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Mrs. Doyle: Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Abdomen!

Posted on by Michelle Doyle

We are hard at work becoming entomologists. This is always a favorite unit of study for the children. An entomologist is a scientist who studies insects. We began our unit by discussing what we already know about insects, what they are, and what they can do. We discovered that insects are slimy, little, gross, soft, and hard. Insects can crawl, sting, bite, eat, fly, walk upside down, and jump. We learned that insects lay eggs and have antennae and three main body parts: a head, thorax and abdomen, eyes, and six legs. Insects are also cold-blooded, have an exoskeleton, and many have wings. Finally, we found out why a spider is not an insect. Ask your child to see if they know why.

We also welcomed five tiny caterpillars to our classroom. It is so exciting to observe each step of the fascinating life cycle of the painted lady butterfly. Right now, our caterpillars are busy eating, spinning silk, and growing bigger every day. During this incredible period of growth, they will shed their exoskeletons four times and grow more than ten times their original size! When they have finished growing, the caterpillars will climb to the top of the cup. Once there, they will hang from the paper disk in a “j” shape under the lid. Finally, they will shed their exoskeletons one last time before they pupate and form a chrysalis.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Michelle & Maria

Mrs. Lopes: Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Abdomen!

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

We are hard at work becoming entomologists. This is always a favorite unit of study for the children. An entomologist is a scientist who studies insects. We began our unit by discussing what we already know about insects, what they are, and what they can do. We discovered that insects are slimy, little, gross, soft, and hard. Insects can crawl, sting, bite, eat, fly, walk upside down, and jump. We learned that insects lay eggs and have antennae, and three main body parts, a head, thorax and abdomen, eyes, and six legs. Insects are also cold-blooded, have an exoskeleton, and many have wings. Finally, we found out why a spider is not an insect. Ask your child to see if they know why.

We also welcomed five tiny caterpillars to our classroom. It is so exciting to observe each step of the fascinating life cycle of the painted lady butterfly. Right now, our caterpillars are busy eating, spinning silk, and growing bigger every day. During this incredible period of growth, they will shed their exoskeletons four times and grow more than ten times their original size! When they have finished growing, the caterpillars will climb to the top of the cup. Once there, they will hang from the paper disk in a “j” shape under the lid. Finally, they will shed their exoskeletons one last time before they pupate and form a chrysalis.

On Wednesday, to enhance our unit on South America, we had a special presentation about Brazil from a classmate’s mom, Vanessa.  She shared some interesting information about Brazil, brought in a Brazilian specialty called “pão de queijo” for us to try, and helped the children make a paper plate macaw.  Thank you again for a wonderful presentation Vanessa!

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Amanda & Hema

Makerspace: Monthly Update

Posted on by Carl Frisk

As spring rolls along, we’ve had all grade levels help revive our aeroponic tower garden. The Kindergarteners planted seeds in January, which grew large enough to transfer into the tower garden in early March. We currently have beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and lettuce growing. As time allows, everyone has been doing their best bumblebee impression, helping to hand pollinate the cucumber flowers, which will hopefully culminate in a small harvest in the coming months.

Kindergarteners have taken on a variety of challenges. We worked on finger knitting in January and February, which requires incredible focus and hand-eye coordination to successfully complete all of the steps. More recently, they began a joint project with the Middle Schoolers, where they drew and colored an animal or character, which the Middle Schoolers are currently working on sewing into stuffies as gifts. They’ve asked many times to see how theirs are progressing, but it will be a fun surprise once they are finished in the coming weeks.

Lower El also began the year with knitting. We began with the basics, learning finger knitting and then progressing to small circular looms, which the Third Graders made themselves. Once everyone was proficient with the small circular looms, we began on the larger circular looms, which resulted in a variety of completed projects such as pillowcases, scarves, bags, and arm warmers. Most recently, Lower El has been very interested in what their older peers are working on in Robotics class, so we’ve worked on various Lego challenges that utilize the same obstacles and lessons, such as ramps and our paper airplane launcher.

