We Come To The End…                 

Another school year is coming to a close and I’d like to once again, thank all of you from the bottom of my heart in making this year another growing, successful, year for all of us but especially the children of Country Village Montessori School. When I see another graduating class of Kindergarteners and remember their first days with us it is always humbling to be a witness to their development. Each year of growth in elementary is amazing! Here we see cognitive connections in leaps and bounds, always tempered with the growth of the human spirit. It’s said your children here make connections for life and that there is a real bond and connection with the friends they have made here. It’s often reported to me that when families bump into each other over the summer, after not having seen each other daily, in Shaw’s or Target – the children immediately run and embrace each other. What a testament to the power of love!

We have said goodbye to Alex McKinney for the year as his family had to make an emergency trip to Chicago to visit an ill Grandfather. We gave him and his family a fond farewell and our hopes things improve for his family. We will see them next year. Both Alex and his brother will be back with us next year. The Meisner family will be leaving right after Kindergarten Graduation for a family reunion. Happily, all four girls will be back with us as well!

While many of our children are returning, some are moving on. To EVERYONE, regardless, we wish the best of summer and the best in the years ahead! We sincerely hope your time at CVMS was happy and productive.

Kindergarten Graduation this year is scheduled for Monday, June 13^th at 3:15pm after we dismiss the regular students for the day. Adult family members are invited as are older siblings that attend CVMS. This ceremony should not be more than ½ hour in duration (for planning purposes).

Our end-of-year Family Picnic will take place on the last day the 24^th of June from 11 -1pm. Please come with your entire and extended family for a picnic lunch. (Bring Chairs and blankets – and your lunch!) This is always a fun time for the children to have a wonderful send off to summer. This year we will have samples brought in by The Honey Baked Ham Company at the picnic. They are looking for sales and if interested you may purchase gift certificates at the picnic for which the school will receive 50% right back! It is an end-of-year fund raiser brought to our attention by Jonette Montbleau (Bella) and when we saw how easy it was – plus we get all the tasty samples for the picnic – we said WHY NOT? So please, RSVP soon, so we may know how many to plan for. We are targeting any funds gained to upgrade our playground and replace our fence!

Another feature we always like to add to the picnic, when we can, is the introduction of new staff members. Many of you remember meeting Ms. Dorina for the first time last year. Who can forget her broad smile and equally broad straw hat? Just a little food for thought……We sadly say goodbye to Ms Kaitlin as she is spending the next year abroad and to Ms Jen too. Ms Monica has finished her training courtesy of the school allowing her to do complete practicum with us for a small part of the year.  

Now for some upbeat and extremely exciting and happy news - we have 2 certified Montessori teachers joining our team with Ms Dorina next year to round out our teaching staff. More about that at the picnic! We couldn’t be more thrilled!!!! We know you will be pleased with our additions.

Excellence and dedication to teaching is the capstone of Country Village Montessori School. Each year we modify ever so slightly our programs to fit our families. Whether it be adding an hour for aftercare, adding supremely qualified staff, or finding a new P.E. program to fit our Elementary Students – we work at bringing you the best we can offer in our unique, home-like setting. It is here where your children are gently nurtured and coached to become confident personally, learners that love learning, with an extra added dose of compassionate members of a larger world. If you are looking for all of the above – then this is the right fit for you.

I am in the unique position of choosing to offer summer school on any given year. We are working toward the summer of 2012 being an Art-Themed Summer Camp. We have run such a camp in the past to raves and would very much like to repeat the experience for your children. To all of you that would like us to run summer hours – PLEASE let your voice be heard. Let us know – either by phone or e-mail your desires and we will make it happen.

This summer I am offering tutoring. Cost is $25.00 per hour. Two hours a week is recommended. Please speak to me if you are interested. I can’t wait to work with you child!

We can’t have a newsletter without issuing our thanks to those thoughtful people that go above and beyond whether through employment or act of kindness as they pass through out school so in no particular order…….Thanks to

• Ms Dorina for a wonderful school year at the helm of our Children’s House Class
• Ms Kaitlin for ably assisting in the classroom and in aftercare
• Ms Jen (between illness and injury) for assisting under the most difficult circumstances of all – in your own child’s class
• Ms Sue without whom all things would not be possible
• to all of you

without your tolerance, love, and support, I would not have been able to complete my 100 hours of tutoring it took (along with 45 class hours on Saturdays, 4 papers and 10 homework assignments) to complete my initial level Orton-Gillingham Training Certification. The OG training is integral in helping all your children become readers.

