NEWS October 2

013

45th Anniversary with Mr. Willie Welch

My last Monday Morning Montessori topic broached the subject of having independence within healthy boundaries. I based it from an article that our own Charlotte Hixon wrote a couple of years ago. Many people have a common mispercep-tion that a Montessori environment is a bit of a “free for all”. While the children are very independent, there are rules and boundaries galore!

• The classrooms have three rules: Respect yourself, respect others, and respect the environment. So many of the children’s choices fall within these pa-rameters. If a child disturbs another’s work we can ask “Was this respectful of your friend?” While we use positive redirection, we also expect for the children to listen and obey. • Thechildmusthavealessonandworkappropriately,ortheyhavetoputitaway.Wealwaysgiveawarningfirst,andifweseethemisuseagainwesaysomething to the effect of “Oh, it looks like you’re choosing to use the work incorrectly. Please put it away. You may try again tomorrow”• Thereareconsequencesforactions!Ifachildhurtsafriendtheymustsit aside until they are calm, and then come to apologize to their friend. As the child grows into the Primary class they us the peace works to really emphasize their words and friendship skills.

These same rules are applicable at home as well. Each family should make their own set of rules, but it is less confusing for the child if they are kept simple and grow with them. One way to discuss rules is while eating dinner together!

I also spoke about the importance of including your child in household chores. Providing ways for your child to do age-appropriate household chores with child-sized tools can help him feel like he has a way to contribute to the household, thus im-proving a sense of belonging in the family. I’m including a few photos of children as they are working at school, and of some nifty chore charts. I’m also including how a couple of the attendees used ideas gained from the meeting at home!

I hope you’re inspired and encouraged to try a few new ideas as well.

Mrs. Loree

Olivia Lipsett dusting Edith Nkana sweeping

Aidan Andreason Washing Windows

Royce Weisenberger feeding his dog Olivia and Phillip Richard’s table setting work

Inspiration Board

MDOHappy fall everyone! We have had an amazing month. The children are

growing and learning our works. Most of our children can put on their own

shoes andif they can't yet they are trying really hard. The children love our

pumpkin works and all of our Halloween songs. We have been working with

scissor works, gluing, and sticker works.

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and we are so excited to approach

the holiday season.

Thank you,

Your MDO Teachers

Frannie is washing her hands. Riley is showing her mom how much she loves to work on puzzles

Toddler

Top Left: John William is working on a shape shadow box

Top Right: Dottie is using the orange playdoh. Or-ange was the color of the month

Bottom Right: Jasper is showing his family his favorite matching work. He was so proud to show his parents the great work that he does here at St. James!

Toddler

It's almost Halloween and our toddlers are very excited to be working with Halloween works around the classroom. They have a transfer work and get to find spiders and bats underneath the cotton balls! This month, lots of exciting new lessons were introduced to our friends. In the classroom and in gardening with Ms. Loree, we learned about the parts of the pumpkin, such as the stem, pulp, seeds, the flesh and the skin. The children got to touch the pumpkin and feel the seeds inside. They were so excited to be a part of that learning process! In class, we made a Jack O' Lantern and later cooked the seeds. Our toddlers tried them during lunch time and they loved them.

Happy Pumpkin Carving!

Ms. Anna and Ms. Bea

October brings us cooler temperatures and a autumn breeze. It also means PUMPKINS! Toddler 2 have counted, sang songs, learned the life cycle of a pumpkin, mixing yellow and red paint to make pumpkin orange, and had fun using our senses to smell and touch the insides of a pumpkin. The children enjoyed a beautiful morning walk through the pumpkin

patch and picking a pumpkin forour classroom

Annie is doing one of our most popular works, pumpkin scrubbing.

The children place the pumpkin in soapy water, and clean it, when

finished they dry it with a towel Elise is making a pumpkin into a

jack-o-lantern by gluing shapes

Sammy is using tongs to carefully transfer mini pumpkins from one bowl to another, while Hoyt is working on his fine motor skills and strengthening the muscles in hishands by peeling stickers

Isla is focusing on learning different nuts by working on thenut nomenclature cards

Abby creatively paints a pictureby mixing red and yellow paint

Mrs. April, Mrs. Lilly, Ms. Eliane

Toddler 3 has been hard at work this month! We have been busy with lots of Birthdays, making birthday bread, and working, working, working!

The children have been busy choosing new work this week! We have welcomed our “late starters” to our class and now our class is com-

plete with seventeen children! Ms. Coral’s friends that started at the beginning of the year have been big helpers with Eva, Porter, and Truitt reminding them of the work cycle and showing them how we work in the classroom.

Many skills are taught throughout time and repetition; repeat-ing the same work and skill day after day gives the children a sense of accomplishment. They really enjoy focusing on tasks they are skilled at! Seeing the same work tracked on Montessori Compass everyday is actually a good thing and means your child is striving to master a certain skill. To com-plete the “cycle of activity” is what we strive for in a Montes-sori classroom; the children are working hard to remember this rule of thumb. :) -Ms. Coral, Martha, Jana

Christian sorting by color. Anna is observing with her hands behind her back.

