Montessori VN, Thao Dien Newsletter Vol 103, October 2015

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Montessori
News
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Thao Dien Edition, Vol 103, October 2015
Dear Parents,
October is an interesting month for it
marks the total settle-in and adjustment
in children after 2 months at school.
They have found their pace and place in
the environment and the program and
have shown significant progress in their
learning. October offered a week holiday
for relaxation and recharge for all. Many
new classroom materials can be seen
after the break to serve the growing
needs of the children.
This month we were pleased to welcome
three new children from Vietnam: twins
Uyen Mi, Uyen Nhi - 3yrs and Bao Ngoc 4yrs. They took no time to settle in and
enjoy the environment. Well done
children! The class community is now
fulfilling with 24 half day and full day
children from 16 nationalities, making a
nice mixed age group with eight children
3yrs old, seven 4yrs old and nine 5yrs
old.
The highlights of the month were the
field trip to the Family Garden and
Halloween experience. Our children got a
chance to be hands on with touching soil
and learning about gardening and planting
trees from the experts. Feeding the
ducks was part of the fun and the LE
children were so thrilled to catch fish
for the first time in their life! The
Halloween Experience saw happy children
engaging in many activities and games
such as trick-or-treat, story-telling, arts
& crafts, games, sweets decoration, etc.
Many of our parents have gone above and
beyond in getting involved by coming to
play game with the class or reading
stories. Our classrooms were turned into
wonderlands filled with princesses,
fairies, animals, pirates, and superheroes!
In October, we hosted “Special Person
Morning” where parents were invited to
join their children in the classroom. It is
an opportunity for all of us to gain a
better understanding and insight about
the Montessori classroom in a reversed
role. Everyone, parents and children
alike, enjoyed a short yet quality time
together in the classroom. Another SPM
is offered in Term 2 if you missed this
one.
November will see more observations and
conferences where parents gain in-depth
info and insight about the program and
get a chance to discuss with the teacher
about their child in school. Goals and
expectations from both the school and
family are exchanged to ensure the
growth and benefit of the child in the
program. November will also be
interesting as it offers a chance for
field trips for all levels. Please kindly
look at the Upcoming Events section on
page 4 and mark your calendar
accordingly. Meanwhile, we invite you to
have a review of our October activities
below in this month’s newsletter. Enjoy!
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Art program update
This month we have continued to look at some history of art as we practiced new methods
and techniques.
Our young artists began the month learning about stencils and different ways of using them.
First they practiced their tracing skills, and then created sea pictures by sponge dabbing
ocean stencils with paint.
In week 2 we continued on from stencils and began learning about templates.
experimented with templates and crayons to create ocean shapes.
Students
This week we studied the history of mosaic artworks. Our young artists explored the mosaic
process by using light balsa tiles to create Halloween pictures.
Lower Elementary artists continued to explore colour mixing and focused on tints and
shades. They used a combination of collage and a variety of lines to create their imaginative fish. They painted them using a wide
variety of tints and shades that they had mixed.
In week 2 we studied collage in more depth, looking at the work of famous collage artist Peter Blake. Students cut and collected their
favourite images and collaged them into their initial letter.
This week Lower Elementary artists explored paint blowing and had fun creating their spooky Halloween tree pictures. We learnt new
and different techniques using water colour paint.
Nursery Update
WEEK 6 - Week of Sep 21
ON THE FARM
This week we read ‘The Noisy, Noisy Farm’ where the children pushed buttons and
made the animal sounds. The children loved this and read the book over and over again.
They took turns to be the animals and passed the book around to their friends. We
matched animal mothers to their babies and practiced the baby animal vocabulary such
as foal, lamb and calf. We took turns being the ‘farmer’ and walking around the circle
to see our ‘animals’.
WEEK 7 - Week of Oct 5
LIFE CYCLE of BUTTERFLIES
This week we read ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ which everybody loved. The children
are all excited to point out their favorite food from the food page. We did so much
artwork this week as the children love to create beautiful and colorful butterflies with
paint and sticking. By the end of the week the children were able to sequence the life
cycle parts into order – egg, cocoon, caterpillar, BUTTERFLY!
WEEK 8 - Week of Oct 12
LIFE CYCLE of APPLES and PUMPKINS
The children enjoyed this weeks’ theme so much. It was a very immersive week of
learning. For the pumpkin, we were able to get a pumpkin from the family garden, then
cut it and discover the seeds, we dried and planted the seeds and even asked the
kitchen to cook the pumpkin for us and we ate it with our lunch! The children were
enthusiastic to learn new and difficult vocabulary like seedling, planting seeds, apple
blossom etc.
WEEK 9 - Week of Oct 19
LIFE CYCLE of FROGS
We are again putting life cycle parts into order – the children loved to learn the
different vocabulary used to explain the frogs life from eggs to tadpole to froglet to
frog! We enjoyed singing ‘Five green and speckled frogs’ and many friends especially
liking the part when the frogs say ‘YUM, YUM!’ We are also celebrating Halloween this
week so many friends are enjoying discussing all the vocabulary associated with this
holiday – bats and spiders, pumpkins and candy and even ‘the ghost says BOO!’
Reception Update
The LE and Reception Group has started a new that group project: The Life Cycle of a
Frog Poster. The children have learnt different facts and features of the frog
including the animal group which frogs belong, their habitats, their food and their
interesting life cycle.
