Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 21
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Hello Montessori Kindergarten Families,
Welcome to our first full week FULL DAYS back on campus! We ended this week in a spectacular way at the Multicultural Fair. Thanks so much to our parents that had tables at the event! And thank you to those who came and walked the Fair with the class. I truly hope you enjoyed it as well.
The following is a brief recap of the week. We have begun to delve into the foundation of History and Geography and in the next couple of weeks we will begin our Ecology unit:
MONDAY:
-Physical Science — Force of Motion: occurrences on the playground. We talked about all the devices you can find on a typical playground and what force you would use to create movement: PUSH/PULL/BOTH. We also created some ramps in the classroom and charted on graphs the following information: Does it go down a ramp? Does it knock down a box? using everyday items
-Handwriting: lowercase h,b
-math: addition and subtraction (student’s choice)
TUESDAY:
-History: defined as the “study about how people, places and things in our world have been recorded on our Earth”
Lesson 1: How do we keep track history? the class was introduced to instruments used to mark time: kitchen timer, clock, watch, calendar
-Language: writing sentences that end in verbs
-Math: what two numbers comes before/what two numbers come after, recognizing numbers out of order (this is a GREAT ONE to practice at home!), domino math
WEDNESDAY:
-conjunction review — and — and introduce or
- Geography: South America — carnival, dolphin, empanadas
-Geography lesson using a map of Arizona, a compass and a small container of dirt. Geography is defined as “ the study of people and places in our world, and how the Earth has and is still changing today.”
-handwriting: q,x
-MOLA art (a style of artwork found mostly in South America)
THURSDAY:
-Discussion Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Video: Kid President (1st 2.5 minutes)
-Sentence building: “He had a dream”, what is your dream?
-Geography: South America — futbol
-Reading Comprehension: “My New Friend is so Fun” by Mo Willems, What are the characters, what is the setting? How can you figure out what the setting is?
FRIDAY:
-MULTICULTURAL FAIR
-Forces of Motion: roll/does not roll
-Review: Geometric solids (which shapes tend to roll)
-Geography lesson: primitive map making
Lesson: “A map is a picture that tells a story. Maps can make a large place look small. Maps show what a place looks like from up high. Some maps tell us about the weather while others tell us about where to find places/things and how to go from one place to another.
“Maps were first drawn with a stick in the dirt and then on cave walls. Later maps were made of clay. silk, parchment, sticks, paper, etc. Today you will find maps on your computer or iPad or GPS.
“1st map symbols were very simple and childlike. Symbols used were to indicate specific things like mountains, population. lakes, etc.
“People that make maps are called cartographers.”
-Geography: South America — Galapagos Island (review of land and water forms — archipelago)
Blue footed booby and finches are found here — try to research what they look like and bring a picture to school on Tuesday.
-handwriting/writers workshop — label parts of a person: head, feet, leg, hand, ear
REMEMBER: make your t-shirts for the 100 Day Celebration on January 23, 2018
Have an adventurous 3 day weekend!
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren