Indu Agnihotri
- At July 28, 2018
- By CGMontessori
- In Teaching Staff
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“I feel extremely enriched while working with young children. I love to watch children grow their love of learning. My vision is to spread the Montessori fragrance as far as I can.”
– Indu Agnihotri
Claire Olson
- At July 28, 2018
- By CGMontessori
- In Teaching Staff
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“Montessori philosophy has a very special place in my family and I am thankful to our teachers that provide an environment rich in compassion and kindness to all children.”
– Claire Olson
Claire is our Administrator at Center Grove Montessori School. She works closely with the school’s Director – Miss Indu and teachers to create an environment that supports growth amongst students and staff alike.
Read More»Holly James
- At July 28, 2018
- By CGMontessori
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Holly has a BS in Journalism & Advertising Management from Ohio University and is certified by the American Montessori Society to instruct children ages 3-6 years old.
Read More»Melissa Plunkett
- At July 28, 2018
- By CGMontessori
- In Teaching Staff
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Unexpected opportunities create “fruitful” experiences in the classroom
- At August 29, 2017
- By CGMontessori
- In Blog, CGM BLOG, CGM Parent News
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Unexpected circumstances stepped in this week and provided a learning opportunity to demonstrate that if you are flexible and creative, you can truly be grateful for all the food we have and minimize waste of these precious resources.
The children in our classroom have a “snack day” on a monthly calendar so that they may bring in food to share with their classmates. This week (and last) we received a bounty of fresh fruit. With the addition of a donation from one of our teachers, we ended up with ripe bananas, grapes, pears, and several pints of raspberries. Because I always try to stress that we never want to waste food unless absolutely necessary, I had to alter plans for cooking and snack preparation. And I’m OK with that. Keeps me on my toes!
The children requested pancakes, so the raspberries became a delicious sauce. The grapes and pears became a yummy fruit salad, and the bananas were perfect for a loaf of banana bread.
(Additional teacher challenge: We have numerous dietary restrictions this year, so I am getting to know all about cooking with gluten free ingredients. I am currently running into consistency issues, but I will keep at it and post my results.)
Enjoy the following photos from out “waste not, want not” week.
New Recruits and Old Pros: Cooking again!
- At August 24, 2017
- By CGMontessori
- In Blog, CGM BLOG, CGM Parent News, Oak Room
- 0
We’re back for another school year in our Montessori community, and these kids are ready to cook! Our returning friends went straight for the kitchen to see if anything had changed, while our new students followed to explore the tools and gadgets.
Given the success of our cooking endeavors last year, I changed very little in the environment. I found a bigger shelf in the garage, and after a quick coat of fresh paint, we had a much more flexible storage area…
I also added a few more child-sized stools to keep under the counter so the children could just pull them out for a visit with friends while waiting for items to bake. This was a really “social” time last year!
Since my veterans were ready to jump right in, I asked them to choose what recipe would be good to show our new students. The answer, of course, was muffins. We settled on blueberry.
Cooking: On Their Own
- At February 28, 2017
- By CGMontessori
- In CGM BLOG, CGM Parent News
- 0
I made a decision this week. I have a couple of 5 year olds that are reading well and able to complete large projects on their own. So the logical step is taking their math and reading lessons to the kitchen.
(A side note: My older children have small daily work plans to assist them in constructing their work cycles.)
I surprised Carson and Amy with “Bake Banana Muffins” for their “math” section of their daily plan. They were even more excited when I informed them they would be on their own with the baking, the only assistance being with the oven.
I was confident they could handle this. The results were great, but the best part was what we all learned during the process.
I had all of the ingredients they would need out on the counter with all of the utensils and bowls ready as well. I decided to eliminate the step of fetching all of the needed supplies, feeling it wasn’t the lesson we needed to be focused on. My goal in this exercise was to have them read, measure, complete the recipe, and enjoy the result.
First, let’s start with the recipe. I hand-wrote the cards, laminated them and put them on a metal binder ring to keep the pages in order.
My notes during my observation:
1. There was a long discussion about who would be reading the recipe. One of these students is a stronger reader, one is a new reader. Strong reader thought they should read all of it. New reader said that was not fair and they should at least have a chance. After some consideration, they decided to have the new reader try first and ask for help if they needed it.
2. This recipe called for coconut oil, which is solid in the jar. They tried to pour it into the measuring cup, but realized that it was not liquid. They then tried to put the measuring cup into the jar but it wouldn’t fit. They were truly perplexed and asked for my help. I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled. It took over 5 minutes of frustration and a little arguing before Amy had her “a-ha” moment and grabbed a spoon.
3. A snack break was needed after the coconut oil measuring.
4. There were a lot of questions about terminology. What does a “smashed” banana look like? What does “combine” mean? What is a “mixture?” I soon realized that I wrote these recipe cards with my knowledge of cooking vocabulary and not theirs.
5. With numerous breaks, this recipe took 1 1/2 hours to complete. I won’t bore you with the cleanup process and the complaining that went with it. However, they were able to finish. The muffins were delicious and they were so pleased to have made them all by themselves.
This week we also began some discussion about spices. The end plan is to put together a garam masala spice mix to make an indian dish. We started with cinnamon. we examined the spice in stick and ground form. I accompanied this exploration with a lesson about how cinnamon is grown and harvested, where it grows and how we use it. Next week, cardamom.
Cooking in the Montessori Classroom: Everyday Food
- At December 06, 2016
- By CGMontessori
- In CGM BLOG, CGM Parent News
- 0
Or should we say: “Every day, we made food.” That’s right, the kitchen was working this week! We kept it casual and got messy every day last week. As I reflect on the lessons we covered, I’m really glad I just decided to go with the flow, so to speak.
Read More»September Maple Room
- At September 13, 2016
- By CGMontessori
- In Maple Room
- 0
Maple room is getting in routine. We learned all our inside and outside rules, we learned how to take care of ourselves, others and our materials. We learned to take care of our nature like birds, animals and trees. We also talked about cleanliness, washing hands and staying healthy. We are taking full advantage of this beautiful weather and are doing activities outside. So nice to see full‐day students getting into their lunch, nap/or work routines.
In September, we’ll be doing lots of activities involving apples. In science we will be learning about fish and other sea creatures. In geography, we will be learning about our atmosphere and we are going around the World (continents and oceans). Thanks for bringing in healthy snack every day.
If you are interested in volunteer opportunities, please sign up a volunteer sheet by Mr. Fred or Ms. Jama. They will schedule you in our room. You can take some projects home with you too.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Important Reminders
- 09/05 (Labor Day) – No school
- 09/21 – Picture Day
- 09/26 – Vaanya’s b’day
Thank you!
Ms. Jyoti