September 2024

Peek Inside our Children’s House Community

Dear Bobcat Parents, 

Fall is in full swing, and we're excited for all the fun activities we have planned! We'll be spending more time outdoors gardening, raking leaves, painting, and exploring nature.

New Bobcat Welcome! Please join us in welcoming Giovanna to our Bobcat family! We're thrilled to have her join our class. We also welcome Ms. Roxana, who will be supporting the bobcat classroom this semester!

Grace and Courtesy Lessons This month, we've been focusing on how to kindly get somebody’s attention without interrupting. We've been practicing saying "Excuse me, please" when someone is talking or doing an activity. We encourage you to practice this at home as well.

Afternoon Tea and Coffee Service Our children have been working hard on practicing how to serve a guest. They've been learning a special script and practicing how to make tea and coffee. If you have the opportunity to visit our classroom during upcoming observation time, please ask for a cup of tea or coffee, the children will be delighted to prepare this for you!

Spark a love of learning that lasts a lifetime! Reading aloud to your child every day is one of the most powerful things you can do to support their development. To empower you on this journey, Harvard Graduate School of Education offers a fantastic resource: “Raising Stronger Readers” Strategies for parents and educators to encourage children to read — from infancy to high school by Mary Tamer and Bari Walsh. This comprehensive guide provides practical tips for fostering a love of reading in children of all ages. Explore it today!

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/16/03/raising-strong-readers

This month, we read "What Should Darla Do?" by Adir Levy and Ganit Levy, which teaches children about making responsible choices and using their words to communicate their thoughts and feelings.

Reminders

Uniform: Please refrain from sending your child to school wearing necklaces. They can be a safety hazard and a distraction.

Sugar-Free Snacks: Please send only sugar-free and natural snacks to school such as fruit.

Lunch Containers: Please practice opening and closing lunch containers with your child at home to promote independence. If your child struggles, try using different containers that are easier for them to handle. Thank you for your continued support!
Lastly, please don’t forget to join us for the upcoming Esperanza charity event to support our school on November 2nd!, your attendance will help strengthen our community.

Thank you for your continuing support,

Ms. Hany and Ms. Roxana

Hello Cactus Wren Families,

Happy September and happy Autumn! Though the weather has not quite caught up to the times yet! It has been an exciting month in Cactus Wren. Since the weather is getting cooler our outdoor environment has been opened and the children have enjoyed spending time drawing with chalk and playing instruments outside.

The baking recipe of this month was banana bread, the children loved it. Even though this recipe requires a lot of time and follows a long sequence of steps, the children were so excited every time Ms. Roxanne invited them to bake.

We had a lovely Peace Day celebration. We enjoyed the time while spent with the entire school coming together as we sang the peace day songs.

During group time, we love reading books. Our favorite one this month was “Fill a bucket” by Carol McCloud. This book is about being empathetic and bringing kindness to each other. We were all sharing ideas of how we can be kind with people at either school or home. We have also enjoyed singings songs together during group time as well as playing games and our favorite group game is “Zookeeper”. This game is about a zoo with quiet animals. We have the zookeeper, who is the teacher and all the children do specific mimic depending on the animal that they are representing. Example: If the child decides to be a monkey, he will be moving his arms like if he was a monkey but without any sound. The teacher is facing the wall, counts to 5 and turns around and mimics an animal. If the children are mimicking the same animal as the teacher, then they have to sit down. We repeat this process until just one child is left. This game promotes self control since the children are aware that they have to be in silence and just making body movements. If they are sitting down because they got “caught” by the “Zoo keeper”, they are patiently waiting until it is time to play again.

Lastly, please don’t forget to join us for the upcoming Esperanza charity event to support our school on November 2nd!, your attendance will help strengthen our community.

Thank you families for all that you do and trusting your children to us! We are excited to see what October brings!

Warmly,

Joselyne and Roxanne

Hello Gray Fox Families,

What another wonderful month it’s been in the Gray Fox classroom! This month, we celebrated Peace Day, and the children had so much fun performing a few songs about peace.. You may have heard these songs at home, and if you'd like to continue singing them as a family, these are the songs below:

● Paz Como Un Rio

● Peace Like a River

● Light a Candle for Peace

These songs are available on YouTube and can be a fun way to bond as a family while promoting peace. As we focus our curriculum around “peace education,” we also enjoyed reading books about peace and discussing what this looks like inside and outside the classroom. Grace and Courtesy lessons, such as offering a hug, holding the door open for a friend, or practicing peaceful movements, have been central to fostering a peaceful environment.

Additionally, Fall is here! It's a great time to explore new seasonal foods and engage your child in the kitchen and if you do, I would love to see pictures to share your experience with the class! We are going to bake cornbread in the classroom this month.

I would also like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who attended the recent community meeting on the topic "Montessori at Home." Your participation and engagement are greatly appreciated as we work together to bring the Montessori principles into your homes.

A special thank you to our amazing parent volunteers who have been working hard on our classroom project and basket for the charity event!

Lastly, please don’t forget to join us for the upcoming Esperanza charity event to support our school on November 2nd!, your attendance will help strengthen our community.

We look forward to another great month together!

Warm regards,

Ms.Rama and Ms. Rocio

Hello Jackrabbit Families,

We would to thank you for attending our “Practical Life and Montessori at Home,” community meeting, it is always wonderful to have you. Also, thank you for all of the gifts you purchased for the classroom, we are grateful for your generosity.

This past month we celebrated Peace Day, and it was such a heart warming celebration as the whole school came together to sing. If you would like to sing at home with your family, here are the names of the songs:

• Paz Como un Rio

By Elizabeth Mitchell, Suni Paz

•Peace Like a River

By Elizabeth Mitchell

•Light a Candle for Peace

By Shelley Murley

We also celebrated Dr. Maria Montessori’s 154th Birthday by giving her a Sun Celebration. The children sang happy birthday and we read a book about her life. The children enjoyed learning about who she was.

It is lovely to observe how the older children are stepping as leaders taking the younger children under their wings, they are kind and warm to each other. What a lovely community!

The children have been baking Banana Bread, here is the recipe if you would like to bake at home with your child.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

-2 Ripe bananas, peeled

-1/3 cup melted butter

-1/4 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

-1 pinch of salt

-1/2 cup of sugar

-1 egg, beaten

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 ½ all-purpose flour

• In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the smashed bananas.

• Mix in the baking soda and baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.

• Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 30 min at 350F.

• Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and let cool completely before serving.

Notes:

Every Friday, we have “Show and Share” and it is optional. We ask you to please not to send fantasy books. Instead, your child can bring a non-fiction book. Their show and share item needs to be something meaningful to them, for example can be a traditional object from a vacation from another city or even country.
Lastly, please don’t forget to join us for the upcoming Esperanza charity event to support our school on November 2nd!, your attendance will help strengthen our community.

Thank you for your support, Jackrabbit families! We feel so grateful to be part of your child’s Montessori journey.

Kindly,

Ms. Yadira and Ms. Karen