January 2015

NEWS

The Lead teachers and I just wrapped up Montessori education classes this month. Thanks to all of you who attended!

One of the things we discussed during our Toddler Education Class, was the main goal of having a child develop a “Cycle of Activity.” This means the child places an underlay or rug to designate where they want to work, chooses a work, focuses and completes the work, cleans up the work, and places it back on the shelf where it belongs (or close to it), then rolls up their underlay or rug and puts it away. When we see children can complete this cycle, we know they are ready for the next lesson that will require memorization of a slightly longer sequence.

At this early age, we also encourage the children to work from left to right and top to bottom, which lays the foundation for reading and writing.

Montessori Education

One of the Montessori topics we discussed in the Primary Education Class was the “Three-Period Lesson.” We use this method to introduce the majority of Montessori materials.

Let’s use a puzzle map to demonstrate. In introducing the map of North America, for instance, the teacher would have the child sitting beside her, preferably on her right-hand side. She would begin by giving a brief lesson about North America. Then she would ask the child to listen and repeat after her. The teacher would point to and say, “Canada, The United States, Mexico,” waiting for the child to repeat her words. The teacher would then say, “Show me Canada, show me The United States, show me Mexico.” If the child points to each country correctly, the teacher would then ask, “What is this country’s name?” for each country. The child would practice these three countries until they felt they had them memorized, and were ready to learn the next map. The child receives a three-period lesson again and again in the Montessori environment!

If you were not able to attend our Montessori education classes please feel free to ask questions or come in for a tour.

Mrs. Loree

MDO parents:

Welcome back from winter break! We hope everyone enjoyed their time together as a family. We are excited to see the children back at school.

Our students will be learning and exploring the sense of touch, by learning about what is cold and what is hot. The children will have the opportunity to dress themselves, practicing how to put on their jackets, hats, mittens, and shoes before they go outside. The children are painting with white and blue paint, using vegetables and cookie cutters. They will be turning pages in a book, and stacking blocks and puzzles to refine their fine motor skills. This helps control and coordinate the small muscles in the hand and wrist.

For practical life, the shelves will feature spooning white, blue, and purple beads, slicing wooden fruit and teeth brushing work. For language, a matching animals work, and for math/sensorial we have a color sorting work and a number abacus.

The main goal of the MDO environment is to help the children develop the skills to function independently, to allow them to explore the environment and manipulate the objects in the classroom freely, to assist them in their rapid language development, and to introduce them to methods of developing their minds and bodies. The classroom has activities meant to stimulate all areas of development: social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and language. The children are allowed the freedom to choose activities based on their interests, and to master those activities at their own pace. The freedom to choose is tempered by the three basic rules of the environment: self respect, respect for others, and respect for the environment.

MDO children have really been settling in to their routine in the classroom. They look forward to choosing their own work, and succeed by doing it correctly. They are capable of so much more than we realize! During January, we began introducing Montessori Style art in the classroom. Each work is on a tray with the materials necessary for the student to explore and try the work on their own.

With the weather turning colder, please remember to dress your child warmly. It is so important to LABEL. It is hard to keep all those hats and gloves straight and labeling really helps.

Thank you very much!Mrs. Eva, Mrs. Bianca and Ms. Mary

Mother’s Day Out

“Keep Calm and Potty On”The toddler community in T1 has started our potty learning. Back in December, a parent education class took place, and St. James toddler classes have started the new year off diaper free. A family in MDO won the door prize for the potty learning parent education presentation. The second door prize, A Merry Montessori Christmas for Toddlers, was won by a T1 family, Vaughn Weeks. We may not have snow outside, but our classroom is covered in blue and white! Snowmen, snowflakes, ice work, penguins, and winter photo matching. Who would have thought, learning how to put on a coat all by yourself would be so fun! Some of the children try over and over again with a big smile on their faces. On really cold days we have been playing in the parish hall with the imagination playground. We are also working on language, the sound book, and scissors.

Mrs. Anna and Ms. Annabel

Toddler 1

Toddler Montessori Training

Happy New Year Toddler 2 Parents!

The children came back in full swing ready to get to work. I love this time of year because the children have started to be more normalized in the classroom.

Abby is focusing beautifully on pouring water into the funnel without spilling. She is doing the flower arranging work.

Once the classroom becomes normalized I can observe the children working. I enjoy watching those children who were quiet observers in the beginning now blossoming into social butterflies. You will see the younger children observing and learning from the older ones and the older children learning through teaching and helping the younger ones.

Emery and Michelle are looking at yoga poses together.

Toddler 2

Maria Montessori said,

“children become normalized through work.”

Luke, Sofia, and Caroline are looking at each others family photos. The children love to tell their friends stories about the photos. It’s a great way to build their vocabulary!

Noelle saw Davis was having a hard time and she wanted to help him put his shoes on. Watching the older children care for others in the class is a great lesson in natural compassion.

Socializing continues outside on this beautiful day. The children love to sing and laugh together. Luke and Sammy are swinging on the tire with Abby and Cora pushing them. Sofia is pushing Katie on the swings.

