Montessori Unit

See all Special Days 19-20 here!

Pajama Day:  January 9th

Beach Day: January 23rd

“Within the child lies the fate of the future.” ~ Maria Montessori

This area of the preschool environment exposes the child to an understanding of our world.  Starting with the whole and moving into smaller parts, the children first learns our world is made of air, land, and water.  The lands have been given names called continents. Within these continents, we explore the cultures, wildlife, natural treasures, countries, people and celebrations.  The children are exposed to the fine artists connecting with their weekly art class. This area develops the sense of our place in our world- to care for it and for each other.  We are all part of the world community.

"We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry." ~ Maria Montessori

This area introduces several disciplines of science:  botany – our study of plants, zoology -- our study of animals, physics -- our explorations and discoveries,  health – our study of our bodies and senses. It is an area of discovery and wonder as we take a closer look at the world around us.

“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

This area develops the various components of language that lead a child to be able to communicate as well as understand what is being communicated. The readiness skill to recognize differences and similarities, sequence and retell a story, understand position, and classify assist in a growing comprehension in both visual and auditory instruction.  In preparation for reading, all materials of the environment organize in a left to right, top to bottom layout to prepare the brain for tracking print. Children use multiple senses as they are introduced concretely to the symbol and sound relationship of letters. As this relationship develops, children will begin to blend the sounds to form words- a phonetic approach to reading readiness.   Children also experience extensive vocabulary in all areas of the environment. Many activities involve matching and labeling using the written word – a whole language approach to reading readiness. Children are moved at the pace in which they are prepared to be successful and gain confidence in expressing ideas and approaching the start in their reading journey.

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.

Our travels land us in Asia this month. 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. January 25th begins Chinese New Year. Children will take a closer look at this celebration and its traditions.

January's creature is big cats! This month we take a closer look at the feline family. We will enjoy learning more about jaguars, cheetahs, tigers, lions and leopards.  Each child will pick a favorite cat to add to our Kindergarten graph in the math room. 

Peace, peace, peace

Peace the whole world over

Building friendships 

Sharing our worth

Take my hand 

Let’s circle the earth

With peace, peace, peace.

                           Amen

The addition strip board is a gridded board that uses two sets of wooden, numbered strips to perform addition problems. The children complete sequenced addition problems by reading equations and combining different numbered strips to count their answers. The answers are noted on the board and the children are invited to record their sums with paper and pencil. The addition strip board provides a concrete way for children to begin solving and memorizing addition facts. 

Specials teachers:  
Gym- Aleah Conlin       Mon.: KA  KC   Fri.:  KB 
Art- Alexia Perrine Tara Carlos  Mon.: KC Wed.:KB Thurs.: KA
Music- Matthew Esposito   Wed.: KA KB KC
Library- Karen Sabatino   Thurs. KA KC. Fri.:  KB
Spanish- Dena Brown    Mon.: KB Tues.: KA KC
Religion- Jane Diorio    Mon.: KB Tues.: KA KC

On Wednesdays, Kindergarten rotates through afternoon enrichment classes taught by each Kindergarten teacher: Sign/Spanish (Bodnar), Religion (Ragg), and Yoga (Farrell).

We have begun Unit 2 in Fundations. In Unit 2, we will continue to work on phonemic awareness skills. We will be segmenting and blending sounds to read three-sound short vowel sound words. We will be working on putting our letters in alphabetical order and upper letter case letter formation. We are also continuing to practice trick words (sight words) daily.
In technology we are perfecting our keyboarding skills with the help of the Keyboarding Zoo games 1 and 2 on abcya.com. Students will also begin to have fun with bee-bots. Bee-bots are an exciting robot designed specifically for use with children. Bee-bots are a fun tool to help each sequencing, estimation, and problem solving. This first experience in coding is always a favorite!