Stoneridge Children's Montesori School

Montessori in Toddler House: Part 7

by Pam Richardson, Toddler House Head Teacher

What a fabulous spring we are having! Our classroom and works reflect the season. In circle, we often read longer stories about newborn animals including a duck, lambs, kittens, puppies, and piglets.

Below, Tessa is gently rubbing the mother duck against Will's cheek during her singing of "Five Little Ducks."

    

Above, Matthew is tracing the path of our finger labyrinth created with sea shells and sand. Bella is misting and wiping the leaves clean on our climbing vine. 

     

    Above Alessandra is hanging bird houses and birds on our birch tree. Below Silas and Lila are opening spring eggs to find the surprises inside.

    Here Andrew is matching shapes inside of eggs. Oliver is exploring ovoids of different textures.

    Sam is using his thumbs to open nested eggs while Sofia and Alexander are lining up our leaping frogs.

    Henry remains focused until all 100 of the pegs are posted.
    To increase the toddler's independence, they learn how to take care of themselves. 

 

    They also learn to help care for others.

Above, Alexander is asking Lila if she is okay. Matthew, Silas and Oliver are concerned about her as well.

As part of our transitioning process in preparation for next year, our toddlers have enjoyed their second visit to a Children's House classroom. They love these visits where they have an older schoolmate show them their classroom and share their exciting works.

This year we have been so fortunate to have Middle School and Upper Elementary students spend time in our classroom on Mondays and Fridays. The toddlers love these visits!

Please join us in welcoming Shaurya and his mom, Nidhi, and dad, Samit to our classroom! 

 

 

Music in May!

by Hannah Mell, Music Director

May is an exciting month for music!

Toddlers are venturing into the music room on Wednesdays starting this month, and Children's House students are preparing for their Spring Teas on May 16, 17, and 18.

Important dates to watch for:

April 30, Musical Monday: Jade, Kathie, Margaret & Gina play flute music

May 7, Musical Monday: Zehava & Ben perform Elton John, Adele & more

May 10: Spring Concert at Endicott College (6:30 p.m.; stay tuned for e-mail reminders)

May 14, Musical Monday: Juliette sings and plays the drums

May 14: LE-MS performs for the Beverly Council on Aging (10:45 a.m.)

May 21, Musical Monday: Instrumentalists of UE

As always, e-mail Hannah at hmell@stoneridgecms.org if you have any questions!

 

Montessori in Toddler House: Part 6

by Pam Richardson, Head Teacher

Wow! We've been so busy! During the recent summer-like weather, we made sure to spend a good deal of time outside. Here we are on Walking Wednesday. Sofia and Alexander are playing among the trees.

 

Above, Henry, Sofia, Alessandra, Bella, and Will enjoy each other's company.

 

On our walks, we do a lot of observation and exploration. Henry, Will, and Sam are observing the frog that you see up close below.

Indoors during this windy month of March, we are exploring air motion using an air pump and balls of various sizes, materials, and masses. Below, Silas is engaged in this work.

One recent Monday, we attended our first assembly of the year where the New England Brass Quartet played for us. The music was fabulous and kept the rapt attention of all. We listened, laughed, and kept rhythm by clapping and moving our bodies.

In Toddler House, children are given the opportunity to develop their independence by preparing their own snack. The routine has many steps. First, the student gets a placemat and places it on the snack table. Then, she washes her hands, gets a plate and takes it to the snack shelf. After that she selects one of the snack containers, opens it, uses her hand, scoop, or tongs, closes it, and replaces it on the bottom shelf. Finally, she carefully carries her plate to her spot at the table, sits, and perhaps converses with her peers while enjoying her snack. If she wants a drink, she gets a cup from the shelf, places it on the designated serving tray, then pours the diluted juice from the provided pitcher into her cup.  

Lila sets the table, while Oliver selects snack.

Alexander and Sam prepare their snack, while Tessa gets a glass of water.

Sofia, Oliver, and Andrew enjoy their snack together. Alexander, Will, and Henry enjoy each other's company during snack.  

Above Matthew, Sam, and Alessandra prepare their clementines. 

Bella prepares a clementine while her friends Oliver and Sofia
wait patiently for her to share it with them.

 Above Lila peels, while Andrew cuts a carrot. 

Matthew empties his carrot peelings into the compost bin.

We would like to thank all of the toddler parents for their open and insightful conversations during conferences. It is our honor to prepare the classroom environment and work with your children each day. Thank you for this opportunity.

 

 

More Than Coffee at the April 4 Coffee House!

If you haven't attended a Stoneridge Coffee House, now's the time! There's no event quite like it--you'll get to see performers of all ages share their talents in a relaxed, festive atmosphere. Join us in the multi-purpose room from 5:00-6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4. (Students K-MS, please arrive at 4:45 for a warm-up.)

