Early Learning Center

Explore.Learn.Create.

February 3, 2023

two deaf children helping a blind child ride on the sidewalk on her trike

Kindness Matters

Dear ELC Families,

Every February brings us the 13th Annual ELC Great Kindness Challenge.

Everyday during the month of February, we celebrate kindness at home and at school.

We talk about what it means to be kind and we "catch" each other being kind to others, to our environment and to ourselves.

Your child will receive a pack of blank hearts - check their backpacks.

At least once every day, please talk to your child about what it means to be kind....for a preschooler. This could include helping you with a sibling, feeding a pet, carrying dirty dishes to the sink, smiling at a neighbor, or saying thank you at the grocery store. The possibilities are endless. There is a list of suggestions in this newsletter and one will be sent home.

When you see your child do something kind - write it down on one of his/her paper hearts and send it back to school. The teachers will read the hearts with the children daily. (if you need more hearts - let us know and we will send more!)

Please help us to make this Kindness Challenge the best ever.

We challenge you to help cultivate and notice kindness everyday and send in your hearts.

We will be noticing kindness and writing on hearts here at school too. We've already noticed children holding the door for their classmates, saying please, and sharing materials.

We plan to line the hallway with our hearts!

Thank you for helping us with this challenge,

Gail

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Feb. 6-28: Great Kindness Challenge in the ELC (see flyer below)

Feb. 9: Parent University - Cooking is Sweet - see flyer below

Feb. 10: Parent Engagement Workshop (PEW) - see flyer below

Feb. 13-17: Spirit Week - See flyer below

Feb. 14: Valentine's Day - watch for a note from your teacher

Feb. 20: President's Day - NO SCHOOL

Feb. 22: Safety Day at School (in school event - your teacher will share pictures)

Feb. 24: Donuts with Dad/Grandpa/Uncle - WATCH FOR FLYER IN BACKPACKS

Mar. 13-17: Spring Break

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PRACTICING COMPASSION

Dr. Montessori saw hope for peace in the education of children. That foundation is laid in Montessori schools, as children become independent, self-actualized, and compassionate community members. In our classrooms, compassion for others is one of our core values that we impart on a daily basis. It shows up as students of many backgrounds and cultures come together in mutual support and respect. It shows up in the resolution of conflicts when the children hurt each other with words or actions. We guide the children to respectful conversations, healing the wounds and restoring the relationship. It shows up as children engage with one another in a supportive learning environment where mistakes are made, lessons are learned, and ridicule and shame are replaced with respect and support. It also shows up in the way in which we model compassion to the children as well as each other.

As you go through your daily life, you can model compassion to your child, remembering that he is always watching your words and actions. Here are a few simple ways:

Hold the door for someone walking into a building.
Wave and thank the driver next to you that let you into heavy traffic.
Give a kind word to the cashier at the store.
Talk with your child in a respectful way.
Share stories of how someone else showed compassion to you.

“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education,” Montessori wrote in conversations with Gandhi years ago. Collectively, their work made a difference in their world. So too will ours.

,

Charlotte Montessori, http://www.charlottemontessori.com/blog/.

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THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MONTESSORI NIGHT

Montessori night was a fun and engaging evening for families to learn about what their children do everyday. We shared information about the Montessori philosophy, the Montessori materials and why we do it! If you missed Montessori night, we will be sending home some books in the children's backpacks with a LOT of information about our ELC Montessori classrooms.

Montessori Moments

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Dry Pouring

Rebeka is pouring colorful sequins from one jar to another. This requires concentration, coordination and precision. She is building her hand eye coordination, hand strength and independence as she pours the sequins back and forth from jar to jar. If she spills, she simply picks them up from the tray and puts them back in the jar.

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Sandpaper Letters

Alex is tracing letters in a box full of sequins. First, he traces the sandpaper letter that his teacher is giving him. Then, he draws the letter in sequins. This builds his motor memory for writing letters and prepares his fine motor skills for writing. If he makes an error, he can simply shake the tray to "erase" and start again. This activity is a favorite with almost everyone.

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Matching Textures and Letters

Devon chose letter matching from the Language shelves and Xiomeliz chose texture matching from the Sensorial shelves - then they decided to sit next to each other to work. Devon is opening boxes of hearts with lower case letters to match to the upper case letters on her chart. Xiomeliz is preparing to remove the texture cylinders from so that she can match name the textures and match them.

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Carrying a Tray

This is one of the fundamental skills in a Montessori Classroom. Most of the works on the curricular shelves are on trays. Carrying a tray from a shelf to a table or mat requires coordination, planning and slow movement. Savannah is carefully carrying her tray to the table so that she can begin the work cycle.

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Familiar Word Recognition

Ellie is matching word cards with the days of the week to smaller cards with the days of the week (and drawings of how to sign each word). She sees these words daily and knows the days of the week. Being able to match letters, recognize initial letters and recognize familiar words is an important step in learning how to read.

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Learning Letters - in Print and Braille

Ian is learning the letter D. He's learning to recognize the letter D, listen to the sound and call out the braille dot pattern for the letter D - dots 1-4-5. Letter recognition is an important step in learning to read too - Ian already recognizes his name and other words in his environment.

PLAYGROUND FUN!

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ASL CLASSES

Parent University - Expanded Core Curriculum

Parent Engagement Workshop

Dragons Sweep Mason-Dixon Tournaments

2023 started off with a bang for the FSDB Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, and Cheerleading teams. All three teams won the Mason-Dixon Championship this past weekend. The last time the Dragons swept the annual tournament was in 2013.

fsdbk12.org

Thank you to everyone who brought snacks! We love them - we ate them! If you didn't send them in last week, could you send some this week?

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Applesauce

Pretzels

Popcorn

Chips (Sunchips or Pirates Booty)

Graham Crackers

Animal Crackers

Ice pops

Any fresh fruit - grapes, tangerines, bananas, apples, dates, etc.

Mini bagels and cream cheese

ELC 2021-22 End of the Year Video

a little girl in a blue dress is laying down on her back on the field outside looking at the camera - she looks tired.

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