This week in Upper Elementary, we focused on our study of plants and their vital functions and worked on finishing up informative writing pieces.

Our botany work helps students develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of the natural world. Our study of the vital functions of plants will include an examination of the various parts of a plant and their functions. Students will learn about the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits of plants and how each of these parts contributes to the plant’s overall health and well-being. They will also learn about photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration processes and how these processes are vital to a plant’s survival.

As students learn about these vital functions, they will conduct experiments to observe how plants respond to different environmental factors. Topics we will investigate include how much light a plant needs to grow, how much water it requires, or how different soil types affect its growth. Students will record their observations and data in a scientific notebook, which will help them develop their skills in observation, recording data, and drawing conclusions based on evidence. This week’s lessons focused on the work of the roots. Our experiments examined roots growing toward water, root hairs and their acidity, and roots forming in water.

We have also been finishing up our unit on informative writing this week. Students are writing their final drafts, and those who chose to present to the class are preparing their slide presentations. Throughout this process, they have developed their research and writing skills while building their knowledge base on various topics.

A big highlight of the week for Upper Elementary was an impromptu music class! When we learned that Ms. Rebecca, our music teacher, would be out this week, one of our fifth graders volunteered to lead the music class. She spent half an hour rehearsing the piano accompaniment and then led us in song so we could practice the three pieces Upper El is working on.

We wish you a beautiful weekend,
Karen and Angie

Grandparents and Special Persons Day at Fraser Woods is a memorable day to celebrate the love and importance of notable people in the lives of our students. This day is an opportunity to bring together students and their grandparents and special friends in a meaningful and enriching way. Intergenerational connections play an essential role in enriching the lives of children. Grandparents and Special Friends Day is an excellent opportunity to celebrate and strengthen these connections.

The day began with a light breakfast, and then our guests were welcomed into the classroom, allowing them to work alongside Upper Elementary students engaged in their daily work. This included learning about our botany experiments, ancient civilization research, and daily math and language work. Throughout the morning, students and their grandparents and special friends worked together, building connections and creating memories that would last a lifetime.

Grandparents and Special Friends Day is a reminder of the critical role that loved ones play in the lives of children. This day is an opportunity to celebrate and strengthen these connections in a fun, engaging, and meaningful way for all involved.

We look forward to seeing you at tomorrow’s Here We Grow Gala!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
Karen and Angie

Earth Day is a time to reflect on our impact on our planet and to take action toward making it a healthier and more sustainable place to live. As a Montessori school, this means engaging children in activities that foster a deep appreciation for nature and inspire them to take care of the environment. We started our day by viewing the short film, The Possibilities of Regeneration with our Middle School friends. Then, after a full day of work, we ended our day by cleaning up our school grounds. Our Lower Elementary friends joined us, and together, they joyfully filled garbage bags with litter they found surrounding our building and leading up to our outdoor classroom trails.

As they worked, the children noticed things, such as how much litter accumulates in certain areas and how much recyclable material is discarded with the trash. After a half hour of cleaning, the children expressed pride in their work and that they were doing something positive for the environment. By helping to clean up our school grounds, they gained a deeper understanding of the impact of litter and pollution on the environment and the importance of taking action to prevent it. They also learned about the small things they can do daily to make a difference. It is no surprise that the Upper El children demonstrated their commitment to creating a better future for themselves and the planet.

This week we also participated in moving up day. This is an exciting event for students who are transitioning to a new level next year and for students who are not moving but are now becoming mentors to new students who will be entering their level. This was an excellent chance for the fifth years to get a glimpse of their future educational journey and begin to feel comfortable with the transition. It was also an opportunity for our fourth years to welcome third-grade friends into our classroom and take on some of the responsibilities that the fifth years typically have, like running our class meeting. The moving-up day concluded with lunch and recess with the middle school students and our third-year friends.

Wishing you a great weekend,
Karen and Angie

What an exhilarating two weeks! Upper El students wrapped up their research papers, made slide presentations, and created three-dimensional models of their ancient civilizations. They worked hard and displayed intense focus and outstanding collaboration skills during their big project leading up to their presentations on research night, the first in-person in three years. While preparing, they independently learned about their ancient civilization, gathering and retaining a great deal of information and passing it along to their peers.

This week, after completing their models, they participated in an activity in art called TAG: Tell something you like, Ask a question, and Give a suggestion. After this activity, they made minor improvements to their models, demonstrating a willingness to listen to the critiques of their classmates. Then, with the fifth-years leading the way, they planned their speaking parts for their presentations and practiced, practiced, practiced. Finally, students pushed through their discomfort to speak in front of the group, each time getting easier. The result was four fabulous presentations in front of families and friends on Thursday night.

Bravo, Upper El!

