Notes

Last week we began May with the traditional story of the Maypole including not only the art project, but also the dance around our actual Parkside Maypole which was made many years ago by Annie’s husband. The children love holding the many colored ribbons and moving around the pole weaving the ribbons onto it as they walk, skip or dance around it. Most often we are able to do our Maypole dance outdoors as we were this year. This practice is a European tradition where, in certain countries, children gathered in the fields and forests near their homes and moved around a living tree to usher in the real beginning of spring. The tree was decorated with many colored ribbons each held by a child, and the purpose of the Maypole dance was to welcome the real beginning of spring with its greener grasses, budding trees, warmer temperatures and beautiful growing flowers.

After finishing our discussions about Earth in April, we turn inward to discuss the body as a very special machine whose parts or systems each have an important job to do. All of the systems work together to allow us to move (bones and muscles), eat (digestion), breathe (respiration), think (brain) and understand and experience the world through our five senses. What will naturally follow from the study of our bodies is the importance of good nutrition, regular exercise and proper sleep habits, all of which are key to strong and healthy bodies. Regarding nutrition, we will bring in our large cloth Food Pyramids, expertly hand-sewn mats by Mrs. Valentine. The larger sections illustrate the food we should consume in higher amounts such as proteins, fruits and vegetables, and the smaller sections show foods that should be taken in moderation like fats, oils and sweets. Recommendations have changed over the years, and we have had to make some adjustments, but the connection between healthy bodies and the nutrients we absorb by making good food choices is paramount. As always we use concrete materials in these lessons. In each classroom there will be large baskets of toy foods, and a student either alone or with a couple of others will be placing each type of food on the proper section of the pyramid. Our students love this activity and after working with these materials they seem to really understand the importance of a balanced and varied diet. As usual there will be books, puzzles, matching, sorting and counting exercises as well as art projects that reflect the study of the body. This unit will culminate in the “Food Pyramid Parties” on the last two days of school, June 1 and 2. We will be asking you to contribute from whatever food group you choose, and there will be sign-up sheets in the hall towards the end of the month.

Another popular event in May is the introduction of our classroom caterpillars as we begin to explore the life cycle of the Painted Butterfly. The children will be able to actually see the process of metamorphosis as it happens in real time… from tiny larvae to chrysalides to beautiful butterflies. This takes a couple of weeks, and then, with great excitement and fanfare, we release our butterflies on the playground and watch them fly away. We will have some other insect projects such as bug matching objects and pictures in Language, butterfly counting onto flowers in Math, bug rubbing at the art table as well as some interesting and challenging insect and butterfly puzzles.

In Practical Life, coffee grinding and bread slicing continue, and we will add another popular activity, cheese slicing. In Sensorial we will introduce the small hexagon, a box containing many triangles which can be formed into more unusual shapes such as the rhombus, parallelogram and trapezoid. We will be adding both tasting and smelling exercises in keeping with the body/senses/nutrition themes of the month.

The children have enjoyed our flower study in March and April. We have already created pussy willow, forsythia, daffodils, hyacinths, cherry blossoms, tulips and shy violets at the art table, each in the order of when they bloomed here at school. During May we will be making geraniums, rhododendrons, iris and lilacs. Some of you have told us that, as with our bird study, the children are sharing with you their observations of the various flowers and bushes that are part of this season of rebirth and growth.

Often during these last busy weeks of school, we find ourselves reflecting upon our school year with its successes and its challenges. As teachers we are always striving to try new things, to keep and continue what is working and perhaps change what is not. One of the positive things about having a large staff is that often the teachers have been able to create new and varied activities, thereby enhancing the quality of the classroom experience which of course also includes themes, exercises and materials which have been in place for years.

We are very proud of what the children have accomplished this year as we watched them grow and develop into capable and caring little people…busy, productive and eager to learn. You are our partners in this worthy endeavor of the education of young children, and we thank you for your support and cooperation this year. For those who are returning, we wish you a happy and restful summer and look forward to having you back in September. For those who are leaving us, we wish you all the best as you embark upon your next educational experience, and we hope that you will visit in the future.

“And so we discovered that education is not something

which the teacher does, but it is a natural process which

develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired

by listening to words, but rather by experiences in which the child

acts upon his environment. The teacher’s task is not to talk, but to

prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a

special environment made for the child.”

Maria Montessori from

The Absorbent Mind