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Mrs. Hood’s class: Happy hearts!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

“Of all things, love is the most potent.” – Maria Montessori

Oh, what a month we have had! Despite the school closings due to snow and other events, we have had a great time as a class and continue to specially share love and kindness between each other, each day. 

In our  Montessori environment, manners and social interaction are called Grace and Courtesy. Grace being the outer expression of our inner selves as observed in body language and movements: facial expressions such as smiles, eye- contact, tone of voice, inflection of the voice, body movements and the actual words used to express ourselves. Courtesy is the name given to the manners given for human interaction.

Neither grace nor courtesy are instinctive. They are acquired. The desire to acquire social skills is a fundamental need in a child in order for him to become fully integrated into his culture and fully adapted to society. In the Toddler level the lessons are used through intentional modeling rather than specific lessons presented, as children will encounter in our Primary levels. It’s truly amazing to observe how your children have grown in this area, despite of their young age. It’s SO wonderful!  

Based on Valentine’s day, children had a blast preparing for our Friendship Celebration! They exercised their fine motor skills to create their beautiful Valentine’s bags and they were super excited to share their Valentines with each of their friends! Children were so happy and surprised when they saw the beautiful Valentine’s snack provided by each one of you! We read the notes that were sent and it was obvious that the children’s hearts were warmed. We also had a great time dancing and enjoying our last morning with our beautiful friend Maya, who brought some much light and kindness to our environment during her time with us. We thank you so much for all your support in helping us to bring some type of normalcy and love to our students during this season of our lives. 

In addition to this, children continued to work on their fine motor skills using seasonal works and enjoying their time outdoors in the fun snow, as much as possible. 

This month we learned a beautiful song in sign language called: “The more we get together”. I hope you watch the video, join us to practice it with your child, and use it as a reminder that we as a community are blessed to have each other. The fact that we are able to see each other in person daily is something that I am very thankful for.

Have a great weekend, 

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria  

Mrs. Wilson: February Fun!

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

We had a very busy week full of celebrations, a special guest, and time outdoors playing in the snow.

This week Jonathan’s mom virtually visited our class to read to the children. She read How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers, which is one of Jonathan’s favorite stories. The children were so excited to welcome Stefanie to the classroom. They all wanted to say hello and chat with her… at the same time. Thank you Stefanie for taking the time to read this very sweet story.

We also celebrated Izzy’s birthday. Izzy helped layout a sun shape, the number 3, and turned on 3 candles. As she walked around the sun many times we sang Happy Birthday to Izzy! Then I read On The Night You Were Born by Nancy Tilman. This was a very sweet way to celebrate Izzy. Thank you Kara for joining us it was so nice to have you “there”.
Now the other children are eager for their birthdays too.

Lastly, we did our Valentine’s celebration. The children celebrated their friendship by passing out a valentine to each friend. The children were so happy to give and were appreciative of the ones they received.

We enjoyed some time outside this week. The children are having so much fun playing in the snow, chasing bubbles, and rolling down the snow-covered hill. As the weather is warming up (yay!) the ground is becoming muddy. Please continue to bring in snow gear, and boots.

Enjoy the photos from this week,
Mrs. Wilson and Ms. Sara

Montessori Classroom- A Sacred Space

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.”  ~Maria Montessori

After a few short weeks due to holidays and snow days, we are happy to be back in our routine. Even happier to welcome a new friend, Ellis, into our class community! We are thrilled to have you back.

A Montessori classroom is a sacred space. Each child in a Montessori classroom is working to become independent. To be successful with this independence, the children have to feel empowered to solve their own problems, have a consistent and predictable routine, and have the opportunity to work cooperatively and independently. The Lower Elementary classroom is a community where I take the growth in independence of each child seriously. I strive to provide a space where the children feel comfortable and confident. This enables them to become independent and helps to shape them as they grow.

 

Mrs. Lopes’s Class: The Absorbent Mind

Posted on by Amanda Lopes


There exists in the small child an unconscious mental state which is of a creative nature. We have called it the “Absorbent Mind.” The tiny child’s absorbent mind finds all its nutriment in its surroundings…Especially at the beginning of life. We must, therefore, make the environment as interesting and attractive as we can. -Maria Montessori

The Montessori Method is based on self-motivation to learn. Children are considered to be at work during the day, but they have fun doing it. They do go beyond life skills, learning geometry, geography, phonics, and much more. Young children have the capacity to absorb, learn, and do so much. They just need a controlled, creative environment to allow them to pursue their interests.

Enjoy these images of your children at “work”!

