We had a great time outdoors in the mild weather this week. (Please continue to send boots, even on warm days. Our outdoor spaces get quite muddy.)

We continued our math work with fractions and decimals this week. Students focused on a range of lessons, including equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators, multiplying fractions by whole numbers, dividing whole numbers by decimals with a remainder.

Our biology lessons this week focused on the vital function of nutrition in animals. We began with an impressionistic lesson with “Sock.” Using Sock, we explored several stages in which food is processed: ingestion, digestion, egestion, and excretion. Our second lesson focused on comparing the anatomy of the 14 different types of animals on our evolutionary strip, from porifera to mammals. Follow-up work consisted of students working with both sets of materials, practicing explaining the function of nutrition to a partner, and placing animals on the evolutionary strip according to their digestive systems.

In history, we looked at what an archaeological dig entails, including the different jobs that workers on a dig team have. We will complete our own impressionistic dig next week, with each student having a dig team role.

In grammar, fourth grade students are finishing up their work with nouns, and fifth graders continue to learn about the different types of adjectives. This week, fifths learned about indefinite, demonstrative, and possessive adjectives.

On Monday, we will have a small classroom celebration to recognize Valentine’s Day. Students are welcome to bring in valentines for their friends as long as they bring one for everyone. Thank you for signing up for your parent-teacher conference on Thursday! I’m looking forward to sharing your child’s progress with you.

We welcomed a new friend to our class this week! Jim Reagelan is a retired elementary Montessori teacher who is certified in Lower Elementary and is an experienced assistant in Upper Elementary. He will join us during work cycle two to three days a week to help where needed. We are fortunate to have Jim’s help and the students are already enjoying having the extra attention during work cycle.

We have been immersed in math work this week with individualized and small group lessons on whole numbers, fractions, and decimals. Students are working on lessons including fraction numeration and equivalence as well as fraction addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We also have some decimal work going on with decimal division. In addition to our work with fractions and decimals, students are working with the whole number operations of abstract compound multiplication and long division.

I’m looking forward to sharing your child’s progress with you during Parent-Teacher Conferences on February 17th. Please look for an email from me today with a link to sign up for your slot. If you don’t seen any dates and times that work for your family, I am happy to schedule something separately.

Students have been doing a great job remembering boots, warm coats, and snow pants for our daily outdoor play. They should also have gloves or mittens and hats with them each day. Some only want to wear their hoods, but those don’t tend to stay on during their joyful, rambunctious play.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Karen

We had a very full week in Upper Elementary. Our mornings – after yoga, tea, and our chapter book read aloud – were spent taking the ERB standardized test. Although test taking is something our Upper El students do only once a year, they handled it like pros. They stayed positive throughout the entire process and embraced the change in routine like the incredible students that they are. In between test taking sessions we enjoyed our time with each other, outdoors playing in the snow or indoors engaged in a Connect Four tournament. On Tuesday we invited the Lower El students to play with us outdoors at recess and the larger group had a great time sliding down the hill together. We wrapped up our week by giving to others as we made over 125 sandwiches for St. Vincent DePaul Mission in Waterbury. Thank you for your donations of our sandwich making ingredients!

I hope you stay warm and cozy this weekend and enjoy the snowstorm!

Karen

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied together into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality…Before you finish breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize the basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Maria Montessori’s life spanned two world wars, and after the start of the second world war, although she was already a promoter of peace, she became determined to educate the world about the important connection between peace and education. She believed that if children grow up with a great respect for humanity, they won’t live in ways that destroy that humanity. They will develop a conscience and a feeling towards life and will be incapable of cruelty. Montessori is known throughout the world for her contribution to peace between nations; she spent many years of her life laying the foundations of peace through education. This is a reason Montessori classrooms must be nurturing, respectful, and inclusive places which celebrate our diversity.

