NEWS February 2

013

Montessori Education

Loree - Birkenback

This month we hosted two Montessori education events. The first focused on

Toddler, which is for children ages 18 months to 3. Charlotte, Coral and Anna

discussed the Toddler’s day and shared not only a variety of works, but the goal

of each. One of our touch points was the “cycle of activity”. The cycle of activity is

defined as long periods of concentration on a particular task that the child feels

internally compelled to complete. In a toddler’s world we are looking for a child to

choose a work, designate a work space, focus on the work and put it away when they

are finished. We also watch to see if the child puts away their mat or rug and pushes

in their chair. The most important thing is that the child chooses independently and

can focus on the work…the completed cycle sometimes doesn’t come until later for

certain children, but they still reap the benefits of the work!

Our Primary Montessori education class was designed for the parents of 3-6

year olds. Julia presented Practical life where she reminded us of its purpose;

to strengthen: control of movements, hand-eye coordination, independence,

concentration, sense of order, development of muscles, indirect preparation for

reading and writing, and grace and order.

Tamara presented the Sensorial works and their correlation to learning. She shared

Aristotle’s quote “Nothing enters the mind that did not first enter the senses…”

to emphasize her point. Maria Montessori believed that children did not really

comprehend the sensorial materials until they had them in their hands, feeling their

weight and dimensions as they carry the pieces to their rug or placed them on their

mat. Each lesson isolates a particular sense.

Diana discussed the Primary language curriculum. She demonstrated the journey

from the sandpaper letters in which a child begins to learn their letter sounds and

the formation of the letters to a third level student’s ability to read and write stories.

Diana asked that we keep in mind that each child’s journey is slightly different and

will happen when the child is ready. We, as parents can help by reading stories,

saying the alphabet with the correct phonetic sounds, and by exposing our children

to a rich vocabulary.

Anne shared the hierarchical order of the magical Montessori math materials.

Numerals can be found all over the classroom…from snack to the one hundredth

day of school! Anne touched on the “awareness of the child” and it’s important

connection to the work they choose and are ready for. The each material is a

building block for another! Mathematical Mind: The mental capacity of human

beings to organize and categorize impressions and experiences. The mathematical

mind has an impulse to produce order out of disorder.

Elizabeth and Ashley walked us through the Montessori Cultural and Peace works .

Ashley aslo discussed our Chapel and how it impacts our spiritual growth. Elizabeth

correlated many of our cultural works with our Children’s Garden! “Education is a

natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but

by experiences in the environment.”

Our Chapel time is at the very heart of our mission. Chapel lessons and Ashley’s

message of God’s great love for us are imbedded in our staff, classrooms and entire

school. Ashley’s favorite Maria Montessori quote is “Growing up in this way, they

have no bashfulness, no timidity, no fear. They show pleasing self-confidence,

courage, a calm knowledge of things, above all, faith in God, the author and

preserver of life.”

I’m very proud of the talented staff here at St. James Episcopal School and thank

them all for sharing their great passion for teaching, learning and loving.

Loree

MDO

Canyon is peeling

an orange

Chloe spreading

peanut butter onto a

side of bread

Hello all! We have been busy little workers since we have

finally added independent food works. The children love any

type of food work. Adding these works into our classroom

changed the whole dynamic of our classroom. They have done

anything from juicing oranges, slicing bananas, Spreading

peanut butter, and peeling clementines. We will soon be adding

egg peeling and slicing. We are also wanting more cooking

type food snacks. The children love to prepare food and it is so

important for them at this age. We are asking that anyone

who has signed up please try to add in some extra produce or

bread or eggs for the children to be able to have independent

food snack. We thank you in advance for any additional food

items that our brought to us.

Don't forget that spring break begins Friday march 8 until

Monday march 15.

