As springtime coaxes the buds to bloom and calls upon the creepy crawlies from the earth, we devote some lessons to our six-legged creature friends.  This year, we added to the excitement of hatching our trusty caterpillar chrysalises with a space-age ant farm and an exotic praying mantis egg sack.  The ants have been keeping very busy, tunneling through their nutrient rich blue gel.  The children have been chronicling their advancements and watching in amazement as they determine which hollows become “sleeping dens” or “egg chambers” and which ants earn the title of “diggers” or “pilers.”  One thing is for sure, those ants are hard workers.

The caterpillars, of the “Painted Lady” species, have been busy too.  They seemed to triple in size before attaching their silk buttons atop their container lid and slowly spin their silky sacks.  Before we knew it they were quietly awaiting their transformation.  The children have been documenting this process through artistic interpretations and it’s been fascinating to watch them intensely focused on the little creatures before them.  Stay tuned for pictures of the fluttering finale!

As for the Mantis Egg sack, some of us have been more patient than others for their arrival.  We have been speculating on the amount of “mantis newborns” and in the event of over-population we thought it would be fun to have an official Preying Mantis Adoption for the first few families that show interest.  Who knows how many budding entomologists we have in our class.  We definitely look forward to what the curious little sack eventually hatches forth.

It’s not every day that you slip on your favorite sweater or pull up a pair of trusty woolen socks and say to yourself, “Gosh, what a great sheep this came from!”  Well, after a recent trip to Ewetopia sheep herding farm some of the kids from NTMC might start paying a little closer attention to where their clothes come from.  As part of a current project about natural materials, we witnessed the annual sheep shearing in Roy, Washington where we gathered wool or “fleece” to be processed by hand and worked with in the classroom.  There’s no doubt that this hands-on project will teach a lesson in the complexity of handmade items.  From cleaning and hand spinning the fleece- to natural materials for dying  and weaving a piece of art, this work is sure to be memorable.  Keep checking back for future posts about our progress!  Here are some memorable moments of our visit:

Running through the fields.

Watching an awesome dog herd some ducks.

Do ducks have teeth?

They sure are soft.

Sheep getting a haircut

The prized wool

Inspiration for learning comes from all kinds of places, but research is showing how children without a connection to nature are losing out on a vital part of cognitive, creative and physical development.  Inspired by author, Richard Louv’s profound look at “nature deficit disorder,” his book Last Child In the Woods is the starting point for a series of weekly visits the Tiger Class takes to our local nature center at Snake Lake.  This trip, rain or shine, confronts these eager learners with a new perspective.

Asked to slow down, turn off their voices and turn on their ears and eyes, their senses awaken with the delights of the natural world.  There is a fallen log that time and again they ask to sit and relax on, just to soak in the sun and the peacefulness that surrounds them.  Here on this log they have heard a tree frog’s croaking call, the trill of a chickadee, distant ducks quack through the marsh grasses and the whispering moans of madrone branches high in the canopy.

They have lined up pine cones in patterns of size, examined twigs, leaves and rocks and discovered they have a natural desire for unstructured play within the trees.  It is becoming their favorite time of the week.  Here are some “Leaf People” the children constructed while exploring natural materials:

Parents who regularly read this blog must have given up!  I apologize wholeheartedly.  However, lack of content here does not mean it has been a year without exciting events and loads of classroom fun.  It was my intent to post some new things other than our annual classic gatherings, especially a more intimate look in the classroom so parents feel a part of thier child’s Montessori education.  Keep looking for upcoming events on the calendar.  The school year has an abundance of activities awaiting you.

Recently, I stood in the middle of the Pre-K 2 classroom and watched in wonderment at the sheer joy and focus the children exhibited.  Already a month into the 2009 school year and I can tell it’s going to be an amazing year of learning, sharing and building a classroom community Maria Montessori would be proud of.  There is an eagerness and ferocious appetite for learning new lessons and expanding on the foundation we laid last year.  We couldn’t ask for a better class.

The new pre-K 1 and pre-K 2 division is working wonderfully.  Teacher Mary has created a fantastic classroom environment for integrating the younger children.  Everyone is working toward a rapid normalization and friendly cohesiveness.  Hopefully, all of our parents will have the opportunity to visit and check out the classrooms during our Fall 2009 Open House, Tuesday October 27th at 6:30 pm.  Everyone is welcome and encouraged to meet and greet the teachers as well as other parents!

