Blog

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: It’s Off To Work We Go!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

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 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!

Michelle & Jeannine

Mrs. Lopes’ Class: Engaged in Meaningful Work

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

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 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!

Amanda & Deanna

La La La Si Si Si

Posted on by Karen Sankey

It was a fun and exciting week in Lower Elementary!

First year students learned about using right scalene triangles to form different sized pinwheels in geometry. They worked in small groups to practice making them together. They have enjoyed doing this work during work cycle this week. Second year students learned about straights, channels, and canals in geography. After a discussion about the Panama Canal, they watched a short time-lapse video of a trip through the famous canal. Third year students led discussion groups after a lesson on the cycles of time. They also discussed with their groups things that are necessary for survival. This is an ongoing lesson which will lead to a large group discussion of fundamental human needs next week.

We are very excited to welcome a new third grade friend to our class this week! All of the children are being kind and helpful and are enjoying getting to know her!

We have been incorporating movement into our morning mindfulness this week when it has been too cold to go outside. We are learning to silently follow stretching movements while focusing on our breathing. We are also learning songs during our morning meeting time. This week we learned a fun singing game called “La La La Si Si Si.” While singing this song, we played a clapping game with a partner and learned to switch partners during the song. The children had a lot of fun with this game.

Thank you for arriving by 8:20 each morning. Arriving on time gives your children a chance to move outside on most days, engaging their brains and muscles and priming their bodies to learn. We come inside by 8:30 and, after singing a song together, we practice mindfulness. This is further preparation for the day ahead and is an essential part of the beginning of our day. After a few minutes of mindfulness, we read together and then the children spend some focused time planning their work cycle. This time to prepare allows them to get started on their work as soon as our morning meeting ends. Children who arrive in time to participate in all of these elements have the advantage of a smooth and peaceful start to their day.

Upper Elementary: Teamwork

Posted on by Brian Comstock

The students worked extremely well together this week preparing for their second cafe opening. They worked in teams of two, following recipe directions to make some tasty pumpkin doughnut muffins. On Thursday afternoon they paired off in teams once again to prepare signs, organize items, and set up the cafe. We agreed to adjust some cafe pricing to reflect what we learned from the owners of Sugar Magnolia. The students decided to donate the proceeds from the first two cafes to the Red Cross to provide relief to those affected by the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, CA. Once we determine our sales we will provide an update of how much we were able to raise. Lastly, it was nice to see many of you get a chance to spend time with your child at Parent/Child Night Thursday evening!

Important Information & Events

Posted on by Alison Kistner

Family Event: Global Culinary Night this Thursday, November 14th – 6:00-7:00pm. Join us for a cultural potluck cuisine. Grab your “passport” and travel along with us as we visit countries near and far, sampling foods at each stop!

This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures. It is expected that each family attending will bring a dish with enough food to serve between 6-10 people. The dish can be homemade or purchased from a local restaurant. Kindly RSVP by today, November 11th.  RSVP here today! 

All children (and adults if interested) will be given a “passport” as they travel around the globe. When a child samples a food, the child will get a stamp on their passport from that particular country.

We hope you join us as we celebrate the wonderful cultural diversity at our school! This is an entire family event not be missed. Let’s celebrate our school’s cultural diversity together!

Parent/Child Night this Thursday, November 14th – 6:30-7:30pm. For students and their parents in Primary through Middle School. You and your child are invited to attend an hour of educational engagement.  Parents/ caregivers will have an opportunity to learn about the different Montessori works from their children in the classroom.  This event is open to all parents in Primary through Elementary.  Please park at Sand Hill Plaza to take the shuttle bus.

8th Grade Thanksgiving Drive to Support Women Involved in Newtown (WIN) from Monday, November 11th to Friday, November 22nd.  The school will be accepting donations of the following beginning tomorrow, Monday, 11/11:
  • non-perishable foods
  • toiletries
  • paper products
The school will also be accepting donations of frozen turkeys
only on Friday morning, 11/22 until 10am.  Donations can be dropped off in the school’s main entrance lobby and placed in the collection bin.

Come to the Upper Elementary Happé Café on November 15th from 8:00-8:45am.   Students will be serving new items such as hot chocolate, decaf coffee, teas, and hot apple cider. The baked good of the day will be homemade pumpkin doughnut muffins. The coffee of the day will be Newman’s Own Organics: Special Blend. This is a medium roast blend made with 100% organic Arabica coffee. Please come and support the Upper Elementary students efforts.  All proceeds from the October and November sales will go to the American Red Cross to help provide relief to those affected by the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, California.

