A Peek at Our Week | Elementary | Week of November 5

“The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life.” – Maria Montessori

One of my favorite things about the Montessori Elementary Philosophy, that also might be the toughest thing to adjust to as a new Elementary student, is the amount of responsibility and freedom our students have. I envy that they have the opportunity at the age of 6 or 7 to begin learning how they learn best, how to manage their time, how to prioritize, how to ask adults or peers for help, how to work with people that aren’t your best friend and still produce a great project, how to reflect on your week of work and social interaction and find ways to improve, things to be proud of, and to set a goal for the following week. While this is a struggle for some new students more than others, they are always, always trying again the next week. Their peers are asking how their conference went and asking them what they think they could improve, or telling them they did a good job and that they noticed how hard they worked on a certain assignment. I see students asking others if they can help them plan their time or if they can explain what they have found to be successful in the past. I hear older students saying things like, “Oh, I remember that work. I had a hard time with it, too, but it gets easier when you practice.” Imagine if, at their age, you had the support system of friends, that you may have known longer than your own siblings, that are (almost) always willing to encourage and guide you when you struggle, and that never stop believing in you. Why weren’t we all educated this way! Find more useful information a level tuition centre and get educated.

The first year students have recently learned how to use a dictionary. They have been practicing alphabetizing for a few weeks and we discussed how that work helps with a dictionary. We found guide words on each page and talked about how to find the part of speech, pronunciation, and definition. Our first year students can now participate in our “Word of the Day” and find the homophones on their spelling lists.
Some of our students traveled to Tallmadge Circle a few weeks ago to review how to use a compass and to create a map. Our students have been sharing their colored map and explaining what they found most exciting and most challenging about the project. Some of our students shared organization tips and coloring ideas!
These second year students are measuring angles they have drawn using a protractor. Now that many of our second year students can add on paper, they can check if their angles are indeed supplementary or if they need to remeasure.
These second year students are practicing reading numbers on the Checkerboard. Before they can multiply large numbers, they need to be able to read their multiplicand, multiplier, and product. To prepare them for recording a product, they write down the number they have read after a friend lets them know that they have read it correctly. These students are reading the number 999,999,999!

“A Peek at Next Week”

Next week, first year students will subtract on the Small Bead Frame, will practice dividing syllables, will continue studying the Fundamental Needs of Humans, will begin dinosaur research, and review the external characteristics of mammals. The second year students will review Rainbow Factoring, will study past and present tense verbs, will continue studying the Fundamental Needs of Humans, and will draw angles with a protractor. Third year students will add fractions with like denominators, continue studying Fundamental Needs of Humans, will discuss singular possessives of nouns, and will discuss the main characteristics of cnidarians. Fourth year students will find common factors, will practice writing commas and quotation marks in dialogue, will continue studying area, and will classify kingdoms of living things. Fifth year students will find the divisibility rules of 11, will study garbology, will find the parts of a circle, and will research mammals.

REMINDERS:

  • Thursday, November 15 – Operation Christmas Child Packing – please check out the messages in Remind from Ms. Lisa to get more information
  • Friday, November 16 – Parent-Teacher Conferences – This is a No School Day for students and there will not be childcare available. Please send me any lessons you would like to see during our time together!
  • Tuesday, November 20 – Ms. Courtney’s room and our room will cook and bake together to celebrate friendship and the things we are thankful for. Your child will not need a lunch this day. Please look for the sign-up list soon to help us make this possible.
  • Thanksgiving Break – November 21-23

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