Art



Primary classrooms are exploring various fall themes in art class. Room 17 has been examining butterfly wings and creating paper mosaic monarch butterflies. In Room 19, students are using plaster of Paris to cast sugar skulls in honor of the Day of the Dead. They will decorate their skulls with puff paint to mimic the royal icing traditionally used for sugar skulls.  Rooms 16 and 20 are experimenting with color contrast and mixing as they create leaf prints using watercolor paint.  

Kindergartners recently finished a line drawing inspired by " Harold and the Purple Crayon." The children made their own line story showing themselves going on a walk like Harold.  

Lower Elementary (6-9) students have been studying the human skeleton and the large bones of the body in preparation to draw a life-size skeleton. Art teacher Laurie Muhlbauer traced all the students and they will draw skeletons within their own outlines.

Upper Elementary (9-12) students continue to work on their independent study projects, some of which include bead work, creating an an armature for a plaster craft sculpture of an MG car and acrylic paintings of animals and shoes.

In the Middle School program, students have been studying the creative process, which they put to use through a team activity similar to the Food Network show "Chopped." Each team received a bag of items to incorporate into a sculpture. They brainstormed ideas, sketched their favorites, tested the materials, created their sculpture, and presented it to the rest of the class. They are also learning more about how our brains work to translate what we "see" into a two-dimensional drawing.

Maker (STEAM) Studio

Humpty Dumpty was the central figure in a number of science and engineering experiments for the Toddler, Primary and Kindergarten groups.

Toddlers talked about what happened to Humpty when he fell, then designed and constructed walls that would help keep Humpty in place using large bricks, small foam shapes and plastic eggs. 

Primary students conducted an experiment to find out what materials (choices included glass beads, paper, beans, feathers, cotton balls) might prevent Humpty (a hard-boiled egg) from breaking when he falls. They made predictions about other materials that might result in hard or soft landings, including rocks, pencils and marshmallows.

Kindergartners learned about Pumpty Dumpty, Humpty's pumpkin friend who also likes to sit on a wall . Students created a blueprint of a bag that would help Pumpty stay safe if he fell off the wall, and chose feathers, sand, beans, glass beads or cotton balls to construct their bag designs. With help from a teacher, they dropped their bags from a second-floor window, and Pumpty survived all of his falls!

Elementary students' Maker Studio work centered around human needs, which ties in with both levels' classroom work.

Lower Elementary (6-9) students continue to construct Native American homes - an extension of their classroom focus on human innovation. When they are finished, they will create green screen movies about their work.

Upper Elementary (9-12) students are constructing scale models of everyday objects to help them prepare to make scale models of various types of shelters. 

See the Technology entry for details about middle-schoolers' Maker Studio work.

Music

Toddlers are exploring using their voices to make sounds like insects - a fun activity designed to help children develop speech and language through use of different parts of the vocal mechanism. 

At the Primary  level, students are learning songs with fall themes like apples and weather. They are also creating and arranging sounds to accompany a poem about the wind. 

Kindergartners continue learning about musical elements. This month they are learning the basics of reading musical notation and arranging rhythm patterns. 

Lower Elementary students are learning to play the recorder and exploring orchestral instruments. They are also starting to learn songs for the new winter musical called “The Cuckoo,” which we'll share more about in next month's update. 

Upper Elementary students are learning about different Latin American music styles in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. They are also learning more about reading musical notation and arranging music by creating spooky rhythmic accompaniments for Halloween-themed poetry.

Middle-schoolers are working to complete a series of project-based music assignments. Some are creating multimedia presentations using "technology sounds" (made by any tool that is useful to humans) like whirring machines, raking leaves and even mixing batter in a bowl, and others are creating music videos of nature sequences. Some students are composing in different musical forms such as the round, theme and variations, and rondo using music apps such as Form and GarageBand.

The 9-12 and middle school choir is continuing to learn the art of the critique by studying recorded performances and evaluating the expressive qualities of a performance.

Physical Education

Primary classrooms have all had their first few PE classes of the year, and they are already proving they know and understand the three big rules of the gym: 1) freeze when the whistle blows, 2) keep your hands and feet to yourself and 3) listen quietly when someone else is talking . Primary students were introduced to the “racetrack” (running laps around the gym to warm up) and our new PE greeting - something PE teacher Jill Hallissey introduced this year. When students arrive at the gym, they choose how they would like to greet Jill at the door (handshake, hug or high five), which helps reinforce Montessori lessons on grace and courtesy. Students from ages 3 to 9 participate in the greeting and seem to really enjoy it.

Elementary students in second grade and older and middle-schoolers also participate in health class once a week. For all classes, the first unit of the year focused on emotional, mental and social health. Within this unit, students are discussing how to build self-esteem for themselves and others, recognizing their strengths and weaknesses, and setting goals. Middle school students had an additional lesson that focused on body image, media and advertisement influence. They will continue this unit for the next few weeks, with discussion shifting to social health topics including relationships, clear communication and conflict management . 

Spanish

At the Primary level, students are reviewing routines and greetings in Spanish, and reading " La oruga muy hambrienta" ("The Very Hungry Caterpilar") by Eric Carle. They are using a special box to help tell the story - ask your child about it!

Kindergartners also read "La oruga muy hambrienta" and recently completed a project about the life cycle of a butterfly.

 

Lower Elementary students read a book about la fiesta de cumpleaños (the birthday party), and are learning the vocabulary for this unit and addressing the key question, "¿Cuántos años tienes?" ("How old are you?"). They are also learning how to sing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish and comparing the different ways people in the United States and Latin American countries celebrate birthdays.

 

Upper Elementary students recently presented their work about Hispanic Heritage Month, sharing important facts and cultural information about various Latin American countries. Their next cultural project will be about Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead).

In middle school Spanish, seventh-graders have been learning to talk about themselves and "la familia" (the family), and presented a family tree. The eighth-graders have been studying “las vacaciones” (vacations and holidays), and learning the Spanish verb “estar,” which along with “ser” means “to be.” They have been learning and practicing how to talk about their vacation plans, seasons and weather.

Technology (Middle School)

This month the middle school students completed their first 3D prints from scratch. Students modeled themselves in Tinkercad using primitive 3D shapes that they merged to create more complex models. Students were challenged to create models that allowed the arms and head to move, similar to an action figure. Using AstroPrint they sliced and prepared their models, and began their prints. Some took multiple tries to ensure prints came out as intended. Students worked on creative problem-solving at each step, from creating a face to figuring out why a shoulder joint wasn't printing correctly.

Students have also started research on genius inventors - inventors working to resolve a world problem in their own

communities. They are discovering inventors of all ages from different countries and creative specialties working to address world problems. For example, they have learned about a Kenyan boy who created a solar-powered light system that keep lions from attacking his family's cattle, a group of researchers who designed a giant air purifier to help reduce smog and air pollution in cities, and an inventor who is building vertical gardens to address drought and erosion issues faced by local farmers.