Damariscotta Montessori School
Newsletter
Primary Class
This past week our study of apples has
intensified. The children have been eagerly
working on jobs involving the parts of an apple,
and the life cycle of an apple tree throughout the
year. Thursday we went to Clark’s Cove Farm to
pick apples. We had a tour of the room in which
the apples are turned into cider. The apples
were delicious, and picking them was great fun!
A special part of the field trip for many of us was
seeing the Canada geese at the edge of the
orchard. We followed the geese down to the
foggy waterfront, where we had a rest before
heading back to school for lunch.
"One test of the correctness of educational
procedure is the happiness of the child itself."
Dr. Maria Montessori
Friday afternoon Mrs. Avantaggio came in to
paint gourds with us. It was a great addition to
our harvest studies, and creative joy for the
children. Thank you Mrs. A! Next week our
harvest studies will continue with apples and we
will begin to learn about pumpkins and the
changing autumn leaves.
Lower Elementary Class
Last week our class really seemed to settle in.
We felt that the ‘elders’ were ready to plan the
jobs they would do during the week, with some
guidance.
They enjoyed the greater
responsibility, and have been doing well. We
continue to study land-forms in Geography, and
started the Five Kingdoms in Biology. In
Geometry we have been studying and reviewing
polygons. In Writing Process we talked about
brainstorming ideas, and details of topics, and
continued our writing. The fine weather sent us
into the playground to collect leaves to make leaf
rubbings for art.
We discovered that wax
crayons resist water color and came up with
some nice effects.. It was fun to experiment.
Meanwhile, in our read-aloud story, we are
discovering more about the habitat of the ‘pahay-okee’ the great marshlands of Florida. The
story, “The Talking Earth’ by Jean CraigheadGeorge, tells of the experiences of a young
Seminole girl as she goes on a quest to the ‘river
of grass’. We are learning some interesting
things about the wildlife and ecology of the area,
and how they compare with ours in Maine. The
‘youngens’ continue to work hard in language
arts and math.
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This week the fog came in on little cat feet, but
each afternoon it crept away again and we had
really nice weather. The ‘youngens’ wanted to
have a list of jobs like the ‘elders’ and have been
doing well deciding which jobs they need to work
on each day. All of the youngens have begun to
work on the golden beads: we will move on to the
stamp game in the next few weeks as each child
becomes ready.
On Tuesday we noticed that the Monarch
butterfly chrysalis had turned from a golden
green to inky black, and within a few hours the
beautiful butterfly had emerged. The children
took it out side and opened the top and let it free
to begin her journey south. It was a wonderful
sight.
In Writing Workshop we worked on describing
objects without naming them.
After some
practice, we put our hands in the feely-box to
touch the object in it and see how many
describing words we could generate without ever
telling what it was. Then we asked an upper
elementary student to read our list of adjectives
and see if he could guess what it was. He
guessed! It was a spiny conch shell.
We continue our story of Billie Wind in the
Everglades of Florida, as she figures out how to
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Damariscotta Montessori School
survive a major forest fire, and found some of her
ancestors’ relics, and a new friend.
In Geography we continued our exploration of
land-forms. In History each day we are keeping
a calendar-diary of special events. In Art some of
the children drew pictures of a planet that they
would like to live on.
They used their
imaginations and came up with some good
ideas.
We have begun to prepare ourselves for the
move to our new. school. We discussed what
changes there might be. We are all looking
forward to it.
Upper Elementary Class
This week the children have definitely hit a new
stride in the morning work cycle. Small work
groups are forming, the children are
accomplishing more and more each day, and the
quality of work has really improved. We’ve been
trying to stay outside as long as possible to take
advantage of the beautiful weather we have been
having, because we all know what’s coming.
