beans and greens | Gilford, NH field trip

ALRM's first field trip of the year was an amazing success!  Despite the slight drizzle throughout the morning, the day allowed for so much!  We began the field trip by feeding the goats and pigs.  Next, we spent quite a bit of time in the hay maze.  All the children from smallest to biggest LOVED this part!  They could each negotiate the maze at his or her own pace, explore the teepee, and finish off down the slide.  We took a wagon ride over to the larger corn stalk maze where we wandered a bit and lost our way.  We all managed to find our way out onto the pumpkin patch where each child picked a pumpkin.  The folks at Beans and Greens in Gilford were very accomodating and made the trip so fun!  Thank you to all the parents who helped drive and chaperone!

challenging works | New Hampton, NH kindergarten

Work time at A Lakes Region Montessori involves students choosing a challenging work to explore a variety of skills.  

This work is used for counting.

This student stacks blocks, careful to balance them in an order that will support the top weight. She also puts them in order from largest to smallest. 

This student is working on sounds of the alphabet.  First he lines up the letters in order. Then he finds an object that begins with the letters of the alphabet. For example, he places a butterfly on B.

This student is helping supervise:)

pink tower works, red monkeys, and green lizards

The Pink Tower work is a classic Montessori work.  The student places each pink block carefully on the appropriately sized square.  The work emphasizes careful handling of the objects, using two hands whenever possible.  It also emphasizes large to small, ending with a teeny-tiny baby square.  Keeping track of that teeny-tiny baby square is taken very seriously by the students; it has yet to be lost in recent history!

This week at ALRM... | Lakes Region Preschool and Kindergarten

This week has been full of play, new works, and outside time.  We explored:

• how to roll a mat
• the pink tower work
• the tactile tray (coffee grinds, working on scent and memory) for letter formation and numerical formation
• sensory bag (does it feel cold? smooth? rough? heavy?)
• the continents and making globes
• shaving cream fun for sensory exploration

Next week, we will begin the introduction to the Brown Stair work and continue our continent study.  We will also begin pumpkin sequencing.  In the next month, we will begin the apple study and the sound cylinder lessons among many other exciting lessons!  Our Be Kind, Be Courteous, Be Gentle Pom Pom jar is beginning to be filled!  When it is full, the children have decided that they would like to make playdough.

New Beginnings | A Lakes Region Montessori

Greetings parents!

The classrooms are clean, the teachers are rested (mostly!), and we are ready for our kids!  Our 2012-13 school year is set to begin this Monday, August 27th!  New for this year....we are PEANUT-FREE.  Other nuts (including Almond butter and soy butter) are fine, just no peanuts.   We look forward to the start of the year!

Teacher Robyn and staff