River Runnings, February Edition

Hello Casa River Families ~

What a difference a day makes! The month of February has fewer days and those seem to have flown right by us. Some very cold days meant we had recess inside which gave us a turn to try out the new flooring in Fink Hall.

A few children have brought books or other personal items with them to school and have wanted to share them in the classroom. We don’t have a “show and tell” time, instead we prefer to limit this to a very special or unique thing from nature or maybe something cultural to be shared once in a while. We want the children to give their attention to the carefully chosen materials and books available in the classroom at school each day.

Most of the reading we do in our daily lives is non-fiction reading. The Montessori Casa classroom is rich with a range of reading materials specifically designed to support each child’s development. We want the children to be using these resources during their time at school.

Another component of the work we do in the classroom is to support critical literacy which is a person’s ability to identify bias, or inaccurate information within a story, text, or imagery. We discuss books that we read and ask open ended questions about what the children remember or noticed. This builds skill in listening, comprehension and dialogue.

We had the opportunity to “visit” with a Lower Elementary classroom via Zoom this week to listen as members of LES read a fictional story of “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs”. It
was a wonderful chance to see some familiar and new faces. The Casa River group was captivated as they watched and listened to what the elementary children had put together.