Blog

Mrs. Wilson: The Apple of My Eye!

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

What a fantastic week we had!

On Wednesday your child experienced their first food tasting. The children used their senses to explore a red apple. The apple was passed around for them to see, feel, and smell. Then I cut the apple in half. The children heard new language as we talked about the different parts of an apple, skin, flesh, and seeds. Each child had an opportunity to taste the red apple. The children seemed to enjoy it as they were asking for more, more, more!

On Thursday our Toddler friends from next door shared the delicious apple sauce they made with us. Two friends came over and kindly served this special treat as our children patiently waited. This experience was a great way to teach the children about grace and courtesy. Thank you, Mrs. Hood and friends!

We sang The 5 Little Apple Song.

Way up high in an apple tree, (Hold up both your hands and spread your fingers for pretend apple tree)
Five red apples smiled down at me. (Hold up 5 fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could, (Pretend to shake the tree)
shake shake shake shake shake shake shake
Down came an apple! Mmmmm it was good!
(Rub your tummy in a circle motion)

See you all at Oktoberfest!
Mrs. Wilson,
Miss Heather, and Miss Sara

Middle School: Week in Review

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

Another busy week in Middle School has come to a close! We enjoyed the beautiful weather the first half of the week at recess and felt fall really begin at the end.

In Science, 6th year students are working on creating a stop-motion video depicting how convection currents influence geographic features. This project is based on their current unit, Plate Tectonics. 7th year students are establishing the differences between chemical and physical reactions. We have been conducting experiments identifying physical characteristics of matter such as volume, mass, and density. 8th year Life Science students are finishing their unit on cells. Moving forward, they will be studying Structure of Life, identifying how cells help shape and form certain systems all around us.

Math classes were lots of fun this week. All students worked hard to demonstrate their best math skills and brought a positive attitude to class every day!
Algebra 1 has been practicing four new techniques to solve for equivalent equations. They have been building fact triangles to help solve for unknown variables. Unit 2 test is on Friday, October 4th. Happy studying!
Transition has been working on understanding how to use formulas, such as the Pythagorean Theorem. They created grocery lists on Google Sheets to practice working with a new digital organization system.  Also, students played a question game to understand what an open statement is.
Pre-transition has been working on rounding whole numbers, integers, and rational numbers. They are able to successfully convert decimals to fractions and vise versa. They have started to incorporate percent into their learning and will continue to explore this next week.
**As a general reminder, there is an extra math help session happening on Tuesdays after school from 3-4pm in Ms. Sutherland’s room. This is an opportunity for all students to get one-on-one support, go over quizzes/tests, and get homework help.
Humanities classes had a week full of material. It was a current events week, so Group B students presented for the first time this year. With so much going on in the news, the presentations were varied and interesting. 6th years began Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper and had great, lively discussions about the chapters. They also worked on identifying nouns in writing and writing personal responses. 7th years wrapped up their presentations on religion and taught each other about Islam, Taoism, and Buddhism and their presence in China. They then traveled to the continent of Africa and are working on the geography of SubSaharan Africa. Finally, students drafted odes after reading Pablo Neruda’s, “Ode to the Apple”. 8th years read excerpts from Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools as they explore the background for the continued American Indian stereotype in pop culture and literature that stems back as far as the late 15th century. In doing so, they read parts of an essay by Charles Dickens and looked at artwork by George Catlin. This is providing context before we go back in time for our study of settlement of the New World after the Age of Discovery. We began the settlements of Roanoke and Jamestown at the week’s end. Students also began talking about the term cultural appropriation and its controversial “grey areas”. They looked into the topic on their own and watched a short PBS talk in class on the issue. We had great discussion surrounding this that I’m sure will continue throughout the year.
More to come next week!

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: The Three Period Lesson

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

When we introduce new concepts or materials to the children, we often do so using a three-period lesson. This is an important tenet of Montessori education and it helps to move the child from basic understanding of a concept to mastery.

Period One is the introduction stage. In this stage we are isolating new vocabulary to the children. For example, if we are introducing the color tablets, we would say, “this is blue.”  Repeating that statement and allowing the child to manipulate the blue color tablet are crucial during this stage.

