Read Across America Day is a highlight of each school year for me and the children. This is an annual reading motivation and awareness program to celebrate books and reading that many schools, libraries, communities centers, and homeschool families take part in. It is a nationwide reading celebration. There are many different ways to involve a child’s participation in the program.
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Trees
This is a good time of the year to begin talking about deciduous and evergreen trees. With the colors of fall beginning to fade and the leaves falling off the trees, the evergreen trees stand out. A review on the parts of a tree and why leaves change color can start off the lessons leading up to those trees that are still green.
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Color Mixing
The youngest children often come to school knowing the names of many colors or very few. Montessori color boxes are used to introduce colors to the children. A variety of activities and songs are also a fun way to help children learn colors. Hap Palmer and Frank Leto both have great songs about colors, which can be easily be found online.
Rain Forest Animals
As this month continues with the continent of South America, it is an excellent time to talk about the rain forest. I introduce biomes in the coming weeks and include rain forests as a reminder of a biome already discussed. Learning about different animals and providing a variety of art activities on some of these animals are much enjoyed by children.
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Birds
During this month vertebrates continue with lessons on birds. We learn that all birds have feathers. It is fun to discover that it is not flying that makes an animal a part of the bird vertebrate group, but it’s feathers. On different days a lesson will focus on various things about birds, such as bird songs, beaks, parts of a feather, and nests. Children can observe some bird nests on the zoology shelf using a magnifying glass as well.
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Phonetic Reading Boxes
The Montessori Language Program is designed for children to learn phonetically. Phonics is a reading method that allows a child to learn the sounds of letters by developing an understanding of how these sounds are used individually, in groups, and whole words. Phonetic instruction is the foundation of the Montessori Language Program. Once a child has mastered the sounds associated to each letter, they are introduced to the movable alphabet, which allows them to put letters together, sounding them out to spell simple, then progressively more complex, words.
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Land Forms
Children enjoy working with the land form materials. Different kinds are able to be purchased on many Montessori website that sell materials. Some teachers and homeschool families make a set of their own using small foil tin trays and hardening clay. Small booklets can be made as children color the water and land parts of each landform. Small land and water animals to use along with a landform is always a popular activity in the classroom.
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Georgia O’Keefe
During about the third week of school a lesson is presented on famous artist and individual artist are introduced along with lessons about things such as art mediums throughout the remainder of the year. This month we look at an artist from the country where we live, which relates to the lessons this month on North America. The artist Georgia O’Keefe is one that we learned about. We looked at some of her paintings and the children could choose to make a poppy flower. We found out she enjoyed painting big flowers and New Mexico landscapes.
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Geography Review on “Where I Live”
During this last week of the month it may be a good time to review some lessons from the past weeks. This is one on where we live. We sang a song having the sequence of our school’s city, our state, our country, continent, and ending with our planet. The children can choose to make a, “Where I Live” booklet. We also looked at the parts of a flag and flags of North America.
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The Classroom Library
The library area of the classroom should be comfortable, inviting, and beautiful. We realize the importance of books being vital tools to use in a child’s development. Language, vocabulary, and comprehension skills
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