September 2014

NEWS

One of the many things I love about our school is how hard we try to de-mystify Montessori. In some schools what happens in the classroom stays in the classroom until conference time. Even then, it’s impossibleto recount all the exploration your child has done!

At St James Episcopal School we try our hardest to give you a daily glimpse into the magical Montessori environment your child is in through Montessori Compass. Soon you’ll get to view your child’s cumulative record for this year.

We also share education events with you. This was our first year to host a “Silent Journey” for our families who have children in our toddler programs. Anna Bouldin coordinated the event with the help of all our Toddler/MDO staff. We began the morning by watching “Edison’s Day” which is a day in the life of a toddler at home. Children always love to watch this indepen-dent little boy who attends a Montessori toddler program and parents get ideas of ways they can help their child be more independent.

We then split into teams to silently explore the classrooms… the parents could touch and experiment with the marked materials. Classrooms featured either math, language, music or movement, art and self-serve food works. What a terrific way to see your child’s classroom through their eyes!

Here’s a list of all the Montessori Education events for this year…I hope you’ll make it a goal to attend at least one!

Mrs. Loree

Date TimeAge Group Class

Childcare Offered?

11-September 5:30pm Primary Parent Education Yes13-September 9:00am Toddler Silent Journey - Parent Education Yes21-October 5:00pm All Tour Your Child’s Classroom N/A30-October 8:30am Primary The Three Year Cycle N/A10-November 8:30am All Monday Morning Montessori No6-December 10:00am Toddler Toddler Montessori Class Yes20-January 9:00am Toddler Montessori Education Event No21-January 9:00am Primary Montessori Education Event No13-April 8:30am All Monday Morning Montessori No

MDOOwen loves art time. This week we had the children glue apples

on to the paper and we are teaching the children colors.

Mrs. Eva talks to them in Spanish while doing this and we

also go over it in circle time.

Children are learning how to set up the table and be more

independent at lunch time.

Tate helped to prepare the snack. We made quesadillas for our cook-

ing project. He enjoyed doing it even more when he was eating it!

Molly is learning how to put her shoes on herself. We practice this every morning as part of our routine.

Emily loves to take care of our classroom. She is watering our

plants. We water our plants about three times a week and the children love taking turns to keep our plants

alive and looking beautiful!

Cooking

Practical Life

Art

DEAR FAMILIES:

We are enjoying this new school year and working with your children. The Mother’s Day Out experience will encourage the development of your child’s self- direction in the Montessori environment. The use of materials in a Montessori classroom involves many motions - like walking, carrying, pouring, and the constant use of the hands.

These first few weeks we have been focusing on methods of observation. The teacher determines when the child is ready to be introduced to new learning materials and lessons in the classroom. One of the most basic lessons a child learns in a Montessori classroom is how to choose a work, do the work properly and quietly, and when finished with a work, put it away and choose another one. Some habits of our routine are: sitting quietly, working quietly, using an indoor voice in the classroom, and staying in line when going outside. We record thisinformation in Montessori Compass, and use this to give a summary of the child’s progress to the parents during teacher-parent conferences. Children in the classroom are encouraged to observe the teacher giving lessons and other classmates working, as a way to learn from their peers.

One of the main goals of the MDO program is to encourage the children to become independent, and to allow them to explore the environment and manipulate the objects in the envi-ronment freely. All the activities involve the child to grow physically, emotionally and intellectually. We sing songs at circle time to build vocabulary and we also use nomenclature cards. We do yoga activities, cooking projects, art, playing instruments, gardening and other activities that help develop the child’s knowledge.

TRANSITIONWe have worked very hard these weeks to ensure a smooth transition.Please don’t forget to label all of your child’s belongings.

Your support is well appreciated!Ms. Eva, Ms. Bianca and Ms. Mary

The toddler class has been enjoying their days at school. We have also become more normalized in our daily and weekly routines.

On Mondays we do flower arranging, and on Fridays we do cooking and gardening.

Toddler 1

We have also been working on new vocabulary words and learning sign language to some of our new words and songs.

Snack has been very important to our mornings; apple coring, banana slicing, orange juicing and individual snack cucumbers and snap peas.

If your child forgets to say goodbye in the mornings at drop off, no worries. They are just very focused on the works they are wanting to chose and/or hurrying to feed our pets. Mrs. Anna and Miss Annabel

“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”

Happy Fall! Bring on the cooler weather and sweaters! Thank you to all the parents who came out to our “Silent Journey” parent education.

