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Mrs. Hood: Nurturing Gratitude and Discovery

Posted on by Andrea Hood

Showing gratitude is an important part of who we are as humans. It strengthens our relationships and our connection to our communities and even makes us happier and more compassionate people.

Although adults understand the worth of expressing gratitude, young children find it more difficult. Gratitude involves being sensitive and empathetic to others and truly appreciating what others do for you. While children can quickly learn to say please and thank you, it takes time and guidance to help them truly learn to be grateful. Dr. Montessori implicitly understood the value of fostering a grateful nature in children and helping them become compassionate citizens of the world.

Our Montessori environment places a significant emphasis on gratitude, a value that came to life in our heartwarming Thanksgiving ceremony last week. Students from various levels shared their gratitude in diverse ways and languages, creating a memorable and inclusive experience. Afterward, as we gathered in our classroom to share bread, the warmth of the morning was amplified by the support of our community. We extend our heartfelt thanks to each of you for contributing to the success of this beautiful occasion!

I find The Thankful Book by Todd Parr a great resource to use with toddlers when we are learning about Gratitude. They really enjoyed the book, and I highly recommend it for all families to have at home. It has been great to hear our verbal toddlers start expressing thankfulness.

Shifting gears, this week unfolded with an exploration of forest animals in our Language area. Children learned some specific facts about black bears, foxes, owls, moose, and beavers. We learned that black bears have sharp claws. They climb trees. Foxes have bushy tails. Foxes are members of the dog family. Owls have large eyes. They are active at night. Moose have a big body. Some of them have big antlers. Beavers have big front teeth. They have a broad tail and build dams using mud and wood. Using models and real pictures to represent and match these animals, children explored, observed, and repeated these facts, practicing the use of two to three-word sentences with the new descriptive vocabulary acquired.

In the movement area, we presented a new balance board, and children have been creatively exploring its many uses! This board stimulates the vestibular system, supports muscles responsible for the correct posture, develops the sense of balance, and supports the development of the sense of proprioception. It’s a favorite in our environment these days.

For food tasting, we explored a pomegranate, and this fruit was a hit! Children seemed curious about how the fruit looked on the inside, and they enjoyed watching the seeds just popping out and falling easily into the bowl. Eating pomegranate is like enjoying some little candies, so I wasn’t surprised children loved it!

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Mollie

This Week in Upper El

Posted on by Karen Sankey

Getting back to a normal rhythm this week with group and individual lessons was nice. In addition to our weekly planned lessons in different curriculum areas, we have daily assigned work during the week. This includes work with analogies, puzzles involving reasoning skills, math word problems, and grammar. We correct these works together, sometimes discussing and comparing answers. This week, students enjoyed using our new Promethean board to explain to their peers how they solved the math word problems.

Our history lesson this week focused on artifacts we study in learning about human cultures by creating our own “trash heap.” We will use this trash heap in next week’s lesson when we learn about the expertise required at an archeological dig. In biology, we focused on the vital function of respiration in animals. We learned that respiration is the metabolic process by which organisms use oxygen, burn food, and release carbon dioxide. Fourth-grade geometry examined the equivalence between a rhombus and a rectangle by comparing the rhombus’s short and long diagonals with the rectangle’s base and height. Fifth graders learned how to use inverse formulas to find the missing base or height when given the area and a rectangle’s base or height.

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

Last week, along with the entire school community, we ushered in the season of gratitude. The Middle School hosted a Thanksgiving celebration, symbolizing the spirit of kindness and unity. Students from each level, Primary – Middle School, presented The Story of the Four Elements and then, a group of students, teachers, and staff, shared cultural blessings of gratitude in the native language of that culture, before sharing the bread that was baked by all the students. Our class sat quietly, completely enthralled and excited to see the familiar faces of their middle school mentors. 

Special thanks to the Huttemann and Sabath families for generously providing all the ingredients so that we could bake banana-blueberry bread to contribute to the special gathering. The children absolutely loved the entire baking process – washing hands, mashing, measuring, mixing, stirring, sniffing, bringing the bread to and from the oven, and finally tasting the bread. (The children made muffins to share as a class, but we baked bread to share at the communal feast.)

A few favorites from the week have been reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you Hear? Reading, singing, and acting out I’m Going on a Bear Hunt, and singing  Give Yourself a Bear Hug by Stephanie Leavell.

Wishing you all a perfect balance of relaxation and fun this weekend, Christine & Lizette

Class Meetings in Lower Elementary

Posted on by Ashley Beckett

Lower Elementary students participate in weekly class meetings. The purpose of class meetings is to identify problems brought up by the children and brainstorm solutions as a community to fix the issue moving forward. When children feel involved in brainstorming and creating solutions, they are more likely to follow them. For example, this week, the problem we discussed was that people were writing on materials in the class. After a discussion, the children voted that they would erase writing that does not belong on materials as well as give friendly reminders if they see a friend doing so. Class meetings allow students to learn valuable social and life skills, build good character, and develop a sense of community.

Below, I listed some more details.

