reflection - m5canyons · montessori school at five canyons sept/oct 2018 page 2 montessori’s...

Sept/Oct 2018

Reflection

by Meher VanGroenou Maria Montessori said, “Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.” And so the teachers carry a huge responsibility to teach peace to the children who are under their care. How does that happen? First the preparation of the teacher is very important. The teacher is not only equipped with the knowledge of child

development, Montessori principles and Montessori didactic materials, but that she /he has internalized the principles to find peace in him / herself. That is expressed through her behaviors. Montessori reminds us, “The training of the teacher is something far more than learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is preparation of the spirit.” By behaving in a calm, graceful and organized manner, the teacher sets the tone of behavior of everyone in the classroom. Order and organization play a large part in the path of peace. M5C teachers establish natural order as well as physical order through social rules and expectations. In the classroom, the next step is to create and environment which is pleasant, orderly and has all the didactic activities that children need in order to develop their potentials. These materials are arranged in sequence on the shelves and lessons are given based on sequence, so that spiral learning can happen. Children are given freedom to master their skills so they may move freely towards their own growth. Freedom comes with the responsibility for self, for the environment and for others in their class community. When we take the responsibility of our own actions, we are well on the path of peace. In a Montessori classroom the emphasis is on self-discipline rather than discipline imposed from outside. An intentionally prepared Montessori classroom reduces undesirable behaviors as children are engaged in activities they enjoy. Montessori children at M5C also have many chances to develop self-discipline and skills for conflict resolution.

Inside this issue:

Reflection from The

Director - Peace

1 & 2

Take a Look into the

Classrooms 2 – 7

School Celebration

Photos

8 - 9

Calendar Reminders, “Give Thanks” Luncheon & Barefoot Books

10

I recently traveled to Shanghai to attend and speak at an educational conference on Peace, Development and Collaboration

Montessori School at Five Canyons Sept/Oct 2018

Montessori’s methodology focuses on development of the whole child,

including creative and critical

thinking skills as well as

relational skills. For example,

on October 8, M5C honored

International Peace Day

recognized by Montessori

schools internationally. The

Marigold room children talked

about where their families are

from, found the location on the world

map and made flags from that country (there were well over 12 countries

represented!) Parents graciously prepared foods from their country and

shared them so the children could taste them at their picnic break. The class

proceeded to parade with their flags throughout the other M5C classrooms

where the topic of peace was talked about acceptance of each other,

understanding and respect for peace.

“Peace is what every human being is craving for, and it can be

brought about by humanity through the child.” ~Maria Montessori

Take a Look into the Classrooms written by our Lead Teachers

Lily Room by Ms. Karen

Ms. Karen (pictured right), is the Lead Teacher in the Lily Room.

The toddler room is made up of children 18 months to 2 years old. We

focus a lot on Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Music and Movement.

We are working on care of self, which includes hand washing, putting

on/off shoes and jackets. Feeding themselves at the snack table is also an

important step for independence. Children learn how to take turns and

share with each other.

The Sensorial activities include differentiating shapes, sizes, colors,

recognizing smells and sounds. The children enjoy the Language area which

includes pre-reading activities, puzzles and art. We join the Tulip room for music time with Ms. Carmen on

Monday. Additionally, the Tulip Room moved closer to the Lily Room this year, so that our class could spend more

time with the children in the Tulip Room, which helps with the transition after children turn 2 years old.


Take a Look into the Classrooms (continued)

Ms. Martha (on the left) is leading the Tulip Room again this year with Ms. Zohra (on the right)

The Tulip Room by Ms. Matha

In Practical Life we are learning to care for the environment. For example, children are practicing pushing in their chair after sitting at the table and rolling up their rug after completing an activity on the floor. Then there’s the lesson on how to wipe the table with a towel if we spill water, or paint, etc. Also we are practicing how to put our belongings in our cubbies - please allow your child to practice doing this on

their own in the morning.

In Sensorial, we are exploring sizes from largest to smallest and

finding medium shapes around the classroom. We also visited our

school garden and observed how tall the corn has grown! Also our

visits to the garden allowed for lessons on identifying fruits and

vegetables that grow in the garden. We had an opportunity to

dissect a pumpkin and smell, touch and feel the different parts of

the pumpkin.

