Montessori Unit
Welcome
This Montessori Page and the pages dedicated to each level, SSM, PS, and K, feature classroom highlights and previews, school reminders and dates, and home connections. Pages are updated regularly, so check back frequently for new information!
Don't miss that classes pages are now directly below on this page. Just find the tab for your level and see what's happening!
Calendar
Wednesday, Oct. 31st – Student Holiday -Staff Development Day
Thursday, November 1st- All Saint's Day -Holyday & Holiday
Wednesday, November 7th - Picture day Kindergarten and Stepping Stones - please return order with payment
Thursday, November 8th - Picture Day for Preschool- please return order with payment
Sunday, November 11th- Pasta Supper - see oce for more information
Thursday, November 15th - SSM Thanksgiving Feast
Thursday, November 15th - Holiday Sip and Shop - see oce for information
Wednesday November 21st - Friday November 23rd - Thanksgiving Holiday
Teachers' Favorite Books
The Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving By Ann McGovern
Thanks for ThanksgivingBy Julie Markes
Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington
Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
Who Will Carve the Turkey This Year? By Jerry Pallotta
Dr. Pompo's Nose by Saxton Freymann
A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman
Resources
October Highlights
Announcements
Thank you for making our Halloween activities such a special TREAT for your children. We appreciate your time from prep work, to making costumes, to joining us for the SSM trip or 8th grade bazaar, and so much more. We are grateful for our wonderful parents.
Class and Individual Picture Days -
Wednesday November 7th - Kindergarten and Stepping Stones
Thursday, November 8th - Preschool.
Please watch for picture envelope. If interested in ordering pictures, please return envelope with payment by picture day. All children will be in class picture.
Join us for a fun family night at the Pasta Supper on Sunday, November 11th.
At school we will journey together in gratitude by: letting our friends and teachers know that we are grateful to be able to spend the day together, praying, saying thank you, learning how to say "Thank you" and "You're welcome" in sign language and Spanish, taking care of our room and materials in gratitude of our beautiful classrooms.
At home, we can journey together in gratitude by: sharing at the dinner table one good thing that happened in our day, by making a gratitude prayer and adding one thing each night that we are thankful for to our prayer, making a gratitude list and read the full list at the end of the month, making thank you cards with a special message to give to relatives on Thanksgiving day.
Montessori Inspiration
"The needs of mankind are universal. Our means of meeting them create the richness and diversity of the planet. The Montessori child should come to relish the texture of that diversity."Maria Montessori
Class Pages
SSM
Stepping Stones-November
In the Classroom
Monthly Themes: Giving Thanks, Pilgrims, Native Americans, Corn, Turkeys, Setting the Table
Season: Fall
Color: Brown
Shape: Rectangle
Letter: D, E, F, G
Art Medium: Stamping with Paint
Science: Corn and Turkeys
Religion: Bible Stories and Gratitude
Songs, Books, Prayers
Songs: "A Turkey is a Funny Bird"
Books: Our First Thanksgiving
Felt Board: The Little Ren Hen
Halloween
Happy Birthday!
Schedule Info
Tuesday- Music
Wednesday- Spanish
Thursday- Gym
Special Dates & Events
Stepping Stones Feast
November 15th 9:30 AM
Please RSVP to our Feast.
Contact Us
Mrs. Beth Mahan
Ext: 200 VM: 351
bmahan@ancillae.org
Mrs. Nicole Giorgione
Ext: 390
ngiorgione@ancillae.org
Mrs. Barbara Caffey
Ext: 340
bcaffey@ancillae.org
Fall Fun
Preschool
Preschool - November
Monthly Message
Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us each day. We look forward to November being a time to share, learn, and discover with our senses.
Themes: Fall, Leaves, Secondary colors, Gratitude, Pumpkins, 5 senses,
Our area boxes will highlight work choices in each area of our classroom.
Practical Life
" The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one's self." ~ Maria Montessori
Sensorial Area
“The senses, being explorers of our world, open the way to knowledge.” ~ Maria Montessori
Math Area
“Children display a universal love of mathematics, which is par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence. “ ~ Maria Montessori
Culture Area
“Within the child lies the fate of the future.” ~ Maria Montessori
Language Area
“Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as the enthuse him to his inmost core.” ~Maria Montessori
Science Area
"We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry." ~ Maria Montessori
Halloween!
