What a Month, with lots of things happened in May. I would like to thank all the parents for the wonderful teacher appreciation week and helping in remodeling the staff lounge. It shows the community building at MCH. With the emergency we faced due to water flooding, the classroom was shifted to new space and welcomed Amarillo classroom and Ms. Monica to joined us. I would like to thank all my colleagues in helping me in shifting and we did it, setting up the classroom in one day. Children were eager, excited and happy to return into normal routine. We did the good-bye circle for Kindergarteners as they transitioned to Elementary. The younger children in Azul are taking the leadership role in guiding the Amarillo children. We are reviewing that we learned from the beginning of year. Children are practicing Grace and Courtesy and learning to problem solving through Peace Education. Kindergarteners are excited and looked grown up in the Elementary classroom and they are preparing and planning for the K-Tea to show their practical life skills, preparing food and offering Grace and Courtesy. Finally, I am excited for my elementary training and with whole heartedly will miss the children and families in Azul. It was my pleasure to get to know your child and be a part of their life.
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After Spring Break the sun was in the sky, bees buzzed all around and everywhere life blossomed. The children in Azul watched while caterpillars spun their cocoons, then waited patiently for the butterflies to emerge from their chrysalises. We set them free on a warm sunny day with much excitement and joy.
This month we also learned a little about music. What kinds of music do people listen to around the world? What does a clarinet or a guitar sound like? Children were found sitting at the listening station identifying the sounds of different instruments while matching little replicas of them to what they heard. Our rich parent community contributed immensely to the learning process. We had so many parents come in and share their musical instruments, their practicing regime and the discipline and patience it takes to be a musician. Children also enjoyed playing various instruments in the classroom. A particular favorite was the didgeridoo we were so fortunate to have available to us. Kindergartners have been taking on more leadership and have been giving guidance and lessons to the younger children who are thrilled to learn from their older peers! At circle last week we all took a ‘listening walk’. We all kept really silent and listened to the sounds in the environment. When we got back we shared what we heard and played back a recording we’d made to see if we had missed anything. In May we will be learning about the continent of Africa: the food, lifestyles, music, animals and landscape of that magnificent continent! In the month of March, we learned about living and non-living by identifying things around the classroom. Children learned about classifying the living things into two categories, plants versus animals. We discussed the needs of plants and animals, food, water and air.
We went further into our classification and explored butterflies. Children learned about each stage of life and experienced their lifecycle by watching them grow from a small caterpillar and waiting patiently to see them turn into beautiful butterflies. We had a discussion about the differences between moth and butterfly and did exciting art works, painting and collage work to create their own Monarch butterflies. Children were excited to explore the garden and learn about different kinds of roots, stems and leaves. First, we started our process looking at different kinds of roots and their functions and then identifying the parts like root hairs, root caps and some of the root vegetables we eat. Second, we looked at the stems, their different kinds, textures and how they help the plants to grow. Third, we started looking at the leaves, its classification, margins, textures and talked about why they change colors in the fall. This discussion led us to learning more about photosynthesis. Kindergarteners did their research on identifying the parts of plants by collecting samples and writing their report. It was a great hands-on, learning experience, and all the children are growing their own pea plant from the seed in a bag and can't wait to take them home to plant. Next month, we will be learning about music and conducting a continent study of South America. Ms. Apsara will be doing her head teaching at the end of April and the children will be thrilled to learn more songs and exciting things from her. It was great to see the children back in school after the winter break. They seemed to be a little more grown up. We welcomed Anokhi, Jiya’s sister to the class. Children were excited to meet their friends and got back into their routine. First week was busy with children practicing all their favorite works and doing extensions with sensorial materials. Younger ones were refining three finger grip through practical life works.
We started off with learning the external body parts by naming and identifying them. We discussed the functions of each part as well as the our five senses (touch, smell, taste, hear and see). Children were excited to work with internal body parts matching parts by placing on the outlined apron. Also they enjoyed learning about muscles, skin, and nerves with the anatomy layered puzzle. Kindergarteners were doing research on brain, heart, lungs and bones. They identified the functions, uses and care for them. All the children made art work with pasta to create their own skeleton. We also switched gears to learn about penguins, their life cycle, kinds of penguins and made an art activity with foam and decorated it. Next month which is a very short one, we will travel to our next continent study of Europe, its beautiful places, flags, people, animals and plants. Also we will explore different kinds of pasta. We are counting number of days in School by putting a tooth pick in a box at circle. Once we reach the 100th day, we will be doing a celebration by bringing small 100 things to share. Of course we will celebrate Valentine’s day too.
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Ms. JenniferEl Salon Azul Co-Lead Teachers Archives
January 2018
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Montessori Children's House
5003 218th Ave. NE Redmond, WA 98053 Phone: 425-868-7805 Fax: 425-502-6608 office@mchkids.com |
Founded in 1987
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