If you'd like to perform, be sure to e-mail Hannah at hmell@stoneridgecms.org with the title and length of your piece. Coffee House ends right at 6:30 p.m. so there will be a cut-off once we have enough acts. 

Pizza, snacks, and drinks will be available for a low cost; all proceeds benefit the music program. Donations of nut-free treats are much appreciated! If you'd like to help out, get in touch with Hannah.

Montessori in Toddler House: Part 5

by Pam Richardson, TH Head Teacher

Maria Montessori said that children have a need for beauty in their environment. 

 

The toddlers help to arrange a bouquet of flowers for our room each week.

 

When works are complete and beautiful, the children learn to respect and care for the classroom materials.

 

Here, Sam is using his fine motor skills to hang shiny hearts on a decorative tree while Alexander looks on.

  Above, Lila twists beautiful cabinet knobs onto bolts.

  Andrew uses a bright red spoon with a rounded scoop to transfer pebbles from a glossy purple bowl into a miniature ceramic white pitcher.

 

Our Peace Corner is a place where a child may choose, on her own, to spend some quiet time.  It is also a place where we may sit with two children to give them some time to relax together.

  Alessandra has chosen the peace corner to rest and snuggle with her lovey for a few minutes.

 

We encourage independent learners. 

  Silas is constructing the rainbow puzzle in his own creative way.

 

Matthew is using a magnet to sort objects that are magnetic from those that are not.

 

Tessa is grating ivory soap to use to make bubbles in a future work.

 

Alexander is washing his snack dishes.

 

Henry is making a tunnel for the train by strategically positioning magnetic leather clips.

  Bella is balancing the six rainbow puzzle arches as she stacks them from largest to smallest.

 

Will has binoculars and one of the viscous bottles as he manipulates the links he has connected.

  Oliver studies each construction vehicle puzzle piece as he returns them to the puzzle base.

 

Sofia is peeling her carrot before she slices it and eats it.

On February 15th, Lila became a big sister when her mom gave birth to Bridget. Also on February 15th, Oliver became a big brother when his mom delivered Zara. We hope you will join us in congratulating Lila, Oliver, and their families. 

March is a busy month for us in Toddler House. We look forward to welcoming our current parents to observe in our classroom next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday prior to conferences that will take place next Thursday afternoon and Friday. We plan to attend our first whole-school assembly this month.

In February, we spent a Walking Wednesday on the Children's House playground and had a fabulous time. It was incredible to watch the children develop their ability to climb and navigate the larger playground structures during this single brief visit. Since this experience, they have begun to descend our slide feet first on their stomachs and scale up the climbing wall to ascend our climbing structure. Toward the end of March, the toddlers who will be in Children's House in September will visit one of the Children's House classrooms with a couple of their peers.

 

 

Music Discovery Spring Session

by Hannah Mell, Music Director

What better way to welcome a child into the world than with song and dance? Each Tuesday morning, we welcome Stoneridge families (and those from anywhere on the North Shore) into our music room for a class that helps parents bond with their children through music. Children develop musical aptitude--as well as language, spatial awareness, social skills, and emotional expression--through songs and games.

Music Discovery is open to infants through pre-schoolers and their parents. We have space for a few more children in our new session! We meet from 9:30 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. in the music room. If you know someone who might be interested, take a brochure from the Community bulletin board in the lobby, or send Hannah an e-mail at hmell@stoneridgecms.org.

 

 

Montessori in the Toddler House: Part 4

by Pam Richardson, Toddler House Head Teacher 

Our prepared environment brings organization to our classroom and gives toddlers the opportunity to create their own order. This is important as toddlers are very sensitive to order at this stage of development.

Henry placed the farm animals in a line on the shelf above.

This cylinder block gives Henry a template for ordering cylinders by both height and diameter. 

Alessandra is wiping up water that spilled on the floor.

 

Oliver is using a broom and a carpet sweep to tidy the classroom.

Our prepared environment also support students' need to focus on detail and tiny objects.

Here, Alexander assembles a puzzle that allows him to match the components of an ethnic costume and choose a facial expression.

Lila works on assembling a 12-piece farm puzzle.

 

Will, who joined us in January, is using his index finger to push tiny silver magnetic balls out of his picture.

Bella is feeding a toy alligator tiny lady bugs and fish.

Matthew is using a hole-punch to cut tiny paper trees.

We change works frequently consistent with the seasons and to keep the children challenged and interested. 

Sam, Sofia, Stacie, Silas, and Henry are ringing jingle bells while singing holiday songs.