Information about School Closings and Delays due to Inclement Weather

This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures. It is expected that each family attending will bring a dish with enough food to serve between 6-10 people. The dish can be homemade or purchased from a local restaurant. Kindly RSVP by today, November 11th.  RSVP here today! 

All children (and adults if interested) will be given a “passport” as they travel around the globe. When a child samples a food, the child will get a stamp on their passport from that particular country.

We hope you join us as we celebrate the wonderful cultural diversity at our school! This is an entire family event not be missed. Let’s celebrate our school’s cultural diversity together!

Parent/Child Night this Thursday, November 14th – 6:30-7:30pm. For students and their parents in Primary through Middle School. You and your child are invited to attend an hour of educational engagement.  Parents/ caregivers will have an opportunity to learn about the different Montessori works from their children in the classroom.  This event is open to all parents in Primary through Elementary.  Please park at Sand Hill Plaza to take the shuttle bus.

As winter weather slowly approaches, the chance of school closings and delays increases.  FWM follows Newtown Public Schools closings and delays when weather conditions have created unsafe travel conditions to or from school (see more details below).

Fortunately, FWM has a notification system for informing the families when there is a closing or a delay.  Parents have the opportunity to receive a phone call, text, and/or email through the notification system.  In order receive the notifications, parents must log on to their MyFWM.org account, go into their FAMILY FACT SHEET, and choose which school alert preferences they would like.  These school alert options can be found directly under the emails and phone numbers under the Parent section of your FAMILY FACT SHEET.

The process for a School Closing or Delayed Opening is as follows:

  • Parents or caregivers will typically receive a notification of a closing or delay between 5:30am -6:00am.  Depending on which school alerts are checked on the FAMILY FACT SHEET, parents may receive a phone call, text, and email.
  • Channel 30 NBC Connecticut, Channel 3 WFSB, Channel 8 WTNH, and Channel 61 Fox television stations as well as radio stations STAR 99.9 FM and WLAD AM will display FWM closings and delays.

Please note: when there is a Delayed Opening, the building will not be opened to students prior to the stated opening time (e.g. if there is a 9am Delayed Opening, the building will open at 9am which means there is NO Before School Program).  Also, there will be no staggered start which means classes will start shortly after the announced arrival time (Toddler parents should park and walk their children into the building.   Primary, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School parents are encouraged to drop off students on the morning carpool line at the back of the school)

Below is some important information:

  • FWM may remain open when Newtown Public Schools closes due to transportation challenges such as buses unable to leave the yard; temperatures are too cold for children to wait at the bus stop; or any other weather closing that impacts the logistics of the public schools, but does not impact travel to or from school.
  • Though every effort should be made for children and teachers to be present at school when school is in session, FWM understands that many teachers and families reside outside of Newtown. Hence, each teacher, staff member, and parent must assess their own safety when commuting to and from school and decide for themselves on whether it is safe to commute to school.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Michele Stramaglia at mstramaglia@fraserwoods.com.

Mrs. Wilson: Pikler Triangle

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

Toddlers need movement, lots of movement. Movement is a huge part of toddlers’ development. Besides the obvious development such as coordination, balance, muscle and bone strengthening, movement is also essential for a toddler because as they move they are awakening parts of their brain. It promotes chemical changes in the body which stimulate neural pathways.

This week we introduced the Pikler Triangle. The Pikler Triangle was developed over 100 years ago by a Hungarian pediatrician named Dr. Emmi Pikler. This equipment can be used with children as young as 6 months.
It was amazing to watch the children walk over to this new piece of equipment in their environment and try to figure out what it was; we sat back quietly to watch what they would do with it. Of course, right away they knew they wanted to climb it. Some children carefully stepped up on to each rung and only climbed until they were comfortable and climbed back down the same side they were standing on. Some quickly climbed to the top and then carefully over and down the other side. Then we had a few who only wanted to experience the ramp and slide down. A couple of children even created a little hideout where we could hear them being silly together and giggling.
They are learning what their own boundaries and limits are and will grow to use the Pikler Triangle at their own pace.

Global Culinary Night is Thursday, November 14th, from 6:00-7:00 pm.

This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures. The dish can be homemade or purchased from a local restaurant. We hope you join us as we celebrate the wonderful cultural diversity at our school! This is an entire family event not be missed. Kindly RSVP by November 11th.  RSVP here today.