Our newest addition to our classroom Ms. Eva Grissel She loves pumpkins

Porter, another new addition working with a wooden puzzle.

Truitt, a new addition to our class; pounding wooden balls.

Every morning in circle time we talk about the month, the day, the sea-son and the weather. In October, the month of pumpkins, we have a lot to discuss. We learn the parts of the pumpkin and about fall weather. We discuss how animals prepare for winter and how the changing seasons affect the natural world. We sing songs about pumpkins and falling leaves. Even our snacks have taken on an autumnal theme, with homemade pumpkin ‘do-nuts’ and fresh roasted pumpkin seeds.

The first year boys had a mathematical adventure collecting and counting 175 acorns! After counting we brought the acorns back to the playground to help the squirrels build up stores for the winter.

With Halloween looming, the children are intrigued by all things spooky and macabre. We are exploring the parts of a pirate ship and learning about se-quence and syntax with the “Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid...”

Happy Halloween!! -Ms.Charlotte and Ms. Kalindi

Primary

October is such a wonderful month. We had our Fall Break. The pumpkins arrived. The leaves started changing color. The class gets to dress up for Halloween. We have a Halloween party. The weather starts changing. It has been absolutely perfect weather for recess (everyone’s favorite part of the day)! As it should be, as it should be.:) And now for a glimpse into the classroom...

PRACTICAL LIFE Practical Life exercises are the foundation on which all of the various exercises in all areas of the classroom are built upon. It is in these exercises the child begins to form control of movement, build concentration, hand and eye coor-dination, order, and physical as well as mental independence. These exercises may appear very simple or even like “play” to the child and the other adults in the environment. But as the child repeats various exercises he is working on perfecting a specific skill or movement. It is through this movement that the child develops and actually builds his own abilities. The child watches a pre-sentation on a skill then is allowed to repeat the skill at his/her own rate. There comes a time when the child no longer feels the need to repeat the skill. This usually occurs when the child has gained confidence in the skill. The child no longer has to concentrate to bring about a certain movement, it gradually becomes an unconscious action. Through practice, the child builds himself. Fi-nally, the child learns Good Working Habits as he finishes each task and puts away all of his materials before begin-ning another activity.

Mrs. Barrineau & Ms. Ana

Levi weighing pumpkins, gourd, squash

Audrey spoon transfer

Autumn is here and the children of P3 have whole-heartedly embraced the season! We are enjoying the beautiful cool weather on the playground and discussing the changing weather patterns at circle time as well. Our weekly weatherman reports the weather each day and shares it with the class. The discussion goes something like this: “Is it sunny today or rainy?” “Is it hot today like it was yester-day or is it cold now?” “It was cold this morning but now the sun warmed the earth up!” The chil-dren have made lots of interesting observations.

A major theme this month is the pumpkin! Ms. Loree gave a lesson on the parts of the pumpkin in gardening class and the children have reinforced this lesson in the classroom with the life cycle of the pumpkin nomenclature cards. They love to practice this lesson and work together to match the cards. We also have a lesson in our classroom about gourds, pumpkins, and squash. First the children learn to identify each fruit. Next, we bring the scale. The children make a hypothesis about which fruit is heaviest and which is lightest and then we test for results. The children love to use the scale and combine the squash, gourd, and pumpkins in different combinations to create varying weights.

Other seasonal works include removing the kernels from the Indian corn and bead string-ing with seasonal autumn beads. We also have a fun Halloween spooning work that our three year olds love to use!

In light of the changing weather, please remind your child to bring a sweater or other

“warm thing” to school in case a chilly breeze picks up at playground time. Please

make sure all sweaters and jackets are labeled with your child’s first and last name!

We look forward to celebrating at our Halloween parties with you and then preparing

for Thanksgiving celebrations soon!

Happy autumn, everyone!

Ms. Julia & Ms. Tamera

MJ, Lucca, Alexander life cycle of pumpkin Ava corn kerneling

October has been a very exciting month in our classroom! Autumn is now in full swing! The children have enjoyed the pumpkin patch, cooler weather, and studying the season of fall. Everyone has had fun working with our seasonal materials including acorn scooping, fall leaf stringing, gourd sorting, and the parts of a pumpkin. Many chil-dren have also been preparing for Halloween by punching out bat and pumpkin shapes and gluing them down to make collages!

Punching is an excellent fine motor activity. Holding the puncher tool strengthens the hands for writing and helps develop the pincer grasp. The children have even been using the metal insets to make pump-kins and jack-o-lanterns. How creative! We have enjoyed the beautiful weather lately by having story time in the garden. The children loved reading The Bumpy Little Pumpkin by Margery Cuyler. Coordinating the works in the classroom with the seasons and holidays adds interest and helps the children gain a better understanding of the passage of time.

Ms. Elizabeth and Mrs. Ashley

pulling weedsAnother squash matching photo with the pumpkin sink or float in the background

Applying mulch blankets to the base of the plants

Working in the Garden- filling bird feeders

Sweeping the sidewalksSquash matching

Fall Fun in the Children’s Garden

Our garden is a very special place to explore and learn. We

are always surprised by unexpected visitors…chameleons,

lady bugs, honey bees, etc. We even had a few Tiger

Swallow caterpillars hanging around the Fennel! We

decided the unusual warm weather had tricked them into

hatching early.

