Dear President Obama…
Last week, the students in P3 wrote letters to the President. All were then laminated and sent straight to the White House. Obviously the President is a very busy man, but we hope he is able to sit down and read these notes — he just may get some inspiration!
Here are a few:
“I am happy I go to a good school.” — Bella
“[I would like you] to get money for people that don’t have anything” — John David
“Thank you for keeping our country safe.” — Jack L.
“I want everyone to have a house.” — Love, Jackson
“I wish that poor people could have a job.” — Miriam
“[I would like you] to help old people get up. To help old people learn to walk” – Lidiya
Parents, click here to see more pics and news from P3’s blog:
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How to Build a Better Brain
Beginning in the 1940s, numerous studies have linked intelligence quotient and childhood environment. More stimulating, engaging environments have been proven to increase the number of synapses and neurons in the brain; increase dendrite complexity; increase synapse activity and increase cortex volume. The effect is especially pronounced during childhood, when the brain is still developing, but it can continue into adulthood. For example, stimulating environments have been shown to assist in the recovery of those with Alzheimer’s disease and other symptoms of age-related cognitive decline.
Charles Darwin, in 1874, was one of the first to hypothesize on how environment shaped brain size. In 1947, a psychologist named Donald Hebb found that rats raised as pets performed better on problem solving tests than rats raised in cages. A follow-up study by Mark Rosenzweig in 1960 found that rats in an “enriched environment”, a cage with all sorts of ladders, wheels, tunnels, and other toys, developed increased cerebral cortex volume. You can read more about the studies here and here.
Maria Montessori, who was four years old at the time Darwin was speculating about the effect of environment on the brain size of wild rabbits, ultimately came to similar conclusions. “The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences … To assist a child we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to develop freely … Only through freedom and environmental experience is it practically possible for human development to occur … The child should live in an environment of beauty.”
Montessori classrooms are designed to be inviting, welcoming, and above all, stimulating. The materials are created to incite curiosity and fascination. Everything is colorful, tactile, and at the child’s eye level. The mood is safe, serene and home-like. The child is able to engage in self-directed learning, encouraging independence, a love of learning, and self-confidence.
But school is only one facet of a child’s life. Parents can create an environment that is conducive to creativity and critical thinking in the home, as well. Arts and crafts, weekend trips, outdoor activities, interactive games, books, and imaginative play all help the young child’s brain to grow and make new connections.
For more ideas, check out this Pinterest board, “DIY Montessori Activities.” There are also tons of books on Montessori activities to do at home, which you can check out on Amazon. We hope you find some new ideas and enjoy exercising your brain!
Benefits of Spanish Immersion
Let’s take a look into the window of P1, one of our Spanish Immersion classrooms.
“Hola, como estas?” (Hi, how are you?) “Por favor” (Please), “Gracias” (Thank you) are a few of the common Spanish phrases heard in our classroom as we begin our day together. “Uno, dos, tres” (one, two, three) can be heard as the children count in Spanish. “Por favor, venga al circulo, no mas trabajo,” (please come to circle, no more work) is an example of the daily instructions our students hear as they experience the Spanish language in a natural and routine manner.
We have found that singing in Spanish is also an easy and enjoyable way for the children to hear the rhythm of the language. The children work with exclusive Spanish language materials in learning how to identify objects and pictures in Spanish. They do this by learning how to pronounce, spell and associate the concepts in the Spanish language. The Montessori math materials are also taught in Spanish, once the concepts are learned in English. — From the P1 Blog
Spanish Immersion is an optional program for ages 3 through third grade that is designed to provide students with a solid foundation for bilingualism. Half of all lessons are given in Spanish and one classroom support teacher speaks only in Spanish, creating a native-like environment. Conversing, singing and doing works in Spanish is a fun and natural way to acquire bilingual fluency and cultural understanding. Research suggests that learning languages at earlier ages and over longer periods of time supports second-language acquisition (Tochon, 2009). Benefits include:
- Increased ability to control attention and keep information in memory, better awareness of language structure and vocabulary, and improved skills in creative thinking and problem solving (Adesope, Lavin, Thompson, and Ungerleider, 2010).
- Bilingual students attain higher levels of achievement on standardized tests in reading, writing, social studies, and math, and report higher levels of self-confidence (Tochon, 2009).
- Students in “50-50” language-immersion schools, in which students spend half of their day learning in a nonnative language, perform as well as, or better than, students in monolingual schools on standardized tests, and these benefits extend to English-language learners as well as native English speakers (Gómez, Freeman, and Freeman, 2005; Palmer, 2009; Thomas and Collier, 2002).
- Learning a second language not only has cognitive and academic benefits, it also supports a greater sense of openness to — and appreciation for — other cultures and improves opportunities for cross-cultural friendships and employment (Tochon, 2009).
Sources: http://www.edutopia.org/stw-global-competence-research