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“The child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope that humanity can develop in a new direction.” -Dr. Maria Montessori, Education and Peace Hope and excitement abound as we gather again this year to learn from, grow with and enjoy each other in a community we are creating, nurturing and strengthening on a daily basis. By being aware of our purpose, embracing our goals, and supporting each other’s development, Maple Classroom will explore much of what the universe has to offer, such is the nature of Montessori’s cosmic education for the elementary child. Thank you for sharing your learners with us and participating in this portion of their journey to reach their full potential. Karin Churchkarin@traversechildrenshouse.org _ Room Parents _ |
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Classroom Highlights
April 15, 2025
Although we loved the plentiful snow this winter, it is clear in the poems we are writing together that we are all ready for warmer weather and the beauty that spring and summer bring. We start each day by reading a poem and learning a new form, such as abecedarian, pantoum, cinquain, and rondine. When we write, many of the poems are about flowers, sunshine, swimming, and playing outside. We’ll leave our group poems up on the walls for you to read when you visit on Thursday, May 22, for this year’s Mystery Museum!
In addition to working together to create poetry, several of our students are working with 3rd-year partners from Willow classroom. One morning a week, these children receive and share lessons with their younger peers. We’ve enjoyed welcoming younger learners into our community and building connections with some of next year’s classmates. This practice also provides an opportunity for the students to confirm how well they know a concept because they are able to teach it to another.
Sharing one’s knowledge builds confidence and connects us to each other. Maple classroom is excited to invite families in at the end of May to learn from our students. The students are working diligently, taking notes on their final studies of the year. At the beginning of each day, the students review our study timeline so they can plan their work accordingly and do their best to keep on track. “Notes are due on Tax Day,” they say enthusiastically. When you visit our Mystery Museum, you’ll have an opportunity to ask questions of each student and guess what their topic of study was. Please mark your calendars for this fun gathering!
Mark Your Calendars:
- Talent Show, Friday, April 25, 2:00
- Earth Day Outing, Friday, May 2
- Mystery Museum, Thursday, May 22, 2:45-3:15
Gratitudes:
- Thank you, Keith Aleo, Bill Church and the percussion ensemble at Interlochen Center for the Arts for inviting us to enjoy an amazing performance of Paddle to the Sea. It was magical!
- Special gratitude to our drivers who made this outing a possibility: Sarah Bancroft-Treadway, Summer Hennessy, Abby Taylor and Angela Aleo.
- A final thanks to the Treadway and King families for once again providing Santa with delicious crickets.
March 15, 2025
Back together again, the 6th years prepared a presentation for their classmates to share their MMUN experience. In the gym, they told them about the planning process, their work with other children in New York and the sites and food they loved. These 15 delegates took full advantage of their opportunity and of them are determined to go again next year!
As quickly as the snow is melting, the energy is building in the classroom and on the playground. This energy is amplified by the special March activities of Human Growth & Development and Theatre Workshop. (Each impacting group dynamics in different ways!) We helped our learners harness their energy to permit them to complete and present their second studies of the year. This round, we’ve learned about Japan, Lemons, Sheep, India and London, among other topics.
Hopefully you were able to gain valuable insight into your child’s daily experience during our Family Visiting Days. This opportunity is always available to you and helps inform our conversations during conferences. Thank you for coming in for these two important parts of supporting your child’s development. I greatly benefit from these interactions and enjoy celebrating your children with you.
Best wishes for a wonderful spring break!
February 18, 2025
February Highlights
Every year we explore a portion of world history together as a group. We place a large world map out on the floor, unroll a class-made timeline, and orient ourselves in space and time before we begin: continents, hemispheres, equator, prime meridian, Before Common Era, Common Era. We discuss why it’s important to learn about what came before us, how we can compare similarities and differences, and how we can learn from our past and hopefully make better decisions for our future.
We didn’t go as far back this year as last, but we reviewed what the 5th and 6th years learned about early hominins and ancient civilizations. We imagined what life was like before agriculture and discussed the pros and cons of being able to settle and how iron and domestication of plants and animals allowed the world population to grow in leaps and bounds. To illustrate how population growth fostered trade among peoples, the children were given cards with an item to trade on one side, like silk, jade or knives, and a present day country on the other. They were then able to place the card on the world map and discuss which items they’d like to trade with each other and why.
Recently, we discussed how the continued population growth from 300-1500 CE resulted in greater migrations around the globe. We discussed why people migrated then and why they migrate today. What push and pull factors cause people to move around the world as they have done since the beginning of humanity. In lower elementary, your children learned about the fundamental needs of all humans. These lessons in history reinforce those earlier lessons and the most important lesson of all: we all share the same needs no matter where or when we are living.