Wishing you a marvelous weekend,
Karen and Angie

We have had a wonderful and busy week back from break, preparing for our upcoming Research Night on April 13th from 5:00 to 6:00. We will meet in the Upper Elementary Classroom, and the children will present their Ancient Civilizations research to you and their classmates.

This week, in addition to our regular lessons and tending our raised garden beds (photo creds to Mia!), we began an intense focus on our small-group research project. Upper El students have been engaged in reading and note-taking about their ancient civilization. They are divided into four groups, each learning about a different civilization. They are learning about ancient Greece, Egypt, Vikings, and Aztec cultures. Within each of those civilizations, they focus on the region’s geography, the people’s cultural activities, everyday life, and the political and economic systems. They have a research guide to help them in this process and are looking for answers to specific questions in each of those four categories.

This is collaborative work at its best. Each group of three to four students meets daily and plans their course of action for our research time. Some groups have chosen to research each category together, one at a time. Other groups have assigned a category to each student, everyone exploring their area. As they go through this reading and note-taking process, students learn how to record their sources.

After note-taking, the groups will each collaboratively write one paper, each person contributing to it. They will also each prepare a slide presentation and create a three-dimensional model for their presentation.

We look forward to seeing you on Research Night when this meaningful work will come together.

Wishing you a lovely weekend,
Karen and Angie

We have packed as much as possible into this week before our two-week March Break.

Everyone had updated individual lessons in math, with many students moving on to new concepts. We will hit the ground running when we return from break! In geometry, fourths continued their lessons on proving equivalence between two figures. Fifths are working with area formulas, most recently finding the area of acute and right triangles.

In history, students started learning about their ancient civilizations for our extensive research project. They will spend the next few weeks researching their assigned civilizations and working with their group members to write papers, prepare presentations, and make three-dimensional models of their civilizations. Then, on Research Night, April 13th, at 5:00, students will present their research to you and their peers. They are very excited to work together on this project. I will send more information about Research Night and the work leading up to it when we return from March Break.

Thank you to Raquel for coming in this week and working on our class plate, and gift for the Here We Grow Spring Gala and Auction! The children enjoyed expressing their creativity while painting the plate and cornhole game.

Wishing you a marvelous March Break,
Karen and Angie

The time has finally come for our big Ancient Civilizations Research Project!

Upper El students study ancient civilizations to learn to see them as an evolutionary stage and to identify with the process of civilization. They learn to challenge the notion of a simplistic, linear progression of human development and discover the most significant events of civilization. We will explore the contributions of cultures, and we hope these studies will arouse each student’s curiosity for expanded studies of civilizations. As we learn about the development of civilizations, we will explore how each group satisfied specific fundamental needs. We will look for ways they expressed basic human tendencies and compare and contrast groups. Each study will focus on geography, cultural activities, everyday life, and political and economic systems. Upper el students will work in small groups, each focusing on one civilization. Working together, they will complete their research in school. They will present to their peers and parents at Research Night on Thursday, April 13th.

After a week of introductory lessons and browsing our classroom library of books on ancient civilizations, students ranked their top four choices. The cultures were narrowed down to Aztecs, Greeks, Vikings, and Egyptians. They received their research group assignments on Friday at the end of the day. The majority, if not all, of the research and presentation preparations, will be completed in school. I’ll update you as we go and let you know if any work is to be completed at home. The children are very excited and look forward to collaborating to present this project to you!

We hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Karen and Angie

Thank you for taking the time to come in and chat about your child’s progress in school! It was a pleasure spending time with each of you. We also thank you for your generous donations to the Brian Bags we assembled on Valentine’s Day. We were fortunate to receive photos of appreciative recipients of the bags.

We want to extend a warm welcome to a new member of our class this week. We are so happy Virginia has joined Upper El!

After learning about fractions and decimals for the last few weeks, this week, we will look at squaring and preparation for finding square roots.

These lessons “test” multiplication abilities and give children experience in complex, multi-step multiplications with geometric and hierarchical relationships becoming apparent and predictable with practice. Students are looking at the shape and value of a product and thinking ahead.

The first two lessons in this series focus on multiplying a binomial by a binomial, first (7+3) x (4+2), and then 23 x 25. First, the problem is represented with bead bars, focusing on the shape the beads form (rectangles), and then the equation is recorded.

From here, we move on to squaring a binomial, 16². This is in preparation for finding the square root of a number. Like in the first two lessons, bead materials are used to geometrically represent the parts of the equation, 10² + 2(10×6) + 6². The point is for students to see that when a number is multiplied by itself, the product of that multiplication is a square, which is a measurement of surface, not a linear measure.

Let me know if you’d like a lesson. I’m happy to demonstrate this for you.

Wishing you a lovely weekend,
Karen and Angie