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Another year is upon us, full of exploring your interests, gaining new skills and diving deeper into old concepts. I look forward to welcoming all of you into our awesome learning community. I hope you're as ready for a great year as I am! Annie Gerstner annie.gerstner@tchlearners.com “The secret of good teaching is to regard the child's intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his innermost core” ~Maria Montessori (To Educate the Human Potential 11) Room Parents |
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Classroom Highlights
September 16, 2024
I look forward to our class picnic next week at F&M park and having the chance to chat with all of you. Thank you Abby and Karen for organizing this event!
It has been so lovely getting to know all the children in the Birch environment. Building community is an important part of these first couple of weeks. We read the book “The Day You Begin” which delivered a beautiful message about celebrating our unique differences and finding your voice to share your stories. Some of our time has been spent working with one another in different ways. The first week of school the children found things they had in common by means of a partner scavenger hunt. They then had the chance to share these findings with the group! The children created a beautiful classroom sign that will be hung up for these next few weeks (see picture below).
We have also been working on establishing routines and expectations these past couple of weeks. We have begun our weekly math work and the children are eager to get new lessons and practice their favorites from past years. We joined the Willow classroom in the gym to share the first Great Story together. Ask your child what they remember from the story or an experiment that was presented!
This past week, Kitchen classroom began. I know helping prepare our school lunches can be a highlight for your child. Each week a new group of children will be helping in the kitchen. They finish the week by baking cookies and enjoying them together as a group.
We had our first friendship group led by Trisha Short, our mental health consultant Trisha will focus on social-emotional learning and bring activities, role-play scenarios, stories and fun to our classroom once a month. This week she read the story “Today I Feel… : An Alphabet of Feelings” Your children learned that there are over 200 emotions and as a group, started to create a list of all the emotions a person may feel. Ask your child to tell you some emotions they learned. Maybe you can create a list at home!
Your children had a wonderful time at LOC last week. From singing songs on the big blue bus to participating in team building activities, the day was filled with nature walks, building gnome homes on the beach and enjoying lunch in the great house!