Kristen, Melody and Vida

440 Classroom Teachers

 Classroom Spotlight

This month we began our Cultural study of Antarctica and the Oceans of the world.  Our study of Antarctica has included learning about the animals that inhabit this cold and dark continent, as well as learning a bit more about why it is so cold and dark there.  The children have been learning about lots of different kinds of penguins and fun information about them such as how big they are and where they build their nests.  They have been enjoying bundling up and pretending to explore Antarctica with tools like a headlamp, map, compass, heat blanket, and binoculars. 

The children had been showing interest in many marine animals such as sharks, whales and walrus throughout the fall and winter.  We’ve expanded this interest into a study of all the animals that live in the deep waters of the Oceans.    We’ve spent some time learning about how big some of these animals are.  Ask your child to tell you how many children it takes to be as big as an Orca whale, or a Humpback whale.  Someday soon we are going to recruit the other classroom to help us find out how many children it takes to be as big as a Sperm Whale!  As a follow up to this activity, we are exploring the concept of “Life Size”.  In addition to the whales, we are measuring a Giant Squid, and several of the children have traced their own bodies on butcher paper to get a better perspective of how big they really are! 

Another animal the children have shown a particular interest in is the Jellyfish.  We started by learning that this sea creature is unique in that it is an invertebrate.  Then the children began to ask some interesting questions, such as “Does a jelly fish have eyes?”  “How does it know where it is going?”  “How does it find food?”  Children also shared their own knowledge or personal experiences with jellyfish such as, “I saw a jellyfish on the beach when I was in Mexico” or “Jellyfish have tentacles and they can sting you!”  In order to explore this further, we did some research with the children to learn more about these interesting invertebrates.  We learned that they do not have eyes, but they can sense where they are through receptors that identify light.  They have limited ability to move around — basically they open and close their bodies like an umbrella opening and closing in order to move themselves around.  We allowed the children an opportunity to experience what it was like to be a jellyfish, by placing a thin fabric over their heads and a blindfold over their eyes.  They then used their hands to find their way around the classroom.   They took turns trying to identify which child’s head and face they were feeling with their hands.   

We are also studying the Oceans themselves. The children are working on creating rubbings of the continents, water coloring the oceans around them, and then labeling each of the four oceans.  Watch for this work to come home in their Friday folder!  We are also learning an Ocean song.  We usually sing this as a call and response, so ask your child to sing it, and you can answer back.

Here are the lyrics:

“Do you know the Oceans (do you know the Oceans)

Of the planet Earth (of the planet Earth)

Biggest is Pacific (Biggest is Pacific)

Then comes the Atlantic (then comes the Atlantic)

Indian is next (Indian is next)

Arctic is the coldest (Arctic is the coldest)

Now you know them all (now you know them all)

These are the four oceans (these are the four oceans)

Of the planet Earth (of the planet Earth)

 PARENT VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Please continue to watch our Parent Volunteer Basket, which we bring out to the gate periodically, for ongoing Parent Volunteer Opportunities.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

We would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the following children who have birthdays this month:

Jack Williams                     February 3

Lilly Bowler                        February 15

Sydney West                     February 26

THANK YOU

 Thank you to all the children who contributed pennies for the Penny Harvest.  The children enjoyed sorting all the coins, and Extended Primary will be taking them to the bank to be counted at the end of this week.  The oldest children are now conducting a Roundtable Discussion to decide where the money should be donated.

Thank you to Delaney Untermeyer for the yogurt and to Gabriel Dunn for the sunflower seeds.  These are being used in our Food Preparation area.

Thank you to Parker Bouc for the tracing paper and to Nevi Louis for the paintbrushes.  These are very useful in our classroom.  Thanks to Gabriel Dunn for the beautiful potted flower which is now decorating our snack table!    

Thank you to Erin Pierce and Lori Sherry for substituting.  Thank you to Jaela Sheldon for doing the snowflake project with the children.  Thank you to Erin Pierce, Kimberly Coughlon, Shannon Rapp, Candace Wickstrom and Staci Bouc for reading to the children.

