The Montessori Minute
September 22, 2006
News
? Birthday blessings to Cahal Morehouse and Alyssa Nauska who are both in Matt's class. They turned 8 this week!
? ALL Innisbrook Gift Sale packets need to be returned to classroom teachers (with completed forms and order money) on MONDAY, September 25th,
? Glacier Valley Breakfast Club
Kids can purchase breakfast in the gym from 7:35-7:50 a.m. for $1.00. The Breakfast Club is seeking both food and monetary donations to keep this program open. If you would like to help, please contact Stacey Morehouse at 463-1801.
In the Classrooms
Cory
A gargantuan hello from Cory and the lower elementary children,
This week we do our first homework sharing. Be sure to ask how it went and find out about some of the interesting things people shared about. It's a great opportunity to practice our respectful listening skills, find out about our friends interests, and get our teeth into a bit of public speaking. For those children with trepidation about it, remember that sharing is encouraged and supported but optional.
Please remember to watch out for papers coming home. I know it can feel like a deluge sometimes but it's good to get in the habit of checking with your children each day to see if they brought anything home. Speaking of things coming home, be on the lookout for a cursive practice sheet that shows how to form the cursive alphabet. If many of you are like I was perhaps your own cursive fell by the wayside years back. I've had to work hard to bring mine back up to speed for teaching Montessori. The worksheet shows all of the starting and stopping points for both upper and lower case. When you have time, help support your children with their letter formation (both print and cursive). The children know that their homework final drafts should be in their most beautiful handwriting. Those who can write in cursive (even if it's only some letters) should do so.
Also be on the lookout for book bags coming home next week for those readers who need extra time reading. The importance of this crucial skill obviously cannot be overstated. The strong emphasis here at school coupled with work at home helps everyone read with greater fluency and get more enjoyment from it.
Our class book order may be a bit later than the other classes due to an ordering snafu with Scholastic. Please be patient. Many parents have asked for ways to they can help out. If anyone wants to volunteer to do the book ordering in the future, I'd be grateful for the leg up.
Some of the interesting things this week include some lessons in knot tying. Those who are learning to tie a square knot and a fisherman's knot are writing instructions for how to do it in their own words once they have the knot down pat. What great language practice it is to put a process you understand in your head into your own words on paper. Our second "Art Wednesday" was great and came with an unexpected twist as we started the process of making the group collage that we'll continue with next week. We also learned about complimentary colors and analogous colors.
Until next week, enjoy your beautiful children.
Cory and the children
Matt
Classroom Needs
We have a river tank that has molded plastic glued in the tank. Some of the plastic has detached from the glass, so we need to secure it again. Does anyone have or know of glue that is "fish-safe"?
- We could use a small bottle of wood glue and super glue for some of our materials.
- We could use a box of Gallon Size Ziploc bags for book bags and library books.
- We could use several bottles of Waterless Hand Sanitizer (62% or higher)
Homework is due Friday, September 29th
Last week we had thirteen kids that wanted to share their work! We saw a shark and whale display, a person brought in their dog (they checked with Matt and the class before doing this), someone cooked pretzels, someone wrote about their little sister and brought in pictures, and many people wrote stories. We heard suggestions on how to be a better presenter, like skipping lines when they write, practicing at home, using a louder voice, and keeping their paper down so we can see their face. We can't wait to see what next week has in store.
With many of our lessons we try to use stories to bring what we are teaching to life for the kids. We attempt to spark their imagination, to get them thinking about the subject being presented. This week we finished a story about the "cosmos". Some of the tidbits of interest in the lesson are that many of the things we can think of are a solid, liquid or gas. We explored the characteristics or "laws" these states of matter follow using experiments. We talked about the coldness and darkness of space, imagining that our cold would be hot compared to the cold in space. If we were to try and drive to the sun, it would take over a hundred years! (With no breaks and going at a rate of 100 mph) Once we finished our story, we explored solids; learning that we can classify solids as rigid, elastic or plastic, depending on the force that is put upon them. There were a number of other little items of interest in the stories that the kids picked up that I haven't listed here, ask your child what they remember from the story.
In writing this week, several children had lessons in grammar using the grammar boxes. Each grammar box allows a child to explore a part of speech. For example, if they are working on the verb grammar box, they learn that a verb is an action word. Each box has a number of examples that the children read, act out, and form with word cards and then in their own handwriting. In each example the only part of speech that changes is the part of speech being studied. So, a verb card may state, "Lock the door. Close the door"; the only item that changed was the action/verb.
We are getting close to being ready for short-visits (30 minutes) from observers. Look for next week's Minute as to when you can start to schedule times.
Matt
Chris
With concentration and a bit of abandon, we've been exploring scientific laws, forces, and concepts. We are working with these geographic ideas through observation, experiments, demonstrations, and conversation. Remember that geography means "writing about the earth" and so we are discussing forces and events of nature! We have re-visited gravity, cohesion and adhesion, centripetal and centrifugal force - that old water in the swinging bucket trick. Ask for a demonstration at home (tee hee)! We also looked at objects falling through space and respective rates of speed. And haven't we all experienced friction and inertia too? We looked particularly at the deceptively complex (i.e. it's really simple) concept of inertia. We investigated the three states of matter - solid, liquid, gas - in terms of movement, force, and as bodies at rest and in motion. You may need to dig out a jar, a candle, and a few other items for the in-home versions!
