Welcome to a new school year! We had a great first week of school – getting to know new friends, establishing classroom and school routines, and building community by having fun.

We had our first of many weekly community meetings this week. We had two topics for discussion: deciding what our classroom jobs and responsibilities will be this year and drafting our Upper Elementary Rights and Responsibilities. Next week, we will each sign our class Rights and Responsibilities, agreeing to do our best to abide by each of them. Taking care of our classroom environment is another valuable part of our Montessori experience, and each week, students will share in that responsibility, taking turns doing each of our classroom jobs.

Four students shared their summer reading book reviews this week. We are looking forward to hearing the remaining reviews in the coming weeks. (If you need any guidance about this assignment that was sent home during the summer, please reach out and we can chat about the details.) The children were excited to have their first work cycle this week, during which they each had a spelling assessment, worked independently and with friends, some even already starting research on topics of interest.

I hope you have a nice weekend! It’s great to be back!

As we wrap up our third to last week of school we are beginning our end of the year lessons and are wrapping up some of our ongoing work from the year.

In grammar work, fourth years are working with advanced verb concepts. They are learning the difference between mental and physical verbs. The fifth years are working with advanced adjective concepts.

In geometry, the fourths learned to find the area of obtuse angle triangles this week. Like each of their other area lessons, they started this work with the area material and followed up by learning to apply the formula for finding the area of triangles to an obtuse angled triangle. They learned that the height of an obtuse angled triangle lies outside of the triangle. Fifths learned the formula for finding the area of a circle, using Pi and the radius, and they are currently working on applying that formula to different sized circles.

We wrapped up our biology lessons on the Vital Function of Plants. We learned that there is another form of work that plants do even as they go about taking care of themselves; they make it possible for many other life forms to exist. This is called the Cosmic Work of Plants. We looked at the root systems of plants and discussed how they slow down water and prevent soil erosion. We also looked at the shoot system and discussed how they give the rest of Earth’s life forms oxygen to breathe. We ended with an introduction to ecology. We discussed how humans are the only members of the kingdoms of life who have the special capability of appreciating the inter-workings of the nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle, and the water cycle. We talked about how this awareness brings great responsibility to support and protect those cycles and maintain a balanced environment. Ecologists regard our planet as a “house of life.” It’s my hope that our focus on plants this year has nurtured twelve young ecologists!

This year’s FWM sweatshirt, designed by the 8th grade class, is available! Order by Monday to receive yours before the end of the year! 2021 FWM Sweatshirt- Order Here!

The favorite lesson of the week (and according to one student, their favorite lesson of the year) focused on sorting different types of fruit based on their seeds. During this biology activity, students had to examine five different fruits and identify if they were a drupe (peach), pome (apple), aggregate (raspberry), accessory (strawberry), berry (blueberry), or pod (pea). They thoroughly enjoyed this activity and especially enjoyed eating the fruit after the identification activity was completed.

In geometry, fourth years learned to find the area of a right angle triangle. They did this by first constructing a square out of two congruent right triangles, finding the area of the square, and dividing it in half. They then used materials to understand the formula for finding the area. Fifth years had an initial lesson on finding the area of a circle. They did this by dividing the circle into 16 equal triangular parts and forming a curvilinear rectangle which was congruent to the original circle. They then found the area of the rectangle using the formula Area=base x height. Next week we will apply this work to learning the formula for finding the area of a circle. Montessori geometry work always starts with materials, using hands on activities and sensorial experiences. This type of introduction to concepts provides students with the opportunity to have a concrete understanding of the formulas they learn in order to do their geometry work.

Fourth graders continued their lessons on our closest living relatives in history. This week they learned to define the human species as the tool maker. We talked about the evolution that has taken place during the Neozoic era. This lesson gives students the impression of the amount of time humans existed on the earth before they became toolmakers. It also gives them an impression of the amount of time humans existed before they began to record their history. Fifth graders had their final history lessons on modern humans. They learned about the Megalith Builders from 5,000 years ago, the different groups of people and events of the Bronze Age, and the Celts of the Iron Age. Next week we will use the work they have done throughout this unit to construct a timeline of modern humans.

Can you believe there are only four weeks left of school? This year has gone by so quickly and each student has grown a tremendous amount academically and socially. I’m going to savor every minute of these next four weeks with this amazing class.

Over the next two weeks, each Literature Circle group will finish reading their book and we will do some fun final activities with Home of the Brave and Bridge to Terabithia during the last two weeks of school. In geometry this week the fourths learned to find the area of acute angle triangles using three different formulas and the fifths learned to find the circumference of circles using the diameter multiplied by Pi. Our biology work focused on cotyledons and we learned how to determine if a plant is a monocot or dicot. We wrapped up our Work of Air lessons in geography by learning about the effects of wind erosion. We enjoyed looking at photos of some magnificent formations in the United States caused by wind erosion. We also learned about human contributions to wind erosion and the harmful effects it can have on the Earth.

Please send bug spray and sunscreen if you haven’t already done so. We are spending greater amounts of time outside now that the weather is nice for outdoor learning.