St Margaret's Montessori

This week we have welcomed our little ones back to a brighter, lighter and more beautiful school.

Photos from St Margaret's Montessori's post

Thrilled to have joined four other beautiful nursery schools in the Borough of Richmond!

For regular updates, follow our new Riverside Nursery Schools account > Riverside Nursery Schools

Kew Montessori | St Margarets Montessori | Twickenham Green | Grosvenor House | Twickenham Park

Nursery school and care home enjoy heart-warming window Christmas party

https://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/18932144.brighter-together-hosts-intergenerational-christmas-party/?ref=fbshr&fbclid=IwAR0TtqLKHEVgH6N7fOBvu7FjQWtFEHPe1fpA6nCe6MStoC7h6HffdrROKvk

Nursery school and care home enjoy heart-warming window Christmas party A Richmond charity has brought together care home residents and nursery school children to celebrate Christmas in a pandemic-safe way.

Our new residents have finally been named by the children. It was a long process done very democratically. We had a few weeks for name nominations followed by the voting. The results are in! We would like to present you to Unicorn and Goldie.

It was cold and rainy, but the fun in nature kept us warm and happy.

In the month of November we have so many opportunities to celebrate our diversity. On the 3rd November we celebrated Japanese Culture Day, (文化の日, Bunka no Hi), we also made poppies for Remembrance Day, followed by colourful celebration for Diwali. We then had the privilege of join in the festivities of our friend, Emily's 103rd birthday.

November has been a wonderful month to celebrate diversity together. We have celebrated Japanese Culture Day on the 3rd of November. Remembrance Day with some Poppy making and then the colourful celebration of Diwali. To add to the celebration the children sang Happy Birthday to our lovely Nightingale Care Home friend who turned 103!

Since February we have not been able to visit our friends at Nightingale Care Home. We have all kept in contact via Zoom but this Friday, it was sunny so we had the opportunity to visit through the window. We have missed our visits so much and were so happy to see you all in person.

There is always something to explore, and engage with in our busy indoor and outdoor environment.

St Margaret's Montessori updated their website address.

St Margaret's Montessori updated their website address.

We have continued to 'visit' Nightingale House Care Home during lockdown. The children and the residents connect via Zoom and share same time together catching up, dancing, playing games and having fun.

Our children returned to school on the 1st June and it already feels like we have not been away at all. We have enjoyed our garden and classrooms to the fullest: to have fun, play and learn together.

St Margaret's Montessori updated their business hours.

St Margaret's Montessori updated their business hours.

Axel Scheffler's official website | Coronavirus - a book for children

https://axelscheffler.com/books-for-older-children/coronavirus

Axel Scheffler's official website | Coronavirus - a book for children

Travelling altogether during lockdown - Wakelet

Let's fly away...

Travelling altogether during lockdown - Wakelet It's Easter Holidays and we would love to be travelling. As a teacher, I am always invited by the children to come on holiday with them, but of course, I don't fit in their bags. Well, finally all the teachers, children and parents can go away together. Are you ready?

We would like to give you some suggestions to help your child to experience Montessori at home.
- Set up an area with child sized furniture, so that they have freedom to choose the activity they would like to do. (A small table and chairs, a mat to put their work on and a few low shelves)

ON THE SHELVES:
The shelves place a few activities at a time, maximum of 3 per shelf. They should be self-contained. (if not on a tray in a box - so that the children can use and then pack away). Ideas for the shelves.
- mark making: paper, pencils, colouring in pencils, watercolour paints, cello tape, glue and children’s scissors (to be left on shelf when you are in the room only)
- Playdough: homemade recipe https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/playdough-recipe/
(search for a non-cook recipe and have your child help you to make it)
- Activities: Age dependent: Colour matching and sorting; posting; threading large beads for younger to sewing for older ones; I-spy basket (about 6 objects with different initial sounds - can even be fruit) to play I-spy with your children; cards with numbers and objects to match…. These are just a few examples (the internet is full of ideas and remember that you need to leave the same ones out for at least a week or two so that the children have an opportunity to repeat) If they are no longer interested in an activity then take it away and put a new one.
- BOOK CORNER - Have a space with books for them to read independently and read to them every day. (They may choose the same book to be repeated which is normal). If you don’t have books at home, there are books online for you to read as an alternative.
- Construction Area - (if you don’t have big blocks, you could have blankets to allow them to build tents, or boxes) - Add cars or balls for them to experiment and use their imagination to build their own cities, tents, ramps to roll things off, the list is endless.
- Chores: Include chores during the day - There are so many skills the children can learn from these as well as giving them a sense of belonging, accomplishment and contribution. These are age appropriate chore idea charts attached.

IDEAS:
- Scavenger hunt - Children need to move and this is a wonderful way for you to increase their vocabulary, practice numbers, sort by colours. You hide the items or items in the environment. “Can you find me a blue ball?” and they bring it back to the mat…
- Lastly but most important, include them in what you love to do. Bake together, or cook together, rearrange the pantry together.

The beauty of this period together is that there is no rush to have to go or be anywhere so you can just enjoy each other.

Helping you to set up a Montessori at Home experience for your children at home.

Firstly, I think it needs to be said that you are not qualified teachers, and no one is expecting you to become qualified in a new profession overnight to teach your children.
As stated in our previous email: Early Years Education is based on the knowledge that children learn through play. So please do not feel pressurised to have to deliver lessons and that if you don’t your child will not be learning.

“Just play and spend time doing things you love because all LIFE is LEARNING!”

Keeping a routine is important for your child and you.
Start the morning with your normal routine to get ready for school. There is no rush though so encourage independence of preparing their own breakfast, self-dressing, and cleaning up.
- Then have a ‘work cycle’ a time that the child has to self-select activities. From the ones provided on the shelves (see below). It should be about 3 hours (9-12) and ensure you have given them access to self-select and serve water and snack during this period.
- Break for lunch (The children can help prepare the lunch, during the work cycle, and prepare the table too) - Sit down to eat together and time for conversation.
- Can be followed by nap time/quiet time (yoga, readying or just resting)
- In the afternoon another ‘work cycle’ - again, with self-select activities and add movement, music, story writing and/or acting, baking, cooking and science experiments.

Another unforgettable day at the Care Home. We have been visiting London this term. We take a short ride on the bus singing 'The Wheels on the Bus' to arrive at different London favourite sites. We have visited Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge and today we are going for a boat ride along the River Thames. What fun!!!

Our Sunflower's busy learning

Our large muddy garden is so much fun!

Our Seedlings enjoying the specially prepared environment.

At Christmas School the children had free flow between the Montessori classroom and our Loose Parts Creativity Room. Starting with lots of boxes and inspired by the book 'Not a Box' the children created so many themes from robots; to rockets; to space picnics and telescopes. They explored light and shade, shapes and lines.

Our lovely Aimee was nominated by all the staff at St Margaret's and Kew Montessori for her love and dedication to our schools and we were so proud to see her receive the award at our annual celebration. 😍

A wonderful time preparing and performing our Nativity play. The children chose their own roles, and took control of filling in characters that were missing.
A day enjoyed by all and topped off with a visit by Father Christmas.

Today we had a wonderful celebration with our friends from Nightingale Home Care. They joined us at St Margaret's Montessori with our families, to celebrate our Christmas party with singing and dancing, laughing and being merry.

We celebrated a Thanksgiving lunch today. Bianca was able to celebrate this important holiday for her with us all and we had the opportunity learn the really meaning of it. There was a lot of fun, many questions and tasting of pumpkin pie (yummy)

Another special day shared with our friends at Nightingale Home Care