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

Last week I shared information about how Upper El students learn operations with fractions. This week we’ll look at decimals.

As with all Montessori math, sequences of the work with decimal numbers move from simple to complex and from concrete to increasingly abstract calculations. Decimal work begins with the passage from ordinary fractions to decimal numbers. After learning to build decimal numbers with materials, students work with the four operations, starting with addition and subtraction before moving on to multiplication and division.

The first material students work with is called the decimal fraction board. This material lays out the hierarchy of numbers from millions to millionths, with units in the center of the board. Using this board to add, subtract, and multiply numbers helps students understand place value and guides them in learning to read decimal numbers.

After moving through many passages with the decimal fraction board material, work transitions to the decimal checkerboard to complete compound multiplication problems. The decimal checkerboard allows students to experience a geometric representation of decimal multiplication and continues to emphasize place value. While working with this material, students learn to record partial products as they work through their problems.

After completing their work with multiplication, students learn to divide decimal numbers, with the final step being learning the Property of Invariance (if we multiply or divide both the dividend and the divisor by the same whole number, the result does not change, and the remainder, if any, is automatically multiplied or divided by the same number). The property of invariance in traditional schools is the starting point for the division of decimals. Here it is the point of arrival. This order helps construct the mathematical mind because, with these demonstrations, children are doing rational arithmetic.

We look forward to talking with you next week at Parent Teacher Conferences!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
Karen and Angie

We are a small but mighty group this week. As introduced in last week’s blog, math work starts with the concrete and leads naturally to the abstract. We had lots of progress in math this week.  Many students are working with fractions. They are learning to add and subtract fractions with different denominators and to multiply whole numbers by fractions. All fraction work begins with students using cut pieces of circles, called fraction insets. In their addition and subtraction work, they manipulate the pieces to figure out what the common denominator is. After doing several problems, we look to see if they recognize a pattern in what they are doing. As they work, students notice that:

1. To add or subtract fractions with different denominators, all fractions must be reduced to the same denominator.
2. To change the terms of a fraction, they either multiply or divide both terms by the same number.
3. If they multiply or divide the terms of a fraction by the same number, the value of the fraction doesn’t change.

In their work with the multiplication of whole numbers by fractions, they start by taking the whole circle insets and changing them into the number of fraction pieces they need in order to multiply. Students begin to notice that, as the denominator of the multiplier is increased, the total product is decreased. They then begin to notice the pattern, they simply have to multiply the whole number by the numerator to get their new numerator and the denominator stays the same. All students working with fractions are also learning to reduce their answers to the lowest terms.

We also have students working with decimal numbers, multiplying binomials, and squaring trinomials. I look forward to sharing more details about those lessons with you in the next few weeks.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend,

Karen and Angie

At the Upper Elementary level, Montessori math work continues to begin with hands-on demonstrations and work with materials for each new concept before students move to the abstract. This provides many benefits for students. Concrete math work in Montessori allows students to naturally develop a deep understanding of concepts, with the exploration of each concept leading to an understanding of rules and formulas. Our process is an introduction to a new concept with the material, independent practice of the concept using the material, and demonstration of understanding of the concept through the use of the material. After understanding is demonstrated, a rule or formula is verbalized before students begin to complete the problems without the use of materials. Sometimes the rule or formula is recorded in their math books for later reference by the student.

Students are also encouraged to come up with their own math problems (within the concept they are studying). This process of Guided Discovery leads to children engaging with issues that arise in their exploration, creating opportunities for mini-lessons as those issues arise. Its focus is on the technique or the process instead of on correct answers to each individual problem. This means that students get to move through the curriculum at a pace that holds their interest and makes math engaging for them. Working at their own pace helps students to develop confidence in their problem-solving ability and a strong sense of independence.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
Karen and Angie

We have had a busy, productive, four-day week. We continued our daily class meetings, led by the fifth years. We had group and individual lessons in history, language arts, and math. We started new books in class and finished books in Lit Circle. We also celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday and started learning about his life.

Our class meeting agendas this week included a discussion of reorganizing the cubby area, people not doing enough of a variety of work during work cycle, and people needing to do a better job of cleaning up after themselves during and after work cycle. EACH of these agenda items was chosen by students. We are only in our second week of Class Meetings using the Positive Discipline approach and I am already seeing a positive change in the class. They are more settled and focused during work time and they are taking a more active approach to work together to solve their own problems in the classroom.

