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Mrs. Carroll’s Class: Montessori Mats

Posted on by Cindy Carroll

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

Retrieving a mat, picking it up carefully, finding the ideal space to work, and rolling it 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 delineate 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 before they roll up their mat, and signal the end of their work session.

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. We continue to be amazed at their growing control and respect for both friends and the environment.

Until next week,

Cindy & Sharlene

Middle School: Electives Update

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

Happy Friday, Everyone! If you plan on sending your child, please register for the FWM 2020 Middle School trip to Acadia National Park in Maine. Visit the school trip webpage at www.grandclassroom.com, click “Find My Trip / Register” and search “Fraser Woods Montessori School”. There are different payment options available.

Electives

Second trimester electives are running well, and it is a period that MS students and their teachers look forward to in their rotating schedule. It is fun to have teachers facilitating classes separate from their usual roles.

Ms. Sutherland is running Dance again for the second trimester. There are six dancers participating in this trimester’s elective. Students will learn a new dance style each week including Ballter, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Contemporary. Dancers will have the opportunity to perform a short student-created dance during our last class all together. Dancers will also get to lead a warm up activity of their choice to help everyone get stretched and ready for a fun class.

Mr. Brown is running a Strength Training elective this term. The goal of this elective is to introduce students to a variety of exercises, promoting fitness and well being. Mr. Brown has turned a portion of the school’s back area behind the gym into a separate gym facility. It currently includes medicine balls, wall balls, free weights, box jumps, tension bands, a curl bar, a bench press, and jump ropes. Students will be partnered up each class, rotating through different exercise stations at 5 minute intervals after proper warm ups and stretching have been achieved. If anyone would like to donate unwanted gym equipment, please reach out to Mr. Brown. It would be greatly appreciated.

Mrs. Lamb is running Playwriting, specifically working on this year’s Middle School play. It has been decided that a play surrounding a heist will be the theme this year. A rough plot line with some details about important characters have been created. Because this is completely student-led, any big decisions made to the play in the elective have to be presented and voted upon by the rest of the students in middle school. We had a vote this week for the play’s antagonist. This involved presenting the character development and how it would fit into the plot. This decision effects the entire plot, so it was important to have the students in the elective present their ideas. It’s looking like an interesting play!

Primary Obstacle Course Fun!

Posted on by Pam Pascarella

This month, the Primary students are enjoying an obstacle course comprised of gymnastics mats, hoops, an agility ladder, and a balance beam. They are practicing many skills. They are climbing up and down from mats, jumping off the mats, jump through a hoop, performing a forward roll on an inclined mat, walking on a balance beam, and running the moving train around the gym. We cool down with fitness exercises and stretches at the end of each class. Throughout our gymnastics unit, the children are enhancing their social skills, developing strength and coordination, and gaining self-esteem and confidence.

During each class, the children practice learning skills. We practice observing, waiting our turn and following directions. Improving all of these skill areas is helpful for those children still learning how their bodies move. Our lessons help them become more comfortable and happy with themselves as they continue to grow.

Lower Elementary: A Quiet Week

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

“I have decided to stick with love, hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

With a fresh year just beginning, this is a great time to help children set a respectful and kind tone for the year ahead. One way we did this was starting the week reading Martin’s Dream Day by Kitty Kelley. This sparked a conversation about how everyone can help make a difference in the world through kindness and respect, just like King did.

Our third year friends took part in the CTP5 standardized test during the work cycle, which left a smaller group in the room. During this time, the students have been enjoying working independently and with their classmates on a variety of work. This includes the Who Am I cards, reading comprehension, stamp game math computation, and much more.

We have an upcoming field trip to the Aldrich Museum on Wednesday, February 19th. We will be having an early lunch here at school and will leave FWM at 11:30 and return at 2pm. We can take three parent volunteers with us. If you haven’t had the opportunity to come with us on a field trip this year and would like to attend, please reach out!

