Dear Banyan Families,
“Early childhood education is the key to the betterment of society.” – Dr. Montessori
April was another month full of learning experiences for the Banyans. Thank you all for attending the ‘follow the child’ event and the parent-teacher conferences, we appreciate your time. We are nearing the end of the school year, and this is the last newsletter for this school year.
We will continue our study on Africa and will be working on our classroom auction art projects and individual artworks. The Art show & Cultural Curriculum will be on May 24 at 5:30. The email was sent out with the details about the art show and the animals that your child has chosen to create a biome/habitat with you.
For this month’s topic, I want to share the information that I wrote in my last year’s newsletter, ideas for summer activities.
“Real world experiential learning prepares your child remarkably well for any environment.”
The focus of the month: Summer activities
Practical Life lessons
Helping in the kitchen while you cook: cutting, washing the plates, Table setting, cleaning the floor with small broom and dustpan, baking with your child, or sometimes they want to be with you in the kitchen do their pouring using the pots and pans and water and dry ingredients.
Helping with other house chores: Folding clothes, organizing the room and toys together, watering the plants, letting them be creative with making their pouring lessons using the objects around the house (help them build the control of movement using their most potent instrument: “THE HANDS”).
Sensorial Lessons
Tactile sense: SAND – children love to touch different textures. Create bins of pebbles, marbles, sand and other objects for them to feel and walk on it. Use different colored sand trays to practice drawing and writing. Have them play with you, touching different textures using a blindfold.
Other Senses: Go for a nature walk with them and have them smell different types of flowers and leaves. Have them rub those leaves on a piece of paper using a crayon. Talks about different kinds of seeds; small, big, seeds that make noises seeds that fly on your nature walk. Gardening is a great way to spend time together in your backyard. Have them help you spot the stuff you need at the grocery store.
Language Lessons
Story times are the best times for both the parents and children. Story time with objects is a fun and stimulating activity for kids. Patterning with beads and other artifacts help them develop visual discrimination. Have them listen to the stories from pre-recorded audio. It can be your voice – kids love to hear stories from your voice. You can play the audio again and again while you are busy, which helps them develops auditory discrimination.
Have small pieces of papers, color pencils, paper clips/rings, and colored construction paper covers in their work/play area to make their story/picture books. Keep small books with three or four-letter words in the reading area.
Math Activities
Count with objects found in nature and around the house. Write numbers in the sand. Include them to help you measure ingredients for cooking. Talks about what time you are going outside/having breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Arts, Geography, Botany and Zoology
Cutting and pasting are one of the favorite crafts young kids like to do. Collect various things (glue, tissue paper, cut construction papers, pompoms, pipe cleaners, glitters, etc.) in a box named “Bored box.” It will help them be creative when the kids say they are bored. Remember to change the things in the box once in a while. Look to the sky together on starry nights and talk about the planets, stars, and constellations. Gardening and tracing any types of puzzles around the house will help them understand different parts and develop the pincer grip. Painting and coloring are always fun!
Songs:
Music can efficiently stimulate the child’s brain. Children can learn concepts through music. Play the music that they love.
Nature and Outdoor play
Nature always gives us enough nurture. Being connected with nature will provide them with vast varieties of options to explore in different ways. Help them connect to nature.
Encourage your child to make a picture/picture and word book about their summer trips.
“To confer the gift of drawing, we must create an eye that sees, a hand that obeys, a soul that feels; and in this task, the whole life must cooperate. In this sense, life itself is the only preparation for drawing. Once we have lived, the inner spark of vision does the rest.”
– Dr. Maria Montessori.
May Primary Program Events:
May 1: Parent Education Night @ 5:30 – Childcare available
May 24: Art Show and Cultural Curriculum @ 5:30
May 31: Kindergarten Parents Breakfast @ 8:00 am
May 31: Kindergarten Graduation @ 5:00 pm
Thank you all for your love and support this year. We genuinely appreciate your involvement in the classroom and the school. Enjoy the summer break with your children. Meet you all in August!
Kindly,
Ms. Karthi and Ms. Desiree