Upper El has just completed a larger mask project, choosing an animal and utilizing cardboard as the main material. They’ve been passionate about the details and final touches for the last few weeks, and the results are impressive. In Robotics prior to Spring Break, they were challenged to make the longest car possible in teams of 2-3 students. We then connected all of the cars together to make one incredibly long car, totaling over 24 feet in length. It was exciting to see their creation make its way down the hallway. Since Spring Break, Robotics has focused on smaller, seemingly simple challenges that require very innovative solutions, such as making a vehicle go up the steepest ramp possible, creating a gondola to go up a tight line, and using gear ratios to make the fastest car possible.

Middle Schoolers are in the midst of a number of projects. A furniture design challenge presented in February has progressed from sketches to 3D modeling and 3D printing, then refining to finalize dimensions with a preliminary design cut on the laser cutter. The final step will be a ⅓ scale model version which will have all of the needed detail to assemble as if it were a real piece of furniture. At the moment, they are busy working to turn the Kindergartener’s drawings into stuffies. This involves cutting pattern pieces before cutting fabric to ensure the proportions and details are correct. They are now working to get those pieces sewn up, stuffed, and adding any final touches to make the Kindergartener’s drawings come to life. In Robotics, they’ve spent some time brushing up on some construction and coding basics with the Lego Spike kits and some more advanced tutorials. Using that as a foundation, additional challenges have been presented to push their creativity and come up with innovative solutions.



Grandparents and Special Friends Day!

Posted on by Ashley Beckett

“Of all things, love is the most potent.”
― Maria Montessori

In the bustling room of Lower Elementary, there are few occasions as heartwarming and joyful as Grandparents Day. On this special day, the classroom came alive with the laughter and chatter of children excitedly showing off their beloved grandparents and special friends. It’s a celebration of family, love, and the cherished bond between generations. The children enthusiastically showcased their work to their guests, filling the room with delightful energy and beaming smiles. Witnessing the children actively engaging with those who hold such a special place in their hearts was truly heartwarming. Grandparents’ Day is undoubtedly an event cherished by all!

Ms. Marissa: Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Abdomen!

Posted on by Carl Frisk

We are closing our Bird study and beginning our study of butterflies and honey bees! To kick off this next month, we welcomed five tiny caterpillars to our classroom. It is so exciting to observe each step of the fascinating life cycle of the painted lady butterfly. Right now, our caterpillars are busy eating, spinning silk, and growing bigger every day. During this incredible period of growth, they will shed their exoskeletons four times and grow more than ten times their original size! When they have finished growing, the caterpillars will climb to the top of the cup. Once there, they will hang from the paper disk in a “j” shape under the lid. Finally, they will shed their exoskeletons one last time before they pupate and form a chrysalis.

On Wednesday, a classmate shared the wonderful traditions of celebrating the New Year in Sri Lanka during the month of April. He showed us his special outfit, shared homemade Sri Lankan snacks, and gave each child a keychain representing Sri Lanka. Thank you so much to his family for sharing a little piece of their culture with us!

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Marissa & Sue

Mrs. Hood: Band time!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

Maria Montessori used the scientific method to study children’s natural learning processes. She found that the child absorbs the culture they are in effortlessly and without fatigue between the ages of birth – six. Whatever the child is exposed to is internalized by the child and accepted into the child’s own being, imprinted on their soul. If a child is surrounded by music, the child will be a musical person. If a child hears their parents singing, the child will sing. If a child sees their parents dancing, the child will dance.

She called this the child’s “Absorbent Mind.”

