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W E D N E S D A Y W E E K L Y
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Bi-weekly Summer Issue - June 27, 2018
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In this Issue
Upcoming Events
July 4
Closed for holiday
July 9-13
Camp Week 4
July 12
Meerkats & Dragons: Tubing on the Brandywine
Kangaroos & Tigers: Camden Aquarium
July 16-20
Camp Week 5
July 19
Meerkats & Dragons:
Cookout and Movie Night (until 8:30 p.m.)
Dragons only: Overnight campout at WMS
July 23-27
Camp Week 6
July 26
Dragons: Guppy Gulch
Kangaroos & Tigers: Linvilla Orchards
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Message from
Director of Montessori Enrichment Tracey Gable
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Tracey Gable
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Welcome to summer at WMS!
The doors of the school have closed for the academic year, which means only one thing: summer camp!
Week 2 of
Camp Montessori is already underway. The children have already spent plenty of time cannon-balling off the diving board at the pool, creating art from nature and navigating a "laser" maze on our outdoor stage. We were entertained by the wonderful young performers from Shoestring Productions with their rendition of "The Dancing Princesses," and some of our campers will venture out tomorrow on their first field trips of the season.
This week also marked the start of camp
electives, which included Simple Science, soccer, nature art, Reptile Explorers and competitive tag games. We are fortunate to have summer staffers with diverse interests and expertise, which many share through the electives they teach. The children love having the option of choosing the elective they prefer and spending an hour on an activity that piques their interest.
We still have a few spots open for future weeks of camp, particularly in our
Meerkats (rising third- and fourth-graders) and
Dragons (rising fifth- through eight-graders) classrooms if you would like to register your child or know families looking for additional camp options this summer.
Happy summer!
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News & Notes
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Emergency Alert Test for Camp Families This Friday
This
Friday, June 29, at 11 a.m.
, WMS will test the emergency alert system via Connect 5 for camp families. Connect 5 is the system the school uses to notify families about weather-related school closings or delays, as well as other emergencies that require action from parents.
If you do NOT receive an email, text message or phone call with the test message or you would like to change your contact information or add additional phone numbers/email addresses, please contact Heather Russell at 302-475-0555 or
[email protected].
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Tick Spraying to Take Place This Week on WMS Campus
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How to properly remove a tick |
As the summer unfolds, we regularly check campers for ticks. However, please check your campers for ticks every day before they go to bed. Early detection and removal is key.
Camp Montessori has set up orange cones at the edge of the Primary and Elementary playgrounds where they back up to woods to remind counselors and campers that they are entering a potentially higher-risk tick zone. In addition, our maintenance staff will be treating the Peace Park and other high-risk areas this week to reduce the number of ticks present.
Signs will be posted after the treatment to let everyone know how long to stay away. Remember to check your campers regardless, and email
[email protected]
if you have any questions.
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Camp Montessori: Nurturing New Interests Through Camp Electives
 This week at Camp Montessori, small-group electives began for our three oldest camp groups - the Tigers, Meerkats and Dragons. Introduced last summer, electives run every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. and offer small-group adventures around a specific topic or skill. In this week's electives, campers are:
- Creating art from items found in the woods (Nature Art)
- Getting to know some reptilian friends (Reptile Explorers)
- Conducting science experiments (Simple Science)
- Embracing World Cup fever (Soccer)
- Exploring different variations on tag (Tag Games)
Campers choose one elective to try each week, allowing them to focus on a new area of interest. Electives change weekly, but many are offered more than once throughout the summer. Past electives include baking, creek exploration, Ultimate Frisbee, building with LEGO, 3-D art, yoga, origami and chemistry.
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Tomorrow's Leaders
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Mapping a Clear Path With Dan Barnes (WMS '05)
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Dan Barnes as a WMS sixth-grader in 2005
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Dan Barnes (WMS '05) often had his nose buried in a book as a young WMS student. But instead of getting lost in a novel or play, Dan was deeply absorbed in atlases and anything related to geography.
"It's a long-held passion of mine, studying maps and looking at things spatially," he said. "Even back in Montessori, I'd pore over atlases and books about countries."
So it's no surprise to anyone who's known him since childhood that he now works as a solution engineer for ESRI, a mapping and spatial analytics software company, in Redlands, Calif. In this role, Dan helps the software development team build specific maps on top of ESRI's proprietary geographic information systems (GIS) software, ArcGIS. He also focuses on improving the ArcGIS user interface and design.
After graduating from WMS in 2005, Dan continued to nurture his passion for geography. As an eighth-grader at Springer Middle School, he won the National Geographic Bee at the state level and went on to compete in the national bee in Washington, D.C.
Following Springer, he attended Mount Pleasant High School, where he enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme and earned his IB diploma. For his IB independent research project, Dan created new trail maps of the land that is now part of the First State National Historical Park. Using a GPS tracker, Dan made more accurate trail maps to replace the existing, outdated maps.
"Looking back, I might question the accuracy of the data," he said. "But I wouldn't question my enthusiasm."
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Dan Barnes today |
When he wasn't studying or drawing maps, Dan also found time to swim. He spent his summers swimming for the North Brandywine Swim League from grade school through high school, and swam competitively for Mount Pleasant, serving as a captain during his senior year.
He also learned to play the saxophone in middle school, played in the Mount Pleasant jazz band and served as the Mount Pleasant marching band drum major at for two years.
"I had an interest in music from Montessori that enabled me to hit the ground running when it came to learning the saxophone," he said.
But Dan never strayed far from his passion for maps and geography. By his junior year, he was focused on looking for colleges that had strong geography programs. After graduating in 2011, he attended Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt. - a school known for both its strong academics and geography program.
During his junior year, Dan enhanced his geographic studies with a semester abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, followed by six weeks teaching English in Costa Rica ("I did more surfing than teaching," he said.) through the Middlebury Spanish department.
He landed a summer internship at ESRI immediately following his graduation from Middlebury and was hired on full-time in fall 2015.
Looking back, Dan believes his Montessori roots played a big role in his pursuit of geography.
"Montessori entrusted me at a young age to do what I want to do - design my day, budget time for looking at maps, in addition to mandatory baseline subjects like English and math," he said.
"The freedom that allowed me to do that was a huge factor in my [geographic interest]."
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 The Wednesday Weekly shares WMS news and events that are relevant to the families in our community.
Please send submissions to
[email protected]
by 4:30 p.m. on the Friday prior
to the issue in which you wish to include your information. Content may be edited for length
and style and may be held for a future issue due to space constraints.
For more information, contact Noel Dietrich, Director of Advancement & Communications.
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