Blog

Lower El: First Field Trip!!

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

We had an amazing time at Holcombe Hill Nature Preserve on Thursday! We spent the morning enjoying the beautiful weather, what a perfect day for a field trip. The children had a blast finding different items on their scavenger hunt. Some items we searched for were: milkweed, maple leaves, different types of birds, insects and trees. Mr. Trent, the park ranger, was so insightful and so wonderfully fostered the children’s enthusiasm about nature!

After the scavenger hunt, we had our lunch outside and some extra free time to explore the nature preserve. We adventured through paths, climbed trees and ran around. It is so important to introduce children to different natural environments to help them think beyond their immediate surroundings which helps support well rounded perspectives!

Mrs. Lopes: Do You Know the Seven Continents?

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

The Montessori approach to teaching Geography is unique and comprised of two components, physical geography and political geography, also known as Culture. From the beginning of the school year, we weave Geography lessons and terminology into our day as we learn about our physical world. The Geography materials are always fascinating to the children and are a springboard for wonderful discussions.

Early in our school year, we categorized the planet Earth into air, land, and water.  We then sorted what we would find in each of these different components of our world.  Next, we introduced the geometric solid known as a sphere to the children and compared it to the shape of the globe.  We start with a sandpaper globe that helps to distinguish land and water.  The colored globe comes next and we begin to teach the continent names.  We make a sphere out of play dough and cut it in half to help them visualize the concept of a hemisphere.  Simultaneously, the children are learning about land forms that introduce the concept of lake, island, bay, cape, peninsula, gulf, isthmus, strait, archipelago, and a system of lakes. These sensory experiences help the children learn about their physical world.

After learning the continent names, we introduce the puzzle maps for each continent, starting with North America in November. We learn that there are many countries in North America. The older children will trace and paint each of the puzzle maps. We will learn about the animals, people, and climate often associated with each of the continents. Our goal is to encourage the children to appreciate the beauty and wonder found in the similarities and differences around the world. In our classroom, we have a cultural shelf with artifacts from each continent.

Last week, we introduced the song “Do You Know The Seven Continents” and we often hear the children singing it quietly to themselves as they work.

We are thrilled to be having in person Parent/Teacher Conferences again!  They will be on Thursday, October 27th.  If you have not yet had the chance to sign up for a time please use the link below to do so.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B45ABAC2BA1FB6-mrs6

Wishing all of you a week filled with peace and love!

Amanda & Hema

Mrs. Wilson: Socialization

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

There are many stages of socialization in the toddler age group. Solitary, onlooker, parallel, and cooperative play. Our younger toddlers are still in the solitary and onlooker stages while the older toddlers have moved onto more parallel and cooperative play. When I sit back quietly and observe all the happenings in the environment I can see the beauty in all the children at each stage of their social development. The older children have started to form friendships with one another. They look for each other and invite their peers to play, “Come on,” is what you will hear them say as they take each other’s hands. “Let’s go shopping,” as they go around and push the wagon, collecting pieces of different materials. The older toddlers have also taken on the role of role models. Without prompting they will offer a helping hand to their younger peers, whether it is to attempt to help put on their shoe or get their friend a tissue. These kind gestures teach the younger friends empathy towards one another. And these younger friends will graciously take on this role next school year. These are some of the examples of why it is so important for our toddler classroom to have a mixed-age group. 

This is the last week of exploring apples. The children tasted a yellow apple. My opinion is that the Golden Delicious apple is their favorite because I couldn’t cut the apple fast enough for them to have more, more, more! 

Have a great weekend,

Cynthia and Sara

Upper El: Cultivating Kindness

Posted on by Karen Sankey

“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.” -Amelia Earhart

A beautiful thing happened this week. We have a math material in elementary called the test tubes. It is used for division and contains 100 beads for each place value, units through millions. That’s 700 beads. While a student was putting this material away after completing their math work, they dropped it. 700 beads on the floor. Immediately the class sprang into action. Without a word from a teacher. Students stopped what they were working on and quietly came to help their friend find each and every bead and place them back in the test tubes. They did this joyfully, chatting with each other cooperatively, turning what could have been a stressful event for that friend into one that created feelings of being supported completely. This is empathy. As I talked with the student who dropped the beads after everything was cleaned up, it was clear that they felt the love and kindness of their classmates. This kind of thing happens all the time in our classroom and in each of the other classrooms throughout our school. We can learn so much from our children.

