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Mrs. Carroll’s Class: A Beacon of Light

Posted on by Cindy Carroll
Friends are like lighthouses, with the source of light coming from their hearts.–Tom Baker

This past Tuesday your children were invited to adventure on the imaginary Isle of Skoo-Ben’s Lighthouse. Our very own Francine Wheeler provided the children with an opportunity to build social and emotional connections through her music and endearing puppet friends. Skoo, Shelly, and Sir Radio playfully exposed feelings, modeled compassion, and encouraged each child to “find and share their own light-to stand tall and shine bright.”  Thank you, Francine, for your bright light and this beautiful, extremely well received journey!

The end of the year is fast approaching. Please be sure to reference myFwm for upcoming events.

Until next week!

Cindy & Sharlene

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: Creating Harmony!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

 

 

On Tuesday, all the Primary children came together to travel to the imaginary Isle of Skoo-Ben’s Lighthouse. Francine Wheeler provided the children with an opportunity to build social and emotional connections through her music and endearing puppet friends. Skoo, Shelly, and Sir Radio playfully exposed feelings, modeled compassion, and encouraged each child to “find and share their own light-to stand tall and shine bright.”  Thank you, Francine, for your bright light and this beautiful, extremely well received journey!

Our Kindergarten children began working on their number rolls early in the school year. Number rolls are a tradition in a Montessori classroom. The children love being given the opportunity to make their number rolls as long as they want. The basic concept of the number roll is the child writing the  numbers in order, keeping place value as units, tens, hundreds, and thousands.  Typically we go outside to unroll them but this year the wind just would not cooperate.  After several failed attempts to unroll them in the back parking lot we decided to head inside and unroll them in the gym. It is always exciting to see how far each number roll stretches out.

Enjoy the week!

Michelle & Sonja

Elementary Students Performed ” Seussical Junior”

Posted on by Yun-Kyung Kim

 

All elementary students were in the school play, Seussical Junior, the musical based on the works of Dr. Seuss. Most people are familiar with the books of Dr. Seuss and enjoy not only the rhyming style of his works but the creativity of his stories. Among the many benefits to be in school play, one of them is that the students get to become part of a larger system working toward a common goal. It has been the culmination of weeks of practice, so the performance itself became a huge reward for all the hard work. Every single participating student did an amazing job!!

This musical weaves together many of his stories and brings a variety of his characters to life. “The themes in ‘Seussical’ are the importance of honesty, loyalty and friendship. But ‘Seussical’ brings additional messages that are so important to people of all ages.

In the play, the colorful bird Gertrude McFuzz is a friend to Horton the Elephant. However, she is unhappy with her one-feather tail. The story-line surrounding Gertrude touches on the difficulties people have with self-image and outward appearance. Horton, meanwhile, has to withstand peer pressure and being laughed at as he tries to save the Whos. While he is being chided as “the biggest blame fool in the Jungle of Nool,” Horton stands firm on principal and does what he knows is right, profoundly singing, “A person’s a person no matter how small.”

Underscoring the story is the relationship between Horton and the smallest Who in Whoville, Jojo. Jojo is a “thinker of great thinks” which unfortunately gets her into trouble. As she is sent off to learn discipline, she feels all alone. Similarly, because Horton is the only one who can hear the Whos, he laments the fact that no one is able to understand him. The result is a bond between Horton and Jojo and the duet “Alone in the Universe.”

Through much mayhem, Horton retains the ability to believe in himself. Even facing the possibility of jail, Horton states, “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful one hundred per cent.” Mayzie LaBird and Sour Kangaroo provide examples of the issues of right and wrong, and the Cat in the Hat reminds the characters facing difficulty to consider “How Lucky You Are.”

BRAVO to all our performers!!

Mrs. Hood’s Class: The Process of Normalization!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

“Normalization is the single most important result of our work.”

-Dr. Maria Montessori
(The Absorbent Mind, p. 204).

Normalization is a technical word borrowed from the field of anthropology. It means becoming a contributing member of society. Dr. Montessori used the term normalization to distinguish one of the processes that she saw in her work with the children at San Lorenzo in Rome. This process, the process of normalization, occurs when development is proceeding normally. She used the word normalization so that people would think that these qualities belonged to all children and were not something special just for a few.

This Normalization appears through the repetition of a three step cycle. The building of character and the formation of personality that we call normalization come about when children follow this cycle of work.

(1) Preparation for an activity which involves gathering together the material necessary to do the activity. The movement and the thought involved in the preparation serves to call the attention of the mind to begin to focus on the activity.

