volume 8 issue 6 10, 9, 8 - oak farm montessori...
TRANSCRIPT
February 27, 2015
The Tall Oak
Leaves Volume 8 Issue 6
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Our Mission:
To provide a Montessori environment that inspires children
to reach their potential through meaningful work.
10, 9, 8.... It is hard to believe, but the Tall Oak Gala is less than 10
days away. The excitement is building as the team of
parent volunteers is working to finalizing all the details
necessary to make this an evening to remember! In the
next few days each family will receive an Auction Pre-
view. In the Preview, you will be given an glimpse into the
many auction items that will be available during the Giv-
ing Hour and Live Auction.
Thank you to all of our
Gala Volunteers! We have received great response to our plea for volunteers on March 6 and March 7. There
are still a few opportunities available if you are interested. The first volunteer opportunity is
to help set up on Friday March 6. We will meet at Oak Farm right after morning car line,
load our cars with auction items & supplies and head to Dupont Downs. We will return in
time for car line on Friday afternoon. The second opportunity is: Host a Silent Auction table
during the Giving Hour on Saturday night. Please contact Kim Davidson at
[email protected] if you are interested!
The auction items are in and pictures are
being taken! Watch for our special
Classroom Project Preview early next week!
Raffle Tickets are still on sale—stop by the office to buy yours!
$10 each or 6 for $50—cash or check only.
Thank You to our
Tall Oak Gala Sponsors
Program Sponsors Campbell & Fetter Bank
Dekko Investment Services
Diehm Construction
Raffle Ticket Sponsors AMI Investment Management, Inc.
Dekko Investment Services
Shaffer Multimedia
Bar Sponsors Burns Construction
DeHayes Group
Rottmann-Collier Architects
Shaffer Multimedia
Other Sponsorships & In-kind Donations
BKD LLP
Old National/PHP
National Benefit Auctions & Events
Giggle Face Photography
Lynelle Deam Photography
Page 3
Infant & Toddler Program
In January, the Infant Toddler Staff took time helping four students transition from the Infant
room to the Toddler environments. It was beautiful watching the young toddlers’ transition
almost seamlessly. The students showed readiness by demonstrating skills appropriate for
the Toddler room. Some of these skills are being able to follow directions, work in a larger
social group, arrange their own table setting, find their cubby or walk to carline. The existing
students welcomed their new friends with open arms. There is beauty in watching a 20
month old offer a helping hand or a hug to a 16 month old as if she is the care taker for this
4 month younger child.
Primary Program
The pink tower is made up of 10 pink cubes made of
wood, varying in size from 1 to 10 cubic centimeters,
therefore representing the concrete concept of the
numbers 1 thru 10. The purpose is to build the
blocks of graduated 3 dimensional sizes in order to
understand sequence and order.
Each cube is taken one at a time and placed on a rug.
The tower is built from largest to smallest, introduc-
ing the concept of large and small, large, larger, larg-
est and small, smaller, smallest. If the child is ready ,
you can count the numbers 1 to 10, starting with the
smallest cube (1) to the largest (10). The concrete
difference between 1 and 10 is the first step in un-
derstanding addition. When the child is ready to
count backwards, the cubes can be used from 10 as
the largest cube down to the smallest cube 1. This is
the visual aid to understanding subtraction.
Building the pink tower aids the child to develop vis-
ual and small muscular perception of dimensions,
awareness of dimensions leads to observation of the
child's environment which aids the child in smoother
and more coordinated movement.
“Free the child’s
potential and
you will transform him
into the world.”
-Dr. Maria Montessori
Page 4
Lower Elementary
Animals have inhabited the Earth for millions of years and
have always amazed children. They love to learn and care
about them and they are a springboard for research and
imagination. Like everything in the Montessori classroom,
we take the very concrete and move towards abstraction, we take the big
picture and move towards the tiniest organisms and
discover how everything is related, interconnected and
interdependent.
For the past months we explored and discovered the
animal kingdom and its categories from single celled
organisms to mammals. We classified vertebrates and
invertebrates, learned about the characteristics of vertebrates like their covering, reproduction, circulation,
movement, respiration and skeleton.
One of the big “wow” discoveries was how the character-
istics change from simple to more complex as animals left
the water. From simple circulation in a fish to the four
chambered heart of mammals!
We are now researching fish, exploring Porifera, arranging
organisms based on special characteristics (Taxonomy) and
looking at animal needs, how those needs are met and how
animals adapted to the biomes they live in.
Upper Elementary
Page 5
In Spanish we are working on nouns in the
classroom. Working in small groups, we are drawing the inside of the Prairie House and labeling the people, plac-es, and things in the building-- like pencils, chairs, tables, books etc.
We have a Spanish lesson four times a week and Susan is our teach-er. June, a student in UE2 stated, “I love Spanish and Susan.” Zander, another UE2 student related, “Susan is fun and hilarious. She explains things clearly and she is good at teaching.” Allison, a student in UE1
commented, “We like Susan because she relates to us, and she’s
good at answering questions.” Written by: by Mariah C.
Spanish.
UE2 students have
worked together to create a mosaic project detailing a falcon, the school’s mascot, on both coaster tiles and a keep safe box. Students also have written
inspirational quotes and placed them inside the box. Further, a pic-
ture frame was designed and built by students for this event.
During the process of creating these projects there was voting, col-
laborating, and also frustration. Through that commotion, we man-aged to reach consensus. Sofia, UE2 student and member of the gala project committee, stated “Working together was hard and easy at
the same time.” Tanner, another UE2 student and member of the committee commented that his favorite part of the brainstorming
process “[was] when we drew the falcon.” Written by: Tia G.