Each year I say it has been an exceptional year and this year is no different. We continue to “follow the child” as our Montessori natures dictate. It is our training, years of experience, dedication to each and every member of our class that sets us apart. We combine the love of what we do with keeping up with current research and training on Child Development. You will always receive our honest reports based on our knowledge, continuing education, and experience. We want all children to bring their best selves forward and move into the future with all they can be.

We are about your children first.

As we move beyond the 2010 -2011 school year I sincerely wish each and every one of you the best of summers and the best of the years to come.

To those of you returning you will be getting the very best of the best!

“The first duty of an education is to stir up life, but leave it free to develop”

                                                                                                   Maria Montessori

We are privileged to be able to see the magic of a child development unfold under our very eyes. The past ten months showed us once again how time has different speeds for different ages, and it also has its own rules for each child. With the summer vacation closer in sight, we must get ready to bid fare well to some of our students, prepare to welcome back the returning ones, and open our arms and minds to the next generation.

May was the last straight line of our year’s curriculum, and we packed as much as we could fit in, all seasoned with songs, dances, rhymes, stories and games.

Among the highlights:

• Australia and some of the marsupials.
• Arctic regions, the differences and similarities (Why a polar bear can never eat a penguin).
• Learn how penguins take care of their young. (We tried walking with a stone egg on the feet – not an easy task!)
• Digging the soil, watering the plants, learning about friends and pests of the garden.
• We brought in dandelions, violets, tulips, lily of the valley, forget me not, and poplar.
• “Colors of Spring” – a paper in which we recorded the  natural colors we found around the play ground.

We looked closer at butterflies and moths, talked about the need to keep away ants, mosquitoes and ticks.

All these, along with the regular Montessori materials, kept the children on their toes and turned us in their shadows. More than ever we sense the children feel empowered, self confident, and able to direct themselves. They can’t wait to take on new challenges, to prove what they can do and how good they can be.

In June we will observe the solar and eolian energy through simple experiments, and will talk about growing healthy in a healthy environment, human body and nutrition. A new round of measurements will show how much each child grew since September. We will ask the children to draw pictures and talk about what they want to be when they will grow up. You may want to keep those papers for their future career choices!

I am looking forward to having a good time for the remaining of the school year, and enjoying every minute with your children, since I know I am going to miss them over the summer.

Kindergartners and Junior  Kindergartners

We started learning the value of money and the equivalencies among the coins (math, once again). The children show great interest for the various lessons, regarding this skill as a new benchmark in growing older. We set up a shopping exercise that has become a favorite activity and it is practiced well as long as there is a trusty shopkeeper (that means a child who knows the value of the coins well enough). A collection with recently minted quarters was a good opportunity to revisit the US map and the symbols for each state.

To give the KG graduating students a sense of closure we asked them to try an optional homework project. It is a review of some our topics throughout the past year. The children can make a report on an animal of their choice. I am attaching a three-page format (open/download the pdf file below) for you to print and give them to fill out, or follow the instructions as a guide and expand their work as they wish. Just help them with a trip to the library and/or provide them with books/magazines to look at. We encourage them to share their work in the classroom when they are ready.

kindergarten-homework.pdf

Another task will be to memorize a stanza from a poem (check the Friday folder for the printed poem and the selected part for each child) for our graduation celebration.

Graduation ceremony is scheduled for Monday, June 13^th, at 3:15 p.m. for the Kindergartners and their families.

Dorina Nimigean

        Hot potato, hot potato…                          Miss Merrimack                 I love you forever

                                                                           Tea time…

Hi Everybody,

It hardly seems possible but here we are in the last 2 months of school!  Ms. Dorina’s class is deep in preparation for Mother’s Day Tea and the Elementary are chugging along with exciting new areas of studies including “The Work of Water” and “Light”. Elementary are opting for a PARENT NIGHT in June where you will be invited for an evening of work with your child.

Many “thank yous” to issue – to all our drivers to Dance, to Ms Becki for managing our Box Tops program and to all of you for sending in your Box Tops. You may not be aware, but the school has received $571.00 just for submitting the clippings this last quarter. $500.00 of our award was secured by Ms Becki for following the program so closely. This is HUGE for us.

More thanks for all our returning students. The school is full and we only have a few remaining openings for afternoon Children’s House class. We will not be offering summer school this year. We are trying to have it in place for summer of 2012.

We thank the many families that have been kind enough to donate Clorox wipes and paper towels and Kleenex etc: We can never have enough!

