The upcoming three day weekend will be well deserved for both students and teachers. It has been a very busy week! In order to reach normalization in the classroom there is much orientation going on. Students have been taking in an immense amount of information regarding the routine in the classroom as well as expectations and responsibilities with academics. Many small group and individual lessons have taken place.
One of the most magical pieces of Montessori education is the Five Great Lessons. This week the students listened to the First Great Lesson: The Beginning of the Universe and the Earth. They were encouraged to think and wonder about our Universe and how it may have formed. This was told through a story that involved several experiments that illustrated the many laws of our universe. After the lesson, students were able to explore the history shelf and learn the parts of the Earth and volcanoes.
A new cultural lesson was given in geography. Students are learning about the continents and oceans. The hands-on activities on the shelf include: a globe, the Planisphere map and the nomenclature cards. We also sang, “The Seven Continents” song. Ask your child to sing it to you.
For language, we started our grammar lessons with the introduction of the noun. The children have the opportunity to identify nouns in the classroom by making their own list. The older students take this a step further and work with our grammar boxes where they identify parts of speech within sentences. Just after the lesson the grammar shelf became quite popular.
Our special area classes also started this week. We are fortunate to have a great group of teachers who work with the students in the areas of music, art, physical education, and Spanish. Our students enjoy these classes they have once a week for an hour.
In lower elementary, students use a planner to track the work that they do throughout the week. The goal for your child is to be able to plan a day’s worth of work (math, language and culture) and complete it during our Great Period from 9:00am-11:00am. Typically, these will get sent home on Fridays. This is a great tool you can use to find out what he/she is learning in school. Look for it in your child’s backpack each week.
We’re off to a great start this school year. Have a restful and enjoyable Labor Day weekend and we’ll see you on Tuesday.