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, Sept. 12th– New Parents’ Night 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 12th– Scholastic Book orders due
Thursday, Sept. 13th– Co-curricular registrations due
Thursday , Sept. 20th– Back to School Night for parents 7:00 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 21st– Sneak Up on Hunger – please send a canned good in your child’s bag to be donated to local food shelters
Tuesday, Sept. 25th – Ancillae Moms' and Dads' Volunteer Fair – 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 27th – Compass Diversity and Inclusion Meeting – 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 28th – New Parents' Coffee – 8:30 a.m.
Teachers' Favorite Books
Swimmy by Leo Lionni
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Bein' With You This Way by W. Nikola-Lisa
Will I Have a Friend? by Miriam Cohen
My First Week of School by Derrick Gantt & Joanette Parker
Resources
Announcements
Welcome to the new school year! It was exciting to meet many of you at our Meet the Teachers event and we cannot wait to begin our new journey together this September.
At school we will journey together in hospitality by learning our friends’ names, using our morning greetings, inviting everyone to sit at our lunch table, sharing our toys at recess, inviting another child to be a work partner during classroom work
At home, we can journey together in hospitality by preparing a special snack when a friend comes over, inviting a classmate to come to my house for a playdate, using our “please “ and “thank you”, responding when someone says “Hello”, offering a handshake when meeting someone new, offering to help a younger brother or sister.
Montessori Inspiration
“We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe and are connected with each other to form one whole unity.” Maria Montessori
Our First Days
Class Pages
SSM
SSM - September
In the Classroom
Monthly Themes: Apples, Orchards, Making Friends, School Routines, Transportation, Pledge of Allegiance, Circle Time
Season: Fall
Color: Red
Shape: Circle
Letter: A
Science: Apples and Seeds
Religion: Morning Prayer
Songs, Books, Prayers
Songs: "Wheels on the Bus"
Books: First Day of School, Eye Spy Colors, Ten Apples Up on Top
Felt Board: Apples
Apple Painting
Happy Birthday!
Schedule Info
Tuesday- Music
Wednesday- Spanish
Thursday- Gym
Special Dates & Events
Back to School Night
Thursday, September 20th 7:00 p.m.
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
Beginning Together
Preschool
Preschool - September
Monthly Message
We are off to a great start to our journey together. The children are learning the names of friends and teachers, where to find their cubby, the routines of work time and so much more. We look forward to meeting all our parents at Back to School Night on Thursday, September 20th so we can share with you in more detail the routines of a Montessori classroom and the philosophy that will guide our journey this year.
Themes: Friendship, Sea Life, Our World, Shapes, Apples
Our area boxes will highlight work choices in each area of our classroom.
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.
Practical Life
This area assists in refining the movements of the child through activities such as pouring, sponging, spooning, and stringing. The child will practice the “Practical” tasks in life such as our button dressing frame, screwdriver board, polishing a mirror, sweeping, and cutting cucumbers. As the year progresses, the tasks grow in refinement and complexity to increase concentration and a growing sense of order. Materials are sequenced so that each new activity challenges the child to focus and organize to complete the task at hand.
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
Show and Tell is a wonderful opportunity for your child to share a bit of home here at school. It provides the experience of talking in front of a group. To further enrich this experience, a weekly theme is scheduled. It is our hope that we can reinforce the basic skills of classification, colors, shapes, sounds, and more with these themes. A great way to make learning fun! Please assist your child in finding a favorite item that might fit into our theme of the week. As a peace-filled community, we ask that you support our peaceful classroom environment and do not send in toy guns or weapons. We request that this treasure be able to fit inside your child’s school bag for a safe transport from home to school and back home again. Please label all items that come to school. We do our best for a safe return but many children may have a similar toy and it is quite difficult to find the owner without a name. Breakables are best left at home.
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.
September themes: Fridays
21st- Round
28th Red
Kindergarten
Kindergarten - September
Monthly Message
Hip, hip hooray
We are starting K!
Your children have jumped into K ready to learn. Children were excited to see old friends and welcome our new friends too. Teachers look forward to seeing our parents at Back to School Night to share the Montessori philosophy and share a map for our journey this year.
KA Highlight
Children have jumped right into our work choices and learning fun!
KB Highlight
Our journey is off to a great start as we are working with partners and making new friends.
KC Highlight
After reading The Kissing Hand and A Pocketful of Kisses by Audrey Penn, children made their hand print placing fingers in the sign of "I Love You".
Writing Lab
Kindergarten children will 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.
The first weeks of our journey include:
*Letter recognition a-z
*Letter formation from a-z for lower case letters
*Sound recognition (consonants and vowels)
* Print awareness
* Word awareness
* Story retelling and comprehension
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
Kindergarten will travel the world this year. We begin with the planet Earth as we look at our solar system in September. Each month, we will move to a continent of the world where we will look at the natural treasures, customs, wildlife and other interesting discoveries from that land. In October, our first continent travels will land us in Antarctica. 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
Each month in Kindergarten, an animal is featured. Children are fascinated to learn about turtles this month. We are learning of the many types of turtles, the parts of a turtle, what they eat and where they live.
Prayer
Jesus, I stand with you to say thank you for another day
For hands to feel and eyes to see and all your loving gifts to me.
Teach me in your words to talk, help me in your ways to walk.
Guide and bless me from above. Jesus, it is you I love.
Amen.
Work Choice Spotlight
The Moveable Alphabet
The Moveable Alphabet is cutouts of the lower case letters that allow your child to handle the actual letter shape. The Moveable Alphabet is fun for the child to practice alphabetic order, beginning sounds, ending sounds, middle sounds and the formation of entire words. When your child has mastered six to seven letter sounds using the Sandpaper Letters, we introduce those same letters from the Moveable Alphabet. For example, the c, a, and t. Your child will learn how to use these letters to form the word cat.
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).