​This week, as the children continued working hard on their projects, they also began seeding plants for a food bank farm. Together, the elementary classes have seeded nearly 9,000 plants. They will finish next week. Lessons continued on fractions, measuring circumference and perimeter, story problems, long multiplication, and long division, among other things. Everyone is working to finish their literature circle books so we can discuss them next week. (Those who are also reading books for Turquesa just started new ones for that group.)

Hi Folks,
 
This week, everyone is excitingly working on their passion projects.  They also started designing and creating their optional art element with Ms. Michelle.  Many students are building the parts to their posters and some have even written part of their rough drafts for their written reports.  This week, students have also been trying to balance this important work with their weekly requirements like math practice and reading their literature circle book.
 
Students also had more opportunities this week to work on the garden in front of the classroom.  They have moved dirt and setting up cider blocks so we can start planting sooner.
 
Lastly, if you haven't heard from your child, a former student is donating 2 guinea pigs to the classroom.  They will be arriving some time in the next couple of weeks.
 
Have a good weekend,
Ben, Mary, & Ali

Children began research for their passion projects this week. They visited the library, learned how to take notes without copying out of the book, and began to get a sense of their topic. They were excited to participate in preparing ground outside the elementary classrooms for planting fruit trees and blueberry bushes. Some got to wield a pick mattock, while others shoveled dirt. Children planted lettuce and tomatoes, made up new words to a song about loving the earth, made ocean creatures out of clay for an auction item, and listened to Eric Ode sing for Earth Day. They explored the hillside behind the building. Some held one of the wild lizards that basks on the rock tunnel. Third-years gained experience with the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. These activities were interwoven with individually chosen work such as golden bead operations, cursive practice, symphony math, literature circle reading, acid/base testing, and reading to a teacher.

​This week in Morado was the culmination of our month-long exploration of migration. Seedfolks on Tuesday was an amazing one-woman portrayal of 22 characters in a Cleveland neighborhood who found connections with each other despite coming from widely differing places. We saw Jacob Lawrence’s 60 -panel story of The Great Migration which his parents were a part of. We discussed biographies and wrote our own versions.
 
Children learned about the parts of a leaf this week. Many did follow-up work for remembering prepositions or other parts of speech. Many read daily to a teacher. Fractions were a popular choice. The material for making a bar graph was also used a lot. Several people wrote stories. Some of the children turned dishwashing into an Olympic sport—those dishes were clean! 
 
We also had a good discussion about respecting personal boundaries and keeping private parts private. We defined “safe” and “unsafe” touch. We asked the children to name several adults they could talk to if they ever feel uncomfortable with another person’s behavior. This is an important conversation to have with children regularly to help keep them safe.
 
We hope you have a fun Spring Break and come back refreshed.
 
Ben, Mary, and Ali

Hi Folks,

Thanks for everyone who came to make this year's Math Day so successful.  The students have been focused mostly this week to prepare for Math Day.  They practiced with other students and even got lessons from the upper elementary and practiced with them.  Also this week, students have been having lessons on different suffixes and many have been interested in doing works that has them build compound words.  Students also finished reading their biographies for their literature circles.

Next week, we have 2 field trips on Tuesday and Thursday.  So we will need car seats on those days, if needed.  We still have spots for drivers for the SAM field trip on Thursday.  Please reply to this email or sign-up on Bloomz if you are interested.  Also next week, we will have Passion Project parent meeting on Wednesday from 4-5pm.  If you are unable to come that day, especially if this is your first year with us, we may need to schedule a second meeting to let you know more about our annual final projects. 

Remember that spring break is after next week and we have an Early Bird Event on April 14 from 9-10am.

Have a good weekend,
Ben, Mary, & Ali

Hi Folks,

This week we focused a lot on migration.  We started by looking at how animals and people move throughout their lives.  We brought a personal dimension to it by writing poems about home or moving.  Friday, we talked about how slavery brought an entire group of people to this country against their will, but they became free. They brought their old traditions here and started some new ones so that our country changed too. Next week, we will tell about Jacob Lawrence's desire to tell the story of the Great Migration in paintings.

Students finished their group projects on simple machines, migration, and amphibians.  They got to present their research to the class at the end of the week. Other highlights this week were lessons on the stem of a plant and learning about prepositions where students went under, on, and over a bridge.  

In our peace circles this week, we talked about ways to communicate our thoughts and feelings.  We talked about the importance of eye contact and how it feels when you communicate non-verbally with different faces.  We also talked about how tone of voice and body posture also effect people communication.

This week, students had their first weekly gardening time with Ms. Katherine.  We will continue gardening Tuesday and Friday afternoons.  We also had a very successful Hop-A-Thon on Friday.  Students from both elementary classes teamed up to count each other's hops and the all the 2nd-years helped the younger classrooms count their hops.

This week, please remember that we will not be having school on Thursday and Friday.

Have a good weekend,

Ben, Mary, & Ali

This week, the children

• examined roots and shoots of plants on the Nature Trail.
• Some learned about amphibians, while others explored simple machines and still others learned about migration.
• Learned about horizontal and vertical lines or types of triangles.
• Literature circles this time are focused on language, including homophones, metaphors, and similes.
• We also discussed “triggers”—situations which are more likely to cause you to do something you shouldn’t, and so you should be cautious when they occur.
• We sent a team of students from both Morado and Turquesa to spend time with ailing seniors at Aegis Retirement Center in Kirkland. They played games, colored, and read books together, as well as just talking.

During the last week of March, we will have two field trips which focus on migration and immigration: the play “Seedfolks” at Seattle Children’s Theater, and the Great Migration series of paintings by Jacob Lawrence at Seattle Art Museum. In Morado, we will be preparing all month. We will create poems about home or moving, have some homework to find out how each person got here, learn about animal and human migration and immigration, learn a little bit about slavery in the United States, about the Great Migration, and about Jacob Lawrence’s series. We will try out making our own series of paintings that tell a story by painting the story of Montessori Children’s House to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the school. This will be on display at the Montessori Week celebration March 18th. Also, remember Hop-a-thon and scholastic book orders are due March 3rd.

We hope you have a good weekend. See you on Monday.

Ben, Mary and Ali

Morado students are getting more involved with preparations for The Odyssey, making props, set, and costumes as well as rehearsing. One student, upon being asked what his role is, drew himself up and said, “I spread the light.” (He is a torchbearer.) Students continued to learn about the continent of Africa, and look forward to sharing some of their experiences with you next Friday, January 27 at 9:00.

In math, many students have turned to fractions. Some made bar graphs this week, some tried a new material and others began to shift from materials to abstraction in operations. Several practiced reading large numbers.

We are preparing progress reports, which will be sent to you January 30. Please sign up on Bloomz for a conference. Slots are available February 2 and 3.

Enjoy your weekend,

Ben, Mary, and Ali

Hi Folks,

This past week, many students have started to focus on their Africa research projects.  We have a lot of people interested in many different aspects of Africa.  We have research happening on the many different landscapes, cultures, and art from the continent.  Remember to join us for our Early Bird Event on Friday, January 27 at 9:00 am, to see everyone's hard work.

A highlight this week was seeing the students having a great time getting a chance to drum together and learn new songs from our visitors from Ghana.  All students also got some extra time to practiced the songs from next month's "Odysseus" play.

The teachers are also spent part of the week wrapping up assessments for students for the winter progress reports.  Final progress reports will be delivered by the end of the month.  Remember to sign-up Bloomz, if you haven't already, for a parent/teacher conference time for February 2 and 3.

Have a good 3 day weekend,

Ben, Mary, & Ali