-MDO

Ali pouring the pancakes onto

the griddle

Ayden helping ms. Lindsey flip the pancakes

Ayden and Ali spooning mashed strawberries into

our pancake batter

Toddler

The Ties That Bind

Community is something that we think about a lot at St. James. In fact we strive to make the environment more like a home and less like a classroom. Within the room, the things that bring us together are friendship and mutual respect, both appropriate themes for February. It is an interesting thing to watch the beginnings of friendship form in children so young. Friendship and social play are quite advanced behaviors that many children won't fully grasp for years. In a Montessori Environment, where emotional intelligence is supported and resect for others is fostered, children often form early friendships. Children also begin to collaborate or share what they are working on. This happens during snack preparation for example. The children work together to achieve a common goal. Learning to work as a team, collaborate and treat others with respect are lessons that will stay with your child a lifetime.

- Ms. Hixon

Tip!

This month is full of pink, red and white hearts. The class has been

enjoying all the heart stickers, heart cookie cutter play dough work

and of course sorting pink and purple hearts. The felt board story in

the classroom is about loving one another and using our manners

and most of all respecting others and our community.

Potty learning has been going great, we remind our new learners to

visit our potty more frequently.

The independence in our bathroom routine has made for more time

to have lessons in tooth brushing and hair brushing.

In music, I have added the glockenspiel, to our music time. The

children had so much fun learning how to play an instrument.

My time in Houston this month was very enlightening, but was very

glad to be back home and in the classroom with my amazing class.

Mrs. Anna and Ms. Bea

Spring is coming, Spring is coming!! Ms. Coral's class has been anticipating spring for some time!! The children have been socializing like spring bees this month. We have been working on many group activities and art projects in February and the children have thoroughly enjoyed the socialization aspect of the classroom. Valentines Day was a big day in our classroom; we had each child put their own Valentines Day cards in their friend's bags to take home after the party (the children loved having control of their own Valentines). After, we all gathered together in the reading corner to read a new book "I Love You, Stinky Face". The whole class was in awe at the decorations and quickly became busy eating their delicious food. With the St. James School auction quickly approaching, Ms. Loree has been busy herself, going from classroom to classroom getting projects prepared for the silent auction. This replaced our garden time last week, however the children did not mind one bit and stood in a group around a table with Ms. Loree in amazement at their friend's vases being painted. They turned out beautiful!Group projects and activities are a very important part of the toddler community here at St. James. During these times the children are free to chat with one another and discuss various things about our projects. In doing this, we as teachers, have become astonished as we watch them help each other work and notice the careful way they speak to each other with kindness and peace.

Astrid, Vivian,

Korah and

Madeline

showing off their

beautiful

Valentines bags!

Ms. Loree helps

the children

decorate their

vases for the

school auction.

sweet friends

socialize while

working

Helping Ms.

coral with

a flower

arangement

Ms. Coral reads “I Love You Stinky Face” to the children on Valentines Day

We would like to point out of the importance of the parents to be involved in their children’s education, and how it benefits your child, here are a few examples of how to be involved in your child’s education: • Be a reading parent. Offer to come in to read to the whole class of

• children or to individual children who need more support Participate in PTA’s

Teacher Appreciation Week by organizing a breakfast or lunch.

• Get to know your child’s teacher by introducing yourself and scheduling a

brief meeting.

• Create a community bulletin board at the school to post information or ideas.

• Participate in American Education Week, sponsored by the National Educa-

tion Association by visiting the school and classroom.

• Record yourself reading books onto tapes so children with reading challenges

can enjoy them.

• Offer to drive other students/families to school-related events they wouldn’t

otherwise be able to attend.

• Invite other parents to join you when you volunteer at school.

• Join your PTA.

Ms. Julia and Ms. Tamara Primary

There is some research on parental Involvement in Education:The report, a synthesis of research on parent involvement over the past decade, also found that, regardless of family income or back-ground, students with involved parents are more likely to:Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level programs Be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits Attend school regularly Have better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school Graduate and go on to postsecondary edu-cation

*(see A New Wave of Evidence, Southwest Educational Deve ment Laboratory, 2002 -

in references below). When parents talk to their children about school, expect them to do well, make sure that out-of-school activities are constructive, and help them plan for college, their children perform better in school.

So even If you are not able to be helping in school your children beneficial by you talking to them about their day, about works they are doing, and with the Montessori Compass this will help open the communication with you child and teacher, and you will be able to be a part of your child’s education.

