We’re keeping an eye on things as we move towards the end of the year! Most notably, we’re keeping a close eye on our caterpillars, which have grown a lot this past week. See below for more…
As of Friday morning a number of them had assumed the “J-position,” which indicates that they are about to enter the chrysalis phase. Above, you can see one them in this position, and note the growth from the tiny little things we showed you last week. There is a lot of excitement for them to emerge.
Another of the things we keep a close eye on is the children’s language and literacy development. Children learn to identify the different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, articles, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions) that make up sentences using a specific set of symbols that are tied to the Montessori Grammar Box material. Understanding how sentences are constructed is a big step in learning to gain control over language.
With such control over language, students can embark upon writing stories about what interests them — taking the opportunity to engage in valuable practice and learning experiences in a context that is enjoyable, even if it is a story about the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Please leave hockey-related commentary below).
Developing language and literacy skills also gives children the skills needed to perform research projects on topics that interest them, and to present them to their peers. In the background, you can see the project presentation we showed you last week. The end of the term is the time when many projects are finished up and presented.
It’s not all readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic though. Sometimes we need to find our Montessori guides to help us get the knots out of our shoelaces!
Remember, we are off on our end-of-year sleepover campout at Crieff Hills next Thursday and Friday. Please see last week’s update for details.