Young artists from K-8 have completed their artwork and gallery displays for our Tiny Art Exhibition! Each artist created multiple tiny works of art around 4×4 inches or smaller. Once their artwork was complete, students created miniature gallery/museum spaces out of cardboard and foam core boards to display their artwork. Students worked in groups, pairs, or individually to create their displays. The collaboration continued in the MakerSpace where many of them completed their display construction using the laser cutter! Magnifying glasses are available at the exhibition for viewers to take a closer look at all of the wonderfully unique tiny art!

This project evolved from the simple, fun idea of creating artwork on a tiny scale, to growing into an all-encompassing art making experience that addresses many aspects of Art such as; the making of the artwork itself, learning about masterworks, preparing artwork for showcase, titling artwork, collaborating, viewing and interacting with artwork, and understanding art display within an architectural space. This project is also a wonderful example of the beauty of the Montessori method — as the children in the Art Studio grew more passionate about this project, their ideas were celebrated and nurtured, and the project transformed into something much larger and more developed each step of the way. The children truly led the way here and it shows!

I hope you all enjoy these images of the entire finished display. Bravo young artists!

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 played by approximately 250 million players, spread over 200 countries!  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.

Our Middle School sports program takes place during the school day three times per week. Games are scheduled after school on either Tuesday 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. Our next game will be played on our back soccer field on Tuesday, October 26th at 2PM.  Let’s go FWM!!

It has been such a great experience to begin the year with such enthusiasm. I love to instill the passion for Spanish in our children.

We are excited to have our own Spanish classroom for Middle School children. The students appreciate being able to switch classes and have something different this year and experience our special Spanish classroom setup.

We are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month to recognize the achievements and contributions of the Hispanic American Community. We also enjoyed exploring the different festivities around the world and learned how they celebrate and how they compare to our celebrations in the United States.

For the younger children, we had fun learning our greeting songs and playing games to keep them engaged. I’m very pleased to see their curious minds at work and how quickly they learned the new songs and words.

In the MakerSpace, our hands-on learners have been exploring the process of iterative design. Our makers have been testing and prototyping their solutions to complex design challenges. First up, our middle school students were tasked with creating a device to protect an egg from a long drop. The students were given the freedom to choose from recycled materials, self-designed and in-house 3D printed pieces, and laser cut components. The wide range of materials combined with the student’s unique thought processes resulted in a myriad of creative designs.

The “egg drop” challenge worked through the entire design process. Students had to think about the problem, make a plan of how they would approach it, and then test their ideas before making the final iteration. All the while, students were learning about 3D design, sourcing materials, and practicing teamwork. It was really fun to see the students’ out of the box thinking and I am so excited to be working with them in the MakerSpace this year!

The Lower and Upper Elementary students participated in and practiced skills associated with volleyball.  Students were taught the forearm pass (bump), the set, and the underhand and overhand serve. Volleyball is a team sport that can be played indoors, on grass, or at the beach. Playing volleyball has many benefits.  Playing volleyball will strengthen the upper body, arms and shoulders as well as the muscles of the lower body. Our main focus during the unit was to improve hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness. The students learned and practiced with balloons, beach balls and soft volleyballs. Games that were played were, “Keep it Up,” “Four Square Volleyball,” and hitting the volleyballs over the net.  Lower nets were used to modify the game for student success.