The first two weeks in the Elementary classroom have a focus on team building and rules and routines. We spend a lot of time getting to know each other, working through our transition back to school, and practicing each step of a work cycle. Students even complain we don’t let them work enough! We set up the first two weeks this way to make sure students are prepared in the best way possible for a successful, independent year. Most weeks, our “Peek” will be a showcase of Lower Elementary lessons and work, Upper Elementary lessons and work, projects from our Enrichment classes, and any important upcoming events. Ms. Marlee, Ms. Erica, and I will be working together to bring this to you each week. One week a month, our students will write the “Peek.” Please enjoy this look at our first week!
Each first week of Encino schools, we have a gathering for “Expert Lessons.” This is a chance for our returning students to show new students different works they may choose independently or with a partner. This helps new students to our school, or just to our room, see different materials they could work with while we are working through our two transition weeks. This returning second year student explained to our new friends how to use “The Farm” for a geography or a grammar work!We begin each school year with “The Great Lessons.” These are lessons presented through storytelling and experiments to introduce students to the ideas of the beginning of the universe, the coming of life, the coming of humans, and the beginning of language and numbers. These lessons are meant to inspire students in their studies for the year. Our Upper Elementary students are always eager to be a part of the experiments!This was one of our questions from “Back to School Night.” Technology in the Montessori classroom is used as a supplement. Children use the internet for research when they have exhausted all book and encyclopedia resources. They learn to type, make Word documents, made presentations through PowerPoint, and make graphs through Google Sheets. We use technology to take virtual field trips and interact with experts in their fields to learn about things we may not be able to experience in our area.Ms. Marlee is presenting “The Laws of the Universe.” These lessons are extensions to “The Great Lessons.” The experiments allow the students to test the laws of the universe they heard about in our storytelling lessons to come to their own conclusions. The experiments will be on the shelves for a few weeks for the students to independently practice.
