October 2014

September was an exciting beginning of the school year in the Rojo classroom. The children have been busy getting to know their new teachers and classmates. The children have been busy and engaged in exploring the various curricula areas in our classroom: Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language/Writing, Art, Geography/Culture, and Movement. The children have started to meet with our specialists for Spanish, Gardening, and Music in September as well. The children seem to especially enjoy these focused circles and activities.

We have been focusing on our Grace and Courtesy curriculum, such as saying “please and thank you”, saying “excuse me”, how to walk around another person, and we have been spending time learning how to do classroom works without disturbing each other and how to sit together in our classroom circles. In October, we will start learning more about peace and how to be a peaceful person.

                        In Geography/Culture, we started our study of the globe, the seven continents and have started our focused study of North America. The children have been working with our North America puzzle map, some have made maps by tracing the continents of the world or the nations that comprise North America. We have been reading books about North American nations (Canada, United States and Mexico; and in October we will be learning more about the Central American nations in North America. Also in October, we will be exploring North American landmarks and animals.

            In Science, we have been learning about “Living and Non-Living”, “Plant and Animal”, and “Vertebrate and Invertebrate”. We have been going outdoors to our school Nature Area to investigate these themes. The children and Mr. Joe did a census of invertebrates and vertebrates on the nature trail area and on parts of our school campus. The children have started to help with feeding our classroom fish and our guinea pig. We have also been going outside to look at and feed the school goats, looking at the rabbits and some have had the chance to collect eggs from our chickens by the playground area.

            Overall, it an exciting and engaging month in Rojo! We will continue to keep exploring our classroom areas and new topics for the rest of the school year. In October, our classroom themes will be Pumpkins and Salmon, and we will continue to study our September themes of Apples for a bit, with an apple tasting at group circle. We will also continue to learn about the Seasons, with a special emphasis on autumn.

Thank You,

Mr. Joe