Physical Education Monthly Update

With the turf field out of the picture due to the cold temps, the students have been heating up the gym with various movements, games, and competitions during PE class. 

The kindergartners helped decorate the gym storage closet by providing festive artwork for the walls during the holiday season. The students kept holiday spirits high, participating in holiday-themed tag and strategy games, which helped them work on their spatial awareness and social skills. The kindergartners were very excited to go “ice fishing” in the gym during an activity that tested their memory and teamwork skills. The students continue to work on general locomotor movements, including hopping, skipping, and sliding, as well as how to move safely within personal and general space. 

Lower Elementary students continued working on their sportsmanship and teamwork skills. They enthusiastically participated in social strategy activities, including “Birds in A Nest” and “Plants vs Animals.” Lower elementary students have also been working on their throwing and catching skills. The students have been learning to respect one another’s personal space during physical activity to ensure safety inside the gym.  

Upper Elementary has been learning team strategy and sportsmanship skills through activities including “Castleball” and “Jailbreak.” Emphasis has been placed on maintaining safety and empathy towards classmates at all times amid a competitive environment.  

Middle School students are in the middle of a floor hockey unit. Students are working on the proper striking technique to attack the opposing goal safely and strategically. Teamwork and respect for both the equipment and one another have been an emphasis.


Performing Arts

December was an extremely exciting month in performing arts!  Students put in so much hard work rehearsing for their Winter Concert! The show was a smashing success!! It was so wonderful to see the joy on the students’ faces while they were sharing the gift of music with their friends and families. I could not be more proud of each and every student! Bravo to all!

In primary classes, students continue to develop their musical ears.  We have been doing a lot of call-and-response singing! This really helps students to hear different intervals and rhythms.  Primary students have also been composing short four-beat rhythms using popsicle sticks for our eighth and quarter notes. Students also really enjoyed our acting game, “This is the sound,” where after a call and response from the teacher, they had to “wake up” in an imaginary place and show what it would look like if we were really there.  We have “traveled” to Alaska, the moon, under the sea, and many more places using our imaginations!

In Lower Elementary, students created their own short plays! Students were given the title “The Day the Music Stopped!” and they had to create their own characters and short scripts. All of the students were so creative and had so much fun with this project! Lower Elementary students continue to develop into young musicians as well.  They are doing a wonderful job with their rhythms and ear training.  Using the scale with solfège, students are able to hear and echo many different intervals and melodic patterns.

Upper Elementary students are also doing an excellent job in performing arts class!  They have been working on a readers’ theater project called “The Case of the Big Bad Wolf.” Students are working on their character acting, vocal projection, and diction with this project! Upper El has also been working hard on their music theory skills.  Using the music we are working on in class, students are becoming great rhythm and note readers! Upper El also continues to work on their vocal techniques such as breath support, vocal placement, and how to know when to use their head voice or chest voice for certain notes.

In Middle School, students are continuing to grow as amazing musicians and performers! In music theory, students are becoming more comfortable recognizing the notes on the staff as well as following a melodic line with their voices. I am also very proud of all of the progress students in middle school have made with their vocal techniques.  They are all using all of the tools we have learned in class to sing with a strong and healthy voice. Another project we completed in our drama portion of the class was writing and performing short commercials for made-up items.  We had the talking calculator, shapeshifter, unbreakable water bottle, and many more! Students had to come up with a catchy commercial that would sell these items.  They were hilarious! They have also been very excited to work on their student-written play! It is amazing to see how creative all of these students are! I am so excited for the immersion weeks that are right around the corner!


Spanish Class December 2024-January 2025

Primary and LE: “Dias de la semana, Navidad y Los Meses del Año”; UE: “Las Estaciones del Año, Navidad y La Ropa”; MS: SOMOS UNIT2 “El Encierro de San Fermin, La Carrera de San Silvestre” y “La Cumbia.”  FWM students learned about the Christmas (Navidad) celebration, which is a traditional holiday in Latin America.

During this couple of months at FWM, students kept working on their usual conversations about feelings, Spanish greetings, the calendar, and weather descriptions. They are continuously improving their Spanish listening and vocabulary. Students from Primary, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School listened carefully to Spanish books and songs and participated in interactive games that were displayed during class.

Primary students focused on learning about “Dias de la semana” (Days of the Week), Navidad (Christmas), and “Los Meses del Año” (Months of the Year). They learned these lectures through Montessori lessons that were left on the language shelves of each class for the students to practice for a couple of weeks.

