Tag Archives: Mission Valley Montessori

Preschool Circle Time Activities

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Montessori has a unique learning style, and their success goes back centuries. The popularity of the Montessori preschool is growing among parents as they witness the child-directed learning and their child’s progress through this method of education. Their children are not taught by traditional methods; they are encouraged to make their own choices with a teacher guiding them along the way. In the Montessori preschool setting, your child will learn through hands-on, self-directed, collaborative play with other kids. Each day will begin with preschool circle time activities to bring the classroom community together as they greet each other.

Preschool Circle Time Activities

During the preschool circle time, the teacher will review certain concepts that relate to what they are directing learning experiences towards. There are ideas they want to introduce your child to such as time, calendars, weather, and other areas of their world they want your child to become aware of. There are often songs or poems your child will enjoy learning along with creative movement exercises.

Guidelines for Circle Time

The teacher will use a familiar and repeated phrase to let your child know it’s time to join the circle. This familiar phrase will help your child transition from an activity and know to join their friends in the circle. Many times a teacher will alert the children it’s time to put toys away and join the circle by singing a ‘clean-up’ song. During circle time, your child will be encouraged to participate.

Role Playing During Circle Time

Children learn best in specific situations when an idea is role-played. There are times when children do not get along with each other. They might be excluding certain children from joining in certain activities. A good way to show these children the consequences their actions are having on those left out is to role-play the situation. The children are then included in the outcome by asking each for their idea on how to solve the issue and what else could happen to make everyone happy. Books are also perfect for teaching lessons on life situations. The children’s series, Berenstain Bears, is wonderful for telling about conflicts and how to resolve them.

Non-Competitive Play

Games are typically designed to be non-competitive. Game time is designed so your child gets to know the other kids and learns about sportsmanship. These game times will also help your child learn how to resolve conflicts and problem solve situations.

Circle Time Reconnects

Circle time is not just to take attendance; it can be used throughout the day to bring order to the classroom. When the children appear to lose their focus on their activities, circle time is a great tool to bring them together and reconnect with each other.

The Montessori preschool will provide your child with an unshakable self-confidence. They will develop a can-do attitude through true life skills and teach students to learn pride in their true achievements.

Contact us today at Mission Valley Montessori to see how we incorporate different activities into our preschool circle time.  Our teachers encourage students to learn and explore on their own, by guiding them on the principles of Montessori education.  Schedule a tour today!

Be Sure to Claim These Childcare Expenses on Your Tax Returns

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Are you paying more than you should be on your taxes? There are a number of credits and deductions available to parents, including the childcare credit.

Claiming the Childcare Credit

The childcare credit enables you to get a portion of your childcare expenses back on your taxes. Rather than a tax deduction, which decreases your taxable income, this is a tax credit, which decreases your taxes, dollar for dollar. In other words, if you are claiming $3,000 on the credit, your total tax bill is reduced by $3,000.

Qualifying Expenses

The childcare credit allows you to deduct a variety of childcare expenses that were paid so that you and your spouse could work or look for work. This includes the cost of daycare, a nanny, babysitters, and even summer camp or day camp. It does not allow you to claim the cost of tutoring, schooling expenses, overnight camp, or date night sitters.

Who Can Claim Childcare Expenses

You can claim your childcare expenses for this credit only if you are the custodial parent of the child. If you are not the custodial parent, but you pay child support, you can claim the child as a dependent, but you cannot claim the childcare tax credit.

How to Claim Childcare Expenses

In addition to your 1040, you will need Form 2441 and Publication 503. Once you’ve completed the form, the credit amount will be entered onto line 49 of your 1040. You cannot use Form 1040EZ if you intend to take the childcare credit.

Limitations

There are a number of limitations on the credit, so make sure you do your research before taking the credit.

  • You can claim 20-35 percent of your childcare expenses, depending on your income, for a max of $3,000 for one child or $6,000 for two or more.
  • You cannot claim the credit for childcare that was provided by your spouse, teenage child, or dependent.
  • You cannot claim more than the earned income of either you or your spouse. If either of you were unemployed and a full-time student for part of the year, you can use $250 per month of schooling to figure “earned income” for the year.
  • You must first deduct any benefits you receive from your employer for childcare, such as from a pre-tax dependent care account. Only the difference in childcare costs will qualify for the credit.
  • If you are claiming the cost of a nanny or babysitter, you will have to identify the person and include their employer identification number or social security number. This makes you a household employer, so you will also have to withhold taxes and pay social security and Medicare taxes throughout the year.

Raising kids is expensive, but the childcare credit can help offset the cost. The child tax credit and the earned income tax credit offer other opportunities to recoup expenses, while dependent care accounts allow you to pay for childcare with pre-tax dollars. For more help saving money on your 2016 return, be sure to consult a tax professional.

At Mission Valley Montessori, we teach students to be well-rounded and independent, including making smart choices like you as parents will make when it comes to taking advantage of tax credits available to you.  Contact us today to schedule a tour and see the Montessori educational approach first hand and learn how our school can be a great fit for your child!

Kid Friendly Halloween Alternatives

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Whether you just don’t care for Halloween or you are looking for some alternative ways to have fun in October, these kid-friendly Halloween alternatives are sure to be a hit with the whole family!

