MAPSS presents: Principles of the Montessori Method- a presentation
13 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Parenting Tags: montessori, montessori method, parent education
March 8, 2012
7:00 pm- 9:30 pm
Cardel Theatre
180 Quary Park Blvd SE
Cost: Free!
Email events@mapss.ca to reserve your seat today. Your reply email is your ticket, which you must bring to gain entry.
Speaker: John Chattin-McNichols- has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UCLA, a Montessori teaching certificate for ages 6-12 from the Centro Internazionale Studi Montessoriani in Italy, and a doctorate from Stanford in Child Development and Early Education. His primary areas of interest are Child Development, Early Childhood Education and Montessori Education.
Learn More about Calgary’s Montessori Alternative Public School Society at www.mapss.ca
Little Warriors, Stewards of Children Program
18 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Parenting, Uncategorized Tags: child abuse, parent, training
I have a wonderful opportunity for my families- to become part of the Little Warriors. This is a group who educate adults on how to prevent, recognize and react to child sexual abuse. If you are interested in attending one of their programs, please go see their website at www.littlewarriors.ca and let me know- we can set up a group evening training program for as many parents as can attend. I will definitely be taking part in this training program, and I look forward to sharing an evening with you. 
The cost is negligible at $ 25.00 per person.
Welcome back!
08 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: field trip, holiday time, new students
Christmas and New Years is over and we are back to classes tomorow. Thank goodness! Its been a long break, and I hope everyone had a lovely holiday time and is excited to get back to normal routines. Our last day was spent on our field trip to the Calgary Spaceport….there were good things and not so great things (the first presentation was a bit too slow moving and the presenter could have used some more pizazz.) But the dome presentation was fun! Anyways, always a learning experience.
As we move into the new year, this week you will be receiving new take home folders (they tend to get a bit ratty as the months go by, as well as information regarding pre-registration and summer camps. If you are interested, please have the forms back in before the end of January.
NEW REGISTRATION AND OPEN HOUSE: February 15th – on this date Hand in Hand will be accepting registrations for new students, and hosting an open house to answer any questions. If you know of someone looking for a preschool space for September, please feel welcome to direct them . Current families have access to spaces first, and spaces are limited to only 6 students per class.
I love my job!
17 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
The thing I like best about a Montessori classroom is the variety of things you can see being accomplished there in just one day. We have children pouring, building, counting, reading, creating with sensorial materials, writing, painting, drawing. Each day is completely different, and each child is learning diffferent things. There are some group lessons accomplished each day, but as everyone is working at their own pace and at their own level, it is always different, and always interesting.
Families come to Montessori for many different reasons. Academically, Montessori offers a far superior program than any playschool (in my humble opinion). Teaching independence and character, life skills as well as math, language and more offers children a well- rounded introduction to school life, and (again, in my opinion) children move on more confident in their abilities and more willing to take on new challenges.
My job as a Montessori teacher is truly the best job in the world. I see all these amazing children- watching them go from not remembering the sandpaper letter sounds from one day to the next- to reading words. And it happens so quickly! To go from trying to remember which is 6 and which is 9….to addition and subtraction. From wandering around not being able to decide on what work to choose…to sitting down with something complex and working on it for an hour. It is a beautiful thing to behold. I feel honored to share time with all these little ones- it is a gift to be part of their lives and growth. I hope that what I do means something, and long after they have moved on to new adventures that my place in their lives has affected it for the better. They make me smile, and they make me laugh, and every day I am thankful to be able to do what I do.
Sensorial Activities- The Pink Tower
01 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Sensorial Materials Tags: pink tower
As parents, I am sure many of you have heard about the pink tower from your children at home- but what is it? And why is it important in the Montessori classroom?
The pink tower is made up of 10 solid wood pink cubes. The smallest cube is 1 cubic cm, and the largest is 1000 cubic cm. Working with the pink tower helps with fine motor skills, and provides visuals of the linear dimensions of width, height and length. This prepares children for mathematical concepts in geometry, decimal system and volume.
