Hello All,
The first week of school is over and it was a wonderful week. It has been so fun seeing all the returning students and getting to know all the new students. I am so excited for this year and all the learning and growing we will do together.
I am so excited to invite you all to a family luncheon that the school will be holding this coming Thursday, August 22, from 12 o’clock noon to 1:00 pm. We would love for you to come and enjoy lunch with our class from 12 to 12:30 and then play some team building games until 1 pm. I realize this is short notice and hope that many of you will be able to take some time to come by even if it is just during your lunch and only for part of the time. We are eager to get to know those of you that are new to our school and/or class and to get reacquainted with those of you we haven’t seen since summer started. I truly hope we get to see you all there. It will be a fun time to enjoy lunch together and play games and have a relaxing time. Please make sure your child has a sack lunch that does not need to be heated up for that day and bring one for yourself as well as a blanket if you would like.
We did a lot of fun getting to know you games and team building games. We will continue to do more get to know you things and more team building throughout the next couple weeks and also throughout the year. We have also been learning grace and courtesy. This includes things like walking respectfully in the halls, how to reply to someone who greets you, and washing hands as well as many other things. Though we hit on these hard at the beginning of the year, we will continually practice them and review them as needed throughout the year.
This week we will begin some works. We will ease into our work cycle by doing a few works a day and adding as the students are ready. Along with our regular math and language works, we will have many practical life works for the students to practice. These are things that will help your child learn to do everyday activities that are needed in life, such as sorting and folding clothes.
We will also be starting our Great Lessons this week. These Great Lessons are The Birth of the Universe, The Coming of Life, The Coming of Man, History of Language, and History of Math. These lessons are designed to spark the children’s curiosity and wonder. Since we are a lower elementary classroom, we do not dig super deep into all these areas. We teach the children about theories and share with them that these great lessons are theories and may or may not be true, and that they are someone’s best guess. We invite the children to share their theories, and stress that the most important theory for them is the one taught in their homes. If you have any questions about The Great Lessons please feel free to email me. You can also visit this cite for more info. http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/The-Five-Great-Lessons_ep_66-1.html
I have posted the Year at a Glance for our classroom at the top of the blog. Please take a look at it and mark important dates on your personal calendar. I have not yet included field trips and home projects as all the details on these have not been finalized. I will get this information to you as soon as I have it.
Again, I am so excited for this fun new year and the great relationships and positive atmosphere we will get to enjoy.
Take care!
Jalee