Welcome to The Pinwheel
When you chose a Montessori education for your child, perhaps one factor in your decision was our emphasis on experiences that go beyond academics. As Greensboro Montessori School families have risen to the challenge of guiding their children’s education at home, we are hearing tales of students exploring so much more than scholastics. Our students are learning to roller skate and shedding their training wheels. They’re honing their culinary skills through family cooking challenges and mastering the games they conceived over Spring Break. They’re caring for the community by helping to get donations to the food pantry and writing letters of appreciation to essential workers. It’s remarkable how, even as their parameters have grown smaller, our children persist in their inspiring pursuit of a well-rounded, purposeful life. Among all of this student-directed learning, we hope our new Remote Learning Websites have helped you optimize the time you spend enjoying teacher-designed assignments.

Moving forward, we’ll continue to streamline our communication with all of you. With Week Ahead Emails hitting your inboxes every Sunday, this will be the last Pinwheel you receive over the weekend. Instead, you can expect new editions of this schoolwide newsletter to arrive each Wednesday.

You may have also noticed that our social media channels have been fairly quiet recently, as we’ve shifted our focus to remote learning and direct email communications with our enrolled families. We also want to convey the utmost sensitivity in acknowledging the struggles our families and our community are experiencing at this time. In the days to come, we will revisit social media as a platform for appreciation, celebration, and community building. Look for the hashtags #WeLearnEverywhere and #InItTogether for regular helpings of hope and inspiration from our remarkable community. Click here to enjoy our latest post from Kevin Navarro, and find out how your family can participate in our first schoolwide challenge.
Remote Learning Spotlights
Primary
In their science lessons this week, Primary students learned about the life cycle of a butterfly from Carmen Romero. Related activities were tailored to first-year, second-year, and kindergarten students. One of Carmen's students in Primary 3, Iniya, enjoyed the coloring exercise, while others created their own diagrams (as seen above). Watch Carmen's lesson.
Lower Elementary
Over Spring Break, all of our students were given the option to put schoolwork aside or complete an optional project. Isla, a third grader in Lower Elementary 2, was excited to tackle a “how to” research project about cleaning her fish tank. After learning about each of the steps, she documented and shared her knowledge her own instructional video. Watch Isla's Video.
Upper Elementary
When did you last determine whether a demonstrative, interrogative, indefinite, or possessive pronoun was being used as an adjective? Last week, Upper Elementary students received a lesson from John Archambault on this very topic. Fun fact: did you know John was a lawyer at Brooks Pierce for 14 years before joining our School in 2002? Watch John's lesson.
Junior High
On Friday, Junior High students joined Tim Goetz virtually as he released over 100 brown trout in a cold water tributary of the Smith River near Bassett, Virginia. The fish were hatched at our School as a part of the nationwide Trout in the Classroom program. Normally, students would be part of the release, joining Tim stream-side. Look for GoPro footage coming soon!
Resources for Students and Parents
Every week we'll share several resources for students and families that might be of help to you during your time at home. Have you seen a great idea online? Do you own or are you connected to a business that has some complimentary, mission-aligned, and virtual activities you think other families would enjoy? If so, please  email them to us, so we can include them in our recommendations.

  • Resources from the American Montessori Society: The American Montessori Society, one of our accrediting bodies and "a hub for all things Montessori," has created a COVID-19 resources webpage for Montessori schools, teachers, and families. Click here to review their list of recommended student activities.
  • Physical fitness with CORE Gymnastics: Karen Phillips, Greensboro Montessori School parent and owner of CORE Gymnastics, has been producing several videos to help kids and families stay active together. You can find all the free activities on CORE Gymnastics' YouTube Channel, but here are some fun ones featuring cardio to some fun music (translation: gymnastic skills not required!).
  • Warmup for Everyone
  • Preschool Warmup and Stretch
  • Stretching for Everyone
  • Science on the Spot: Join the Greensboro Science Center on weekdays at 11 a.m. for their Facebook video series: Science on the Spot. Look for fresh content daily, ranging from DIY projects, animal adventures, and behind-the-scenes fun! 
  • Joymongers Virtual Trivia: Joymongers Brewing Co. brings the pub trivia experience to you with their Virtual Trivia on Monday nights at 8 p.m. To keep things lighthearted and moving along, play is just for fun (i.e., no scoring and no answer submissions), but you can always have paper and pencil handy, tally your own score, and compete against friends and family virtually.
Communication Archive
Photos of the Week
Enjoy these family-submitted Photos of the Week of remote learning in action!
Uploading to Vidigami
Help us build our Photos of the Week! Did you know you can also upload photos to Vidigami! We've created albums for "Remote Learning Photos" for each of our classrooms. Watch the below videos on how to upload photos and 30-second videos to Vidigami. We've created albums for "Remote Learning Photos" for each of our classrooms, so families can easily share their in-home learning experiences with friends and teachers. We'll curate photos from each week to share with our community through The Pinwheel.
Greensboro Montessori School
2856 Horse Pen Creek Road, Greensboro, NC 27410
336-668-0119 | gms.org