April, Lily, and Eliane

Left: Ryan grades the brown stair by size.Below: Allison matches animals to nomenclature cards.

Right: Carter works on matching colors by sequence.Above: Madie tries our new “chapped lips” work with a Q-tip and Carmex.

Toddler 3 has been working hard on perfecting our work cycle and the sequence of the works on the shelf. We have switched out the works on our “three shelf” to more challenging works and brought some of the works down to the children’s level so they can start to experiment with early primary sensorial works. They have really enjoyed this and are working hard on their fine motor skills!

The children have expressed much interest in painting recently! They have been asking us to draw pictures for them to paint inside the lines which is also an early primary skill. Scissor cutting is also a skill we are focusing on. Many children in our class will be moving to primary next school year, and this is one of the skills they will need to acquire to enter primary. Art has always been popular in the classroom! The children love to see the new artwork each day.

Language and socialization is vital at this age. We are continuously switching out works on the language shelf as well as practicing our sound book in circle time. We have an extra sound book the children can practice with in the classroom. They have really enjoyed listening to books lately; during class they like to sit in a small group and read stories to each other while they look at the pictures. Some children ask a teacher to read to them. Including the flannel board with these stories has been a fun way of learning!

Best Wishes,Ms. Coral, Jaymie, Amy, & Hanna

Toddler 3

Hunter in concentration stacking his life cycle nesting boxes.

Dear Families of Primary One,

Happy New Year! We hope that everyone enjoyed themselves over the holidays and had fun during winter break. The children have done well transitioning back to school in the past few weeks. We have used our circle time to talk about the change in our calendar—goodbye 2014, hello 2015—it’s a brand new year! We have also discussed the changing of the seasons and what to expect for the cold winter weather. Coats and gloves are a must; bathing suits and sandals, save them for summer!

Our first-year students are working to strengthen and refine their fine motor skills by using materials in Practical Life: the metal insets, using scissors to cut paper, and punching out shapes using a pushpin. They are also working with the sandpaper letters; feeling the different shapes of each letter and learning the corresponding sounds.

The second-year students continue to work with the Large Moveable Alphabet and short vowel object boxes, and practicing their handwriting. In addition to the colored beads, they are beginning to learn their teen numbers, 11-19, and practicing how to write them too. As a class, we talked about South America and discussed the geography and animals that are native to that land. More maps are being made, so you might be on the lookout for one!

Kindergarteners are working on their spelling and math every day. They each have their own paper tablet, and we are encouraging them to free write a short paragraph and include an illustration daily. We have seen/read some of what they have shared, and parents will too when the children take them home towards the end of the school year. Something new that the kindergarteners have started is take-home reading! Each child will have the opportunity to take home a reader to share and practice reading at home. We know that reading with your child is a very rewarding and meaningful experience, and we can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Everyone is working so hard and we are so proud of everything that your children are accomplishing in school!

We thank you for your attendance and support during winter conferences, and we look forward to seeing you all next month at our annual auction!

All the best,Ms. Charlotte & Ms. Kim

Primary 1

Primary 2 Parents,

A note from December......THANK YOU for your contributions to the St. JamesAnnual Fund. The class REALLY enjoyed the Lego Party and the pizza forlunch!

Language

In language, the students have been working on the sounds of the alphabet.After a student has learned the sounds of the alphabet they start “reading” to the reading helpers. This allows them to continue practicing the sounds they have learned. With continued work in the classroom on the MOVEABLEALPHABET, and other exercises from the language shelf, the students continueto build a knowledge of letter sounds, and putting those sounds together tomake a word. The older students continue to do more advanced works from the language shelf, as well as working more on handwriting and the control of a pencil.

The MOVEABLE ALPHABET is a large flat box that has individual lower caseletters in separate compartments. There are several cutouts of each letter;the vowels and the consonants contrast in color. The moveable letters allowthe child to “write down” words as he or she determines each componentsound. This series of exercises increases in difficulty from writing threeletter words to writing stories. The students can start with the MoveableAlphabet as soon as they learn the phonetic alphabet.

Thank you,Mrs. Barrineau and Ms. Marla

Primary 2

Happy 2015!

The children of P3 returned to the classroom full of joy and ready for new adventures.

Our January continent study has been South America. We have focused this study on the Amazon rainforest, the unique animal species that live there, and other geographic features of the region (such as Machu Picchu).

In the New Year, we have seen precious moments of spontaneous collaboration between the children. Older children are volunteering to help younger children – not just with sweeping a mess or wiping a spill – but also with new lessons that the little ones are just beginning. Whether it’s letters, numbers, or reading parts of a work, the older ones are ready helpers to their smaller peers. The younger children are also assisting each other with the lessons that they are particularly good at. These collaborative efforts sometimes increase the noise and bustle of the classroom, but it is a beautiful, organized chaos to witness these genuine moments of shared knowledge! We encourage these efforts whenever possible.

Our January birthday is Ellie Bodwell, who turns six on January 31.

2015 is off to a sweet start! We look forward to many new learning experiences ahead!

Ms. Tamara and Ms. Monica

We recommend the book The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest by Lynne Cherry as a great introduction to the rainforest and the issue of habitat conservation.

