I finished another great week at the Montessori school.  Since Monday was President’s Day, Tuesday was busy!  Tuesday was journal day so I helped a few of the students write in those (the students sit next to you and dictate whatever they want to talk about while you write it down).  This is always fun because it gives the children a chance to be creative in their story-telling/journaling.   I also worked with 2 students on geography.  Right now, they are in the midst of making “Country books”.  I helped one student with countries in South America and one student with countries in Africa.  It is really neat to see how interested they are in learning more about the various countries in these continents!  By simply locating countries on a map definitely provides a great beginning to promoting and celebrating diversity in the classroom.

On Wednesday, I worked with one student on math.  She was having some trouble getting focused so I think it was beneficial to have me sitting with her.  I helped her count by 5’s (1-125) using the long- chain math beads.  This was new to me so not only was she improving her math skills, she was teaching me how to do “long-chains”.  I was glad to finally learn what the long strands of math beads were hanging in the back of the classroom!  This was a great lesson for the both of us.

On Thursday, I continued the math game that I began constructing last week.  My cooperating teachers asked me to make 2 more sets of the game so they could put them in the other classrooms as well.  I finished making the game but had a minor setback because the laminator was acting up…hopefully I can figure that out next week.  I can tell that the children are curious and excited at what I have in store!

It will be nice to have a full week of school ahead!