The last tuition payment of the year is due by the 10^th, as always. If it is late please include late fee of $15.00.

The black flies are out in good number. If you would like to have bug spray here for your child please send it in to school in a plastic bag with your child’s name written on it with a Sharpie. We do not want to mix the products as some children and parents are particular that their child receive or NOT receive certain ingredients. Best practice is to apply it before drop-off and we will re-apply before recess.

The same protocol applies for sun screen.

This seems a good time to inventory and send in a complete seasonal change of clothing for your child as well and as the days become warmer make sure they have their water bottles with them once again.

Reminder: Elementary Info Night is this month on Thursday the 26^th. at 6pm. We especially encourage all in-coming 1^st graders to have one or both parents attend. Current Elementary Class Parents are most welcomed to share your experiences with our new class members’ families.

The school calendar for the 2011 – 2012 school years is now ready. It will be posted on-line too. Please note the start dates and the vacation days as they depart from Amherst School schedule. We hope you will be able to work your family time off so that your child does not miss school due to vacations.

Elementary Conferences are open for Fridays. I have had 4 conferences so far and look forward to meeting with more of you over the coming weeks. Please call or e-mail to schedule.

Last minute reminders: Monday is Children’s House Mother’s Day Tea. If you are not attending remember your child cannot come to school that day. It is a “Special Event” and the teachers are occupied with the running of the day and not able to be with any individual children. As usual, siblings are not able to join us this day either. Thank you.

We look forward to the last day of school which is our traditional picnic; Friday, June 24^th. We open and welcome families and ALL siblings (providing it is an “outside day”).  It is always a fun and relaxing morning. We are inviting our newly enrolled families to come and meet the wonderful students and parents we have at Country Village Montessori School. More info to come in the very near future!

At the end of this month we will once again have the class studying Human Growth and Development of Susan Carr’s from Souhegan High School come for a visit. This is always pre-empted by my visit to her class one morning to lecture about Montessori Education. They LOVE it! As a result of this, a class member from several years past who is married with a child is due to take training for an A.M.S. Certification this summer. Sadly, she lives in Massachusetts and can’t be with us! 

We have been hosting many visitors interested in Country Village for their children. They always remark what a beautiful and inviting place it. The atmosphere of joy and self-determination is evident. We are blessed to have a continued robust enrollment as we move into our 10^th milestone year and have you to thank. 

Enjoy your spring!

“Every blade of grass is a study” – Abraham Lincoln

As the spring opens the buds and wakes up the dormant bugs, the children are first to notice every little change in our environment: be it outdoors or indoors.

This acute sense for observation and keen attention for detail are valuable tools for learning that we can count on when planning lessons and activities.

In the Daily Living area the most interest is shown for watering the flowerpots, cleaning the leaves of our houseplants, scrubbing the tables, dusting the shelves, using chopsticks for transferring pom-poms, snipping yarn and cutting paper.

Sensorial materials get new dimensions when used in creative combinations: Pink Tower and Broad Stairs, Red Rods and Numeric Rods, Color Tablets and objects from the environment. The highlight of the month was a mini Zen Garden that we added as we talked about Japan. 

Math

Besides the standard Montessori materials, we practice math skills along with many other activities and lessons: From counting the children, the petals, the books, reading the page numbers, the calendar, counting by two, by five, by ten, counting backwards, adding, subtracting, to building geometric patterns, measuring, comparing, and estimating, there are endless occasions to keep the minds working.

Language

Sound and rhyming games have become a routine at circle time; the younger children have priority in finding the matches, and the older children pitch in when the replies get thinner.

We did choose more poetry and rhyming books this month

From one of the favorite poems, “A House Is a House for Me” by Mary Ann Hoberman: “…A book is a house for a story, A rose is a house for a smell, My head is a house for a secret, A secret I never will tell!…Each creature that’s known, has a house of its own, And the earth is a house for us all!”

Science

With the marine vertebrates we ended our initial incursions in the animal kingdom. Spring is turning our heads just about every corner with impressive displays of flowers, so we returned our attention to the plants.

We looked at and compared parts of crocuses and daffodils.

• A forsythia branch that was covered with soil and started to root showed us how some other plants can spread.
• We sowed basil seeds in flowerpots and watched them grow, talked about soil and the importance of light and water for the living things.
• We mentioned the Earth Day and celebrated it by rounds of cleaning up the dead vegetation on the flowerbeds, raking and digging the soil.

Cultural

From all the many countries and cultures in Southeast Asia we looked at pictures and books about Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia.

