Hello from classroom four. It was so nice to talk with most of you over the last couple of weeks. I love hearing all the stories about your children and feel so grateful to be in their lives. The children have been enjoying all the snack donations this year. The variety of fruits have been great for there little taste buds.
Please take a look at your child's extra clothes bin. With winter starting we will be getting wet on the playground and will need extra clothes. Please also look and see if they have the proper gear for outside as we will be going out unless the temperature is below zero with wind chill. We have limited extra mittens, boots, and snow pants.
Our teaching team has been having so much fun guiding your children through the last month of school. The children have been busy working with the traditional Montessori materials, such as tracing letters and working on the pronunciation of them. Others have been working on identifying the first sounds in words. Once this skill has been accomplished they work on identifying the last sound in words, then identifying the middle sound. This may take months of work for the child to accomplish. Once they have mastered these skills reading three letter words is within reach and is one of the great joys of our work to see the child’s inner happiness when they finally read for the first time.
The Language Development of the Child
When the child arrives in the Montessori classroom, he has fully absorbed his culture's language. He has already constructed the spoken language and with his entry into the classroom, he will begin to consolidate the spoken language and begin to explore the written forms of language.
Because language is an intrical involvement in the process of thinking, the child will need to be spoken to and listened to often. The child will need a broad exposure to language, with correct articulation, enunciation, and punctuation. The child will need to experience different modes of language and to hear and tell stories. Most importantly, the child needs to feel free and be encouraged to communicate with others.
With the child's absorbent mind the child by age six will have reached the 3rd point of consciousness in language where he understands that sounds and words have meaning and that these symbols can be used in writing. He will become fully articulate, he will be able to express himself in writing, he will be able to read with ease, and have a full comprehension of the thoughts of others.
These were Dr. Maria Montessori's words.
