The Bulletin Number 4 www.southernmontessori.sa.edu.au Mar 2018 Cycle 2 Creative Arts Visual Art We have had a great start to the year in Creative Arts. It has been great to meet the new students to our school and catch up with returning students. All classes have been really settled this term and have been working hard on some interesting projects. Cycle 1 have begun working on a play called ‘There’s a Sunflower in my Supper’. The play is about a cow that loves plants and gardening. There are also plenty of songs and dances throughout the play. All students have been allocated a role and have been practising their lines in class. The play will be performed towards the end of Term 2. Cycles 2 and 3 have been focusing on Visual Art this term. They have been learning about the principles and elements of art. Cycle 2 have focused on line, texture, contrast and pattern, while Cycle 3 have focused on perspective, space, emphasis and balance. Here are some examples of finished pieces and some works in progress. Amelia
Transcript
The Bulletin
Number 4 www.southernmontessori.sa.edu.au Mar 2018
Cycle 2 Creative Arts
Visual Art
We have had a great start to the year in Creative Arts. It has been great to meet the new students to our school and catch up with returning students. All classes have been really settled this term and have been working hard on some interesting projects.
Cycle 1 have begun working on a play called ‘There’s a Sunflower in my Supper’. The play is about a cow that loves plants and gardening. There are also plenty of songs and dances throughout the play. All students have been allocated a role and have been practising their lines in class. The play will be performed towards the end of Term 2.
Cycles 2 and 3 have been focusing on Visual Art this term. They have been learning about the principles and elements of art. Cycle 2 have focused on line, texture, contrast and pattern, while Cycle 3 have focused on perspective, space, emphasis and balance. Here are some examples of finished pieces and some works in progress.
The AGM last evening was an excellent gathering and quite interesting, especially in relation to
the unfolding of the next stage in our strategic planning. It was not a long meeting and it was
good to be able to share some refreshments with community members afterwards.
For the past 6 weeks I have enjoyed the pleasure of joining our Reception students for some
singing. Though I’m no Mark Knopfler (or Jimi Hendrix for that matter), my guitar can
navigate its way through lots of favourites for young people. Highlights of the past few weeks
include Puff the Magic Dragon, Mr Clickety Cane (wash your face with orange juice), Dingle Dangle Scarecrow, If you’re happy and you know it, Home Among the Gum Trees, Octopus’ Garden and Yellow Submarine.
This fortnight’s Bulletin includes an article by Michael Grose about the benefits of exposing
young people to challenges. We Montessorians should be good at this! Michael has 5 important
tips. They are: Encourage kids to spend more time with other children, Help children to be
good losers and gracious winners, Encourage kids to talk about emotions and feelings, Model
calm and rational thinking, Encourage children to become independent problem solvers. Please
enjoy the article.
All children should be left a great deal to themselves, to play as we adults call it – though in
reality they are carrying out important activities which strengthen their intelligence…’ Maria
Montessori.
Montessori Moment
Creating a Montessori Home Environment for Preschool Children
‘To assist a child we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to develop freely.’ Dr. Maria Montessori
Parents of children in our preschool programs often ask how they can support their child’s development at home.
Simone from The Montessori Notebook and Jacaranda Tree Montessori provides an interesting blog that addresses how to create a Montessori home environment: [email protected]
Recently Simone interviewed Cristina who lives in Germany with her husband and three year old daughter. Cristina explains that she was drawn to Montessori after becoming fascinated by how much more confident and independent Montessori pre-schoolers are compared to the teenagers and adults she works with. Cristina believes that this stems from Montessori philosophy which advances trust in the child and respect for a child as a person as key tenets.
Cristina argues that authentic learning experiences should be provided in the home rather than simply mirroring what is taught in the preschool. For example, there may be a spooning activity on the shelf in Preschool. The aim is to build motor skills and concentration. In the home environment, there is no need for a spooning activity on the shelf but instead, parents need to provide authentic opportunities for children to practise the skill. This might look like involving your child in a cooking activity where ingredients need to be carefully measured out.
Cristina also recommends that Montessori parents are very mindful of creating environments that foster independence and autonomy. This necessitates being aware that homes need to evolve to meet the needs of children as they develop. Finally, she emphasizes the importance of predictability and order in the home environment in empowering children to be part of family life. You can find Simone’s blog on line if you are interested in more detail.
