Lower Elementary Friday Letter - October 17, 2014

                                                                      10/17/14

Dear RiverRun Families,

This week some of the children worked on telling time.  For some we looked at the difference between the hour and minute hand and others are working on reading time from the hour to the half hour.  Many of the First Years are using the Golden Beads to add large numbers and are learning how to write equations. 

As a class we talked about the life cycle of a frog and I read some creation stories aloud in preparation for the Cosmic Lesson, the first of the Great Lessons told in Lower Elementary Montessori classrooms. 

Tonya has joined our class in the afternoons.  Tonya is fluent in French; she read a French book that was brought in by Simon’s family.  It was a wonderful experience and I feel grateful to have her here.   

For the past few weeks I have been reading Apricots at Midnight by Adele Geras.  She uses very descriptive language in this story to help evoke feeling.  During Writers’ Workshop we are using this book to learn about using descriptive words to help a reader image what the author intends.  The children are really enjoying this book.  I hope they are all able to summarize the story for you.

Rachel gave a lesson on Vincent van Gogh.  She showed the children how to put paint on thick and double load their paint brushes, techniques used by van Gogh.  The children tried out these techniques during the work period.

Best Wishes,

Amy, Rachel and Tonya