The children have also enjoyed all fall leaves outside and the

colors of autumn. We talked about how the seasons are part of a

seasonal cycle. Next we will be learning about the Lifecycle of a mammal (a horse) and the characteristics of other

animals that live on the farm.


Ms. Marina (on the left) is leading the Rose Room again this year with Ms. Sarah Z. (on the right) Rose Room by Ms. Marina

The new school year is off to a wonderful start. The children are getting to know each other, renewing old friendships, and are enjoying discovering what is on the snack table each day. The tears have stopped and everyone can find their own cubby. In the Rose Room, we have what is called The Leader of the Day. There is a list of all the names of the children, and each day one child on the list gets to be leader. The leader gets to ring the tambourine to clean up, and to line up first from outside time. The leader also chooses how we go in (marching, pretend to be elephants, hopping - pretending to be a rabbit, etc). The leader’s role is also to greet children into the classroom and various other leadership roles like feeding our pet fish, helping serve snack, etc. This exercise is designed to have children become experienced in the role of being a leader. In addition, learning that sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow.

Sara Li an d Ms.



Now that fall is here, changes in the weather mean cool mornings! The children should bring a jacket or a sweatshirt each day. Remember to label all clothing! We look forward to starting “fall-type” activities. We are just beginning to talk

about the human skeleton, and help the children learn about bones. Soon we will have a skeleton that is about as tall as some of the children in the classroom. We want the children to see that skeletons are not scary, that we all have a skeleton inside our bodies. We will also learn about bats and spiders…. That’s why you’ll see them in the classroom even though we aren’t doing a Halloween “lesson”.

Book making is a popular activity in our classroom. The metal insets are used to practice pencil control while learning about shapes. Children may trace several shapes and staple them to make a book. Some children practice writing

the names of the shapes. We are also drawing parts of the human body and parts of the skeleton as we continue the study of ourselves. Other things we love about autumn are apples, pumpkins and beautiful brown leaves. We will begin singing a song about apples and we will have apple tasting and apple art projects. Rather than the traditional jack-o-lanterns we will study pumpkins as part of the

autumn harvest. If you have any good pumpkin bread or muffin recipe we would love to taste it! Fall leaves make a great sharing item as we are comparing similarities and differences (as part of matching). Ms. Sarah and I show a work at circle every day, sometimes more than one. We show countless works throughout the morning, such as counting, matching, and grading. We have introduced several letters and what they represent. We have also introduced numbers 1-4. The children also get a chance to do all kinds of letter and number works everyday throughout work time. As Ms. Sarah said on Parent’s Night, “The Practical Life area is the foundation of the classroom. It is here that the children practice the most important goals of the Montessori environment. These goals are order, concentration, coordination, and independence. Through works like pouring, sweeping, hand washing, table setting, spooning, and many more, and the children practice repetition of movement to refine their coordination and lengthen their concentration.” These activities build on the child’s own sense of order and by encouraging these skills it promotes their independence and sense of purpose and self-esteem. We are enjoying show and tell on Friday at second circle. Several children have brought books, dinosaurs, a shark, pumpkins, fall leaves and many more fun realistic, educational, and or family related items. We are having a great time together and are well on our way to building a real classroom community. Thank you for sharing your children with us.


Ms. Dil (on the left) is leading the Sunflower Room again this year with Ms. Apple (on the right)

Sunflower Room by Ms. Dil

The children have been back at school for a couple of months and have settled into their routine. In the Sunflower room, we started the school year working on our ground rules to stay safe in the


Take a Look into the Classrooms continued) classroom. Establishing good work habits that will help us complete a productive work cycle—to choose a

meaningful work, complete it with focus, clean up and return it to the shelf is also something children have been

working on.

We began September by learning about our bodies, our senses, and how to take care of ourselves and

keep ourselves healthy. With the coming of fall and the harvest season, we explored the pumpkin lifecycle and all

things pumpkin...carving and learning about the parts of a pumpkin, counting pumpkins, pumpkin crafts and more.

The children enjoyed our trip to the pumpkin patch and we were grateful for all your help in making it a success.

In October, the children are actively refining their skills

through poking and spooning pumpkins, and tweezing corn off the

cob (a very popular work). We have moved on to the Big Bang, our

Solar System and our precious planet, the Earth. We compared the

sizes of different planets using fruits and cut open our Earth (a play

dough version) to peek into the inner layers of our planet. As we

look ahead we will continue our explorations of planet Earth and its

land forms. We will also embark on our cultural journey of all the

continents, beginning with North America, its peoples, culture and

history…just in time for Thanksgiving!