I leave you with this quote from Maria Montessori. “Let us treat them [children], therefore, with all the kindness which we would wish to help to develop in them.”

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Karen and Angie

Middle School: Week in Review

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

We hope everyone had a great week! Classes were busy, and students were working hard. Additionally, the weather might be chilly, but we are still going outside! Jackets and weather-appropriate clothing is recommended.

Humanities

In 6th grade Humanities class, we began the week with a vocabulary assessment and history work. They learned about Mexican history and culture including a few historical sites, the Mexican Revolution, the importance of maize, and the art form Alebrijes. Students also completed a writing assessment to show Mrs. Lamb where she can challenge and support individual students this year with writing. Finally, 6th grade students began their first steps in producing their current events presentations. They learned about media bias and opinion articles when looking for articles of interest. Mrs. Lamb posted a few site possibilities for their topics.

This week, 7th grade Humanities classes have been sharing their research about Chinese Dynasties throughout the week. They will soon connect this with Ties That Bind, Ties That Break, which surrounds the revolution and cultural change in China. Students also reviewed metaphors by looking at the humorous poem, “Litany” by Billy Collins. Finally the 7th grade completed a second unit of vocabulary.

8th grade Humanities class presented their research on the Pre-Contact American civilizations of the Olmec, Incas, Mayas, Aztecs, Mississippians, and the Ancestral Puebloans. They also took time to learn more information about each after they presented. 8th grade students discussed the idea of a Legacy after reading Nikki Giovanni’s poem, “Legacies.” We talked about how we can relate to it as well as what it means to connect with culture as time goes by for different groups in the United States, including Indigenous Americans. Finally, students completed another unit of vocabulary.

Science

6th year Earth Science students were able to create their resin molds incorporating an object of their choosing. Students chose between geometric or animal molds to represent their own representation. Following the completion of this project, students were asked to write a fictional story using key terms from our unit, Fossils, as it relates to the preservation of fossils. Each student was able to share their story aloud to the class and later display their resin mold and story for the entire school to see.

7th year Physical Science students finished their unit, Combining and Separating. Students learned about relevant issues in which we rely on the knowledge of separation as discussed in the Flint Water Crisis (2014-16) along with the process of desalination (removal of salt from saltwater). We conducted an experiment of the desalination process by saturating water with salt, and later boiling it, which resulted in fresh water once again. We will begin our next unit, Characteristic Properties of Matter, the following week.
8th year Life Science students began their cell cake project from the unit, Cell Theory. Students were instructed to represent either an animal or plant cell along with its primary organelles by using food (candy/cake). Students chose certain candies to best represent each organelle’s actual appearance.  Once completed with the construction, students created a key diagram, labeling the organelles along with the function served within the cell. Students presented and later consumed their finished product to the middle school students  Following this project, students will begin their research on our debate based on stem cell research and use.
Math
In the Pre-Transition math class, students learned about improper, proper, and mixed fractions. This class can identify integers on a number line and find fraction or decimal values between whole numbers. This week, they continued to practice reducing fractions to lowest form and writing word numbers into a numerical value.
In the Transition math class, students concluded their learning of Chapter 1 and worked hard to prepare for their final assessment. They worked on plotting ordered pairs on a coordinate grid and writing numbers in scientific notation. This class was able to perform order of operations questions and write exponent values in expanded notation.
In the Algebra math class, students started Chapter 2 in the UCSMP textbook. They explored how to use the distributive property in simplifying expressions as well as how to collect like-terms. This class learned how to test for equivalency in different equations and how to identify opposite values.
Math Joke: What do geometry teachers have decorating their floor?………………………… Area rugs!
Have a great weekend! We are looking forward to our trip to The Discovery Museum in Bridgeport on Tuesday!

