September 30
Online School Store Closes
October 1-2
Student Portraits
(October 29 make-up day)
October 3-4
9-12 and Middle School Overnight Field Trip
South Mountain YMCA Camp
October 7-10
Toddler Conferences
(all classes in session)
Watch
Bloomz
for sign-up information.
October 8
Working Together: Bring Your Parent to Work Day
Classroom start times to 9:30 a.m.
See
Bloomz
for more information and co-op opportunities.
October 10
Admissions Open Houses
9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
*MTAD Parent Evening - Addressing Challenging Behaviors at Home
7 p.m.
Ursuline Academy
*Earn two co-op hours if you attend!
October 11
All-Staff Professional Day - no classes, no child care
October 17 (rescheduled from September 26)
Flu Shots
7:30-9:30 a.m.- Adults only
3-5 p.m. - Adults and children ages 4 and up (with adult)
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Art
For the first weeks of the year, only students in kindergarten through sixth grade have been attending classes with art teacher Laurie Muhlbauer. Art classes will begin for
Primary
students this week (and take place in their classrooms), while
Toddlers
explore art with their classroom teachers.
Kindergartners
' first art project will focus on portraits and self-portraits. They have been thinking about the shape of their heads and using mirrors to observe and guide their drawings. During the first month of school, the
Lower Elementary (6-9)
students traditionally work outside and draw what they observe in their sketchbooks. Along with observation skills, the children work on skills and techniques with graphite pencil. At the
Upper Elementary (9-12)
level students take on complete ownership of their art year. The fourth- and fifth-graders work toward completing one drawing, one painting, one sculpture/fiber and one printing piece over the course of the year, while the sixth-graders set a goal for their art studies and create four projects based around that goal. In the
Middle School
program, students have been working with art teacher Lisa Surbrook to create artwork for this week's
Youth Peace Art Exhibition
and a group mural project. They are also keeping weekly creative journals to help them get to know what interests and ideas inspire everyone, and preparing for a year-long "seasons" photography project.
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Maker (STEAM) Studio
Exploration in the Maker Studios is underway for students across all levels.
Toddlers
and
Primary
students are enjoying their first Maker Studio classes this week with new Toddler/Primary STEAM Coach Alyssa Novello. In recognition of International Peace Week, Toddler and Primary students are creating small peace gardens for their classrooms, and Primary classes are also making a peace mural in the WMS courtyard.
Kindergartners
, who meet
in the Maker Studio
separately from their younger Primary peers, worked with STEAM Coach Paula Sharpe (who teaches kindergarten and up) to define "binary code" and worked with coding materials from
Learning Beautiful
.
Lower Elementary (6-9)
students, who also discussed binary code and worked with the Learning Beautiful materials, learned about First Nation tribes and will begin making materials related to different tribal groups, such as beaded jewelry and food items.
Upper Elementary
(9-12)
students b
egan learning about human, animal and civilization structures including beaver dams, termite mounds, the Burj Khalifa, Eiffel Tower, Roman aqueducts and Greek Parthenon. They will begin making scale models of different objects and then making models of specific structures that they choose.
Middle-schoolers
are starting work in Technology class using Maker Studio materials (see Technology entry for details).
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Music
Students from kindergarten through middle school have been meeting this month for weekly music classes.
Toddler
and
Primary
students began attending music class (or having music teacher Joe Ambrosino bring class to them) this week.
Kindergartners
started learning about musical elements like tempo and dynamics, while
Lower Elementary (6-9)
students are exploring the point of view of a butterfly through singing, playing xylophones and visual arts integration. They have also been learning basic recorder techniques.
Upper Elementary (9-12)
students are reviewing plans for the year and learning about Latin American musical styles.
Middle-schoolers
are learning a new music writing program that allows them to explore the techniques of famous composers and incorporate their own work. O
ur WMS choir, which comprises all 9-12 and middle school students, is learning the art of the critique by studying recorded performances to evaluate how they stay on pitch and in tempo.
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Physical Education
Physical education classes have been underway for most WMS students the past few weeks, and Primary students joined in starting this week. PE teacher Jill Hallissey's goal is for students to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to sustain healthy and active lifestyles. The first PE unit of the year at every level - Primary through Middle School - focuses on teamwork and cooperation, a major theme woven throughout the year. Students learn early on how to work together, problem-solve, encourage others, achieve a common goal and exhibit good sportsmanship. Some of the group games students have been enjoying include “Group Mingle,” “The Number Challenge,” “Evolution” and “Pass the Chicken.” Next week, Jill will introduce “Titanic,” a student favorite, which challenges students to work together using equipment like scooters and jump ropes to find a way to get from the "Titanic ship" to the "life boat" without touching the gym floor. Ask your child to explain some of these games to you and you'll learn just how much students must work together to problem-solve.
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Spanish
Spanish class has begun for all but the Primary students, who begin meeting with Spanish teacher Ana Brown this week in their classrooms.
Kindergartners
are getting acquainted with the Spanish classroom as they learn rules and routines, which include greeting each other using a greeting on the "s
aludemos" chart outside the classroom.
Lower Elementary
students are also practicing their Spanish greetings, working on "todo acerca de mí"(all about me) and learning how to share basic information about themselves. At the
Upper Elementary
level, students
started the school year talking about their "verano" (summer) and began their first unit about Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15). They are also working in small groups to research and present information about a Hispanic country.
Working with Spanish teacher Rocio Viscarra, seventh-graders are learning to identify and talk about family and friends in Spanish, while eighth-graders are discussing travel and vacation, including seasons, weather and months of the year. Both groups read a section of the book “Voces sin fronteras,” a collection of short graphic novels by immigrant Latin American youth, and all students have begun work on their own bilingual graphic novels.
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Technology
While middle-schoolers are the only WMS students who attend a dedicated weekly technology class, Instructional Technology Coach Rose Feehan works with students in the
Lower Elementary (6-9)
and
Upper Elementary (9-12)
classrooms with technology projects as they arise. She has already helped the 6-9 students complete their first
iMovies
,
and worked with
9-12 students to set up their Google Classroom accounts and iPads. In Technology class at the
middle school
level, students have started a mini
"genius" project
- a two-week project designed to familiarize them with planning and carrying out their own experiment, and recording observations and data. Each student has chosen a topic ranging from predicting chemical reactions and modifying food recipes to social/psychological experiments that involve surveying participants on their visual biases. The middle-school students have also started working in the Maker (STEAM) Studio to create 3D models, and will begin using the 3D printers to create simple machines. Their first assignment is to make a small toy version of themselves. Students will model themselves using simple shapes, and modify them to include joints so their arms and heads can move.
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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.
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WILMINGTON MONTESSORI SCHOOL
WWW.WMSDE.ORG
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Copyright © 2019. All Rights Reserved.
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