VMS Weekly News - September 23, 2016

“It is true thatwe cannot make a genius. We can only give eachindividual thechance to fulfill his potential possibilities to become anindependent, secure,and balanced human being."

- Maria Montessori

Primary 1 Classroom-Miss Ty, Miss Cristina and Miss Rebecca

We continue to relax into the routine of school.We try tobuild the day into a structure that will befamiliar to each child: coming intothe class,changing into their indoor shoes, sitting on theblue line, talkingwith friends…. THEN: the roll call,calendar, songs, and finger plays. Some ofthesongs you may have heard at home are “1, 2, 3,4, 5, I Caught a FishAlive,” and “There Was aLittle Turtle”. We also learned “Baby Beluga” and“TheMonths of the Year”, among many others.Lots of singing! The children are alleager toparticipate with these songs and most all aresinging along with me.

Thanks to Rob Moriarty, Jack’s father, for thedonation of astump for the children to practicetheir hammering skills. We are allappreciative ofthis addition to our Practical Life area. Weatherpermitting,the children take a special necklace,and one at a time, go out onto our deckandhammer two nails. This is extremely popular andis something that laststhroughout the fall andthen starts up again in the spring.

Andhere is a little bit of Montessori philosophy:Any unnecessaryhelp is a hindrance. When we dofor our children anything they can doforthemselves, we slow down their progresstowards building strong independentpeople.Independence is a word you will hear us using alot with your children.We hope to help themmake viable, independent decisions for all their work,play and social interactionsthroughout their day. For example, when a childasks a simple question like,“Where should I put my rug?”, we ask the child tolook at the classroom andfigure out for him or herself where a good placewould be. “Where do you thinka good place would be?” Most often, the childfeels proud as he or she solvesthis simple problem for him or herself.

Primary 2 Classroom - Miss Chris and Miss Holly

The children have been enjoying manyof the Practical Life lessons this week.The area of Practical Life is such animportant part of our curriculum as itgives a child the basics of developingindependence, coordination,concentration and fine and gross motordevelopment. Practical life lessons arejust that, they are activities that help thechild learn how to do living activities in apurposeful way.

The purpose and aim of Practical Life is to help the child gain control in thecoordination of his movement, and help the child to gain independence andadapt to his society. Practical Life lessons also aid the growth and developmentof the child’s intellect and concentration and will in turn also help the childdevelop an orderly way of thinking. Practical Life exercises can be categorizedinto four different groups: Care of the environment, care of self, control of

movement and grace and courtesy. Practical Life exercises also helps to aid thechild to develop his coordination in movement, his balance and his gracefulnessin his environment as well as his need to develop the power of beingsilent. Because Practical Life materials are meant to resemble everydayactivities, it is important that all materials be familiar, real, breakable, andfunctional.

Many of my returning students are now moving forward from their lessons thatthey worked on last year. The more advanced math and language materials arebeing used during our afternoon session and many of the older new studentsare being given lessons by their peers on many of these activities. When a childhas the opportunity to give a lesson on a familiar work to another child, theconcept of that lesson is being refined and reviewed by the child presenting thelesson.

Elementary Classroom- Miss Irene and Miss Nora

The Strip Board, Phonogram Drawers, StampGame, and GrammarBoxes are being used daily!Elementary 1 students are eager for new lessons!Some of thepuzzle maps that have been in use arethe World Continents, North America, SouthAmericaand Europe. Despite the physical size and agedifferences of theirElementary II peers, both levelsare participating in friendly andrespectfulinteractions. Last Friday was a true testwhen all students presented their educationalShowand Tells. Elementary 1 students presented with confidence as they sharedtheirknowledge and experiences with older students.

Elementary II students have already been entertaining uswith their writingpieces. Some prompts included, “If you were given $1,000 tohelp a cause inthe world, what would you do with it?” and “If you could chooseyour job as anadult right now, what would you choose and which job would bethe last youwould choose?” The students are continuing working on fractions, algebra,pinmaps, including country capitals and bodies of water, and country research.

ll eight Elementary II students are registered and assigned a countrythat theywill represent at the Montessori United Nations this year. Along withparentchaperones and myself, there will be twenty VMS representatives in New York

thisMarch. We will begin fundraising for this amazing event beginning withMonday Morning Coffeestarting next week. Coffee will be sold inside the gateduring drop-off for$2.00. Start your morning off right with a freshly brewed cupof coffeeand a satisfying feeling that you are helping to shape our children’sfutures!

All students have continued to listen respectfully toNative American creationstories from the Creek, Navajo, Inuit tribes. Storiessuch as "How GrandmotherSpider Stole The Sun" and "Four Worlds: TheDine Story of Creation" not onlynurtures creative thinking but prepares students for lessons in the areas ofAstronomy and Earth Science.

Many of our students participated in the Run to the Chop5K and Fun Run tohelp the Friends of the Library raise money bysprinting their hearts out orleisurely jogging on a beautiful Sunday morning.Thank you for your support!