The children have settled into their daily routine beautifully. The classroom is starting to normalize and the children’s work cycles are lasting longer. The children are always eager to embrace their independence - carrying their own bag, walking into class, and changing into our new Montessori Movers. They love to do things by themselves and often tell us “I do myself”.

T0ddler 2- Maria Montessori

T0ddler 2

For the past month we have been learning about apples, the color red, our 5 senses, and circles.

We have created pictures with the color red. We took advantage of the rainy weather and went outside and used our senses by seeing, listening, and feeling the rain. During circle time we explored the inside of an apple and then we used those apples to make apple prints. The children loved using corks dipped in paint to make apples on trees.

Our special cooking project this month was making homemade cinnamon applesauce. The children each helped peel/core apples and placed them in the crockpot. Yummy! Mrs. April, Mrs. Lilly, Ms. Eliane

Hello St. James Families, We are off to another fantastic start to the year! The children in Ms. Coral’s Toddler Class have been learning the routine and structure of the classroom as well as working hard on their Cycle of Activity.

Hand washing is a vital part of a toddlers work in the classroom. Since we are working with food, clay, paint, among other things, the children are required to wash hands several times daily. They don’t mind this; most are in a sensitive period for water at this age!

Socialization and building community are two key points among fellow Montessorians. Here, Eliza snuggles with play baby in the classroom while she listens to her friends read to her.

Hunter helping roll work mats for his friends to choose

Ryan learning the steps of hand washing.

Friends reading together as a community

For those of you unaware, the cycle of activity is for the child to: choose a work mat (or rug), choose a work, bring the work back to their work mat (or rug), to carry out the intended purpose of the work, and then be able to put the work back together, push in their chair and to return the work and rug to the appropriate spot. This sequence does require quite a few steps. It is a skill they yearn to master daily.

Toddler 3

Toddlers are abundant in energy and one of their favorite time of day is to go outside and play! They also take a lot of pride in being able to control their bodies in the classroom. Yoga is one way we like to bring our energy level back down in the classroom so the children can focus.

All Our Best,Ms. Coral, Ms. Monica, Ms. Jaymie

The children love to take turns painting! Here, Tagen dips half an apple in paint to make a beautiful fruit print. We have been painting on the easel with different colors but it is fun to mix it up!

Yoga is a popular calming time in our classroom

The children love taking turns painting!

“How Do Dinosaurs Clean their Room?”

by Jane Yolen

“Harry the Dirty Dog” by Gene Zion

Any Amelia Bedelia books

“Five Little Monkeys with Nothing to Do” by Eileen Christelow

Read with your child

every night and you will

be amazed at how their

love of language and

books will grow. Here are

a couple of books about

caring for self and the

environment to check out

at your local library.

Primary 1Primary 1Dear Families of Primary 1,The year is really getting going and the children are as busy as little bees! They are workingin every learning area in the classroom, especially in practical life!! Practical life is an areaof our classroom that helps the children to develop concentration, perfect their fine motorskills, and learn to work through the cycle of activity - from taking a work off the shelf, to putting it back in its place, and all the steps in between. The best thing about practical life

is that it teaches valuable and practical life skills that foster a love of our small community, and prepare the children for future learning.

The children are learning to use a spoon or tweezers to transfer beans and other objects, using tiny droppers or large basters to transfer water, and practicing sweeping. They are pouring water, learning basic sewing skills, arranging flowers, sorting objects by color, shape and size, and working hard to keep the classroom tidy. The children scrub the floor, tables and chairs, they sharpen pencils, sweep, mop, and are responsible for washing their own dishes after lunch. They prepare fruits and vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, apples and bananas as a serving work that they offer to friends in the classroom. The children take pride in their work and in the classroom. Flower vases are placed on tables and shelves throughout the class. Each afternoon, the older children straighten shelves, put dishes away, and fold laundry to prepare for the next day.

The children love writing, learning letter sounds, exploring science, geography, and math, but practical life is the foundation on which our classroom runs. Encourage your children to showcase their new skills at home by involving them in meal preparation, making their bed, folding laundry, and washing dishes. As always, thank you for being your child’s first teachers!