Arts&Crafts

The art projects were in tune with the themes of the month:

• Collages with spring flower reinforced the science lessons (bulbs, roots, stems, leaves and flowers).
• Dye and decorate Easter eggs (photo)

Music and Movement

• Songs, dances and rhythm patterns from “Kid’s Music Round” (photo)
• Water Cycle obstacle course
• Skip counting/jumping by 5 (preparation for reading the time)

In May we will end our trip around the globe by checking on Australia, Antarctica and Arctic regions. We will review Flowers and Insects.

Thank you to Mei-Ling’s mother for suggesting and preparing the Easter Eggs project.

Reminders:  Celebrating Mothers’ Day – Monday, May 9^th, 2011

Mothers and Grandmothers are invited to join us for tea and snacks, sing, read, chat, and view some of the children’s artwork.

In order to accommodate this event we will meet with the younger children (DOB after 9/1/2006) in the morning (10:00-11:00) and with the older children in the afternoon (1:00-2:00).

Please note: This is NOT a regular school day, so plan accordingly, as the children will have to come and leave with you.

Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten

The older students seem to know everything by now, and they can truly do so much! To put some of their acquired skills at work we suggested some projects:

• Write (or dictate) a story inspired by a picture.
• Assemble a booklet with shapes traced with the metal-insets.
• Make the geometric solids “dance” by tracing their sides in different sequences.
• Gather objects that resemble a particular geometric shape.
• Make their own math problems.
• Apply math in day-to-day activities.

Baby visit. We were privileged to have a baby among us when Alex’s Mom came for his 6^th birthday celebration. We watched Alex’s 6 month old sister, observed her reactions to music, compared her movements and abilities to those of our children, discussed about her needs and the human development from infant to toddler, young children and adults.

We hope to continue our discussion with a grandparent. If you have a parent, an elderly relative or neighbor who would like to visit us, please let us know.

Field trip to Beaver Brook on Tuesday, May 31^st, 2011

We will leave school at noon, have a lunch picnic in the Beaver Brook garden, go for a guided hike between 1:00-2:30p.m., and return to school by 3:00p.m.

Please dress your children with comfortable clothing and footwear, apply sunscreen and insect repellent, and make sure they have a water bottle in their lunch bag.

Dorina Nimigean

“If teaching is to be effective with young children, it must assist them to advance on their own way to independence.”

Maria Montessori – “The Discovery of the Child”

Daily Living

Activities are added in coordination with the unit studies (scooping, pouring, and transferring with tweezers pearls and tiny shells, sorting and grading shells by size), or the arising needs (zippers, buttons, folding).

Mixing colors with an eyedropper has gained a new meaning when used to replicate a rainbow. The well known and loved purple revealed its inner sides of violet and indigo, depending on the dosage of red or blue. Concentration, coordination and refined hand-control skills were challenged as children tried different combinations of primary colors to obtain secondary colors.

Sensorial

· Rainbow colors seen through a diffraction prism.

· The color tablets received renewed attention as we talked about shades within the same color.

· Some string and percussion instruments were available as an application for the science lessons on air vibrations and their importance in propagating sounds.

Language

The youngest children are constantly asking to work with the sandpaper letters and writing them in the sand box. The interest for the movable alphabet, for the metal insets, or for reading, also seems to peak at times for one child or another. Watching them, we see why Maria Montessori describes the sensitive periods as: “transitory states in which a child becomes sensitive to some things from the environment, while remaining indifferent to others. The sensitive periods enable the child to pick from the environment what he/she needs the most at that moment for his/her growth”. We just need to recognize and understand when these windows are open, and to be ready to provide the right materials at the optimal time.

Story time gets longer and it is hard to keep up with the requests between the science related books, the fiction ones or the many combinations in between.

Math work continues according to each child interest and tenacity. Sometimes we see older children taking an apprentice from the younger ones. It works wonderfully both ways: the older children consolidate their knowledge of the math concepts and become more confident, the younger children have more time of one on one instruction, and enjoy the special attention of an older buddy.

Science

To understand how changes in weather occur as a result of heat, wind, pressure and moisture, we started with simple experiments with air and water. A balloon, an empty plastic bottle, a piece of paper, can perform magic tricks that capture attention and are intriguing enough to make someone wonder: Why?

We talk about the water cycle, how the sun is the source of all the changes in the atmosphere, clouds, the weather forecast and severe weather events. The nature played along with our lessons: rapid changes in temperature, snow flurries and sun at the same time, strong winds and the ice melting happened right under our feet.

