Radiant Montessori Newsletter
Center News
December 2016
Radiant Holidays Just a reminder that Radiant will be closed on Friday Dec. 23rd, Monday Dec. 26th, Friday Dec 30th, and Monday January 2nd. We will also be closing at 12:30pm on Tuesday December 13th for the Winter Program.
Winter Program We are very excited for the Winter Program! The children have been working very hard on their songs and are excited to perform for everyone. The program will be across the street at Maple Grove Covenant Church. Radiant will close at 12:30pm on Dec.13th to give the students and staff time to go home and get ready for the program. The doors to the church will open at 5:00pm. All children need to be dropped off with their teachers in the gym at 5:15pm. The program will start promptly at 5:30pm and will last about 45minutes. There will be a short reception in the gym following the program from 6:15-7:00. Please bring a treat to share for the reception. Radiant will provide punch and water. We are also very excited to have hired a videographer to record the program for us this year. DVDs will be available for a small fee if you wish to purchase one.
Breakfast with Santa Santa is coming to Radiant!! On Saturday December 17th from 10am to noon Santa will be at Radiant for your children to meet with Santa and take pictures. Radiant will provide juice and donut holes for breakfast. We encourage everyone to attend! This is a great chance for you to meet the many new families that have joined Radiant since our summer picnic and catch up with old friends. There will be a sign-up sheet in the front lobby so we can get an idea of how many people to expect. You are still welcome to attend if you forget to sign up, this is just helpful for us to know how many people to plan for when purchasing food and treats
Christmas Parties and gift exchange The classrooms will be having their Christmas parties in the morning on Wednesday Dec. 21st. Each classroom will be doing a gift exchange with the children. Please bring a non-gender specific gift costing $10 - $15 for your child to participate in the exchange. The children will take turns drawing the name of a child to give their gift to. There will also be activities, treats, and games during the parties. As always with our holiday parties, parents are welcome to attend if you would like. The teachers always appreciate a few extra hands on busy party days!
Radiant Montessori Newsletter
December 2016
Classroom Staff Many of you have been asking for the names of all the teachers in your child’s classroom. I know it can get confusing with staff in different rooms at different times and with recent staffing changes. As the fall college semester comes to an end, there will be a few more changes happening, so I am including a list of all the staff in each classroom so that you know who is in your child’s room. Infants – Ms. Dawn, Ms. Emily, Ms. Kassidy, and Ms. Caitlyn Transition – Ms. Abby, and Ms. Bekah Toddlers – Ms. Amanda, Ms. Kari, and Ms. Isabelle Children’s House 1 – Ms. Wenda, Ms. Pam, Ms. Regina, and Ms. Brittney Children’s House 2 – Ms. Shanny, Ms. Julie, Ms. Lauren, and Ms. Brenda Children’s House 3 – Mr. CS, and Ms. Mara
Red and Green Day and Pajama Day Thursday Dec. 22nd will be Red and Green Day. We invite everyone to wear their favorite red and green outfit, fun Christmas outfit, or Ugly sweater! Thursday Dec. 29th will be Pajama day. Make sure to wear your pajamas to school! Both days we will have special kid friendly movies for the children to watch in addition to their regular school activities.
Picture Wall Tis the season for family pictures!! Since a lot of you are taking pictures for the holidays or will have the opportunity to take a family picture over the holidays, please make sure to email me your favorite family picture if you have not already sent me a picture for our family picture walls in the lobby or if you would like to update your picture.
January invoices Due to the end of the year and to help simplify tax statements, January invoices will not be sent out until after January 1st so that all invoices and payments will occur in January. Because they will be sent out later, you will have until Wednesday January 4th to pay the invoice. Year-end tax statements will also be emailed out in January. We encourage everyone to create an account on Bill and Pay (the system we use for invoicing) which allows you access to past invoices, receipts, and yearly statements.
New Spanish Teacher We are very excited to have a new Spanish teacher joining us in January. Her name is Graciela and she has taught Spanish to elementary students for many years. She has 2 children and has been teaching them Spanish since a very young age. Spanish classes will continue to be on Mondays and Wednesdays each week.
