Doing "Challenging Works"

Clyde is still in his primary Montessori class that is ages 3-6, but now he's officially a kindergartener, so he has to make sure to do "challenging works".  The transition from the public school back to Montessori has been pretty seamless.  I loved the USA map project the kids just did.  Clyde keeps telling me, "I had to write 104 words" when I ask about it.  He thinks Santa Fe is a really funny name for a town.

School Days

 

McKenzie, Clyde and Marianna on their first day in Mrs. Hudson's Kindergarten class at Donnelly Elementary.  It was nice to know two of Clyde's classmates before school started. 

Starting Kindergarten was a big adjustment for our family, but after a couple weeks we got into a good routine.  It required getting up with Ben and having breakfast together which leaves lots of time to get ready instead of getting up at a quarter to seven and expecting we can be out the door by half past seven.  It's been nice to see Ben in the morning as he used to be gone before we were up.  Homework was a huge adjustment as was the focus on handwriting and worksheets.  I've been volunteering once a week too so I get a view inside the classroom.  Donnelly Elementary is a wonderful school, but the differences between public education and private Montessori education are pretty evident.  The main one I notice is the lack of concentration.  The kids go from one thing to the next when some aren't done yet.  There is constant interruption by other kids or the teacher, so there really is never an opportunity to really concentrate on a task.  At Montessori, children are choosing their own work and have the opportunity to really focus on a task for long periods of time, regardless of what the other children are doing.   The rote writing work and sight word memorization at public school, however, has been really effective.  Clyde's handwriting improved substantially and he knows a number of words by sight along with being able to sound words out.  He's getting to be a better reader, but still at a very basic level.

While Clyde is in school, Alice and I work on things at home and on Tuesday we host a preschool/playdate hour with new friends we met at the library.  On Wednesday she goes and plays at the church with Margaux (my friend from childhood) and her two young boys.  She loves that.  She is spelling and reading very simple things, and talks about numbers a lot. 

Clyde's school has a reading party every month for the children who meet the reading requirement (15 minutes 4 times a week after school).  The first month they traveled to "Germany" for Oktoberfest.  It was such a well planned party.  Each of the 100 children there got to make a pretzel, there was an accordian band, they learned to count in German, they listened to The Musicians of Bremen, and they had a relay race with liederhosen and a stein race.  There were probably 15-20 parents there, in a school with only about 100 students.

Go Donnelly Dragons!!

Cinnamon

The mild winter meant that calving went pretty smoothly.  We only got one orphan calf this year, Cinnamon.  We broke her to lead and she's really sweet.  She's also gaining more weight than any of our calves last year.  Part of the reason we broke her to lead was so that we could bring her for "share" (show and tell) at school.  She was a big hit.

Fun Friday

Next week is Spring Break so today the kids' school did "Fun Friday" and the kids got to have crazy hair and wear jammies to school. 

Little Readers

I was at a curriculum night at the kids school and a parent volunteer from Clyde's class said he'd been reading to her.  I had no idea he was trying to read, so I was a little surprised (and slightly embarrassed for being out of touch).  I asked him if he could read and he said no.  Then I got out the "BOB Books" which are super easy beginning readers and sat down with him.  He carefully and deliberately sounded out, "S-a-m.  M-a-t.  S-a-m s-a-t."  Pretty soon Alice picked up on and started reading it fluently, "Sam sat on Mat."  It was astounding to me.  Clyde is a lot further along in terms of phonics and understanding, but Alice is actually reading.  I couldn't believe it.  She's very excited about reading.  I'm so happy to have readers.  Reading has been a constant in my life.  Books have been my friends.  Even in college and law school when I was swamped with required reading, I read lots of books for fun.  It's wonderful to think of my kids being able to share in my joy of books. 

I love their Montessori school.  Here's Alice, looking like a little scholar, studying the life cycle of frogs.  Two weeks ago I would've thought she was totally pretending to read that book, but now I don't know!

Learning and Making

Alice doing a "counting work" at school. 

Clyde's t-rex collection and alligator.  He's quite the collage artist.

This picture has nothing to do with learning and making, it's just very typical Alice.

An Academy Christmas

The kids' school (Montessori Academy) put on a Christmas program with a potluck after.  They picked out what to wear.  I tried to get Alice to wear one of her Christmas dresses but as soon as she saw her purple velour dress I couldn't convince her to wear anything else (even though it had a little hole in the back).  But, with her boots I thought it was actually kind of cute, plus the color was a good match for Clyde's shirt.  He's growing out of all of his pants now so he was sporting the highwater look (I've since given this pair away). 



It was awfully chilly outside (15 or so) but I had to get one photo with the nice light on the hills. 

Here they are lined up for the "candy cane shuffle" which their classes did together:

Alice - ack!  What are you doing?

Then Alice just can't stand the discordant singing (the teachers said she covered her ears every practice too).  She actually loves singing and music so I guess it was a quality issue... 

