Wednesday, August 28, 2013

"We Hurry Joyfully to School"

We are ready to welcome the children on the first day of school next Tuesday.  Our classroom awaits the sounds and movement of eager hands exploring learning materials!    Here are a few peeks at some Practical Life exercises waiting to greet the children:

Spooning colored rice.

Spooning/Sorting beads.

Transferring pom-poms.

Tweezing beads and sorting by color.

Wet Transfer exercises.

Paper cutting practice.
Like the above Practical Life exercises, the theme of our art lessons will be primary colors.  I'll be sure to post more about the art activities once they are in active use in the classroom.

This year, our group has a majority of returning students and we are looking forward to helping our new students feel comfortable in their new classroom.  I am also curious to see where our learning will take us this year.  Since most of the children were with us last year, I have a feeling we will continue our continent exploration.  Last year we covered North America, Europe, and Asia which leaves Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Australia for this year.

I also have ideas for various science explorations inspired by a wonderful book given to me last year by one of my students:



This year, Kindergarten students will begin maintaing daily Work Plans and weekly Self-Evaluations.  Kindergarteners will also have opportunities for afternoon Writer's Workshop sessions and take part in our new Junior Great Books program.

Any effective Montessori program encourages ongoing practice of Grace and Courtesy skills and our classroom is no different!  Most of all, I look forward to the continuous cultivation within each child a strong sense of self and belonging in our classroom community.

Last week, I attended a Maine Montessori Association workshop at North Yarmouth Academy (NYA), Yarmouth, ME.  NYA is getting ready to launch a new Early Childhood and Elementary Montessori program and I had the opportunity to tour their new facility.  While there, I was struck by a set of beautiful vintage posters displayed in one of the Primary classrooms.  Each poster highlighted a different country and included an uplifting and motivational thought about education, kindness to others, or gratitude.  I will share with you one in particular as we approach our first days of school:



Here we go!

3 comments:

  1. Everything looks so wonderful! I would love to see/read more about what you are doing for your kindergartens. What other responsibilities do they have?

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  2. Hi Abby Jo, The Kindergarteners also complete a daily calendar activity which includes: counting the number of days in school; graphing/tallying the weather; time; temperature; date (and the number before and after); and decimal system practice, etc. You can find something similar here:

    http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2012/08/calendar-notebook-binder-printables/

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  3. Thank you! This is so great! The countdown is on, we start school on Tuesday :)

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