Cultural Update

The Upper Montessori spent the month of October covering several cultural topics.  First, we eagerly listened to the Five Great Lessons from Maria Montessori.  These stories are unique and thought-provoking.  Check out the following link for more information:

http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/The-Five-Great-Lessons_ep_66-1.html

Many of the students told me they'd never heard the stories before, and others knew it had been "a couple years."  The different experiences meant that we had some fascinating discussions!

We also spent the month of September establishing practical life norms-how to walk in the hallway, play together outside, share ideas in the classroom, etc.  These are important conversations!

The work we'll continue to do throughout the school year will continue to refer back to the original stories in the Great Lessons.  For example, we are beginning a unit in science on force and motion.  The ability to reference the first Great Lesson that mentions motion, movement, force...will allow us to study the interconnectedness of life on Earth.

We will use our reading workshop non-fiction Fridays to learn about the election this month!  A presidential election is an exciting time for our country and for our students.  For kid-friendly news please check out the following:  http://www.timeforkids.com/minisite/election-2012.  We will of course embed in all our discussions a conversation about respect--respect for the office of president whether or not you like or respect a party's candidate.

If you ever have the chance to visit Washington D.C., please go.  The journey is amazing!  There are wonderful sites to visit and to spend time walking the halls of the capitol, or visit your representatives' office brings a new level of awareness of our country's past, present, and future.

A couple of quick comments...

• Please encourage a few minute of math fact practice each day.  My own 5th grader mastered her division facts using a iPod app.  These facts become incredibly useful as we learn to find factors or multiples in the 4th grade, reduce fractions in all grades, add and/or subtract fractions in 4th grade, work with decimals in both grades...the list is endless.  Consider practicing in the car--children are captive in the car, so it's a great place to practice!  Take a look at the daily speedways or five-minutes.  If you see a test where a score is lower, or a student isn't moving...that's a good place to start practicing!

• The weather is getting cold!  The children are outside for 30 minutes at lunchtime recess.  Please help them to remember a fall jacket.

Thanks and have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Perrien

Math Webinar

Parents-

I am excited to share that the Waukazoo Montessori teachers will be participating in a math webinar through the American Montessori Society next week.  We have been given the "go-ahead" to tailor our professional development at Waukazoo to a Montessori focus; we will all be working together throughout the year to improve and refine our Montessori instruction!

The following describes our research next week:

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has designated 4 processes—communication, reasoning, problem solving, and connections—as the essentials for 21st-century math fluency. This Webinar will present a series of lessons, assessments that extend classroom observations, and activities beyond planned lessons, which support students in developing these processes through practice with the hands-on math experiences that nurture sustained mathematical literacy.

Really...your workplan is done?

My least favorite statement from my students is, "My workplan is done."  Students seem to believe this is some sort of invitation to sit back, put up their feet, and relax.

Far from it!  :)

My classroom workplan is designed to give students choice throughout the week.  Choice in what to complete first and choice in setting aside time for research and other tasks.

My goal is that the students have time left in the week to devote to research!  We talked about this on Friday.  We also talked about special projects, bonus work, and more.

If your student tells you, "I finished my work plan!" ask the following:  

• Did you do any bonus assignments?  If so, how many?
• Are you in the middle of a research project, and did you have time to complete your research?
• Are you caught up on weekly reading and reading responses?
• Did you have time to practice keyboarding? (This is an occasional option, it depends on computer availability.)

Getting answers to the above questions is just another way to have insight into our daily classroom activities!

FYI...they know this post is going up this weekend!

--Mrs. Perrien

Special Event!

On Thursday, October 11 the new Scholastic Harry Potter Reading Club will be presenting a virtual author visit with J.K. Rowling.  This will be a LIVE webcast from Edinburgh, Scotland!

The webcast begins at noon.  At this time I am tentatively planning to play the webcast in the classroom during lunch and recess for any interested students.  This is tentative until I can verify my MEAP testing times on Thursday.  If you would prefer that you son or daughter NOT watch the webcast please let me know.  

Thanks-

Mrs. Perrien

Webcast News

Buckets

How Full is Your Bucket?

This is a wonderful book about "filling other's buckets."  Being a "bucket filler" is our building focus this October.

A quick explanation from the Bucket Fillers website:

Dear Parent(s):
This year we are enthusiastically embracing a new character- development program called Bucket Filling.

Bucket filling is an easy-to-understand concept: Everyone carries an invisible bucket that holds our good thoughts and feelings. When our buckets are full, we feel happy and when our buckets are empty, we feel sad.

Children quickly understand that they can fill buckets when they do and say things that are kind, considerate, caring, and respectful. They also learn that when they are mean, inconsiderate, uncaring, or disrespectful, they dip into buckets and remove those good feelings. Even the youngest child understands that actions and words can either fill a bucket or dip into it.

During this school year we are encouraging, reminding, and recognizing everyone’s efforts to be bucket fillers at home, at school, and everywhere they go.

We are excited about this new program and look forward to your support.

If you would like to learn more about bucket filling, visit the Bucket Fillers website,
www.bucketfillers101.com . Bucket Fillers offer a free weekly e-newsletter for parents and teachers. 

Please join us in filling other's buckets!

-Mrs. Perrien

Reading Logs

After receiving feedback from the kiddos (and you...) I made a few changes to the reading log.  The thin log sheets were falling out of the (slippery) folders and this is no fun!

From here on out the kiddos will be recording their nightly reading directly onto the homework sheets.  They should write the name of their current book on the Title: ___________________ line of their homework assignment sheet.

We will begin using the reading logs in the classroom only.  Thanks for your feedback!

--Mrs. Perrien

Class Card!

Photo Card

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