Blog

Lower Elementary Grammar Lessons

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

Our classroom has been buzzing with thoughtful language work lately as the children dive deeper into their Montessori grammar studies. Each child is working at their own level, exploring the parts of speech through hands-on materials that bring language to life.

Our first-year students have been focusing on nouns and articles and discovering the relationship between them. Through activities with the Montessori grammar boxes and various other concrete materials, they are learning how the words “the, a, or an” give meaning and precision to the noun they accompany. The children have also begun to explore the difference between common nouns—like city or teacher—and proper nouns—like Connecticut or Mrs. O’Connell, Mrs. Taveras, and Mr. Jake.

Meanwhile, our second-year students have been hard at work with their adjective and verb grammar boxes. The grammar boxes allow children to build and analyze sentences by selecting word cards from drawers, each color-coded to represent a part of speech. With adjectives, they’ve been exploring how descriptive words add color and texture to our language, and how the placement and choice of these words can change the meaning of a sentence entirely. Their verb work has been full of energy, as they experiment with these words and see how verbs form the action of every sentence.

The third years are also enjoying their adverb work, discovering how adverbs give even more detail by telling how, when, or where something happens. Recently, they’ve also begun their study of sentence analysis, an exciting new layer of grammar work in the lower elementary classroom. Sentence analysis helps children understand how words come together to form complete thoughts. We start by identifying the subject (who or what the sentence is about), the action (what is happening), and the direct object (who or what receives the action). Using arrows and symbols, the children visually map out the structure of a sentence, which deepens their comprehension and supports their growing writing skills.

Ms. Vicki’s Weekly Update

Posted on by Vicki Downs

This week, we have been talking about and noticing the changing of the seasons.  We have been Weather Watchers and observing what the sky looks like and how the air feels.  We also watched the big tree by the playground each day turn from red, yellow, and orange leaves to almost all yellow, then fall from the tree with the big gusts of wind!

Inside the classroom, the students have taken an interest in water lately, so we opened up a water play area and  pumpkin washing work.  We also added new artwork: Paint sticks!  These are much smoother to draw with and add a different sensory experience than using crayons.

For food tasting this week, we tried radishes.  Almost everyone wanted to take a bite! (Swallowing was a harder sell.)

I have enjoyed watching some of the older children helping their younger classmates and showing them how to do work and follow directions.  We had some time in the gym this week riding on the scooter cars and gathering bean bags to drop into a bucket.

Enjoy the pictures!

Reminders:

  • No school next Friday, the 31st (Halloween)
  • We will be going through the children’s bins and sending home summer clothes.  Please replace these with long-sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, and pants.
  • Pumpkin Patch Wednesday the 29th. Lots of pictures will be taken, so dress in fall attire!

Mrs. Wilson: Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

Throughout the school year, we will be exploring life cycles — discovering how living things grow and change over time. To begin this exciting series, we introduced the life cycle of a pumpkin. The children listened to the story Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington, which tells the tale of a young boy named Jamie who plants a pumpkin seed and patiently cares for it as it grows into a big, round pumpkin. The story ends with Jamie carving a face into his pumpkin and saving six seeds to plant again in the spring—a perfect way to illustrate the full circle of life.

Next week, we will begin our very own pumpkin life cycle project, a year-long science exploration that will allow the children to observe, care for, and revisit the growth process throughout the seasons. This hands-on experience will nurture their sense of curiosity, patience, and care for living things — all foundational to Montessori science learning.

Food Tasting Experience: Sweet Potato

This week’s food-tasting experience featured the sweet potato. The children used their senses to explore its smooth skin and earthy scent before tasting it. The sweet potato’s vibrant orange color also tied beautifully into our autumn theme and our continued exploration of all things orange!

Love and Light,

Cynthia and Sara

Middle School: Week in Review

Posted on by Michelle Lamb

Thank you for the wonderful conferences with your children this week. It is such a pleasure to be able to meet together and talk about the growth and goals of the Middle School students. Ending the week with Halloween Movie Night was fun!

Humanities

6th and 7th grade Humanities classes continued their study of China. This week, they learned more about the Great Wall, the end of Imperial China, and a few of the events leading to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, particularly the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion. Additionally, the classes are learning how to annotate an article when reading for information. For Poetry Tuesday, students read “Litany” by Billy Collins. This humorous poem that makes fun of traditional love poems had students reading a variety of metaphors. In addition to choosing their favorite metaphors in the piece, they were charged with writing one as if it had been published with the poem.

