Classroom 1 November/December in Review

It was so great to be able to talk with all of you at Parent-Teacher Conferences! We hope you

find the information helpful. The children are doing amazing things every day and to be able to

share some of that with parents is a pleasure.

The cold weather appears to be here a bit early this year. Please make sure your child has a

hat, coat, mittens, snow pants, and boots (when the snow arrives) each day. Make sure

everything is labeled with your child’s name; - this will make it easier to find it on the playground

or in the lost and found. We will go outside everyday for 35-50 minutes unless the temperature

is below zero, with the wind chill. The children are getting better every day at dressing for

the weather.

The children have been busy learning how to sew a button on fabric (Thanks Misty!), learning

about different types of dinosaurs, and making collages using dried flowers, paper, burlap

strings, glitter pieces and more. We have also been practicing taking turns speaking at line

time. We love to watch the children share information with the class in a larger group. Children

can choose if they have something to share or choose not to share anything.

To be able to learn any skill, we must first be able to concentrate. In the last newsletter, I shared

some information on watching children have that “a-ha” moment while they are working, that

look of deep concentration and focus while they master a skill. Montessori classrooms

intentionally work on having children learn the skill of concentration. This happens in many

ways in the classroom. The first way we foster learning concentration is through the open

uninterrupted work cycle. Children are able to choose a work of interest to them and work with

it for as long as they need to.

Another way we foster concentration is through repetition.

Children can choose to do a work repeatedly until they feel they have mastered it. Once a work

is mastered, a child can give another child a lesson on that work. The steps and sequence of

the many works in the classroom, especially in practical life also help to develop concentration.

For example, painting at the easel involves getting paper on the easel, choosing paint colors, painting, then taking the paper off the easel, washing the paint brushes, washing the easel and returning the cleaning materials to the easel, ready to use for the next person. Steps in a sequence help to develop concentration. We model for the children how to do the work and provide an environment that is orderly and not over stimulating.