Fun Halloween Alternatives that are Kid-Friendly

  • Give Instead of Receiving – This activity can actually be done anytime of the year. Have your children help you bag up some candy, then deliver them to friends and family. No tricking here – just treating!
  • Host a Harvest Party – Instead of scary Halloween decorations and costumes, have a harvest party. Do some fun fall crafts, bob for apples, create a caramel apple bar, and have fun celebrating the season.
  • Decorate some Pumpkins – Whether you do this as a family or you have a fun party and invite some of your children’s friends over, decorating pumpkins is always a big hit. You can paint, draw, stick on googly eyes or carve, whatever makes it enjoyable for everyone.
  • Host a Neighborhood Chili Cookoff – A fun neighborhood block party doesn’t have to be fancy. Ask everyone to bring a pot of chili, set out a table, some bowls, spoons and voting cards. Let everyone taste and vote on each pot of chili. The winner gets the knowledge of knowing their chili is the best, until next year!
  • Pumpkin Bowling – For this fun activity, you need a big round pumpkin and 9 gourds that will stand up on their own. You can play this one on the footpath or in your driveway.
  • Pumpkin Chunkin – If you have ever been to a pumpkin throwing event, you might just get the appeal. If you have a garden, large yard or a park nearby, host a pumpkin throwing competition. Have prizes for different age groups and see who can throw that pumpkin the furthest. You may want to take it a step further and have friends and family create their own pumpkin throwing machines.

There are plenty of fun non-traditional and non-scary ways to celebrate this wonderful season – all it takes is a little imagination and some friends and family to help you celebrate.

If you are looking for a school that can help wake up your toddler’s imagination Montessori schools could be the perfect choice. Call Mission Valley Montessori today and  take a tour to find out why our schools are different to other preschools in the area. We focus on blending fun with learning, helping your child discover the world at their own pace.

Three Toddler Friendly Apps

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The toddler years are a great time for children to get used to the idea of apps and the many ways they can teach them about the world. Even the littlest ones who aren’t talking much and have only started walking can get excited seeing the bright colors and hearing the sounds associated with these apps. Why not make the experience both educational and fun for your child?

Three Toddler Friendly Apps

The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Friends – First Words

This app is available for Apple devices, including the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone and recommended for ages 2 and up. A digital format uses the pop-up images associated with the classic children’s book that teaches toddlers words. Because the app is available in five languages, it is perfect for parents who want to teach their child a second language. You can easily explore the app together with your child while knowing it’s easy for them to use alone.

The illustrations in the app are as high-quality as the illustrations from the book, helping a new generation learn to love this book. There is a conversational quiz that allows kids to practice their new words very easily.

Pat the Bunny

Available for the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone, this app is another new, interactive take on a popular children’s classic. Several page elements are interactive, bringing the story to life in a unique way. You can record your own voice reading, which will help your child 2 and up learn the story by heart.

A fun coloring feature, activated by your child brushing a finger along the screen, will help foster creativity. Devices that have cameras can display your child’s face in pictures with a mirror. One of the things parents like the most about this app is how quickly children learn to navigate it.

Five Little Monkeys

Available for Apple devices, Android, and the Kindle Fire, the app teaches your toddler how to count by using a fun song. With a choice of three music styles, the song will never get boring for your child. There are other items that appear on the screen your child can interact with in addition to the monkeys.  Kids will learn to appreciate the good, clean humor behind this colorful app. Fun touches include the monkeys’ mom heading to the phone to call the doctor. The doctor, portrayed as a wise owl, gives the monkeys a gentle admonishment.

These are just a few of the fun apps for toddlers that will help them get a head start on learning in a very fun way.

Though much has been said about the academic achievements of Montessori children, the main value of the educational method lies in the self-discipline, self-motivation, independence, and love of learning that the children achieve.  To see if a Montessori education is right for your child, contact one our Fremont Montessori schools.

Fun Bugs and Insects for Kids

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In a Montessori education, your child will learn about living and non-living plant-life as well as animal life. There will also be lessons on animals and their groups including their babies and where they live. In the summer, there are opportunities to study fun bugs and insects that do not fit into an orderly curriculum.

Seeing nature close up

This activity will expand your child’s experience with the natural world. They will develop sensory skills, language, practical life skills, the ability to observe quietly, and a respect for living things. Your child will go out to a grassy area with a magnifying glass and look for interesting things. They can look at simple things such as a blade of grass or rock and see the difference looking at it through the magnifying glass. As a model of respecting our earth, your child will be encouraged to look at items where they are and not pick them or take them from where they are found.

Other interesting things are observed such as; tiny plants, dandelions, sticks, and insects. When any of these items are found; your child is encouraged not to disturb their existence and to observe them where they are found. Your child will be allowed to investigate their world at their own pace and are only guided when they seem unsure of what to look at next.

Observing bugs

There are often bugs found inside like spiders or ants that can be caught with little bug catchers. This gives children the perfect chance to observe them close up and then teaches them to respect living things by releasing it back outside. There are then endless ways to introduce your child to a wide variety of fun bugs in our world. Using plastic bugs in pairs they are mixed up and the task is to match them in pairs, with printed cards of different butterfly species the children then match miniature pictures to the larger ones, through plastic versions or printed colorful cards the children will learn what are insects and what are not, and many other fun activities introducing your child to fun world of bugs

Learning in a Montessori environment

The Montessori environment is a child -centered educational approach. The approach values your child’s human spirit and their development as a whole person; social, emotional, cognitive, and physical. In the classroom, your child, the teacher, and the learning environment will create a triangle that encourages independent learning in a fun and individual process. Teachers encourage freedom within limits, provide a sense of order and allow your child to discover information about the world around them with a hands-on experience.

Your child’s education through Montessori will develop their potential and prepare them to understand and appreciate learning and their world. If this sounds like the kind of education you want for your child, you will love the Montessori approach. Contact our Mission Valley Kindergarten to schedule a tour of our school.