We started a new unit in History this week, the Timeline of Modern Humans. This is an overview of fourteen cultures of the modern human species, Homo sapiens sapiens. All of the cultures we will look at lived in Europe during the last 40,000 years, the Upper Paleolithic Age. We are focusing on European cultures only because most of the evidence for these stages in the development of humans was found first in Europe, so there are lots of books about these artifacts and the people we imagine using them. In Language Arts, we started a new writing unit this week, Informative/Explanatory Writing. We also completed a review of editing for content, punctuation, and capitalization.

We are excited about our new class read-aloud, A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle. We have also been reading about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and are currently reading a book about the making of Martin Luther King Day, Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round, by Kathlyn J. Kirkwood. On Tuesday we celebrated Dr. King by singing Happy Birthday by Stevie Wonder, one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. become a national holiday.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Karen and Angie

“There is a great sense of community within the Montessori classroom, where children of differing ages work together in an atmosphere of cooperation rather than competitiveness. There is respect for the environment and for the individuals within it, which comes through experience of freedom within the community.” -Dr. Maria Montessori

Last weekend, Mrs. Tryforos and I attended a two-day workshop on Positive Discipline in the Montessori Classroom. This was easily one of the most useful and informative workshops I have ever attended. I returned with many tools to incorporate into the classroom right away. One of these tools is the Class Meeting.

In the past, I have written about our Upper Elementary Community Meetings. The Class Meeting follows the same basic format as those meetings, but with a few changes, which I view as improvements:

• Class Meetings are held three to five times per week (as opposed to our once-per-week Community Meeting)
• There are five jobs during Class Meetings:
  • Facilitator (Angie or I do this): Keeps the meeting on track, moves the meeting along, facilitates respectful sharing
  • Agenda Keeper: Anyone can contribute to the agenda and children contribute more than adults. The Agenda Keeper selects the oldest agenda item from the box for the meeting.
  • Time Keeper: Keeps track of the timing of each meeting segment and lets us know when the time is up
  • Scribe: Records the brainstormed suggestions of the class on chart paper
  • Secretary: Records the problem and solutions in a notebook which is a permanent record of the meetings and is accessible to all students, anytime
• There are four sections to the Class Meeting:
  • Compliments and Appreciations: A five to eight-minute opening where each person has a chance to give and receive a compliment or a thank you
  • Review of a past agenda item: The secretary reads one problem and solution from a previous meeting with a quick discussion to review how it’s going.
  • Brainstorming: The person who added the agenda item being discussed, shares it and we take turns brainstorming solutions. After the brainstorming, we vote (if it’s a class problem) or the person who shared the item chooses a solution (if it’s not a whole-class issue).
  • Connection Activity: A fun closing where we share jokes, riddles, or two-minute mysteries

We held our first three Class Meetings this week and the feedback from the students was very positive. They shared that they like the new format much better than the old one. You can find more information on Class Meetings here.

Wishing you a wonderful long weekend

Karen and Angie

Before break, fifth grade students were given a grammar assignment. After being given the following prompt, they were asked to rewrite it, adding a few sentences, using personal pronouns and their antecedents:

When she arrived there that morning, they were all running around, because it had escaped. She asked her and him where they saw it last. One of the others said he saw it go out the door when they came in…

They enthusiastically took that prompt, decided to collaborate, and ran with it. Here is their collaborative story…

When Lilly arrived at the restaurant on Sunday morning, the Pet Pack were all running around, because Heater the microwave had escaped. Lilly asked Kirby and Jewel where they saw it last. Kirby said he saw it go out the door when he and Jewel came in. Lilly went to go ask Toasty Toaster the Toaster Oven, Heater’s best friend, if Toasty knew anything about what Heater had done. Toasty said he hadn’t seen Heater all day, but he might be at his favorite spot, the sewers. Lilly asked Sewey the sewer rat if Heater was in the sewers recently.

Sewey said, “Yes, Heater was here two hours ago, carrying a cake. I tried to ask him, ‘Why the cake?’ when he took a piece of the pipe and ran off.” 

Lilly ran to Heater’s favorite climbing place, the cherry tree. When she asked Squirrely if Heater was there, Squirrely said, “Yep, Heater was here one hour ago, carrying a cake and a piece of a pipe that looked like it came from the sewers. He didn’t say a word, but he took my prized collection of acorn candles.”

Lilly said, “Thanks!” then ran off. Lilly tried to think. A cake, a piece of a pipe, and an acorn candle collection could only mean one thing…he was planning a surprise birthday party for someone…but who?

Lilly was in the middle of thinking when she heard some voices yell, “Surprise! Happy birthday, Lilly!”

