the classroom are designed to activate fine motor skills so that the pincer grip is developed. The pincer grip is the way a person holds a writing instrument. The proper grip is holding the pencil between the thumb and the first two fingers. When a child is writing, the bottom of the hand (near the pinkie finger) is pressing firmly upon the table. In the Montessori philosophy, writing is developed before reading, so this is a very important developmental stage. All materials are placed in a “left to right” manner, to help train the eye and the brain for reading words “left to right.” One of the best ways to develop the pincer grip is to cut using scissors.

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Every Monday, we have a peace lesson where we learn about Black Elks medicine wheel, using a peace rose to solve conflicts and now we are learning about the circles of awareness (body, mind, emotions and love light).

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Sitting on the cushion and experiencing peace.

Our student council (made up of seventh and eighth graders) inspire us to dress up on Fridays to show our school spirit. Last week was “super heroes” and this Friday (10/22) will be dress up in Fall colors.

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We will be celebrating America next Thursday (10/28) and convert our classroom to the state of Hawaii! Aloha!! We encourage you to have your child dress in Hawaiian themed clothes! There will be no lunch and students will leave at 11:15am. There is no school on Friday 10/29 in celebration of Nevada Day.

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Doing the puzzle map of the United States.

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During the morning work cycle, P4 is a mixed aged classroom, with children ranging in age from 3-6 years old. After lunch, kindergartners from P4 and P3 combine together and create a dedicated kindergarten class. Kindergartners work in all areas of the classroom completing goals in writing, reading, math, science and heart (sensorial area). Also, at the close of the day we read a chapter book. Yesterday we finished reading “The Boxcar Children” and then had a little party to celebrate this accomplishment and to help our students solidify their knowledge and appreciation for the story. Students brought in shoe boxes and they decorated their box with pictures from the story.

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Kindergartners doing their afternoon goals:

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One of the founding tenants of the Montessori philosophy is to help teach children how to be peaceful people. Dr. Maria Montessori was creating her original work during the First WWI and she knew that instilling a personal sense of peace in her students was essential. She wanted to impress upon them, to recognize their feelings and to be able to express those feelings face to face with a friend when differences arise. We use a “peace rose” with the children where the first child holds the rose and initiates the conversation by saying their feelings “I am mad that you cut me in line”, then they pass the rose to the other child who says, “Well, I was sad because I was actually there before you”. The children work out their differences then end the conversation by holding the rose together and saying “peace” or “friends.”

We have also learned about Black Elks Vision of Peace. Black Elk, a holy man of the Oglala Sioux shared his vision of peace. Some times all people walk the black road of difficulties (life lessons) and other times all people walk the red road of peace. When people walk the road of peace the tree of life flowers and birds are drawn to its beauty.

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Our student council helps build our school spirit by asking students to participate in “crazy hair day!”

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