We had an exciting week in Lower Elementary. On Wednesday, the children wrapped up their Writer’s Workshop unit on Personal Narratives with a publishing party. Each child had the chance to share his/her writing with the class and most of the children proudly read their stories aloud, showing their illustrations to their friends and teachers. During this first unit, each child published at least one piece of writing and many published two or three! They are very enthusiastic about their writing and often don’t want to stop when it is time to move on to another activity. It is so wonderful to see their enthusiasm blossoming!

We believe in the importance of movement and, in addition to starting our day with movement, we regularly incorporate it into our day in between lessons and during transitions. This week we enjoyed doing some yoga poses led by first year students. We practiced a combination of traditional and invented poses. The children loved it! There is naturally a lot of movement throughout the work cycle. Children move from working on the floor to a table and back to the floor again, as they like. We have now provided an option for the children to do their work at a standing desk and several children enjoyed doing some of their work while standing this week.

We start every morning with a community gathering. During this time, the children are enjoying practicing the songs they’ve learned in music class for our upcoming holiday concert. Thank you, Ms. Kim, for sharing your beautiful piano accompaniments with our class!

On Tuesday, we had a four legged friend come to visit. Aris, a Newtown K9 came to show off a few tricks with Officer Felicia and Officer Matt. The children were thrilled to hear that he’s only two years old and has already caught two bank robbers! Thank you for your service, Officers Aris, Felicia, and Matt.

We are continuing to work hard as the holidays are fast approaching. In geometry, the first years had a blast listening to the “Love Story of the Lines” while learning about convergent, divergent and parallel lines. Then, they used the Box of Sticks to demonstrate their understanding. After learning about the common protractor last week, the second years are working on measuring angles with a common protractor. Last but not least, the third years enjoyed their supplementary angles lesson.

“One by one, we count our blessings as we come to share this bread. Let us gather ’round the table, join our hands, and bow our heads. May our hearts always be thankful for the gifts that we receive. One by one, we count our blessings with our friends and family.” -John Farrell

Last week was a beautiful celebration of all we are thankful for. We spent last Monday baking bread together with the generous donations and help from our wonderful parents. Special thanks to Magda, Christine, and Tameria for spending their morning working with the children. On Tuesday, we shared with each other as a class that we are thankful for many things. Among the most mentioned were: family, friends, our homes, the Earth, enough food, and our school. Wednesday was spent at our Thanksgiving ceremony. We gave thanks with a poem and a song before sharing bread with all of the children in the school.

Our daily, uninterrupted work cycle has many benefits. It allows the opportunity for children to learn to concentrate, work on tasks until completion, and to participate in the planning of the work they will complete each day. They learn to work cooperatively with peers at their own grade level as well as younger and older children. This time also allows us to work individually with each child, giving lessons and providing guidance and help as needed with their work. It is also this work cycle that provides us with the ability to individualize math, spelling, and language lessons. The children have been hard at work this week, happily working with friends and independently.

The Montessori three year cycle in Lower Elementary provides the space and time for children to develop interpersonal skills by interacting with and learning among children of different ages. They learn how to cooperate with one another and to respect each other. First year children are the observers, learning from the second and third year children. Second year children are no longer the youngest, but are still learning from the thirds, while practicing for next year by helping younger classmates. This year is as important as the first and third year of their time in the classroom, this is their growth year. The third year children are the leaders; teaching the younger children while also setting a good example for them. Throughout this three year process the children gain confidence, competence and learn how to interact with a diverse peer group. They gain great social skills, preparing them for success many years down the road.

This week we learned about the fundamental needs of humans and then focused specifically on nutrition. The children learned that they have material and spiritual needs. They answered the question, “What do you need to live?” Together, they brainstormed a list of their needs. In our discussion of nutrition, we focused on the sources of the nutrients we eat.

Halloween was a fun filled day! We started our morning by joining Upper Elementary and Middle School friends on a march around the school. We then celebrated and enjoyed some delicious treats in the classroom! (Thank you to the parents who brought snacks in).

Halloween provides us with such a good opportunity for cooperative work led by our elder students! Cooperative work gives students the chance to share the responsibility to make choices, solve problems among themselves, and deal with conflicting ideas. First, the children worked in small groups, which were led by third years, making a plan for how they wanted to carve their pumpkins. Once the plan was made, then it was time to get their hands dirty! They worked as a team to empty all of the seeds out of the pumpkin and then carved out the design they brainstormed together. We have such a kindhearted, collaborative, and creative group of children in our class this year!

Global Culinary Night is Thursday, November 8th from 6:30-8:00pm.

This is a FWM entire family event.

Grab your “passport” and travel along with us as we visit countries near and far, sampling foods at each stop! This community event is for FWM families to gather together and share a unique dish from their cultural, ethnic, or regional background while also sampling dishes from other FWM families’ cultures.

“There is no description, no image in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all of the life to be found around them in a real forest. Something emanates from those trees which speaks to the soul, something no book, no museum is capable of giving.” -Maria Montessori

We spend as much time in the outdoor classroom as possible; from lessons, to discovery, and playing in the woods. Being in nature promotes creativity, imagination, and responsibility as well as connecting us with the natural world. The outdoor environment allows children to interact meaningfully with their surroundings and think freely. We also have been enjoying learning how to nature journal and taking time to appreciate the beauty around us. This week we had our first history lesson on the study of time where we learned about the different cycles of time on Earth. We discussed seasons, phases of the moon, movement of the stars in the night sky, and day and night.

The children learned how to use the Cosmic Mat material for independent work on the creation of the universe. They have been enjoying taking out this work during our morning work cycle!