Clyde with the Clyde paper doll he made:

Alice in front of her paper doll:

 And the best part of the day, having Daddy come to school:

He also brought two pans of fresh rolls which were very appreciated by all the families.  It was a fun day.  Not long after this, we got sick.  The kids missed the weeks of school before and after the Christmas break.  It was a long month!

"School"

This year the kids started preschool at the Montessori Academy in Eagle. It has classes through June, but we stopped the end of May to come up to the ranch. I told Clyde we'd have school at home but he told me he was going to go work with his dad every day. On my birthday I tried to send him out with his dad and he said he'd rather do school. So we started to set up a school. We made up some different "works" and set up a table and a shelf. Clyde's favorite is probably his snack work where he is learning how to shell pistachio nuts. He couldn't do it, so we included a little baby knife in the work and now he pries them open. We also have some motor skills works: in one they use a teaspoon to transfer macaronis from one bowl to another and in another they use a baby medicine syringe to transfer water between two cups. I used a chip and dip bowl to make one where they separate the different coins. Clyde and I talked about how the colors are different and the sizes are different and also how some have smooth edges and some have ridges. We included a geometric puzzle, a magnetic puzzle and a new mosaic puzzle I found where they put square and triangle pieces into a square grid and can make patterns or pictures. Clyde specifically asked for a "folding work" so we have dishtowels in a basket for that. Then he told me he thought a magnetic letters work would be good so we got a small cookie sheet (he told me we needed something metal for the letters to stick to) and the bucket of letters for the fridge. We added their bug viewer and some lacing cards yesterday. There's also a little table with pencils, scissors, tape and paper bits. They even each have a hand towel that serves as their mat for doing works on the floor. A world map rounds it out. It's a small school, but so far has been really good for them I think. Clyde named it Norwood School.

Mother's Day & School Update

For Mother's Day, the kids' school had a special lunch and performance. It was very cute. The week before that were parent teacher conferences. Both Alice and Clyde's teachers said they are productive, respectful, independent and joys to have to have in class. It was funny how alike they described them. They have enjoyed school so far and adapted very well to it. Pretty soon we'll go up north and they'll be out of school until November when we come back.

Alice is on the far right in a pink and brown striped top and Clyde's at the far left in a blue, green and white striped polo shirt. They were singing "You are My Sunshine". Alice made a bookmark with her teacher that said, "I love my mommy because... she makes noodles, good noodles." Alice's favorite book is Seven Chinese Sisters and Sixth Sister makes the most delicious noodle soup in the world. I also make delicious noodles as my mom taught me and as she learned from her mom, and she her mom, and so on. Noodles are a great family tradition. Clyde painted a little terra cotta pot for me and made a paper flower that said "I love mommy because she gives me kisses and hugs."

1st Day of School!

Alice and Clyde started at the Montessori Academy in Eagle on January 24, 2011. They were both pretty excited while we were getting packed up and heading out. When we got there, Clyde went right into his classroom no problem. They had both sat in their respective classes the Friday before for about 40 minutes while I met with an administrator. Once I put Alice in her class she was pretty upset about my leaving. Luckily we had "Baby" in the car, so I went and got her and that was enough that she felt secure with me leaving.

When I came to pick them up, they were both in Clyde's room (Alice goes to his class for the last half hour every day). The rest of the kids were doing Spanish songs, but Alice and Clyde were at a table on the other side of the room working on a nail board stretching rubberbands across it. The teacher told me that Clyde told her he didn't have to do it because he already knew Spanish. We often do Spanish time in the car, mostly just saying "arbol" each time we see a tree. Clyde also asks me how to say different words in Spansish, but it's a stretch to say he speaks at all. We have close friends who are Spanish speakers, so when I don't know a word, he says, "Just call and ask Merche or Cristina." That ususally does work.

Anyhow, as we rode home, I told Clyde that the teacher said he was smart and good. He told me "I was smart and I was good." Then I said, "Aren't you excited to learn all the things big kids know?" He responded, "Mom, they didn't even teach me to juggle." He then explained that he wants to be a clown when he grows up and not a fireman anymore.

Alice only said "They didn't call me Gertie." I didn't get a chance to talk to her teacher, so that's all I know!

On the second day of school, Clyde knocked down everyone's sand castles so his teacher talked to me about it. I talked to him and he just said, "Just stop talking about that." So I told him I would if he wouldn't do it again and so far he hasn't.

By the end of the week, the novelty of school had worn off, but they both seem to like it. Alice does seem to have made potty progress in just a few days. She was deathly afraid of the actual toilet and would straighten out her legs and scream and not even sit on it. We'd had some luck with a little potty seat. Now she's asking about the toilet and will even sit on it. Clyde's teacher has remarked twice that she can't believe how well Alice speaks. She usually uses sentences and she definitely makes herself clear.

We'll see what the future brings!