Meet the WMS Student Support Team |
This year, two important roles were added to the team responsible for providing student support. In addition to Instructional Support Teachers dedicated to supporting students’ growth in the areas of literacy and executive function skills, WMS welcomed Lynda Coan and Dr. Nineka Dyson to the team. Their expertise broadens WMS’s approach to student support and highlights the importance of child development and social and emotional learning when considering student success. Just as classroom teachers prioritize Dr. Montessori's call to educate the whole child, the student support team is focused on the development of skills and behaviors that allow students to develop a sense of self, practice independence, advocate for themselves, and feel prepared for both school and life beyond WMS. Please read on to learn more about the team.
|
|
Trish Harkins, Instructional Support Teacher
Trish has worked at WMS in various roles for more than 20 years. She is passionate about reading and empowers students as they become readers themselves. Trish uses a multi-sensory approach in her instruction to teach and reinforce important literacy concepts, scaffolding students as they solidify new skills. Whether she is working with a student one-on-one or leading small group lessons, Trish has each student’s individual needs and goals in mind.
|
|
Carol Lettich, Instructional Support Teacher
Carol has been at WMS for nearly five years, and she has worked as both a Lead Teacher in the Lower Elementary Program and as a member of the Instructional Support Team. Carol brings her knowledge of best practices in special education and reading instruction to this role, supporting students’ understanding of various literacy concepts. In addition to providing instruction in reading, writing and spelling, Carol also works with her students to develop learning strategies that promote independence in the classroom.
|
|
Lynda Coan, Child Development Specialist
Prior to becoming a Montessori teacher, Lynda worked in early intervention for many years, providing services to children and families through both the educational and medical models of intervention. From 2014 to 2020, Lynda worked at WMS as a Lead Toddler Teacher, and we are grateful now to have her back in the role of Child Development Specialist. Lynda uses a systematic approach to support the youngest students at WMS, which includes focused observations of children, playful interactions to assess their skills, and collaboration with classroom teachers and families. She blends her knowledge of neuroscience, child development and educational best practices with Montessori principles to help teachers create learning environments that support all aspects of child development.
|
|
Dr. Nineka Dyson, WMS Counseling Support Specialist
Dr. Dyson has worked with children and adults from all facets of life for over 15 years. Her focus on prevention aligns with WMS’s approach to caring for students and staff, which has resulted in a wonderful partnership already. Since starting at WMS in September, Dr. Dyson has spent time observing in classrooms, coaching students and advising teachers on best practices for meeting their students’ social and emotional needs. As the year goes on, Dr. Dyson will build upon this work with a focus on well-being, social skills learning and self-regulation strategies that support all members of each classroom community.
|
|
Halloween Information - Thursday, October 27
The WMS Halloween Parade is returning this year! The parade, for students in Primary, Elementary and Middle School classrooms, will take place on Thursday, October 27 at 9:30 a.m. near the soccer field. (Toddler classrooms will hold their own, less scary, events!) Children should be dropped off in car line that day already wearing their classrooms. Please see Bloomz for classroom-specific information about celebrations after the parade.
As you and your child plan their costume, please take into account the following school guidelines:
- No weapons of any kind are allowed to be part of a costume.
- Costumes may not depict blood, guts or gore.
- Costumes may not depict stereotypes of any group or culture.
- Because our youngest students will be in school that day, costumes must not be frightening to small children.
- Hair color and makeup should be applied at home and not be brought to school.
- Students should arrive at school in costume.
If you have any questions about appropriate costume choices, please let your child's teacher know. Your child will change out of their costume after the parade, so please send in a complete set of clothes for them to wear for the remainder of the school day.
|
|
The Montessori Birth & Life Celebration - Room 20 Style
Marilyn Faralli, Lead Primary (3-6) Teacher (Room 20)
|
|
As a Montessori tradition, we celebrate a child's birthday by having them "walk around the sun." A symbolic sun is placed on the floor, encircled by the names of each month. The months are placed counterclockwise around the sun to illustrate the Earth's annual rotation. We start by "lighting" a candle and placing it in the center of the sun. This represents the light of the sun and the birth of the child.
We ask the family to reflect on the day their child was born - what the weather was that day, what time of day they arrived and who was there to welcome them. Pictures are shown from the first days of life.
Then, the child moves around the sun, starting with the month of their birth and slowly advancing one month at a time while everyone names the months of the year. After one rotation, the child stops again at their birth month.
We then talk about their first birthday and the family shares memories about that time - something special that happened or a milestone that was achieved. Pictures from the first year are shown. This process is repeated for each year of life until they reach their present age.
The child is given a special wish from the teacher for the year ahead and many, many more. We then sing "Happy Birthday" and take a picture of the child with their family. The child often brings a special snack to share with the class.
This year, we have added something new to the ceremony — the origin of the child's name. We ask families to share the story or meaning of their child's name. This shares a unique aspect of identity and also helps the children to understand the importance of one's name.
This ceremony is completely focused on the child — it is their special day.
Children and adults alike really enjoy this meaningful celebration. We learn more about each other by sharing family history and traditions, bringing us closer as a classroom community. We share our similarities and celebrate our differences. The world becomes a smaller place.
|
|
Lower Elementary (6-9) Program |
|
Montessori Math Materials in the Lower Elementary Program
Melissa Connelly, Lead Lower Elementary (6-9) Teacher (Room 13)
|
|
In the 6-9 Program, students are using Montessori materials to practice math operations concepts. These color-coded manipulatives support children as they work through complex mathematical processes.
The Montessori bead cabinet is a great example. Using color-coded beads, children lay out numbered multiple tabs in order, up to the cubed number (e.g., children lay out multiples of 5 up to 125 — 5x5x5 — with the 5 bead chain). Initially this builds skills in one-to-one correspondence, numeracy and number sense as the students count and then try to find a tab that matches their calculations. If they miscount, the tab isn't there, which helps them correct their error independently. In addition, they are sometimes required to distinguish carefully between numbers like 171 and 711. Later, children begin to skip-count and notice patterns. They begin to develop strategies to sort their numbers, like pre-sorting by hundreds before laying them out, rather than looking through all the pieces for one number. The chains are designed to allow students to form squares and cubes of numbers.
The Montessori Stamp Game is another great material. The colored tiles of the stamp game help children see the distinction in place value (the "1" in the thousands place means something different from the "1" in the tens place, even though the process of adding, subtracting or multiplying the numbers might be the same). The big movements required to do things like exchange one ten for 10 units helps build muscle memory and makes sense to children, rather than just memorizing algorithms (sometimes incorrectly).
These materials help build a strong foundation as math becomes increasingly complicated and more abstract down the road.
|
|
The Wednesday Weekly shares WMS news and events that are relevant to the families in our community.
Please send submissions to wednesday-weekly@wmsde.org 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.
|
|
|
WILMINGTON MONTESSORI SCHOOL
WWW.WMSDE.ORG
|
|
Copyright © 2022. All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