8th grade Humanities classes consisted of completing memoir drafts, self-editing, and peer editing their pieces. The class also worked on sentence structure, focusing on compound sentences. On Poetry Tuesday, students read the poem “The Swingset” by Grace Walton. This poem led to a conversation surrounding nostalgia and growing up.

Math

Pre-Transition: The week began with a review of the Chapter 2 skills that have been covered so far, including identifying place values, comparing and ordering decimals and fractions, multiplying by multiples of 10, and rounding. Students took the Chapter 2 Quiz on Tuesday and wrapped up the week learning how to round numbers to the nearest, next, or preceding number. 

Transition: The week kicked off with a review of the Chapter 2 concepts we’ve learned so far, including writing descriptions of patterns using variables, translating words into algebraic expressions, and evaluating algebraic expressions given the values of the variables. Students took the Chapter 2 Quiz on Tuesday, and closed out the week learning the Pythagorean Theorem.
Algebra: Students in Algebra practiced using the distributive property to expand and combine like terms as well as using the Opposites Property to simplify expressions. Students also reviewed ways to test equivalence among expressions and took the Chapter 2 quiz on Tuesday. The week finished with learning ways to use related facts in order to solve algebraic expressions.
Geometry: Geometry began the week with some review on distinguishing between convex and nonconvex figures, writing conditional statements as well as the converse, and understanding the properties of a good definition. Students took the Chapter 2 Quiz on Tuesday and wrapped up the week by learning the meaning of unions and intersections when looking at figures.

Algebra II: Students continued working with direct variation and inverse variation functions. Then, they dove into the Fundamental Theorem of Variation. The week wrapped up with the Chapter 2 quiz, learning how to find slopes and rates of change, and how to graph variation equations.

Science
This week, Middle School students continued working on their Science Fair Projects, which will be ready for exhibition on November 5th. All students are very excited and working hard on testing their experimental designs. Some students finished their experiments and obtained their results and data. Now, some of them are working on their conclusions to finalize that part of the project. This week, we conducted several experiments, including: “Solar Oven,” “Culturing Microorganisms Collected in the Outdoor Classroom,” “Strawberry DNA Extraction,” “How People Differentiate Real Images from AI,” “Phototropism in Plants,” “How to Make Organic Lipstick/Blush from Cochineal,” and “What is the Best Solution to Preserve Broccoli from Degradation?” among others. At the same time, other students worked on their research papers, and others started working on their display boards.

Here are some upcoming announcements:

  • Thursday, 10/30: Halloween Celebration in school. More info to come!
  • No School 10/31
  • Wednesday, 11/5 2 pm: Middle School Science Fair
  • Monday, 11/17-Wednesday, 11/19: 8th Grade Internships
  •  MS Flower Schedule

The Value of Parent-Teacher Conferences

Posted on by Gina Tryforos

Parent-teacher conferences are a valuable opportunity to learn more about your child’s daily experiences at school, strengthen your connection with your child’s teacher, and gain deeper insight into your child’s growth and development.

In a Montessori environment, these conferences hold special significance. Because learning is individualized and guided by each child’s unique interests and pace, conferences provide a meaningful window into your child’s progress—academically, socially, and emotionally. Teachers share observations about how your child engages with materials, collaborates with peers, and develops independence, allowing you to better understand the purpose and rhythm of your child’s classroom experience.

Participating in these conversations also shows your child that you value what happens at school. By modeling curiosity and open communication, you help build the bridge between home and school—an essential part of supporting your child’s success as a confident, joyful learner.

We look forward to seeing you this week for Parent-Teacher Conferences. Your involvement plays a vital role in nurturing your child’s educational journey and fostering a strong, supportive partnership between home and school.

There is no school on Friday, October 24 for Parent Teacher Conferences.

Ms. Handibode: The Joy of Children’s Work

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

One of Maria Montessori’s most noted quotes is, “Play is the child’s work.”  We’re sure you have heard your child talk about their work at school by now. Dr. Montessori preferred the term “work” over “play” to describe the learning process children are constantly undergoing. Work conveys the amount of effort that children put into their physical, social, emotional, and academic growth. As adults, we have a very different definition of work.

When a child works, he does not do so to attain some further goal. His objective in working is the work itself.
Maria Montessori

Children are driven by a strong, unconscious internal growth process to seek out experiences that will meet their needs. Our role as Montessori teachers is to provide a well-prepared environment that encourages children to be independent and learn at their own pace. The children are free to choose their work and to use it repeatedly. So, while they are ‘working’, each child also builds independence, coordination, self-discipline, and concentration.