I can honestly say that this diverse group of students would be a good model for many to follow in how to work together respectfully, peacefully, and productively. Peace education isn’t a separate curricular area for them. As they move through each day, they are learning continually how to respect their peers’ physical space and collaborate respectfully. They have a very strong sense of peace and social justice at this age and they are learning to view conflict as an opportunity for growth and leadership.

Wishing you a peaceful weekend,

Karen

It was wonderful to have all of our friends return to Upper El in-person this week! We made the best of having to stay inside during the chilly weather early in the week with some impromptu student-led yoga during work cycle. Each student took turns leading a yoga pose, and afterwards, everyone returned to their work. Students also enjoyed making their own tea during work cycle to warm up after coming in from morning recess. I find that it’s these little comforts, freedoms, and opportunities for independence throughout the day which really allow for each student to feel ownership and engagement in the classroom, and control over their own experience.

We enjoyed sledding during recess this week. We will continue to take part in this activity throughout the winter and students are welcome to bring in their own sleds from home. Please remind (and make sure) your child comes to school with all their winter gear each day: snow pants, warm coat, hat, gloves, and boots. We like to spend as much time outside as we can to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine!

During the week of January 24th, we will be taking the ERB standardized test. We will be taking the test on devices, as we did last year. The test sessions span over the course of four days and usually last a little under three hours, depending on the subsection of the test and the length of the brain breaks students take between each subtest. We make the testing experience as stress-free as possible and, as Gina mentioned in her email to you, do not teach to the test or stop our regular Montessori curriculum in order to prepare for the test. While we, as Montessorians, do not believe that a test taken on any given day is a true measure of what students know, we want our students to be prepared for what lies ahead after they leave Montessori school. This is why we view it as a “practical life experience.” We find that by taking this test each year, students become familiar and comfortable with the test taking process. If you would like to discuss the test or the process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Enjoy the snow this weekend!

“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.” -Rachel Carson

Happy new year! We were excited to get back to school this week. We had a quiet week, with some of our Upper El friends learning from home for the first week of 2022, but in typical Upper El fashion, our students handled it like pros! We started work on our big Upper Elementary Autobiography Project, a five chapter writing project which focuses on the students, their families, and thoughts and dreams of the future. Over the course of the next eight weeks, we will be working on this project in school and at home. After completing the writing portion of their project, students will prepare slide presentations to accompany their oral presentations. These will be presented to the class and recorded for you to have at home. What a wonderful memento this will be!

May you be inspired by the wonder and excitement of your beautiful children. Happy 2022!

Love,
Karen

May the Warm Winds of Heaven blow softly upon your house. May the Great Spirit bless all who enter there. May your mocassins make happy tracks in many snows. And may the rainbow always touch your shoulder. -Sioux Prayer, translated by Lakota Sioux Chief, Yellow Lark

We have had a wonderful end to 2021. Thank you to all who contributed yummy treats for our class party today. Thank you for your generous gifts. Most of all, thank you for sharing your beautiful children with me each day! Have a wonderful two weeks with loved ones and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year.

With love,
Karen

We have had a fantastically busy and productive week in Upper El. Our week began with large group lessons in biology, history, and math. In biology, our lessons on the vital functions of animals continued with the Strip of Vital Functions. In history, we discussed archaeological digs and the roles of the different people on a dig team. We also learned about Lucy, our oldest human ancestor. We will have our own impressionistic archaeological dig next week! In math, we laid out the decanomial, the geometric representation of multiplication tables one through ten. After laying out the bead bars, we learned about the commutative property of multiplication and identified the squares of each number. We will continue to use the decanomial layout next week for more lessons.

This week we made sandwiches for St. Vincent DePaul Mission in Waterbury. Everyone was very enthusiastic and did a great job making sandwiches. We will continue to volunteer our time once a month for sandwich making. Thank you very much to everyone for contributing the ingredients for this community service project. And thank you as well for the mitten and hat donations. We will package those up and donate them next week.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!