Sportsmanship and Floor Hockey

Posted on by Pam Pascarella

 

In Physical Education class, students in elementary though middle school played warm-up and cool down games connected to social and emotional learning. Social and emotional learning is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.  In PE class, students sometimes become competitive with their peers so it is important that they understand how to maintain a positive attitude, whether they win or lose it’s just a game. I asked them the next time they play a game with friends whether it is in PE or at recess, to ask themselves the following questions. Was I fun to play with?  Was I fun to play against? Did I share the ball? Did I encourage my teammates when they made a mistake or did I make fun of them? Did I quit because our team was losing? Was I respectful and played fair? Win or lose, in the end it’s just a game. We always end a group game by saying good game to the other team but sportsmanship is more than just high fiving the opponents. During the warm-up and cool down games, students were encouraged to partner up with someone they wouldn’t normally pick as a partner.

Students in kindergarten through fifth grade started a floor hockey unit this month. The floor hockey skills of dribbling, passing, and shooting were introduced. To practice dribbling, we engage in activities called Walk Your Dog, Dribble Knockout, Dribble Relay, Keepaway, Knock the Pin, Steal the Bacon, and Sideline Hockey. We practice these hockey skills in order to help students develop hand-eye coordination, agility, balance, and group cooperation. At the end of each class, students participated in sideline hockey. Sideline hockey is a game where only two students from each team come out to the court while the rest of their teammates are on the sideline and can help make passes.  Small sided games allows for students to be more actively participating in team games.

World Language with Señora Hall

Posted on by shall

Primary students have finished learning about our Solar System with our Ocho Planetas song. We just began working on Las Partes del Cuerpo and have done Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, Pies, and Mi Cuerpo Hace Música to reinforce the body parts. 

Lower Elementary classes have begun to explore their feelings in Spanish. We have also been working on retelling stories and developing our own stories with vocabulary acquired from those we have read together. 

Upper Elementary just finished listening to their first Spanish novel: Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro. We then did a Movie Talk about El Regalo, making connections between characters from the novel and those in the video. 

Middle School has been using phrases like, “Es una persona que…” or “Es un lugar…” for circumlocution exercises in order to stay in the target language for the majority of the class. They are flying through proficiency based novels and building a solid foundation of the language.

Music Time!

Posted on by Yun-Kyung Kim

All of the Lower Elementary students were experiencing and exploring musical concepts, which are meter, rhythm, beat, pitch, and melody.  Third year students learned the meter of the song, exploring where the bar line lies, experiencing the phrase of the song. Second year students learned pitch of the musical note by singing ‘Sorida’ and moving with Kodaly Hand signs (Do Re Mi…).  First year students experienced beat and rhythm through chanting, singing, and dancing with the song ‘Welcome to Music’.

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”.