The month of February has been an exciting month of learning for the children. They have truly enjoyed their study of the Amazon Rainforest and the many interesting animals that can be found there. Their favorites included the sloth, the Toco toucan, the jaguar and the pink river dolphin. Every child enjoyed having a part in creating the rainforest you may have seen being created in our class. Some crunched and scrunched paper to create the Liana vines, some cut paper to create the rubber tree. Older students worked on independent research projects about animals and drew those to be placed in the rainforest. Other children worked on cutting out cup fungus to be placed on the forest floor. This truly was a class effort. We got it all placed on the wall and enjoyed it for Friday afternoon and sadly when we returned from the weekend the children got to experience deforestation. You see, the placement of all the vines was just too heavy for the paper tree to bear with the kind of tape I used and it all fell down. I was reminded by their resilient attitudes that we can just try again and together we placed as much as we could back up. What a rainforest lesson!
We look forward to adding some other plants like orchids and coco beans to the wall as we shift our study to South American plants. We'll also discuss plants that we could and should eat as we explore nutrition.
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In January the group times of our day were spent discussing the continent of South America. We began by talking about what the land in South America is like. We discovered that there are many of the longest, tallest, largest things there. Longest Mountain Range- Andes, Tallest Waterfall- Angel Falls, Largest Rainforest- Amazon. The children have been most intrigued by the interesting animals that are native to the rainforests of South America. We spent some time talking about the Sloth, and the children were surprised to learn about how much time sloths spend hanging upside down.
** Do you know where the Amazon is** I asked the children if they know anything about the Amazon Rainforest, and a few of their responses were, "My mom works at Amazon", or "My dad's office is in the Amazon Rainforest". I got a chuckle at their generation's understanding of the Amazon. Happy New Year Lila Families!!
December flew by with fun and holidays. The children truly enjoyed learning about a variety of winter holidays. Hanukkah, St. Nicholas, Santa Claus, and American Christmas traditions were all discussed. We also started a new tradition in Lila, Holiday Tea. The children eagerly set the tables, cleaned China, folded napkins and prepared a space for everyone to enjoy. There was so much help it took no time at all! The children then got to choose a tea cup of their liking, and a spot to participate in the tea party. For about an hour the children sat politely sipping tea, sharing funny stories and using the most polite words I've heard all year to ask for jam, tea or more crackers. It was a delight to witness and we can guarantee we will do this again very soon!! In February we will begin our study of South America. November was spent studying the mammal. The children began the month with a list of ideas they thought mammals were. These included: mammals have horns/tusks, mammals live in water and mammals do homework. The students were stunned to find out that the list they made was actually mostly correct. The students transferred these ideas to a new list when they verified the information based on the lessons given at circle time. We secured some basic information about mammals. 1) Mammals are living 2) Mammals have hair or fur 3) Mammals have warm blood 4) Mammals have live babies 5) Female mammals feed their babies milk. This information helped the students classify animals as being mammals or not. There are some tricky animals to classify (for example: the dolphin), but the students truly enjoyed stretching their imaginations to make new discoveries about mammals.
We hooked this new mammal knowledge with some previously learned information. The students discovered mammals that can be typically found in North America, and specifically for the month of November, Canada. The children were interested to see that many of the mammals native to Canada can be found around us in the Pacific Northwest. Our month ended with a wonderful festive gathering. Our Thankful Celebration was a great tradition of taking a small amount each child brings and adding it together to have more than enough for all. Our community shared a delectable variety of veggies that were turned into a delicious soup and scrumptious salad. Each child took a turn cutting vegetables. We didn't need to look for helpers, there were more than enough eager helpers and the soup was yummy!! Hope you enjoyed your family time together over Thanksgiving break. Lastly, as the holidays approach I want to ensure that every person is celebrated. If you have a specific tradition or celebration you would love to share, please let me know how we can include you in our celebrations. October was spent experiencing fall! The leaves falling from trees were a perfect area of discussion. The children enjoyed using our wonderful outdoor environment to collect many different types of leaves and place them in our leaf collection. (We now have at least 30 different kinds of leaves, just from our campus alone.) They were surprised at how many different types there are. The children also enjoyed learning about the job leaves do for plants. Photosynthesis is when the leaf turns sunlight into food for the plant. Students learned the different names of each part of the leaf and especially enjoyed painting posters to record this information. The students favorite lesson by far this month was the leaf tasting and cooking project. We had a wonderful experience trying some flavorful leaves like kale, baby bok choy, cilantro and watercress (ooo spicy). The students especially enjoyed the Kale chips we made as well.
Additionally the class spent some time defining the physical geographic space of North America. They were also introduced to the various countries and especially enjoyed finding out that Greenland is not green, but very icy and the same with Iceland. We will continue to explore Canada, The U.S. and Mexico for a few more weeks. If you have any currency, cultural objects or pictures from any of these places we'd love to add them to our continent study. Lastly, does your family celebrate a specific winter holiday? I'd love to hear about is so we can share it with our community. I'd like to first start by thanking you for taking the time to read about the 'going ons' of the Lila classroom. September was a swift and busy month. Each day was spent normalizing and making adjustments to the changes of the new classroom. Returning students beautifully welcomed new students and new students made new friends and acquaintances.