Ms. Sarah (on the left) is leading the Marigold Room again this year with Ms. Margarita (on the right) Marigold Room by Ms. Sarah

Welcome to the Marigold classroom. This year we are

experiencing the magic of the 3-6 age range in our classroom. As we

watch a 6 year old writing a story we see in all of our younger

children see their future potential. When we see a 3 year old trying to use scissors to cut on a line we are

reminded of all the work and developmental stages the 6 year old had in order to be able to write a story. Daily we

witness the older children helping to guide the younger children and set an example of how to keep our classroom

a peaceful and harmonious place by walking in the classroom, cleaning up and pushing in their chairs. It is a

beautiful experience. (As many parents experienced first-hand in the classroom observation).

The practical life area is the key ingredient to the development of concentration, fine motor coordination, a sense of order in the activities and classroom, and the independence which allows children to take care of themselves. In the beginning of the school year we focus on basic skills such as spooning, pouring, tonging, play dough and cheese cutting. As the children develop and show interest, we start adding new concepts and steps to the activities to make them more challenging. Art is connected to practical life and Ms. Margarita keeps the area stocked with an array of activities that help to develop hand and eye coordination and fine motor control such as poking out shapes, cutting different lines and gluing different objects on a paper.


In the sensorial area the children are learning about dimensions through the pink cubes, brown prisms cylinder boxes and red rods. Those who are interested are building mazes, pyramids and other inter-

esting structures. The children have also been exploring the constructive shape boxes to discover what shapes they can make using triangles. Older children have been tracing shapes, coloring and naming them.

In the math area younger children are learning linear counting, numeral recognition and quantity

association. Some children have been working with building teen and ten numbers. Others have been introduced

to place value with the number layout. Older children have been working on 4 digit operations with the number

layout, stamp game and dot board. They have also been working on single digit addition.

In the language area, younger children have been exploring

concepts such as rhyming, patterning, prepositions, opposites and

sound segmenting. These are essential building blocks for reading

and writing. Some children have been working on learning the

phonetic sounds of each letter using sand paper letters. Others

have been working on identifying the initial, ending and middle

sounds in words. Older children have been using the moveable

alphabet to write words and sentences. They have also been

introduced to phonograms and digraphs with the movable alphabet.

In the cultural area we have been exploring concepts in

botany, zoology and cultural geography. We dissected a pumpkin

and looked and felt the different parts. The children were doing a

variety of activities on the life cycle of a pumpkin. The older

children were challenged to use the metal insets (different shapes)

to trace that represented each stage. For older children, they are

excited with this challenge. For most, they rely less on step by step

instructions for these types of projects. They enjoy the freedom

and creativity in making self-discoveries. In zoology, the children

have been introduced to classifying living and non-living things. In

cultural geography the children learned about the basic needs of

all people.

Music & Movement Class By Carmen Trefil

In the first part of our school year, the musical activities for the children in the Lily and Tulip classrooms were carefully chosen to help them improve active listening skills. The children listened to sound tubes and explored the different sounds made by a variety of objects inside the tube. Your children loved this activity and enjoyed making a sound with the quiet and loud sound tubes. They learned songs about forest animals, like Hop Little Squirrel, and A Big Brown Bear. We worked together on collective movements by matching the steady beat of the music with walking, marching, and tiptoeing.


Take a Look into the Music Class

In October the children in the Tulip room will continue

making sounds with the rhythm sticks, jingle bells, and shakers

to explore dynamics and rhythm in music. We will sing songs

about apples, pumpkins, and autumn leaves. We will be

dancing with scarves to explore the movements such as

twirling, floating, and drifting.

The students in the Rose, Sunflower and Marigold

classes are learning about the ascending and descending music

scales. They have been playing the scale on the glockenspiel and listening to how the pitch is increased

by each step on the bars. The children are very proud of their knowledge so please let them tell you

what we have learned about the glockenspiel and the xylophone. So please ask your children:

What is a glockenspiel? How is it different from a xylophone?

The children are also learning songs about autumn’s beauty and the gifts of the season, like

Leaves are Red and Yellow in the Fall or Shake the Apple Tree. I hope you hear them sing these songs at

home! Through expressive movements the students will create and perform a musical story about

falling leaves. They will learn about the musical concept, “high-low” by using a variety of melodic

instruments and movements.

