Hello, Dear Families! 

 

 

It is our great pleasure to share with you some beautiful pictures from our past few months in the classroom.  Regardless of turmoil in our world, the process of learning, growing, and becoming for the child remains sure and steady.  We hope that these images of concentration and connection bring you a moment of peace. 

 

(And, as always, spend some time looking at the photos with your child – it makes a great conversation-starter!) 

 

 

From the shelves:

Look at all of this concentration!  From fall into winter we rotated through the themes of trees and leaves, the body, and now dinosaurs and geology.  We also made sure to have some festive fun with holidays along the way.  A few of the favorite theme works have included collecting and pressing leaves, leaf rubbing, brushing the gaint teeth, sorting 5 senses picture cards, the life-size skeleton puzzle, pretending to be a fossil, assembling the giant dino jigsaw puzzle, demonstrating a baking soda/vinegar volcano, and studying our colorful collection of real rocks and minerals.  Also, we’ve been doing watercolor painting in the art area along with color mixing as both a practical life and a science work.  (You may enjoy trying the color mixing experiment pictured here at home – it’s simply three jars, two colors of water, and two narrowly folded paper towels placed to wick the water together into the center jar, mixing the colors.)    Along with these novel theme works, the children are practicing and mastering the old and discovering the new day by day from each area of the classroom.   Oh, and Daphne and Velma, two guinea pigs who live at Mrs. Brown’s house, came to visit.  They’ll be back for future visits.

  

 

On Masks:

The children are all doing a wonderful, wonderful, beyond expectations job of wearing their masks and washing their hands!  Please continue to help your child keep up the good work by sending in masks with the best fit to remain fully over their mouth and nose. 

 

For disposable surgical masks, we came across this tip for reducing gaps and improving fit:  

• With clean hands,  fold the mask in half.
• Tie a knot in each ear loop, staying as close to the corners of the mask as possible.
• Open the mask.
• You’ll see a small opening at the sides of the mask, so tuck those sides in. Put it on!       

 

 

A Note on Weather and Clothing:  It is the children’s great joy to see snow falling and perhaps have a chance to go out in it.  Our play deck times are Monday and Thursday mornings and every afternoon after lunch.  The more children have proper clothing, the more we can take advantage of fresh air and sunshine (and maybe even snow!)  So, thank you for sending your children with warm coats, hats, boots, and mittens.  Please add snow pants to that list for snowy days so that the children can stay dry while sitting or kneeling on snow.

 

 

Thank You!

Thank you to the families who have brought in fresh fruits and vegetables and flowers for the class.  It means so much.   Thank you for continuing to bear with us as we weather the weekly, sometimes daily, changes and challenges in life as it is right now. 

 

Thank you for being your child’s sun and moon every day,  just by being you. 

 

 

 

 

Think of any questions or wonderings about the work or the classroom as you’ve been looking at the pictures?  Please feel free to reach out and ask.  We love to talk with you about your child and about Montessori!