Immersion Week in a Montessori School is an excellent example of the experiential, real world learning that our students participate in.

It combines challenging academic discussion surrounding playwriting, play production, and performance. 

Under the guidance of our incredible team of Middle School teachers and Mrs. Reid, our Art teacher, the students experience a week long (sometimes longer) immersion in the process. Working with Mrs. Lamb, the students write the play. They create the plot, create the characters, write the acts and the scenes, and tell their story. Under the guidance of Mrs. Sutherland, the students decide how they want it to look, visualize the set, decide on the stage layout and block each and every scene, and prepare for rehearsal each day. Mr. Brown leads the students who make up our light and sound technicians and our stage crew. 

A Montessori Immersion program satisfies the adolescent’s sensitivity to issues of justice, their need for a sense of belonging and self-worth, and their desire for creativity, self-expression and productivity. The academics and the management of immersion week gives the students opportunities for group collaboration and individual success which meld together to nurture a community of thriving young adolescents.

It is hard to believe that after this week’s erratic weather, the first day of spring (the vernal equinox) is right around the corner on March 20th.

Spring has always been the season of new beginnings. Flowers begin to bud and bloom, animals begin to wake, and we welcome a sense of renewal. There is energy and enthusiasm for what comes next.

As FWM plans for the next school year, our commitment to making our school a safe and kind place for all members of the community; a place where everyone feels seen and heard is at the forefront of all we do.  We are committed to nurturing and challenging students in developmentally appropriate ways, creating an environment where children and adolescents can make mistakes and learn from them. FWM is committed to supporting students to find their voice and forge their path.

Montessori has always placed importance on education, child and adolescent development, the emphasis on collaboration, choice, curiosity, discovery, and relevant learning. These values are paramount at Fraser Woods, as is the attention paid to character and social/emotional development.  

With spring weather, comes spending more time outdoors!

Children love the outdoors and should be encouraged to explore all nature has to offer them.  Flowers, bugs, gardening, butterflies, and more!  

In our Montessori classrooms, activities for springtime encourage your child to explore, to probe, to discover, to learn, to create and to respect.

Some of the lessons, activities, and works your child experiences in the classroom can be carried over to home.

Rainbows

Spring is a wonderful time to talk about rainbows. Spend time searching for rainbows after rainstorms, and consider getting a prism like the one in your child’s classroom to let your child explore rainbows even on sunny days. Enjoy recognizing the order of the colors.

Daily weather report

Each day during morning meeting, one of our students observes what they see outside and they give the class a daily weather report.  You might supply your child with some drawing paper in a booklet and encourage them to draw or paint the weather each day and see how it changes over time.

Study butterflies

Children are clearly fascinated by butterflies and spring is a great time to study them. You can simply read a book or two with your child.  In some of our classes, your child will observe the transformation from caterpillar to a butterfly with a live butterfly kit which will be set up in the classroom.

Create a nature table

One of the favorite works in the classroom is the nature table. At home, you can designate a space such as a small table or even a tray or basket, and allow your child to collect interesting things they find in nature. Include a magnifying glass!

There are so many children’s books about spring.  Here is a link to a list of 25 Montessori Friendly Books for Spring

Update on Security Guard

Our security guard will be back in place on Monday, March 28. Rich Maurizio is one of the security guards that worked at our school several years ago. Some of you may remember Rich. We are happy to welcome him back.

Summer Camp

Summer Camp registration is now open! 

Log into MyFWM, go to the Parents module and click on FWM Programs.

Fraser Woods Spring Get Together + Auction!

Let’s Get Acquainted at Aquila’s 

Register at fwm22.givesmart.com

Reminders

FWM will be closed for the next two weeks for our March break. School resumes on Monday, March 28.

If you are traveling over the break, please review the CDC recommendations for travel. We sent home rapid COVID tests with your children. Please consider testing your child before returning to school on Monday, March 28. You will not need to submit the results. This is for your piece of mind as we return to school. 

Thank you for all you do to keep our FWM community healthy and safe. 

Wishing you all a peaceful and relaxing spring break!

Meet and Greet with David Newman

On Thursday evening, we welcomed our families to FWM for some light refreshments and to meet and talk with David Newman, our incoming Head of School.

