We are closing our Bird study and beginning our study of butterflies and honey bees! To kick off this next month, we welcomed five tiny caterpillars to our classroom. It is so exciting to observe each step of the fascinating life cycle of the painted lady butterfly. Right now, our caterpillars are busy eating, spinning silk, and growing bigger every day. During this incredible period of growth, they will shed their exoskeletons four times and grow more than ten times their original size! When they have finished growing, the caterpillars will climb to the top of the cup. Once there, they will hang from the paper disk in a “j” shape under the lid. Finally, they will shed their exoskeletons one last time before they pupate and form a chrysalis.

On Wednesday, a classmate shared the wonderful traditions of celebrating the New Year in Sri Lanka during the month of April. He showed us his special outfit, shared homemade Sri Lankan snacks, and gave each child a keychain representing Sri Lanka. Thank you so much to his family for sharing a little piece of their culture with us!

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love!

Marissa & Sue

“Help me to do it myself.”

In our hurried world filled with timelines and schedules, it is often so much easier and quicker for a parent to help their child put on a pair of shoes, rather than encourage the child and patiently wait for them to put on their own shoes.  Doctor Maria Montessori recognized that children possess an innate need for independence. She also understood that this independence and the child’s desire to: “Help me to do it myself” was the key driver behind their intellectual and physical development.

According to Montessori theory, the child’s journey towards independence begins from the moment they are born, and progresses as children learn to become fully functioning, empowered individuals in our world.  Our classrooms are designed to allow the children to experience “real work” and to fulfill their need for independence. It is common for some children to immediately say “can you help me” or “I can’t do it” before even trying.  We ask the children to try something three times before seeking out help from a teacher.  Quite often, before that third try is up, they have found success. So, if you see your child is struggling or taking a long time to do something, take a step back and create the opportunity for them to independently be successful.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead,

Marissa & Sue

In the Montessori classroom, we put a lot of emphasis on repetition. For example, a few weeks ago, we began our in-depth color-mixing journey. We learned how different amounts of reds, blues, and yellows would result in a variation of new colors. It was an extremely popular activity; I couldn’t keep it on the shelf! But, the children repeated and repeated and soon mastered that version of color mixing. Moving on to this month, we are studying birds. We always incorporate art into our work, especially science – the perfect way to continue color mixing but in a more creative way. Children were given drawings of feathers with “prompts” of which colors to use. Children can use these colors separately or mix them together to see what they create. It has been a popular project, and I have loved seeing children move from the mechanical practice of color mixing to the artistic practice!

Our Fraser Woods Auction is coming up on April 27th! I am attending as both a teacher and a parent and would LOVE to see you all there as well. It is a great way to show up to support our wonderful school AND have a fun time! The children in our class have worked so hard on our class project in honor of the event! April 22nd is the last day to purchase tickets, and you can do that HERE.

A message from Middle School: Order your 8th-grade-designed 2024 FWM sweatshirt ASAP! Orders close on April 27! Click here to order.

See the video below for a demonstration of our most recent color mixing!

Our April study is one of my favorites of the entire year! We are studying everything about birds. We are learning about many birds we may see in our own backyards, like Blue Jays, American Robins, Goldfinches, Crows, and Black-Capped Chickadees. We look at photos of birds, learn their names, and even get to listen to their beautiful songs! In one of our Sunshine Spots, children can look at an interactive book and hear bird calls from many different backyard birds.

We incorporate birds into our math work by counting birds and making feather booklets where we write numbers. Children have been tracing hummingbirds and Stellars Jay and painting them with beautiful watercolors. There is even a pretend bird’s nest where a mama bird is caring for her four eggs!

Our Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up on Friday, April 12th and 19th. Please look out for the Sign Ups on Monday!

The children have really been enjoying singing songs about birds. Ask your child to sing Two Little Black Birds or Red Red Robin.

Our absolute favorite is Jennie Jenkins. You and your child can sing along!

