Dear Parents,

2015 was such an upbeat and productive year for each of our students, and your support has played a huge role in making this happen! Seriously, each and every one of you should “cheers” to being AMAZING parents. Looking back, I am so incredibly happy about how far along your children have come, and I know that if we weren’t all a team here, the flow wouldn’t have been the same. Thank you all so much for trusting in Jackie and me with our tactics to challenge your children through the Montessori Method.

So, what have your kids been up to over the last months of 2015? Check it out!

Group Lessons

Introduction to 3D Art

Teaching advanced art concepts to kids is something that I got into years ago, because I wanted to find a way to utilize my fine art degree while working with children. It’s great to see how well kids will grasp a complex concept, and then apply something that they learned from the lesson into their own artwork. I encourage everyone to be unique, and I always say that it’s perfectly fine if one’s artwork does not look like the sample art, because that would be “boring” if we all created the same exact thing. This way, no one can be discouraged in the development of their own abilities, and everyone is motivated to give something new a go.

For this lesson, I came up with my own extension to the geometric solids material as I saw the opportunity to teach an approach on drawing 3D Art. During a group lesson, I laid out some of the geometric solid objects, turned the lights off in the studio, and switched on a flashlight. I took the flashlight and shined it in different directions on each object to demonstrate how shadows are cast. Then, I pointed out areas where surfaces of the objects were lit up, and how areas where the light could not reach appeared much darker. I also noted that by holding the flashlight closely and directly on the objects, shadows begin to sharpen into solid shapes on the surface below, and as you move the light away to create longer shadows, the shapes would soften and fade out. Afterward, I offered an activity sheet printed on white paper with pre-drawn shapes of some geometric solids. I demonstrated an exercise by adding detail to help these 3D objects really pop and look more realistic on the paper. I pointed out that we could create the shadows just as we see them when we cast the light on the objects. The kids watched closely as I applied a simple technique where I would angle my pencil and shade the objects only where the light could not reach. When I pointed out that the areas left untouched within the shapes are to represent where the light is shining, the kids had an “ah-huh” moment as the objects came to life on the paper.

Students of all ages gave this exercise a try during work cycles. Some of our younger ones were just happy to color shading within the lines while a number of older students would use the geometric solids material with the flashlight to see where exactly they should fill in the shadows. I can’t say enough that these little ones have yet impressed me again with their listening skills, fine motor abilities, and creativity 🙂

Language

Children typically between the ages of 4 and 5 have been encouraged to practice word building on a regular basis with 3-4 lettered nouns. These students are offered cards with images where they are shown to break down the word through phonetics. For example, “cat” is sounded out by each letter sound, “c – aah – t.” Sometimes students enjoy using our wooden letters to build their words, followed by writing out the words on paper. Younger students that are beginning to word build are likely not coordinated to write on their own yet, but they are encouraged to trace the words on paper. Tracing is offered to all interested ages in the studio, and it is great for everyone as it is good practice for sharpening one’s writing abilities.

Landforms

Several years ago, we teachers made models of landforms out of green clay in plastic bowls, and we’ve been utilizing them for years in the studio to teach about the many types of landforms. During the presentations, we point out specific landforms on a map, and we pour water into the bowls to surround the clay landform. We add plastic miniature animals and talk about which animals live on the land or water, and we ask the kids to consider what types of animals live in fresh water and salt water. This year, when I got the landform bowls out, they were in pretty bad shape. Our students were happy to help with resurfacing the landforms by smoothing the clay out with the backs of spoons. With their help, I was able to give lessons on landforms within the week. Thanks, little friends!

Thermic Tablets

The Montessori Thermic Tablets are always one of my favorite lessons to teach about, and it’s even more fun to see the kids exploring the material on their own. This is a work that teaches awareness of temperature by using tablets made of wool, cork, quartz, steel, wood, and glass. Our students learn to “feel the temperature” of each tablet, and match each tablet to its pair. Many children prefer to isolate their senses by matching the tablets blindfolded.

An extension that was shown to this work demonstrates how we can order the material from “warmest” to the “coldest.”  While we haven’t introduced terms like heat conductors (such as metals) and insulators (such as wood or cork), we plan to start discussing some fun science facts during the new year.

Holiday Songs & Art Activities

As you all probably know by now, the kids have been learning some fun holiday songs (and I imagine many of them were singing for you during the holidays). Their favorite this year was “Let it Snow.” Of course, we talked about some “big” words like, “frightful” and “delightful,” along with some metaphors to keep our little performers interested and passionate about the lyrics that they sing.

Hopefully, everyone received their holiday card that students worked on during our last week of the 2015 school year. They were so proud to make you a card filled with love (and snowballs)!

Math

Every child has been tuning in as we teach about simple math equations. Are young ones continue to work on 1 through 10 while older ones are beginning to practice placing numbers on the hundred board. Indirectly, our practical life works are teaching all age groups about division as they sort or pour material equally into bowls. As for solving math problems, some older students are just getting interested…

If your child is in their second year of the Indigo Primary Studio, most likely they have had lessons on writing equations for addition or subtraction. There are so many fun demonstrations on teaching equations that totally beat the way we learned math back in our days. Something about using pretty beads and plastic gems gives math a purpose! Holding the physical quantities and counting them help to create visuals that make math fun 🙂

Maps & Globes

As you can imagine, all of our students have shown interest in the geography area. It’s hard to miss out on maps in the  Montessori environment as we are constantly talking about the world! Oh, if only I had learned about maps back when I was that little, then perhaps I wouldn’t be so directionally challenged… I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way?! Thank goodness for Google Maps! Anyway, these kids will grow up with a fascination in maps as they’re all learning so much about new places to explore. Our young students are grasping all of the continents and our older students are determined to understand the places within the continents… I predict that all of your children will do a good amount of traveling later in life (if they haven’t already)! Go Montessori!

Celebrations of Life

If you have already had a celebration of life for child and have not seen any images, thank you for your patience as I still have some photos to sort through! Below, we have photos from David and Luke H’s celebration. Thank you parents for being part of their special day!

A Productive New Year Ahead!

We will keep exploring extensions of all of the material presented in 2015, and each child will continue to grow in so many ways. Why, because this is the age where kids are soaking up material like sponges, and as long as the opportunities are presented, they will keep coming home to share new ideas and abilities. Maria Montessori’s studies proved that children between ages 3 through 6 have “conscious absorbent minds,” referring to the mind’s capacity to take in information, and during this conscious state of mind is when children intentionally direct their attention on their experiences. Jackie and I will do our best to continue offer creative outlets for your children to experience. 🙂

Work Cycles & More

Below are some images of your beautiful children taken during the last months of 2015. But first, I have included a quote by Maria Montessori to inspire us all for the new year.

 “The ‘absorbent mind’ welcomes everything, puts its hope in everything, accepts poverty equally with wealth, adopts any religion and the prejudices and habits of its countrymen, incarnating all in itself. This is the child!”

-Maria Montessori