A Montessori Tradition: The First Great Lesson

Today we did the First Great Lesson on how the universe came to be.  It is a powerful and exciting story with many cool experiments and demonstrations.  You can ask your child why Mrs. Wacker has sparkles in her hair!  

We also started sharing our personal stories about our names.  We have been enjoying learning about how our peers received their names. 

Homework in backpacks

I can decompose numbers.

We have been exploring ways of representing numbers.  Children have used tally marks, ten frames, pictures and number symbols.  Today we explored number bonds, to show how we can break a number apart.    It has a big circle to represent the whole number and two smaller circles to represent parts the number can be broken into.

This student is using a bonds model, to explore the number 5.   5=3+2

He also used this model to make 5=0+5,  5=4+1, 5=1+4 and 5=2+3

Breaking numbers apart (or decomposing numbers), is a very important skill that helps us with our mental math. 

I can explore and share my personal story.

In Social Studies, we will be exploring the unit:

1.2 Moving Forward with the Past: My Family, My History and My Community

We are starting this unit, by exploring ourselves and our personal stories.  This unit will require a lot of parental assistance, as the children will need to gain information about their personal stories through conversations with their families.  

Today we read the story Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes.    Your child has a sheet in their backpacks.  Please read the instructions and complete the form over the next couple of days.  We will be taking time for children to share their "Name Story" with the class.  (Picture of sheet below). If you need more space, please use the back of the page.   If you child has more than one name you can discuss that.  If your child has a name in another language, you can print on the sheet so it can be shared.  You or your child, can fill in the boxes with jot notes, but please make sure you have a good discussion and invite questions.  We are learning how each of our students is unique and special! 

 Oral speaking is an important skill to build your child's confidence.   Practice, asking the questions on the sheet and having your child answer them.  Make sure they include details and can speak to each question.   

We will start sharing tomorrow, and will share our names over the next week.

Montessori work period

  

Today was our 'official' start of Montessori work period. Students have been presented a couple Montessori lessons each to start their work period.
The pictures above are language lessons. Each child is working at their own ability level. Some are working on beginning letter sounds, others are sounding out consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, and others are working on vowel blends (ea, ou, oi, etc.)
The pictures below are math choices. Some students are comparing numbers, others are counting and recognizing numbers, and others are ordering numbers.
Each student is beginning this year with familiar lessons so we can set ourselves up for success. Your child may come home and say he/she has already learned this lesson. That's ok! We need to start simple and develop our stamina so we can ensure everyone is successful during this uninterrupted block of time.

  

Yeaaaahhh clubs!

Today students were very excited to start clubs.  It was an introductory day, where children found the spaces they are going to go to each day, met their group leaders, talked about their plans for the club and played games to learn about the members of their group (so no pies were baked in the baking club!)

 Fall, Winter and Spring clubs are listed on a piece of paper in your child's lunch kit. 

We continued to explore the 3 different balance activities in our classroom. 


In activity, children explored algebraic concepts of balancing equations.  The children physcially placed the objects in a pan balance and could visually see when the scale was in balance, showing the two sides had an equal mass.  Children here also understood that there can more than one answer to a question. 

Zones of Regulation and Feelings

Today we introduced our Zones of Regulation - this is a really great program that introduces students to self regulation (i.e. managing emotions). Our whole school uses this language so it shouldn't be new to students.
Today we simply started by talking about the different feelings we feel. We then used some watercolour paint to paint some Todd Parr inspired art. Todd Parr is the author of the The Feelings Book.
Throughout the year we will encourage students to identify their feelings, which zone they are currently in (green, blue, yellow, red) and how they can help self regulate to manage their emotions. It's important that children understand that all feelings are ok to feel, we just need to ensure we're dealing with certain feelings appropriately, depending on the situation.

Mrs. Spitzer's Garden

I can develop my muscle memory printing letters the same way every time. 

We have worked on "Downers" and "Rounders" families.  When practicing, we only print one family at a time.  (for example, we didn't practice lower case "e" with upper case "E", because they are formed in different ways.)

Kids are encouraged to verbalize their motor plan... "talk through the steps they will take". 

For the "Rounders", kids will say:
-Leave space for my letter
-Start near the top
-Go up, back and around...


I can compare objects and quantities.  

 Today we looked at three different balance activities.  We compared the mass  of different objects, we used blocks to measure the mass of objects and we used the Montessori balance which shows us how to balance equations.    Often kids think equals means....put the answer here.  A balance, helps kids understand that "equals" means both sides of the equation are equivalent.    ex.  1+3= 2+2

Today we learned a "Ten Frames" game called war.  You can also play this game with regular playing cards.  Children needed to say their number (no counting) and how they knew.
ie.  "I have 8, because 8 is two less than 10."
      "I have 6, because 6 is five and one more."

"I win because 8 is greater than 6."

Being able to verbalize your thinking is very important in math.


Today we read a fabulous book named Mrs. Spitzer's Garden.   It made us do a lot of thinking, as the author used a garden as a metaphor for the diversity of children in a classroom.  This book will help launch us on our big question of the year: "HOW DO WE GROW AND CHANGE".

So far, students brainstormed that:
-we will get bigger
-we may lose and grow new teeth (lost one today!)
-we might develop new hobbies
-make new friends
-learn new skills

After we read the book, the children worked on their "cut art" and patterning skills to create their own unique flower.  We hope to have OUR garden ready for parent for our Welcome Back Picnic.

Literacy Block

Today we had our first literacy block. Within our Grade 1/2 team, students will be moving classrooms every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We have created reading groups based on students' ability levels. Students will work with the same teacher for the next several weeks to develop specific reading skills at their level.
Each group is working on becoming independent readers. Today we talked about the expectations during our literacy block. We specifically talked about Read to Self, where students will be working independently to read their just right books.
Did you know there are 3 ways to read a book?
You can read the pictures by talking about them.
You can retell a familiar story to yourself.
You can read the words on the page.

We also talked about building our stamina. Students were able to follow the Read to Self expectations for 2-5 minutes, depending on their literacy group! By the end of the month, everyone's goal is to read for 20 minutes.