THE MONTESSORI MOMENT
Issue 2
The
Montessori
Moment
Winter 2014
MOUNTAIN WEST MONTESSORI ACADEMY’S FAMILY NEWSLETTER
A Noun is a Person, Place,
or Thing…
Behold the Montessori grammar materials—
studying grammar hasn’t been this fun since
Schoolhouse Rock! In Montessori, verbs are
represented by a big bright shiny red ball…a
ball that you can “bounce”, “roll”, “throw”, or
“juggle”. Many verbs are action words!
Other stories are used to teach nouns (solid
black pyramid), adjectives (medium blue
pyramid), and articles (small light blue
pyramid), which make up the noun family—
since adjectives describe nouns and articles
precede them. As students get older, we add
the tall purple pyramid to this family to
represent pronouns, since they take the
place of a noun.
You might guess that the symbol for the
adverb is an orange sphere, since adverbs
modify verbs. There are also symbols for
prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
The symbols progress from these very
concrete 3-dimensional shapes to flat
wooden symbols, and eventually students
use a plastic template and colored pencils to
begin analyzing the parts of speech in
phrases, sentences, and finally literature.
Together with the Montessori sentence
analysis materials, which teach students
sentence structure and how to identify
subjects, predicates, objects, and adverbial
extensions, these materials give students
practice in the logical thinking of grammar.
Why does this matter?
“Grammar is important because it is
the language that makes it possible for us to
talk about language. Grammar names the
types of words and word groups that make
up sentences not only in English but in any
language. As human beings, we can put
sentences together even as children--we can
all do grammar. But to be able to talk about
how sentences are built, about the types of
words and word groups that make up
sentences--that is knowing about grammar.
And knowing about grammar offers a
window into the human mind and into our
amazingly complex mental capacity.
People associate grammar
with errors and correctness. But knowing
about grammar also helps us understand
what makes sentences and paragraphs clear
and interesting and precise. Grammar can be
part of literature discussions, when we and our
students closely read the sentences in poetry
and stories. And knowing about grammar
means finding out that all languages and
all dialects follow grammatical patterns.”
~NCTE (National Council of Teachers of
English)
Here are some fun grammar games you can
play with your student to deepen
understanding and extend vocabulary:



Choose a random noun. Now take
turns finding adjectives that
describe the noun. You must be
able to justify your adjective, at
least making a good case that it
does, indeed, describe the noun!
(Remember that nouns can also be
ideas, such as friendship or
bravery.)
Repeat with verbs and adverbs.
Construct an amazingly long
sentence by taking turns adding on
prepositions and consequent
prepositional phrases. (The dog ate
in the rain by the bridge with the
fox in his den without a fork
because he was hungry amid the
confusion after the lightning
storm…)
THE MONTESSORI MOMENT | Issue 2
2
Marine Biology
Club Update
MWMA’s Marine Biology Club is in
full swing! We have learned about
ocean currents, plankton, marine
food chains, buoyancy, and whales.
A few weeks ago, students
decorated the
sidewalks of the school with scale
drawings of cetaceans, including a
98-foot blue whale and a cute little
5-foot Commerson’s dolphin.
We are gearing up for our spring
trip to Catalina Island by starting
some fundraising. Recently, students
earned a grand total of around
Wilde for organizing this successful
event! If you are willing to head up a
fundraiser, please let us know.
Watch the school update emails for
more information about the Catalina
trip as well as our January field trip to
the Living Planet Aquarium.
$1500 selling Lehi Roller Mills
baking mixes. Thanks to Randilee
The Middle School
Plunge
There are fewer transitions in youth that
are more difficult than the move from
elementary to middle school. As parents
we are all looking for ways to ease the
transition. A student’s middle school
experince can set the tone for the rest of
their educational career. At MWMA we
are always looking for ways to make this
transition more successful. The research
shows that the more stability we can
offer students between 6th and 7th grade,
the better off they are.
You don’t have to take our word for it.
Check out one of these two articles on
the research regarding the pros of a K-9
school.
THE MONTESSORI MOMENT | Issue 2
3
Thank-you to all of you
supportive parents for
providing plenty of books to
your children, whether
through the Book Fair or the
local library. As you know,
literacy is at the heart of
education, and MWMA
students have this
homework every night: read,
read, read!
Our MWMA school library,
expertly guided by Ms.
Melissa, now contains over
2,500 books collected solely
by donation! We are
beginning to receive large
orders of additional books to
complement the donations
and round out our
blossoming literary
collection. Our students are
readers, and Ms. Melissa is in
the library each day to steer
students toward another
great book, teach them how
to research effectively, and
draw them into the
wonderful world of literature
through her animated
readings and “book talks”.
Our last Book Fair was a
huge success—it will allow us
to add atlases to each
classroom, create rotating
mini-collections of continent
The Heart of our
School
by [Article Author]
& biome books, and grow
our classroom libraries.
(One of our kindergarten students,
Cendra McAfee, dons her “reading
glasses” to look at some exciting
picture books.)
Encourage your student(s)
to read silently and aloud.
And be sure to read to
them— especially books that
are slightly above their
reading level. Your fluency
and enthusiasm are
contagious!
