During this period of early adolescence, we create opportunities through a prepared environment that allows students to learn about themselves, their communities, and how their unique self contributes to those communities. It’s about finding yourself, and your place in the world. It’s about calibrating your inner compass.
"The adolescent must never be treated as a child, for that is a stage of life that he has surpassed. It is better to treat an adolescent as if he had greater value than he actually shows than as if he had less and let him feel that his merits and self-respect are disregarded.” - Maria Montessori
Kristina Weidenfeller, Junior High Guide
Kristina@traversechildrenshouse.org
Tori Craig, Junior High Guide
Tori@traversechildrenshouse.org
Isabel Forester, Junior High Guide
Isabel@traversechildrenshouse.org
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Classroom Highlights
December 17, 2025
December brings us to the end of our “Colonization to American Revolution” workshop. We kicked off the workshop with an activity that also prepared us for our trip to Detroit. Learners organized events on a Detroit timeline, beginning with the crossing of the Bering Strait and finishing with the present. Learners could see how the area changed from pre-European influence, through wars, Revolution, Statehood, Industrialization, Social upheaval, decline, and now, revival. The timeline provided a backdrop not only for the sites we were visiting, but also the stories we were about to hear. These stories echo the stories of the eastern seaboard as Europeans reached the Americas, and preface the stories as settlers continued to expand west. Through studying the human geography of the time, students were able to learn more about the people who were present in the same places and spaces at the beginning of the American Revolution.
Students compared the democracies of the Haudenosaunee (aka Iroquois confederacy) and ancient Athens; the Declaration, the Constitution, and European governments. They took on an identity of choice to create a persuasive essay on a controversy of the time. They learned how to formally debate, prepare mock trials, and ultimately presented opening statements regarding what their character wanted to provide for in the New United States of America. All of this to write a Constitution that may have been written if all the voices living on the land at the time of the Constitutional Convention had been part of the discussion.
We had a visit from art teacher Alison during which learners experimented with printmaking. This is one of many forms of artistic expression they may choose to apply during our next workshop. Another form they will experience during the first month of the new year is theater, during our Theater Intermester in collaboration with Interlochen Institute of Art seniors.
In addition, Compass has been hard at work representing their community, planning social events, fundraising, and preparing to volunteer their time and services. At the beginning of the month, several learners volunteered to present to 4-6 year parents, visiting faculty from Daycroft Montessori, and a handful of Board members. They provided three sessions for guests that included information on student life, academics, and travel.
Concurrently, student senate worked on launching a Candy Cane Sale fundraiser schoolwide, as well as planning a holiday party, and a day of volunteering. Our dance card is full!
Finally, in line with tradition, we have been diligently practicing our Sing-a-long song. Students chose their tune from several possibilities. We hope you enjoy it!
Have a wonderful break! See you next year!
September 26, 2025
The first four weeks of school are monumental in Montessori. In every classroom, guides are using the prepared environment to provide structure for learners even as we orient them to it. Orientation is a human tendency - it sets expectations for behavior within a space so that the space feels safe for freedom and independence. With this structure, learners are able to learn, contribute, and express themselves.
At each level, orientation matches the needs of the learner. For us, here in the third plane, it includes interviewing for and getting classroom roles, setting up organization systems such as bullet journals and binders, identifying values and creating classroom agreements, building their own dictionary to collect words they will encounter throughout the year, and meeting with their advisor to begin to talk about themselves as a learner.
All of our workshops are taught in the Montessori three period style. During the first period, we introduce the topic; the second period is the time for exploration and experimentation; and in the third period, our learners create a final piece to demonstrate their new understanding. Our first period for Chemistry and Community is coming to a close. We have enjoyed immersive lessons from real people doing the work in our community at Timothy's Conscious Compost, Cultured Kombucha, Green Bird Regenerative Vineyard, and Food Rescue.
Learning in the community allows us to take our academic subjects on the road. We noticed in our math assessments that our learners would benefit from fraction review. Our first period provided a wealth of real-world examples to do math "in the field" during these first period visits, and upon our return. Fractions and percentages in the classroom become ratios out in the world: recipes for compost and kombucha; comparisons of salaries and profit; rates of change for yields and earnings of farmers and farm workers. This is one example of the way we integrate subject learning into real-world experiences and aim to provide touchpoints in every subject, everyday. It helps learners see just how important the subjects they learn in school will continue to be in their daily lives.
If you're tracking on the Compass Calendar, you'll notice a shift. With our first period complete, we will be on campus daily, working concretely with these concepts, and preparing for the final project of Chemistry & Community: a collaborative book project and learner-made activities to share with Lower El at The Children's House.
Cheers,
Isabel, Kristina, Tori