Diary of a First Year Montessori Kindergarten Teacher - Week 25

girl wearing blue romper holding teal watering can
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 girl wearing blue romper holding teal watering can
photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@jonathanborba

Good morning Montessori Kindergarten Families,
Valentines Day AND cooking and all the learning that occurred in between - what an incredible week.  Your child may have told you we are tracking the amount of days it takes to 'grow a first grader' by adding a bean to a jar every day.  It is fun to watch the 'days' add up.  I see such growth in the area of reading, writing and math.   Thanks so much for your assistance at home with counting not just 1-100 but with concepts like 'what comes before' and 'what are the 2 numbers after...' - very helpful concepts as we deepen our math skills.   For phonics, questions like 'what is the middle sound you hear' or 'what other word do you know that starts with..." are important to language growth.  
We completed our South America study this week and projects started to go home on Friday. The other hands on activities associated with this study are being saved for the Student Led Conferences coming up - sign up genius link will hopefully be sent by the end of this weekend. This conference is not mandatory and if you are not able to attend,  I am happy to send home the portfolio your child created - please allow your child to present the information inside to you so he/she can experience the pride of his/her accomplishments.  Conferences are held the first week in March.
1/2 day students took some work home on Friday.  Because of Picture Day and Valentines Day, I was not able to cover everything I planned during class time so I wanted to make sure they were able to work on the concepts by sending them home.
MONDAY:
- CVC middle sounds
-History: how to read a calendar
-length/measurement using unconventional materials (how many paper clips long is this pencil?).  Review of estimation concept
-read/spell/draw spelling
-Create the sun using rays, symmetry, warm colors
-Handwriting: b vs h (lowercase)
TUESDAY:
-Writers workshop: sequencing FIRST, THEN, NOW - How to build a snowman in three steps
-CVC middle sounds
-Black History Month: Jackie Robinson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3SVWz5MdEw
-Art collage: Jackie Robinson
-Geography: map a part of the room
WEDNESDAY:
-PICTURE DAY
-Science: Forces of motion review
-Government: Study of Abraham Lincoln
-Science: Review of planets, order, rotation, orbit
-Sound table
THURSDAY:
-VALENTINES DAY 
-Valentines Box Fashion show
-Practical life: making jam - blackberry and strawberry/taste test 
-Artist of the Day: Jim Dine - create 4 Hearts inspired painting https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dine-four-hearts-p04226
FRIDAY:
-Geography: create a map of the room - north/south/east/west
-read/spell/draw spelling words
-write the room South America
-math journal
-Government/Writers Workshop: Draw Abraham Lincoln, write 2-4 facts about his life
-science: Is Pluto a planet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZfi89JiXKM  - the three rules that all planets follow
Thanks so much for all the support our community feels from you all.
Warmly,
Mrs. Norgren