Our time together as a group was spent discovering the similarities and differences of each child. This included eye color, hair color, and height. The children discovered that there are many things that can be the same but in many ways we are all different. It was special to see the children's realization of just how unique each one of us really is! The other portion of our group time was spent discussing the characteristics of things that are living and things that are non living. The children were able to discover that living things need air, food, water and a suitable habitat. The children truly enjoyed using our walks to the playground as a time to hunt for living and non living things. This is a great thing to discuss in the car rides around town or to school each day. Our October has begun with new discussions. We will be exploring the region of North America by breaking it into 4 parts. We will explore Greenland, Canada, The United States and Mexico. We will also be exploring the leaf, the various shapes, and the job it does for the tree/plant. I look forward to all the new discoveries that October will bring. Hana For the month of May, the Lila children explored the continent of Europe. The children were introduced to the continent through map tracing and were able to see Europe’s location in relation to their home continent, North America. For botany and zoology, the children sorted pictures and objects into living and non-living categories using European landmarks and native plants and animals. After the children became familiar with the pictures, we discussed in more detail these UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) world heritage sites like the Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
For art, students were exposed to still life drawing and painting using our geometric solids. Still life has its roots in the European Middle Ages and stems from Ancient Graeco-Roman art. Not only did the children get a history lesson, but they were able to express their perspective of objects in the class through this genre. Combining both language and geometry, the Lila children received a group lesson on the names of familiar geometric shapes in Spanish. One child was given a picture of a shape in English while another received a picture of a shape in Spanish. The children then used their visual discrimination skills and reading abilities to seek out their counterparts in this fun and exciting exercise. For the month of June, the Lila class will be reviewing lessons learned throughout the year. Our group circles will revisit all areas of the Montessori curriculum to remind children of the beautiful materials surrounding them in their environment. The Lila children welcomed the arrival of warmer weather with a unit study on flowers and spring. The art section of class brought a piece of nature inside the room with butterfly painting. The practical life area allowed children to sew colorful tulips and ladybugs onto fabric. For our cooking project, the children made a refreshing rainbow salad. All of their food preparation skills for the year were utilized by washing, cutting, and serving up the fresh veggies. For botany, the children explored the cycle of a plant using sunflowers. They germinated their own seeds and watched them sprout. The class then took to the nature trail to soil and pot their plants with an exciting circle under the sun. They are currently tending to them daily and enjoy the responsibility of contributing to a greener Earth.
The children worked on their social and emotional growth by exploring the virtue of friendship. They discussed what it means to be a friend and what a strong friendship looks like when it is truly manifested. Keeping with our spring theme, we used the color green to symbolize this virtue. For the month of May we will study the continent, culture, and geography of Europe. We will discuss landmarks, important citizens, and a few of the key civilizations that once existed there. We will continue to explore the virtue of friendship. And even though we will be moving on from our spring unit, we will continue to enjoy the amenities this lovely season brings. With the arrival of spring, the Lila class found it fitting to begin a unit on weather in the month of March. The children learned about the water cycle exploring terms like condensation and precipitation. We explored how the water cycle effects climates and why different ares receive more or less precipitation than others. Children were able to make their own clouds with cotton balls and performed science experiments with shaving cream and blue water color. This experiment served to show how clouds expel raindrops once they become saturated with condensation. The children helped create a display of the water cycle (pictured below) which was mounted on the wall of the Lila class to remind them of this beautiful necessity that sustains life on Earth. In addition, the children explored the virtue of respect this month. We used the color orange to symbolize this important characteristic to nurture within ourselves. We listened to stories about respect and how we can extend the virtue to others, the environment, and ourselves. Every time we strengthened our understanding, we added a drop of orange coloring to our respect jar which symbolized our committment to being respectful citizens of the world.
For the month of April we will be studying flowers and spring. Children will familiarize themselves with the parts of the flower and compare and contrast flowers to their animal counterparts. We will discuss the changes that happen in the environment as the earth starts to warm and the fun surprises that spring brings with it. Although there was no snow in the Pacific Northwest, the Lila children got to experience their own winter wonderland through the study of Antarctica. With the help of a former researcher who visited “The Great White Desert” children listened to first-hand accounts of life at the South Pole. This provided an excellent starting point for the unit and overlapped with our study of penguins and their life cycle. In the area of botany, the children learned about the Antarctic Pearlwort and its different parts. They were able to see the similarities and differences of this plant in relation to plants they’ve already studied.
The children also strengthened their understanding of empathy and ways to better understand what others are feeling. Although we will be moving on to the virtue of respect for March, Lila children will continuously revisit the concept of empathy and use it to help them understand other virtues that require them to be attentive towards the needs of others. With the clouds residing and the temperature rising, March will bring us to the study of weather and the water cycle. We will investigate why the seasons change and how that change affects our lives. We are also creating a classroom model of the water cycle to provide a visual for the children to help them understand how it affects weather and climate. |
Ms. JackieEl Salon Lila Lead Teacher Archives
May 2018
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Montessori Children's House
5003 218th Ave. NE Redmond, WA 98053 Phone: 425-868-7805 [email protected] For Records Requests, please reach out to [email protected]. |
Founded in 1987
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