All the best, Ms. Charlotte and Ms. Kim

We have had a GREAT four weeks of school. We have been B-U-S-Y! Whew. 26absolutely delightful children all working on a different work. And some of those works have “cool” pieces apparently, because we are missing some of the pieces. :) So...on that subject...If your child comes home with a small object of some sort in his/her pocket that you do not recognize as coming from your home, suggest to your child that the object might possibly belong in their classroom, and have them return it to a teacher.

We are settling into a routine we will keep throughout the school year. Theuse of materials in a Montessori classroom involves many motions - walking, carrying, pouring, speaking, and the constant use of the hands. One of the most basic lessons a child learns in a Montessori classroom is to choose a work, do the work properly and quietly, when finished with a work put it away, and choose another work. When the student stands up to return the work, they must remember to push their chair in (so no one trips over it and so that the room stays neat.) We have been working on this most basic lesson since school started and will continue to do so the entire year. In addition, our focus has been on establishing some habits of our daily routine - sitting quietly around the rug, working quietly, using an indoor voice in the classroom, and staying in line as we travel as a class around school.

Please allow your child to independently put lunch boxes, sweaters, etc. in their cubbies and also independently retrieve those items at the end of the day. One of the goals of the Montessori classroom is to lead the child to independence.

PLEASE LABEL YOUR CHILD’S CLOTHING: sweaters, sweatshirts, ties (boys), etc.

All the best!Mrs. Barrineau and Ms. Marla

Primary 2

Sabrina

Max

Hailey

MaximJonah

It’s hard to believe that we have already completed the first month of the 2014-2015 school year. The children of Primary 3 have settled into the classroom beautifully! They are hard at work and busy building friendships as well.

Our first year students have been receiving lessons in the practical life and sensorial areas. These lessons strengthen gross and fine motor control, build sensory awareness, and cultivate periods of concentration and focus. The lessons also teach the child how to think sequentially and put things away just as they found them. Some of these lessons include tonging, bead stringing, the pink tower, polishing, cutting with scissors, and playdoh.

The second year students have been drawn to our cultural areas, the language shelves, and the introductory math works. These children have been working with the zoology nomenclature card sets, the science folders, the continents map, handwriting works, the initial sound phonetic object boxes, word building, and introductions to addition and subtraction.

Laurel is painting

with the paint palette Maddie is shoe polishing and Canyon is bread crumbing

Alexander is completing a nomenclature book and Graham is working an addition problem

The third year students are SO very proud to be kindergarteners this year! They have embraced all their new responsibilities with chapel jobs and being leaders in the class-room. They have been busy reviewing their language and math lessons from last year and have begun writing and illustrating stories. They are working on a science experiment about the growth of lima bean seeds and also conducted a survey in the classroom. For the survey, the kindergarteners polled the children on their preference of chocolate or vanilla ice cream. Then we tallied the data and compared results.

Primary 3

At circle time, the whole class has been busy discussing classroom rules, singing songs and dancing, reading books, sharing Show & Tell, and hosting birthday celebrations for Levi Wester, Riley Sutton, and Sterling Weeks. It has been a terrific start to the school year! Ms. Julia and I look forward to parent-teacher conferences with each family mid-October to discuss the exciting things that each child is learning in the classroom.

See you then!Ms. Julia and Ms. Tamara

Comparing the results of the ice cream survey

Emory and Astrid preparing snack

Hello Parents,Wow! The first few weeks of school have passed by so quickly. We have been so excited to see our returning children and meet our new students. We are looking forward to getting to know everyone and already know that we have a great school year ahead. The children are wonderful and we love spending time with each one of them. The children have been eager to catch up with old friends, meet new faces, and explore the classroom. Many of the younger children have been enjoying the practical life works in our classroom. Practical life activities include pouring, sorting, folding laundry, washing dishes, preparing snack, sweeping, and mopping - just to name a few! These activities are so important to the Montessori environment and the development of the child. Practical life exercises help children gain control of movement, encourage concentration, and develop independence. Practical life also allows the children to choose a work on their own, complete the work, and return it to the same place on the shelf. Many of the older children have been busy working with maps of Africa, North America, and the United States. We have also seen the moveable alphabet, 45 card layout, and teen boards in use many times already! In addition to making new friends and working with the Montessori materials, the children already know our daily group time routine. Group time begins with the calendar, weather, pledge of allegiance, and a morning prayer. We also sing chapel songs, read books, and create stories as a group. The children have even gotten to see and learn about several of our class pets, which include a Russian tortoise, an aquarium of fish, and a zebra finch. Please remember that our Montessori environment encourages independence. The children are encouraged to say their goodbyes at the classroom door and then greet their teachers with eye contact and a handshake. This routine allows the children to gain more confidence and helps them to feel as though the classroom is their space. - Miss Elizabeth and Mrs. Ashley

Primary 4

Remember:

send a water bottle

each day!