Radiant Montessori Newsletter
December 2016
Children’s House 1 Dear Casa One Families, Over the past month of November we have been focusing on: being thankful, The Life Cycle Of A Human, The Five Senses, Human Anatomy, identifying musical instruments, experimenting with Viscosity, discovering how a substance changes with different temperatures, Phonetic Box One was added to our classroom with just beginning sounds, Living VS NonLiving, Vertebra & Invertebrate, opposites-antonyms, making kinetic sand, rhyming words, Magnetic Work, how to draw people, Blow Painting. We discovered our Culture Folders, Land Formations, making maps, setting goals & more. Conferences were a great experience for everyone. Our Orchestra Field-trip sure was an enriching experience. Some highlights were; experiencing professional musicians play instruments to enhance a story-line, and playing many instruments. We celebrated Abby's 5th Birthday. Last of all, we had a Thanksgiving party topped off with parents and pie. I am happy to say all of our friends in attendance that day had a parent come in to celebrate & enjoy the pie. This last week of November we are preparing for our upcoming concert, taking our students goals in perspective, and offering the appropriate materials to help each student forge ahead with their learning & developments. In December our class room is also re-focusing on the development of our senses so as to help create strong neurological connections for the foundations of future learning. Foundations in cognitive development refers to how a person perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of his or her world through interactions, and is influenced by genetic, nutritional, & learning factors. Among the areas of cognitive development are information processing, reasoning, intelligence, classification, language developments, memory, cause-andeffect, spatial relationships, problem solving, and attention span. By presenting materials in stages, & taking these opportunities at the appropriate timing, we help guide each child. With presentations on sensorial, practical life, math, cultural, and language materials we help build this strong cognitive foundation. Our friends have two birthdays to celebrate here in Casa One, Tegan is turning age 3 on Dec. 12 & Rameen will be turning age 5 on Dec. 3rd. Happy Birthday! We also want to welcome Hazel to Casa One. Hazel is joining us from Ms. Amanda’s toddler room. We will also focus on the spirit of giving all of month of December. It is a great joy to see all of our students are warm outside playing in the snow! Please keep waterproof mittens in mind when you are preparing your child for class each morning. Thank you! Please look for update notifications via email daily for our daily communications and gentle reminders. You are welcome to call in if your child is going to miss a day of class, we appreciate this! Also, you may write reminders to our staff on our notebook in the Casa One entryway, & email me with any concerns at
[email protected]. Thank you! Ms. Wenda, Ms. Pam, and Ms. Regina
Radiant Montessori Newsletter
December 2016
Children’s House 2 Hello Casa Two families! The month of November was very busy! This month we are welcomed our new friends Jacob and Danielle into our classroom. If you haven't done so already please make sure you stop and say hello to these families! The highlights for the children is month was the field trip to the Minnesota Orchestra Hall! We had so much fun! The children got to play multiple instruments and sit on stage during a story performance. As well as having the families come in for Pie with Parents for thanksgiving! What a fun afternoon!
In the month of November we worked on the five classes of vertebrates. We also learned about the differences between carnivores, herbivores and omnivores, as well as the differences between their teeth! Life cycle of the sea turtle was also extremely popular this month. A few of our friends even finished working on making their own world maps! In December we will be learning about Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and talking about Arctic and Antarctic animals and their survival, Northern vs Southern Hemispheres, North Pole vs South Pole, and the equator line. I already have lots of art activities planned for the month, I hope you all are excited as I am! Keep your eyes peeled for an email regarding the holiday party! Thanks, Ms. Shanny, Ms. Julie, Ms. Lauren, and Ms. Brenda
Radiant Montessori Newsletter
December 2016
Children’s House 3 Hello Casa 3 families, November has passed so quickly and I found so many changes have been with us. In the midst of a busy schedule, in fact, I often lost chances to reflect how our casa has been shaped carefully. However, while recollecting our learning footprint today, I could find how not only Casa 3 children but also I have been changed and learned in the community. The change, mutual exchange, and adjustment has been shaped a lot in many aspects. Today, I want to make a remark on “respect” and “dwelling” among multiple changes. I have told the children about respect on many subjects such as teachers, rules, building, materials, and so on. Why have I commented on respect of materials in the casa? Because Montessori Method has a somewhat different perspective on teaching. In fact, teacher does not teach the children directly, but the materials that have been invented scientifically in Montessori philosophy help the children build themselves physically, psychologically, and emotionally. My role is not teaching knowledge, but guild children to a normalized