Room 6: This month Room 6 students focused on the sun and moon. After reading a book called "The Sun and the Moon," they talked about how the sun keeps the earth warm and appears during the day time, and how they can sometimes see the moon during both the day and night. They also reviewed the phases of the moon.   

Room 5: In Room 5, students have been talking about signs of winter, including changes in temperature, weather and trees.

Like Room 6, they have been discussing the night sky including the phases of the moon. This week, they will talk about where animals go in the winter and explore the concept of hibernation.

Room 4: Room 4 children are getting back into the swing of things with challenging work and more independence. They're exploring the Arctic with lessons on animals like the arctic fox, caribou and more. Like their classmates in rooms 5 and 6, they've also been learning about the weather and the moon, as they have noticed the moon appears earlier than in the fall. They have also been talking more about birds.

As more birds have been visiting the feeder outside the classroom, students have been trying to identify the birds and discussing their eating habits. As the month wraps up, students will learn about the Lunar New Year, which began January 25.

Room 3: In Room 3, students have been learning all about penguins, including their traits and different species (ask your toddler about Rockhopper, Emperor, Fiordland Crested and African penguins!). The children especially enjoy acting like penguins – sliding on their bellies, building nests out of rocks and catching fish.

Room 20: In the spirit of the season, Room 20 students are learning what animals do in winter, including how they hibernate, migrate and adapt.

After a recent visit from Brandywine Zoo during which the children followed the story "The Mitten" by Jan Brett with live animal friends, the class has been retelling the story using animal figures. Students are also studying various arctic animals, with a special focus on polar bears.

Room 19: Room 19 is looking forward to an upcoming field trip with Room 16 to the Delaware Recycling Center, where they will learn what happens to trash that is not composted. This trip follows up on a lesson students learned about worms as decomposers when Bellevue State Park visited earlier this month with wiggly worms.

After reading "The Mitten" by Jan Brett, students talked about what animals do in winter. They will take nature walks around the WMS campus to search for animals that hibernate, migrate or adapt. They will also look for evidence of animals that burrow and build underground homes – just in time for Groundhog Day! They have also started some "cool" experiments with ice cubes and blocks of ice.

Last week, the students enjoyed meeting a hedgehog, tortoise, rabbit and ferret from the Brandywine Zoo, and learning about how these animals survive during winter.

Room 16: Along with Room 19, students in Room 16 enjoyed a special presentation about worms from Bellevue State Park on January 14. Ahead of the January long weekend, they also learned that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a teacher, preacher and peacemaker.

This week they are focusing on the Lunar New Year and its traditions with the help of some of their classroom families. They will also meet their first mystery reader.

Lower Elementary

Lower Elementary students have been presenting their finished 3D cities to their families and the school. The 3D cities project has allowed the children to express what they've learned about how humans meet their fundamental needs in the modern age. Students studied electricity and circuits, city planning and building design, and explored what is behind the walls and ceiling tiles, simple machines, and the balance between roads and green space in communities. After each lesson, they have gone back to their cities to add these elements in their own creative ways. Next, they will begin learning about economic systems. They will seek answers to questions including:

Upper Elementary

As part of their ongoing state studies, the 9-12 students researched the area and perimeter of their selected states. They are also planning a "road trip" through at least five states with stops at 15 destinations, and learning state shapes, capitals and their locations on the U.S. map. Students have been learning about longitude and latitude, and created their own countries and world map.

Through their book club selection "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town," they have been learning about the Vietnam War. History enthusiast Dan DePietropaolo will share more about the Vietnam War with the students this week.

Middle School

Middle-schoolers are beginning a unit about the U.S. Supreme Court and some of its landmark cases – a topic they chose as part of their focus on conflict for the 2019-20 school year. As part of this study, they will head to Philadelphia on February 6 to see the play "Thurgood" about Thurgood Marshall. 

In science class with Allie, students were challenged to create earthquake-proof structures using pasta, marshmallows and tape. Their goal was to build a structure on which an egg could be placed and remain undamaged during a simulated quake. Each group was given a budget that could be used for materials and to purchase insurance. 

With just a few weeks to go until the Montessori Model United Nations conference in New York City, middle-school students (and sixth-graders) are also busy writing their speeches and creating displays to represent their countries.