Mrs. Hood’s Class: The Power of Trust!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

Children have a natural attraction to animals of all kinds. Research shows that humans’ innate interest in animals is biological: we are drawn to species that are “other” than human and in many cases have an instinct to want to care for or nurture creatures that are small and vulnerable. This week we introduced forest animals in our Language area. Through a concrete lesson and short, meaningful videos, children observed these animals in the forest and learned some specific facts about black bears, foxes, owls, moose, and beavers. We learned that black bears have sharp claws. They climb trees. Foxes have bushy tails. Foxes are members of the dog family. Owls have large eyes. They are active at night. Moose have a big body. Some of them have big antlers. Beavers have big front teeth. They have a broad tail. Beavers build dams using mud and wood. Using models to represent these animals, children repeated these facts to teachers and peers, practicing the use of two to three word sentences with the new descriptive vocabulary acquired.

Another highlight of this week was in the area of self-care in practical life. Children learned how to respectfully use a glass pitcher and serve themselves water in real glasses throughout the morning. In our environment we use porcelain and glass purposely. Their use empowers and allows children to use ‘real’ things, shows the children we trust and respect them, lets the children know that they are capable and that we respond to their abilities, and helps them develop their skills. We give them the opportunity to learn natural consequences: drop a glass and it will break. Children learn and adjust their movements to protect the fragility of their environment.

Needless to say, children were pretty hydrated this week since they found the activity quite attractive, and there were no broken glasses at all. Don’t be surprised if the water bottles start going back home quite full. This means your child is busy practicing this new skill.

For food tasting we introduced pomenagrates. As always, children were curious and excited! It was certainly a juicy experience and 98% of the class enjoyed every bit.

We All Go Traveling by Barefoot books, We All Sing With the Same Voice by J. Philip Miller, and The Thankful Book by Todd Parr were the books most requested this week!

Global Culinary Night is Thursday, November 14th, from 6:00-7:00 pm.

This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures. The dish can be homemade or purchased from a local restaurant. We hope you join us as we celebrate the wonderful cultural diversity at our school! This is an entire family event not be missed. Kindly RSVP by November 11th.  RSVP here today.

Middle School: Week in Review

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

It’s been a few weeks since we had a full week, so it felt great to be back in a rhythm and having forward momentum with our classes!

Science classes were busy this week. In Earth Science, the 6th years continued exploring how tectonic plates help shape and form our landscape. Within this unit, students are researching how tectonic plates play a role in the rock cycle (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary). In Physical Science, 7th year students finished their unit, Characteristic Properties of Matter. The next unit will consist of states of matter. We will explore how substances are able to change their state while explaining the structure, properties, and interactions of matter. The 8th year Life Science class has also finished their unit, Structure of Life. The next unit is Cellular Respiration. By the end of the unit, students will be able to describe the importance of the reactants and products of cellular respiration, while differentiating respiration (breathing) from cellular respiration.

In Humanities class, 6th years finished their class novel, Out of My Mind. After an excellent wrap-up in discussion, they watched a mini-documentary about a New Zealand teen who lives with cerebral palsy, like the protagonist of the class novel. Also, students began their work on a nature-inspired, creative piece in which they write using imagery and descriptive language. The 7th year students finished their class novel, A Gift From Childhood, and have compiled all of the proverbs and metaphors in the book. After analyzing, they have selected one that will serve as the moral to a story they will compose in the style of a Mali tale. Finally, 8th years have continued their work rewriting history with their essay drafts. Because these essays have substantial research, they are just now carefully drafting and citing their information to support their original theses. All three classes had current events presentations on Monday as well as a vocabulary unit this week.

Math class was fun this week as they learned new concepts, practiced what they already know, and worked together with their peers to solve challenging equations. Pre-Transition students finished up Chapter 3 and reviewed important concepts for this week’s assessment. The class has talked about adding simple fractions, finding sums of angles measured in polygons, and measuring acute, obtuse and right angles in triangles. Get ready, Chapter 4 will start soon! Transition students started a new unit this week called Representing Sets of Numbers. They are learning about always, sometimes, and maybe statements, properties of real numbers, and manipulating Venn diagrams to understand the union and intersection of sets. Algebra students are excited to be learning about solving linear equations (ax+b=cx+d). They are also working through mathematical situations that always or never happen and identifying equivalent formulas. Algebra will finish this unit before Internship Week starts and there will not be any assignments due for the grade 8 class during the November 18-22 school week. Math joke: Why did the 2 fours skip lunch?……Because they already ate!

****Announcements for next week: 

Global Culinary Night is Thursday, November 14th, from 6:00-7:00 pm. This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures. The dish can be homemade or purchased from a local restaurant. We hope you join us as we celebrate the wonderful cultural diversity at our school! This is an entire family event not be missed. Kindly RSVP by November 11th.  RSVP here today.

Middle School Family Game night will follow Global Culinary Night. 

In addition to ping pong and Foosball, there will be games/activities in the middle school classrooms for students to enjoy with their parents.