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Immersion Programs and Experiential Learning at the Middle School Level

Posted on by Gina Tryforos

Immersion Week in a Montessori School is an excellent example of the experiential, real world learning that our students participate in.

It combines challenging academic discussion surrounding playwriting, play production, and performance. 

Under the guidance of our incredible team of Middle School teachers and Mrs. Reid, our Art teacher, the students experience a week long (sometimes longer) immersion in the process. Working with Mrs. Lamb, the students write the play. They create the plot, create the characters, write the acts and the scenes, and tell their story. Under the guidance of Mrs. Sutherland, the students decide how they want it to look, visualize the set, decide on the stage layout and block each and every scene, and prepare for rehearsal each day. Mr. Brown leads the students who make up our light and sound technicians and our stage crew. 

A Montessori Immersion program satisfies the adolescent’s sensitivity to issues of justice, their need for a sense of belonging and self-worth, and their desire for creativity, self-expression and productivity. The academics and the management of immersion week gives the students opportunities for group collaboration and individual success which meld together to nurture a community of thriving young adolescents.

Meet Alex Santilli: FWM’s Grammy Nominated Alum

Posted on by Danielle Ulacco

Throughout April, read along as we share the story of Alex Santilli: FWM’s Grammy Nominated Alum

 

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of speaking to Alex and learning about his journey since graduating from FWM. I was immediately graced with his kind demeanor, friendly laugh, and I could feel his passion for music throughout our conversation. Alex fondly remembers his teachers, playing outdoors with his friends, and being a part of a brand-new middle school program. Alex’s journey at FWM took him to new places- literally! He started his Monetssori education in our facility on Dodgingtown Road, and in 2001 he became our first wave of students to experience a Montessori middle school program. Alex graduated from Fraser Woods Montessori in 2003 and headed off to Hopkins School in New Haven. 

After High School, Alexander realized that it was his education from Fraser Woods that gave him all the confidence and autonomy that he needed. It was then, at the age of 18, that he decided to carve his own path. Alex landed his first gig at a music studio in Philadelphia where he was hired to fix audio equipment and consoles. He moved up the ranks there, quite quickly, from engineer to head engineer, to co-owner. In August 2014, for the second time, he constructed a new path for himself as he said goodbye to co-owner and hello to owning his own studio: Spice House Sound.

Spice House Sound is recording studio is an accessible, world-class recording, mixing, and mastering studio located in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Alex is the Manager, Mastering Engineer and Mix Engineer. He prides himself on making the highest quality of sound, with only the best of equipment. Alex shared with me that since equipment is so rare, it takes a great deal of time and money to acquire these tools. In the age of streaming, it seems to me that Alex’s passions helped him to find a niche that music enthusiasts and passionate musicians find invaluable. Alex proved to be humble down to his soul, as he subtly shared that in 2022 Spice House Sound became a Grammy-Nominated music studio.

 

Fraser Woods Montessori will be cheering for Alex, Spice House Sound, and his client Japanese Breakfast, who is nominated for “Best New Artist” at the Grammy’s this weekend.

 

Follow Spice House Sound:

Thoughts and Reflections; News and Updates

Posted on by Gina Tryforos

It is hard to believe that after this week’s erratic weather, the first day of spring (the vernal equinox) is right around the corner on March 20th.

Spring has always been the season of new beginnings. Flowers begin to bud and bloom, animals begin to wake, and we welcome a sense of renewal. There is energy and enthusiasm for what comes next.

As FWM plans for the next school year, our commitment to making our school a safe and kind place for all members of the community; a place where everyone feels seen and heard is at the forefront of all we do.  We are committed to nurturing and challenging students in developmentally appropriate ways, creating an environment where children and adolescents can make mistakes and learn from them. FWM is committed to supporting students to find their voice and forge their path.

Montessori has always placed importance on education, child and adolescent development, the emphasis on collaboration, choice, curiosity, discovery, and relevant learning. These values are paramount at Fraser Woods, as is the attention paid to character and social/emotional development.  

With spring weather, comes spending more time outdoors!

Children love the outdoors and should be encouraged to explore all nature has to offer them.  Flowers, bugs, gardening, butterflies, and more!  

In our Montessori classrooms, activities for springtime encourage your child to explore, to probe, to discover, to learn, to create and to respect.

