radiant montessori newsletter october 2017 center … · radiant montessori newsletter october 2017...

Radiant Montessori Newsletter October 2017

Center News

Main Entrance Security

There have been an increasing number of instances where visitors are being let in the building by parents or

are following parents into the building - knowingly or unknowingly to the parent. Please remember it is

Radiant’s policy that visitors should only be allowed in the building by a staff member and need to present a

photo ID before being allowed to go to the classrooms. If someone you are not familiar with is trying to get in

the door behind you, please ask them if they are a parent of a child enrolled at Radiant and/or remind them to

swipe their fob at the door. Everyone should swipe their fob at the door each time, even if it is open, so we

have a record of who is coming and going from our building.

If someone follows you or insists on coming in after you that you are not familiar with, please notify a staff

member immediately so they can verify the visitor’s reason for being in the school. We greatly appreciate your

help in ensuring that our school is as safe as possible for all of our students.

Halloween Party

Radiant will be having a family friendly Halloween Party on Saturday October 28th from 10:30am – 12:30pm.

We will have a variety of activities, projects, and treats! Feel free to invite your friends and family. There will

be an RSVP sheet on the table in the lobby the week prior so we know how many people to plan for. This party

will be “open house” style, so feel free to drop by anytime and stay as long as you would like! And of course,

costumes are strongly encouraged for EVERYONE!!

Preschool Field Trip

Our preschoolers will be headed over to Dehn’s Pumpkins on Tuesday October 24th from 9am to 12:30pm. The

kids will get a chance to play in the corn pit, go on a hayride, jump and climb on the inflatables, and pick out

their own small pumpkin to decorate at school later in the week. (Additional pumpkins will be purchased for

any students who are unable to attend so that everyone has a pumpkin to decorate!) Watch for permission

slips to be emailed out in the next few weeks.

M.E.A. Weekend

Just a quick reminder that MEA weekend is coming up later this month. Osseo area public schools will be

closed on October 19th and 20th. RADIANT WILL BE OPEN THESE DAYS! We know this is a big travel weekend

for a lot of MN families, so if your child(ren) will not be attending one or both of these days please let Annie

know asap so we can staff accordingly.


Children’s House One

Dear Children's House One Families,

During the month of September we are

happy to have covered all of our lesson plans

and then some. We prepared lessons for each

subject including music, science, art, and

baking each week. We presented to our

students materials that help categorize Living

vs Non-Living, Plant vs Animals, Animal

Coverings/habitats, Land, Water, Air, our 5 Senses, Geology, & The Globe. We also celebrated our

International Day of Peace. We introduced two new students, Kynzi, & Hayden. If you have not had a

chance to, please welcome our new friends & their families to Radiant Montessori along with us. Our parents

being connected in communication is a huge part of our sense of community. You may connect with parents

via The Montessori Compass Parent Directory.

We welcome this month of October. With its cooler weather, inspiring lessons, & changes ahead. Our

challenge is to keep all of our students prepared daily for the weather, mood changes from the onset of cold

season, & keeping our classroom clear of mud and debris.

We ask that each child has a backpack or canvas/cloth bag with extra warm indoor and outdoor wear, indoor

& outdoor shoes each day, a small favorite soft toy for cuddling and lifting your child's spirits when Ill or tired,

light gloves and a hat, & a hoodie or jacket. It is ideal to just leave a second pair of each item here at school.

This way no matter which authorized person picks up or drops off your child they are prepared for a

comfortable experience having all of their needs met.

We look forward to our visit to Dehn's Pumpkin Patch this month, celebrating Liam P's 3rd birthday on

October 10th, covering lesson plans on Vertebrates vs Invertebrates, Fall,

Columbus Day (voyager day), North America (Natives, current & past culture,

& Animals), The Human Skeleton, Organs, & Parts of the Body, & that's not all.

We will be going trick-or-treating at the neighboring businesses and having

classroom activities on October 31st. Please have a costume for your child that

your child can put on independently, that allows him or her to dress warm,

and please refrain from bringing any toy weapons along to school.

We have been enjoying having our new teacher Ms. Bawani & have high

hopes for incredible growth and development for all of our friends

here in CH 1. As both Ms. Bawani & I keep your child's well-being,

development, and happiness a priority year round.