Remember:pack lunch in

containers that the children can

open on their own.

Did you know that we now have fish in our pond? We noticed that the fish are getting braver because the children are not throwing rocks in the pond…almost every group of children caught a glimpse of most of the fish.

In The Garden

We planted Snapdragons, spinach, broccoli, and an assortment of lettuces in our lovely garden.

We had a great time gently pinching the snapdragon to make its mouth roar!

Happy gardening!

with Mrs. Loree

ArtThis month in art we focused on the study of line. We talked about different kinds of lines and how to create them. Each class came up with their own names for different lines, and the students were very creative! There were bumpy lines and mountain lines, tiger lines and mouse lines!

with Ms. Hanna

The children took their lines and painted them in black on a piece of white paper. The kindergarteners painted their lines while listening to instrumental music. They drew lines according to how the music sounded. When the music was loud and strong, they drew lines that were large and sharp. When the music was soft and quiet, they drew small and fluid lines.

The next week the children filled in the “white space” of their painting with colored paint. The end result is a fantastic piece of colorful art!

We have been busy this month in Technology class! We took apart a desktop com-puter tower and a laptop to look at the inside. We identified the different parts of the computer, talked about how they work, and even took some pieces out to feel them.

Technologywith Ms. Hanna

We have also started typing! The children are learning where the letters are positioned on the keyboard and how it is important to keep your fingers on the home row.

We have been practicing using the mouse, maneuvering around the screen, and opening and closing programs.

We have settled into a nice routine in our ASC program. Each day the ASC staff will have snack ready for the children when they arrive at 3:30. The next hour is spent eating snack, changing diapers/potty time, playing, singing songs and reading stories until 4:30 when the toddlers go out to play until 5:30. The primary are busy as usual, they also arrive in the lunch room at 3:30 and are served snack, have a quick bathroom break and go out to play. We all are enjoying getting to know your children. The primary children are enjoying lots of coloring, play dough and building with blocks, while the toddlers love singing songs, playing with blocks and coloring during their free playtime.

ASC

Thank you for waiting for your child by the iPad while we bring your child to you. This enables the staff to keep their focus on the children and not be districted with extra adults in the room. We appreciate you helping us to keep everyone safe. Please remember that pick up time is 6:00 p.m. If you are late, please call the school with an estimated time of arrival. Just a reminder, after 6:00 p.m. there is a charge of $1 per minute for late pick up. Lisa Wilson

October is just around the corner and it feels as though we’ve just had our first day of school!

We started Chapel just a few weeks ago by first training all of our wonderful Kin-dergarten children in their Chapel jobs. It has been lovely to watch each child take on the leadership roles. This is such a special time for the Kindergarten children and they would love to have each of you there for support on their job day. In Chapel, each school year we start at the beginning.

But then, God created the Heavens and the Earth and all that was in it. The children love this story because it is the foundation of purpose for our lives.

When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a very important job! To name all the animals and take care of the earth. This was a big under taking but God knew that the earth needed us and we in turn need the earth. This partnership didn’t end in the days of Adam and Eve. It lives on today as one of our most im-portant jobs. It is still our job to take care of the animals and the earth.

The Montessori classrooms involve this philosophy by; care of environment, plant care, animal care, zoology, the leaf cabinet, natural sciences and cultural studies. A great way to help your child practice this important lesson is by allowing them to help with yard work or walking the dog.

And remember: He’s got the whole world in His hands. And so do we.

Blessings,Ashley WoodruffChristian Education Director

In the beginning, there was nothing. (Genesis 1:2)

Please feel free to bring your pets, pictures of pets or stuffedanimals to receive a blessing from Father Gardner. After the Pet Blessing, all pets return home and pictures go in cubbies for safe keeping. Hope to see you all there!

On Monday, October 6th we will be celebrating St.Francis by having our

traditional pet blessing at 8:30am on the playground.