SES Blog

Dear Parents,

This week, we had a special visit from a team of dentists. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Amy’s parents for making this possible. The engaging presentation about dental health was enjoyed by all the children. The dentist team also checked the children’s teeth and shared practical tips on how to keep them healthy.

Halloween week was filled with engaging activities that helped us learn about the traditions and ways of celebrating Halloween, accompanied by enjoyable stories. In the Montessori classroom, we integrated various areas of learning into this celebration. The children enjoyed engaging in Halloween themed activities such as threading, tweezing, and sorting beads. In Sensorial, they explored the sensory bucket, searching for little Halloween trinkets while feeling the texture of the grains in their hands. In Maths, they counted small pumpkins, and in Language, they read different cards related to Halloween.

The much-anticipated Halloween Dress-Up Day arrived at the end of the week, and the children eagerly participated in the parade and trick-or-treat activities, creating a joyful and festive atmosphere. We concluded the week with a captivating oil and water science experiment, where the children observed the formation of colourful patterns in the water.

To conclude our unit on Our Five Senses, we explored the different parts of the ear and learned how we perceive various sounds. The children were introduced to the Honey Bear Game, which encouraged them to listen attentively to the sound of a bell. We also discussed people with hearing loss and how they communicate with one another. Using musical instruments, the children distinguished between loud and soft sounds, deepening their understanding of hearing. To further reinforce this concept, we went on a Sound Walk around the school and gazebo area, and played an engaging game called What’s That Sound?

We would also like to thank all parents who have attended the Parent Lunch Visit. It was a meaningful opportunity for the children to demonstrate their growing independence, from serving lunch to cleaning up afterwards.

Important Dates Semester 1

27 Nov : Montessori ‘Peace Performance’ 11:30 am

12 Dec : School finishes 12pm

13 Dec – 5 Jan : School Holidays

Year 1 additional learning covered – Week11 and 12

Phonics   

To identify sounds represented by more than one letter, for example /ch/, /th/, /qu/, /ng/, /ay/

Some children are beginning to learn about alternative sounds such as /ee/ can also be written with ‘ea’. 

To use phonic knowledge to read decodable words. Reading and writing CVC words,words with adjacent vowel / consonants using sounds covered, words with double consonants such as bell, mess, mitt, back. 

Language / Literacy – Reading. Guided Reading groups – Practising fluency of reading and gaining the confidence to recognise sounds and blend them to read words and sentences.  Reading comprehension, to be able to answer direct questions about the book.

Language / Literacy– Grammar analysis

We are continuing to learn what a sentence is made of: an article, a noun,an adjective,a verb, a preposition, a conjunction. 

We looked more closely at the function of articles and nouns in sentences. Using the theme of Halloween and the farm animals, we built and wrote sentences making sure we understood the function of ‘nouns’ and ‘articles’. 

Maths – Time

The children were introduced to the concept of Time through various games such as seeing how many times we can write our names on a white board within a minute. 

We learned the names for the days of the week as well as the months of the year. 

What is the time?  The children created their own paper plate clocks and are learning how to tell the time to the hour. 

Kind regards,

Montessori Team