February Newsletter

February 28, 2023

Events of the Month

February 5th: Protective behaviours program starts
February 8th: Elementary parent event with guest speaker (RSVP required)
February 14th: Valentine’s Day lunch in the classrooms
February 16th: Re-enrolment packages sent out
February 20th to 29th, : Work Week Casa and Elementary
February 29th: Re-enrolment packages due
February 26th to March 1st: Montessori Week| Kaban invites you to join with others in the Montessori Community throughout the world to celebrate the qualities of Montessori during Montessori Education Week - the last week in February every year.

This month we will be participating in the Protective Behaviours Program that will teach us how to protect ourselves and feel safe. We will begin by repeating two important sentences: "We all have the right to feel safe all the time" and "Nothing is so awful that we can't talk to someone about it". We will also be learning how our bodies indicate when something is wrong or scary.

Further, we will make a list of people we trust and who can help us when we are in trouble. They can be anyone we choose such as family, friends, or teachers. We will then practice what to do and say when we face situations that make us feel unsafe. By doing this, we can avoid violence and find better solutions to our problems.

In addition, we will have fun creating our network of helpers. We can draw a hand and write the names of our trusted individuals on each finger, or we can use any other creative idea we have.

Focus of the Month:

We will resume Technology presentations in mid-February.

As we transition from music, we will spend some time exploring some intersections between Music and

Focus of the Month:

We will study the Canadian Provinces, main cities, then each child will choose one province for further research.

(Fauna, flora, topography, traditions, food, flag, symbols, music, etc).

Reading and writing music (notation) with Tone Bars.

Playing with rhythms and singing in harmony.

Focus of the month:

Spatial Awareness: Teaching spatial awareness in our elementary Physical Education class focuses on helping students understand their body's position in relation to objects and others in their environment. Through fun and interactive exercises, students learn to move safely and effectively in both personal and group spaces. This essential skill not only reduces the risk of collisions and accidents but also promotes cooperation and consideration in group activities. By honing their spatial awareness, students gain confidence in navigating their surroundings, improving their overall physical coordination and social interaction abilities.

Week 1-2: Exercises to develop spatial awareness.

Week 3-4: Introduce group activities that require spatial coordination.

Focus of the Month:

Continue with building the vocabulary from the workbook (French: AIM and Spanish: Colega).

Continue with numbers 0 to 30 (grade 1/2).

Review the numbers 0 to 50 (grade 3/4).

Review the numbers 0 to 80 (grade 6).

Continue with Weather terms.

Grade 4: verbs to play and to do in the present tense.

Grade 6: 1st group of verbs ending in er in present tense (French), regular verbs ending in ar,er, ir in present tense (Spanish).

Prepositions (on,under,front,back, next to)

A Little Introduction to Montessori Week

Celebrating the 117th anniversary of Montessori Education! it is the time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of Dr. Maria Montessori in the lives of children around the world. Here are some of the most notable contributions that Dr. Montessori had on education and the children's rights reform.

We can thank Maria Montessori for developing child-size furniture to address the physical needs of children. Prior to Montessori’s intervention, children had to use oversized, adult furniture.

She understood the importance of the hand-brain connection and developed pedagogical materials to stimulate the senses and provide the brain with a concrete understanding of abstract concepts.

Montessori has touched the lives of children and adults around the world. By recognizing the child’s own ability to learn, teachers have been freed to gently guide the child along the path of knowledge. A mutually respectful working relationship develops where guide and child work together to help develop the construction of knowledge. This early independence develops creative minds, capable of intense problem-solving. Indeed, some of today’s great thinkers, artists, and politicians were Montessori educated: Larry Page and Sergey Brin (co-founders of Google); Julia Child (chef); Will Wright (video game pioneer); Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia); Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Literature Nobel Prize); and Jeff Bezos (CEO Amazon.com). In addition, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers) all advocated and helped develop Montessori schools around the world.