Celebration of Holidays

Kareem shared Eid al-Adha, which translates as the "Festival of the Sacrifice".  It is also known as the Greater Eid.  It is a holy time of sacrifice and generosity to friends, family, and the needy.

In our classroom environments, celebrating holidays and festivals is an important and exciting study for the students that focuses on the tradition and rituals of celebrations.

Our students retain the joy of holiday celebrations as they learn about a variety of cultural observances. Learning about the holidays of different cultures embraces the Montessori principals of inclusion and peace and helps students understand that celebrations have had a great significance to people throughout time and across all cultures. Holidays are a way that people come together to worship that which they hold dear, to rejoice, and usually to feast with their community and families. The message is clear: it is wonderful to be different and honor what is unique about each culture and person, but let us celebrate our humanity together.

Mountain Mania!

"Travel stories teach geography; insect stories lead the child into natural science; and so on.  The teacher, in short, can use reading to introduce her pupils to the most varied subjects; and the moment they have been thus started, they can go on to any limit guided by the single passion for reading."  ~ Dr. Maria Montessori

In Room 107, we are busy learning about geography.
Currently, we are learning about mountains. Of course, the children ask many of questions like “What is a mountain?” “How high do you think mountains are?” “What types of plants/animals live in/on the mountains?” Such a fun way to learn. 

Lots of questions and lots of answers set the tone for an interesting discussion. We show the children some REAL images of famous mountains to get them more interested in the topic. Then we read one of my favorite books: A Day on the Mountain. The publisher has a fantastic guide for teachers and parents. We also viewed some great educational videos on Youtube like “Where Do Mountains Come From?” and “Plate Tectonics for Kids“.

Imaginary Island - A Rite of Passage for our 3rd Year Students

"We especially need imagination in science.  It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry." ~ Dr. Maria Montessori

The Lower Elementary third year students are getting ready to complete their Imaginary Island Projects.  

The Imaginary Island 3rd year curriculum reflects many aspects of a third year student’s Montessori Education: math, geography, culture, science, language and literature. The students design and create an island with a self-sustaining civilization that encompasses all the “Needs of People” learned throughout their Montessori education. The physical characteristics will be drawn from their knowledge of geography and the study of world biomes in science. The maps are calculated to scale relative to the longitude and latitude chosen and the available area. Written work will reflect the geography, daily life, culture and government of the inhabitants along with a fictional “creation myth” or legend indicative to the culture/island. This is always a much-anticipated end of the year project and the end results are quite imaginative and impressive.

Exploring our World!

Lower Elementary and Land & Waterforms

"At a given moment a child becomes interested in a piece of work, showing it by the expression of his face, by his intense attention, by his perseverance in the same exercise. That child has set foot upon the road leading to discipline".

Having grasped the concept of continents and oceans using our globes, Lower El is now learning about land and waterforms.  

The more we look at the globe and maps, the more questions the children have about the details they see.  

Identifying land and waterforms draws a keener eye to maps and encourages looking at details and drawing connections as well as teaches basic geography facts.