What the hand does, the mind remembers. —Maria Montessori

Every Montessori classroom has a Sensorial area, and it is filled with materials that help the child study their environment through their five senses. Maria Montessori believed that sensorial experiences begin at birth for every child, and by refining these skills, they begin to understand their surroundings. The sensorial materials allow the child to acquire concise information and classify things around them. They use their senses not only to create their own experiences and knowledge but also to help them figure out different impressions each sense receives. The child is, therefore, a natural “sensorial explorer.”

Each material in this area has a built-in control of error so that after an initial lesson, little teacher direction is needed. This control of error helps a child determine what needs to happen to complete the lesson successfully. The children can distinguish, categorize, and relate new information to what they already know. Each sensorial material isolates one specific quality, such as color, weight, shape, texture, size, sound, or smell. These materials emphasize this particular quality by eliminating or minimizing other differences. Many of the sensorial materials are also the basis of future mathematical concepts the children will learn.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love.

Marissa & Sue (she’s back!!!)

Read Across America is a national event celebrated on March 2nd, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. This initiative was created by the National Education Association and implemented to encourage a love of reading in children. At FWM, we also turn that day into Pajama Day, and the children bring their favorite book to share.

An online article from nationaldaycalendar.com has some beautiful ideas on how to motivate children to read wherever they are.

• Keep books everywhere you spend time. Put them in the car, in every room of the house, and tuck them in backpacks and purses. Make them easily accessible.
• Visit the library often. Knowing how to use the library and learning the benefits of a library fosters a love of reading as well as genuine respect for the services libraries provide.
• Get caught reading. Children imitate what they see the adults around them do. Whether they see you read a magazine, newspaper, or novel, let them know reading is the cool thing to do.
• Read to your children. No matter their age, reading aloud strengthens their vocabulary and language skills. It also opens up opportunities for discussion.
• Have your children read to you, too. You never know what you might learn!

In our classroom, we call books treasures. Reading is an integral part of each school day. I hope that I can pass on our passion for literature to your children.

Happy Reading!

When we study continents, animals, and plants, we always find a way to connect to the material sensorially. In the Primary Montessori classroom, incorporating art into these other scientific areas of study helps children relate to the material on another level. We trace animals and paint them using watercolors, we create continent maps using markers, colored pencils and liquid watercolors, we use tempera paint sticks to paint the landscapes of different places we study. Last week, children used play dough of different colors to create the layers of the Earth, cut it in half, and see how a globe transforms into a flat map. In art, Ms. Sara showed us how to use watercolor pencils to replicate the beautiful inside of geodes.

But what about all these beautiful colors we use? How do THEY come to be? We have been dappling in color mixing all year – through simple, open-ended primary color mixing using a mini ice cube tray, combining ground chalk and salt to see what colors come of it, and by the natural exploration of what color our paint water turns! This week, we introduced a very careful and methodical way of color mixing – our color mixing wheel! Children very carefully apply droplets of water on the specified spots, mix each area together, and lay a paper towel over top. Before you know it – we’ve created a beautiful color wheel! You may be getting a lot of paper towels at home in your child’s folders – this is why!

Check out this sped-up demo!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Marissa & Sue

While last week was a short week, it was a busy one! We had Simone and Madison’s moms in to celebrate with us by making crafts for Valentine’s Day. The children exchanged valentines, and overall, it was a very exciting week!

This past Thursday, we celebrated the 100th day of school with the kindergarteners. From the very first day of school, kindergarteners have been learning to count by 1s, 5s, and 10s to 100. They spent the afternoon going to different stations that revolved around 100. They drew pictures of what they would like when they were 100, what they would buy with $100, and what they wished they had a hundred of, made a 100 headband, and then played a game called Race to 100. They even did 100 exercises and learned how hard it was to sit quietly for 100 seconds. The highlight was bringing home a delicious 100th-day-of-school snack. As always, thank you for the behind-the-scenes help from all of our parent volunteers to make these memories possible.

Saturday, March 2nd, is National Read Across America Day. This is a day to celebrate our favorite activity—reading!!!!!!! This special day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of children’s book author Dr. Seuss; on Tuesday, March 5th, the children can wear their pajamas to school and bring their favorite book and a stuffed animal in to share. It’s always a fun day for all.