Friday, May 14, 2021

May 10-14, 2021

Fractions

It might be May, but we are still learning brand new things in Pre-K! This week, the Pre-K students were introduced to fractions. Yes, you read that right - FRACTIONS! One of my favorite Montessori materials are the Fraction Circles. They provide students with a simple visual representation of what a fraction is (a part of a whole) and allow students the tactile experience to see how the parts fit together to make the whole.




The boys and girls will be working on creating their very own fraction books showing one whole, one half, one third, one fourth, one fifth, one sixth, one seventh, one eighth, one ninth, and one tenth. As the students progress through this material, they can even learn to add and compare fractions. They are SO excited to work on "big kid" math in Pre-K!


World Map

In any Montessori classroom, the teacher follows the student and observes closely to see where their strengths and limitations lie, as well as what they are interested in learning about. A few months ago, the Pre-K students were introduced to the Geography materials to begin to learn more about the world around them. Using the globe and world map, the children were introduced to the seven continents. Since that time, with the addition of new materials and lessons to the classroom, the students' interest in the Geography materials waned a bit. However, this week, their interest was peaked again and they are feverishly working to complete their world maps before the end of the school year!






Kindness

All of the early childhood students are working hard to show kindness to those around them. When a teacher "catches" a student being kind, he or she gets a heart on our kindness tree! Each day, we are seeing more and more kind acts and our tree is quickly filling up. It has been wonderful to see the children going out of their way to help, to be a good friend, and to show what it means to be a leader. We are so proud of them!




Mystery Readers

Thank you to Mr. Ulmer, Charlie's dad, for being our reader last Friday for Charlie's birthday. Due to technical difficulties, we didn't get a picture (so sorry, Mr. Ulmer!), so enjoy this picture of Charlie and his friends instead! 😉


Thank you to Mrs. Roth, Alexandra's mom, for being our reader this week! 



We have a few week left of school, so if you would like to be a mystery reader, please let me know and we will find a time that works. The children LOVE having you join us and get so excited when I tell them we have a reader!


Important reminders:
  • There will be no school on Friday, May 28th, and Monday, May 31st, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday.

  • The last day of school is Wednesday, June 9th. There will be a noon dismissal and there will be no HCA Plus.

  • A reminder to please complete the Diversity and Inclusion survey as soon as possible. Click here for the link.

  • Don't forget to send in your leaf for the Family of Families project.

  • Please refer to the Happenings for updates on upcoming school wide events.



Using our imaginations and working together
to build a castle and guards to protect the castle

Have a great weekend!