(Classroom 13)

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Introduction from Jessica Engel, Director of Operations

Ms. Dani has been teaching at Dancing Moose Montessori for the past two years in classroom 13. She recently completed her degree in early childhood education, which brought in many fun and new ideas. She has proven to be a team player, working well with other teachers, getting down on the child's level and communicating the fun things her class is doing to parents. She is creative, kind and caring. She is devoted to her students and goes the “extra mile” to find methods that are effective specific to her class.

Ms. Tricia is new to Dancing Moose Montessori, starting at the beginning of the school year. She has been eager to adapt to Montessori philosophy and engulf her day in the life of the child. She easily relates to the children and they bond to her quickly.

The co-teacher combination in classroom 13 is one that envelops kindness, cooperation, fair boundaries and fun learning. The Montessori philosophy develops in an environment set up specifically for early childhood learning, through creative play, art projects, social interaction and materials specific to language, math, sensorial and practical life. They have a lot of fun singing and dancing continuously with contagious smiles.  

Teacher Speak: From Ms. Dani and Ms. Tricia

Curricular Highlight

Our class just finished studying Life Cycles. During this unit we had so much fun! We started by learning the Life Cycle of a Butterfly. We used different types of pasta to create our own life cycle of a butterfly. We used orzo pasta for the eggs, corkscrew pasta for the caterpillar,  pasta shells for the cocoons, and bowtie pasta for the butterfly. Each child had to glue the different pasta onto a paper plate in the correct order of the life cycle. Later in the unit we talk about plants and seeds and each child was able to plant their own seed. We planted our own sunflower seeds! Each child was in charge of taking care of their flower. They had to water it and make sure it was getting sunlight on the windowsill. The children loved taking care of their plant and watching it grow!

Student Excitement

A new jungle puzzle had been put on the shelf, and a child carefully took it to her carpet. She quickly became frustrated and started crying. “I can't do it! I can't do it!,” she said over and over. She watched her teacher complete the puzzle once, and then, everyday, for a month, she did the puzzle over and over again. Whenever she finished, she showed one of her teachers, with the biggest smile on her face, and said, “I did it all by myself!” Her perseverance was so inspiring!

Questions and Comments to Smile About

During work time, a child said, “Ms. Tricia, look!” She was hunched over with one hand on her back and the other hand using a blue colored pencil as a cane. “I'm an old lady!” she exclaimed.

Creative Arts Project in an Integrated Curriculum

During our life cycle unit we discussed several different types of butterflies. We talked about how butterflies can be very colorful. We made our own butterflies using coffee filters and washable markers. Each child colored on their coffee filter using several different colors. We then used a spray bottle to get the coffee filters wet. All the different colors would run together and make a tie-dye looking butterfly. The children had so much fun identifying the new colors their butterflies were changing into. Once they were dry, we crumbled up the coffee filter and put a clothes pin in the middle for the body and pipe cleaner for the antenna. They were pretty awesome butterflies! 

Posted:  February 22, 2012