Recently, students have been excited about bringing snow into the classroom and leaving water to freeze outside over night.

We're so delighted to introduce three new toddlers to our classroom this January. Please join us in welcoming these students (and their parents) to Stoneridge!

Tessa (and her mom Sarah and dad Krishna)

Will (and his mom Christine and dad Blake)

 
Andrew (and his mom Kim and dad Dan)

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day! We'll make our own valentines and post them in our classroom mail slot soon.

 

 

Montessori in Toddler House: Part 3

by Pam Richardson, TH Head Teacher

Materials in our classroom offer toddlers the ability to explore their natural tendencies. They open and close objects. Below, Alexander opens and then closes the container from which he selects his snack. Then, Henry puts a snack container away after getting his pear from it. Oliver opens and closes containers with twist caps while his grandfather looks on.

Toddlers have a natural tendency to hide objects. Below, Matthew has found a small Jack-O-Lantern button and will hide it inside of the nesting barrels. Toddlers also fix things. Bella is working hard on reassembling a truck.

Toddlers exert maximum effort in their work. Below, Sam is maneuvering the cart with Sofia as passenger, and Silas is pulling the wagon with Lila as passenger.

     Our prepared environment provides materials that allow us to redirect behaviors appropriately. We always have a hammer work available if a child needs to hit. Below Alexander is demonstrating hammering. Silas is demonstrating pushing our heavy rolling jug.

In the photo below, Alessandra has plucked a leaf off of a section of garland, demonstrating the appropriate use of pulling or grabbing.

Toddlers are often compelled to drop things--they're welcome to drop balls or even a xylophone mallet into our water jug, as Silas has done. Items dropped in the jug make varied and awesome sounds and may provide a challenge to retrieve.

 When children jump on the toddler gym, we redirect them to the trampoline. Here's Silas jumping. Alessandra and Beatrix are throwing, or perhaps they are placing balls into our basket ball hoop.

During the month of November, we read books about Thanksgiving and talked a lot about what we are thankful for. We used a turkey ink stamp and dabbed paint on the outline of a turkey. Our art colors were orange and brown. We are looking forward to sharing songs, books, and assorted upcoming holiday materials. We'll talk about Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. If you celebrate a different holiday this time of year, please let me know so that we can share it with the toddlers. Thanks! Happy Holidays to all of you!

Montessori in Toddler House: Part 2

by Pam Richardson, TH Head Teacher

All of the toddlers, their grandparents, and their teachers had a wonderfully fun day on Friday, October 21st. Grandparents joined right in on activities with grandchildren and their friends. This day was a hit in our classroom!

Since the toddlers are in their sensitive period for verbal language, we use varied, accurate, and rich language in the classroom.  Our classroom books and materials are reality based because the toddlers are still making sense of their world. On Thursdays, Martha our librarian visits our room with a basket of books. For about 45 minutes, she reads stories to the children, offering each a book to borrow for the week, and simply getting to know each child better.

 

Once they're comfortable, children will start going up to the library to choose their books and listen to a story read by Martha or one of our parents. We share many songs, action songs, and rhymes throughout our morning and during circle time. We have a shelf in our room that has baskets with items for finger plays. One of our fall action songs that we will begin singing this week is sung to the tune of "London Bridges." There are more verses, and we use leaves with it:

All the leaves are falling down,

Falling down, falling down.

All the leaves are falling down,

Red, yellow, brown....

We teach new vocabulary using Montessori's three-period lesson. In the first period, we repeatedly show an object and name it. Once the children have heard the vocabulary over and over, we are ready to move to the second period. In the second-period lesson, we ask the children to show us the object and we name it. It is highly important that children feel successful with their language. The third-period lesson, when the teacher points to an object and asks the child to name it, is generally saved for Children's House. However, if we hear a child using the names of objects, we might use the third period so that he or she can feel pride in finding the correct answer. 

This year's toddlers are already learning the power of words. When demonstrating a new activity during circle, we are sure to give a verbal description of the activity including the  materials names and verbs to label  actions. When children have a conflict, we reflect what we observe happening and give labels to the emotions that we observe. This helps the children express their feelings. The toddlers love talking with their friends while they sit around the table enjoying their snack.

Our classroom offers opportunities for children's self development during this sensitive period for music. Hannah brings her music to our room on Monday and Wednesday mornings for 30 minutes. She leads the children in songs, action songs, finger plays, and circle games. She demonstrates instruments and offers the children turns using them. She also brings enough instruments for everyone to use  at the same time. We practice rhythm by clapping, tapping, shaking instruments, and dancing.

We have a music shelf in our room, so instruments are readily available to the children. We sing at least two songs at circle each day, and occasionally we form a marching band with assorted instruments.

