We love limericks! Here is a sampling of the many, many limericks the students have written this week. In addition to following the rhyme pattern and the rhythm pattern, I encouraged them to create their own nonce word or portmanteau in at least one limerick.

I once made a very good pizza
I shared it with the King of Wizza
He loved it so much
that he ate it for lunch
Then took me to the Tower of Pisa.

I once lived in a red castle
Where my servents were always a hassle
When I said, "stop!"
They always said "not."
So I sent them all out of my castle.

There once was a cat named Moose.
He acted much more like a goose.
He honked all day
and the neighbors would say,
"They shouldn't have named that cat Moose!"

There once was a fish named Merlin
He had a friend named Swirlin
They played all day,
and their mothers would say,
"That silly Merlin and Swirlin!"

Thank you so much to everyone who attended parent night this week! We had 100% attendance in both classrooms and we are so grateful that everyone supported this event. The elementary students did such an amazing job giving lessons. They should all be quite proud of themselves for their hard work.

My goal for the evening was to give parents a sneak-peak into our classroom. The Montessori classroom can be a mystery to parents. Students come home talking about bead frames and purple triangles and geometry cabinets and puzzle maps and expect mom & dad to know what they are talking about. I hope that this event allowed you to experience the materials and gain a better understanding of Montessori education. Remember that you are always welcome to peak into our classroom by scheduling an observation.

Students learned quickly that even when you truly understand a concept and a material, it can be a big challenge to explain it to someone else! I often cite this as the most important reason to stay in Montessori for the entire 3 year cycle. Third year students have frequent opportunities to give lessons to younger students. There is a large body of research that shows the best way for a student to solidify and retain knowledge on a topic is to teach it to someone else.

During class meeting on Thursday, students reflected on the event and worked together to create this list of the positive/negative aspects of the experience.

Some positive feedback:

*Everyone spoke clearly during lessons
*We remembered to introduce ourselves
*We were patient and explained things well
*Everyone chose works that they knew really well
*No one complained, even after giving the lesson many times
*It was really fun
*Parents thanked us for giving them a lesson
*Parents were usually polite if someone made a mistake
*After care was fun

Some negative feedback:

*Some parents interrupted a lot
*It was hurtful when parents checked our work on paper while we showed them the lesson (this was added by students who presented math lessons)
*Some parents tried to give us lessons by showing another way we could do the work faster. It was frustrating.
*Some parents were talking to other parents about their kids and some friends overheard
*We ran out of cookies before everyone had one (this is my favorite!)

Thank you to all of you for being flexible when our numbering system didn’t work – we’ll try a new format next time. I will try to get more photos next time - I wasn't able to get a picture of everyone. We would like to host this event again next year and would appreciate any feedback from parents.

Enjoy the weekend & I will see you all at conferences next week.

A student demonstrates a lesson from the art curriculum.

The most colorful long division work you'll ever see!

Grammar 101

A trip through Europe's major cities.

Addition & subtraction on the small bead frame

This student tells the story of the Ordovician Period.

The elementary classroom was Superbowl crazy this week! First, students split into small groups to plan a trip to Superbowl XLVI (which they can now tell you means 46). They had to find plane tickets, a hotel, dining options and, of course, tickets to the big game. This project involved a great deal of team work, math skills (4 operations, currency, elapsed time), practice using the new classroom computer, the ability to read maps and much more. After adding everything together, the cheapest trip to Superbowl XLVI came in at just under $7000!

We looked at  pictures of past superbowl tickets and discussed the pictures on each. Each ticket has illustrations that represent the city where the superbowl is taking place. We made a list of things that might be depicted on a ticket if the Superbowl were to come to Maine. Students then designed their own ticket. Many tickets showed moose or lobster holding the trophy and one student turned Katahdin into the trophy!

Students were given rosters for both the Patriots and the Giants. This was the perfect opportunity to introduce mean, median and mode. Students went right to work adding, dividing, and sequencing. For the New England Patriots, the mean age is 26, the median is 26 and the mode is 25. Ask your student to explain how they got theses answers.

Despite all of this football madness, we did manage to find time for regularly scheduled lessons. I can't wait to see everyone for parent night on Febraury 8th at 5:00. The students are eager to be the teachers for the night and let you be the student. It's going to be great fun!

Art students participated in a group critique on Friday.
They have been working very hard on still life drawing.

Josh demonstrates point of view to a group of 3rd years.

4th year students continue to do line and size comparisons in geometry.

2nd year students have been using artwork around the classroom for creative writing prompts.

We began studying limericks this week. Students read several examples by Edward Lear, Rudyard Kipling and Lewis Carroll. They chose some favorites to illustrate. We discussed the rhyme & rhythm patterns found in this style of poetry. Next week students will write their own limericks.

Showing a little New England pride!