The next day was devoted to dying cotton muslin fabric to be used as the bodies of our puppets.  I gathered a variety of natural food dyes, including: coffee, black tea, beets, cranberries, black cherries, purple cabbage and onion skins and placed them in the center of a large table.  The muslin was soaked in a warm salt water bath.  Each child was given a piece of muslin and encouraged to arrange the food on it however they wished.  This parcel was then rolled up and bound with string.  We allowed the fabric to set for several days to deepen the color.  Once the puppet heads are ready we will begin assembling our creations.

Stay posted for the next installment in the weeks ahead.

“You have to concentrate! Really concentrate!” – Claire

“I’m trying to focus!” – Lily

“We are quiet because we use our mind.” -Tierney

“I’m focusing on this thing…let me turn on my brain”. – Claire

“Me too!” – Lilly

“I found a little pokey thing on my shell.  I’m drawing a big hole cuz of the hole in the shell.  I can hear the ocean.” -  Helen

“I’m gonna draw the flowers….I need a magnifying glass.” – Bodhi (We got three magnifying glasses for this purpose.)

“How do you draw this flower?” – Emmy

“It’s easy.  I’ll show you.  First draw a circle, see here (pointing to the circle at the center of the flower).  Then count the petals.  Four.  Draw 1, 2, 3, 4 and put a dot in the middle (pointing to the stamen).  I have five ones too but this flower only has four….(looks again at the flowers using a magnifying glass) I’m like a detective looking at flowers.” -Sawyer

“I can hear the ocean in here!” – Oliver holding up a shell

“I can see lines going through (pointing to shell and really examining it with a magnifying glass) I see ones going down into the hole.” – Luke

Exercises in looking are such a good reminder that we can draw anything once we really SEE it, devoid of labels and concepts with the clear eye of inquiry.  As adults we are so eager to give words to everything, “shell”, “flower”, “vase”, “gourd” but in so doing we must carefully remember that a name is a pointer only.  The thing itself is a mystery.  When we truly look at something it is transformed from something quite ordinary into something vastly extraordinary and worthy of awe.

This new discovery has left me wondering how to further this interest during toddler studio day.  I will keep you posted as my questions develop into provocations and discoveries.

WELCOME!!  We have some new kiddos to welcome in our classroom!  In the morning, welcome to Ellis (Elle) Shaw, Adelaide (Addie) West and William Oxenreider.  Elle and William are joining our morning 2 day program.  Addie will be joining our morning 5 day program.  Also, Owen Baumgartner moved from the afternoon program to the 3 days morning program.

In the afternoon we would like to welcome Jaylen Jackson (2 days) and Van Bouc (3 days).  We would love to have parents come visit in the classroom to just hang out, or to come in and do projects.  BUT, because of the new children, we would like to wait for about 4 weeks until they get more comfortable, to have parents come visit.

YOUR TODDLER AT HOME

Our culture today results in family lives that are incredibly busy and children’s schedules that are filled with organized activities.  With the holidays behind us, we thought this would be a good opportunity to remind parents of the importance of spending unstructured, fun time with their children.  Your time and undivided attention is the best gift you can give your child.  Stanley Greenspan, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and George Washington University Medical School, has coined an activity called “Floor Time”.  We’ve summarized this approach in hopes that it will provide inspiration for spending this kind of time with your child in the New Year.

Floor time is a special time that you set aside for yourself and your child.  During this period, play is an unstructured, spontaneous activity where you get down on the floor with your child and try to follow his or her lead.  Your initial goal is to tune in to whatever motivates or is of interest to your child.  It is something that you do for short periods of time with the goal of fostering emotional connectedness, increasing focus and attention, and facilitating language and motor development.  It is similar to “just playing” in that the interactions should be fun and interactive, however, it is different in that the adult must follow the child’s lead and expand on his/her activities and interests in order to achieve the desired developmental results.  Your child is the leader, and you are the active partner, always trying to expand the activity or thought process further than s/he would on his/her own, but without taking charge.