Some of the lessons, activities, and works your child experiences in the classroom can be carried over to home.

Rainbows

Spring is a wonderful time to talk about rainbows. Spend time searching for rainbows after rainstorms, and consider getting a prism like the one in your child’s classroom to let your child explore rainbows even on sunny days. Enjoy recognizing the order of the colors.

Daily weather report

Each day during morning meeting, one of our students observes what they see outside and they give the class a daily weather report.  You might supply your child with some drawing paper in a booklet and encourage them to draw or paint the weather each day and see how it changes over time.

Study butterflies

Children are clearly fascinated by butterflies and spring is a great time to study them. You can simply read a book or two with your child.  In some of our classes, your child will observe the transformation from caterpillar to a butterfly with a live butterfly kit which will be set up in the classroom.

Create a nature table

One of the favorite works in the classroom is the nature table. At home, you can designate a space such as a small table or even a tray or basket, and allow your child to collect interesting things they find in nature. Include a magnifying glass!

There are so many children’s books about spring.  Here is a link to a list of 25 Montessori Friendly Books for Spring

Update on Security Guard

Our security guard will be back in place on Monday, March 28. Rich Maurizio is one of the security guards that worked at our school several years ago. Some of you may remember Rich. We are happy to welcome him back.

Summer Camp

Summer Camp registration is now open! 

Log into MyFWM, go to the Parents module and click on FWM Programs.

Fraser Woods Spring Get Together + Auction!

Let’s Get Acquainted at Aquila’s 

Register at fwm22.givesmart.com

Reminders

FWM will be closed for the next two weeks for our March break. School resumes on Monday, March 28.

If you are traveling over the break, please review the CDC recommendations for travel. We sent home rapid COVID tests with your children. Please consider testing your child before returning to school on Monday, March 28. You will not need to submit the results. This is for your piece of mind as we return to school. 

Thank you for all you do to keep our FWM community healthy and safe. 

Wishing you all a peaceful and relaxing spring break!

Upper El: Happy March Break!

Posted on by Karen Sankey

 

“As we observe children, we see the vitality of their spirit, the maximum effort put forth in all they do, the intuition, attention and focus they bring to all life’s events, and the sheer joy they experience in living.” -Maria Montessori

It has been a fun and busy week of wrapping loose ends up before break. We had lots of individual lessons, collaborative work,  and enjoyed a wonderful research presentation on the Amazon.

As we get ready to present autobiographies after we return from March break, the excitement in the classroom is building. During the last week of March, we will devote our work cycles to editing and finalizing papers and presentations, and recording. If students are not yet finished with papers, they will need to work on them over break. I am available during break to answer any questions and provide any needed help. I will be reading and editing  students’ docs over the next two weeks. I look forward to sharing the presentations with you at the end of our first week back!

I hope you all are able to spend some enjoyable and restful time with your beautiful children over the next two weeks!

Mrs. Wilson: This Week’s Happenings

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

The children have been yearning to get outdoors. We were so lucky to have had one gorgeous day to spend a good hour outside. With that, we discovered that spring is peeking out. Hopefully, soon we will have consistent spring weather.

The children have been working on their emotional vocabulary. Some of them using the language to express how they are feeling.

We also welcomed a new friend to the community. Some of the older children really took on the role of caring and showing her around the class, or guided her gently to transition from one activity to the next. I am very proud of how they are making her feel right at home.

Food tasting this week was asparagus. The children explored it cooked and about 5 of them seemed to really enjoy it!

We wish you all a wonderful spring break.

Mrs. Doyle: Five Fun Senses

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

First the education of the senses, then the education of the intellect—Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori believed there is a sensitive period for a child’s development of their senses. Although the senses are an integral part of our lives, children during the early years have the greatest potential to develop and retrieve them. It is precisely this idea that demonstrates the purpose of Sensorial materials in the Montessori classroom. The Sensorial materials are powerful tools, which allow children to become aware of their unconscious impressions and bring these impressions into conscious awareness. Additionally, they enable your children to create a basis of order in their mind, allowing for intelligent exploration of their environment.

This week we are beginning our study on the five senses.  What better way to teach this than to use popcorn? Popcorn is a multi-sensory snack as it incorporates all five of our senses. It might just be our most appetizing science unit yet! Did you ever notice that when you make popcorn, somehow the entire family knows about it and shows up to have some of this favorite treat?