Cultural

We finished our trip through Europe in Romania: With folk costumes, pictures, music, books, and colaci (a braided bread) for snack I tried to bring to the children some of the Romanian traditions.

Toward the end of the month we moved to Asia, touching down on Ukraine, Russia, Japan, China, Pakistan and India,. Faced with the great diversity that Asia offers in landforms, animals and cultures, we had to pick just a few spectacular snap shots and will continue in April with, Nepal, Mongolia, and Korea.

Children tried folk costumes from Romania and India. (Photos bellow)

Arts & Crafts

Clouds with cotton balls, sea urchins with clay and toothpicks, rainbows, and monochromatic shades of blue.

Aquarelles using the water as medium to transport colors through diffusion.

We looked at Monet’s paintings of water and sky.

With origami we reviewed the lines of symmetry, and fine tuned on accuracy and patience, learning that folding paper is an art in Japan, where it was said “to take away the sickness at winter month” – how becoming for us too!

Music

“On the Steppes of Central Asia” and “Polovtsian Dances” by Alexander Borodin

Folk music from Romania, Ukraine, India and Japan.

In April we will look at aquatic vertebrates and will continue with countries from south Asian Archipelagos.

Welcome to Troy Williams who joined us in March.

Thank you:

For taking your time to come for parent’s night.

To Igor, Natalie’s father for bringing Ukraine to our classroom.

To Alison Ryckman, Daniel’s sister for talking to us about the Chinese language,

Reminders:

Father’s Night is now offered for April 13^th and 14^th, since we had a split response. Please look for a green envelope coming home in the next couple of days. Inside is an invitation crafted by your child and a RSVP paper slip to be returned to school. Your children are eager to show you what they do in the classroom. It is your time with them. I hope to see you all in one of these evenings (6:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.)

Kindergartners

Getting older at this age it is an everyday celebration of the brain’s conquests. We see children making more complex connections and getting enthusiastic about their self-discoveries. The topics of the morning class are extended, or new ones are developed on the spot, following the children’s interest.

As some children occasionally write letters or words backwards, we looked for words that have a meaning either way. With p,q,b,d, still in the process of being stabilized in the children’s visual memory, we played with words and found one that can be turned upside-down and still retain the same meaning (guesses?)

French knitting is a much coveted activity that brings patience, concentration, and refined hand movement to a new level.

Discussions about daily happenings in our classroom or around the world reveal a shift from egocentrism to thinking about others, from “this is what I want” to what others might need. “What is more important?” we hear children thinking out loud, trying to decide on an ethical question. It is a new stage in one’s development. Your children listen to your discussions. Include them when possible and appropriate and ask for their opinions. You’ll be surprised!

Dorina Nimigean

“We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but is somewhat beauty and poetry”. 

Maria Montessori 

In the Earth-science unit the children learned about:

• How rocks change over a long period of time and can be grouped in three main categories based and how and where they are formed.
• The earth’s crust is broken in large plates that move slowly, and along the connection lines earthquakes and volcanoes can appear.
• Deep under the earth’s crust it is so hot that the rocks melt and this melted material is called magma.
• When magma finds cracks in the crust and moves up it is called lava, and can form volcanic mountains.
• Dinosaurs lived long before humans appeared, and we know about them from their fossilized remains.
• The practical use of various rocks and minerals
• Landforms

The rock collection was mostly a training corner for visual and tactile senses, although we have also seen children smelling or enjoying the sounds of knocked rocks. Through manipulatives such as cardboard plates with buildings of wooden blocks on top we imitated earthquakes; with play-dough we took shell prints and covered them with cement to imitate the preservation of fossils. Sorting and matching pebbles, matching dinosaurs with their footprints, watching a soda/vinegar “volcano” erupt were a few of the addition to our classroom activities.

The book of the month was “Millo and the Magical Stone” by Marcus Pfister, a story about taking and giving, a metaphor for the effects of excessive use of our earth’s resources. 

In Europe we looked at Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, and Italy with songs, words, games, stories and pictures.

Song of the month: “Old Saint Helen” – about the volcanic eruption from1980.

The theme for March will be Weather and Weathering, and we will do experiments with air and water. In geography we will have a few more stops in Europe and then will move to Asia. Sea Life: Invertebrates. 

Kindergarten    

            The advanced readers have taken upon themselves to read to each other, and some days it seams they cannot get enough. We overheard them saying; “reading is fun”

Riddles and word games are also new favorite activities, as the language skills get refined and the abilities to understand jokes emerge.