We also got into a discussion about the sun; it's size relative to the earth, location, its composition and so on. THEN, along comes the autumnal equinox today and that led us into further exploration of elliptical orbits of our planets and the result of that orbiting action - the seasons! Rotation gives us day and night and revolution gives us the seasons. Some of us also had quite the exploration of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. That was fun!
Homework continues on its merry way. The children and I have talked about homework several times this week. In the parent packet you received at our August parent meeting, I sent home a homework calendar for the entire year. If you were unable to attend, I sent it home with your children the next day. If you have mis-placed yours and would like another, please ask for another. Please consult the calendar and information sheets that were sent home for what's due and when, as well as ideas for community service. There are two items due every month - a book report from the Battle of Books' list for your child's grade and a community service essay. Plan ahead so that these are enjoyable and not a chore!
I sure can't think of a better way to spend my days than with your lovely children everyday. Have a great weekend! Chris
et cetera
? TONIGHT - FRIDAY FUN NIGHT for 3/4/5/6th graders at GV. $5 admission, games, food items for sale, activities of all sort. Sounds like a blast!
? MONDAY September 25 Gift Wrap orders are due back. Hope you are all being successful! This Glacier Valley fundraising event helps support many programs at GV including the Discover Foundation, arts, and more.
? October 17 Montessori Borealis Family Potluck and Gathering 5:30-7 p.m. All are welcomed to join us. We are holding this event on Tues. as there will be no school Wednesday due to Alaska Day, or Thursday or Friday because teachers will across the district will be attending the statewide reading conference. Save the date and more information will follow.
? October 18, NO SCHOOL Alaska Day
October 19 & 20 NO SCHOOL Teacher In-service All teachers will be attending the State Reading Conference those days. The Juneau Reading Council is hosting it this year.
NEWS from the GV Site Council and Parent Group
Submitted by Stephanie Allison, GV Site Council member, Montessori parent
News from the GV Site Council
? Planning for Building Renovations will begin this month:
Three work sessions are scheduled: Sept 26, 3-5pm, Sept 28, 3-5pm, October 24, 3-5 pm. All work sessions will be in the Glacier Valley Library with parents and staff involvement welcome and needed. There are many items to be discussed in this planning phase, especially considering the intent to improve the site. Another area of great discussion will be the two alternatives of having work performed over multiple summers at an increased cost, or as one project during a school year.
? School Competitions:
There are 4 scholastic competitions at GV; Battle of the Books, Spelling Bee, Geography Bee and Continental Math League. Ted presented a plan that would have some competitions school-wide and others with teams designated as mainstream and Montessori. Several members of the site council were concerned that having this set up promotes an Us VS Them attitude and deteriorates the community feeling of the school. Site council members expressed the desire for more collaboration between mainstream and Montessori classrooms instead of direct competition.
? School Funding Presentation
Stephanie Allison announced a funding presentation on September 27th, 6:00, in the GV Library. The presentation will focus on the mechanics of school allocations, from the legislature down to the individual school. All district site councils will be specifically invited, presentation open to the public.
News from the Glacier Valley Parent Group (GVPG)
? Open House: The GV open house is September 14th, 6:00- 7:00pm. In keeping with the district's new nutrition policy, a tray of fresh vegetables will be available in each classroom.
? Discovery Southeast: The program works with students in 3rd grade through
5th grade. Sessions are fall, winter and spring for all three grades, 4 hours each season. The Discovery Southeast representatives stated that funding is available for up to 8 classrooms. There were 7 classrooms identified for the program: 2 each of 3rd, 4th & 5th grade and the EII class. Should the two E1 teachers develop a plan so their 3rd graders can participate there would not be an increase in cost or a problem with the naturalist's time.
? New Art is Elementary Teacher: Sara Conorro is the new Art is Elementary teacher. She will be working with K-3 and the EI classrooms. She has worked a lot with the Montessori AMP program and has worked with a Montessori Elementary school in Georgia.
? Morning Musicians: Morning Musicians is an instrumental instrument program open to 4th & 5th grade students, with meeting times 7:00 - 7:45 am, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. With the implementation of this program Glacier Valley becomes the only non-charter elementary school in the district with TWO instrumental music programs available at multiple grade levels!! Glacier Valley is providing instrumental music to 70 students, completely outside of school district funding!! The next time you see one of the teachers instrumental in these programs, take the time to thank them; Rick Trostel, Lorie Heagy & Mela O'Brien.
I did ask Lorie Heagy for an explanation of why the Montessori students were not included in Morning Musicians. She explained that Montessori already has an instrumental music program and when the grant applications was written the target was students who have no exposure to instrumental music.
There was a general discussion regarding collaboration between mainstream and Montessori programs and the continual efforts needed foster a combined GV Community. This general discussion continues with mutual respect and open dialogue.
? Minutes from the Site Council and GVPG meetings will be available on the GV website, http://www.jsd.k12.ak.us/gv/gv_groups/gv_groups.htm
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
Stephanie Allison
723-3092
slacpa@acsalaska.net
