January 2014

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season with their family and friends!  The months of November and December were busy times in the La Casa classroom. We continued to cook, work with flowers, and explore new items in our sensory table.  A favorite cooking project of the children was making a crunchy granola, which included lots of yummy seeds and nuts.  We talked about baking the granola in the oven, and discussed how an oven gets very hot and a refrigerator gets very cold.  Lots of language discussions continued to occur about what goes in an oven, and what foods go in the fridge.

As we headed into December the children got excited about the cold temperatures, and we introduced several snow books into the classroom and circle time.  A reoccurring favorite seemed to be The Snowy Day, which is a book about a young boy enjoying the snow outside and learning about how warm temperatures will melt snow.  The young boy in the book becomes very sad when this happens, and all of the children enjoyed discussing how the boy was sad but became happy when more snow fell.  A wonderful opportunity occurred to talk about things that made us and our friends sad, as well as things that made us happy. 

Now that January is here we are beginning to welcome new friends into our classroom, which is always an exciting time.  It’s always wonderful to meet new friends, and learn about what works they enjoy doing.  This month will also bring about a focus on grace and courtesy.  For our classroom this will mean discussions about respecting ourselves, others, and the environment around us.  All of the things that are so important in the Montessori philosophy!