Thursday, October 1

 Hi parents,

We had a great day today, as I predicted we would in yesterday's blog. In the morning, we watched an episode of Canada Crew about the different kinds of food in Canada. A very broad topic to say the least. After the video, we talked about our own favourite restaurants, and did a class survey to determine which one was the most popular of all. Needless to say I was pretty pleased with the results although I do think Wendy's got robbed.

Today the students wrote "I am" statements in their journals. These statements had to be positive and strength focused. We had an awesome discussion about the qualities and skills that make each of us unique. I'm planning to get students to choose their favourite sentence to use as part of an upcoming art project - I'm really excited for it! If your child was not able to be here today, please feel free to help them write their own "I am" statements at home. But don't feel obligated to - I'll make sure they're caught up when they get back.

We went for our first neighbourhood walk today! It was very, very short, but the students were still so excited. We saw some willow trees along the way, which were interesting, and made the walk feel more like a field trip. We focused on safety, and the students took our talks very seriously. There was no silliness the entire way.

In math, we had our very first lesson on subtraction. I feel like it is easier for students to learn subtraction before addition because subtraction problems typically involve smaller, more familiar numbers. For example, if I asked a student to solve 10 - 8, they could simply hold up 10 fingers, and then put down 8 to find the answer. On the other hand, to solve 10 + 8 on fingers, a student would need to be comfortable with the idea of 'counting on', which is actually a lot more complicated to teach than it sounds. The other reason I like to teach subtraction first is because it comes in handy for our Class Dojo Store!

The Class Dojo store is an activity I typically do at the end of each month, where the students have an opportunity to spend their Class Dojo Points on fancy erasers, pencils, pencil grips, and anything else that seems like a good deal at the dollar store. I think the Dojo Store is a fantastic way to help kids develop basic money management skills. Since the items at the store are all different prices, students have to figure out their purchasing options. Should they buy several cheap items, or one more expensive one? Or, should they just save their points for the next time, so they can buy something that they currently can't afford?

At the Dojo Store, I ask the students three questions:

1. How many points do you have?

2. How many points are you spending?

3. How many will you have left?

Using the subtraction strategies we learned in class today, I'm hoping most students will be able to set up a subtraction equation that will help them determine the answers to each of these. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also our spelling quiz! Students have built a lot of independence around practicing spelling, which in a Montessori classroom, is an excellent thing to have. It's gotten to the point where I usually have to just say "practice your spelling" and they'll take out their books and get started. Hopefully that means tomorrow's quiz will be our best one yet.

Have a nice night,

Zac