February 2015

The month of January in the rojo classroom was exciting, and we are off to a great start for 2015.  The children settled back into the classroom environment very well after an exciting holiday break; the beginning of the month saw many stories to tell of each student's tales from their time away.

The focus in January was Geography and Science.  In Geography, the children learned about the continent of South America.  The children explored the vast continent's countries, flags, food, and animals.  They were particularly excited about matching the brightly colored flags to their respective countries in the flag matching exercise.  The ability to use the puzzle maps really brought the flags to life for them and gave them an exciting and sensorial element to an otherwise routine geography lesson.  Another big hit was the rainforest lesson; it might be a challenge for any other geography lesson to follow the excitement of this one.  The Brazillian music we listened to and the reading about the Latin culture only cemented the children's interest in the beautiful continent of South America.

In our Science lessons we explored, in depth, the fascinating features of our world's oceans.  The biggest hit in the classroom was the parts of a fish lesson.  The children really are fascinated by marine life.  The song "Baby Beluga" still echoes throughout our classroom in the quietest of moments.  The ability to categorize marine life and to see the children enjoying the matching lessons really made this lesson special. 

With 2015 off to such a strong start academically we can only be excited about the month of February.  We've added special Valentine's Day themed sorting work in our Practical Life area, and we are off to a great start with the Solar System and Geology.  We will be presenting an exciting lesson in fossils and their identification where children will be hands-on with a university level sampling of key fossils and rock types.  We will also be introducing a Peace education curriculum in the classroom, by exploring the five virtues. February may be the shortest month on the calendar but only on days.  There is no shortage of excitement this month!