The 6th years have been study-
ing Native Americans. For their research they made a brochure and a representation of the tribe or village they are studying. The tribes that were studied included Inuit, Cree, Mohawk,
Navajo, Blackfeet, Potawotami, and Shoshone. We presented our projects to the rest of the class on Friday, January 30. Reed, a 6th year student stated that he thought it was “pretty cool” while Tia, another 6th year student felt that “it was a
fun process and I learned a lot about the Cree Native American tribe.”
Written by: by Mariah C.
UE2 Gala Project
Native Americans
On Monday, January, 26, Upper Ele-
mentary students went to the Ken-dallville Public Library to meet Adam Gidwitz, the author of A Tale Dark and Grimm, In a Glass Grimmly, and A Grimm Conclusion. The children of UE2 really
enjoyed the meeting, and when Adam told one of the stories from A Tale Dark and Grimm, the students cracked up. Multiple students said they either liked the event or loved it. For instance, Thomas relayed that he loved the chance to hear an author read his books, while Steele mentioned that the stories told were really
funny. Written by: by Riyan J.
Adam Gidwitz
Middle School Page 6
The Middle School is a constantly
changing prepared environment with
a wide variety of opportunities to
learn about real world situations. In
November of 2014, the Middle
School added Angora rabbits to our
farm fiber program. We had two females and one male and we ended up accidentally welcoming unexpected
addition- baby Angora bunnies. Our rabbits were unintentionally bred, but we gladly accepted the opportuni-
ty to problem-solve. This has turned our mistake into something really positive for our community.
Born in December, they spent 3 weeks in a nest box, which their mothers’ instinctively make for them out of
fur and other bedding. Once they were out of the nest box, their life source, like all mammals, was their
mothers’ milk. Now, their diet consists of rabbit pellets and hay.
Our next project will be building a “Bunny Play-land” out of an old chicken coop. During farm time, the stu-
dents are creating plans that include plenty of entertainment for our little friends. There will be everything
from climbing towers to tubes so that they can experience the illusion of “being outside”. All of the materials
in this sustainability project have been found or are being re-used to fulfill this purpose.
Bunny Lovin’ by Julia E. -8th Year
IMPORTANT RABBIT FACTS
Born: December 12, 2014 Weaning: 6-10 weeks Sexually Mature: 6 months
Page 7
Specialist: Music This year Kindergartners are becoming familiar with the mu-
sical alphabet and rhythms, discovering how to play and care
for classroom instruments & learning about instrument fami-
lies, as well as expanding their repertoire of songs which
hopefully they are sharing at home. Some Primary students
will soon experience the Montessori bells in small group
lessons with the opportunity to practice individually during
their respective work cycles.
Lower Elementary students are committing the notes of the
Treble Clef staff to memory (with the help of a new song)
along with rhythms & musical symbols, enjoying old & new
folk dances and will soon begin preparing a piece to share
during the Earth Day celebration in April. Third years are
getting excited about the talent showcase that will be hap-
pening in March.
All K - 6th grade music students, including the African
Drummers, performed to a full house at Grandparents’ Day
in November. Instruction with Ketu Oladuwa continues for
6th years as they continually prepare for another perfor-
mance in the spring.
Upper classes are reviewing notation as well as learning to
dictate rhythms, identify intervals and will also be sharing
their talents at the annual variety show in March. The date is tentatively set for Friday, March 20th from 1:15-
2:45pm. Parents are welcome to join us for that
event.
Beginning this fall each Middle Schooler has 1 quarter of
general music over the course of the year where the basics
of reading notation, symbols and familiar terms are covered
as well as learning to apply this knowledge through a perfor-
mance opportunity to be determined by each group of stu-
dents. The first quarter worked on singing techniques. Per-
haps you heard the 2nd quarter group perform a bucket
drumming piece at the Oak Farm 15th Birthday party. The
3rd quarter students are working on 2 songs that will be
“mashed-up” by the end of March.
The long-term plan for Oak Farm Middle School’s music
program is to prepare the students to launch into a music
program at the high school of their choice.
Thank you for your support of the Music Department at
Oak Farm!
Page 8
Specialist: STEAM The after school STEAM program is well
underway. The program began with a visit
from Science Central and students put the
scientific method to use as they made and
tested paper gliders. We went on to learn
how batteries work and with the help of
some lemons, created circuits to light up
LEDs. The batteries were used to power
student-made “robots” that vibrated and
crashed, ending in our
own Robot War. Next up
is a project developed by
our resident engineer, Pe-
ter Chaparro. He is going
to teach us how to make
origami flashlights!
Parent note: We have one built-in snow
make-up day already on the
calendar. Look for an email
letting you know times for a
second make-up day.
Elementary Slumber Party!
We are having one! Don’t miss this chance for a night out! Lower and
Upper Elementary student are invited to be part of the first big Tall Oak
Gala Slumber Party. The night will be filled with fun games, pizza, a
movie and a slumber party with friends! Parent/Staff members Macy
McNaughton, Jillian Chaulk, Kim Davidson, David Worman and Colin
Chaulk have all signed on to be the overnight chaperones!
All elementary students have been given a flyer about this exciting event! There
are only 20 spots left... Send your registration form ASAP to hold your spot! If
you need another copy—email Macy, [email protected]
DATE: May 15 TIME: 6pm—9am COST: $25
Summer Day Camp
Oak Farm Montessori
June & July 2015
Oak Farm pro§ñdes a MoõtessÉüi Ünvñroõment
that inspires Ñhildren to äeach their potential thro£gh meaningful wÖük
Summer Day Camp Registratioõ FÉüm