  • Our class meetings will take place 2-3 times per week.
  • There are jobs during Class Meetings:
    • Facilitator (I do this): Keeps the meeting on track, moves the meeting along, facilitates respectful sharing
    • Time Keeper (child’s job): Keeps track of the timing of each meeting segment and lets us know when the time is up
    • Scribe (I do this): Records the brainstormed suggestions of the class on chart paper
    • Secretary (child’s job): Records the problem and solutions in a notebook, which is a permanent record of the meetings and is accessible to all students anytime
  • There are four sections to the Class Meeting:
    • Compliments and Appreciations: This is a five to eight-minute opening where each person can give and receive a compliment or a thank you.
    • Review of a past agenda item: The secretary reads one problem and solution from a previous meeting with a quick discussion to review how it’s going.
    • Brainstorming: The person who added the agenda item being discussed shares it, and we take turns brainstorming solutions. After the brainstorming, we vote (if it’s a class problem), or the person who shared the item chooses a solution (if it’s not a whole-class issue).
    • Connection Activity: This is a fun closing where we share jokes, riddles, or two-minute mysteries.

Middle School: Immersion Week #1

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

It’s been a great first week of Immersion! We started the week with a full cast read-through of the script. From there, the days begin with warm-up games, and then students work either on the stage blocking with Ms. Sutherland, running lines with Senora Ray, or building the set and gathering props with Ms. Sara, Mr. Fuchs, and Mrs. Lamb. The set is just about done, the back drop is up, and the entire play is blocked. The teachers are impressed with how well the students work together and learn their lines. We are also grateful for the parent volunteers that have worked on set pieces and costumes this week. There is a lot of positive energy!

Next week, the Middle School looks forward to finishing rehearsals and performing LIVE for the middle school families and Fraser Woods community on Wednesday evening, December 6th at 7 pm, and another show for the younger students during the school day on Wednesday. We will wrap up by taking down the set and having our cast party on Thursday.

Mrs. Doyle: It’s Off To Work I Go!

Posted on by Michelle Doyle

 

When a child works, he does not do so to attain some further goal.  His objective in working is the work itself. –Maria Montessori

One of Maria Montessori’s most noted quotes is “play is the child’s work.”  We’re sure by now you have heard your child talk about their work at school. Dr. Montessori preferred the word work rather than the word play to describe the learning process children are constantly undergoing. Work conveys the amount of effort that children put into their physical, social, emotional, and academic growth. As adults, our definition of work has a very different meaning.

Children are driven by a strong, unconscious internal growth process to seek out experiences that will meet their needs. Our role as Montessori teachers is to provide a well-prepared environment that encourages children to be independent and learn at their own pace. The children are free to choose their work and to use it repeatedly. So, while they are ‘working’ each child is also building independence, coordination, self-discipline, and concentration.

Enjoy your work!

Michelle & Maria

November – Spanish Class

Posted on by Liset Ray

November:

Primary and LE: “Los números”; UE: “El abecedario y las sílabas”;

MS: “How to describe themselves and others”, “Adjectives and Opposites”.

FWM students learned about the tradition of “Día de los Muertos,” how this Spanish Holiday is celebrated in Latin America, and how each country has a unique way of celebrating this tradition.

This month at FWM, students kept working on their conversations about feelings, Spanish greetings, the calendar, and weather descriptions. They are continuously improving their Spanish listening and vocabulary. Students from Primary, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School listened carefully to Spanish books and songs and participated in interactive games that were displayed during class.

Primary students focused on learning the numbers from 1 to 10. Uno (1), dos (2), tres (3), cuatro (4), cinco (5), seis (6), siete (7), ocho (8), nueve (9) y diez (10). They studied “los números” through Spanish Montessori lessons that were left on the mathematics shelves of each class for the students to practice for a long period.

Lower Elementary students also learned “los números” from 1 to 20 in Spanish such as: uno (1), dos (2), tres (3), cuatro (4), cinco (5), seis (6), siete (7), ocho (8), nueve (9), diez (10), once (11), doce (12), trece (13), catorce (14), quince (15), dieciséis (16) , diecisiete (17), dieciocho (18), diecinueve (19) y veinte (20). They learned these numbers through Spanish Montessori Lessons. Second- and Third-grade students were able to learn the numbers up to 100. In addition, they enjoyed using the numbers and learned to play “Spanish Bingo,” which helped them to practice and remember them.

Upper Elementary Students put in hard work learning how to read in Spanish. First, they learn the pronunciation of each letter of the alphabet and form syllables, which leads them to better pronunciation of words, increasing their vocabulary and understanding.

Middle Schoolers learned about adjectives and how they are used to qualify the noun. They worked on adjectives and opposites, learning how they work and how they can use them. They also learned about definite and indefinite articles and noun-adjective agreement. Also, middle school students were very excited to play Spanish Kahoot and to watch an age-appropriate movie called “Luca” in “Spanish,” where the students were able to understand the movie as part of our enrichment program.

I am very pleased with the progress and accomplishment of learning goals in all of my classes.

All the students are doing an amazing job in Spanish.

Mrs. Lopes: It’s Off to Work I Go!

Posted on by Amanda Lopes


When a child works, he does not do so to attain some further goal.  His objective in working is the work itself. –Maria Montessori

One of Maria Montessori’s most noted quotes is “play is the child’s work.”  We’re sure by now you have heard your child talk about their work at school. Dr. Montessori preferred the word work rather than the word play to describe the learning process children are constantly undergoing. Work conveys the amount of effort that children put into their physical, social, emotional, and academic growth. As adults, our definition of work has a very different meaning.

Children are driven by a strong, unconscious internal growth process to seek out experiences that will meet their needs. Our role as Montessori teachers is to provide a well-prepared environment that encourages children to be independent and learn at their own pace. The children are free to choose their work and to use it repeatedly. So, while they are ‘working’ each child is also building independence, coordination, self-discipline, and concentration.

Enjoy your work!

Amanda & Hema