A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of December 2 - Absorbent Minds Montessori School

“The greatest gifts we can give our children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” – Maria Montessori

I found a wonderful, short article explaining this quote by Dr. Montessori on private schools that I wanted to share. You can find it below.

“Giving children age-appropriate responsibilities allows them to become accountable to themselves and others, as well as the environment around them. In life, there are consequences for actions, both positive and negative, and a Montessori child learns this essential life skill. The person in charge of the in-home care and directresses allow children to make age-appropriate decisions regarding their immediate needs. This develops a child’s independence and confidence knowing that they can do things for themselves. These skills inspire self-esteem as they enable children to learn to help themselves.” – Peel Montessori Private School

This second year student is working with the Verb Command Cards. Doing this at this seemingly early stage is common practice in private schools because they are usually a bit more advanced and go through regular curricular material a bit faster than normal schools. These cards give students directions to follow like, “Smile at a friend,” or “Spin the globe.” After completing these directions, students record the sentences in their notebooks and draw the grammar symbols above each word. Being able to recognize grammar symbols allows students to recognize patterns in writing, which improves their own writing and reading skills!

This second year student is recreating one of our botany charts. She has learned about the types of leaf margins and is making her own chart to continue her studies of the leaf! She drew a chart with the entire leaf, then drew another chart where she is highlighting the margin of the leaf with another color! Exposing students to advanced terminology, like the names of leaf margins, allows them to pay closer attention to nature, which leads to a greater appreciation for our Earth.

This Upper Elementary student is completing a research chart about the history of chemistry! He was interested to learn more about Niels Bohr and how many women have made amazing contributions to the field!

These students are completing a microscope slide study! They cut small letters and pictures from a magazine, created a slide with distilled water, and recorded their observations.

They were calling themselves “The Mustache-keteers” while completing their study!

REMINDERS:

Wednesday, December 11 – Christmas Show Rehearsal – This is NOT a dress rehearsal. Please take your child to the restroom before dropping them off to us at 5:45. Elementary students can be dropped off/picked up in the auditorium.
Friday, December 13 – Elementary Box Tops Pizza Party and Christmas Sweater/Shirt Day – Elementary will be celebrating winning the Box Tops collection with a Christmas Sweater/Shirt Day and pizza for lunch. Your child will still need to bring their own snack for the day and a water bottle.
Friday, December 13 – Christmas Show – Please take your child to the restroom before dropping them off to us by 5:30. Elementary students should be dropped off/picked up in the auditorium. There is no after care this day! Students must be picked up by 3 pm.
Friday, December 20 – Pajama Day – Students may wear their pajamas to school and bring a pillow and blanket for our afternoon movie. We will still be holding student-teacher conferences in the morning!

“The greatest gifts we can give our children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” – Maria Montessori

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