General Guidelines:

• Pick an undisturbed quiet area, free from distractions such as TV, cell phones, other children, pets
• Let your child choose which toys they are interested in.  Building materials, manipulatives, imaginative toys (trucks, dolls) work best.  Reading a book together is fine as long as it is an interactive rather than a passive process.
• Tell your child that this is their special time to spend individually with you.  If your child refuses your offer, don’t argue or push.  Offer again the next day, trying to entice him/her with your positive energy and excitement.
• Stop Floor Time if it becomes negative or unpleasant.

As you are playing with your child during Floor Time, keep in mind the developmental results you are focused on.  If your child needs to further develop their language, make sure that language is a big part of what you focus on during Floor Time.  If your child needs to develop social competence, make sure that turn taking is a part of what you work on.  If you are focusing on improving difficult behavior, make sure you are encouraging the appropriate behaviors that your child is demonstrating during Floor Time, rather than giving attention to the difficult behaviors.

After further reflection, I decided to spend one day next week devoted to looking at a still-life display and drawing it.  I will let you know how things develop.

Welcome back to school!  The children seemed very eager to come back to school after the long Winter Break.  We were excited to see them and begin a new year of learning in the classroom.  We look forward to seeing many of you at Mother’s Night later this week.

Kristen, Melody and Vida

440 Classroom Teachers

Classroom Spotlight

In this section of the newsletter, each month we highlight an area of the Montessori classroom or provide information about the philosophies of the Montessori and Reggio approach to education.

This month’s classroom area is the Language area.  The Montessori Language program supports the development of the uniquely human characteristic called language.  For humans, language is not only a way to communicate, but also an instrument of collective thought.  This makes language a critical component of every child’s development – it is necessary in order to be a part of the social fabric of our society.  Language provides two basic functions:  it helps us to communicate with one another, enabling us to establish and maintain social relations, and it provides a system of symbols and patterns that aid the thinking process.

The Montessori Language Program starts by building upon the foundation that is created in the Practical Life, Sensorial and Math areas of the classroom.  These areas provide indirect preparation for language by developing motor skills, refining the senses, introducing the use of symbols, and building vocabulary.

Young children develop language with a great deal of liveliness and spontaneity.  Children under the age of three are taking in language from their environment without much discrimination and without much effort.

Like a sponge, the child’s mind is absorbing everything around him.  Development of language during this period is characterized by “explosions,” and by age three the child has formed the basis of his language.  By the age of six, the child has command of a wide vocabulary and has perfected his sentence formation.  All of this development of language occurs without any direct instruction on the part of an adult.

The Montessori Language program supports the development of reading and writing in a similar way.  In order to foster a desire to learn to read and write, there are skills and abilities that must be cultivated.  These skills and abilities form a solid foundation upon which to develop reading and writing.  The child must be loved and encouraged and should develop a joy of having someone read to him.  He must have a language rich environment and be exposed to knowledge of the world.  He must have the ability to use his own language well and to enjoy the sounds, rhymes and patterns in it.  He must develop knowledge of print and how it is used in both reading and writing.  Finally, he must develop good control over his body, and in particular his hand, if he is to find writing easy.  The indirect approach for helping the child to discover written communication begins at his birth.  Written communication is visualized language and is an extension of oral language.  The environment should be saturated with human sound and the child should be included in all that the family does from his earliest moments.  He should be talked to and listened to with patience and interest.  In addition to oral language, the child should also be surrounded with the written word.  He should see people reading books and be exposed to written communication so that he develops a natural awareness of another form of communication in his environment.  This “spontaneous” approach to the development of reading and writing mimics the indirect way in which very young children develop their oral language skills.

Mother’s Night

Mother’s Night will be held next Wednesday, January 18.  This is an opportunity for children in the primary classes to share their school with their Mothers or other special guests.  Ask your child to show you their favorite work!  AM classes attend from 5:30pm – 6:30pm, PM classes and XP attend from 6-7pm.

Parent Volunteer Opportunities

Please continue to watch our Parent Volunteer Basket, which we bring out to the gate periodically, for ongoing Parent Volunteer Opportunities.

Happy Birthday!

