Blog

Middle School: Week in Review

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

It’s been a busy short week in Middle School! As a reminder, please have your child/children dress for the weather.  We will be going outside each day! 

Also, thank you for signing up for our virtual parent conferences on Thursday, 10/29 with your child’s/children’s advisor via Sign Up Genius. Students will prepare to lead a portion of the conference, so please keep this in mind when scheduling. We look forward to speaking with you!

Humanities

This week, 6th years continued their class read, Out of My Mind, having wonderful discussions about the characters and plot. They also began annotating and leading their own class book discussion. 6th year students also worked on descriptive writing this week, particularly with word choice, figurative language, and imagery. The 7th years finally finished presenting their Religions of China projects and began their unit about SubSaharan Africa. They worked on the geography of the large region by using a map to identify the countries and their capitals. We had discussions surrounding cultural perceptions of the regions and influences due to colonization. Students are beginning the memoir, A Gift From Childhood by Baba Wague Diakite. Finally, the 8th years studied Jamestown colony this week. This included information about the Virginia Colony, Powhatan Confederacy, tobacco, beginnings of socioeconomic groups, indentured servitude, and slavery in the early 1600s. All classes completed current events presentations this week.

Math

In Pre-Transition math class, students had a few days to study and prepare for the Chapter 2 Unit Test. They completed practice questions, played review games and quizzed each other on their knowledge of decimals, fractions, and percents. Students started to work through the first few lessons of Chapter 3 which discusses the addition property of opposites and adding mixed fractions together.
In Transition class, students are learning how to order and compare decimals and fractions using inequalities. Students can use the equal fraction property to rewrite fractions, use fractions to answer questions about real world situations, and identify decimals between rational numbers.
In Algebra class, students are learning about solving and checking for linear equations in the form ax+b=c, graphing solutions to a linear inequality problem on a number line and coordinate plane, as well as applying the addition and multiplication properties of equality and inequality. Students will be preparing for the Chapter 3 Unit Test next week and should allow the appropriate study time well in advance.
In Geometry class, students are learning how to draw and label major and minor arcs in a circle and semi circle, find the appropriate degree measured for an inscribed and central angle, as well as give justification for conclusions involving angles and line segments. This group of students is preparing to solve for proofs, and they have created a postulate and theorem book to keep track of all the important definitions needed to give their reasoning.
As a general reminder, students should check Google Classroom each day for posted assignments and supplementary videos to help reinforce the concepts taught in class.
Math Joke:
What is a math teacher’s favorite snake?…………A pi-thon

Science

6th year Earth Science students are currently working on creating a stop motion movie illustrating how tectonic plates shape our planet. The types of plate movements include transformation, divergent, and convergent. 7th year Physical Science students have conducted several lab activities in conjunction with their unit on States of Matter. Students determined how temperature relates to a water’s solubility level and how the speed of molecules relates to temperature. 8th year Life Science students are finishing their unit on “Structure of Life”. Students have conducted research, detailing how radio-pharmaceuticals and chemotherapy technology has advanced throughout the years in response to cancer.

Mrs. Hood’s Class: Pumpkin Guts!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

Maria Montessori believed that nothing comes into the mind except through the senses. During the early years, as children develop their senses, their attention is directed toward the environment. The purpose of the Sensorial activities is to help the child in their efforts to sort out the many varied impressions given by the senses. These activities are specifically planned to help the child develop discrimination, order, and to broaden and refine the senses. These experiences also help prepare them to be a logical, aware, and perceptive person.

As we started our pumpkin unit this week, children had the opportunity to explore the outside and inside of a pumpkin! Skin, pulp, strands, and seeds were new vocabulary words used to describe the parts of a pumpkin. We also talked about the texture, color, and temperature of the pumpkin. Cold, bumpy, and soft were adjectives we repeated over and over as well as naming the color orange.  They were so curious and amazed to find out what it was inside! Some of them expressed wonder, some of them didn’t know how to react, and some just demonstrated plain disgust. Some were so excited to explore by placing their hand all the way inside. Others touched the skin and seeds carefully and were quite skeptical. It was so interesting to observe the different responses from the children to this exercise!

Another highlight of this short week was our new pumpkin art work. Children love to draw designs on a pumpkin but the most fun part of it all was using the wet microfiber towel to erase and clean the pumpkin. It seemed that children really enjoyed seeing the pumpkin shining at the end of their work!

The favorite book this week was Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin by Sonali Fry and they really seemed to enjoy our new scarf dancing song: “Jiggle Your Scarf.” 

A big thanks to the Adler and Mooney family for the pumpkin donations!

Reminder: Parent- Teacher conferences are coming up. To maximize our 20 minutes together, we would greatly appreciate you emailing your questions to us prior to it. Please take some time to think about your questions, and send them to ahood@fraserwoods.com  by Wednesday, October 24th.

Best,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria

Mrs. Wilson: Exploring Sunflowers

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

Wow! What a very busy week we have had. There were a lot of activities for the children to enjoy. We continued to explore a sunflower. Castle Hill Farm was so generous and donated a couple of sunflower heads to our class. Thank you to Miss Alison for picking them up for us. As we continued our sunflower exploration we talked about the parts of the sunflower and showed them how to pull the seeds out. We are using this activity as one of our outdoor lessons. By pulling the seeds the children are exercising their pincer grasp. We will have plenty of seeds to plant in the spring and to feed the birds. Another outdoor activity the children seemed to love was washing the farm animals. The children pumped soap onto a scrub brush and gave our farm animals a bath.