The children have started creating the poster by painting a hard board using recycled
material. They will continue to demonstrate the stages of the frog’s life cycle through
each child’s writing and drawing on the poster. Labeling parts of the frogs is part of
the job. The children showed their enjoyment of the work that has been done and
will be continued for the next few weeks.
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Kindergarten
Kindergarten Update
The Kindergarten children played and worked very hard in the past three school
weeks of October. We began a journey to visit each continent and Asia was the
first destination. Children enjoyed sharing their experiences and stories about
countries in Asia that they have visited or where they are from. They showed
particular interest in Chinese language and liked to sing some songs in Chinese such
as “The Peace Song”, “Happy Birthday” and “The Unity Song”. We also looked at
flags and some famous buildings and landscapes from some Asian countries. Asian
animals, people and its diverse cultures were also highlighted. Children had a chance
to look at some Chinese traditional dresses throughout different dynasties. Next we visited the continent of North America. Sydney’s mom came to share with
us about Canadian Thanksgiving day. Together the children made a beautiful
“Thankfulness Tree” and reflected in things they were thankful for. We looked at
the puzzle map of North America and discussed about the continent’s physical
geography. The flags and names of North American countries were also introduced.
Children enjoyed looking at pictures of animals and landscapes from North America.
Related to our study, we talked about the festival Halloween and the children were
excited to dress up in their costumes. We went on a trip to Family Garden to learn about farming and how to grow plants
for food. They were very excited to take their plants home and watch them grow
and highly enjoyed feeding the ducks and rabbits at the farm. Lower Elementary Update
September 28- October 02
History – the timeline of the months in a year. Children made their own timeline in
2015.
Lower Elementary
Geography – Compass and how to locate and read directions. The children were given
a chance to explore a real compass to be able to practice. They learnt directions
such as north, south, east and west including North East, North West, South East
and South West.
Botany – the life cycle of a plant and a tree. The children reviewed the parts of a
plant and a tree and the function of each part. They made their own booklet of a
plant’s life cycle.
Zoology – common aquatic animals. The children had a discussion about their favorite
aquatic animals. They researched 5- 10 aquatic animals and wrote on their culture
notebook and journal.
Matter and Astronomy – truth or myth. The children learned that myth is a story
that is not true or not existing. In North America, the indigenous people in the old
days believed that the earth was formed at the back on a turtle. In the ancient
Chinese time, it was believed that the earth was carried on the back of a turtle. In
the ancient India, Japan and Mongolia, the earth was a sacred mountain carried on
the back of a tortoise. Children made their own world model with dough. They also
discovered about different religions and different culture.
October 5-16 Presentation and Demonstration of the Coming of Life
Children were introduced and were told the stories of the coming of life. The story
begins with the earliest life in earth’s ocean and ends just before the arrival of
humans. From the first life form Bacteria our children got a chance to explore a
fascinating journey of other lives on earth : the Trilobite, the Age of Fishes, the
Age of Amphibians, the earth land’s plants with fern as the first type, the Age of
Reptiles and the Age of Mammals,
The end of the lesson was highlighted when children made their own TIMELINE OF
LIFE. They brought in photos and put on a very long piece of paper with a lot of
captions and writing to describe their timeline with interesting events and
milestones.
October 26-30 - The start of peace education, from a flower.
Children reviewed the Peace Flower Model. They learnt that the Flower of Peace
Model symbolized self awareness, community awareness, cultural awareness and
environmental awareness. Children were introduced to the love lights and the Peace
Candle as part of the significant Montessori peace education program.
The highlight of the month is the Going-Out experience where the LE spent their
day in the farm getting hands on experience with gardening, cooking and fishing
activities to name a few. Each of them caught a fish, which made them very
happy and their day memorable.
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Reminders and Upcoming Events
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BIRTHDAYS
Happy Birthday to all our
October children!
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Quentin - 24 Oct
3 yrs
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Grant - 24 Oct
5 yrs
Alice - 27 Oct
5 yrs
We would like to thank the
families who came to
celebrate their child’s birthday
with us.
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Your presence is appreciated
and enjoyed by all.
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Reminders
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Participation in the
Upcoming Events
Please parents mark your calendar to
join us in the events mentioned in this
page.
Take home reading books
Two books will be sent home on Monday
for the children who are ready to
practice reading phonetically. Please
return them on Wednesday morning so
that your child can take two new books
home on Wednesday afternoon and
those should be brought back to school
on Friday. If your child returns the
books later than the due time he/she
will miss the next two books. UPCOMING
EVENTS
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Field Trip
Snap Cafe
10 Nov (Tue)
For children 2,5-4 yrs
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Field Trip
Yakult Factory
11 Nov (Wed)
For children 4 years and above
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Cocktail Evening
No children event
17 Nov (Tue)
7:30pm - 9:00pm
RSVP: 13 Nov (Fri)
Toys and jewelry
Please explain to your child that toys
and jewelry are best kept safe at home.
We do not allow them to bring into the
classroom and ask that if brought to
school, toys must be kept in bags on the
rack outside class. Please rest assured
that in a Montessori classroom, there
are many engaging materials for your
child to explore and that toys will not
add to your child’s learning experience
in a school setting.
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