2022 Newsletter Term 01 | Issue 04

Maria Montessori said, “Free choice is one of the highest mental processes.” Freedom of choice is an essential part of the Montessori Classroom, it allows children to discover and develop their own interests, needs, and abilities. In the Elouera classroom, the children have the freedom to decide where they want to work (inside or outside, at the table or on the floor), what they want to work with, and even who they want to work with. Maria Montessori knew that even the smallest child was capable of making these choices. The children are set up for success in making these choices, by providing ‘freedom within limits’ in the classroom. The children’s choices are limited by the prepared environment, the classroom and the educators are set-up to meet the child’s needs and to support their interests. Finally, once our children make a choice, we need to respect and trust that choice.

— Corinne, Sarah & Nina

This term in kindergarten we have been investigating pieces of art from various artists and the children created their own art with inspiration from different cultures. Together with Cooinda, the Kindergarten children explored the artist Matisse and how his artworks changed over his lifetime. Matisse’s artwork ‘Still life with Magnolia’ inspired many of the children to visit the Matisse exhibition being at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Kindergarten learned about the Japanese cherry blossom festival , which signifies the welcoming of spring in Japan, the children created their own cherry blossom trees using a variety of techniques.

— Helen

At the start of the term, we talked about the summer holidays and labelled all the student’s work in French. We did a big revision of the colours and numbers up to 12 with a lot of fun games. Then we started to learn all about the French greetings.

All the students created a little French play about meeting a new friend and asking some questions like “ Comment tu t’appelles ?’’ or ‘’Comment ça va ?’’

Finally, we will finish the term learning about how we celebrate Easters in France with various games and craft.

— Delphine .

At the start of the term, we did a big revision of the colours, French alphabet with pronunciation and numbers up to 20 with spelling games. Then we started to learn all about the French greetings. All the students created a little French play as groups and some students played it in class.

We will finish the term learning about how we celebrate Easters in France with various games and craft.

— Delphine.

North Balgowlah Campus – Little Leaves

Hello families!

We’ve been having lots of fun continuing with Glockenspiels and our Kindies have even been learning to play some nursery rhyme melodies using our coloured flashcards! Our other classes are continuing with Dynamics and High and Low sounds. We’re gearing up to do more original compositions in the coming weeks.

Angie

North Head Campus

Stage 2 – our stage 2 class are starting to compose their own melodies with correct pitch and rhythm using staff notation. We’re still using Xylophones as our main instrument, and it’s been a real delight to see students start to connect the notes on the musical stave and also understand scales.

Stage 3 – We are continuing with Uke’s this term, and after having a go at writing our own little ditties on the open strings, are now progressing to learning to play simple chords like C and C7, Am and F9. Changing between each of these chords takes a bit of practice, but with practice comes improvement, and we can already see students moving more confidently through chord changes. Once confident, students are encouraged to try to incorporate different strumming patterns along with the chord changes.

Mixed Ensemble (Band) – Lots of rehearsal work happening with Believer – it’s starting to really come together! Students should be practicing Intro, Verse, Pre Chorus & Chorus for the upcoming band rehearsals and also starting to work on the Bridge in their private lessons. Band rehearsals are all about adding each of our individual parts and working together. Listening to the different parts and understanding how your individual part will help make every Montessori band member a great musician in the long run!

James