We talked about symmetry and looked for lines of symmetry in hearts, crystals, geometric shapes, words, letters and numbers. We put different objects in front of two mirrors, mobile at variable angles, to see and think about symmetry and reflections.

On Presidents day we discussed about what is a president, what qualities are important for a good lieder. Here are some of the answers we heard from the children, word by word! To be a good president one has to: “work hard”, “know a lot of things”, “think hard”, “know how to talk”, “say the truth”, “respect the law” and “a president needs help”.

Reminders 

•  Parents Night on March 16, 6:00-8:00 p. m. – this session is focused on math through Montessori materials and how science is presented to the young children

• Parents-Teacher conferences run throughout the month of March, before and after school hours. A sign up paper will be available at drop off and dismissal time

• Re-enrollment forms are due and important in planning for the next school year.

Dorina Nimigean

Dear Parents,

         It is that time of the New Year when we begin assembling the classes for the next year. We rely on our current students to help body out the “experience” of the class while the remaining students are new! This is truly how the dynamics of a maturing Montessori class measures out year to year.

     Already, since our return to school, we are averaging three phone calls of interest a day and we are touring about the same number of families each week.  Some prefer or are only able to come during the weekend – but the bottom line is they are coming!!!

      Rest assured we will always have a place for your child (ren) FIRST! We will not enroll over capacity. We will complete our process of re-enrollment and sibling enrollment from our current CVMS family members.

      To facilitate the re-enrollment process we have attached the following information for you to consider:

1. Program Outline and Schedule of Fees

2. Enrollment Agreement Form

      Please let us know by January 31^st of your intent to re-enroll by returning the enrollment agreement. This WILL hold your reservation in your preferred program (age requirements notwithstanding).  Following this schedule will allow us to open enrollment to new students as they come in.

      If you have questions as to what program may be best for your child, please do not hesitate to call me. I will be more than happy to discuss this with you.

      Please read the programming options offered for the 2010 -2011 school year carefully.  We have tweaked a few numbers.  Basically, tuition has remained stable. Because we do not have a cost of living increase in tuition a sibling discount may be applied for the third child enrolled. 

      Once again, we are excited to offer the very best in Montessori education we can by adding dynamic new staff members and programming. We look forward to continuing and growing our relationships with each and every one of you and your children!

 Claire Doody, M.A., M.Ed., Director

“As soon as children find something that interests them they loose their instability and learn to concentrate”

                                                          Maria Montessori – “The Secrets of Childhood”

We see this happening each day, and we just need to catch the signals through which the children let us know what are they interested in. For the month of January the planets did a great job in this regard. It is rewarding to see that children so young can learn so many facts and grasp such abstract concepts. I will mention science activities first, and then point to what is new in each of the Montessori areas.

Science:

-          Planets, some characteristics, their distances from the sun

-          Earth’s rotation, day/night, time zones

-          Earth’s revolution, seasons

-          Gravity

The children learned firsthand how difficult it is to spin and move in an orbit at the same time, that the further a planet is from the sun the longer it takes for it to orbit once, that gravity is how the Earth keeps us from wandering off into space, and because of gravity, everything that goes up comes down. We talked about satellites, asteroids, comets, space ships, we read about how people figured out the Earth is a sphere and made the first maps, and we looked at pictures taken from outer space.

Amphibians, their life cycle, habitats and some strange looking members of this group, such as the red-eyed frog tree and salamanders, caught the children’s interest and fascination.

Daily Living:

Cleaning up and working with water transfer activities is running smoother as the children are more able to control and coordinate their movements and are by now accustomed to taking care of their environment. They have great appreciation for beauty and order and are sure to notice when something is out of place.

The generous snow gave us a few opportunities for large motor skills exercises by just walking and jumping in the deep snow.   

Sensorial

In sensorial area, we paid special attention on spatial relationships and dimensions: big/small, large/larger/largest, far/near, close/closer/closest, long/longer/longest, around, in front/behind, up/down etc. To coordinate with science we reviewed the sphere, the ellipsoid, the cube, and the pyramids from the geometric solids.

Language

We read folktales from “When the World Was Young” and “When Stories Fell like Shooting Stars” about the creation of the universe. Children were able to discern between fiction and true facts, and pointed that long ago people did not know as much as we know today. We looked into books about frogs, planets, Africa, and deserts, and discussed “The Stone-Palm Tree”, a story from the Sahara about courage in taking a challenge and thus becoming stronger.