Mrs.Wilson: Repetition

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

“It is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the senses exists: Not that the child shall know colors, forms or qualities. But that he refines his senses through an exercise of attention, comparison, and judgment.

-Maria Montessori

One of the sensitive periods for a toddler is the need for repetition. Repetition of work will allow the children to practice, master, and retain materials. By allowing the children the time to practice the same skill over and over we are helping them develop focus. While the children are using a material, working on changing their shoes, or even reading a book we try to avoid any interruptions. We also are showing the other children how to not interrupt but we can sit and observe our friend quietly. This to is the work of a child as they will be learning by observing their peers.

This week the children are working on changing their shoes when they arrive in the morning. The children are working hard to develop these new skills.

The middle school students will be joining our classroom once a week as part of their community service. The children seem to receive these new faces well and seemed to enjoy working with them.

Food tasting this week was a Granny Smith apple. I introduced the apple, peeler, and corer to the children. The children will have a chance to use this next week when we make apple sauce.

The children worked one by one with Ms. Sara to make apple print art. They used red, yellow, and green paint and half of an apple to paint with. These pieces of art will be laminated and used as their placemats for next week’s special snack.

Cynthia and Sara

Lower El: Mindful, Independent Learners

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

Each morning we start off our day with mindful meditation. We often assume breathing is just a natural skill; everyone knows how to inhale and exhale. But breathing is more than that. Being aware of our breath not only helps us manage the difficulties of everyday life, it also helps develop compassion, empathy, and concentration. This is an exercise where children practice focusing on the present, instead of worrying about the past and uncertainties of the future. It helps us become aware of how we feel at a given moment.

Encouraging independence and self-motivation is crucial to the Montessori approach. Children at this plane of development love the satisfaction of mastering real-life skills because they come to see themselves as respected members of a community. One way we encourage this in Lower Elementary is having weekly classroom jobs. Monday mornings are especially exciting because that’s when students decide what their weekly jobs will be. Classroom jobs can help build a sense of excitement, community, and interdependence from the very start of the school year.

Mrs Lopes: Friday Folder Fun Facts

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

We have to remember as adults, that we want things done, and as quickly as possible, so that they are finished and out of the way; whereas the child is interested and content in the doing, not the done.” –Margaret Stephenson, The Art of Montessori in the Home

Each Friday we send home Friday Folders with the work the children have completed over the course of the past week. It is not uncommon for us to receive emails asking why there was so little work inside and what exactly are the children doing?

Sometimes it can be difficult to accept the idea of focusing on the process, not the product. What exactly does that mean? Many of the works in the Montessori classroom do not end with a physical product the children will bring home to share with everyone. There is often no way to visually assess what a child is learning. Overall, as a society, we are product driven and often times, base our success on this factor. The experience a child has when working with the materials is truly what is most important. However, when you hear they did “nothing” day after day, it can often be unsettling.

Research shows that children from ages 3-6 learn best through their hands. In order to truly understand a concept they need to explore it through touch. This is why so many of the lessons found in the Montessori environment are not based on memorization alone. Most concepts we are teaching involve tracing, manipulating, and exploring with their hands. Perhaps most importantly, focusing on the process protects the child’s intrinsic motivation to learn and understand. It is not influenced by external factors such as recognition, praise, or reward. The time and experience with the materials is what we truly value and encourage.

So, if your child’s folder comes home with little to no work, just know that their accomplishments can’t always ‘fit’ in that folder. Maybe after weeks and weeks of trying, they learned how to zipper their own coat or maybe they can finally carry a work without it dropping. Maybe after observing a lesson day after day,  your child tried it independently for the first time. The list of skills each child can accomplish will never be fully represented in the Friday Folder. So please enjoy the work that is in there, but know it is not a full portrayal of all that the children are accomplishing.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love.

Amanda and Hema