This Week in the Oak Room

Hopefully you are hearing all about India at home.  This week we will continue our study of Asia with a focus on China.  The Chinese New Year is coming soon, which brings with it a lot of fun activities and an excellent opportunity to learn about this fascinating country.  As always, any artifacts from home are most welcome for sharing!

We are hoping to have our full class back in the next week.  Illness has been affecting many families.  As always, we have taken measures to sanitize the classroom daily and encourage frequent hand washing.  We suggest to the children that they should be washing their hands, with soap, for as long as it takes to sing the ABC song.

Since this is the year of the snake for Chinese New Year, we will be learning all about these fascinating creatures for our newest science lesson.  There are many questions to be answered about where they live, what they eat, why they are cold-blooded, etc.

Our peace lessons this next week will be centered on helpful and hurtful language.  We will be having discussions about name-calling, how words have power and perhaps most important, what happens when you can’t “take it back.”  In my most recent readings on this subject, I have learned that name-calling and hurtful language is often a result of a child feeling powerless themselves, or can just be testing new language options to see “what happens.”  I encourage parents and guardians to come up with a system for you and your child to let them know when they have used words that are hurtful.  I liked the suggestion in this month’s “Tomorrow’s Child,” to use a single word, such as “ouch,” for a reminder.

Child quote of the week:

“Do you know what movie I saw when I was just a little kid?” – Emery

 “All our handling of the child will bear fruit, not only at the moment, but in the adult they are destined to become.” – Maria Montessori

This Week in the Oak Room

This Week in the Oak Room

Such big work this week!  Several of our younger students started their golden bead work.  These layouts are so much fun and are such an integral part of the Montessori curriculum, it pleases us every time we see it!

Hopefully all of your children went home on Thursday bragging about their delicious smoothies.  After a discussion about what children in India like to eat, we chopped mangoes and bananas, added yogurt and honey and after a quick mix in the blender, we enjoyed a tasty treat before yoga.  I encourage all of our families to get their children involved in the kitchen.  It is so much fun for them, but also very meaningful work.  It builds their practical life skills as well as their confidence and coordination.  Just make sure they help with the cleaning too!

Bend, stretch, dance and wiggle.  When we are not able to go outside to run, we take time to incorporate physical activity into a lot of our  lessons.  We try to do jobs far away from where the materials are stored, so that we have to walk back and forth,  we dance and sing at circle.  Miss Darci even had a pretend sled right in our classroom!  So fun.  It is important that children receive regular “movement” breaks throughout their day, so when your cozying up to the fireplace this weekend, don’t forget to get those little guys up and moving!

Happy Birthday to Ava Katona!  She’s six!

Child quote of the week:

Ava Shirley:  “My dad has to dress all prettily for work. I don’t know why.”

 “When dealing with children there is greater need for observing than of probing” – Maria Montessori

This Week in the Oak Room

Wow! What a busy week in the Oak Room.  Our children were working so hard and exploring so many new things!

We are learning a lot about what we hear around us.  Sounds are everywhere.  The children were introduced to different kinds of sound this week;  Living, Natural, and Artificial.  Maybe over the long weekend you and your child can listen for these different types of sound sources at home and while you’re out.

For our peace lesson this week, we have been talking to the children about being kind and have had two more ribbons added on to the kindness wreath.  The kids really enjoy this activity and have been thinking of ways to make Miss Darci and I notice they have performed an “act of kindness.”

Welcome to our newest student Gurpartap!

It’s cold, but please remember that we do go outside if it is above 32 degrees, so send those hats and mittens!

Flu season is most definitely here.  We sanitize the classrooms regularly, but we are spending more time together indoors.  If your child is running a fever or exhibiting any flu-like symptoms, please keep them at home until they are symptom-free for 24 hours. Thanks you.

Next week we will continue our study of Asia with a focus on the country of India.  The children will be making flags, preparing food and learning about what life is like for children who live in that particular part of our world.

Child quote of the week:

Celia: “Miss Holly, Santa Claus stinks.  I asked for a Barbie and he brought me a ukulele.”

Note: Celia speaks very fondly of her ukulele, but has made this statement to me every day since returning from break.  I’m not at all sure what she needs me to do with this information.  Maybe I’ll have to write Santa!

“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.” – Maria Montessori