This was the first community gathering on campus to occur since early in 2020 and parents were excited to reconnect with one another and meet Mr. Newman- there is nothing quite like meeting in person!

It made our hearts full to see our close-knit community gather together again and it reminded us of why we are all a part of Fraser Woods Montessori School.

Families were grateful for the opportunity to say hello, enjoy a few laughs, learn a little bit more about David and welcome him to FWM, and David was delighted to connect with so many families. We look forward to our next Meet and Greet to take place later in the Spring.

New Research Highlights The Long-Term Benefits Of A Montessori Education

This article in FORBES.COM impressed me for two reasons. First, the author, Mark Travers, Ph.D., is a psychologist and contributor to the Innovation-Science column of the online magazine, not the Education column. Second, in his article, he shares the work of Dr. Angeline Lillard.

Dr. Angeline Lillard is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia who has been studying Montessori’s methods for more than two decades. In her  book Montessori: The Science behind the Genius, Dr. Lillard presents Montessori’s theoretical principles, the scientific research that has followed them, and how they are implemented in a Montessori classroom.

The article talks about a research study that presents more evidence that a Montessori education may be superior to traditional methods of education, especially on measures relating to students’ long-term psychological health and well-being.

“The study is one more data point in a growing body of research suggesting Montessori pedagogy is better for humans than is the common model,” says Lillard. “And, since it is over 100 years since people began implementing Montessori, it has been beta-tested — we know how to implement this pedagogy and are doing so all over the world. More people should know about it.”

Please enjoy the full FORBES Article: New Research Highlights The Long-Term Benefits Of A Montessori Education

For the past five weeks, our middle schoolers took on a big challenge – how could they make hydraulic powered arms? This project shed light on a very important type of technology that is regularly used in the modern world, used in many contexts from brake lines in your car to airplane wing flaps to dishwashers and pushed our middle schoolers to innovate, experiment, and persevere in the face of a challenging project. Students were given the task to lift an object one foot in the air only using hydraulic power and then given the space and freedom to choose how they would approach this design challenge and build their hydraulic machines. It was exciting to see the different approaches each student took. We ended up with cranes, grippers, lifts, and more! Students went through the full iterative design process, first doing research into possible technologies and plans, then sketching out designs, prototyping, and eventually finalizing their designs and creating their final product. It is awesome to see the continued progress our middle schoolers are making in how they approach each project and challenge we have taken on in the Makerspace this year.

 

Up next, the middle schoolers will work on a project researching makers that are from both currently and historically underrepresented minorities in the science and technology fields. We will explore the rich history and diversity of makers in the United States and examine why some makers have been systematically excluded from the narrative of the advancement of technology in the United States. More on that next time!

A Note about Optional Mask Wearing Beginning on Monday Feb 28, 2022

As a school community, we are committed to respecting the personal choice of students, staff, and visitors to wear a mask or not to wear a mask. The move to mask choice may be difficult for some in our community.  We have put together some talking points for teachers and parents.

Please know if you choose to send your child to school wearing a mask, teachers will offer gentle reminders to children but will not be responsible for overseeing mask wearing as teaching must take precedence.

At this time we will continue to mitigate against the spread of COVID-19 with the following strategies: 

• Daily, personal assessment of COVID-19 symptoms. Students and staff who are not feeling well should stay home. Please conduct a home test to determine if you are positive. FWM can provide these for you if you need one.
• Three-foot distancing whenever possible.
• At this time, we will continue cohorting.
• We will continue to distribute KN95/ N95 masks and home test kits as requested by families and staff.  
• Our in-school COVID testing will continue to be offered to parents for weekly testing of their children until April 8, which will be two weeks after we return from March break, at which point we will reevaluate weekly in-school testing.
• Cleaning and sanitization of bathrooms will continue during the school day.
• If we had students riding school buses, students would be required to continue to wear masks on all buses based on the federal regulation on public transportation.

Reminder: 

Meet and Greet with David Newman

Please join us on Thursday, March 3rd from 6:30 to 7:30 in the FWM commons.

Staffing Update:

There has been an assistant teacher change in Toddler-Wilson. Valdete Biba is no longer at FWM. Michelle Crumb who has spent time in our toddler program as a substitute teacher will join the toddler team as assistant teacher in Cynthia Wilson‘s classroom.