Some of the work happening in the garden is- weeding, bird

feeder filling, providing mulch blankets, sweeping, and pumpkin exploring!

I hope you have a wonderful Halloween…I’ve included one of our favorite classroom

poems.

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate (hold up fingers for pumpkins)

The first once said "Oh my! It's getting late"

The second one said, "There are witches in the air"

The third one said "But we don't care"

The fourth one said "Let's run and run and run"

The fifth one said "It's Halloween fun"

Ooooooh went the wind

And out when the lights

(clap hands to the word "out")

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight

(roll arms)

Hammering golf tees into the pumpkin-great fine motor work

Parts of the pumpkin

This month, we got into the autumn spirit and the second level children started a fun fall drawing of leaves. They finished up their Paul Klee’s inspired works. The Kindergarteners finished up their beautiful butterflies for the Lake Highlands Café display. Parents please be sure to stop by and see the wonderful butterflies. Also some classes were able to finish up their Picasso self portraits and they had a lot of fun painting their faces.

Artwith Ms. Judi

I am always doing what I can’t do so I may learn how to do it.

-Vincent Van Gogh

Santiago’s Picasso Inspired Self Portrait

Maxim’s leaf drawing Ava and Lucca working on their tissue butterflies

Parker’s leaf drawing

Technology

Technology Fun! In Technology, pumpkins

were the theme and they were able to play

fun pumpkin games. These websites show the

phonetic sounds and the children are able to

read along with the story.

with Ms. Judi

Tip!

I am really enjoying getting to know your children this year and I have a wonderful staff assisting me. Kim Cobo, Lindsey Tramel and Shannon Woodruff work with the toddlers and Elizabeth Stark, Annabel Herrera and myself work with the primary. Do you ever wonder what your child does when they come to ASC? We start the day off with roll call and snack. We con-

tinue the healthy eating habits that you see in their classroom when they come to ASC. Primary children will play outside first until 4:30 and then the toddlers have outside time until 5:30. We have been so lucky with the weather and have not had to stay inside. We will continue to play outside even with the cooler temperatures. Please be sure to send a jacket with your child. We will have baskets for the Prima-ry Students in Ms. Charlotte’s and Mrs. Barrineau’s Class and Mrs. Anna’s Toddler Class. Please be sure to check the basket for their jacket when you pick up your child each day.

Lisa Wilson

Oct. 7th 2013 Blessing of the Animals with Father Gardner

Happy autumn days to all!

Our Chapel lessons for the past month have been

some of the most exciting stories of the Bible. We

have talked about St. Francis, Noah and the Ark, Jo-

nah and the big fish and Jesus calling the disciples.

With all of these lessons the children have been able

to make tangible art that coincides with the story.

The children love to see these stories come to life

through their art work. We also are able to physi-

cally practice the things Jesus taught. For example,

we had the beautiful pet blessing ceremony. This

was a physical way for the children to celebrate and

remember that God asks us all to take care of his creation. Another time, we all gave

big hugs during Chapel to represent sharing Gods BIG love with people the same

way His disciples did. Doing artwork or physically acting out these Teachings only

allows the lesson to go that much deeper. We are so blessed at St. James to share

these Bible stories with the children. Even after almost three decades of learning

these stories, every time I hear the teachings of Jesus, I learn more and more each

time about Gods character and love. Here’s wishing you all a warm and cozy autumn

season.

Blessings,

Ashley Woodruff

Christian Education Director

Fall ‘Howl at the Moon’ with the DOGSNovember 15th

Join the DOGS (Dads of Great Students) for the Fall ‘Howl at the Moon’

event onFriday, November 15th from 6:30-8:30 pm at the SJES play-

ground West of Parish Hall. We will have campfires for roasting hot

dogs & smores (Please bring your own roasting sticks). Enjoy moon

gazing, howling at the moon with your classmates, and possibly some

campfire songs and some not so spooky campfire stories told by a dad

or two. Siblings are welcome and moms/grandparents are also wel-

come to join the event in the event that dad is conflicted. Howl at the

Moon is sure to be lots of fun for the kiddos and the DOGS look forward

to seeing you there. Please bring a $5 suggested donation per child/

adult attending to cover food costs…we will have a DOGS collection jar

at the event as usual. Please RSVP to ethan.boothe@gmail.com or text

RSVP to 214.215.8901. If you would like to volunteer for leading some

campfire songs (guitar players) or telling a campfire story please reach

out to Ethan Boothe through the email &/or cell number provided above.

We could use a few willing volunteers for these areas.

Upcoming Events

NovemberNovember 11th- Monday Morning Montessori

Discussion with Loree

November 22nd- Thanksgiving Feast

November 26th- Grandparent’s Day (11am Dismissal- NO ASC)

November 27th-29th- Thanksgiving Holidays- No School