Valentine's Day and a Busy Two Weeks

 Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate with children.  They love exchanging affirmations with their friends. There is always a lot of smiles, happiness and joy in the classroom and it is inspiring to see.  Over the last two weeks we have continued with our studies in South America by looking closer at animals, plants, flags and important places.  In geometry we began our study of triangles by identifying the parts of a triangle.  In science we are continuing our study of human anatomy by looking at the digestive system which will soon lead to a look at nutrition.  In grammar students are continuing to identify prepositions, adverbs and interjections.  In addition students have been creating contractions and identifying suffixes. Students were able to practice making predictions using simple probability.  Finally, each student practiced writing and expository paragraph.  It is truly remarkable how much hard work the students are able to complete each week.  Have a wonderful weekend.

The Importance of a Routine

      In the Lower Elementary learning environment we post a daily schedule and review it with the students during our morning meeting.  Most students check the schedule everyday right after they arrive.  In fact we often have a group centered around the posted schedule discussing what is posted. For the most part, the schedule each week remains the same.  Children are able to easily predict what will happen in their day at school.  They can plan their morning and afternoon work based on the daily schedule.  They look forward to certain weekly events.  Knowing the schedule gives them a sense of control.  A consistent routine at home will reinforce the child's sense of control.  Consistent bedtimes, arrivals and departures from school set the child up for success at school. Doing homework each week is another way to set your child up for success.  Homework can be done on a consistent weekly schedule that allows your child to get the most out of the homework experience.  Please reach out to us if you have questions or need input on scheduling your child's work week.

    This week the students looked closely at the nervous system.  They labeled a diagram of the nervous system and studied the types of nerves.  We also began our addition work with fractions with different denominators.  Maria Montessori's fraction circle box helps the students use their "finger brains" to select a common denominator.  We also continued our work with suffixes, interjections, and prepositions. We also are continuing our focus on the operation of subtraction by supplying the missing minuend in a subtraction problem. Our study of South America was kicked off this week by having each student create their own map of the continent. In geometry we extended our study of angles by looking at angles created by two lines and a transversal.  As you can see, it was a very busy week.  We are all looking forward to exchanging Valentine's on Monday.  Remember to have your child label 38 Valentines with his/her name only.  Have a wonderfully peaceful weekend.

 

The First Week of February 2022

 It has been an interesting week in the Lower Elementary learning environment.  We continued our study of human anatomy by examining the respiratory system. We discussed types of adjacent angles and used the geometry stick box to construct a complementary angle and a supplementary angle.  We learned more about rounding by using rounding to estimate sums and products. We wrote summary paragraphs on North America and shared them with the group. We had a wonderful introduction to Black History Month.  Subtraction continues to be the operation of focus in mathematics.  Language lessons on contractions, suffixes, prepositions and interjections were presented.  Finally, we ended the week by taking a look at the Chinese New Year.  A student shared traditional red envelopes with the Lower Elementary teachers and students. It was a special treat and enjoyed by everyone.