Dear Banyan Families,
“If education is a protection to life, you will realize that it is necessary that education accompany life during its whole course.” – Dr. Maria Montessori
October went by so fast, and the Banyans are adjusting to the classroom environment. Our younger friends are taking the time to normalize in their ways. It is incredible to observe how every child is unique and how we need to prepare the environment accordingly to support every child’s need in the classroom. We, the directress, are the link between the environment and the child, and we bare that in our mind every day while we prepare the classroom atmosphere. The month of November is harvest sharing month at our school; we will be reading books about sharing and being thankful to one another.
I have few reminders/requests for the Banyan Families:
Please send your child with comfortable shoes so they can be successfully putting them on until they will be ready for the next level of difficulty. (I am planning to place a few shoes on the shelf as a lesson apart from our dressing frames.)
Please bring your child to school early, at least by 8:20 am, to help him/her fully understand the daily routine and allow the child to spend some time outside with other friends before we walk into the classroom.
I believe that you understand the above requests are to support your child to be successful in his/her work, to feel safe at the school and to fully benefit from the three-hour work cycle in the morning.
“It is surprising to notice that even from the earliest age, man finds the greatest satisfaction in feeling independent. The exalting feeling of being sufficient to oneself comes as a revelation.” – Dr. Maria Montessori
Why Montessori?
In Montessori education, the Directress observes every child in the classroom to study their learning patterns and then follow their needs. Montessori classrooms have mixed age groups that help the older kids be a teacher to the younger kids, and younger kids follow the lead of the older kids. The children in the primary classroom will be in the second half of the first plane of development: 21/2 to 6 years. Dr. Maria Montessori discovered from her observation that children go through four quite distinct and noticeable periods of physical and psychological changes. The needs for the environment will change in each plane of development. The children in the primary classroom should stay until he/she completed the full cycle of developmental phase, which is the Kindergarten year, in the same environment with the same teacher. Montessori education prepares the children for life, and it teaches them grace and courtesy to take care of themselves, others, and the environment through hands-on materials that stimulate the little minds. Also, Montessori education teaches the kids about adding big numbers, world maps, botany, zoology, reading, and writing by following the child and the sequencing order of the lessons on the shelves. We as the Teachers allow them space and direct them when the need for learning occurs naturally within them. My daily morning observation time after circle time is a big lesson for me to understand the beauty of this Montessori philosophy that we all believe. If the environment is prepared well enough, the classroom will flourish, and the kids will feel safe in the classroom.
Dr. Montessori believed and proved from her observations and research that learning should happen naturally with the help of a prepared environment, prepared adult (Director/Directress), observation and following the child’s needs. We don’t ask the child to sit still in one place for hours and do the work, which is not suitable for all types of learners. If a child is a kinesthetic learner, then he/she can naturally learn only by walking/moving in the classroom (all the sensorial materials are the power of ten – kids need to walk twenty times back and forth carrying the lessons from the shelves to the rug and vice versa). If a child is a visual learner, then he/she needs to visually see the materials (sandpaper letter, sandpaper numbers, etc..); books, paper, and pencil are not enough for that child. If a child is an Auditory learner, then he/she needs to hear the sounds more and more. Kids also like to touch and feel the lessons with their hands, which stimulates their brain for natural learning. In Montessori Education method, the Teacher will not hurt/destroy/embarrass the child’s feelings to force the learning to happen in the name of “Education.” Instead, we are encouraging the love of learning to occur spontaneously by providing hands-on materials in a prepared environment by the prepared adult for all types of learners.
We also obey the phrase “freedom within limits.” If the situation is bothering other children in the classroom, then we immediately re-direct the child. We see the child as a child and understand his/her feelings related to the situation that affect that particular child and others. We observe, analyze and follow every child’s needs and direct them accordingly.
“It is not true that I invented what is called the Montessori Method… I have studied the child; I have taken what the child has given me and expressed it, and that is what is called the Montessori Method.” – Dr. Maria Montessori
November Events:
November 3 PJ Party
November 12 5K Run
November 17 Harvest Share @ 2:30- No Aftercare
November Unit Study
Vertebrates and Invertebrates
Layers of the Earth
Volcano
Fall Harvest – Parts of corn
Thankfully,
Ms. Karthi and Ms. Nikki