Period Two is all about association and recognition. It is often a separate lesson. We do not ask the children to remember the vocabulary or recall the concept.  We are simply reinforcing the concept taught in Period One. We use words such as “show me the blue tablet” or “can you place the blue tablet on your lap?”

Period Three is the recall stage and the first time we ask the child to remember the concept independently. We ask them “what is this” when showing them the blue color tablet. We are careful not to begin Period Three until we know they are ready for success.

Every time a child masters a new concept it paves the way to move towards another one.

Beginning this week, our Primary teachers will be collaborating on the weekly blogs. Therefore, the written content will be similar each week.  Pictures for each classroom blog will be specific to your child’s classroom. Each Primary class follows a like curriculum and by aligning our classroom blogs, we can consistently communicate highlights in the Primary classrooms. More so, this platform is a wonderful way to share the beauty and wonder of the Montessori philosophy and materials with all of you.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Michelle & Jeannine

Mrs. Carroll’s Class: The Three Period Lesson

Posted on by Cindy Carroll

When we introduce new concepts or materials to the children, we often do so using a three-period lesson. This is an important tenet of Montessori education and it helps to move the child from basic understanding of a concept to mastery.

Period One is the introduction stage. In this stage we are isolating new vocabulary to the children. For example, if we are introducing the color tablets, we would say, “this is blue.”  Repeating that statement and allowing the child to manipulate the blue color tablet are crucial during this stage.

Period Two is all about association and recognition. It is often a separate lesson. We do not ask the children to remember the vocabulary or recall the concept.  We are simply reinforcing the concept taught in Period One. We use words such as “show me the blue tablet” or “can you place the blue tablet on your lap?”

Period Three is the recall stage and the first time we ask the child to remember the concept independently. We ask them “what is this” when showing them the blue color tablet. We are careful not to begin Period Three until we know they are ready for success.

Every time a child masters a new concept it paves the way to move towards another one.

Beginning this week, our Primary teachers will be collaborating on the weekly blogs. Therefore, the written content will be similar each week.  Pictures for each classroom blog will be specific to your child’s classroom. Each Primary class follows a like curriculum and by aligning our classroom blogs, we can consistently communicate highlights in the Primary classrooms. More so, this platform is a wonderful way to share the beauty and wonder of the Montessori philosophy and materials with all of you.

Enjoy your week!

Cindy & Sharlene

Be Internet Awesome

Posted on by Danielle Ulacco

When our students are young, we do our best to help them get the most out of the Internet while protecting them from the risks and downsides of the online world. As children mature into teenhood, our role shifts to helping them learn to make their own safe and thoughtful decisions as they navigate their digital lives. At FWM, we believe in partnering with parents and preparing our students to:

  • Think critically and evaluate websites, email, and other content online.
  • Protect themselves from online threats, including bullying and scams.
  • Get smart about sharing: what, when, how, and with whom.
  • Be kind and respectful toward other people online, including respecting their privacy.
  • Ask for help with tricky situations from a parent or other trusted adult.

This year, these efforts will include Be Internet Awesome, a multifaceted program designed to teach students in 2nd grade through Middle School about the skills they need to be safe and smart online. One of the resources, Interland, is a browser-based game that makes learning these skills interactive and fun – just like the Internet itself. Developed by Google in partnership with educators, researchers, and online-safety experts at The Net Safety Collaborative and iKeepSafe.org.

Smart, safe technology usage can enable students to help drive their own learning and help our school function better. We believe the Be Internet Awesome program will mark an important step toward our goal of ensuring that all our students at FWM are learning, exploring, and staying safe online, both inside and outside the school walls.

We encourage you to ask your student about what activities they are participating in and continue the conversation at home – and who knows, you just might pick up a few privacy and security tricks yourself!

3D Printing Pens

Posted on by Danielle Ulacco

For the new 2019-2020 school year, the MakeSpace has added 3D pens to our ever-growing curriculum. These pens will be utilized by our Kindergarten and Elementary makers. The 3Doodler works by “extruding heated plastic that cools almost instantly into a solid, stable structure, allowing for the free-hand creation of three-dimensional objects”.

