Bruno Lower El Classroom 1

Now that we are into a routine after the holidays I wanted to let you know that we are encouraging and expecting each child to complete five jobs each day. All students have been given support with choosing a productive work spot in the room. All students have had a wealth of presentations and lessons which allow them to operate on their own for most of their work. Teachers provide support and encouragement. Students at this point in the school year are capable of completing a minimum of five jobs. Please discuss this with your student and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you to the Pederson family for an interesting and engaging presentation on the Lunar New Year. The class enjoyed the gifts from the Pederson family: a red envelope, an orange, and a special color sheet. Parent presentations are one of the important components of a Montessori Education. We are truly blessed to have such supportive parents at Bruno Montessori

We have been working hard each day this week. The class enjoyed a Montessori lesson on horizontal and vertical lines using the globe and a bowl of water. Vertical and horizontal lines and their position on Earth were of particular interest. We have also introduced standard liquid measurement using cups, pints, quarts, and a gallon. The class enjoyed pouring water and determining the number of cups in a pint, pints in a quart, and quarts in a gallon. We are also converting liquid units of measurement.

Our cultural lessons this week included an introduction to the water cycle, Earth’s fractures and folding, more calendar work on the days of the week, and a look at the phylum of Nematodes.

We have planted seeds for our spring garden and they are sprouting in the classroom! Due to the extreme cold in December, almost everything in our garden died. Everyone is looking forward to planting a new garden with both vegetables, fruits and flowers.

Thank you to everyone who turned in their homework for December and January. New homework will come out next week. All homework is sent home in the folders and a digital copy is uploaded to Google Classroom. As always, feel free to reach out by email if you have any questions or concerns.

Ms. Carolyn & Ms. Genie

  In our modern world, it is so easy to get sucked into conflict – online, on the news, with our family and friends. It is important that at a very young age, we begin to learn how to settle our differences and appropriately handle strong emotions.  Peace education is a major component of the Montessori classroom. Adults model peaceful and respectful behavior, and because Montessori classrooms are composed of mixed-age groups, older students serve as role models for younger children. At Bruno Montessori, we are blessed with an exceptionally beautiful environment.  We have a variety of beautiful trees, open fields, a pond, and plenty of vast open space.  This outdoor environment is oftentimes conducive to peacefulness.  Within the classroom, there is a peace table, at which two students can go to resolve a conflict, or a single child can go to calm down and feel peaceful. . At the Elementary level, when the imagination takes off, students enjoy role-playing and solving problems in small groups.  Each day in Lower Elementary begins with a peace ceremony.  A candle is lit and a quiet peaceful greeting is passed around the group.  We hope this sets the tone for the day for each student. Peace is very important in the Montessori learning environment.

We started off our week by having a class lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A book of his life was presented and discussed. During our work time students had the opportunity to copy a famous quote in cursive. They also had a writing assignment on what they would do if they met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many students expressed inspiringly creative ideas.

Our cultural lessons this week included how to graph data from a science experiment, mountain ranges of the world, a continued study on calendars, and a look at the Annelid phylum.

“The prospect of true peace makes us turn our thoughts to the triumph of justice and love among men, to the building of a better world where harmony reigns.” Maria Montessori, Education and Peace 1949

Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Carolyn & Ms. Genie

It’s been a relief to return to our regular routine and our first full week of 2023. Most six to nine-year-old students rely on the normalcy of a routine. Routines allow students to successfully predict what their day is going to hold. Reliability leads to self-confidence and self-confidence leads to growth. A daily routine is a necessity at school and at home.

This week we had many new lessons. First-year students were introduced to multiplication, the commutative property, and parts of a line. An introduction to rounding was presented to many students. We also had cultural lessons which included: a study on magnetism, a look at parts of a mountain, a study of calendar terminology, and a look at the phylum, Platyhelminthes, a study of flatworms.

Enjoy the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. See you on Tuesday!

Ms. Carolyn & Ms. Genie