(2) An activity which so engrosses the child that he reaches a deep level of concentration. This step is what we as educators and you as parents recognize as important for education.

(3) Rest, which is characterized by a general feeling of satisfaction and well-being. It is thought that at this point some inner formation or integration of the person takes place.
In our Montessori environment, we see this third step as the time a child is putting away the materials, perhaps talking with friends, and is exhibiting satisfaction with himself and the world.

In our environment we facilitate the process of normalization by offering engaging, hands-on materials, uninterrupted work cycle and minimizing the disruption of concentration.

It’s incredible to see all that your children have accomplished during this period of time working with us!

Lower Elementary in the Great Outdoors

Posted on by Karen Sankey

An important part of Montessori education is “going out”. Maria Montessori believed in the great benefits of field trips for children. She said, “The outing whose aim is neither purely that of personal hygiene nor that of a practical order, but which makes an experience live, will make the child conscious of realities … When the child goes out, it is the world itself that offers itself to him. Let us take the child out to show him real things instead of making objects which represent ideas and closing them up in cupboards.”

Our trip to Camp Jewell was a wonderful experience for every one of us. We did a number of fun activities together and spent two days in the beautiful outdoor environment of Camp Jewell. The children enjoyed going down the 50 foot slide and swinging on the giant swing. They practiced their archery skills and used big muscles on the climbing wall. We hiked to the top of a mountain and took in the gorgeous view of the lake and Camp Jewell from above. At our campfire, we all enjoyed the s’mores, skits, and songs. We ended our campfire with the children treating our counselors to a song from their musical.

As much as we all enjoyed our time away, it is always nice to return home and to our routine at school. We have been hard at work these past two days. On Thursday, we enjoyed Reader’s Workshop outside. Third year students have been working on follow up research on the Timeline of Life. After writing reports on animals from the timeline, they are working on making life sized drawings of their animals. We ended our week with Writer’s Workshop in the outdoor classroom.

Creating Beauty and Order

Posted on by Sara Kasbarian

 

“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.” Maria Montessori.-

The Children’s environment should have beauty that brings them peace, and the prepared environment should offer structure, order, be inviting and be well maintained.  The children model this by beautifying our classroom with the flowers that are donated weekly.  They really enjoy the process of arranging the flowers and displaying them.  Everyday the children progress in keeping order in their environment by demonstrating how capable they are with returning work to a shelf when they are done, or how they can give a reminder to a friend that may have forgotten.   It still amazes me what they are capable of!!

We are grateful to the sun this week.  It feels so good to be outside and explore all the fun things that are happening in this blooming season.  Our snow peas have grown so much!  Hopefully we will see some peas before school is out!

Thank you to all the Grandparents and Special friends that were able to visit on Friday.  The children truly enjoyed showing you their classrooms!  Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

 

Up coming events to look out for:

5/31- End of the Year Celebration @ 5p

6/4- Field day*

6/6- Bridge crossing ceremony @ 10:15*

*more details to follow

 

Upper Elementary: Nature’s Classroom

Posted on by Brian Comstock

We had an outstanding time on our two night overnight to Nature’s Classroom in Charlton, MA!  The students worked in class today to help create a Top 10 List of their favorite things about the trip. Enjoy and have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Top 10 Best Things About Nature’s Classroom

  1. Food
  2. Night Experience (campfire and s’mores)
  3. Quiet Sing
  4. Field Group (atl-atl, camo)
  5. Science Fair
  6. Transition time (soccer, cards, kickball)
  7. Special Interest Classes (Thor, Pond Probe, Roller Coaster, Remember Me)
  8. NC Teachers
  9. Group games (bat vs moth)
  10. Cabins

Mrs. Doyle’s Class: Making Memories!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

A Grandparent is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher and a little bit best friend.   –Unknown

Relationships with grandparents and special friends all have a profound impact on the development of our children.  The bond between different generations is powerful and beneficial for everyone.

Last Friday, we celebrated Grandparents/Special Friends Day and the children were so excited to welcome their special guests into the classroom. This is a time that the teachers step back and let the children lead. They are so enthusiastic to share the materials and lessons with their grandparent/special friend. We love to observe how much they have grown since the beginning of the school year and the pride they take in their accomplishments. The very best part is seeing the pure joy on everyone’s faces. It is always a special day at school. If a picture speaks a thousand words, there are many stories in the pictures here and they all have a common thread–love.

Have a wonderful week!

Michelle & Sonja