We have noticed some children coming to school without proper winter attire. We go outside every day if the weather is above 20 degrees so please make sure that your child is coming to school with gloves, hat, and a jacket. If there is snow on the ground please send in snow pants and boots as well.

Upper Elementary: Circulation

Posted on by Brian Comstock

This week we took a detour from our regular morning routine as the students took the CTP5 test. They persevered and did their best to work through each sub test. On Thursday we joined together for a vital functions lesson about the circulation. The students were shown models of an open system versus a closed system. At the end of the lesson they worked in teams to complete tasks and record their heart rate on a data sheet. These tasks included walking, catching, planking, jumping jacks, and a card game. Next, we will analyze the data to make connections between activity level and heart rate. The students were excited to complete this activity and worked well in their respective teams!

Mrs. Lopes’s Class: Exploring the States of Matter

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

This week we started our unit on the states of matter! We learned that everything in our world is made of matter. We also classified the three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. The children enjoyed exploring each state of matter on our introduction tray and sharing examples of a solid, a liquid, and a gas. Be sure to ask your child if they can tell you a solid, a liquid, and a gas. You may be surprised at all the kinds of solids, liquids, and gases they can name! We are looking forward to more exploration of this concept next week with hands-on experiments and activities!

The children also continued their exploration of the largest continent, Asia, through several lessons available in our culture area. The children colored a map of Asia, explored the animals of Asia, and were introduced to several flags of Asia.

As we are nearing the end of January, we are beginning to prepare for our February parent teacher conferences in a few weeks. Be sure to look for the link to sign up for a conference time the end of next week. We look forward to meeting with you all soon to share how your children have been growing and progressing since our last conference!

Best,

Amanda & Deanna

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: The Three Period Lesson

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

In a Montessori classroom teachers rely on the Three Period Lesson to introduce new vocabulary, concepts, and even to highlight the purpose of a material. These lessons allow the child to absorb concepts in a concrete manner while also reinforcing each component of the lesson.

The 1st Period is simply naming the concept or material and demonstrating it repeatedly. Some of the more complex materials or concepts may need to be introduced in the 1st period over the course of several lessons. So for example, using the color tablets from the Sensorial area, we introduce the child to the primary colors by saying, “This is red.”

During the 2nd Period, we ask the child to recognize and find the object. We ask the child, “Which one is red? Which one is blue? Which one is yellow?” This period is longer than the 1st Period and we keep it interesting by asking them to manipulate the object. We might say, “Hide the blue tablet behind your back. Place the red tablet on your lap.”  We are cognizant of making sure to begin each request or action with the last item we spoke about. So if we ask the child to manipulate the red, blue, and yellow color tablets in that order, the next series of directions would follow the order of yellow, blue, then red.

The last stage, or 3rd Period focuses on recall. We ask the child to identify the material or concept without any assistance. We ask the child, “What is this?”

While the intent of the Three Period Lesson is to isolate and introduce new concepts and materials, we are also helping the children to enrich and expand their vocabulary. We use this method to introduce almost every lesson/material in the classroom.

Have a wonderful week!

Michelle & Jeannine

Pouches for Australia’s Animals

Posted on by Danielle Ulacco

Students in 1st through 8th grade have been working hard these past two weeks to sew pouches for marsupials in Australia. This Global Giving project came to fruition after myself and co-STEAM teacher, Jennifer Reid, learned about Australia’s need for custom pouches.

We got right to work. Our Lower Elementary students started tracing materials and fabrics, and some even helped cut using the adult fabric scissors.

Upper Elementary students and Middle School students participated in one way or another- measuring fabrics, designing prototypes, learning how to use an iron, nether sitting down at the sewing machine and learning how to do a “French Seam”. Our finished pouches will make their way down under at the end of this week.

Our students are empathetic, compassionate, and above all- givers. They do what they can, for who they can, with every ounce of kindness that they have.

Follow the MakerSpace on twitter! @FWMmakers

 

*and a BIG special thank you to Chintz-N-Printz for donating 100% natural fabric to our MakerSpace for this project.