The sensorial materials all fill the childs need to explore with their hands. In their sensory sensitive period, children have a need to touch everything around them.
Bow Habitat Station- Fish Hatchery Field Trip
24 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
I hope everyone had fun at the field trip to the fish hatchery! My students today were talking away about it, how much they liked it, and telling me all about the fish, the fish eggs etc. This was our first time to the Fish Hatchery, I found it interesting and fun- who knew there were 65 types of fish in Alberta? Not me! My only complaint would be that the field trip was too short- next time I will book differently so we have a longer period, particularly downstairs where all the fish were- I’m pretty sure we all could have done an hour just there. The craft was great, and all the kids did such a fabulous job- I have lots of photos here in the gallery. Thank you to all the parents who attended and helped out, you are appreciated!
Selena Gomez Concert
18 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Parenting Tags: saddledome, selena gomez
This post is a bit more personal than classroom, but as a mom I wanted to share this experience, so please bear with me- or if you don’t want to, don’t read it.
I took my 2 daughters to see the Selena Gomez concert here in Calgary on Monday night. They are young (7 & 9)- they love music and sing along to many radio tunes…but it isn’t easy to find a concert that would be appropriate for young children- (for example, they love Lady Gaga tunes, but there is NO WAY they would be attending a concert of hers!) (no offense to Lady Gaga, I like her music too!). But Selena Gomez was great- no bad language, no offensive costumes, nada. Just a pretty girl, singing pretty songs. A perfect first concert experience for my two little monkeys. I got them each a t-shirt, and wearing them, we took to our seats and waited for Miss Gomez to take the stage. She did, and did not disappoint the girls- they heard all their favorite songs, and some others that they now love. They loved the dancing, the costume changes, the confetti shooting out over the crowd. All in all, couldn’t have asked for more.
The meat of my story is however, not about how great the concert was. It is about my girls. They were so happy, and so grateful- when we got to the Saddledome they threw their arms around me and hugged me tight saying Thank you so much Mommy! over and over. It was gratifying, I gotta tell you.
As the concert began, my youngest jumped up, and started dancing like nobody was watching. She was singing as loud as she could, arms in the air, and dancing up a storm. My eldest, who was also obviously enjoying herself- sat quietly on the other side of me, singing to herself. She kept looking at her sister, and occasionally said that her sis was “sooooo embarrassing”, but I could tell she wanted to get up and dance too. My two girls could not be more different. T is conservative- quiet and uber-mature for her age. She handles things diplomatically with great tact. She is a natural athlete and every sport she has ever tried has come so easy to her. She is 9 going on 3o. She also is always aware of how she is portraying herself to others, and is worried about embarrassing herself in any way. E is about as opposite of that as you can get. She is a free spirit- she loves the world, and throws open her arms to it every day. She is a clown, and loves to make people laugh. She doesn’t care WHO is watching- if she wants to dance, then by god, she will dance! She prefers her hair messy, her clothes stained with paint or whatever else she has been dabbling in that day, her room messy, and there is nothing the least bit conservative about her.
They are both so beautiful in their own ways, and I love and appreciate their differences. In T I see who I was as a child and a teenager and a young adult- someone who was always worried about looking foolish, and always worried about what other people might think. In E I see myself now- accepting of who I am, flaws and all, and loving myself because of them. And being ok with looking silly, as long as I am happy.
I hope that my children will take some of each others spirit and temper each other with it. I hope that my influence can encourage T to let go and get a little crazy, and to encourage E to (at least sometimes!) look before you leap.
To end my story I will say this- when Miss Gomez came out to do her encore, many people stood up to dance as she sang her last few songs. Taylor was looking around, yearningly, and I knew she wanted to get up and dance, but was hesitant. I asked her, and she hesitated…then said no. So….I ignored the little voice in my head that said “You are a grown woman! You can’t seriously be considering getting up and dancing at a Selena Gomez concert!”- grabbed her hand, and danced the rest of the concert beside my 2 girls- who were both beaming from cheek to cheek. It was fabulous, and not even a little embarrassing. I will carry that moment with me forever.