In our environment, children are exposed to meaningful music experiences every day. Whole-body movement songs, singing, finger-plays, and instrument times are always part of our morning routine. There is a shelf exclusively for musical instruments, and these get rotated during the year so children learn the names of the instruments they are playing, and they learn how to play them properly. One main part of our group music lessons includes grace and courtesy. Through this, the children learn to recognize the importance of being polite and waiting until everybody gets their instrument before selecting a song and grabbing their instrument to play! This is a great exercise, especially for toddlers who tend to be so impulsive, but we are happy to report they all are so capable at this!  Children are directed to recognize hand gestures for tempo, dynamics, and their favorite: the closing of the song. They all love to hold their fists up and watch how everybody’s instrument stops at the same time! Their smiles say it all! We call this our “band time.”

As always, we had fun exploring food, and this week, we enjoyed some delicious avocados! We also spent meaningful time outdoors enjoying this beautiful spring weather, from feeling the soft breeze and warmth of sunny days to having a blast and getting soaked while jumping in puddles under the soft rain!

Lastly, children explored the color orange this week by mixing yellow and red paint in the easel, playing games around the classroom to look for orange objects, and talking about the different orange objects they chose to bring for Sharing Time! We had great fun!

Enjoy the  weekend,

Mrs. Andrea and Ms. Mollie

Exploring Magnetism in Lower Elementary

Posted on by Ashley Beckett

The past week, Lower Elementary students entered into the world of magnetism! Here’s a glimpse into some activities we delved into:

Magnetic Hunt in the Classroom: We kicked off our exploration by conducting a “magnetic hunt” right in our own classroom. Armed with a magnet of their own, each child eagerly touched the magnet to various objects, carefully observing whether they were attracted or not. The excitement was palpable as they discovered that magnets have a special affinity for objects made of iron, steel, cobalt, and nickel. With each finding, they diligently recorded their observations, honing their observation skills in the process.

Salt and Iron Fillings Experiment: Next up was a hands-on experiment that everyone was eager to take off the shelf! In a non-metallic bowl, we mixed salt with iron fillings, creating an intriguing concoction. Wrapping a magnet in a cotton cloth, we held it just above the mixture, demonstrating how the magnet could attract the iron fillings even through the barrier of cloth. The children were fascinated as they witnessed the invisible force of magnetism at work, effortlessly separating the iron fillings from the salt with the help of the cloth.

It was wonderful connecting with all of you during the parent-teacher conferences! I truly enjoyed the opportunity to discuss each child’s growth and the unique contributions they bring to our classroom.

Positive Discipline in the Montessori Classroom and at Home

Posted on by Gina Tryforos

Our parent education events for the school year are coming to a close.

We have one more on the topic of Family Meetings, scheduled for Thursday, May 23, at 8:30 after drop-off.

We hope the impact of our shared learning and collaboration empowered you with effective communication and discipline strategies, nurturing healthy and more harmonious relationships within the family as we have seen Positive Discipline’s impact in our classrooms. 

Positive Discipline’s focus on mutual respect, encouragement, effective communication, and fostering independence makes it a great fit for both home and our Montessori school classrooms.

Some of the big takeaways from our Parent Education talks this year include:

Mistaken Goals of Children’s Behavior: 

We talked about why children do things that might seem wrong, like trying to get too much attention, too much power, or getting back at someone. We learned that it’s because they have feelings and needs that aren’t being met or they’re feeling upset about something, not because they’re being “naughty” on purpose. We learned how to figure out what’s really going on and how to respond kindly instead of punitively.

Reflective Listening: 

We learned how important it is to really listen and understand our children. We talked about “reflective listening,” where we repeat back what our children say to show them we hear them and care about their feelings. We also learned some tips for being better listeners, like making eye contact and not interrupting.

Non-verbal Cues: 

We learned how our body language, like how we stand or move our hands, can say a lot to our children. We also talked about how a child’s body language can tell us how they’re feeling, even if they don’t say anything. We learned how to pay attention to these signals and how to respond to them.

Karen and I are looking forward to seeing you in May and sharing what we learned about Family Meetings!