Check back next month to learn more about the workings of our Toddler House.

We are looking forward to our parent conferences next week. It is always a joy to discuss your children with you. 

 

Montessori in Toddler House

by Pam Richardson, TH Head Teacher

Slowly our toddlers adjust to the exciting new environment of Toddler House. Many parents have begun to carry on with their regular morning routines, as their children complete the Phase-In process at their own pace. Follow the child.

The School-year is underway and we begin to look deeper into  the warm and nurturing environment of Toddler House. There's more there than meets the eye. Each material that you see in the classroom has a purpose and is designed to support some aspect of a toddler's development.

The prepared environment in Toddler House provides opportunities to learn and be challenged in all curriculum areas. Materials are in baskets or on trays and include everything a child may need to complete that activity.

In multiple-step activities, we present materials sequentially from left to right to prepare the child for that same progression of writing and reading. We create and add new activities to the room to meet childrens' evolving needs. Our classroom works encourage repetition and concentration to help establish and strengthen toddlers' neurological pathways.

The sensorial area of our classroom provides materials that support this important stage in toddler development. Children explore materials with their sense of touch, sight, sound, smell, and balance. They also explore with their sense of taste through our variety of snacks and weekly taste-test.

Toddlers also seek meaningful activity; our classroom offers works to support this stage of development. Children can wash windows, scrub pumpkins, prepare food, and polish metal, among other work. Maria Montessori taught us that the hand is the first tool of the intellect. Therefore, many of our dry and wet practical life works help to develop hand-strength through repetitive use of the pincer grasp. Activities included here involve spooning, pouring, stringing, use of assorted tongs, etc.

Our classroom also offers opportunities for varied and repetitive movement. We have stairs, a ramp, slide, sit’n’spin, trampoline, a foam stick and hanging ball, a basketball hoop with a variety of balls, and more. All of these works are designed to help toddlers' need for movement and gross motor development.

Starting next week, for about a half hour each Tuesday, we will enjoy time in Physical Education with Cici. Beginning in November, we enjoy Walking Wednesdays.  Our preference is to walk outside, around the school, up and down hills, and through the trees. Sometimes the weather keeps us in; on these days, we explore our school.

 

 

 

 

Music Discovery: Sign Up Now!

by Hannah Mell, Music Director

What better way to welcome a child into the world than with song and dance? On Tuesday mornings, we welcome Stoneridge families (and those from anywhere on the North Shore) into our music room for a class that helps parents bond with their children through music. Children develop musical aptitude through songs and games--as well as  language, spatial awareness, social skills, and emotional expression.

Music Discovery is open to infants through pre-schoolers and their parents. The fall session began two weeks ago, but we have space for a few more children! We meet from 9:30 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. in the music room. If you know someone who might be interested, take a brochure from the Community bulletin board in the lobby, or send Hannah an e-mail at hmell@stoneridgecms.org.

 

New Beginnings in Toddler House

by Pam Richardson, Toddler House Head Teacher

We are so excited about this year! What a great start we have had. On our first day, the toddlers explored the classroom using binoculars, touching rough and smooth stones, tossing balls, feeding fish and observing Spot our hermit crab.

This year, Stoneridge is implementing Second Step, a nationally recognized social skills program, at all levels of the School--from Toddler House to Middle School. We are excited about the program and believe it will align well with and enhance our grace and courtesy curriculum. At the Toddler House level, we'll use emotions cards that illustrate children's faces expressing various emotions. These cards will assist the toddlers in recognizing and labeling these emotions in themselves and their peers. You'll hear more about this program in various ways, including in this newsletter.

These monthly articles will also help keep you up to date about what is going on in the classroom. This newsletter is also a wonderful way to stay connected with school events and programs. Please make note of the following upcoming events:

All-school photo: Thursday, September 22

Individual photos: Thursday, October 6 outside while we are on our playground beginning at about 10:50

Montessori in the Toddler House: Tuesday, October 4, 7:30-8:30 p.m. A slide show  highlighting the curriculum and philosophy of your child’s classroom, focusing on previous Toddler House students involved in their work.

The Journey of Discovery: Saturday, October 15, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., come explore a classroom at each level of our school! This is the best way to get an idea of what your child can experience here at Stoneridge. New families are expected to participate in either their first or second year, but all are welcome to participate every year.

Grandparents’ and Grandfriends’ Day: Friday, October 21, A long, school-wide tradition at Stoneridge and one not to be missed by grandparents/friends. This is a morning for toddlers to show one or more of these special folks their classroom. Invitations will be sent to grandparent/friends in late September.

We are enjoying getting to know the toddlers, and we look forward to the many days ahead guiding them along their individual developmental journeys.