We begin by discussing what our five senses are and how we use different body parts to learn about things in our environment. For example, our noses are for smelling, ears are for listening, eyes are for seeing, hands are for touching, and our tongue is for tasting.  We learned that sometimes we use more than one sense at a time.

Next, each child had the opportunity to handle popcorn kernels to make observations of what they see, smell, and feel.  We record all of our observations as we are going along. Finally, we use an air popper to pop some popcorn.  Now we can include our observations about hearing and tasting as well.

Our Kindergarten children had a great opportunity to use their senses when they visited Warrup’s Farm this week.  We learned about the process of collecting sap from Maple trees and and how maple syrup is made.   It was our first field trip in quite a while and it felt great to be able to do so!

Wishing you all a wonderful break with lots of love and laughter.

Michelle & Liset

Mrs. Lopes: Our Class Rocks!

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

“The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth.” -Maria Montessori

Have you ever noticed your child’s fascination with rocks found outside on the ground?  We have observed after playing outside on the playground some of the children will return to the classroom with pockets full of rocks as if they are treasures. You can imagine the children’s excitement when they learned that our new science unit was the study of rocks!

We discussed the three main types of rocks – igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic, as well as how these rocks are formed on Earth. We added several new rock lessons to our environment, but the group favorite was a basket full of rocks with a magnifying glass.  The children enjoyed examining and classifying each of the rocks in this lesson.

On Thursday, our Kindergarten children took a trip to Warrup’s Farm in Redding, CT to learn all about the maple sugaring process.  On the farm, Farmer Bill showed us how to tap a maple tree and how to make maple syrup in the sugaring house.  We also got to take a hike to see the maple tree forest as well as a piece of homemade maple sugar candy to take home.

Wishing you all a relaxing and peaceful Spring Break!  We look forward to returning to school in a new season, with the excitement and energy that comes in the last few months of the school year!

Peace and love,

Amanda & Heather

Middle School: Pi and Play!

Posted on by Michelle Lamb
Pi Day
On Friday all students celebrated Pi Day, which officially takes place on March 14 (3/14). Students enjoyed a read aloud story of Sir Cumference, they learned how Pi was discovered,  as well as enjoyed a slice of pie to celebrate the round theme. Each class participated in a 6-part station activity where everyone had an opportunity to calculate the circumference of a pop can, find the surface area of a toilet paper roll, and list as many words they can think of that start with “Pi”. Students enjoyed the day of hands-on practice to calculate equations using Pi and reflect on how circular objects are used in the real world.
Fun Facts About Pi
1. there are over a trillion digits to Pi
2. it’s an irrational number that never terminates and never repeats
3. the world record for memorizing the most Pi digits is 67,890
Math Joke: 
What is the most mathematical type of snake?………A Pi-Thon!

What do you get when you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?…………..Pumpkin Pi!

Why did all of the other numbers avoid conversing with Pi at the party?…….Because he goes on and on forever!

Middle School Play

The 2022 Middle School play, called The Masamune Mystery, is just about finished! We have spent the last two weeks developing the plot and writing the script after the Playwriting Elective developed the overall main idea of the play during the winter months.

The main idea was developed over the winter and was a longer list that was then narrowed down by several rounds of voting both among the elective group and the entire middle school.  In the end, the idea of a treasure hunt with two completely different investigators was perfect for the production. It has centered around two lead roles, which is a first for the MS production.

Character development is the next pivotal piece in developing the play. Who will bring this story to life? Each student had a chance to develop a character, whether it was to be played by them or someone else. This involved imagining a personality, appearance, how they will affect the plot, and writing examples of what this character might say. The magic comes in when each student presents their character. The rest of the class can contribute ideas, which then solidifies their role. Developing the characters has been a favorite portion of the process for me.

Finally, it’s time to write!  We used Humanities classes over the last two weeks, and we used two full mornings to write. Now, Mrs. Lamb is going through each scene to ensure that plot goals are carried through, digressions are removed as much as possible, characters stay true to who they are supposed to be, and the play comes together the way it is originally intended. Students should have final scripts posted to review and memorize by Tuesday, 3/15!

We hope everyone enjoys their break and look forward to immersion weeks when we return! More to come!