News from Donyan & Virginia's Class
Can anyone say "CABIN FEVER!!"? The couple of warm days last month were so blissful. We spent almost entire days outside and even took out tables, chairs and rugs onto the patio and worked outside all afternoon! The memory of that recent warmth is making these weeks particularly cold and dreary; all fingers and toes are crossed that we'll return after next weeks recess to more warmth and sunshine. Happy Spring!!!
We are ending our cold season practicing body awareness with songs and dancing; some occasional freeze dance is always fun! We will all be prepared for exposing our knees and ankles, elbows and armpits by the time we can wear shorts and sandals. We also are preparing for our seasonal gardening by starting seeds indoors. We have peas, beans, beets, and swiss chard all started in the classroom and they have been growing about as fast as the children; Literally in a day we can see the bean plants grow! The kids are helping keep them moist with daily misting and will help us transplant them into one of our raised beds as soon as it's warm enough outside.
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News from Leah & Becca's Class
Spring is here! Although we haven’t yet been fortunate enough to experience the temperature shift that accompanies it, we are already enjoying more rays of sunshine, and we can even see some shoots peeking out in the garden on the playground. The anticipation of warmer weather has us singing with joy.
The classroom has been abuzz with activity over the last several weeks, as children have been developing their ability to welcome and persevere with challenging tasks. With our cultural curriculum, we have been busily studying the expansive, diverse continent of Asia. We have been exploring maps to learn about the area’s geography, singing some Asian songs, and learning about some of the continent’s most iconic wildlife. Our afternoon class even prepared and ate some delicious dumplings.
Our science area has been bustling with activity over the past two months. We studied the human body by exploring the skeletal system and some essential bodily organs. More recently, we have shifted to life sciences, and the children have been enjoying experiments related to magnetism, buoyancy, and the passage of light through objects.
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News from Scott & Deb's Class
The beauty of the written and spoken word has been shared frequently over the past few months in our class. Our class writers and illustrators have made many books that are a window into their imaginations and souls. Writing and painting for most of us is not an easy task and as each month goes by our class is deeply engaged in these artistic endeavors. We have greatly appreciated the help from Sarah Markowitz, Ellie Fitts Fulmer, and Mukoma Wa Ngugi for their practical and inspirational help to the writers of our classroom. Thank-you! Our class’s writings, along with the other J.L. classrooms will be on display at our celebration of the arts coming up in April.
We hope you enjoyed Demonstration Night as much as we did. The process that our student teachers go through in preparation for their presentations is to me, quite inspirational. Each child picks a lesson to give, creates a lesson plan and then practices the lesson enough to feel comfortable, or at least, semi-comfortable enough to present to everyone. The beauty lies in not the lesson itself, but in the character of the child who brings their full self to what they are doing. Truly admirable!
Our impressionistic lessons continue as we chart the history and progression of life on earth and at the same time explore the myriad forms of life from single celled prokaryotes to the complexities of large mammals. We have field trips planned to the Science Center and the Museum of the Earth as part of our studies to connect to what our community has to offer to deepen our knowledge in the areas of life on earth.
In May, we are taking a field trip to the Recycling Center to see where all of our “garbage” goes and to highlight the fact none of what we throw out ever really goes away. A student in our class, who noticed how many plastic bags were going into our “garbage can” and what we can do to reduce, reuse and recycle, inspires this trip.
As we head towards the end of the year, we look forward to sharing the many great events to come. The Celebration of the Arts, the Spring Concert, the School Plays, and the Ithaca Festival Parade are sure to bring us lightness in our hearts and a spring to our step! Happy Spring!
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News from Melani & Sophia's Class
February and March have been very busy months! Children have settled in after holidays and systems and schedules have been uninterrupted. Daily worktimes feel focused and productive.
Reading for information and writing to communicate is a big part of the Junior Level. Reading skills are being honed as well as Spelling, Grammar, Word Study and Cursive. These daily practices lead to children’s ability to access and read more complex text for research, to write clear sentences, topic sentences and paragraphs. Amazing research is happening! The bears are working with beginning research. This skill begins with Six Questions. The questions are asked about an animal of their choice. Short answers are written and an illustration is made. Tigers choose a topic and are learning to find facts, are practicing taking notes, and writing one clear paragraph. Lions choose a topic, generate five to six questions, read and take notes for each question, then write paragraphs from notes taken. The final essay is up to six paragraphs in length with and introduction and closing statement. Beautiful illustrations are drawn or painted and final research is proudly displayed.
