Blog

Mrs. Lopes’s Class: Discovering Dinosaurs

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

In our classroom, your children have been exploring the world around them by becoming biologists, astronauts, and now, paleontologists!  This week, your children have been immersed in the land of dinosaurs, learning all about what they looked like, where they lived, and what they ate. On our science shelf, the children have had an array of works that spark their creativity and curiosity about these giant reptiles from the past. They have been able to use crayons to make fossil rubbings, match dinosaurs with their fossils, and even sort dinosaurs according to if they walked on two feet or four feet. We have also been discussing the word “extinct” and possible reasons why the dinosaurs became extinct.

I would like to thank everyone who donated pumpkins to make our pumpkin patch a huge success!  The children were so happy and excited to search the playground for a pumpkin to bring home.  Our hearts were so full, seeing all the smiles and laughter!  The children also enjoyed seeing all the Middle School students dressed up for Halloween on a little parade through the zen garden.

Have a great week,

Amanda & Sharlene

Mrs. Hood’s Class: At the Fraser Farm!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

The crisp in the air, the change of colors in the trees, and the smell of pumpkins tell us fall is finally here, and we celebrated in a special way this week. Due to COVID we are making adjustments to different events and traditions we hold dear in our hearts here at FWM, but that didn’t stop us from having fun at our little Fraser Farm.   

Our little ones got very excited when we told them we were going pumpkin picking. We told them they needed to keep their eyes open and let us know if they saw some nice pumpkins. They walked quietly as a group around the school’s halls until they were able to spot the pumpkins displayed in our beautiful Zen garden. This is a new place they have never visited before as a group. As they entered the garden,  they not only focused on the pumpkins, but on the whole new environment. They explored the trees, the benches, the bridge, and contemplated the sky. Something they seemed to enjoy was hearing their steps while they walked on the tiny rocks.

Each child chose a pumpkin and used their muscles to carry it around and place it into the wagon to be transported to the classroom. In the classroom, children had some extra fun freely painting their chosen pumpkin.

We want to give a big shout out to the Cinquegrana family for the pumpkin donations for the class! We are always so appreciative of the support of our families! 🙂 

Also, thank you all for meeting with Ms. Maria and I last week during Parent-Teacher Conferences! It was really great to spend some time with each one of you and share stories and the progress each of your children have made so far! 

It’s truly an honor to be able to see your children grow in our community!

Enjoy the pictures,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria

Mrs. Wilson: The Cutest Pumpkins in the Patch!

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

Last week we held off picking pumpkins due to rainy weather. The toddlers still enjoyed some fun pumpkin experiences such as pumpkin tasting, helping choose a shape for the Jack O’ Lantern’s face, and exploring the pumpkin’s goop and seeds.

We were so blessed this past Wednesday with the perfect fall weather to have our event. We told the children that the pumpkins are hiding and they need to find the one with their photo on it, like playing hide and seek, which is a game they love to play on the playground. The children joyfully looked around the zen garden until they found their own pumpkin. We took their picture and then they carried their pumpkin to the wagon.

Back in the classroom, the children decorated their pumpkin with glue and tissue paper. This activity kept their focus for quite some time. I love observing them as they are concentrating intently on an activity. You can see the focus on their faces in the photos.

Thank you to all the parents for your support in providing a pumpkin for your little ones. We really do teach the cutest pumpkins in the patch!

Enjoy the photos from Wednesday,
Mrs. Wilson and Ms. Sara

Middle School: “The Peace of Wild Things”

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

Anticipating an emotionally charged week of excitement, anticipation, and some trepidation, I knew I needed the right poem for my Humanities classes for Poetry Tuesday. When I dug into my poetry, unsure of what I was looking for, I came across a poem that I haven’t used in several years. I’m not sure how it fell out of my rotation, but Wendell Berry’s “The Peace of Wild Things” was just the right poem. It reads as follows:

The Peace of Wild Things – by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

This poem reminds us all to find our own peace and grace with ourselves in the present despite what may worry us down the road. To me, it also reads that nature can be a force that grounds us. After reading the poem with the 8th years, we attempted a mindful walk through the woods. Albeit some leaf blowing noise and chilly winds, we tried to let our minds be present and focused on the crunch of the leaves beneath our feet.

There are many moments of joy in our days together at school. Please enjoy the photos of the happiness experienced by our Middle School students in the recent days.