We welcomed two new students into our classroom this week!  Eve and Rowan.  The children were so wonderful making them both feel comfortable and a part of our classroom family!

Next Tuesday, March 2nd, we will be celebrating Read Across America Day!  Please look out for an email with more information about this fun event!

Wishing you a peaceful week,

Amanda & Sharlene

Upper Elementary Explorations in Clay

Posted on by Jen Reid

Upper Elementary artists have been focusing on the Art elements of form and texture through the use of various clay processes and techniques. Young artists have been hard at work creating coil-built animal bowls. The coil building technique is a hand building method of creating pottery that has been used to shape clay into vessels for many thousands of years. It is a simple process of layering coils one at a time, then blending the layers together to create a solid form. Working in a circular motion, students have been carefully building a bowl form coil by coil. Once the bowl form was complete, each young artist began adding animal features such as eyes, tails, fins, feet, horns, ears, and so on. We are looking forward to adding color to these with vibrant ceramic glazes!

Working with clay has many benefits for children of all ages beyond simply providing a creative experience. It is a complex sensory experience that encourages self-expression, helps promote self-confidence, develops problem-solving, and fine motor skills. Because clay is highly responsive to touch and very forgiving, children become engrossed in their work: they are able to express and articulate their ideas through shaping clay and learning to repair mistakes. Clay is different from other art mediums in that it requires an understanding of the three-dimensional world. While working on their projects, students must move around to see their creation from all sides. From this, they begin to understand shape, form, and perspective, and gain knowledge of planning methods and problem solving as they map out their creation. Bravo, young artists!

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: Montessori Math–It All Adds Up

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

 

“Children display a universal love of mathematics, which is par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence.”

~ Dr. Maria Montessori

The Montessori math materials are visual and hands-on manipulatives, aiding in the ability of a child to concretely  understand mathematical concepts. After much repetition and when the child is ready,  we introduce the more complex and abstract concepts. We teach the process first because the goal is to develop a true understanding of mathematical concepts and not simply memorization. The materials are sequenced in a way that each success a child experiences, is a building block for the next concept to be introduced.

Maria Montessori believed that all children have a mathematical mind and an internal drive to understand the environment around them. We know that the Montessori math materials are exact and precise and allow the child to have positive experiences in math right from the beginning.  We also know that the Practical Life activities have helped the child to develop order, concentration, coordination and independence.  Likewise, the Sensorial materials have allowed the children to recognize and extend patterns.  Here’s the real secret behind the success of the Montessori math materials though, the children truly enjoy them.

Wishing you all a week filled with peace and love!

Michelle & Lizette

 

Upcoming Events

Posted on by Alison Kistner

Save the Date-Saturday, February 27th – 10:00-11:30 am.- Family Event Trek through the trails of Fraser Woods, and what do you see?  An outdoor educator will lead you on a winter hike on our school property and point out the various living animals that are hiding among the woods and search for footprints. Be on the lookout for more information!

Standardized Testing in a Montessori Classroom

Posted on by Karen Sankey

“The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing [them] for school, but for life.” -Maria Montessori

Since we are just finishing up a few days of ERB tests, I wanted to share some thoughts about standardized testing in a Montessori classroom. Many researchers believe that Standardized Testing measures superficial thinking and directly reflects how much a given skill has been practiced, and not depth of understanding. Testing, and preparing for testing, is not part of the Montessori curriculum, but Montessori is a preparation for LIFE. Because we realize that our students will be exposed to standardized testing after leaving FWM, we believe in preparing them for that. However, as a Montessori school, we take a different approach to testing than more traditional schools. As Montessorians, we don’t believe in setting aside large periods of time to learn things in order to perform well on a test. Instead, we foster a love of exploration, learning, and critical thinking. We focus on individual and small group lessons, assessing and evaluating as we teach and we observe our students as they interact with the materials and do their follow up work. It is during these observations that we can see if more work is needed in any particular area, or if a student is ready to move along at an accelerated pace.

This week we balanced periods of testing with extended periods of rambunctious play outdoors in the snow. On Thursday, we took advantage of Google Meet and had some friends who weren’t able to come to school join us virtually for our Literature Circles. Both groups are looking forward to finishing up their books this week and choosing new books. For the next book, we will be creating groups based on interest and the fourth and fifth year students will be mixed. We are looking forward to recording presentations at the beginning of next week and sending them out to you. We will also be diving back into our individual, large, and small group lessons in all subject areas. Finally, thank you all for taking the time to talk with me last week. I enjoyed sharing your children’s progress with you!