Enjoy!

Ms. Wenda & Ms. Bawani


Children’s House Two

Happy Fall,

We had a great start to the school year. We have been building from lessons this past spring and summer

month and are including them daily routine. We talk daily about our calendar, and have lessons each

week about what is a day, a year. We review the days of the week and are talking about the months of

the year, and talked about this weekend October starts. We have had lessons on the seasons of the year.

Our lessons this summer on weather are now part of our daily weather report. The children are on their

way to being meteorologists. The questions the children take turn answering are; 1) is the sky blue and

sunny or is it cloudy? Is there precipitation, if so in what form? 2) Is it warm or cold? (Did you wear a big

coat to school or a lightweight sweater?) 3) Are the leaves on the tree moving a

lot or can you barely see the leaves move? The words we use to describe the winds are calm or

gusty.

We read a couple of stories every day. Within those stories we talk about the feelings of the

characters, happy, sad, excited, mad etc. Giving the children words from stories helps us deal

with life in our class. Learning to talk about how something makes me feel is hard for young

friends. Many times they have feelings but don't quite know how to express them. We

practice saying words like, stop, I don't like that, no - thank you, please, thank you, that makes

me happy, that makes me sad etc. The hope is if children have words they won't feel the need to use their hands when

they are not happy.

We have also started looking at our continent map and teaching the Continent Song. Most of the children know this

song but our youngest friends are eager new learners. We introduced the North American continent and the three

major countries (Canada, US, Mexico) at this point. Older friends have started learning about the upper mid-western

states - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota. We have a couple of friends that started some

map punching work. Many children will take part in this work during the year.

During the fall season we have many opportunities to teach about nature. One of our butterfly books spoke about the

migration of butterflies and it has started with the cooler nights. We will be talking about the birds going south also.

Hibernation of animals will be spoke about toward the end of the month. The big lesson of photosynthesis has been

introduced in a couple of smaller lessons and now that the colors will really be changing the children will see the

changes and we will discuss in more detailed lessons.

The other lessons we work on daily are based on the children's individual needs such as phonetic

sounds, reading lessons, writing journals, counting lessons 1-10. Teens and tens lessons are

given to two friends at a time mostly. Basic addition lessons are individual and we will be moving

into decimal work with our older friends very shortly.

We have many new lessons that are slowly being added to the room. We just started giving

some beginning sewing work. There are a number of art lessons that are being added very soon.

We will start talking about primary and secondary colors. We will paint with the primary colors first and use them with

some fall painting projects. We have a lot of learning and fun to look forward to in the month of October.

Just a reminder please make sure to check that your children have an extra set of clothes for colder weather at school. A

sweatshirt jacket that stays at school as some friends get cold during the day. A warmer jacket for outside as we try to

get outside even on cooler days. We need to have children bring a pair of shoes for class and tennis shoes for outdoor

shoes. Thank you for your help in this area! Enjoy these wonderful fall days! Ms Vicki and Ms Julie


Children’s House Three

Season turns into a new phase in October. Not only have we seen the visual

changes of leaves but also low temperatures with less amount of sunshine.

Although these changes have happened slowly and gradually every day, I found

all the alternations seemed to come to me suddenly in a day.

Every day’s work cycle schedule was pretty similar. Furthermore, so much

giggling and smiling from children made me forget how much they have been

changing. I want to say today, “We come into a new phase.”

They absorbed my presentations like a sponge through their works and made

them their own. I believe this active construction undergirds enough to move

more extensional, challenging, and intensified works.

As I promised, our casa has focused more on Grace & Courtesy and Practical

Life than usual work cycles for the month. Their self-control that was not

forcefully compelled by outer teachings but by their inner discipline was built

up remarkably quickly. Not only have they loved the beauty of silence and social

respect, but also they knew how to exercise full concentration and attention on

their work for dozens of minutes, sometimes an hour. On these self-minded and controlled basis, we can

move to extensional works with even the same materials.

Particularly, our casa focused on more tactile works not only to refine finger senses but also to prepare further

writing works. I found that the children had more interest in Sandpaper letters and Sandpaper numbers.