Noel and Heather
TERM 1 DATES
Term 1 30th January—13th April
Week 9
Mon 26 Mar Tennis Week 1
Fri 30 Mar Good Friday
Week 10
Mon 2 Apr Easter Monday
Tue 3 Apr Tennis Week 2
Thur 5 Apr SAPSASA Cross Country
Week 11
Wed 11 Apr Amanda Rishworth’s 2018
Kindy Art Show
Fri 13 Apr Last Day of Term
Casual Clothes
P & F BBQ
Term 2 1st May—29th June
Week 2
Wed 9 May Adelaide Crows Visit 10-12pm
Week 3
Tue 15 May Naplan
Wed 16 May Naplan
Thu 17 May Naplan
Diary Dates
Dear Parents,
There are still some overdue choir fees - please make sure
payment is made by Friday 23rd of March.
Thank you to everyone who voted for Board positions. At the
time of writing this we are preparing for and looking forward
to the AGM.
Any families that have not yet returned their Offer of Place
paperwork for Preschool, Toddler and Baby Steps programs
for next Term can you please get them back to the front office
as soon as possible.
We hope you all have a safe and relaxing four day weekend
over Easter.
Kind Regards
Danielle and Janine
Information and Workshops
from the Community
Student Placement – Host families wanted for international
students arriving in July and staying for 12 weeks. For more
information call Jenny Hanson on 8323 0973/0409 890 184.
Classroom News
SAPSASA Swimming Carnival 2018 On Monday 25
th February, 10 students travelled to the Marion Swimming Centre to compete
in the SAPSASA Onkaparinga District Swimming Trials. It was a lovely day and all students represented their school well. We were even given a chance to participate in a fun relay at the end of the day. Well done to Chloe P, Reuben, Lola, Tamayah, Lucas, Archie, Flynn, Lilly-May, Chloe M and Maddie W.
A special congratulations goes to Reuben, Tamayah and Lola who were selected for the
district swimming team. They will compete at the SAPSASA state swimming carnival on Thursday 22
nd March. Good luck!
Amelia
Italian News
In the Preschool we are having fun learning the names of Italian fruit. You can also practise them at home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXPTrsUqn0Y
Take a look at some preschool students making La Macedonia (fruit salad) during Italian.
Fractions Work with Jo’s Class Maria Montessori has provided us with a wealth of materials to support children’s understand-ing. In recent weeks we used our fraction circles for a variety of purposes including naming fractions from one whole to tenths, creating fractions with fraction tags to match and also finding equivalent fractions.
Children worked hard independently, in pairs or small groups participating in a variety of fraction activities. Some children recognised equivalent fraction patterns and challenged themselves to continue the pattern well beyond the fraction circles.
Classroom News
Michelle and Lea’s Class Our class has had a great start to the year. New students have settled quickly and old students have enjoyed the
mentoring role and taking on increased leadership roles in our class and school community.
Our trip to the zoo for an overnight stay has been a highlight of our Zoology topic. We have also been busy classi-
fying animals, creating our own species with some amazing adaptations and investigating food chains.
In practical life we have learnt to use a sewing machine and have made our own pencil cases to use this year.
This year we have an art journal with weekly tasks which the students are enjoying and have produced some
beautiful work. As with other years we have completed artwork to decorate our work books also.
Here are some pictures of our artwork in our journal and on our books and our lovely pencil cases.
From a teaching point of view we have enjoyed getting to know our new students and meeting with some fami-
lies. We look forward to meeting with more of you over the next few weeks through Learning Conversations.
Michelle and Lea
Classroom News
Corey’s Cycle 3
We have had a brilliant, yet busy start to the year. Some of the highlights have been: going to the zoo for the Zoo Snooze to complement our Cultural Studies program on Zoology, visiting Urrbrae Wetlands to learn about microorganisms and water quality, reading A Wrinkle in Time in preparation to compare and contrast the movie due to be released in a few weeks and creating a 3D model of an animal based on what we have learnt about animal behaviours.
In addition, we had written applications for Year 6’s to choose which leadership job they would like to work on to support the school, nominations and voting for our CRC representative for our class; as well as leadership positions for CRC, Environmental Committee nominations and selections and our Year 6’s have been partnered with a Reception buddy.
What a wonderful way our students can show leadership skills and have an opportunity to have
their voice heard. Phew! If that’s not enough we are looking forward to the next few weeks when
the 5/6’s are going to Port Noarlunga for the aquatics program, a week of tennis and we will be
engineering our own bio dome. Luckily we have a generous amount of public holidays to help
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