Bach, Bears and Beginnings...

Hello!! Welcome to the brand new Casa de Bambini of Ave Maria's blog. I hope you are all as excited to read as I am to be writing it. This is Miss Melissa :) my plan with this blog is to keep you not only informed, but interested about what goes on in the classroom. This way, it's not always a total surprise what they come home telling you about what they've been up to, and maybe you can even surprise them with what you know...

Left to right: Maureen learning to tie, Sarah sorting fruits and vegetables, Aidan and Gabriel proudly standing behind their "49 Layout" of values and numbers from 1 to 9000!

As we enter the third week of classes, we are so excited to share with you what we have been doing so far in the Primary classroom. The children have been acclimating to their new classroom environment very well and are more than eager to learn! We've started the year off with a few different topics:

1) Bears - could the children be more enthusiastic about this one? The stories they have been sharing about our frequent wild visitors are priceless, and our plan is to educate them as much as possible about these often misunderstood creatures. We are extremely excited to have our friend Gavin, from the Orange Jeep Tours coming in to the classroom once a month to share different (sometimes even live!) animals with the children. This month will be bears. Don't worry, not live ones. :) This week, we will be sending out a permission slip further explaining these visits.

2) Recycling - We have a recycling curriculum that we will be following throughout the year. We are starting with the importance of water. Learning to make sure that when we brush our teeth and wash our hands the faucet isn't left running - wasting water uses precious energy!

3) Johann Sebastian Bach - One of the greatest composers of all time. The children will be taken through the story of his life, learn about the instruments he used (we've started with the violin), listen to his conciertos and ultimately become classical music aficionados (so we hope). 

I found this short video below. I wanted to find something that would give a brief look into the Montessori classroom so you have a better idea of what your children are up to all day and something to look forward to when it's your turn to come observe! Oh, and the soundtrack is from Mr. Bach himself; how appropriate. Enjoy!

Last, but certainly not least, we have started taking the children to the oratory to become more familiar and comfortable with the space and to say hello to Jesus of course :) We have been working on the sign of the cross and reading bible stories everyday. The children's response thus far has been wonderful.

Before I close this first post, I would like to throw in some quick reminders!! 

• Please, when it is your child's birthday remember to take a few minutes to look at the Book Wish List that was given to you at the beginning of the year to choose a book to give as a gift to the class. We very much appreciate it and are so looking forward to expanding our library!
• Speaking of books, that is the one thing that your child can bring to school every day. Encourage this! We love to share books as often as we can. The more, the merrier.
• Snack!!! This is so so important. Please make sure that you bring snack on the day that you were assigned - the children feel very proud to share their snack with their friends and they have tons of fun with it :) 
• Show and Tell Friday! This is the day that your child can bring anything they want, other than a book to share with friends. This is a favorite... we all remember Show and Tell :)

Until next time, happy beginning of the year! We are so happy you are embarking on this wonderful journey with us.