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.

Dear Parents,

Parent Teacher conferences are a wonderful platform for communication, building the bond between home and school so that together we can foster the success of each child. Although much of a student’s learning and instruction happens here at school, we believe the connection between home and school should be fluid. The relationship between parents and teachers, and the flow of information between them (each sharing their knowledge of the child at home and at school) can only serve to benefit the children.

Virtual Parent Teacher Conferences will take place on Thursday, February 17th. We have no school on this day.

Your child’s teacher will send a Sign-Up Genius on Friday, February 4th with a variety of times available for you to schedule your parent teacher conference.

In addition, if any parent would like to have a conference with one of our enrichment teachers, please email them directly to set up a time to meet virtually.

Enrichment team emails:

• Jennifer Reid, Art  jreid@fraserwoods.com
• Walker Fuchs, MakerSpace  wfuchs@fraserwoods.com
• Lizette Guedes, Spanish  lguedes@fraserwoods.com
• Pam Pascarella, Physical Education ppascarella@fraserwoods.com

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions. We look forward to talking with you about your child’s progress at school.

Warm regards,

Gina

Another hallmark of a Montessori classroom is the education or learning cycles at each level.

Maria Montessori recognized that there is a range of development for children. The (two or) three-year cycle at each level, matches the range of development of the children they serve.

We know that children in each of these multiage classrooms will generally be in the same developmental range. We witness, every day, the benefits of the interaction of children of multiple ages and multiple stages in their growth and development. Our students are able to experience each social role–the novice, the generalist, and the expert. They are able to explore their own potential at their own pace, noticing the examples of other children and practicing leadership as they are ready.

The fact that the curriculum in Montessori is a continuum (rather than a finite prescription according to grade level) provides a wealth of opportunities for a child to continuously be challenged academically. While the age span in a Montessori classroom is typically 3 years, this does not limit a Montessori teacher’s ability to help a child reach their fullest potential.

In addition, Montessori teachers create additional lessons, bring in materials from the next program level to the environment, and we arrange for children from one program level to visit the next program level to receive one-on-one lessons from the teacher.

The education cycle in a Montessori classroom is the ideal. The multi-age environment offers children the space and the time to develop, to explore, to integrate, and to master before moving on to the next challenge on the horizon.

For those of you who attended Moving Up Information Night, I hope you enjoyed learning about the next level of your child’s experience at FWM.

We’re here to answer any questions.

As I visited each classroom this week, I observed one of the hallmarks of a Montessori Education – The Application of Knowledge.

Each child is provided with learning opportunities that continue to organize their thinking through work with the Montessori materials. This is most easily observed in mathematics. As a student moves from the concrete to the abstract, you can see the application of their knowledge to real-world experiences. This organization of information, making sense of facts and figures and applying them to arrive at a solution, prepares the child for the world of adolescence. As children move into adolescence, thought and emotion evolve into understanding more abstract, universal concepts such as equity, freedom, and justice.

“… the child’s individual liberty must be so guided that through [their] activity [they] may arrive at independence … the child who does not do, does not know how to do.” —The Montessori Method

Join us for Moving Up Information Night to learn what the next level of learning at FWM has in store for your child! Moving Up Information Night will take place over four evenings starting on Tuesday, January 18 and ending on Tuesday, January 25. 

• Toddler 2 – Thursday, Jan. 20 6:30-7:30
• Primary 4 – Thursday, Jan. 20 6:30-7:30
• Kindergarten – Tuesday, Jan. 25 6:30-7:30 
• Lower Elementary 3rd – Wednesday, Jan. 19 6:30-7:30
• Upper Elementary 5th – Tuesday, Jan. 18 6:30-7:30

Wishing you all a wonderful long weekend!