Blog

A Year of Changes and Growth

Posted on by Sara Kasbarian

 

Where to begin!  This week was fast and furious (kinda like a toddler)!  We started off with Field Day, which the children truly enjoyed.  Celebrated a friends birthday, finalized a special gift, and ended our week with our toddlers crossing the bridge ceremony.  What a special day it was!  As you could tell, the children were so excited for this moment.  They had the opportunity to practice, but it wasn’t the same without all of your presence.  That is what brought true joy to that moment!  Thank you for being there to celebrate the children.  See you in the fall!!!

As we all know our toddlers grow leaps and bounds in short amounts of time.  Sometimes it is subtle and goes unnoticed and other times you catch yourself admiring the changes you see before you.  Drink it all in, enjoy the moments no matter how big or small.  I know I can speak for all the teachers that had the joy and pleasure of guiding your children through this year of growth by saying it was a complete honor and privilege! Thank you for entrusting us with your most precious gifts.  Enjoy your summer and we look forward to seeing more changes when you return in the fall!

Happy Father’s Day to all our Dads!  Hope you have a special day and enjoy your small token of love.

 

Over the Summer

Continue to encourage independence at home:

  •         Offer your child opportunities to make choices. For example, when wanting to play, give your child two materials or activities to choose from.
  •         Encourage your child to continue pouring water and serving food.
  •         Allow your child to continue practicing putting shoes on and taking them off.
  •         Model how to make the bed, fold laundry, sweep the floor, and wash the dishes so your child learns how to do these things.
  •         When working/playing, please limit interruptions so your child can concentrate.
  •         When your child is learning something new, remember to allow lots of time to practice and allow her to do it her way as long as it is safe and within your rules.

 

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: Living, Loving, and Learning

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

The first week of school is always filled with many emotions for children, parents, and teachers. It takes time for the new rhythms of scheduled days to become familiar. So, while we are taking one step at a time, it definitely feels like we hit the ground running!

It just a few short days we as a class are learning:

  • how to navigate our way around the environment
  • how to wait for a lesson
  • the routines of our school day
  • how to prepare for snack and lunch independently
  • being part of a large group meeting by listening and sharing
  • care of self and care of the environment

Our returning friends have been role models for our new friends.  It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to be a leader. It wasn’t so very long ago they were new to the classroom themselves and they accept this responsibility with excitement and confidence.

Here’s to new beginnings and a peaceful, fun school year for everyone!

Mrs. Doyle & Miss Jeannine

Mrs. Carroll’s Class: Let the Montessori Journey Begin!

Posted on by Cindy Carroll

 

The beginning of school is a time of excitement! With that excitement comes anxiety and nervousness for many children. Planning, patience, and nurturing ensures that each child starts the year feeling loved, respected and safe. Respect and courtesy in our Montessori school is the foundation for everything we do and each child has already begun to learn the following important skills:

  • how to put their work away where they found it
  • how to tidy up after themselves
  • the importance of helping a friend in need
  • the importance of respecting the materials, the teachers and each other
  • how to tuck in their chair when they leave the table
  • how to walk in the classroom
  • how to be self directed and find their own ‘work’ and most importantly
  • how to be independent

         ( NAMC, 2010)

We are thrilled to be starting the new school year with your children and look forward to nurturing their independence, respect, and courtesy.

Let the Montessori journey begin!

Mrs. Carroll and Mrs. Sharlene

 

 

Ms. Kayser’s Class: How Time Flies…

Posted on by skayser

Can anyone believe that it is the last day of school? I feel like it was just yesterday that the students were walking into the classroom for the very first time. I spent some time looking back at all the pictures from the first few weeks of school, and couldn’t help but smile. I wanted to share some of my favorite photos with you so you could also take a trip down memory lane. I also added the pictures from field day this week; to see the difference in the children is breath-taking. Even in pictures, you can see how much they have changed. The students have all grown both physically and emotionally. Each one has a new found confidence in themselves and their abilities that I hope will follow them throughout their whole life. Although some of them may not be returning to the class next year, we are blessed to have been apart of their lives. We have no doubt they will continue on and make their mark on the world.

