DOBSON MONTESSORI SCHOOL NEWS
November 2-6
WHAT IS MONTESSORI?
Montessori education fosters a love of learning. All children are excited to start kindergarten and “go to school”. Unfortunately, traditional learning styles often stiffle that natural love of learning by providing rigid and boring curriculum. Expectations are of sitting still in rows of desks all day, filling out work pages with no room for creativity, don’t talk, don’t run, etc. In Montessori classrooms, children are active learners who are encouraged to express ideas, work with others to solve problems, climb, run, feed chickens, create art, and explore. We all learn best by doing, not just being told. At Dobson Montessori, we instill a love of “Learning for a Lifetime”.
KINDERGARTEN
“My Tactile World” is our thematic focus in November. Kindergarten students have a high need to learn by doing. We will use all our senses to learn about the world around us and to see the details. Everyone will enjoy visiting the Mystery Box where they will guess what is inside by touching and feeling mystery objects. We will create a texture board and use descriptive language to describe scratchy, smooth, silky, bumpy, and other textures. We will use crepe paper to create a touch and feel fall tree. Let’s go on a scavenger hunt to find objects in our school that represent various textures.
PRIMARY
“Geography” is our learning unit this month and we are going local to global. On Monday, your student needs to know their address and nearest cross streets because students will locate their home on a map of the valley to show where we live. Please send that with them on Monday morning. We will make a book to show geography from city to state to country to continent. Students will compare globes and maps. We will draw continents on an orange and then peel it to see how landforms change when they become a flat map. Students will play a game to learn about hemispheres, continents, and oceans. We will discuss the equator, prime meridian and latitude and longitude lines. Students will make their own globe and glue the continents to the correct places. These will hang from our ceiling this month. On Thursday, November 5, we are going on a field trip to Gammage Auditorium to see the Dance Theater of Harlem, a ballet presentation representing cultures from around the world. We still need more drivers; please sign up with Ms. Krista.
INTERMEDIATE
We are learning about “US Government” this month. Students will create a model of a famous government building as a month-long project. We will learn the role of government in society. and why we need government. Students will study the Declaration of Independence. Each week will delve into a different branch of the government; this week we are studying the Executive branch. Students will imagine they are running for president and make a campaign poster. What three things would you do if you were president? We will hold our own election and vote for a class president. What are the qualification to be president of the USA? On Monday, Nov. 16, we are going on a field trip to the Arizona State Capitol. We need drivers; please sign up in room 3. We will leave at 8:45 and return by lunch.
UPPER DIVISION
“Word Up” is our writing unit for November. We will learn to write tight, use specific language, jump over writer’s block, rant, persuade, express, and emote. Each student will receive a hardbound writing journal and will express themselves throughout the month without concern for grades or right or wrong writing. The goal is to learn the process. In class, we will learn various styles of writing. This week, we will discuss formal writing such as journalism and the five paragraph essay. Students will write using these styles during class time. We will learn the importance of making an outline and will workshop our writing with our peers. On Thursday and Friday, November 19-20, students will go on an overnight trip to write with inspiration from the world around them. Watch next week’s newsletter for more details.
HIGH SCHOOL
We continue our work in “Healthy Living”. Students have set goals of being more active and using less screen time at school. For our Film Making class, students are editing the films they made last week and will show the final versions to their peers this week. Learning to workshop and critique is a vital part of improving. For US History, we will look at Reconstruction after the Civil War and how the Homestead Act impacted the westward expansion. Students will research questions about this time period and submit findings on Friday.
FALL PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Conferences will continue this week. If you didn’t sign up, there are still some time slots available in the schedules in the office.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
No school on Wednesday November 11 in honor of Veteran’s Day. We will also be closed on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, November 25-27 for Thanksgiving.