We have been very lucky to have so many beautiful days this fall - I suppose it is easy to forget about those weeks of rain when the sun is shining and the air is warm. Yesterday I had prepared a lesson about descriptive essay writing for our 5th graders, but as often happens in the Montessori classroom, everyone wanted to participate! We moved the lesson outside and walked over to the Freeport Historical Society courtyard. Students spent 5 minutes doing a silent observation. Our 4th/5th/6th years spent 15 minutes writing a brief descriptive essay about their observation. The 1st/2nd/3rd years created illustrations and then wrote descriptive sentences about their drawings when we returned to school. Some students chose to read their essays aloud at our closing circle. Quite an impressive collection of first attempts at descriptive writing!

 

 

 "A ripe, juicy pumpkin is just waiting to be carved, but unlike most pumpkins, this one is tall and thin instead of short and fat, not to mention it has a shiny, yellow hue to it, but it is beautiful all the same. It has a short, thin stem and because of its shape it lays on it's side while the other pumpkins stand up straight and tall. It has tiny bites taken out of it from squirrels and other small rodents. This pumpkin is different, just like me. We are all different, that is one thing we share."

 

  "Grass is earths creative skin. Grass is like the little hairs of the earth. It looks like a colorful twine sewed by the earth. Laying on grass is like you're attached to the earth like roots from a tree."

"A barren garden with cracked and crumpled plants sat beneath a big brick building with green shutters and paint peeling in every direction. Upon the garden were pumpkins, oddly shaped pumpkins, some were green and some were orange. The orange ones look as if they were born to be a fox. The green ones just look like dry cucumbers. One of the pumpkins caught my eye. A pumpkin with a squash like body and a cool stem. Its body felt like orange rind and it's stem felt like sugar."

 

"The towering, brick house stood silent and still among the grass and plants. The thin  red, white, and blue flag waved wildly in the wind as a lady with bright, red hair entered the house and shut the door quietly. The white curtains stood still too, looking lonely as they hung down from the windows. The green and orange pumpkins sat on the stone steps, and it looked like they were staring at me. The old white door above them was rusty and chipped, but the green shutters were bright and bold. The red chimney looked as if it were touching the sky as it stood steadily on top of the building."

 

"The big, brick building is standing in the bright sun. When the breeze blows, the 'open' flag on a lovely day. There are lots of sounds surrounding it and there is a beautiful bird flying over the top of the building. The building is a very old place and it is very pretty. There are plants surrounding the bottom."

 

"The garden is a wonderful place. I see a little bit of frozen dirt beneath twelve purple flowers standing tall against the wind, but at some moments they sway with the wind and make soundless music. A bee lands on the tallest flowers, eating the nectar, but soon the bees will stop eating because the flowers will lose their silken petals. Then the wind blows against them, hard, and one of the petals breaks free."

 

"In a small clearing there is a welcoming donut store. It is shaped like a small barn with dark, red paint. A sign on the front door says, "Frosty's Donuts and Coffee" in big red letters. Its colorful 'open' sign waves in the slight breeze as people walk in. The donut smell is absent, but you can smell coffee being brewed. Behind it there is a quiet parking lot. The cars sit there as if they have gone to sleep. Only now and then can you hear the roar of a car that has been started. A motorcycle drives on the main road, making a roar that can be heard miles away. People walking on the sidewalk cover their ears. The donut shop sits there, it's shabby structure glistening in the afternoon sun."