Lower Elementary students also learned about “Dias de la semana” (Days of the Week), Navidad (Christmas), and “Los Meses del Año” (Months of the Year).  They learned these lectures through Montessori lessons and worksheets to support the lessons learned in class.

Upper Elementary Students put in hard work learning the ABCs in Spanish, they are learning the pronunciation of each letter of the alphabet that is leading them to get better pronunciation of the words, increasing their vocabulary and understanding. They also learned about “Las Estaciones del Año” (Seasons), “Navidad” (Christmas), and “La Ropa” (Clothing). UE students are practicing the writing and pronunciation of a lot of new vocabulary through songs and worksheets to support the acquisition of these new words.

Middle Schoolers learned about “El Encierro de San Fermin y La Carrera de San Silvestre.” These are two famous races that are very important traditions and are very popular, the first one in Spain and the other one throughout Latin America. Also, students were able to learn new vocabulary and started the construction of sentences using nouns, verbs, and adjectives.  They also learned about “La Cumbia,” which is a very popular dance and rhythm that is traditional and characteristic in all Spanish-speaking countries.

I am very pleased by the progress accomplished in Spanish class at every level. All the students from FWM are doing an amazing job in Spanish.


Makerspace: Monthly Update

Things continue to move right along in Makerspace. The Garden Tower and Vermicomposter (worm composter) are both doing great, and some students have already enjoyed an occasional harvest of lettuce and bush beans. We had a slight issue with the bell peppers, but they are bouncing back, and we should have a few more ripening in the next week or so. Cucumbers have finally begun to flower, so the Kindergarteners will take over pollinating those with some tiny paintbrushes in the coming weeks.

The kindergartners have been busy choosing a variety of work each week. Making masks is still a hit, and we recently introduced OZObots, which are small robots with light and proximity sensors. The students are able to draw paths on paper that the robots will follow, and they’re able to explore how more complex paths impact the robot’s behavior while we get to talk a little bit about coding and commands.

Lower El has also had the chance to explore the OZObots, but we’ve stepped up the complexity by introducing how blocks of color along the pathways can direct the robots to do different things (speed up, slow down, turn around, and even do a little dance with music). The knitting projects have also continued and are progressing wonderfully. Some arm warmers, small bags, and pillows are nearly complete, and some larger projects are reaching very exciting heights.

Upper El is continuing with its cardboard projects, making everything from cars to scale models of household items and buildings to storage organizers. As these have finished up, some students have taken on making props and parts of costumes for Performing Arts. These projects have just begun but are already showing very exciting potential. Along with some Lego Spike challenges, we’ve also introduced Sphero robots, which are programmable/codable and allow the students to have fun while working on coding precise movements.

Middle School has taken on some personal, long-term projects ranging from clothing design and pattern drafting to 3D modeling projects. When taking breaks from these, we’ve also recently introduced some electronic dissection, researching the purpose, model, manufacturer, and critical parts of various electronics and then carefully taking these apart to find useful and interesting parts and pieces. Any useful pieces will be used for future projects, and the students have already begun to brainstorm future projects for the circuit boards, mounting hardware, and other parts. The STEAM cities are also nearing completion, with just the final details and placement needed to finish these up before the holiday break.


Performing Arts!

It has been another wonderful few weeks in the performing arts room!  All of the students are having so much fun with all the singing, dancing, acting, and instrument playing! All classes are working on their repertoire for our Winter Concert.  They are very excited to learn all of our music and movement for this performance! In addition to learning the notes and rhythms, each level of students in performing arts is also focusing on how to connect emotionally to all of the music they will be sharing with our audience in just over a month!

In Primary, students continue working on their steady beat skills with many new rhymes and songs.  One of their favorites has been “Chop Chop Chip-pity Chop,” where students keep the steady beat while “chopping” their vegetables for our imaginary soup! They also really enjoyed the song “Punchinello,” where students get to take turns making up silly dance moves for the class to follow.

Lower and Upper Elementary students have been learning about how the piano is made up of patterns of notes. They are able to identify the keys on the piano and start to place those notes on the musical staff. Both Lower and Upper Elementary students are also really enjoying playing their favorite drama game, Wax Museum. They have also been doing hard work on their musical ear by listening and echoing different intervals and patterns in solfège.

In Middle School students have continued their music theory work.  They are becoming more proficient at reading a musical score and identifying the notes in the treble clef.  A highlight of middle school performing arts over the past few weeks was our pantomime project performance!  Students did an amazing job with these projects and the Lower and Upper Elementary students really enjoyed coming to watch their performance and guess which fairytales the students were acting out!  Since these were pantomimes, the middle school students really had to use their acting skills to tell their stories to the audience, and they did a wonderful job!


