Getting to Know You

The upper-elementary students spent one of our first mornings getting to know each other by asking several questions of different peers. It was a great way to renew friendships and get to know the new fourth year students as well as the students new to MAEL.

Great Lessons

The Lower Elementary classrooms begin the first full week of school with the Great Lessons. 

The Great Lessons are an important and unique part of the Montessori curriculum. These lessons are bold, exciting, and are designed to awaken a child's imagination and curiosity. The child should be struck with the wonder of creation, thrilled with new ideas, and awed by the inventiveness and innovation that is part of the human spirit.

The Five Great Lessons are traditionally presented in lower elementary (grades 1-3), and are presented every year so that children see them more than one time. Unlike the 3-6 environment, where the child is introduced first to "small" ideas that gradually widen into larger concepts, the elementary child is introduced right away to large concepts - the largest of all being the beginning of the universe. Then they can be shown how all the smaller ideas fit into the larger framework.

Traditionally, there are Five Great Lessons that are used to paint a broad picture before moving to more specific study. They consist of:

·           First Great Lesson - Coming of the Universe and the Earth

·           Second Great Lesson - Coming of Life

·           Third Great Lesson - Coming of Human Beings

·           Fourth Great Lesson - Communication in Signs

·           Fifth Great Lesson - The Story of Numbers

Who says the study of the periodic table is boring? The students are learning that as scientists uncover new and different information, they change their ideas of how the model of an atom must look.  Using the Bohr model, the students choose an element from the periodic table and create its atom.

Brain Tricks

The Lower El and Kindergarten students have begun exploring the brain!  We are learning how it works, the tricks we can play on it, ways we can encourage it to adapt and grow to face new challenges.

We decided to "trick" our brains in to compensate for a disability.  We taped our fingers together and went about our afternoon work time without the use of our fingers.

At the end of the day when we released our fingers, a new pathway has been formed in our brains.

The children grew in their problem solving skills and ability to be aware of activities.

Lower El Update

While a blustery winter seemed to drag on and kept us indoors many days, it did not stop the work or fun in lower elementary!

•  We started units on Africa and the human body.
• Many of our students participated in the Science Expo, presenting living biographies and science experiments and demonstrations.  

• We learned about plants and began an experiment to find out which part of the root carries the water up to the rest of the plant.
• We went to see the play Willy Wonka at the Civic Theater.  
•  We celebrated Valentine’s Day and Dr. Seuss’s Birthday.  Did you know that he was born 111 years ago? We discovered that green scrambled eggs, without ham, taste just as great as regular scrambled eggs especially when you have helped to make them! 

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Cricket

my mommy has a baby and I am so excited

The books the students read for Literary always generate great ideas for end projects. These students read A Cricket in Times Square, a book published in 1960, that has stood the test of time. The pictures feature Tucker Mouse or a dinner the main character, Mario, attended in Chinatown.

Giving

Community service is an important part of our community at Montessori Academy. All students participate in community service activities and events throughout the year. Community service exists at several levels:  helping an individual, helping in the classroom or helping in our school community.  Students also learn to be a part of the global community and share their time and abilities to help others.

Many of our community service projects are initiated by the students who have carefully chosen organizations that they feel very passionate about supporting.  This year our Lower Elementary chose to collect gifts for children at Memorial Hospital.  The lower elementary students made fleece blankets and collected toys.