Montessori Academy of London | London, Ontario

Camp Discovery online registration opens on Monday!

Take a peek through the Camp Discovery sessions and get ready to register on Monday, March 2! montessori.on.ca/programs/camp-discovery/

It’s Montessori Week!

Each year, Montessori schools around the world celebrate Dr. Maria Montessori and her immeasurable impact on education and child development. Watch for posts through our social media feeds for activities from our school, other CCMA sister schools and Montessori schools around the globe. Together, we’re helping to share the countless benefits of Montessori education with the world. 

Follow the tags: #MontessoriWeek #MontessoriEducationWeek … and our social media accounts:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MontessoriAcademyofLondon/ 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MAofLondon 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/montessoriacademyoflondon/ 

#MontessoriWeek: Meal time and food preparation

From Casa 4: As we celebrate International Montessori Week, one of the many important processes in our Montessori classroom is cooking, snack preparation and eating together.  The simple act of preparing a snack is an essential part of learning, growing and building our social community. Food preparation helps children become independent and self-sufficient while incorporating every learning discipline in the Montessori environment.  

Food preparation is a Practical Life skill where children work together creating something that can be shared and enjoyed by all their peers.  The children practise Grace and Courtesy lessons each and every time they sit down to eat: politely asking for something to be passed, thanking someone for assistance, chewing with a closed mouth, serving one another, and politely declining food that has been offered.  Skills such as chopping, whisking, peeling and pouring all help children learn how to feed themselves and those around them in a safe and satisfying way. These Practical Life activities help children develop manual dexterity, create order by following set patterns, provide a safe space in which to make and correct errors, and build confidence that encourages exploration into other areas of learning.

Food preparation is a Sensorial skill which uses all of the senses. Cooking and eating is a process that uses all of the five senses where children can see, smell, hear, touch and taste their work at many different intervals throughout the preparation, cooking and dining process.  Children are able to easily remember the names of new fruits and vegetables as they are introduced because the smell of the produce and the feel of it while preparing the food actually create additional synaptic connections in the brain or strengthen existing connections.

Food preparation and shared mealtimes incorporate Language as it provides the perfect opportunity for the members of the classroom community to converse with one another.  It is an essential bonding time that is further strengthened by the fact that the participants are also sharing the same food that was created by their own hands. There is cooperation and encouragement to try new foods because they were prepared by the hands of a friend.

Food preparation and mealtime is also Mathematical: there are so many practical applications for mathematical concepts in the kitchen.  Whether counting out snacks for all the children or measuring ingredients to prepare a dish, cooking is a perfectly practical way to show children why and how we use math to our benefit. 

The Cultural area of the Montessori classroom is a place where children can learn about different continents and their geography, different countries and their language and dress, different people and their history and customs. Cooking and eating dishes from around the globe helps children to incorporate ideas that may be beyond their comprehension into a framework that they can understand and enjoy. Creating foods from another country opens a child’s eyes to the similarities of people all over the world as they work to sustain themselves.

Waterloo Casa learns about Poland

Last week, Emily’s mom, Angie, came in to teach us a little about their heritage. Emily wore a traditional Polish costume made by hand by her great-grandmother. We sampled Krowki (candy fudge) and Chrupki (cookies), and heard a story about a dragon named Smok. 

Westmount – reptiles 

To wrap up our study of Africa, Westmount Casa welcomed a visit from Dean, the Reptile Supervisor from Southwest Pet – London. The children had the opportunity to get hands-on with their scaly friends! Flash, our tortoise friend, ate a banana so quickly, right before our eyes! One of the children asked a great question after…. “How do you clean a Tortoise’s mouth after he eats a banana?” Answer…. “The same way we clean ours.”

Lower Elementary STEM lesson: LED lights

Cameron from Tinker Trucks visited the Lower Elementary students on Friday, mixing science and art to create LED jewellery. The students experimented with batteries and LED lights to figure out how to make them work. It was so much fun!

100 Cards for 100th birthday

A few weeks ago we learned about Fred Arsenault’s wish to receive 100 cards on his 100th birthday. The Upper Elementary students have been busy trying to help grant his wish! Happy Birthday, Fred! 💯🥳❤️

Read the original news story is here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/wwii-vet-fred-arsenault-turning-100-birthday-1.5451523 

MMUN presentations

The MMUN delegates have been working very hard in the last couple of weeks to prepare for their trip to NYC, on Thursday they presented all their hard work to students and parents. 

Elementary & Junior High Carnaval video

Elementary students experienced a taste of the world’s largest winter carnival – Le Carnaval de Québec! A committee of Junior High students set the stage by creating an ice castle backdrop, making signage for each station and testing out the activities. Year 8 students ran each of the stations. They welcomed the teams of Elementary students in French, explained the games and encouraged each team as they passed through. Year 7 students were in charge of leading their teams through the rotation of activities and encouraging them to use as much French as they could. What better way to put your French into practice than during this Canadian tradition of outdoor fun? We even had a special guest, the mascot of Carnaval himself: Bonhomme! 

~ by Megan C., JH French teacher 

Check out this link to Shawn’s incredible 2-minute video of the activities: https://vimeo.com/392306954/1eebd2b05f

SNOW much FUN! Wrapup

There wasn’t a lot of snow on Sunday for our first-ever school-wide winter carnival, but there was a TON of FUN enjoyed by everyone. Thank you to all the families and friends who joined us at Stronach Community Centre, and a big thank you goes out to the MA students, alumni and staff who helped make the event SNOW much FUN! We also had a number Western students join us to help out with the event.  We hope this is the first of many family fun days for the school.

Raffle Winners!

Congratulations to all the raffle basket winners. 

• Basket #1 – Arts and Crafts – Katelin Bain Ticket # 1204
• Basket #2 – 3M – Davon Brown – Ticket # 0098
• Basket # 3 – Little Chef A – Airya Younan Ticket # 1464
• Basket # 4 – Little Chef B – Lucas Puentes Casa Ticket # 0090
• Basket # 5 – Sports Basket – Kate Endo – Ticket # 1497
• Basket # 6 – Sports Pack – Tim Nguyen – Ticket # 1208
• Basket # 7 – Mad Science – Sadie Anderson – Ticket # 0804
• Basket # 8 – Games Night A – Emily Ansari – Ticket # 902
• Basket # 9 – Games Night B – Louise Stevens – Ticket # 704

Ecuador update from Monday

The students, teachers and parent chaperones arrived in Quito, Ecuador on Friday, and were greeted by facilitators Mayté and Alejo. On Saturday, they started their tour of Quito at the Intiñan Museum, where they learned about the aboriginals here and all the weather and geographic conditions that make this country unique! 

On Sunday they enjoyed an early breakfast at the hotel and started off to the Amazon; it was a ride full of beautiful landscapes. When they arrived at Minga Lodge they learned about Me to We and the work they were about to start. 

We can’t wait to hear all about their adventures and the great work they were doing to help the community! 

Request: Mini-soaps from hotels

Lesley, our Waterloo Casa teacher, asks any MA families that might be travelling to collect hotel-sized soaps. The smaller size bars are perfect for little hands and practising practical life grating skills. Thank you!

From the community

March Break day camp at the Factory – Friday, March 20!

For children ages 6-12.

Summer day camp – Book Camp

Invest in Children has an interesting option for a summer camp — for kids ages 10-15 years: Book Camp! 

For aspiring writers and artists. Find details online: http://investinginchildren.on.ca/book-camp-london