January has been a cold, cold month for the Windy City. As many of the Chicago schools closed due to the severe temperature drop, our school has also had to close for a day and also fight the huge amount of snow that has fallen in this area.
Despite such challenges, Dayspring has had a great start of the new school semester in January 2014.
For the returning, as well as new students, our main goal has been to refine our senses and to continue to develop our gross and fine motor skills.
Upon returning from Dominican Republic for vacation, a student brings in a huge seashell for sharing time.
Directress: “Listen carefully, and you will be able to hear the sound of the sea inside the seashell.”
Children take turn to hear.
We refine our sense of touch through tracing sandpaper letters. By tracing each letter and sounding it aloud, children are able to store the feel and shape of it internally.
We all like to create beautiful things. Painting allows us to see beauty and make sense of what we create through hand movement and visual aesthetic of the picture.
Children, what has the Directress painted? Can you describe the painting for us? How do you feel about it?
The development of gross (large muscles) motor skills and fine (small muscles) motor skills should go hand-in-hand during these invaluable years (15 months-6years).
For gross motor skills, we hone the skills of walking on the line (as well as marching, jumping, hopping, galloping, running, tiptoeing, and heel-to-toe) during line time. Also, the children have created a new activity of creating a huge circle in the gym to jump through the hoops.
Jumping and hopping, as well as balancing on the beam!
Can you walk on the beam without falling?
Also, we go out to play in the snow and go sledding (when weather permits).
Let’s go sledding!
Creating a hill so that we can all sled!
Having fun walking, jumping, and climbing in the snow~
With others making a fort with the snow~
As for fine motor skills, we guide the children to do activities that can help them strengthen their wrist, hand, and fingers.
A toddler works with pots and pans to life knobs and do the swirling motion with kitchen utensil.
This 19-month-old toddler is sweeping the floor, strengthening his wrist and coordination.
This 2-year-old toddler is strengthening his grasping skills by squeezing the large sponge to transfer water from one bowl to another.
She is learning to use her pincer grip and concentrate on punching on the line.
This 5-year-old is gluing her map parts for Australia. Gluing requires her to coordinate her finger and wrist muscles in order to glue within the given boundaries.
Older children (4 and 5-year-olds) learn to use paper and pencil to write equations and also write vocabulary words and sentences. This enhances their finger pincer grip and also enables them to express their thoughts through words and numbers.
The goal of developing our senses, as well as gross and fine motor skills is so that we can be balanced individuals who can create order, concentration, coordination, and independence into all that we do (internally and externally). This will naturally lead us to have greater minds in language and numbers as we continue to grow and mature.
Dayspring Montessori School Blog 