Play dough

Books to read

Coloring books

Unisex rain boots and rain coat

Puzzles

Age appropriate board games

Arts and Crafts also age appropriate

Building blocks

Legos

Activity books

Children’s Music

Audio Books

Matching game

Sewing activities

Certificates for cooking classes, karate, ballet, dance, you name it!

Auction Basket IdeasAs you know the auction is coming, and you can participate and involve your child in helping you pick out items, our basket theme is rainy day, here are some suggestions of things to bring for the auction basket:

We can not thank you guys enough for all the help and support you give us!

- Ms. Julia and Ms. Tamara

Our children have really enjoyed the month of February! Everyone had so much fun preparing for Valentine's Day. Each child had the opportunity to decorate their own Valentine bag. It was a great opportunity for everyone to have an individual art lesson on how to cut, use paste, and then how to clean up their work area. The children were also very excited about all the Valentine's work in the classroom! There were pink blocks on the language shelf that the children could use to spell out the words love, hugs, and kisses. Older children had fun using small pink and purple counting hearts to complete simple addition and subtraction facts. We made red salt dough for the practical life shelf complete with heart cookie cutters. More works for the month of February included Valentine sorting, heart punching and pasting, and opening and closing hearts. Seasonal work adds interest to the classroom, but it also a great way to help the children understand the passage of time, seasons, and when special holidays occur throughout the year. Our classroom Valentine's Day party was a huge success! Each child had the opportunity to pass out their Valentines out to their friends and they all enjoyed having lunch together and making Valentine crafts! Thanks to all of our wonderful parent volunteers; we appreciate all you do!

Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Ashley

Parker has

mastered the

Cards and

Counters!

This Lesson is sometimes called a “test” for all of the Lessons of

the Numbers to Ten. The child who can independently set out all

of the counters as beautifully as Parker has, with the numbers in

sequential order, is ready to move on to working with the Golden

Beads. Did you notice how this work also gives the sensorial

impression of odd and even numbers?

Emma is counting

Snack Cups, putting

them in rows of tens.

She counts 2 tens and

4 units. She knows that

today we have 24

children for snack.

Jayla is totally absorbed in her

scrubbing work, uninterrupt-

ed by all the 100 day activity

around her

On 100 day the

children taped our

100 number line to

the floor and then

laid their paper

chain on top of it

to see if there were

100 loops on the

paper chain. Every-

one got involved,

some children

counting tens, some

tying yellow yarn to

mark the tens and

others placing blue

Large Number Cards

at each ten. The

result? Our Paper

Chain has 134 loops!

Santiago, Parker and

Hannah are matching

the blue Tens Cards.

We have two sets.

Violet arrived on

Valentine’s Day

with a Bouquet

of Valentines!

It is so nice to watch students grow and

learn and mature. The third level students

are writing some absolutely wonderful stories.

We are diligently working on handwriting

and CONSISTENTLY turning in neat work.

They have been doing their regular "folder

work" which consists of different language

and math works. I rotate the math works

between addition, subtraction, dynamic

addition stamp game, multiplication bead

board and division bead board. The students

do each of those math works once a week.

They are getting to the point where they can

do the works independently, with occasional

help. The second level students are working

on moveable alphabet at least two times a

week. This, many times, is teacher requested.

We have two moveable alphabets out all day

long every day and we rotate the students

through them. There has been some major

improvement in putting together the sounds in

words. Phonetically, of course, but this is the

beginning of learning to spell words. When

the students reach kindergarten, they begin

taking weekly spelling tests. The first level

students have been working on basic phonics.

Those are the basic language works we have

been working on. But the entire class has

been choosing works from every area of the

classroom. We have Practical Life,, Sensorial,

Art Cache, Art Easel, Math, and Language

works that are independently chosen. We do

stay busy! The students are also doing a great

job of cleaning their tables and dishes after

lunch. The full day students must clean and

straighten the classroom every afternoon. This

involves the students independently looking

around the classroom and discerning what

needs to be done. Following the Montessori

philosophy we do not direct their every move

-Ms. Barrineau and Ms. Ana

In the Gardenwith Ms. Loree

February in The Children’s Garden.

Madison is cleaning the soil

rake. We also learned the parts

of the bulb and planted a Pa-

per white Narcissus in each

classroom We are eager to

amend our soil and plant our

spring crops over the next few

weeks!

