The children LOVE to create their own timelines! We have so many to choose from - Maria Montessori's life, timeline of the universe, timeline of life, timeline of humans, timeline of numerals, timeline of language and even a timeline that encompasses all of the other timelines!
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September 2018By September we are usually settling into our routines.
Lessons for September will be focused Montessori's timeline of life and on the gifts of ancient humans (written language, math, fundamental needs of man). Fundamental Needs of Man is always an interesting discussion! The difference between a want and a need leads to some very heated discussions! We imagine ourselves as early men (and woman) and talk about what it must have been like. We even enjoy some roast beef cooked by (fake) fire - which leads us into more fundamental needs discussions. All of the Great Lessons, including the coming of life and humans are explored through timelines, fossils, experiments and lots of fun! The children are LOVING the fossils, shells, and rocks and minerals involved in these lessons - they are even bringing things in from home! The entire curriculum circulates back to these great lessons. When writing, we talk about the gift of language and the purpose of writing (so someone can READ it!) and why there was and still is a need for math - like counting the number of children in the class and how much Woolly Mammoth each can have (roast beef). Spelling has begun. We are using the Sitton sight word list as our spelling this year. This has the most commonly misspelled words that are used in 88% of our reading. The children get 5 to 10 words per week, do activities with these words and then are expected to use the words correctly in their work. Math Facts are well under way. The children begin working with fact families in class and the math facts that they practice and test are based on these. Each child will be assessed and given tests based on where they are now. We practice math facts daily and test on Fridays. Math and language work are individualized for the most part. Some children will be receiving books to take home and read aloud to a parent. These should be logged and returned the next day when possible (unless it is a chapter book.) We stress the importance of reading at a level that the child can read - focusing on fluency, comprehension, and confidence - not on how big the book is. We would love your cooperation with this:) The math journals for third graders were given out this week. We work with discrete math, geometry, fractions in these interactive journals. So far it has been challenging but enjoyable. The second graders were also introduced to their vocabulary journals. Each lesson has certain vocab words that are posted in the classroom. The children are responsible for writing the word, the definition, and then drawing or writing a description in their own words. This is really challenging at first but they soon get the hang of it. We are gearing up for our Continent study (Europe). The children work on research projects at home. This is a time when we encourage the children to do as much of the work as possible with little help from parents. If your child is having trouble with this, send the packet back to school with your child and we will go over it. We also start the children off with their brainstorming activity to come up with five subtopics about their topic. Firsts do animals, seconds do landmarks or people, and thirds do a country. We will take their first three choices and then draw from a basket so it is fair. |
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