November - 2015

Sometimes It Just Takes One…

“What would you do if you saw a friend getting picked on?” “What would you do if you were the one being teased?” and “What would you do if you were the one doing the teasing?” were the questions that came up during our most recent peace circle, inspired by a terrific book, One, by Kathryn Otoshi. In the story, Blue is being bullied by Red. Blue does not know how to stand up to Red and neither do Yellow, Purple, Green and Orange, all of whom stand by and say nothing as Blue ge

Mirror Polishing

The children entered the classroom with joy and curiosity as they noticed all the new works in the Practical Life area. Excited voices were overheard, “What’s this work?!” and “I want to try that work!” The shelves were filled with new materials such as sand sweeping, wooden fruit cutting and mirror polishing. It was a lively morning in Preschool. The mirror polishing work was presented at morning circle and one child was observed eagerly choosing it during work time. She gra

Peeling and Mashing…

Over a period of two days, the Pre-Primary children were hard at work. The first day began with four children avidly peeling then scrubbing a bowl of Maine potatoes. One girl worked on her potato for a good hour of the morning; she peeled the potato in little splinters creating a pile of tiny peels, but continued until she felt satisfied with her potato. Another friend stood with a scrub brush and a bowl of water cleaning off the earth and a bit more peel. He examined the

Down by the Station

Our Seedlings have discovered the world of “Big Books”. We are lucky to have such a great little library here at Pine Grove, which is also home to some giant books. These giant books have changed the meaning of story time in our classroom. It all began with a classic tale called Down by the Station. We brought the big book out one day and the children began to sing along. Since the first one was such a hit, we decided to add a few more to our classroom collection. One book in

Bonjour, Mes Amis

“Hello, my friends!” This was the first sentence our Seedlings learned during their first French lesson. During morning greeting, our class was informed that we were going to meet a new friend, Madame Denise. She will be our French teacher for the year. During our first lesson, the children were in awe as they watched Madame Denise interact with her puppets and sing to us a few songs. We sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and “Brother John”. A few of the children joined

WHOOOO’s Awake at Night?

Learning About Nocturnal Animals at the Audubon! On a bright, sunny morning 22 kindergarten kids, along with their teachers and parent chaperones boarded the big, yellow school bus for a trip to the Falmouth Audubon. The lesson of the day, ironically, was about the night, or more specifically, nocturnal animals. The Audubon planned several engaging activities for the kids. We took a beautiful nature walk through the Audubon woods, searching for signs of life. “Look, a squirre

Nature Walk

It was a beautiful brisk autumn day and the energy in the classroom was quite dynamic. What a perfect occasion for a nature walk in the Pine Grove. After second circle, we informed the children that we were headed out for an adventure in the forest. The children giggled with excitement. Before hitting the trails, we asked our preschool friends to help remind each other some of our nature walk rules. Hands flew up in the air and the children shared “walking feet” and “quiet v

The Road to Discipline

Recently, Pine Grove hosted Chip DeLorenzo, parent, director of the Damariscotta Montessori School and Positive Discipline trainer, at Pine Grove to lead a 2-hour parent workshop on Positive Discipline. The feedback from parents was tremendously positive, possibly due to the resonance of the simple concepts he presented to the group. It is not always rocket science but often simple concepts, applied consistently, that are the key to success. The attached article not only s

Jr./Sr. Kindergarten: An Exercise in Delayed Gratification: Planting Tulip Bulbs in Our Children’s

The weather beckoned to our Kindergarten classroom on a Tuesday afternoon: crisp and sunny, with a gentle breeze. How could we stay inside on such a perfect autumn day? Luckily for us, a fun fall activity was planned: planting fifty yellow tulip bulbs in anticipation for spring and putting our children’s garden to bed for the year. The kids enthusiastically participated in this outdoor activity. Half the group went to the courtyard with one teacher to collect pine needles for

Pre-Primary: Caps for Sale…

“I’ve heard that!” or “I have that at home!”- multiple voices cry out as soon as Luda sets our first Big Book of the year on the easel for Literacy circle. Our first reading of the book is a picture walk where the children try to figure out what the story is about from the title of the book and the illustrations. “Monkeys! There are monkeys!” cries one child. All eyes are glued to the cover of the book, trying to discern what other information is pertinent to the story. As Lu

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Sometimes It Just Takes One…

Mirror Polishing

Peeling and Mashing…

Down by the Station

Bonjour, Mes Amis

WHOOOO’s Awake at Night?

Nature Walk

The Road to Discipline

Jr./Sr. Kindergarten: An Exercise in Delayed Gratification: Planting Tulip Bulbs in Our Children’s

Pre-Primary: Caps for Sale…

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