We asked the children what their favorite work to do at school was, and below are their responses.

Adeline—Water works in Practical Life
Brooks—Pouring Works
Charlie D.—The Pink Tower
Charley W—Eating Apples
Connor—Playdough
Eloise—Pumpkin Work
Hannah—100 Board
Jasper—Ten Board
Jaxxon—Apple Slicing
Johnny—The Dinosaur Sensory Bin
Layla—The Teen Board		 Melia—The Pink Tower and artwork
Mila—Picture Story
Morgan—Dinosaur matching
Nitzan—Picture Story
Olivia—Number Writing
Remi—Making my own picture stories
Veda—Working with Ms. Handibode
Wilder—Apple Slicing
Zaki—Pouring works
Zion—Reading books

Grace and Courtesy in Action
With the cooler weather, jackets, sweaters, and coats with buttons and zippers are being worn. Our older friends are helping the younger ones put on their coats and button or zip them. These moments of care and support exemplify the grace and courtesy we practice daily in our classroom community.

Exploring the Solar System
We are studying the solar system and learning the planets in order from the Sun. The children are fascinated by the vastness of space and the unique characteristics of each planet.

Extending Learning at Home

  • Mealtime Independence
    Ask your child to stay seated at the table until their meal is done. Talk about and reinforce good table manners. Have your child set up their own dishes and cutlery, and then clean them up when they are finished. Make sure there is no food on their place mat or the floor after each meal.
  • Solar System Conversations
    Questions to ask your children: Is the Sun a planet? Can you sing on Mercury? Can you sing “I Know The Planets How About You?” What color is the planet Mars?

UPCOMING EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

This Week
Monday, October 20 through Friday, October 24: Parent Teacher Conferences
Monday, October 20: Adeline Sharing Box & Flowers
Tuesday, October 21: Playground Volunteer Allissa
Wednesday, October 22: Guest Reader Darshy
Friday, October 24: No School – Parent Teacher Conferences

Next Week
Tuesday, October 28: Pumpkin Patch on the Playground
Wednesday, October 29: Classroom Pumpkin Carving
Thursday, October 30: Primary Pajama Day, Classroom Harvest Celebration & Kindergarten Veggie Skeleton
Primary students are invited to wear their favorite pajamas to school on Thursday, October 30! Please help us keep the day fun and focused by leaving stuffed animals, toys, and other special items at home, as these can be difficult to keep track of and may be distracting during our learning activities.
Friday, October 31: No School – MSC Conference

 

Ms. Mollie’s Class

Posted on by Mollie Smith

Fall has arrived on our Fraser Woods campus, and our toddlers are soaking up every bit of it! The crisp air, the colorful leaves, and the soft sunlight make this such a magical time to explore. Each day, the children head outside ready for discovery—collecting acorns, crunching through piles of leaves, and noticing how the wind makes everything dance around them.

In Montessori, we often say that “play is the work of the child,” and it’s something we see so clearly this time of year. What may look like simple play—carrying a basket of leaves, sweeping the deck, or pouring water for a friend—is actually deeply purposeful work. Through these small tasks, the children are strengthening their coordination, independence, and concentration.

Inside our classroom, the fall theme continues! The shelves are filled with warm colors and natural materials that invite hands-on exploration. The toddlers have especially loved washing pumpkins, sorting tiny wooden pumpkins, and arranging leaves they’ve collected during outdoor time. These activities help them practice fine motor skills while also connecting them to the beauty of the season.

What I love most is watching how the children enjoy these moments together—sharing their discoveries and helping one another with a task. Their joy and curiosity remind us that learning doesn’t just happen at a table; it happens through movement, exploration, and connection with the world.

As we continue through this beautiful season, we’re so grateful for the opportunity to slow down, notice nature’s changes, and see fall through the eyes of our toddlers—full of wonder, work, and play!

With Full Hearts,

Ms. Mollie and Ms. Lizette

Ms. Vicki’s Class

Posted on by Vicki Downs

The children have been working hard both in and outside the classroom.  Some students chose to gather leaves outside and do a project, while others worked on fine and gross motor skills.

Reminders:

  • Please bring weather appropriate outerwear each day.  Sometimes a sweatshirt is ok and other times we need a jacket.
  • There is no school on Friday.
  • Several children have forgotten their cups this week.  Please bring them in.  We only have a few sippy cups in the classroom.

Enjoy the pictures!