Recognizing our shared experience creates immediate connections among strangers, as our 6th years will see firsthand in New York this week. Our 4th and 5th will practice the important skills of sharing ideas and resources in their robotics workshop. We look forward to being together again next week to share, to listen to each other's stories and to welcoming you all into the classroom once again for Family Visiting days in early March (see below).
Coming Up and Gratitude:
Wednesday-Friday, March 5-7, Human Growth & Development
Tuesday-Wednesday, March 4-5, Family Visiting
Wednesday-Thursday, March 12-20, Theatre
Wednesday-Friday, March 12-14, Conferences (sign up coming soon in Waypoints!)
Thank you Kanners and Cotants for crickets! Please note that your last name does not need to start with K or C to contribute. ;-)
January 15, 2025
Happy New Year, Maple families! It is wonderful to be back together again, celebrating a new year and welcoming a new learner into our classroom. What a perfect opportunity it was to revisit all that we do at the beginning of each school year to create a smoothly functioning learning community. Turning the reins over to the children allowed them to share how we format and choose work, participate in job time, keep track of new lessons and practice follow up. It’s been heartwarming and encouraging to see how confidently and warmly the children offer their knowledge to help our new member navigate her days. As one of two adults in the classroom, it’s reassuring to know that we have 20 capable, supportive, enthusiastic helpers ensuring that our new learner feels welcomed and that we make the most of our time here together.
In addition to revisiting all of the practices that support our learning community, we followed the Maple classroom tradition of saying goodbye to hurtful habits and embracing helpful habits. We wrote down habits that do not benefit us and/or others and chose new actions to practice that will help us become the people we want to be. These snowy days provide the perfect opportunity to burn the hurtful habits outside. When you next visit, you will see the helpful habits up on our wall, along with those of years past. We make sure to share both the hurtful and helpful habits with each other, so we can support each other in achieving these goals.
These winter months provide a perfect opportunity for group lessons and second studies to take place. In addition to learning from the children about their topics of interest, we will go back in time to review how humans moved from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies and then see how those communities continued to venture out, seeking new lands and materials to trade. Your children’s vivid imaginations always make these discussions of times long ago lively, rich, and often quite humorous!
PE
The upper elementary group has been working on hand eye coordination recently playing badminton. We usually try to see how long they and a partner can keep a volley going and also have played a few competitive rounds. I have enjoyed watching how quickly they’ve been able to progress with limited practice.
Steve
KITCHEN
Upper elementary kitchen classroom students continue to plug away at so much important prep work for our kitchen. Since root veggies are all the rage this time of year, we have longer cook times and more elaborate prep than we do in the warmer months. Today, Second Spring Farm delivered carrots, beets and potatoes, which we will turn into a lovely roasted winter mélange with the help of the upper elementary students.
Andrea
ART
Before winter break, the upper elementary classes were creating 3-D shapes covered in optical illusion artwork. These beautiful creations are now hanging in the Art/Music wing for your viewing pleasure. We then did some drawing practice and learned how to draw and shade the impossible triangle. This took a lot of care, thought and ruler work. This project also included a refresher on shading pencils and how to use them properly. Upon returning from break, we have begun a clay unit. Students will be creating their very own bobble head out of clay! They began by working through their design and details with modeling clay and just started on earthenware clay this week.
Alison
December 20, 2024
Phew! What a busy three weeks we’ve had. Maple learners have completed and presented studies, uploaded final MMUN Position Papers, and rehearsed for our annual Sing-a-long.
During this final week, we have decided to fill it up with as many activities as possible. Monday morning, we made birdseed ornaments with our partners in the Thistle classroom. That afternoon, we visited Compass and learned about many fascinating pre-industrial civilizations. Tuesday morning, the fifth years traveled with twenty-four other elementary children to stuff 700 treat bags for Meals on Wheels. Meanwhile, the 4th and 6th years completed the ornaments and then collaborated on a parachute design challenge. By mid-week, we were ready for Brad Kik’s visit: we learned how to do intaglio printing, using recyclable materials and a pasta maker! Thank you, Brad! After a visit from a hedgehog, we will close the week with the Secret Samara exchange and community singing.
After this busy time, we hope to enjoy a relaxing winter break and send wishes to all of you for the same. In the New Year, we’ll welcome a new family into our Maple and Willow classrooms and look forward to having them meet all of you. Thank you, as always, for sharing your wonderfully creative and energetic children with us! Enjoy them over break and we’ll look forward to seeing them in the New Year!
Special thanks to Santa’s helpers: the Maiers, Kanners and Atkins.
