Our week started off with a wonderful treat! Syon and Sanaya's mom, Sejal, joined us to teach about the holiday of Diwali. The children enjoyed some treats, made rangoli with colored sand, and learned a stick dance which they absolutely LOVED. We love learning about other cultures from our community members. Thank you so much to the Shah family for this extra special treat!
We had some geography lessons about latitude and longitude
We also worked on our art project for the Art auction, but of course those pictures are top secret!
We had a LOT of math lessons. We are working on common assessments since it's around the end of the quarter (if we had quarters). Common assessments are intended to be a bridge between Montessori Math and conventional paper and pencil math "tests". It's important that the children have some way to connect what they learn in school with what they may encounter outside of our little bubble, and this is an excellent way to do that, as well as to ensure the children have an exposure to core concepts.
We had several students and Ms. Paula out with a cold, which meant more self-reliant kids while I was giving lessons (and also fewer pictures of the children this week... sorry!) Sometimes the results of this self-reliance are a little bit magical. Our nametag holder wasn't functioning very well... it needed a divider to separate the work and help nametages as they kept falling over and getting mixed together. Some of the students were complaining, and I empowered them to solve the problem. It was so great to watch what happened. Using materials they found in the supply closet and some glue, they fixed it themselves. It was a process that included multiple steps and time for the glue to dry undisturbed ... and I loved the way they ensured that would happen.
They used a heavy dictionary to weigh it down (almost like a clamp), they used rulers to cordon off one side of the table as their work space, and put up signs to make sure no one disturbed the work.
....and the best part? Their solution worked! Here's the finished product:
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