Studious Scientists

Posted on by Karen Sankey

Our week has been filled with fun and learning together. The fourth years learned about proving the equivalence of a rhombus and a rectangle in geometry and the fifths worked on finding the area of squares. In our biology work this week, we continued learning about the upward flow of water in plants with a focus on transpiration. We learned that as water passes out of leaves through the stomata and evaporates, the empty space it leaves is filled by water flowing in from the stem. This continues and creates a steady pull of water and nutrients from the roots, through the xylem and the leaves. The students were surprised to learn that this force is strong enough to pull the water ten times as high as the highest tree. In our geography lesson, we experimented to see which heats up and cools off faster, land or water. We started with some predictions; some thought land would heat faster and some predicted the water would. Everyone thought the water would cool off faster. The children impressed me with the reasoning behind their predictions. We learned, by monitoring the temperature of a jar of sand and a jar of water placed in the bright sunlight, that the sand’s temperature rose much higher than the water’s, and when we removed them from the sunlight, it cooled off faster too. This principle will be used when we examine the heating and cooling of land and water masses.

News & Upcoming Events

Posted on by Danielle Ulacco

FWM Cookbook Recipe Submission Contribute your family’s favorite recipe(s) to our school cookbook. Due to the current pandemic, we are unable to host our annual Global Culinary Night. As a result, an idea to create a FWM cookbook was shared by a current FWM parent, Raquel Kokkoros (Allie’s mom). Some of you may remember Raquel’s delicious street corn dish that she shared at last year’s Global Culinary Night. Great idea we thought! Let’s invite current parents, grandparents, alumni, faculty, and staff to contribute a recipe to our cookbook. We have heard from alumni families that they are still using the FWM cookbook that was last published in 2004! Click here to log in and submit recipes. Group Name: fwmontessori & Password: kitchen87. The deadline to submit recipes is November 30th.

 

  • No School Thursday, October 29th: Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences Please refer to the email from your child’s teacher with the sign-up link.
  • No School Friday, October 30th: Faculty Professional Development – Montessori Schools of CT Annual Conference
  • Halloween Parade Drive: Thru this Friday, October 30th – 3:00-4:00 pm. – Cancelled due to impending weather.

 

Halloween Safety Tips and Calendar Reminders 

Posted on by Gina Tryforos

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

As with many other events this year, Halloween is going to be different for our kids. The recent resurgence in Connecticut is especially troubling. Monday saw 2047 new cases reported, the second highest day of reported infections, only 62 cases behind the high of 2019 reported at the peak of the pandemic on April 22nd.

What can we do to help the children celebrate Halloween safely?

This is a chance for you and your family to get creative and invent new traditions! It’s also a good opportunity to model flexibility, a positive spirit, and the importance of protecting ourselves and others. The choices we make today can have an effect beyond our own families. Finding safe ways to celebrate can create marvelous memories. Here are some ideas:

Spooky Movie Night

Celebrate Halloween with an at-home movie night. For added fun, dress up as your favorite character.

Halloween Treats

Make some fun Halloween treats as a family. Make homemade pizza and decorate it with toppings in the shape of a jack-o’-lantern, or make clementine pumpkins — peel the clementine and put a thin slice of celery on top to look like a stem!

 A Family Scavenger “Haunt” (Hunt)

Setting up a scavenger hunt for Halloween treats inside your home or out in the backyard can be a fun alternative.

Trick-or-treating may be discouraged or cancelled in your area this year. If trick-or-treating is still “on” in your neighborhood, please avoid large groups or kids crowding together on doorsteps. Also, remind children not to reach into communal bowls filled with candy.

If you do choose to trick-or-treat, we ask that you follow the guidelines from Connecticut for the continued health and safety of our school community. 

Our ability to protect our school’s health is only as strong as our weakest link. 

Thank you,

Gina

Reminders:

Virtual Parent Teacher Conferences -Thursday October 29th – No School

Professional Development Day for Teachers -Friday October 30th – No School

Halloween Drive Through Parade – Friday October 30th – Cancelled due to impending weather

Due to the short week, the teachers will not be sending new blog posts on Friday.

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Mask Making

Posted on by Danielle Ulacco

It’s hard to believe that we are celebrating the fourth year of the MakerSpace at FWM. Year after year we continue to add purposeful and authentic programs to our MakerSpace curriculum. In 2018, I added several sewing machines to our fleet of tools. At that time I never envisioned a mask, that wasn’t part of a costume, would ever fly off these machines.

What started as an idea in September, to make masks for our 8th grade class, turned into a joyful opportunity for students to make their own mask. By my side was Christina Benoit, our school nurse, who lended her time and knowledge to me as we began designing masks for our 2021 Graduates. After surprising them with their one-of-a-kind embroidered masks, children across the building wanted to learn “how”, “where”, and “when”, they could sew their own.

At any point in the MakerSpace, you will see fabric laid out, rulers and templates ready to guide, scissors ready to slice, and both hands and minds ready to work. The process to complete one mask takes a middle school student two full MakerSpace classes. Sewing also compliments our Middle School STEAM program.

As we approach 2021, I am honored to announce that my young seamers are now capable of making a durable, two-ply, custom sized, comfortable fitting mask…. out of hand-selected fabric. Bravo, my makers- you inspire me every single day.