Friends With Frames
Contact Us
PSB
Clare Brown cbrown@ancillae.org x 339
Karla Russek krussek@ancillae.org x 385
PSR
Megan St. John mstjohn@ancillae.org x 373
Karen Vizza kvizza@ancillae.org x 342
PSW
Marianne Egner megner@ancillae.org x 341
MaryBeth Scher mscher@ancillae.org x 346
Specials
Specials teachers:
Gym- Aleah Conlin
Art- Brittany Flanigan
Music- Gen Black
Spanish- Dena Brown
PSB - Mon- GYM Tues- ART Wed- ART Thurs- MUSIC Fri- SPANISH
PSR - Tues- MUSIC Wed- ART Fri- GYM & SPANISH
PSW - Mon- GYM Tues- ART Wed-ART & SPANISH Thurs-MUSIC
Show And Tell
We appreciate your assistance in making this a fun experience for your child. Make a game out of finding an item that fits into our weekly theme. Please talk with your child ahead of time about what could be shared about this item with his/her classmates.
November themes: Fridays
2nd- Something with a scent
9th - Something hard or soft
16th- Something I am thankful for
30th- Something red or green
Prayers
To Start our day:
Spirit of Life, we thank you for our new school day.
St. Raphaela Mary, Pray for Us.
Before lunch:
Thank you dear Jesus. This day is for you.
We ask you to bless all we think, say, and do.
Amen.
Prayer Corner
October is the month of the Rosary. We are learning about Mary. Children are introduced to the Hail Mary and Rosary in our Prayer Corner.
Artist of the Month
Wassily Kandinsky was born in Russia in 1866. Music and color had a huge impact on Kandinsky's paintings. His paintings were made up of color and shapes alone because he did not believe his paintings needed to be a particular subject. Kandinsky was one of the founders of abstract art.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten - November
Monthly Message
November continues our study of fall. We will talk about gratitude as we learn about the first Thanksgiving. Skills we are working on include beginning and ending sounds, patterns, greater than & less than numbers. We continue our study of birds by moving from the identifying penguins to learning more about the habits of our own backyard feathered friends. In music, the children will begin to practice songs for our Christmas celebration.
Halloween!
KA Highlight
Learning the life cycle of a pumpkin.
A month of pumpkins!
KB Highlight
Sharing our bible song that starts our religion class each week. We will continue through November to focus on Old Testament stories.
KC Highlight
We practiced our fine motor skills while having Halloween fun!
Writing Lab
Kindergarten children visit the writing lab in ½ cluster groups three times a week. The Fundations program is incorporated into these sessions. Fundations is a reading program that uses a systematic and explicit approach to reading and spelling words with phonics. The skills taught through Fundations, are laying the necessary foundations for your child to become a fluent, independent reader.
Learning our punctuation marks!
Contact Us
KA
Bevin Bodnar bbodnar@ancillae.org ext. 396
KB
Chrissy Ragg cragg@ancillae.org ext. 395
KC
Marianna Farrell mfarrell@ancillae.org ext. 394
Writing Lab
Angela Olbrich aolbrich@ancillae.org ext. 345
World Travels
Our travels land us in Australia for the month of November. The children will be learning where Australia is located on the globe, that Aborigines are native to Australia, and the unusual animals that are unique to the continent and much more. Children are welcome to bring in artifacts, books, and items that connect to our travels which will be displayed for the month on our windowsill display. We would like to invite our parents to come in and share your travels or heritage during the month we are studying the continent. Children are welcome to bring in pictures, artifacts, and books that connect to our travels which will be displayed for the month on our windowsill display and shared at circle time.
Creature Feature
Our creature feature this month is the Turkey. Turkeys are birds who roost at night. When a turkey is nervous it head can turn blue, white or red and when it's calm their head is usually gray or violet. Ask your child what other fun facts they are learning about turkeys!
Prayer
Thank you for the wonderful mountains
Thank you for the wonderful oceans
Thank you for the wonderful snowflakes
Thank you for the wonderful flowers
Thank you for the wonderful vegetables
Thank you for the wonderful trees
Thank you for the wonderful rain
Thank you, thank you, thank you GOD!
Amen
Work Choice Spotlight
The Cards and Counters
The Cards and Counters are a part of the Montessori math curriculum and are used to strengthen the child’s understanding of numbers and quantities from 0 – 10. Its purpose is to highlight the knowledge that each number is made up of separate quantities, to verify that the child has mastered his/her understanding of the sequence of numbers and to strengthen the concept that separate units come together to form each number.
Specials
Specials teachers:
Gym- Aleah Conlin
Art- Alexia Perrine
Music- Gen Black
Library- Karen Sabatino
Spanish- Dena Brown
Religion- Jane Diorio
KA - Mon- GYM Tues- RELIGION & SPANISH Wed- MUSIC Thurs- ART & LIBRARY
KB - Mon- SPANISH & RELIGION Wed- MUSIC & ART Fri- LIBRARY & GYM
KC - Mon- GYM Tues- RELIGION & SPANISH Wed- MUSIC Thurs- ART & LIBRARY
On Wednesdays, Kindergarten rotates through afternoon enrichment classes taught by each Kindergarten teacher: Sign/Spanish (Bodnar), Religion (Ragg), and Yoga (Farrell).