We are beginning to see small signs of spring in our garden…crocus are peeking up

and the sage is showing new growth. We’ve learned how to use the soil rake and

the hoe this month - Happy gardening everyone! - Mrs. Loree

Lukas is demonstrating the proper way to use the soil rake. Many of the children

choose to wear gloves when they garden. We keep ours clipped as matching

pairs in a bucket for easy use. After a child uses a tool they are in charge of clean-

ing it before putting it away. I use play sand mixed with motor oil and a variety of

brushes. The sand does a great job of cleaning and the oil lubricates the metal.

In Art, we are making scratchboards! This is a fun

way that the students can learn to use shapes and

figure out what colors would work best. I believe the

hardest part was making sure they were able to color

the full shape in with no white spaces! After color-

ing, we were then mixing a special black paint that is

able to scratch off and you would be able to see the

beautiful colors through the design. We used portfo-

lio pastels and the “special” black paint was mixed by

using 1 part acrylic black paint and 1 part dishwash-

ing liquid. If any parents would like to try it at home,

make sure you fill in those white spaces and when

scratching, use a kabob skewer!

Artwith Ms. Judi

Technology

In the month of February, the students in technology

have started to explore with the website, Starfall. This

website is an educational, interactive website that helps

the student to follow through each activity by clicking

and choosing the right word or sentence to match. Each

activity could include shapes, patterns, math or even

some seasonal fun ones such as Valentine’s Day. Harp-

er is seen here matching the 2D and 3D shapes and

Dawson is helping the character go through the maze

by following the pattern.

with Ms. Judi

As February has quickly come

and gone we have been very

busy in Chapel. This month we

were able to introduce the liturgi-

cal season of Lent. Lent is a time

to reflect and prepare ourselves for

the Easter season. The children

discussed that many of their fami-

lies have different ways of observ-

ing Lent. Some families give some-

thing up during this time to practice

penitence and self control. Some

families take on something such

as reading their Bibles everyday to

obtain a new discipline. While oth-

ers simply inwardly reflect on their

lives and relationships with God

during the Lenten season. Did you

know the forty days of Lent are rep-

resentative of the time Jesus spent

in the desert fasting and praying?

Taking time to center our lives and

become closer to God is important

at any age. I encourage you each to

take time during Lent to reflect and

prepare for the great celebration of

Easter!

We wanted to children to some-

how experience the physical

representation of Lent. We found a

way to do this through the Lenten

Alleluia work. All the children had a

chance to write out Alleluia on the

movable alphabet and then transfer

those letters onto paper. We then

sealed those letters into a plastic

bag and buried them in the prayer

garden. We will then dig them up

after Easter when we can say Alle-

luia again! The children discovered

for themselves that this was similar

to the death, resurrection and as-

cension of Jesus!

Blessings,

Ashley Woodruff

Christian Education Directer

Tip!

Tip!

The after school care area continues to be a burst of ac-

tivity. I have been thankful for the wonderful weather this

school year. Each age group continues to have a lengthy

outside playtime between snack and activities. The ASC

has continued to grow and there are a large number of

children staying in the afternoons. Ms. Lindsey has joined

the ASC staff on Monday afternoons to help with the pri-

mary students. We have plenty of staff to cover our large

numbers but we ask that you reserve a spot. The snack is

prepared before the children arrive in ASC and if we hap-

pen to have drop-ins that we are not expecting, it makes it

difficult to prepare more snack. If you arrive after 3:30 to

pick up your child, please make sure that you let me know

that you are taking them. Just a reminder if your child is a

toddler classroom, Mrs. Barrineau’s Primary Classroom or

Mrs. Bailey’s Classroom, their jacket will be in a basket in

the ASC room. Please be sure to take their jacket when

you pick them up. As always, if you need to reach me after

4:00 p.m., please call the school phone 214-348-1349.

Happy Spring/Winter,

Lisa

UpcomingEvents

Oct 31Halloween Parties

Noon Dismissal

MarchMarch 8th- 15th Spring Break

March 29thGood Friday - No School

April

April 1st Easter Monday - No School

April 15thMonday Morning Montessori with Loree Birkenback