We are continuing with the Time Line of Life and have looked at early microscopic life in the Proterozoic seas. We have a new microscope thanks to a donation from the Cabrera family.
Seeing plant and animal cells with such clarity brings new understanding to every child.
The overview of the Phanerozoic Eon begins the study of the explosion of complex life on Earth. The Paleozoic Era is all about invertebrates! Everyone is wondering and researching about the first creatures to inhabit the oceans of our world.
Cultural lessons drive high interest and give children opportunities to follow specific interests. In Geography we have studied the Earth’s land masses from the perspective of Biomes and, how humans live on the earth as well. Human fundamental needs, and Political Geography are a big part of research.
Steady progress is happening in Math, Geometry, and Science. Bears are moving from addition and subtraction into multiplication. Tigers are mastering double digit multiplication and are practicing fractions, time and money. Lions are learning and writing the algorithm that parallels division on the Test Tubes!
Our class enjoyed skating and Jump For Heart on Valentine’s Day. All of the children were very proud of their lesson presentation on Demonstration Night. We thank all of you for supporting that important evening as it is a foundation of the public speaking thread. Our Spiff and Spud day to celebrate finishing our read aloud book was a rousing success. What fun we had!
In-joy the break!
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News from Dawn & Katri’s Class
It is finally spring whether it feels like it or not. We talked about what the spring equinox is and why the days seem to be getting longer, they are! As we adjusted to daylight savings, we all have been practicing telling time on an analogue clock, using card materials and playing time bingo.
Speaking of time, we continue to talk of the eons it took for the Earth to develop into the place as we know it. Each Lion is helping present an eon of the Timeline of Life and lead the class discussions that follow. We are discussing how humans have organized historical information on the BC/AD timeline and children are investigating how different fundamental needs have been satisfied by different civilizations through time.
Math talk of multiplication, division and fractions are in the air. Larger problems are done on materials following daily practice of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Feel free to quiz your children whenever an opening arises. They are getting pretty fast!
The children are very proud as they complete their Picturing Writing Stories, filled with beautiful illustrations and descriptive language. Many have quickly moved on to their second story! Look for the bound books at the school art show.
You may notice more work being done in cursive. The children are carefully practicing the formation of their letters and are being challenged to incorporate this art form into their work.
Before our break, Dawn spoke with the children about her upcoming trip to Guatemala. We learned about the culture and watched a video about children living there. While there, Dawn visited San Lucas Toliman and the surrounding area, working with the mission on housing projects, and learning about the Mayan culture there. She was fortunate to visit the Collegio de Msgr. Gregorio Schaeffer Regan, where they are developing Montessori classrooms for children ages 4 - 9. She spent a morning observing the children in action while talking with Principal Philipe about the triumphs and the challenges with which they are faced. She was able to bring along and donate Montessori materials that were no longer being used at our school to the Montessori school of the mission. She came back with photos of her trip and did a slideshow for the children describing her experiences and observations.
We are taking another virtual trip through the book we are reading aloud, only this time we traveled to Vietnam. We are reading Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, a recommendation from Sadie and her family. This is a story of a child and her family making the decision to leave their home as the Vietnam War escalates. She describes her travels and her experience starting a new life in another country.
Thank you for joining us on demonstration night. The children had a wonderful time mastering their lessons and delivering them with clarity and precision. And thank you for meeting with us during conferences. It is a privilege to work together with you to guide your children in their learning.
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News from Upper Level
These last weeks have revolved around our Language Arts work with wonderful field trips connected to our novel studies.
First year students read Freedom Train by Dorothy Sterling set in Maryland. The book opens in 1827 and chronicles the life of Harriet Tubman. Students studied the history of enslavement, the abolitionist movement and events leading to the Civil War to give context to the work of changemaker, Harriet Tubman. The novel study culminated in a trip to the Harriet Tubman House and Visitor Center in Auburn. Students also took time to share a silent moment at Harriet’s tombstone in Fort Hill Cemetery.
Second year students read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor which is set in Mississippi in the 1930s. Students have explored racism and the Civil Rights Movement. We traveled to the Clemens Center for a powerful performance about the Freedom Riders. Many second years also attended the performance of Freedom Train at the State Theater. Our discussions around segregation and the impact on the characters in the novel have been deep and rich, with each student voicing emotional responses about the injustices faced by Cassie Logan and her family. Themes have involved not only the history of that period but friendship, bullying, and civil disobedience. We have explored different responses characters have had to segregation in the novel and times when similar events have happened in the real world. At the same time we read A Wrinkle in Time aloud in class. Just this week we went to see the newly released movie in 3D. Students will now compare and contrast the book and the movie and give us their insightful reviews of both.