Spanish Class – October

This month at FWM, students kept working on their Spanish Greetings and the calendar. They keep improving their Spanish vocabulary. Students from primary, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School listened carefully to books and songs in Spanish; they also participated in interactive games that were displayed during class. As part of Spanish enrichment, students from LE, UE and Middle School were able to learn about the “Hispanic Heritage Month” and a celebration of “Dia de los Muertos”. They understood why we celebrate them and how we celebrate them. All the students were very excited to learn about it.

Primary students became engaged in learning the basic colors in Spanish: rojo, azul, amarillo, verde, anaranjado y morado through Spanish Montessori lessons that were left on the language shelves of each class for the students to practice for the entire week. In addition, they are learning the numbers from 1 to 10 in Spanish using Montessori methods and songs.

Lower Elementary students also learned eleven basic colors in Spanish: rojo, azul, amarillo, verde, morado, anaranjado, blanco, negro, gris, café, rosado y blanco. They learned these colors through Spanish Montessori Lessons that were presented in class. In addition to they worked on some worksheets during this period to support the topics learned in class.

Upper Elementary Students put in hard work learning the Spanish ABCs, recognizing and separating the words into syllables which is going to help them to read short stories in Spanish. They also listened carefully to a Spanish story, Llama en Lima by Katie Baker.

Middle Schoolers continue working in the “Somos” curriculum, where they are learning new vocabulary and are able to write sentences and short paragraphs. They are learning vocabulary, writing, listening, and comprehension through lessons that teach them about costumes and traditions in Spanish-speaking countries.  To enhance their comprehension even more, they participate in games and activities within the class.  As a way of celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, we are reading in class a classic book for middle schoolers called The Bluest Sky by Christina Diaz Gonzales, a Cuban American writer who got inspired to write this book by his father and his friends living in La Havana under “Castro’s Regime.” Overall, students are doing very well in Spanish class.


Makerspace: Monthly Update

We’ve been very busy in the Makerspace the last few weeks. The Garden Tower now has cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes in addition to bell peppers. Lettuce seedlings are growing slowly but will hopefully be added in the next week or so. We also got some worms for our Vermicomposter, so students (who are willing) have been helping monitor and care for them.

Kindergarteners finished up their wonderful animal masks, and we were able to sneak in a quick Jack-O-Lantern project before Halloween.

Lower El continues their knitting projects with some impressive progress. Going forward they will have the opportunity to work on these in class when they’d like as well as during recess on certain days. Since these are long term projects, we will have other smaller projects in the future as well.

Upper El has also begun some knitting projects and they’ve really taken the reigns with helping teach students who have never knit before as well as helping each other fix mistakes when they occur. We’ve also begun to dabble with some cardboard construction techniques and effective tool use. We will be using some of the Middle Schoolers’ completed masks as examples of those techniques in the coming weeks. We will also begin construction on the compost soon, hopefully before it gets too cold for us to work outside.

Middle School has just finished up some impressive masks in time for Halloween, constructed almost completely from cardboard. Iron Man, Lightning McQueen, Steve from Minecraft, and a Birthday Cake are just a few of the many characters. The cardboard cities are coming along nicely in STEAM, with neighborhoods, schools, infrastructure, and utilities popping up. Robotics has been a lot of fun, challenging the students to create robots that move without traditional wheels and propulsion, utilize the gyro function within the hub as a means of control, and use the color sensor to direct different functions.


New Year New Field!

PE classes have been taking full advantage of the new turf field and resurfaced gym floor to begin the school year. The weather has been favorable this fall, allowing most gym classes to be held outside. The updated spaces permit the setup of simultaneous activities and give students more room to move their bodies.

Kindergarten and lower elementary students have been learning to move in control to ensure safety around their classmates during group activities. Students have also been participating in games to improve their balance, locomotor, and cooperation skills, including tag, relay races, and throwing and catching challenges. 

Upper elementary students began the school year working on their sportsmanship and strategy skills during group activities. Highlights include team-based throwing and catching games like dodgeball, capture the flag variations, and “Tic-Tac Throw.” Upper elementary students are currently in the middle of a flag football unit, developing their throwing, catching, coordination, and agility skills. 

Middle school students have been focused on team-based strategy games, including various versions of dodgeball and Capture the Flag. These games present teamwork and strategy challenges and the different solutions students come up with to help their team and classmates succeed have been awesome to see. Similar to the upper elementary students, the middle schoolers are also in the middle of a flag football unit. Agility, footwork, hand-eye coordination, sportsmanship, and creativity are all key takeaways.