Summer Camp Registration is open! More information in the Parent Corner located under Note from Gina

In light of the anticipated end of the statewide mask mandate, beginning on Monday, February 28, 2022, mask wearing at Fraser Woods Montessori School will become a personal choice for staff, students, and parents until such time that we may need to review and amend this policy in accordance with state requirements or local considerations.

Consistent with every decision we have made throughout the pandemic, we move forward with an abundance of caution, having taken into consideration all of the guidance available to us. 

Click here to read more

Governor Lamont Lifts Statewide Mask Mandate- Message to Community 

In a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Governor Ned Lamont announced the statewide mask mandate for schools will be lifted on Monday, February 28, allowing individual schools and districts to develop their own mask policies.

Please take a moment to watch the Governor’s press conference.

It is fair to say that there is a division of thought on this subject both within our school community and in society in general. I kindly ask that we remain respectful of one another’s opinions regarding mask wearing in school.

Manisha Juthani, MD, the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health stated, “Every community is going to be different because vaccination rates differ so much [from] community to community…So we will be giving guidance to the various things you need to look at within your community to figure out what’s going to work best for you. We have communities that have 90+ percent of their students vaccinated and almost 100 [percent] of their educators and staff vaccinated in a school building. That’s a very different calculation than if you’ve got 20 or 30 percent of your students vaccinated.” 

Once we receive this guidance and talk with local health officials, we will have a better understanding. At that time FWM will give official notice to our community.

We recognize that this has been a challenging time for everyone. Our teachers and students have been remarkably resilient and patient as has our parent community and for that we continue to be incredibly grateful.

The good news for all of us is that COVID-19 cases are trending in the right direction and should continue to decline in the coming weeks.

We ask for your continued patience and support during the next few weeks. We will continue to communicate to you any changes that may occur.

Thank you for your support, your patience and your kindness during this turbulent time.

Staffing Updates:

Administrative Assistant

Please welcome Charlotte Wood, our new Administrative Assistant.

Charlotte comes to us with many years of experience as an Administrative Assistant to the Head of School and Administrative Assistant to the Associate Head of Upper School at the Wooster School in Danbury.

Long-term Substitute for Spanish

Vanessa Cruz has joined FWM as our long-term substitute teacher for Spanish. Vanessa is a fluent Spanish speaker and a Behaviorist who specializes in working on one one with children to provide support in school settings. 

Reminders:

Thursday, February 17 – No School, Parent Teacher Conferences

Friday, February 18- No School, Staff Professional Development

Monday, February 21- No School, Presidents Day 

Happy Valentine’s Day to Everyone!!

If you talk to a Montessori teacher, you are going to hear a song of praise for the Montessori Method. Montessori teachers are inspired and passionate about the work they do. I always say Montessori bestows gifts upon learners that you can’t find in any other learning environment.

If I had to choose, I would start with this: A Montessori education allows for children to work, develop and learn at their own individual pace. Teachers present lessons, activities and materials that build upon the child’s skill set—children progress in their development as an individual. In addition, these materials, used independently by the children, provide students with the opportunity to develop their concentration and coordination in addition to academic learning.

A Montessori education offers enhanced social interaction. Have you ever noticed the way children are fascinated by what their peers are doing? Montessori capitalizes on that by grouping children of different ages together in the same learning environments to encourage children to learn from one another, teach one another, and develop important life skills such as inclusion and acceptance.

Montessori fosters independence. Since part of the learning process is self-directed, children gain a sense of independence and confidence in their abilities, they learn to manage themselves and think independently.

Montessori cultivates a love of learning; meaning learners remain curious about the people and the world around them and view learning as an enjoyable life-long process rather than a task that ends when a school bell rings.

Montessori is inclusive of children with different learning profiles. Because children are grouped with peers of different ages and have the same teacher for three years at a time, students feel less pressure to keep up with their peers and more freedom to learn and grow at their own pace. Your child’s Montessori teacher presents a lesson that may have every student’s name on it, but with different goals and expectations for each child’s unique learning style.

With Parent-Teacher Conferences coming up on Thursday 2/17, spend time with your child’s teacher and explore why Montessori matters to you and your child.