Additionally, we also had so many visual works (not only in Sensorial area, but also in Math) to discriminate

the quantity, length, weight of materials. For precise and firm mathematical calculation and creative writing,

all those foundational works are essential, which also takes patience and effort until they master them all.

Last month, we headed to Deer Lake Orchard. We had so many fun activities such as apple-picking, apple-

sorting, animal petting, and a hayride. Many thanks for the dedicated support of our chaperone volunteer.

As you noticed, we will keep doing Bob book reading, handwriting, and basic

arithmetic (especially static addition) works daily next month. I also

encourage them to practice those reading and writing works at home.

Please bring your child with proper clothes at the upcoming change of

seasons and check whether they have enough clothes and shoes (for inside

and outside activities). We will also be trick-or-treating at neighboring

businesses and having some classroom activities on October 31st! If you have

any question, please feel free to ask at [email protected]

Casa 3, Mr. CS, Ms. Pam, and Ms. Regina


Toddler Room

Hello Toddler Families!

First, I’d like to welcome Rosie Theunissen and her family to the

Toddler Room. Rosie is moving up from Ms. Abby’s Transition

Room, and we’re excited to have her join our classroom!

September was such a great month for learning! The toddlers

learned a lot about their bodies, five senses, emotions, and families.

Some of our favorite activities included the taste test to try foods

that tasted sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. We also enjoyed the pet

visit during our week about family.

In October, we’ll be taking on the role of nature detectives to explore more about the world that surrounds us,

especially as the seasons change. We’ll be discovering more about what we find in the sky, the water, the

land, and trees. We’ll also have some fun Halloween activities and crafts added in throughout the month,

including our classroom party on the 31st. We’re focusing on the letters A,

P, and F this month along with the number 2, the color orange, and circles.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact

me. I can be reached by email at [email protected], and

also by phone or in person here at Radiant.

Thank you,

Ms. Amanda and Ms. Isabelle


Transition Room

Hello parents and happy fall!

It is officially fall! I am so excited for the upcoming month! Everything will be

fall related! We will be fall detectives while learning and discussing what

objects are in the sky, water, land, and trees. We will also have a week

dedicated to Halloween. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I am so

excited to share this with the children! Some of the other activities I have

planned are nature walks, cloud watching, science experiments, and many

more! Some activities might be changed due to weather circumstances.

The month of September's theme was "All About Me" where your child

learned about their five senses, emotions, body parts and different home

lives. We did activities such as "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", emotion flash cards, as well as having a fun

taste test! The children had a blast with all of these activities as well as soaking up the last nice days of

summer!

We will be having a classroom Halloween party on the

31st. I have a lot of fun activities planned for this day! If

you can, please have your child dressed up in a

Halloween costume on the 31st. Don't worry, we will be

taking off their costumes after the party (usually around

11) so they will not get dirty with the lunch that day. :)

The children will also be distributing Halloween treats for

a mini trick or treat with their other classmates. If you

can bring treats for the other children in the classroom so

they can put them in their goody bags that will be wonderful! These treats do not

need to be candy if you do not want them to be. They can be a pack of fruit snacks,

small bag of pretzels, small play dough, basically anything! We do have 14 children in

the classroom so it does not need to be big.

One last thing, if you have not emailed me or gave me a hard copy of your family picture can you please give it

to me as soon as possible? So far, the children have loved seeing their family pictures in the classroom and I do

not want any child to feel sad that they do not see their family on the wall. Thanks!

As always, if you have any

questions or concerns please do

not hesitate to call or email me

at abby@radiant-

montessori.com. Thank you so

much and I hope you have a

wonderful rest of your day!

- Ms. Abby, Ms. Tosha, Ms. Bekah, and Ms. Lauren


Infant Room Hi Families,

In September we have enjoyed music class

with Miss Mary! We are so happy to spend

time with our transition and toddler room

friends. We worked on Imitating Facial

Expressions and Mouth Sounds, Recognizing

Simple Sounds, Stacking Blocks, Trying on

Gloves and Tracking Objects being Moved.

We are looking forward to doing some fun

Halloween activities in October.

Ms. Dawn, Ms. Tahnee and Ms. Kassidy

radiant montessori newsletter october 2017 center … · radiant montessori newsletter october 2017...

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