Administration Office

Ms. Michelle (pictured right) has been with M5C for nine years now and is

our Administrator / Operations Manager. Your first point of contact is often

Michelle and she is available to answer any questions you have, from procedures

to the parent portal. Please feel free to contact her anytime or refer to the new

online Parent Handbook.


School Celebrations! School Potluck

The school potluck was so much fun for children and families

alike! There were many great dishes representing numerous different

cultures and we had a big turnout! This event would not have been

possible or fun without our parent helpers being there ahead of time

to prepare by setting up tables, chairs and welcoming each family as

they arrived.

Parent Work Party

Lots of new parents to M5C came to their first work party on a beautiful Saturday morning. The crew worked hard

sanding shelves, trimming bushes and various indoor and outdoor projects. (Unfortunately we forgot to take photos to prove it!) But it’s amazing what you can get done in a few hours; we really appreciate our volunteers! Lastly, it’s worth

noting that we recently replaced the stall dividers in the bathrooms. We’re always working to maintain our beautiful

school. Mark your calendars for the next Work Party, Saturday, May 4th.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Children really enjoy our annual

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip to GM Farms in

Livermore. We went early this year, October 6th and it

was a great way to kick off the start of fall and pumpkin

season! Classrooms headed out to enjoy a morning

with a lessons on a lifecycle of a pumpkin and play in

the awesome corn box! Thank you parent volunteers

for driving and keeping an eye on the children during

this fun excursion!


Halloween Parade!

Thank you families for joining us at our “Wholesome Halloween Parade”! We had so

many wonderful, creative costumes adorn Canyon Court. We saw firefighters,

astronauts, superheroes and even a Waste Management garbage collector! We also

enjoyed lots of animals: a swan, lamb, owl and even a pink unicorn! Teachers also

played along, Ms. Margarita was a black cat and Ms. Sarah was “The Man in a Yellow

Hat” (from Curious George). It’s always so fun to

have children use their imagination and pretend to

be whatever their heart desires.


Calendar Reminders Nov 5 – 16: Sunflower Room

Parent Classroom Observations & Conferences

Mon. Nov 12: Veterans’ Day Holiday (observed) School CLOSED - no daycare

Nov 19 – Dec 4: Rose Room


Fri. Nov 16: “Give Thanks” Observation & Luncheon 10am – 12 noon & Barefoot Books Fair Look for the display!

Nov 21, 22 & 23: Thanksgiving Holidays School CLOSED – no daycare

Dec 5 – 14: Tulip Room


Mon. Dec 17: Santa’s Surprise Visit (sshh don’t tell the children!)

Dec 25 – Jan 5: School Closed: Dec. 24, 25, 26, 27, 31 & Jan. 1 Daycare Available: Dec. 28, Jan. 2, 3, 4 – you must sign up through the portal.

“Give Thanks”

Observation & Luncheon

We are looking forward to our Give

Thanks Observation and Luncheon on Friday, November 16. Due to space limitations we can only accommodate ONE special someone (a family member [other than Mom/Dad] or friend) who can join us for a 2-hour event. The first hour will be spent observing and interacting with the child in the classroom followed by a lunch catered by our wonderful parents.

So look for an invitations to come home with your child in the coming weeks. We’ll need parent volunteers to bring in food and help

serve, so look for the sign-up sheet next week.

VOLUNTEER NEEDED!

It is almost time for our Fall Barefoot Books fair! If you

would like to earn work commitment hours (2) you can help us coordinate the Book Fair, just let Michelle in the office know if you’re interested.

If you purchased items from Barefoot Books before, you are familiar with these artistic, creative, and culturally engaging books, puzzles and games. All profits from the fair go straight to the classrooms to purchase cultural materials. At the end of November, we will have a booth at school to share our favorite Barefoot books and have the teacher's wish lists so you can also contribute to the reading library in your child's classroom. Donated books will be affixed with a nameplate acknowledging the donating family.

If you order through our website at any time (and encourage your friends and family to do so as well!), all proceeds will be donated to school year-round to enhance cultural learning. Please share the website widely:

http://www.barefootbooks.com

http://www.barefootbooks.com/

reflection - m5canyons · montessori school at five canyons sept/oct 2018 page 2 montessori’s...

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