I want to thank everyone for such an unforgettable year. The memories we have made will surely be in our hearts for years to come. We hope everyone has a safe and fun summer! Please keep in touch and let us know how everyone is doing on their new adventures outside of Fraser Woods.

Love,

Ms. Kayser and Ms. Alli

After School: Magnificent May

Posted on by Rebecca Faust

 

May was an exciting month with fun and games played by all! Enjoy the pictures we gathered throughout the month.

We have enjoyed getting to know every student a little more each day. We wish you and your family a wonderful summer!

Best,
Mrs. Rebecca Faust
rfaust@fraserwoods.com
Director of After School

Climbing, Running, Jumping, and Swinging….. Perfecting our Gross Motor Skills!

Posted on by Sara Kasbarian

“Play is the work of a child”- Maria Montessori

The children put their gross motor skills to work investigating the larger playground that will be their very own next year.  Gross motor skills work the large muscles that are important for walking, running, sitting and other activities. There were many new things to learn and explore that encouraged the children to use those large muscles!  They enjoyed the swings, climbing rocks, more space for running and jumping from petal to petal.  On their own playground they put their muscles to work some more, by climbing trees, running with dump trucks, balancing on the border of the sandbox and sliding!  The children were exhausted from their all hard “work”!

In the classroom the children were able to have a tasting of raw broccoli.  Most enjoyed (in case you’d like to serve it up)!  Some words they used to describe it was bumpy, green, soft, and crunchy.

We have been talking about the life cycle of a frog, discussing the different stages of them (egg, tadpole, froglet, and adult frog). I was able to bring in some tadpoles for the children to look at.  We have noticed that they have grown in the two days we have had them, but it is unlikely for us to see them change into frogs.  So we will just enjoy them for now!

 

Upcoming Events:

June 4th- Field Day

June 6th- Bridge Crossing Ceremony-email to follow

 

 

Mrs. Hood’s Class: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

There is so much focus in Montessori on fine motor skills, I think at times we can overlook the importance of gross motor skills, the development and coordination of those large, gross motor muscles and movements.

In our toddler environment gross motor movements include free movement around the room, lifting and pouring, practical life activities like mirror washing or table scrubbing, sweeping and dusting, as well as climbing, balancing on the beam, spinning in the bilibo seat, rocking in our moose, and on our well loved boat.

Maria Montessori knew how integral movement is to intellectual development. Mental development must be connected with movement and be dependent on it. “Movement helps the development of the mind, and this finds renewed expression in further movement and activity.”

Children need freedom of movement too. We have observed that sometimes our toddlers just need to get outside and exert their energy, to run until they can’t run anymore. To laugh and to chase each other. To be free and just let it all out. To us this free time, this physical exertion is just as important as good nutrition, or a good book. We are thankful for a campus that fulfills the children’s needs in this area. From beautiful environments, to a huge and well equipped gym and from a beautiful natural playground to a large soccer field.

Running, skipping, dancing, hopping, or climbing a tree – using all those gross motor skills are just as important as taking a tray off the shelves and working at a table. Life skills, risk taking, fun, physical exertion, problem solving, critical thinking can all come from gross motor play. Gross motor work also lays the foundation for the use of fine motor skills.

A big Congratulations to the Smith family in their new beautiful addition. Cheyenne was born on Monday May 27th 2019 at 2:57 pm. She is 8lbs and 9oz!

Upcoming Events:

Field day – June 4th

Bridge Crossing ceremony – June 6th

Off to the Horses

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

On Wednesday, the third years got a sneak peak of what Upper Elementary will be like next fall. Some thoughts from the day were:

  • “I liked doing math because it was fun to learn something new”
  • “My favorite part of the day was when we played  four corners and seven up”
  • “We did math which was really fun and a little challenging but that’s ok because I like a challenge”
  • “I made shapes out of the tangrams which i liked a lot because it was fun”
  • “We did a quiz in three groups and a teacher read questions to us. Each group would try to get the write answer and if you got it right you would get 100 points”

To wrap up our biology studies, this week the children are learning about mammals and flowering plants. In addition to learning the external parts of a horse, we also learned how to take care of one, the steps you need to take to ride a horse, and about the temperament of a horse.  Thank you to the Paulos family for letting us visit their stables, everyone had such a blast!