Math

The planets were handy again for practicing the ordinal numerals. Mathematical concepts are used throughout the day, besides the Montessori materials. Come and see some lessons at the parents’ night (February 2^nd, 6-8 p.m.)

 Geography, Environment and Cultural

Our trip around the Earth continued in Africa. We elaborated on Sahara, some characteristics of deserts, and Egypt with its ancient culture.

Arts and Crafts

Dropping paint and rolling marbles in paint as orbits, are the reasons for the strange pieces of artwork you will see in coming home. The children also came up with original Solar Systems in their paintings or by pasting circles of various sizes.

The pyramidal stack of cardboard squares, our replica of the Egyptian monuments, summarizes abilities to organize, compare, sequence, and relate to the pink tower, geometric solids, and math squares.

 Songs/Dances of the month:

The Man who Lived in the Moon, Space Trip, African Playground, a children’s song    from Ethiopia, Pata-Pata from South Africa, and Songs from a Zulu Farm.

 Stay tuned for upcoming events and the units of study in February.

 Dorina Nimigean

Happy New Year with good health, good spirits and peace!

We trust the twelve days of winter vacation brought each of us what we wished for: time with the family, time to cook, to rest, to read, to listen, to count the blessings, time to dream and think of better times.

December went swirling like the first snow of the season. From all of the new activities and lessons we added, I will mention bellow some of the favorites: grinding anise and cloves, matching scents, wrapping a present, and playing the dreidel.

Evergreen trees came to our classroom in stories and in small branches (Spruce, Balsam Fir, Hemlock, White Pine, Holly). Following a brief description on their characteristics, the children visited the display table touching, observing with the magnifying glass, and learning to match the labels with the trees.

With so many beautiful stories to choose from we spent more time than before for reading and discussing. Among the most favorite books: “The Mitten”, by Jan Brett, “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde, “Frog in Winter” by Max Velthuijs, “Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect” by Richard Schneider, “The Nut Cracker” by A. Hoffman,  “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, “The Night Before Christmas” or “The Story of Hanukkah”.

With the “The Snow Tree” by Caroline Repchuck we learned about symbols and similes. After recreating the story in which animals decorate a pine tree to bring the colors back, we took turns in choosing a new decoration and finding a meaning for the objects we picked. What a delight to listen to the reasoning: “I put the little mouse because it reminds me of cheese”, “the bed is for when I am sick”, “if you have faith, you’ll be alright”!

Birds and their characteristics were studied through books, charade-games, and crafts (we recycled the feathers from Albuquerque Turkey and toilet paper rolls to make one kind of a bird). We learned that some animals migrate, some stay active and are adapted for cold temperatures (thicker fur, feathers, and fat), and some hide and sleep. From the last group some have a deep sleep (hibernate) and some have a light sleep and once in a while munch on the food they stored in fall.

With the continent of the month being South America we also touched on the rain forest with books and floor puzzles. Discussions about life in the tropical climate will continue as we move through Africa, Asia and Australia.

Besides singing, we listened to parts from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Ballet, to Vivaldi’s Winter, to music from South America, and we danced on Carnavalito from Bolivia.

Thank you:

- For coming to our sing along into the holidays. These children do love to sing. Their joy to  see you there was worth all your efforts.

- For all the wonderful presents you showered us with.

- To Mei Ling’s mom for donating a real stuffed owl and for putting together feather displays  and activities kits to expand our studies of birds.

We welcome three new students Aidan Doyle, Rachel Cassily and Amal Krishna who will join us beginning January 3^rd, and we extend our best wishes to Zachary Elmer who has moved to a new school.

In January we will talk about planets, earth’s shape, rotation (day/night), revolution (seasons), maps, and compasses. As usual, we will move from stories to the scientific facts through experiments and games. Animals: amphibians. Cultural: Africa

We will start sending a raccoon (not a real one:) to spend a weekend at home with a child, and to be brought back to school the following Monday. The host child will have a chance to be in the spotlight while sharing with us some moments from the raccoon’s visit. A journal will be provided for children to draw pictures, write or tell about their care for the raccoon.

Kindergartners and Junior Kindergartners

In December we introduced the exchange game. The children familiar with the decimal system learned to exchange ten units for a ten, ten tens for a hundred and ten hundreds for a thousand in order to solve problems with dynamic addition, multiplication, and division.

A daily routine is working with numbers that add up to teens. After using the counters repeatedly, some children begin to discover with great joy and excitement they no longer need the props: they can add the numbers in their heads. Memory work is also fostered by using addition charts.