Tuesday, September 27th at 3:00 p.m. is the ChessWorkshop with the MVRHS ChessClub. This is sure to be a fun afternoon!

Spanish -Miss Cristina

Hola! Everyone is very excitedto start Spanish, includingme.The elementary students beganon Wednesday, andthe older afternoon childrenbegan on Thursday. Thecurriculum is rich and engaging.The returning students havebeen asking me when we would begin Spanish lessons. Currently I have a few studentswho already speak Spanish.

The elementary students began their language lessons learning greetings,words in otherlanguages with similar sound as restaurant-restaurante,passport-pasaporte... We played a card game which builds on their basicSpanish vocabulary.

The afternoon Primary children began their year of Spanish class learningnumbers,songs and colors. I brought 4 colored balloons into the class.The childrenpassed the balloons saying each color in Spanish.

I enjoy building a rich and engaging Spanish curriculum for all the students. Last year'senthusiasm and excitement was exciting to see and I have been looking forward to the newyear.

Late Day- Miss Weezie

and Miss

Cristina

Theliteracycomponent of ourLate Day Program includes reading aloud,poetry,songs, finger plays and puppetry. Children learn toread and love books whenadults around them share theirown pleasure in reading and language. Besidesreadingaloud to children, we can show them that words areeverywhere- oncereal boxes, street signs and posters.Books we've read are often a jumping offpoint fordiscussions with children and opportunities for them topracticelanguage as well as listening skills. Books that weenjoyed this week include: "There, Big Scary Monster","Henry Explores theJungle", "If I Were a Wheel" and"Calliou's ImaginaryFriend."

Upcoming Events

Chess Workshop(A Kick-off to the VMS

Chess Club)September 27th at 3:00

p.m.

VMS is honored tobecollaborating with theMVRHS Chess Team for thisschool year. To “kick-off”theyear, Minah Worley(Natalie’s and Richard’s mom) has coordinated a chessworkshop

facilitated by Maja Milanovic and Sandra Dukic on Tuesday,September27th at 3:00 p.m. All kindergarten through 6th gradestudentsare invited to participate.

Maja Milanovic is amaster candidate and her Elo is 1918. SandraDukic is an international masterand her Elo is 2145. (The Elo ratingsystem is a method for calculating the relative skilllevels of players;it is named after its creator, Arpad Elo.)Both women won theSerbian Youth tournament and they are also playing for the1stSerbian Women's League. Lastly, Sandra won the 2009 SerbianSenior tournament!

Maja just reached out to VMS and the MVRHS to express her enthusiasm infacilitating the workshop "Thank you very much for inviting us, we are lookingforward to this event and we will do our best to make this chess classinteresting for everybody!"

Asyou can tell, these women are extremely talented and it is very rare tomeetsuch highly ranked players. I am excited that our students will havetheopportunity to play alongside Maja and Sandra.

MontessoriModel United Nations (MMUN) FundraiserAttend Living Local Harvest Fest and Support the Elementary II

Students' TripSeptember 30 – October 1, 2016

TheAgricultural Hall in West Tisbury, MV

Living Local MV is an organization designed to provide support of,interactionwith and promotion of the many unique entities promoting livingsustainably onthe island of Martha’s Vineyard. The Annual Living LocalHarvest Fest is acelebration that brings together the many exceptional people andentities whomwork and promote living sustainably on the island of Martha’sVineyard. Theevent celebrates and educates on important island issues such as;sustainableagriculture, local food advocacy and education, marine life,renewable energy,resource and land conservation and local living economies. For moreinformation, visit their website.

After SchoolProgramming Opportunities

Beginning in October

The Arts, in the studio with Pam Benjamin: All ages are invited.Limited spaceMonday October 31st through Monday, December 12thTime: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Location: 23 Grove Avenue, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568

http://senseofwondercreations.org/art-classes/

Chess Club, K-6th gradeA collaborative effort with the MV High School Chess team. Students will initially learn the peices and rules of the game and

move to tournements.Held on Tuesdays. Date to start: TBDTime: 2:30 pmMorgan Learning Center

Global LeadershipAdapted from the Stanford University curriculum YELL. Thisprogram will forcus on the power of the individual to createchange in the community.Held of Wednesday. Date to start: TBDTime: 2:30 pmMorgan Learning Center

Recommended ReadingWhy Montessori for theKindergarten Year?

by Tim Seldin with Dr. Elizabeth Coe

Book Corner for Parents"MontessoriMadness!": A parent to parent argument for Montessori educationby Trevor Eissler

and

"Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius" by Angeline Stoll Lillard

Vineyard Montessori SchoolP.O. Box 994, 286 Main St, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568

vineyardmontessori.com(508) 693-4090

An independent non-profit school Pre-k through sixth grade.

Fostering a lifetime love of learning, one child at atime.

CONTACT US

Vineyard Montessori school | 286 Main, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568

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