Our third year students have dipped into reading a classic of English Literature, William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. While we did read the play in modern english, the group watch an animated, abridged version of the play which used Shakespeare’s original language. The students were surprised (and a little in awe of themselves) that using their background knowledge and having read the play first in modern english, that understanding the movie’s dialogue was possible and in parts easy! Themes we explored in writing and debate included the responsibilities of friendship, manipulation, envy and power.
Our Upper Level students are aware of current events in the world and often voice their concerns. Several asked to participate in the national Walk Out on March 14th. To prepare for our participation in the day, we had discussions about the power of the individual to become changemakers. Students wrote postcards, letters and made signs expressing their desire for an end to violence in schools. With messages in hand, those who wished spent seventeen minutes standing silently on that cold, snowy Wednesday. Such amazing dedication to making a difference in their lives! The Upper Level teachers were honored to support our students in expressing their power. What an exceptional teaching movement!
This time of year also included our annual celebration of Mardi Gras complete with outrageous costumes, parades and an extension of the study of probability in math in the form of games of chance.
Our third year students are working with Deb and Karen to build raspberry pi computers, learn some basic programming in Python 3 and apply their learning to execute missions lighting LEDs on a breadboard among other creative extensions. We look forward to seeing where their knowledge and creativity takes them!
As we approach vacation, students have created outlines and written the first draft of their research papers. Their goal is to finalize text, add illustrations, develop a beautiful cover and a bibliography page so that a final paper is handed in April 2. At that time we will begin the visual displays and practice an oral presentation for or Research Fair.
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News from Middle School
Middle School Family History Project
Sunday, March 18 marked the culmination of a complex, months-long project in the Middle School. Every other year students engage in our Family History Project, exploring personal and family history and identity. During the afternoon of the 18th, parents, grandparents, siblings and family friends toured the Middle School to appreciate student exhibits of family artifacts, original artwork and writing, and food.
Developing a connection to place and one's personal history is key to an appreciation of history in a larger context. In Montessori philosophy as it relates to the adolescent, this is referred to as 'Pedagogy of Place'. As each student embarked on their Family History Project, they had the goal of understanding more about their own, as well as their families’ past, and in so doing were necessarily strengthening their sense of self.
This project consisted of many components, all benefiting from hearty support of families at home. Students first developed a sense of their personal history through the creation of a personal timeline, full of photos representative of each year of their lives. Laura Ballard worked with students in art class to embellish these by making decorative front and back covers which involved tie dye, marbleized paper and other techniques to add structural integrity, beauty and unique touches to each student’s timeline. Students loved working on their timelines and the time allowed for this in school saw the Middle School filled with excited adolescent chatter as students shared and compared their photos, gave advice on selections and layout, and reminisced about events captured in pictures. This activity was a fun and warm way to demonstrate how community building can deepen and evolve within a class of students who already know each other fairly well. It is also a perfect entrance into the work they are doing in Philosophy, reflecting on how they have come to be who they are today.
Besides the personal timeline, students did a good deal of primary research and a variety of written assignments, all of which found their way into beautiful bound family history books. Using resources provided by the StoryCorps project, students learned how to conduct an interview through effective questions and interviewing techniques. Students interviewed five family members or close family friends and wrote a series of biographical essays documenting and retelling a variety of treasured stories and anecdotes of their family’s histories. These stories took their inspiration from students’ research of StoryCorps episodes and what fascinating stories students captured! Students also composed several autobiographical pieces, including a personal philosophical “This I believe...” essay, as well as reflections on personal and family identity in “I’m From...” poems. Each bound book also contained family photo and document albums and family trees or “orchards”, in many cases spanning five generations.
As students prepared for our Family History Fair, they were offered a new level of primary research as they learned the history and stories behind various family artifacts they’d use as the basis for their exhibits. Students prepared a kind of “museum” display reflecting family and personal history and identity. Along with a cherished family dish, each student was well prepared to present their displays during the Fair. It was an afternoon that honored our diversity and our common human experience, and was deeply meaningful to all.
Many thanks to parents and extended family members and friends for supporting students in making this project such a success!
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