What have the preschoolers in the Equinox Classroom at All Stars Montessori been up to lately? We thought we’d give you a glimpse into a typical day so that you could see how busy they have been.
Each morning begins with group time when the class gets together to talk about the Letter of the Week and the current theme. When we caught up with Ms. Meagan, Ms. Tiffany, Ms. Alex and the Equinox class, the Letter of the Week was “N” and the theme was “It’s a Jungle Out There.”
During group time, the children learned a lot of cool things about the jungle. One of the things they learned was that the jungle forest has different layers (floor, understory, canopy, emergent). It was great to see how the children were able to name the layers on their own after practicing it throughout the week. They also discussed the different products that come from the rainforest and did a “smell test” with chocolate, vanilla and berry tea. (If you have a child in the Equinox classroom, ask them what they remember learning about the jungle.)
After group time they moved on to Montessori work time. During this time the Equinox students were busy exploring the Montessori materials in their classroom. Some of the children were busy in the Practical Life area with pouring, sorting and washing activities. Others were using jungle animal flashcards to draw pictures and write the names of the jungle animals. And others were busy creating their own jungle using blocks, paper tubes, and vines. In the art area, children were busy creating “Fingerprint Peacocks” using coffee filters, felt, googly eyes and more!
Children in the Equinox classroom were busy and engaged, so the work time passed quickly and soon it was time move their bodies. Normally the Equinox preschoolers would head outside to burn off the energy but on this day the Minnesota weather was not cooperating, so the teachers turned on some music and got the children moving around like jungle animals!
One sweet moment of the morning demonstrated why mixed-age Montessori preschool classrooms (3s, 4s & 5s) are so great. When one of the younger children was struggling with a worksheet, the teachers watched with a smile as an older child stepped in to help. “Here, let me help you with that. Nail starts with N, too.”
There is never a dull moment when you have the chance to watch children’s minds work. They say some of the cutest and funniest things. One child was excited to share the art they had created for “jungle week” but might have gotten it confused with farm week. “Mom, we made turkeys today!”
It was a fun morning of learning that came to an end when the children started to clean up for lunch. There was no doubt that after the busy morning of learning and fun they would be ready for rest time once they filled their tummies!
Thank you
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