The field trip week before last was a terrific
success. The children picked up almost 50
pounds of garbage from Pemaquid Beach. After
the garbage haul, Dave Waddell had a short
discussion about the importance of keeping the
beach clean (nice work, Dave!), and then we
washed up and had some lunch, which always
tastes better outside and at the beach! We had a
few minutes before we had to head off to the
Darling Center, so we all headed back down to
the water for some recreation. I’ve decided that
next year we will not go so near the water after
lunch, as we wound up with a few water logged
field trippers (should have seen it coming). The
Darling Center was also a success. The children
were given a presentation on some of the local
salt water life and got to see why a clean
watershed is so important, and were able to take
a hike along the river. All in all it was great fun!
A special thank you to the Waddell’s for
organizing this trip.
This week we have continued our study of
ancient China. We have started a timeline,
beginning with the Neolithic Era. After a short
review of the Timeline of Humans we discussed
the advent of agriculture in ancient Asia, and the
drastic change that it brought to human culture.
As well, the children discovered through the use
of the timeline that a 3,000,000 year old human
October 10, 2005
fossil has been found that indicates that central
Asia was the one of the first geographic areas
inhabited by bipeds. The children are now
making their own timelines, and we will talk about
a new time period each week.
In the last newsletter I left you with a question:
Which bowl of crushed ice was colder after 30
minutes, the one with salt or the one with no salt.
Well, the answer is the one with salt. Why?
Well, as the children found out, the freezing point
of the ice has been lowered. When salt is added
to the ice, some of the ice melts into water. The
energy required for this change in state draws
heat out of the ice, lowering its temperature.
That is why roads are salted when they are icy.
The salt melts the ice and lowers its freezing
point, so that it will not freeze again. Last week
studied how a solid dissolves when mixed into a
liquid and will be discovering what happens to
molecules when they combine with each other.
This week we discovered how heat affects the
dissolution of one substance into another and
what happens to the molecules during this
process (i.e. why does sugar dissolve faster in
hot water than in cold?).
Mrs. Rushton came in last week for her first
week teaching Spanish. The older children are
now reviewing some of the things that we have
done in the past (counting, etc.) and are starting
to learn greetings and other conversational
usages. The first year children worked with me
focusing on some of the basics, like counting,
clothing and simple greetings. Mrs. Rushton
grew up in Guatemala and speaks fluent
Spanish, so it is a great treat to have her in
working with the children each week.
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Damariscotta Montessori School
Thank You
The Waddell’s for a wonderfully planned field trip.
All those who drove for the field trip: Mary O’Herin (and Achilles), Doug Rushton, Joey Avantaggio,
Nirvana Shaw, Dave Waddell, Richard Beaudoin and Rob Nelson.
Kim Tolley for all your help with the Development Committee mailing.
Kim Inman for all your help with coordinating the volunteers.
Doug Rushton for publishing the newsletter and cleaning the basement at the new school.
Joe Sewall and Tom Greenleaf for your painting help this last weekend.
Joey Avantaggio for coming in and painting gourds with the children for the Friday’s program.
Jamie Keene for helping with painting and electric work.
All the chaperones on the Apple Picking field trip: Mary Dee Grant, Joey Avantaggio, Chris
Cummings, and Susan and Jeff Chalmers.
Announcements
Pumpkin Picking Field Trip will be held on Wednesday, October 19th. Don’t forget your permission
slips! Rain date is Thursday, October 20th.
Please don’t forget to use the green mailbox for all incoming “stuff” for staff (permission slips,
payments, notes, etc.). It is truly much safer than handing it to one of us on the fly.
School will be closed, Thursday, October 27th and Friday, October 28th for moving. We will start
school on Monday, October 31st at the new building!
Don’t forget to get your ideas for the new name to me soon. The deadline is Friday, October 21st.
You can email your ideas to me or drop a suggestion in the box that is on the bulletin board in the
coat room.
We will need lots of help with the move and with painting. Please contact Kim Inman if you can
give some time to the move. Her phone number is: 563-2643.
Friday, October 14 – Staff Workshop (No School)
Monday, October 17, at 6 p.m. (Pizza at 5:15 p.m.) – PTA Meeting
October 10, 2005
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Damariscotta Montessori School
October 10, 2005
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Damariscotta Montessori School