way and to help the children work with Montessori materials in right ways. That is why people do not call me “teacher” CS, but “guide” CS. Because materials in the casa help children build themselves, we respect the materials. They are our teachers when we respect them carefully. Our children love and respect them because we, not only children and I, but also the materials dwell in a community. We have focused on decimal counting and basic arithmetic works with (Tens) Beads and board, 100 board, Addition strip board, Addition Stamp Game, Card and counters, and so on. These works help our children build a counting ability and “mathematical mind” to think logically and orderly because they are very sensitive to order and accuracy. In language, you may have already noticed at home that they start to write letters and numbers before they read words. Montessori works have given them Sandpaper letters and some works to strengthen their physical muscles and intellectual mind to address their thoughts and ideas in public. We will keep on doing these physical and intellectual preparations for further writing and reading. In Sensorial, children have built their discriminating ability to distinguish fine visual and tactile distinction. They will have more accurate refined sensorial abilities through diligent working. Thanks for sending your lovely child to my casa Mr. CS and Ms. Mara
Radiant Montessori Newsletter
December 2016
Toddler Room Hello Toddler Families, Can you believe December is upon us already? You’d hardly know it given the weather we’ve been having – though I’m certainly not complaining! I just wanted to remind you to bring in all the necessary snow gear for your child when it does snow so that we’re able to go outside. This is also a good time to check the spare clothes in your child’s cubby and make sure it’s appropriate for the current season. November was a great month and we learned quite a bit about healthy living. We learned about healthy foods that are good for us to eat, why it’s good for us to exercise, and did a lot of fun experiments to help us understand the spread of germs. We also had fun celebrating Thanksgiving with games and crafts. In December, our theme is Winter Wonderland. We’ll be learning about hibernation and the winter clothes we wear. We also have some fun activities planned for our snow themed week, and will be celebrating the winter holidays! This month we are focusing on the letters J, K, and L, the color white, the number four, and stars. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached by phone or in person here at Radiant, or you can email me at
[email protected]. Thank you, Ms. Amanda, Ms. Kari, and Ms. Isabelle
Radiant Montessori Newsletter
December 2016
Transition Room Happy December! Happy December parents! I honestly cannot believe how fast this year has been and it is already time for the holidays! This past month your children have been learning about healthy living life styles. They learned about eating healthy, different ways to move their bodies, how not to spread germs and finally special and healthy snacks. This coming month’s theme is winter wonderland. We will be learning about the different type of winter clothes, hibernation of animals, learning and experimenting with snow, and finally Christmas and other holidays. With all the variety of holidays that happen in December we are going to have a Christmas/holiday party on Thursday, December 2nd. I will have a list of different food and drinks for the holiday party if you are interested in donating a treat to our classroom. During the party we will have a gift exchange for the children. The presents will have a 15-dollar limit and your child will be exchanging a gift between one other child. I will have the list between who is exchanging with who about two weeks before the party. It is going to be so much fun and I am really excited! There is also a Christmas concert that is happening on December 13th. School will be closing at 12:30 that day so teachers can prepare for the concert. Before the concert we will be having three practice days at the church where the concert is located. The days we will be traveling to the church are December 8th, 9th and 12th. These days please make sure your child has snow pants, a warm winter coat, hats, gloves, boots and scarfs. We will be going to the church no matter what the weather is like so please make sure they have their warm winter clothes those days. Also, please make sure your child has these things by their cubbies at all times because we will be going outside when the weather is nice enough for us to do so. As a final reminder, please make sure you are picking up your child’s art project between the toddler and transition classrooms. Their artwork is too adorable to throw away and the art holder is getting really full from their projects. Thank you! As always, if you ever have any questions please do not hesitate to call or email me at
[email protected]. Thank you so much and I hope everyone is having a great day! Sincerely, Abby and Bekah
Radiant Montessori Newsletter
December 2016
Infant Room Hi Families, We had a busy month working on fall and Thanksgiving projects. We made great progress on our Montessori lessons. The younger group did focusing on objects and following objects being moved. The older group did in and out and using eating utensils. All of the babies practiced holding a crayon. This month we will be doing some fun projects with snow, penguins and Christmas. Happy first birthday to Rosie on the 9th and Elias on the 27th! Thanks, Dawn, Emily, Kassidy and Caitlyn