Before we sent the birds home we used them in a short puppet show; a fun way to practice verbal skills, clear communication, roll playing, to wait for turns, to show and enjoy appreciation.

Reading is becoming more challenging as new phonograms and sight words are found in longer texts or in science books. With patience, repetition and encouragement we are building up the basics of written vocabulary.

 It is important to establish a routine in reading every day; be an example and have yourself a good time with a book. Keep in mind that “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them” – James Baldwin

 Dorina Nimigean

“The children have an instinct to help the weak, encouraging and comforting them, and this is really an instinct for social progress”.
Maria Montessori – “The Absorbent Mind”

We spent a few days reading and discussing “The Quiltmaker’s Gift” (A gifted quilt maker gives away her famous quilts to the poor and homeless, but refuses to make one for a king who is not happy despite all of his treasures. Slowly the king learns true happiness does not come from having, but from giving, and decides to share his wealth with the needy). We integrated the story and the themes of the month (Native Americans and mammals) with variations and extensions to the Montessori lessons.

As children start to shift from the egocentric “it’s me” to “I see what’s happening”, encourage them to think how they can be helpful (from setting up the table and cleaning up, to being aware of your needs and giving you a break once in a while, to seeing you giving to someone in need: a meal to a neighbor or an elderly person, canned goods to a food bank, or pick one of their favorites from your pantry and let them put it in our sharing basket that is in front of the main door).

Daily Living: Some of the new favorites are: picking Indian corn, lacing, tying up a shoe, putting on gloves, walking on a line while balancing a bean-bag.

Sensorial: Tiles of various geometric shapes and sizes and fabric squares of different textures were frequent choices in building quilt-like patterns.

Language: Phonemic awareness is the starting line for all the language activities that are paving the road toward reading. As more children recognize letters and can discern sounds, we play with words (change/add/take out one letter to get new words, finding rhymes). Please get into these games along with us and have fun!
We read stories from the Native American lore. Among the favorites: “The Legend of
Blue Bonnet” and “The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush” by Tommie de Paola,  “The Mud Pony” and other stories from  “When the World Was Young” by Margaret Mayo

Science: We learned about mammals and their distinctive characteristics. A horse and a rabbit served as models for naming the main body parts. Seeing how children of different ages reassemble a whole out of its parts (photos 1&2) was once more a sweet remainder of the developmental stages.

Cultural: Native Americans: life style, shelters, music, customs and beliefs. The origin of the Thanks Giving celebration, Central America.

Art and Crafts (photo 3): The Albuquerque-Turkey project was an activity spread over several days that taught patience, planning, sharing - all in a fun filled atmosphere.

In December we will move to South America just for our study of continents, but we will stay here looking at animals in winter, birds and evergreen trees. We will also talk about winter around the globe and winter holidays, touching on as many traditions as we can.

Children’s Thesaurus: What are the children thankful for, among many others: family, house, friends, life, grass, mom and dad, shelves, bed, blankie, teachers, playground, pictures, swimming, everything, and flowers.

Kindergartners and Junior Kindergartners
We extended the discussions about Native Americans and their respect for nature (Mother Earth), their need to hunt for food, their survival skills and how the children participated in all the tribal activities, helping with whatever they could.
We compared the shelters made by Native Americans in different areas and reproduced some of the pictograms used in written communication.

Working on the costumes and preparing the veggie soup took us out of the daily routine, and gave learning more tangible dimensions: how to sew and cut safely (not to be tried at home without parents’ approval and supervision), follow multiple steps directions, how to wait for results, take turns and help one another.

With the Mystery Food game some children tried turnip, peppers and squash for the first time; we eliminated the potato-tomato confusion, put the names and the real vegetables together, learned that some vegetables can be used raw while others have to be cooked.

The words for Albuquerque-Turkey song were scrambled in a word puzzle and quite a few children were able to order them back.

Thank you for taking the time to participate in your children’s activities, for the feedbacks and comments during our PT meetings, and for keeping us informed about changes in your child’s attendance.

Reminders: It’s cold and getting colder: please dress appropriately. Check the snow pants and snow boots if they still fit, and let your children put them on alone.

When the time comes, please send this “heavy gear” in a separate bag. We start outside on Mo, We, Fr – on those days have your children already dressed for snow, and please have them use the bathroom before they come to school.

December 22 school closes at noon (1/2 day for all students). There will be before care.

 Let us all enjoy this end of the year with goodness in our hearts, peace and harmony!

 Dorina Nimigean