Pancake, Pancake

This week we are doing a 3 day special cooking project based on the Eric Carle book Pancakes, Pancakes. I actually don't really like the book, because once Jack goes to the miller for flour, the chicken for an egg, the cow for some milk, the cellar for some jam, and then churns the butter I feel like I would say it's time to bust out the frozen waffles. But the kids absolutely love this story.

So today, we started by churning butter. It's a fascinating process to watch. Just start out with a jar, add a dash of salt, and some heavy whipping cream and shake that jar until you think your arms are falling off. The liquid passes through several stages, each more gelatinous than the last, until finally a clump of firm, yellow butter is surrounded by some watery excess milk. During this process we opened the jars every now and then to inspect our progress resulting in some great observations about what was happening to the liquid, and questions about whether it could ever go back to be cream again (to each question I simply replied, "what do you think?" or "how could we find out?"). So now we have a mason jar full of delicious, artery-clogging butter. 


Tomorrow will be strawberry jam! Most recipes call for a large amount of sugar, but we will be trying a recipe that uses a bit of fruit juice to add some sweetness. Because it requires so much cooking, I want the students to do as much as possible without having to use the stove, so they will be washing, cutting, and smashing the berries, as well as mixing everything together. 


Friday will be pancakes! We will do a lot of work measuring the ingredients, mixing, and maybe even flipping. I am very excited for everyone, and I know it will help combat break-time craziness. I think we're all ready for a break!


On an unrelated note, it's time to break out the snow pants! And the hats. And the gloves. And the scarves. And the sweatshirts. Please label EVERYTHING. We try to recognize absolutely as much as we can, but remember, I am keeping track of at least eleven student's things. Gloves are definitely the most tricky, as students tend to have multiple pairs. And school uniforms also must have a label. There are about sixty students with the same shirts and sweatshirts, it is absolutely impossible to keep track of where each sweatshirt goes. Whew, ok.  

Wanted!

This blog is quickly becoming something I only write when I want something. BUT, I have a great idea for an almost scrapbooking like activity. I would love any specialty paper or card tops that families may not be using. In addition, any interesting stickers, ribbons, trimming, anything that could be used to make beautiful paper crafts. I will have all of the items available to students, but in order to get them, they will have to trace or write a word/sentence describing what item they would like. So, if a student has an idea to make a snowflake and would like some glitter, she would have to trace or write "glitter." It depends on the child's skill level how he or she would have to request the item. 

How Pitiful

Yes, I am updating! It has been a long time coming, though in my defense I can assure parents of my students that the lack of blog entries correlates directly with new things in our classroom. It has been a very math centered few weeks, and I have introduced many of the students to the decimal system (1s, 10s, 100s, 1000s) and even more students are working on their 1-1 correspondence past nine. It has been very busy.


We breezed through Halloween and Thanksgiving with very few manic days, which I was extremely thankful for. Now, I am introducing some seasonal works. Which brings me to how I like to handle the holidays in my classroom. I do not tip-toe around the fact that it is the holiday season. Dr. Montessori believed that to engage a child, we must provide learning materials that are relevant to their lives. And let's face it, it does not get much more relevant than family, food, and presents! The Christmas tree dot-to-dot is a popular work because a lot of the students are getting Christmas trees in their home, and it is exciting. The cut and paste Menorah is popular because every night for the next 7 nights some students will be going home to spend some very special evenings with their families. It is an exciting season, and (in my very humble opinion) it does not need to be taboo or awkward. We all have different traditions for this time of year, and if a parent has something they would like us to incorporate beyond Hannakah and Christmas, please PLEASE let me know!


Another special day note, we have a lot of birthdays coming up (mine included, I LOVE Starbucks). In our classroom, we like to make this day very special for our students. So, when a student is having a birthday we have card making available. This includes construction paper, usually stickers, and instructions for writing "Happy Birthday [insert name here]." This activity is always very popular, and our kids get really excited to be able to share in the giving. We have class as normal, then clean up a little early, around 11:00am. Then comes circle time where the birthday boy/girl is able to wear their crown. A helper holds a candle (symbolizing the sun), and the birthday/boy girl holds a globe while walking around the sun once for every year they have been alive. After this is when we will enjoy any treats the parent has been kind enough to provide. If a child's birthday comes in the summer months, we will have their birthday celebration on their half birthday so that they also get to be in on the fun.


I have some great pictures to share, but will be uploading them later (so January?). Another quick note, I have a work specific e-mail that I am able to access at all times, if you would like the address please feel free to ask me or Ms. Tammy. 

Wanted: Items for the Classroom!

Hey there, parents. We are having a great start to fall in the classroom. Some of the students seem to be a little bored by the activities we have in the classroom, so in lieu of a lot of blog updates, I will be getting down to work. Some things we would love to have donated to our class:

- Buckeyes. Or the location of an accessible Buckeye tree.

- Random plastic things. Bottle caps, the plastic plugs to half gallons of milk, anything interesting that has design potential. It's time to get our design table operational!

Ongoing Charity Project

Since school began we have had 4 mason jars and a piggy bank sitting on a shelf in the math area of the classroom. Only recently have the students began to ask why we have a bunch of coins laying around the class. So, we have started talking about what we are going to do with these coins. 

