The children came back to the classroom eager to learn and slipped back to the normal routine. The classroom was filled with children continuing work that they had done at home, sharing inspiration, curiosity, and excitement for other children. The amount of variation, creativity and inspiration allowed the children to see, learn and explore a variety of concepts using many mediums.
This term, older children worked on ‘spelling rules’ exploring the words we use in English found in all types of books, while younger children have explored different types of nouns such as the states in Australia. We present language such as grammar and punctuation to children through activities and experiences so they can use it to express themselves. We address it in all content areas as a special tool to explore and express ourselves. We also looked at other ways to communicate, such as Egyptian hieroglyphics, which was popular amongst many!
Images – work with the Grammar Boxes: symbolising sentences, creating their own command cards, creating word lists of specific parts of speech.
This term we continued our understanding of ‘time’ by exploring the concept of day and night due to the earth’s rotations. The older children took this further by exploring how seasons are created due to a variety of different factors. This led to ‘big’ work with projects on the sun, space and the seasons.
Images – exploring the sun’s effects on the Earth and exploring AM and PM and timezones.
We stepped outside into nature exploring and observing the textures of plants, especially studying the work or the stem and different types or stems. In a Montessori classroom, the children have the ability to go out and explore nature where they see the intricate details in nature, working together forming and creating life. The connections and observations the children make are quite remarkable, which they love to explore further using the microscope.
Images – creating new objects with natural objects found in the playground, creating a hand sanitiser using the aloe vera from the garden, examining specimens under the microscope.
This also linked to history work, as children used sticks to create huts and tools out in the playground sporadically at play after exploring the fundamental needs of early humans.
The ongoing use of the maths materials continued this term to capture the abstract mind of the Second Plane child. We watched each child’s individual progress and interest, and when ready moved them onto abstract or more engaging work that challenged them. For some of the older children, this eventuated into a maths challenge, where they had questions that needed to be answered using a variety of materials around the room.
Images – children working with naming fractions and working on abstract long division.
We also explored the patterns, names and processes in geometry presenting them on poster, through sewing and exploring the importance of design and design work in human’s advancement as well as in the work of nature.
Image – using material and sewing to represent shapes that are congruent, similar or equivalent.
This term was definitely a place of Cosmic Education. Always busy, always exciting, and always a lot of learning taking place. Montessori explained, ‘Cosmic Education is a form of relating children to the universe, its furnishings, and humanity, so that they are able to understand the law and order underlying their existence and to realise in themselves all the developing potential that is their birthright.’ It is always beautiful to see if manifest in projects and meaningful work for all the children.
Wishing all of our families a safe and happy holiday.
Kind regards,
Xarifa, Carli and Harini