When Kate arrived at the party that morning, the guests were running around, because the mad toaster oven had escaped. Kate asked John and Sara where they saw the toaster last.

One of the others said, “Mike saw the toaster go out the door when the guests came in.

Next, Kate called the police, “There is a mad toaster oven on the loose!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get it,” the police officer said. “Oh, we see it, that thing is really mad. We are not going to get it, you’re on your own. Oh gosh, I am so scared.” 

So Kate took the closest rocket ship to the moon and looked down on the planet and saw the toaster. It was growing by the minute! Kate then called the SWAT team, but even they were too scared! Then Kate had an idea, “I should make the rocket into a laser!” So she did, and after much work, she BLASTED the now huge toaster off the face of the Earth! And then Kate heard a noise behind her. It was Allie with a ring of cake around her mouth. “Hey, can I get a ride with you?” asked Kate. 

When Mia arrived on the moon that morning, Bennett and Camden were both running around because Allie had escaped. Mia asked Bennett and Camden where they saw Allie last. Camden said he saw her go toward Mars when he arrived…

When Allie arrived at Mars, she found a cake and decided to sit down and eat it. Suddenly, a strange figure approached. It was Persila from Bennett’s story. “MY CAKE!” she exclaimed, “WHY ARE YOU EATING MY CAKE?”

“Mrm..,” Allie mumbled.

“This is the worst day of my li-,” Persila complained. “Wait a second…that’s not my cake…my cake was vanilla and that one is…chocolate.” 

“Hmm?” Allie mumbled again. 

Suddenly Persila turned around and marched right back to her rocket and launched back to Earth.

After Allie finished, she went back to the moon where she found Kate from Camden’s story, disassembling her rocket to turn it into a laser to shoot a gigantic toaster. After she shot the laser, she turned around to see Allie. Kate asked, “Can I get a ride home?”

“Sure,” Allie said, “you can go home with Mia.” Allie marched away to tell Mia that Kate was going home with her, and to tell them to launch immediately.

When Persila arrived at her party that morning, the other guests were all running around, because the cake had escaped. She asked Chuck and Margie where they saw the cake last. Chuck said he saw the cake run out the door when he came in, then Persila turned and ran as fast as she could all the way to the bakery where the cake was bought. She stormed in and yelled, “I NEED A MANAGER!” When the manager came in she said even louder, “DID YOU PUT LEGS IN MY CAKE?”

The manager calmly responded, “We did not mean to put legs in your cake. We’ve had three people come in to say the same thing. We must really stink.”

Persila then turned and stormed out. She returned to the party and said, “I WILL FIND THIS CAKE!”

Suddenly, from the other room, Margie yelled, “NASA’s launching a rocket to Mars.”

Persila walked to the TV room and sat down. Almost immediately she jumped up and yelled, “ISN’T THAT MY CAKE?” She had seen the cake boarding the rocket. She ran outside and called an Uber before anybody knew she was gone. When she arrived at NASA, she stormed into the control building and demanded that they stop the launch.

The scientists responded, “We can’t, we’re too far into the launch sequence.”

“Then I’ll stop it myself,” Persila responded in a heroic tone. She sprinted to the rocket and entered the bottom door. Suddenly, the rocket started to shake, it was time for liftoff. They were headed for Mars. When Persila stepped off the rocket onto Mars, she followed the footsteps of the cake all the way until she found Allie from Allie’s story (wink, wink, wink) eating the cake. “My CAKE! Wait,” she said, “that’s chocolate, I ordered vanilla.” Back to Earth she went. She followed her footsteps and entered the rocket. She turned the rocket on and flew back to Earth. When Persila arrived at Earth she ran back to the party, but before she got there, she almost tripped over a toaster oven in the middle of the road.

Suddenly it said, “Hi, I’m Toasty the Toaster Oven but everyone calls me Toasty. Is your name Priscilla?” 

“No, my name is Persila, but why do you want to know?”

“We had a party for Lilly and there was a cake that said, ‘Happy Birthday Persila.”

“WHAT?” she screamed, “Take me there NOW!” When she arrived, she barged in and said, “Who ate my cake?”

Through a bite of cake Lilly said, “Not me,” and burped. 

That is the story of Persila’s cake.

When the fifth graders shared their stories with the fourths this week, they did it with such enthusiasm and pride, and their classmates LOVED it! Sharing was filled with giggling and enjoyment. THIS is love of learning, one of the many benefits of the Montessori method.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend,

Karen and Angie