Working and Having Fun in Lower Elementary

Posted on by Karen Sankey

We had a great second full week of school! We enjoyed our first Community Service day when the Middle School students came to help us with our work. All of the students, Lower Elementary and Middle School, benefit from this experience. We get to have extra individualized attention while connecting with the elders of our school. The Middle School students get to experience the wonderful feeling of giving help where needed. We love the days our older friends visit!

We are diving right into our Writer’s Workshop lessons. Our first unit in each grade focuses on writing true stories about our own lives. The children participate in separate mini-lessons by grade level and then spend some quiet time writing and practicing the new skills they are learning. During this time, Ms. Beckett and I are able to move around the room and conference with individual students, giving them help and instruction where needed. We periodically get together as a whole group and share our writing with each other; this is a favorite part of Writer’s Workshop for many.

Each Friday afternoon we have Friday Fun. This is a time when the children socialize with each other and build our Lower Elementary community, making bonds and creating memories. Whenever possible, during this time we enjoy going to our outdoor classroom and playing in the woods. Spending time in nature is incredibly valuable and it is wonderful to watch the children be creative and play, no equipment needed!

Español con Señora Hall

Posted on by Sara Hall

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. 

New Beginnings

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

It feels great to be back! The children came in energized and ready to go. They are quickly settling into our routines, rekindling old friendships, and making new ones each day. Our third year group has been such an asset to our class by mentoring and guiding the younger and new students through this transition period. It’s heartwarming to see the connections being made. If this is any indication for the year to come, we are all in for a spectacular school year!

It is important to intentionally build community at the beginning of the school year. This year, one of our community building activities was discussing as a class what makes each of us feel peaceful and then the children represented those ideas on doves. They will hang from our ceiling for the rest of the year to help set a peaceful tone in our classroom. Feel free to stop by and check them out!

Mrs. Sankey and I are both so thrilled to have such a diverse group of children with us this year and are looking forward to the learning and growing we will do as a community.

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!

Off to the Horses

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

On Wednesday, the third years got a sneak peak of what Upper Elementary will be like next fall. Some thoughts from the day were:

  • “I liked doing math because it was fun to learn something new”
  • “My favorite part of the day was when we played  four corners and seven up”
  • “We did math which was really fun and a little challenging but that’s ok because I like a challenge”
  • “I made shapes out of the tangrams which i liked a lot because it was fun”
  • “We did a quiz in three groups and a teacher read questions to us. Each group would try to get the write answer and if you got it right you would get 100 points”

To wrap up our biology studies, this week the children are learning about mammals and flowering plants. In addition to learning the external parts of a horse, we also learned how to take care of one, the steps you need to take to ride a horse, and about the temperament of a horse.  Thank you to the Paulos family for letting us visit their stables, everyone had such a blast!

 

Elementary Students Performed ” Seussical Junior”

Posted on by Yun-Kyung Kim

 

All elementary students were in the school play, Seussical Junior, the musical based on the works of Dr. Seuss. Most people are familiar with the books of Dr. Seuss and enjoy not only the rhyming style of his works but the creativity of his stories. Among the many benefits to be in school play, one of them is that the students get to become part of a larger system working toward a common goal. It has been the culmination of weeks of practice, so the performance itself became a huge reward for all the hard work. Every single participating student did an amazing job!!

This musical weaves together many of his stories and brings a variety of his characters to life. “The themes in ‘Seussical’ are the importance of honesty, loyalty and friendship. But ‘Seussical’ brings additional messages that are so important to people of all ages.

In the play, the colorful bird Gertrude McFuzz is a friend to Horton the Elephant. However, she is unhappy with her one-feather tail. The story-line surrounding Gertrude touches on the difficulties people have with self-image and outward appearance. Horton, meanwhile, has to withstand peer pressure and being laughed at as he tries to save the Whos. While he is being chided as “the biggest blame fool in the Jungle of Nool,” Horton stands firm on principal and does what he knows is right, profoundly singing, “A person’s a person no matter how small.”

Underscoring the story is the relationship between Horton and the smallest Who in Whoville, Jojo. Jojo is a “thinker of great thinks” which unfortunately gets her into trouble. As she is sent off to learn discipline, she feels all alone. Similarly, because Horton is the only one who can hear the Whos, he laments the fact that no one is able to understand him. The result is a bond between Horton and Jojo and the duet “Alone in the Universe.”

Through much mayhem, Horton retains the ability to believe in himself. Even facing the possibility of jail, Horton states, “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful one hundred per cent.” Mayzie LaBird and Sour Kangaroo provide examples of the issues of right and wrong, and the Cat in the Hat reminds the characters facing difficulty to consider “How Lucky You Are.”

BRAVO to all our performers!!

Lower Elementary in the Great Outdoors

Posted on by Karen Sankey

An important part of Montessori education is “going out”. Maria Montessori believed in the great benefits of field trips for children. She said, “The outing whose aim is neither purely that of personal hygiene nor that of a practical order, but which makes an experience live, will make the child conscious of realities … When the child goes out, it is the world itself that offers itself to him. Let us take the child out to show him real things instead of making objects which represent ideas and closing them up in cupboards.”

Our trip to Camp Jewell was a wonderful experience for every one of us. We did a number of fun activities together and spent two days in the beautiful outdoor environment of Camp Jewell. The children enjoyed going down the 50 foot slide and swinging on the giant swing. They practiced their archery skills and used big muscles on the climbing wall. We hiked to the top of a mountain and took in the gorgeous view of the lake and Camp Jewell from above. At our campfire, we all enjoyed the s’mores, skits, and songs. We ended our campfire with the children treating our counselors to a song from their musical.

As much as we all enjoyed our time away, it is always nice to return home and to our routine at school. We have been hard at work these past two days. On Thursday, we enjoyed Reader’s Workshop outside. Third year students have been working on follow up research on the Timeline of Life. After writing reports on animals from the timeline, they are working on making life sized drawings of their animals. We ended our week with Writer’s Workshop in the outdoor classroom.

Work, Love, and Fun in Lower Elementary

Posted on by Ashley O'Connell

Happy Friday!

After a week of immersing ourselves in the play, the children were eager to get back to work. The children were focused and motivated, asking for new lessons and looking forward to work cycle time. Talk about a love of learning!

We’re getting really excited for our upcoming trip to Camp Jewell on Tuesday. Some of the fun activities we will be doing are visiting the farm, the giant slide, group games, archery, wall climbing, kayaking and canoeing, leather craft, the giant swing, predator/prey, and we will be enjoying a campfire with smores. Please bring your child to school at 8am on Tuesday morning so we can leave promptly at 8:30!

We enjoyed seeing all of the grandparents and special friends today. The children eagerly shared their work with their guests and the room was full of wonderful energy and smiles. It was so special seeing the children actively engaging with people who are so near and dear to their hearts. Grandparents’ Day is an event loved by all.

“Of all things love is the most potent.”
― Maria Montessori