We would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the following children who have birthdays this month:

Isabella J                              January 4

Sully S                                   January 10

Annika B                              January 14

Thank You!

Thank you to Elizabeth K for the cupcakes for the teachers.  Thank you to Nevi L for the swiffer refills.  Thank you to Oliver H for the book in celebration of his birthday.  Thank you to Elizabeth K for the Waffles and honey for our Food Prep area.  Thank you to Sully S for the book in honor of his birthday.

Thank you to Jennifer J and Lori S for substituting.

Kathryn Ross

By Elizabeth Pantley, author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution

The lack of adequate, restful sleep can affect your child’s mood, behavior,
health, memory and growth. If there is anything standing in the way of a
good night’s sleep it’s important to address the issue and solve the problem.
Following is a list of typical sleep disrupters and possible solutions.

Nightmares
Children spend more time dreaming than adults do, so they have more
dreams—both good and bad. After a nightmare saying “It was just a dream”
doesn’t explain what they experienced – after all, most kids believe that
the tooth fairy and Big Bird are real, too. After a nightmare, offer comfort
just as you would for a tangible fear. If your child wakes with a nightmare:
• Stay with your child until she feels relaxed and ready to go to sleep, or
if she’s reluctant to have you leave, stay with her until she is actually
sleeping.
• Be calm and convey that what’s happening is normal and that all is well.
• Reassure your child that he’s safe and that it’s OK to go back to sleep.

Night Terrors
During a night terror your child will wake suddenly and may scream or cry.
Her eyes will be open, but she won’t be seeing. She may hyperventilate,
thrash around or talk incoherently. She may be sweating and flushed.
She may seem scared, but your child is not really frightened, not awake,
and not dreaming. She’s asleep, and in a zone between sleep cycles.
A child having a night terror is unaware of what’s happening, and
won’t remember the episode in the morning.

During a night terror you may try to hold your child, but often this
will result in his pushing you away or fighting you off. The best
response is a gentle pat, along with comforting words or Shhh Shhh
sounds. If your child gets out of bed, lead him back. If he’s sitting up,
guide him to lie back down. Keep an eye on him until he settles back to
sleep.

Nighttime Fears

It’s normal for a child to imagine monsters that generate a fear of the dark.
Even if you explain, and even if you assure him that he’s safe, he may still
be scared. You can reduce his fears when you:

Teach your child the difference between real and fantasy through
discussion and book-reading.
Find ways to help your child confront and overcome his fears. If
dark shadows create suspicious shapes, provide a flashlight to keep
at his bedside.  Leave soothing lullabies playing, or white noise
sounds running to fill the quiet.  Give your child one, two, or a zoo
of stuffed animals to sleep with.  Put a small pet, like a turtle or fish,
in your child’s room for company. Take a stargazing walk, build a
campfire, or have a candlelight dinner to make thedark more friendly.

Preventing Sleep Disrupters

Some things have been found to reduce the number or severity of
sleep-disturbing episodes. They are all based on good sleep practices
and worth a try:

Follow a calm, peaceful routine the hour before bedtime.
Maintain the same bed time seven days a week.
Avoid books and movies that frighten your child.
Have your child take a daily nap.
Provide your child with a light snack an hour before bedtime,
avoiding spicy food, sugar or caffeine.
Have your child use the potty just before she gets in to bed.

Is there a time to call a professional?
Always call a professional if you have concerns about your
child’s sleep.

Excerpted with permission by McGraw-Hill Publishing from
The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers (McGraw-Hill 2005)
http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth

Since we returned, I find myself drawn to wandering through the classrooms and studio to watch and listen to the children. I see children seek out familiar, favorite works, and then discover the new materials the teachers put together on the in-service day. I notice how the children handle the regular chores of pushing in chairs, rolling up rugs, washing snack dishes and switching from outdoor gear to slippers with casual efficiency. They are confident in their ability to decide upon and take on challenging activity.  The heightened and somewhat frenectic energy that began to permeate the atmospere before the holidays, has disappeared and we are again enveloped in the deep gratification young children have for routine, working, learning and being together. This is worth getting up early for!

Posted by Jamie Boes