Primary 3

Emory tying the bow on Alex’s long chain of 6

Chloe gluing the parts of the horse

Levi and Jackson matching the Animals of the Rainforest

Timo building towers with the knobless cylinders

Our January birthday girl, Ellie Bodwell, who turns 6 on the 31st

Primary 4Happy 2015!

January has been a busy month with many exciting activities! The children enjoyed a visit from the Dallas Zoo. They decided their favorite animal was the flamingo. We also studied the continent of South America this month. During our study, we learned that there are two species of flamingos that inhabit South America. The children thought this was very interesting!

We also spent some time talking about Maria Montessori and her contributions to education and child development. Maria Montessori believed that the child’s work was to build themselves as independent human beings. She believed that adults should assist children only when necessary, to allow them the opportunity to become independent. When children are allowed to completetasks with as little help as possible, they become confident and self-assured.

The Montessori classroom is a prepared environment specially designed to lead children to independence. One of the first lessons in a Montessori environment is choosing an activity, or “work.” The simple act of choosing a work is an independent decision made by the child. Practical life activities also promote independence. Children learn to pour without spilling, set a table, clean up messes, prepare food, and dress themselves.

The Montessori classroom also promotes independence by allowing the children to practice time management skills. For example, children may choose when to eat snack. Snack is availble for about two hours during the morning work cycle, and the children may choose if and when they eat snack. Older students may have several required works that must be completed within a specific time period, another lesson in indepedent time management!

The chillier weather this month has also provided many opportunities for independence. The children got a lot of practice getting in and out of their coats and hanging them properly in their cubbies.

Ms. Elizabeth and Mrs. Ashley

The Dallas Zoo

On Friday, January 9th, the Primary children enjoyed a visit from the Dallas Zoo. The indoor field trip

allowed the children to be up close and personal with some amazing

animals!

In the GardenWinter Gardening can be a bit challenging! This week we learned what a seed needs to grow, and began our seedlings in miniature greenhouses! A seed needs soil, sun and water. We planted many varieties of tomatoes, zinnias, and marigolds today, and will be watching closely for them to push up through the soil!

Egg shell crushing! (We need more clean eggshells, please)

Broccoli and sidewalk sweeping

ArtJanuary has been a really fun month in art. We made shaving cream snowmen, which was a big hit with the children! We created our own puffy paint by mixing equal amounts of shaving cream and Elmer’s glue together. It makes a wonderfully foamy, soft paint that stays puffy when it dries! After our snowmen were dry, we dressed them in hats, scarves, and buttons, and made faces with carrot noses, eyes and a mouth. Another part of our snowman project was making snowflakes out of salt water. We mixed Epsom salt with water and painted snowflakes all around our snowmen. When the salt water dries, it crystallizes and looks like real snow! The projects turned out so well, and we all had a lot of fun.

TechnologyIn technology we have started LEGO robotics! This is a really fun unit where the children are building structures out of LEGOs, which we then plug into the computer and watch them move! The children work in groups to follow the instructions and put the LEGOs together. Then we make predictions about what is going to happen when we plug them into the computer. Then we watch what happens when we plug them in! So far, we have made standing birds that “dance,” and a top which detaches from the base and spins on the ground.

Next up is a monkey...I wonder what it will do?

The After School Staff is happy to be back and spending time with your children. We were having very cold weather, although this week is beautiful, but I am sure that the cold weather will return. We will always try to have outside time, so please continue to send their coats. If we are not able to go outside we will use the Parish Hall as our playground so that children can have a large space to move around and play.

Potty training has begun in the MDO and toddler classrooms. If your child is potty training and in ASC, please make sure that we have extra clothes. Typically if your child is in the beginning stages of potty training, they will come to ASC in a diaper or pull up. We will still encourage using the potty chair, and as they progress and they are using the potty on a more regular basis, we will keep them in their cotton underwear.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call me.Lisa Wilson

ASC

Chapel

We are so happy to be back at school and in Chapel lessons! When we got back from Christmas break we were able to talk to the children about the Epiphany season! This is the time of year that we celebrate the Magi’s realization that Jesus was the son of God. They had an Epiphany! I pray that we all continue to have Epiphany’s throughout the year, as we learn more and more about who God is.

January has also been a time for us to share with the children what friendship and caring for our neighbors looks like. In the story of Ruth and Naomi, loyalty and faithful friendship is shown. We teach the children to not only have good and helpful friendships, but to also know that God is a true and faithful friend to us always.

This month we also got to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Chapel. A parallel story of Rosa Parks was given to the children. We talked about a lady who was very short and was not allowed to sit at the front of the bus because she was “different,” and much shorter then all of the other passengers. The children all agreed that this was not fair and that she should be allowed to sit anywhere, because in God’s eyes we are all His children. No matter what our differences are, it’s important to respect everyone and offer God’s love to all.

To really encourage these points we did an experiment using four different colored eggs. While all the eggs looks different on the outside, we discovered that they were all the same on the inside - just like us.

God bless you this Epiphany season as He continues to reveal Himself more and more to us!

Blessings,Ashley WoodruffChristian Education Director