THE MONTESSORI MOMENT | Issue 2
4
The Heart of our School Continued………..successful baking mixes. Thanks
to Randilee Wilde for organizing
Our MWMA staff members were recently
treatedoftothe
a professional
seminar given by local
sidewalks
school with development
scale
this successful event! If you are
authors Dean and Shannon Hale. Shannon
has
written
such
well-known
books
as
The Goose Girl, Austenland,
drawings of cetaceans,
willing to head up a fundraiser,
and the Ever After High series, as well as the Newbery Honor book Princess Academy. She and her husband
please let us know. Watch the
including
a 98-foot
blue Revenge,
whale and they
Dean have also published graphic novels,
including
Rapunzel’s
helped us better understand
school update emails for more
andreluctant
a cute little
5-footand bookworms alike.
the benefits that graphic novels can offer
readers
Increasingly, research
information about the Catalina
Commerson’s
dolphin.
shows that graphic novels draw in all kinds of readers while teaching visual literacy, sequencing, narrative
trip as well as our January field
structures, metaphor/symbolism, and inference.
We are gearing up for our spring
trip to the Living Planet
trip
to
Catalina
Island
by
starting
Aquarium.
Graphic novels are a format, not a genre, and the Hales presented a wide variety
of options. Historical fiction
Recently,
titles such as Nathan Hale’s Hazardoussome
Tales fundraising.
teach students
about past events in an engaging way. Classical
students
grand
of Odyssey) help students better
literature works presented in graphic form
(thinkearned
Romeoa &
Juliettotal
or The
$1500
selling
Lehi Roller
understand the text through the clues around
provided
by the
artwork.
Mills baking mixes. Thanks to lee
Marine Biology
Club Update
MWMA’s Marine Biology Club is
in full swing! We have learned
about ocean currents, plankton,
marine food chains, buoyancy,
and whales. A few weeks ago,
students decorated the
s
THE MONTESSORI MOMENT | Issue 2
5
Beets
Take it HOME
Ideas for bringing the Montessori Method home.
Basil
We are anxiously awaiting spring and
the opportunity to get out into our
school gardens. The good news is
that you don’t have to wait! Find a
use for those trimming leftovers and
let the kids start an odds and ends
garden at home. Who know? It
might even inspire them to eat more
veggies.
Slice the top ½ inch from a fresh beet with its
greens still attached. Trim the greens, leaving
about ½ inch of stem. Rinse the beet top, then
place it in a shallow dish of water. Little shoots
should appear within several days.
Garlic
Recording Your Work
Trim several stalks from a basil plant, pinching off
the larger leaves from the stalks' tops (this focuses
energy on root-growing). Submerge the cut ends
in water. The bottoms will darken, and, after about
two weeks, small roots should emerge.
Celery
Tightly pack several peeled garlic cloves in a
small container and cover them with water.
Roots should appear within the first few
days, then sprouts will emerge from the
cloves' tops within a week.
Keep a Plant Journal: Have kids record each
plant's start date, then add sketches,
measurements, and notes as the days go on.
Yams
GO BEYOND THE SCIENCE
Trim a bunch of celery 3 inches or so above its
base. Place it in a shallow dish of water.
Leaves should grow out of the center in a
week, and tiny roots will also sprout from the
bottom. Peel away any
rotting stalks as the plant grows.
Wash a yam well, then cut it in half. Place the cut
surface in a shallow dish of water. Leaves will
appear in two weeks.
THE MONTESSORI MOMENT | Issue 2
6
Field Trips
heading back to the school.
Stay tuned for information
on our upcoming field trip to
the Natural History Museum!
Experiential Learning
Recently, 154 of our Upper
Elementary students
traveled to the Clark
Planetarium for a fun and
educational day learning
about the planets and our
solar system. Our 6th graders
have been studying this
topic in their classrooms,
and the field trip gave them
some further insight into
astronomy. The students
learned about each planet in
our solar system, toured the
planetarium, and watched
the IMAX movie Our
Exploding Universe. At the
end of our visit, one of the
planetarium supervisors
commented that our group
was the most well-informed
and well-behaved group of
that size that she had ever
seen. Kudos to our students
for their polite manners,
knowledgeable questions,
and great behavior!
After the planetarium,
students ate lunch at the
Gateway Food Court. They
cleaned up after themselves,
and traveled to the Salt Lake
City Library where they had
a tour of the library before
In Middle Schoool, the 7th
graders had the opportunity
to visit an industrial factory
as a part of the CTE
program. Students were
able to explore a variety of
possible careers in action.
The full Middle School took a
second trip to the glacier
park. They got to identify
scientific rock formations,
write Haiku poems in nature,
and hike with the PE class.
These real life experiences
are a major focus of our
school’s philosophy.
THE MONTESSORI MOMENT | Issue 2
7
The
It Takes a
to Create a
Village
Montessori
Moment
School…
Building UP-
Our theme this year has been “Building UP,” building up a school, a
community, students, and each other. It has been quite a journey so far. We still have many,
many miles to go, but what an exciting adventure is yet to come.
All of You-
It would not be possible to thank all of the people who have put in hours,
laminating, cutting, reading in classes, running music groups, helping out with classroom parties,
making donations, and sending us your wonderful children. Thank you for the amazing support
that you have been!
Eagle Scouts- Garden boxes and chowkis—oh my!
It seems like an army of Eagle Scouts have
been hard at work helping us with projects to build up our school. We are excited to see our new
garden boxes go in and a whole truck full of chowkis delivered to our classrooms. (Chowkis are
the little tables students in the classroom can use while sitting on the floor to work.) If you know
a scout looking for a project, we have many more things on our “wish list”!
Our PTO- Our marvelous PTO has been hard at work supporting the school. You may have
noticed the Giving Tree in our front breezeway. It offers families and teachers a way to connect
on the things that would help the most in building an amazing learning environment. Any time
you are visiting the school you might want to drop by the tree and “pick an apple.” Each apple is
outlined with a teacher’s name and request that would help out their classroom. If you would like
to buy that item and return it (and the apple) to the school, we can reuse them to meet the next
need.