Hello Parents,

First off, welcome to our blog!  We hope that this blog makes everyone’s experience easier and more fun to learn about what the kids are up to in the Primary studio.  While we encourage you to follow the newsletters, additional posts may be mentioned and linked to our “Extra Extra” section.  Any additional posts or links are not necessary to view in order to follow our posts.  We just want to be able to offer you additional information for anyone interested in learning more about how we approach the Montessori method.  Please let us know if you have any questions via email.  Feel free to comment, ask questions, or start discussions at the bottom of these posts at any time.  Now, for how the week went…

A Brief Overview of the Week 

We had yet another productive week in the Primary Studio as the kids participated in caring for their environment and testing out new material during our first work cycle.  Lots of music and movement activities were given and they had plenty of outdoor time to play with friends.  All in all, the kids are picking up on a lot of lessons involving caring for themselves, helping and communicating with others as well as caring for the environment.

A Closer Look at Caring for the Environment

We started the week off with lessons in our practical life area and sensorial area, followed by a day where the students were invited to help us to “clean up” the studio.  We felt that by giving them the opportunity to clean the studio would help them to recognize that they can be responsible in helping us to create a beautiful, peaceful, and tidy environment.  Everyone had so much fun cleaning the room by dusting or wiping down surfaces, especially since they got to take a closer look at all of the material on display.  In addition, they learned how to straighten material on the shelves so that they could start recognizing that everything has a special place.  We gave each student wipes to clean surfaces and Q-tips for cleaning dust in tight corners on shelves and other hard-to-reach areas.  Below are some photos of the students working as a team to make our room sparkling clean.

The First Work Cycle

After seeing how respectful they were with the material during this exercise, we felt that they were ready to begin their first work cycle.  During this work cycle, we turned on some peaceful music and told our students that they were free to roam the studio and try out various material that they have previously had lessons on.  This was truly an exciting moment for all of them and they all tried so hard to mimic some of the lessons that we had demonstrated.  Many also enjoyed exploring material in their own way.

Here, Laidy wears a blindfold to focus on her sense of touch as she matches various textures.

Emma, color matching

Melia was shown to line up cards from left to right on her rug. We often demonstrate lessons from left to right to give a sense of order. This will ultimately help when teaching reading and writing (as we start from left to right).

Below, students explore the practical life area.  Practical life material helps in development of fine motor skills needed to care for one’s self and the environment, including fine motor skills that form the basis for writing and cognitive skills.

Below, Colin and Waylen explore beginning letter sounds objects in our language area.

Here, Winsloh and Edison are using the metal insets, a direct preparation for writing in the Montessori Method

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 The work cycle turned out to be very peaceful, enjoyable, and productive.  We ended the week with lessons in math and practical life.  We will let you know more in detail in our “Extra Extra” section about some of the material that we have recently covered.  Oh, and everyone really enjoyed music class today with the Pre-Primary students.  They are all such serious little singers!

Hopefully this gives you a good idea of how the week went.  We hope that everyone enjoys their long weekend.
Sincerely,

Carrie & Angelique