The first element of this project is the work itself. There are four jars, one each for pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. There is also a piggy bank where I have been putting small amounts of change each day. When the bank has money in it, the work is simply to remove the coins and sort them in to the appropriate jar. We are working very hard to remember that coins never come out of the jars, only the piggy bank.

The second element is talking about where the money is going to go. Some parents may remember that the coins are going to eventually go to a charity. The first charity we will be donating to is the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. This charity was chosen because one of our parents works there, making it easy to have her let us know where the money is going, how much food we were able to buy, and to help illustrate the purpose of charity. 

The piggy bank is located in the back corner of the classroom, near the cots

This brings us to our third element- having the children give away some of their spare change to put in the bank. While I have told the kids that they are welcome to bring in change, I think this is a dialogue best had at home. By the time class has ended and everyone is home for the day it is the last thing on anyone's mind (mine included, I keep meaning to beg for money from my husband because I have run out!). So, if any parents are bringing their student in before class, I encourage you to walk over to the bank with your child and just drop a coin or two in the bank. For those arriving at 9, I will start bringing the bank out with me, if you feel like donating a little bit to our cause. Remember, this is an ongoing project, so just a few cents at a time would be absolutely wonderful. My hope is that eventually students will start asking for money to put in the bank, which would be a wonderful learning opportunity at home. Parents could discuss why or why not they feel it is important to give more money to our piggy bank. You could ask your child to perform extra tasks around the house to earn money. I do not want to jinx anything, but wouldn't it be amazing if your child was asking what work they could do in order to give their earnings away?

Hopefully we can generate even more interest in this project in order to provide some wonderful Thanksgiving Day meals to families in need!

 

Ethiopian New Year

Hanging Meskal daisies. In Ethiopia, they symbolize

 happiness

In our class this year we have a student from Ethiopia. Coordinating with his Mom, we were able to put together a little celebration for Ethiopian New Year, or Enkutatash. I explained to the class that Enkutatash is timed for when the seasons change. We talked a little about how the leaves are changing colors now, signaling the move from summer to fall. I asked about what that means for our plants, and a couple of the students pointed out that they were dying or losing their leaves. This moved us into talking about the harvest. Our talk was not very long or detailed because the idea of a far away country can be a little overwhelming, and frankly, often goes over their heads.

Eli showing us how he prepares to eat

   So instead of a long-winded discussion, Eli brought in some great artifacts and food for us to eat, and changed into traditional Ethiopian dress for us. We danced to some popular music, ate, and had a great time!

Testing some different dishes

Dancing!

Repetition of Work

Occasionally a teacher will be asked why some works remain in the classroom through the entire school year. The answer comes down to two key Montessori ideas- repetition and variation. Very often I find myself writing down the same works for the same students nearly every day for weeks at a time. While eventually I may offer demonstrations of a new work, I almost never interrupt their desire to repeat a work because they are most likely getting some information from this process. Just in these first weeks I have watched returning students use the knobless cylinders in new ways. These variations are the culmination of months and months of working with the cylinders, and removing them from the classroom would have prevented exciting new discoveries. 

In most areas of the classroom I will introduce an extension or "next step" work when a child is repeating an activity. The most notable exception is in the sensorial area. If a child is coming home day after day with "knobless cylinders," "knob cylinders," "geometric solids," or "brown stair" written on their sheets, then they have been very busy in our sensorial area of the classroom. All of these works seem to have endless variations and extensions. Some of these are demonstrated to the student, and some are things they have come up with on their own. Over the last few weeks I have been able to take some great pictures of student-invented variations with the knobless cylinders. So, even if it seems that your child is coming home with Xerox copies of old daily sheets, take heart knowing that they are indeed hard at work!

Freedom with Responsibility

I wanted to write a quick note about my classroom approach, just in case we have a few students going home disgruntled this week.

One of the Montessori facets is that children need freedom with limits. We recently came across a new way to phrase this-- freedom with responsibility. The most essential part of this philosophy is that children are not told what to do, but are given a series of choices that result in the desired outcome. "Put on your shoes" becomes, "would you like to put your shoes on by yourself or would you like me to help?" Similarly, "you may use the scissors to cut paper only or you may put them away." The limitation does not come from the teacher/parent, but from the responsibility to get ready in time to leave for school or to use an item appropriately.

During the first few weeks of school children do not tend to push many limits. They are busy absorbing their environment and getting to know the teacher and other students. As a result, I do not have to step in too often to remind a student that coloring on the tables is not ok or that scissors are for paper, not hair. But right around 3.5 weeks, children start searching for the boundaries. Now, I am reminding students how some items are used, or the difference between inside and outside behavior.

I write this not to lament that the 3.5 weeks of bliss are up, but to prepare some parents that their child may feel down about their day at school. I certainly spend a lot of time emphasizing that I am not mad, that I still care and that everyone needs to be reminded every now and then (even Ms. Megan, gasp!). But whenever I see a little face give me the "how dare you" look, I worry that they are carrying that attitude home with them. So please, if your student seems a little disgruntled with that mean Ms. Megan, feel free to carry my message into the home. Ms. Megan is not mad, she does care, but responsibility is tough!