November 21, 2024
Starting with Halloween, this time of year ignites the children’s excitement for all the holidays to come. It also provides an opportunity for us to encourage reflection and fuel feelings of gratitude for all that we have before us and all that we can do to make the world a better place. This is the focus of our Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day, celebrated November 14. After being greeted by four upper elementary learners who shared why we are honoring Ruby Bridges’ bravery, pairs of elementary and primary learners joined hands and paraded around our school. Heartwarming and hope-building to say the least.
Back in the classroom, the 6th year MMUN delegates shared how their topics are focused on improving the world, such as addressing water scarcity, reducing military budgets, engaging boys and young men in gender equality and establishing the right to food. The 5th year learners then shared about their changemakers: Malala Yousafzai, Malcolm X, Aretha Franklin, Nichelle Nichols and Sojourner Truth. Finally, the 4th years shared what they learned about Zitkala-Sa and her commitment to advocate on behalf of Indigenous Americans and to dismantle the boarding schools and the damage they were doing.
Following this impressive sharing of important knowledge, the children brainstormed ideas for how our community can contribute. The ideas and excitement flowed out of them and reached the same level as that reserved for those upcoming holidays. Thank you for raising loving, generous, service-oriented children; choosing from our long list will be difficult but reinforces my belief that the world is in good hands when we listen to children.
Thank you, also, for all you do. First, you came into the classroom on Family Visiting Days to learn with your children and then again for Conferences to celebrate with me all that they are doing and how beautifully they are growing up. You also contributed many new, wonderful books from the Horizon Book Day event. We are so fortunate.
October 18, 2024
Dear Maple Families,
How fortunate we are to be able to pursue our interests, learn interesting facts about a favorite treat, visit specialists who deepen our understanding and appreciation of the same and share our discoveries with each other. No, we did not all get to visit Grocer’s Daughter, Moomer’s, Hilbert’s Honey and Cherry Republic, but our small research groups did and through their detailed presentations and tasty visual support, they made us feel like we had been there with them all along. We are grateful to them and to those local, thriving businesses for opening their doors to our curious learners and for sharing a business perspective of their products.
For a microscopic perspective, Dr. William Kanner shared details about his profession as a pathologist and taught the children to effectively use a microscope. They learned how to identify a normal, healthy cell to be able to recognize what might be abnormal. Seeing the real cell samples brought greater meaning to their botany and zoology explorations into plant and animal cells and all the various parts that make each cell function.
“Perspective” has been an important word in our community this year. Sometimes it comes into play when we are resolving conflicts and helping the children see the many sides to a disagreement. The 6th years consider another’s perspective when learning about their United Nations topics from South Africa’s point of view. We use the artistic concept of perspective to illustrate rectangular prisms in our volume and cubing lessons. Most recently the children are writing short stories to share their perspectives of a sculpture or piece of art that spoke to them during our visit to the Michigan Legacy Art Park.
To give you an opportunity to form a perspective, we look forward to welcoming you into our community next week for Family Visiting Days. (Please remember that we can schedule a visit any time if the offered times are inconvenient.) This visit, although short, provides a glimpse into your child’s days and fodder for discussion when we meet in mid-November for Conferences.
From my perspective, I could not be more grateful for the generous contributions of time (Sarah Bancroft-Treadway and Virginie Kanner, outing drivers) and crickets (Atkins, King and Fahey-Horn) so generously offered by Maple families. Thank you!
September 16, 2024
Despite the lingering summer heat, your children appear to have embraced being back to school and all it has to offer. Their draft Declaration states that “they come to school to learn, be challenged, make friends, and learn to be a better person.” A clear indication that they’re starting the year off on the right track!
Already the 6th years have started their Montessori Model United Nations (MMUN) project, learning about the United Nations and selecting a country to represent. This 14th year of delegates will proudly represent South Africa in New York this February. Sixth year families, these delegates look forward to sharing more about this exciting endeavor with you on Thursday, September 26, at 3:45.
While the 6th years conduct their research, the 5th year learners are sharing the research and writing process with the new 4th years. Four small groups are collaborating on studies with the hope of sharing their new knowledge, planning some outings or guest speakers and perhaps indulging in some local samples of their topics: honey, ice cream, chocolate and cherries.
They have also been brushing the sand off their math facts and seeing what they remember from years past with regard to math and spelling. In late September/early October, I will call families to check in, share my observations and answer any questions regarding your child’s first month back at school.
Finally, I’ll reach out soon to schedule our Community Connections visits and I look forward to seeing you all at the Maple class picnic on Monday, September 30, from 5:30-7:30, at Silver Lake Park.
Thank you Dujon/Lemmonier and Bancroft/Treadway families for providing crickets to Santa this month!