On Wednesday we presented a red apple for food tasting. We talked about how the apple grows on a tree and named the different parts of an apple. The children used the apple peeler to peel, slice, and core their own apples. It was hard work as they had to use their muscles to crank the handle. With lots of enthusiasm, the children waited patiently for their turn. We heard lots of “yummy”, “MMMMMMMM”, and it’s delicious! Next Wednesday we will taste a Granny Smith Apple.

Thank you to the Grant-Moore family for the beautiful flowers.

Have a beautiful weekend,
Mrs. Wilson and Ms. Sara

Mrs. Lopes’s Class: Defining a Work Space

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

The love of one’s environment is the secret of social evolution.—-Maria Montessori

Walking to the basket to get a mat, picking it up carefully, finding the perfect spot to work, and rolling the mat out provides an opportunity to practice gross motor skills and body consciousness. Everything that gets placed on the mat thereafter becomes the responsibility (and privilege) of the child working on that mat.

Montessori work mats define a work space as the child’s own and sets an intention to “work.” Not only does the child know that their lesson is exclusive to them (unless they invite someone to join them on their mat), they also have the responsibility to put their materials away when they are finished and to roll up their mat and bring it back to the basket.

Our floors have been a sea of rugs! Your children are skillfully maneuvering themselves throughout the environment, careful not to disturb a friend’s work. I continue to be amazed at their growing control and respect for both friends and the environment.

We continued our unit on the solar system this week.  Learning interesting facts about each of the planets, talking about our moon, and exploring concepts such as a black hole.  The children are enjoying exploring our solar system lessons on the shelf and have been asking great questions about our universe.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Amanda and Sharlene

Mrs. Wilson’s Toddler Class: Welcome!

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

 

Welcome to the first blog of our 2020-2021 school year.

All I can say is WOW! This has been an incredible phase-in. The children are all phasing in beautifully. It feels so good to be back in the classroom with all of our returning friends and our newest friend. We also welcomed three new pet fish. The children will be part of feeding them daily.

We are looking forward to being with the whole group on Monday.
Enjoy the photos!
Mrs. Wilson and Ms. Sara

Mrs. Wilson’s: Care Of the Environment, Others, and Ourselves

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

Practical Life is a huge part of our Montessori toddler environment. The lessons the children learn are not just about being independent, but also about caring for the environment. We have been witnessing these actions most recently. The children with no or little guidance are cleaning up their spills and picking up missed materials and placing them in the proper place. This lesson continues outdoors as we teach them to care for the world around them by respecting the gardens and even the insects or other creatures we find.

When caring for themselves, some of the children refuse our help and tell us, “I do it. No help.” This is exactly what we want to see. We want them to want to do for themselves and gain that sense of confidence and intrinsic pride.

Along with caring for the environment and themselves, we have seen how the children care for each other. We have seen children offering each other things, asking for hugs and receiving them, and asking each other for help. The baby doll also gets lots of love from the children and they are so very gentle and sweet to her.

It is so endearing to watch the older children helping the youngest members of our community and then watching the youngest care for the older children in return.

A little reminder that dismissal for half-day children is at 11:30 and full-day dismissal is at 3:10. Thank you for being prompt!

Until next week,
Mrs. Wilson and Ms. Sara

Mrs. Wilson: Hello October!

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

This month we are focusing on the farm and farm animals. Farm animals are a great way to develop language skills. Most children are very familiar with the animals and the sounds they make. They use lessons that help with pre-reading skills, such as the object to picture matching and picture to picture matching. It is fun to sit back and observe the children doing these types of works and listening to them name the animal and make their sound.

Here are some other highlights from the week. The children were exposed to a one to one correspondence counting lesson. For the first few weeks this month, we will explore a sunflower and the color yellow. They laugh with enjoyment as they dance to Old McDonald by Pancake Manor. The book we read this week is Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown. As always the children enjoy their time outside, climbing the trees and pushing the trucks around. One child even implemented a truck race with another and the next thing we knew, the other children grabbed a truck to join in. We have a scissors cutting work available where the children can practice cutting a leaf.

No school on Monday, October 12th in observance of Indigenous People’s Day

Enjoy,
Mrs. Wilson

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: 3..2..1..Blast Off!!!!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

 

We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.     –Maria Montessori

We are beginning our study of the solar system. Bringing some of the wonders of the universe to the children is exciting and one of their favorite units that we study. By nature, children are inquisitive, observant, and eager to learn about the world around them. With their concrete thinking, understanding, and desire to label and name everything they learn about, we start by introducing the components of the universe, especially our own solar system.

We begin by discussing what the children think the Solar System is. We know that as we look up at the sky during the day we can see the sun and at night time we can see the moon, stars, and some planets.

We learned about our star, the sun. It is made of gas and gives us light and heat. Our sun is the center of our solar system, with planets orbiting around it.  The children then learned the names of the planets, in order from the sun. We also learned fun facts about each planet and will do hands-on activities to explain revolution and rotation. Below is the song we are singing to help us learn the names of the planets in our Solar System.

If you have not yet signed up for a time to meet for Parent/Teacher conferences on October 29th, please click on this link to access the Parent Teacher Conference Sign-Up.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Michelle & Lizette