Soccer: The Most Popular Sport in the World!

Posted on by Pam Pascarella

 

This past month, students in Kindergarten through 8th grade have been practicing and participating in the team sport of soccer. Did you know that soccer is the most popular sport in the world?  Soccer is fun, inexpensive, and easy to play. All you need are some friends, a ball, and a large space.

During our soccer unit in Kindergarten and Lower Elementary, most of our focus was on developing foot-eye coordination and spatial awareness. Skills taught were: dribbling a ball under control using both left and right, passing with the inside of the foot, trapping the ball, and shooting a ball at a target. At the Upper Elementary level the skills taught were dribbling, trapping, passing, shooting, understanding offense and defense, and using simple game rules to play. At this level, students can join the FWM sports team. Practices are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, after school until 4:15. The team plays five games against other independent schools.

Our Middle School sports program takes place during the school day three days out of the six day rotation. Soccer practices are held from 1:55 to 2:50. Games are scheduled after school on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. The focus at the MS level is to develop player performance. The four components are: technique, tactics, fitness, and sportsmanship. Various drills are planned based on what the team needs to focus on to improve in the game. You can check our game schedule online for UE and MS by visiting MyFWM.org.

Upper El Entrepreneurs

Posted on by Danielle Ulacco

Upper Elementary students have the grand opening of their small pop-up café starting on October 18th. The name for their business is “The Happé Café” (it rhymes!)

 

Students took time in our MakerSpace and Art Studio to have a full cross curricular approach to finalizing their hopes and dreams of their coffee shop. We closed our eyes and tried to envision this small business and what the set up would actually look like. This created a discussion of signage, menus needed, necessary supplies, and possible merchandise for sale. We decided as a group to use the logo they custom designed as a team to create coasters that will be available for purchase. Both Mrs. Reid and I were ecstatic to introduce the students to the process of engraving, coloring, and perfecting a Glowforge’d tile!

 

More to come on our STEAM adventures at FWM!

Peace Day Ceremony 2019

Posted on by Yun-Kyung Kim

On September 20th, we celebrated the annual International Day of Peace. Fraser Woods as well as many other Montessori schools across the planet were united as ONE, singing Shelley Murley’s song, “Light a Candle for Peace” for the past 5 years in a row. The song for peace moves around the world throughout the whole day; “That our wish for world peace, will one day come true!”

Maria Montessori believed that establishing peace is the work of education. And thus, peace is an integral part of the Montessori philosophy.

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”.

Español con Señora Hall

Posted on by shall

I’m so excited to be part of the FWM family and share my passion for language with the children here! In World Language, the children have been diving into stories each class. Storytelling helps students acquire language in a compelling manner and allows them to see words used in context rather than simply learning them in isolation. The children learn actions to correspond with new vocabulary words. 

In alignment with their author study for September, primary classes heard Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo, ¿Qué ves ahí? (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? By Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle). With the story, they were presented with names of different animals along with their colors. Next, we will work on categorizing living and non-living things, just as they are doing for science this month.

Lower Elementary has been acquiring the skills to discuss which foods we like and do not like. They have been using the story, ¡No me gusta! from the No Me Digas elementary Spanish curriculum. We have been singing and sharing about our favorite and least favorite foods. 

Upper Elementary has practiced retelling stories and sequencing with the stories Isabel va a la escuela and Los Peces, and Los Tiburones, all from The Storyteller’s Corner. They have learned to talk about leaving or staying, how they are feeling, and they have practiced counting 0-10 and backward. 

Middle School just started our Free Voluntary Reading, which is at the beginning of each class. All middle schoolers choose a book to read and spend the first five to ten minutes of class reading in Spanish. Aside from this, they have been singing and hearing stories to say who people are, what they say, and what they like and do not like to do. Then they applied these skills to begin writing their own stories about themselves. 

Reality Check: Photographs with Phones Removed

Posted on by Danielle Ulacco

This article touched my heart and actually made me toss my phone across the room. “American photographer Eric Pickersgill photoshopped away the smartphones and digital devices from his portraits of everyday life. The project “Removed” aims to show our addiction to modern technology, social media, and hyper-connectivity. Pickersgill knows that he’s also amongst the addicted.” Click here to read more.

100 Mile Club

Posted on by Pam Pascarella

The 100 Mile Club is off to a great start!

Students are running during morning fitness, recess and PE class.  The philosophy of 100 Mile Club is to engage and empower children and families to achieve a healthy lifestyle through physical activity nationwide; preventing childhood inactivity and obesity, one child, one school, and one community at a time.

The 100 Mile Club met for the first time on Wednesday, September 11th! It was a great turnout with over 30 students in attendance! First, we spoke about the 100 Mile Club program and goal setting for the year. We then headed out to the field to start our running/walking. Students independently tracked their laps around the field by collecting a popsicle stick every time they ran or walked one time around the soccer field. We ended the club five minutes early so that they could count their popsicle sticks. Many students were so motivated to run, they asked if they could run even more laps!

I encourage parents to sign their child up for the after school 100 Mile Club on Wednesdays from 3:15 to 4:00. Parents are also welcome to join us to walk and run on the soccer field during the club. Pick up for the club is at the front lobby at 4:00. Please note: the club does not meet on some Wednesdays so please refer to the calendar for those dates. The age group for this club is from grades 1 through 8. When your child receives their t-shirt after completing 25 miles, please have them wear the shirt on Wednesdays. I hope to see you on the field!