Please forgive the huge lapse in time since the last blog update.  Yes, there is a giant chunk of the year with many events and interesting childhood experiences not recorded.  This year,  look forward to more timely postings and more daily spotlights from the everyday classroom.  Next up… recap on our very first auction fundraiser, the annual pumpkin patch trip, story time inside a secret “tiger” tent, and a virtual tour of the 2009 classrooms.

Thank you for all your parent interest in the blog.  This is going to be a great year!

We just wrapped up a learning unit on Community Helpers.  “Little minds” are so eager to explore the possibilities of what to be when they grow up.  It’s amazing how quickly their answers change when they are presented this question for the future.  So, this week, we invited parents to join us by sharing what they do as a community helper.  You can imagine the enthusiasm the kids had and how often they changed their minds as each opportunity presented itself.  We were visited by police officers, a sales person, a florist, a librarian, and a nurse.  The children had great questions and were enthralled by each guest and their particular tools of the trade. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of some of the really cool guests.  Bummer!

 Kimberly’s Daddy, Joel, brought in all kinds of cool tools used in his job as a salesperson.  The kids were eager to feel all the squishy, fluffy and soft car detailing equipment.  Some of the hand mitts looked like bright crazy puppets.

 Savino’s Mommy designs flower arrangements as a florist.  She brought in flowers and let us feel and smell all the pretty blooms.

 Then she made an arrangement for us to show us how to balance the foliage.

The finished bouquet was beautiful.  Each child got to take home one of the floral stems too!

Accompanying our guest speakers, the children were able to explore different jobs through dramatic play.  A definite highlight was playing grocery store with all of the donated empty food boxes and packages.  It was interesting to watch different packages being sorted and arranged as though they were being stocked and displayed in a market aisle.  Thanks to all the parents that brought in the grocery items.

Who needs holiday decorations, Santa Claus and Christmas carols to have a festive gingerbread party?  Not us!  We have definitely had enough of the snow which is why our annual holiday gathering got postponed until January.  I don’t think that stifled anyone’s creativity.  There was a lot of merriment circling through our packed school.  A lot of nibbling of sweet embellishments too! 

 I guess eating the treats is half the fun!

 Check out some of the finished creations… pretty spectacular!  

 This just shows that even if the weather throws us off, our amazing families at NTMC are committed to the events that make our school a special place.

For the pre-K classroom things sort of slow down for the winter break.  The little kiddos concentrate on celebrations and customs from around the world and making holiday crafts.  International food week is definitely a highlight.

However, if you are a school aged kiddo, winter break is usually a time to enjoy time off from school and experience some of the season’s recreational experiences.  There is no better activity than gliding around on ice to celebrate winter and the joys it has to offer!

Here they come zooming by.  Hey, I heard that if you need any tips on the ice, Teacher Lisa is the one to ask.  She might have some fancy foot work for ya!

Ahh, watch out, it’s hard to stop with a couple of blades strapped to your feet!

I bet if he lets go, the ice rink walls will fall down.  Better keep holding on!

There’s nothing like a friend with a big puffy coat to save you from the cold hard ice.

Whoa, watch out, here comes the super ice patrol.

Looks like everyone had a blast.  Thanks to Lisa for taking some pictures of these memories on ice.

Wow, what a wild winter we’ve had so far.  On a positive note, it sure has put everyone in good holiday spirits.  The kids always get excited by the delightful scene of fluttering snowflakes.  On the other hand, it has postponed some of our festivities such as the gingerbread party and has made getting from place to place a little more difficult.  For all brave enough (with 4-wheel drive) the center has been open for winter break.

On behalf of everyone at North Tacoma Montessori Center, we wish you a safe and Happy New Year!

Oh what a feast we had this year!  We have so much to be thankful for and there’s no better way to start giving thanks than to celebrate our amazing NTMC families.  By the vacant look of our sign-up sheet, we were a bit worried that we’d have tons of left-over food, but boy were we surprised at the final turn out.  Not only did we have moms and dads, but we had several sets of grandparents too!

The tables were beautifully decorated by little artistic hands, whose turkey place mats accented the lovely centerpieces.  Heaping plates of delicious homemade food were passed around.  If you tried the butter and cranberry sauce, you would have been pleasantly surprised that our aspiring little chefs created those sides.  As well as food being passed around, there was also a creative cookbook Teacher Lisa put together showcasing some of our students’ favorite foods.  There were some very interesting, if not funny, culinary descriptions.

Not a tummy was left hungry.  Speaking of hungry tummies… this year we were able to put together two lovely baskets of food for our adopt-a-families so thank you to everyone who donated something.  It’s a wonderful gift to give our kids the opportunity to give back to the community.

Yum Yum!

I don’t think we could have had a better start to this year’s holiday season!

Thank You!