Middle School: Week in Review

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s been a busy week in the middle school!

In 6th year Humanities classes, students discussed some examples of figurative language and identified it in poetry. We also spent time learning how to respectfully argue a point. It can be difficult not to become emotional when you fervently believe in something, so listening to another perspective can seem impossible. I am proud of the 6th years for working on this tricky skill. They also finished Becoming Naomi Leon. Next up is our empathy and compassion unit centered around Sharon Draper’s novel, Out of My Mind. In 7th year Humanities classes, we are finishing our unit on China by researching the major religions of the country: Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity. Students completed group presentations to teach each religion. Finally, 8th years talked about human migration, Mesoamerica, early exploration from the Vikings, and Columbus. We have begun the Age of Discovery and will continue learning about the different exploits by European explorers and their effects on the indigenous people of those lands.

Week 3 was a success in all math classes!
Algebra 1 has been practicing on the graphing calculator. Work included plotting scatter points, drawing linear functions, and creating new absolute value images. We are analyzing data with mean, median, range, and mean absolute deviation values.
Transition has been working on mastering order of operation problems, using inequalities to compare numbers, and simplifying fractions. Most recently we have practiced how to plot ordered pairs on a coordinate grid, using both paper/pencil and a graphing calculator. We have also worked with numbers in scientific notation form.
Pre-transition has been working on understanding mixed, improper, and proper fractions. Students are able to identify natural numbers, whole numbers, and integers. We are also practicing different study techniques in order to feel prepared for the upcoming test.

In Science, 6th year students are finishing their unit, Fossils and Studying Earth’s Past. Throughout this unit, students constructed amber preservation, molds, casts, and fossils. 7th year students are also finishing their unit, Combining and Separating. Students had several in-class activities in which they created different types of mixtures (suspensions, solutions) and methods of separation. Lastly, 8th year students conducted their debate on stem cells. Embryonic stem cells were the focus of their debate.

We are looking forward to the week ahead!

Mrs. Hood’s Class: Apples, Apples, Apples!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

Fall is here everybody! As the season changes and temperatures start to drop slowly, we entered our unit on the exploration of one of the most delicious seasonal fruits: the apple! With great expectation, your children enjoyed the fun sensorial activity of dissecting an apple! With senses full of curiosity, children touched, observed, smelled, and tasted a delicious apple. While children observed its parts, they were exposed to new vocabulary, such as: skin, flesh, seeds, and stem. A remaining part of the dissected apple is now part of our observation tray where children can observe the different stages of decomposition.

In the language area students that showed readiness were also introduced to three period lessons using different materials. Three period lessons are a fundamental approach in our Montessori environment to introducing a new concept (not just vocabulary) to children. They are used to move the child from basic understanding to mastery. The three period lesson was developed by Edouard Seguin, a French physician who worked with special needs children in France and the United States during the late 19th century. He discovered ways to increase children’s cognitive abilities and believed in the importance of developing their self-reliance and independence. Seguin’s writings were a major inspiration to Maria Montessori and the source of many of her practical ideas. In simple terms, the three steps, or periods, are:

1. Naming (Introduction) “This is a dog.”
2. Recognizing (Identification) “Show me the dog.”
3. Remembering (Cognition) “What is this?”

In the practical life area we focused this week on a fundamental lesson: how to clean a dry spill! As basic as it sounds, this was one of the most popular activities of the week. Practical life activities are the most important activities for toddlers! Activities for care of the environment are both fun and great for developing order, concentration, coordination, and independence.

Other highlights of the week were the introduction to our new song: “Way up High in the Apple Tree,” where children practiced the numbers one through five, and their favorite books: Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss, Apple Countdown by Joan Hulub, and Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.

As the weekend approaches, we encourage you to enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful weather and visit an apple farm with your little one. It will be a great experience for them during the continuation of our apple studies.

Reminder:
Oktoberfest is just around the corner! (October 5th) Come and join us for an afternoon of fun activities for the whole family! We really hope to see you there and have a great time together!