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Primary Studies Electricity

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Earlier this month, the Primary classroom studied electricity. They talked about how electricity is generated, and travels through different parts of the power grid on its way to houses, schools, and other places. Electrical wires are generally the highest wires on the utility poles on your street, and are separated from the pole’s crossbar by a round ceramic insulator. Some areas will have two power lines, some will have three.

Each house also has a distribution transformer, which is the gray or white trash-can-shaped object attached to one of the utility poles in front of your house. The lines that serve your house come from this transformer, run across your yard, and enter your house at the gray service head (unless your wires run underground).

The cable from the service head passes through your electric meter and then into the breaker box, where it splits into circuits that feed the outlets in each room. If you have an unfinished basement, you may be able to show your child the wires supplying the outlet box inside the wall.

Children built two different electric circuits, one where they could turn a light on and off with a switch, and one where they could launch a small fan into the air. (Very exciting!)


Displaying Self-Portraits in Lower Elementary

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After lots of planning, Lower Elementary happily unveiled their new display of student self-portraits in the classroom recently. Each student’s self-portrait is now framed and sitting on a ledge shelf in our upstairs classroom space. This is quite an upgrade, and students have expressed a great deal of pride in seeing their artwork framed in our own gallery.

Students in Lower Elementary draw new self-portraits monthly throughout the year, and these frames will always display each student’s most recent rendition of themselves.

Hunting for Treasure… In Books

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The Upper Unit students have been diving deep into their reading and searching for treasure in their Humanities Language Arts work. Treasure, in this instance, is taking the form of quotes that have particular value, beauty, or personal significance.

As part of this work, the students completed a drawing activity that helped to define and differentiate between “literature” and “escape fiction.” Students were then asked to write and respond to two “treasured” quotes in their Literature Journals, with one quote being chosen from the samples in class, and one from the book that they are reading.  They will also be asked to classify their current book as either “literature” or “escape fiction” based on the distinctions they have learned so far.

How to Raise An Adult @ Oxford Lane Library

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On Tuesday, November 1, McGuffey is hosting a discussion at Oxford Lane Library about the book How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success by Julie Lythcott-Haims. Our discussion will be from 6:00-7:00pm.

This discussion is open to all members of the community and we would love to have a strong turn-out of McGuffey parents. Both Lane Library and McGuffey have several copies of the book available for loan. For school copies, please contact the office.

Lythcott-Haims, a former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford, makes the case for parents to stop defining their children’s success by their grades and test scores. She presents an alternative check-list of skills real adults need to be successful in any life path. How do we support the development of their independence and self-efficacy? How do we make sure our children don’t equate their worth with their grades? She pushes us to consider the purpose of childhood on the pathway to adulthood.

Don’t have time to read the book? Watch this TED Talk Video from the author. Reading the book is not a pre-requisite for participating in our discussion.

To order your own copy of the book, go to Amazon.com.

—Danielle Black, Megan Gerhardt, Susie Lute, Carrie Solomon-Stenstrom, and Nancy Hawthorne

The Process and Product of Paper Chains

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The phrase “process over product” is often heard when discussing topics in Art education. Our recent exploration of paper chains has demonstrated this concept nicely. We started with group instruction on creating a chain of images. As students began to understand the concept, more choices were offered. Over the course of the last month we have indeed created some impressive end-products: chains of various forms ranging from simple organic shapes to intricate animals, large-scale cut mandalas, and miniature paper scenes.

When admiring these creative products, it can be easy to recognize the time and effort that was put into the process. However, some creations are not accurate depictions of the effort that went into them. To successfully create one of these chains, you need to be able to fold a length of paper so that all the folds are lined up. For some students, this first step took a few tries. After this step, the chosen image must be placed correctly on the paper. If you don’t leave part of both sides intact, your chain will fall apart. Children are so used to cutting a shape out of paper entirely, it was sometimes difficult to remember the new technique. The fine motor skills required for detailed cutting are not mastered at a certain age. While many first graders can snip curves and angles with ease, others struggle with these skills into the upper elementary grades. To facilitate working with this varying range of ability, a variety of scissors were provided. By trying more than one type of scissor offered, students came to realize the pointiest and largest scissors are not always the best tool for the project.

So, while paper chains may sound simple to some, they often reflect a lot more time and effort than can be seen at first glance.

Sign Language in Primary

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A tenant of the Montessori classroom is respect; respect for productive work, respect for our environment, and respect for the feelings of others, to name a few. To show respect, the Primary classroom uses sign language frequently during our day. By using signs, we can communicate across the room to another person without drawing attention, disturbing others, or causing someone to feel embarrassed. You may notice your children using signs at home and the pictures above show our students signing the most often used at school. Feel free to try using them to communicate at home!

Happy Costume Day from Lower Elementary

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Today was Costume Day for the whole school. Here are some photos of our Lower Elementary students in their awesome costumes.

As has been the tradition for the past few years, Costume Day is also the day when this year’s school musical is revealed to students. Teachers donned rain jackets, rain boots, ponchos, sou’wester hats, and umbrellas, and Elizabeth turned on a garden hose and sprayed some passing cars during drop-off, all while a familiar song played in the background… this year’s musical will be Singin’ in the Rain Jr., and students can’t wait to start working on it soon.

Casting Votes in the Upper Unit

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The Upper Unit students have been getting ready for the upcoming United States presidential election by studying the electoral process in the US. They have compared party platforms, learned about the electoral college, studied the candidates’ positions, learned about several minor parties, and are casting their own votes this week as part of the Kids Voting USA program.

By becoming more educated (future) voters, students are also learning the language to talk about political differences in a respectful and honest way.


Thank You Butler Rural Electric!

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We have a new addition to our school grounds this year, thanks to a grant from Butler Rural Electric Company! Butler Rural provided $1000 to help McGuffey purchase a Automated External Defibrillator (AED). For those of you who are Butler Rural customers, these grant funds come from rounding up your bill each month.

The American Heart Association states that for every minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation the chances of survival decrease by 7–10%. There are countless stories of how AEDs have saved lives. We are grateful to BREC for this critical resource for our school community.

The AED is located just inside the Main Building kitchen door. A sticker on the exterior door notes that an AED is inside and a sign just before you enter the kitchen indicates the AED is inside the “closet” area. Please take a moment to locate the AED the next time you are here.

As a part of our school safety plan, all staff have first aid and CPR training (which includes use of an AED). Many staff have their certifications in Child Abuse Prevention and Communicable Diseases. This past summer, staff participated in Active Shooter Response training, courtesy of Miami University Police. Also over the summer, we were pleased to offer a babysitter training course for middle school students, extending our safety focus to our Practical Life curriculum.

Practical Applications for Math

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“When will we ever use this?” is a question that all Math teachers often hear. Our Grade 7 Pre-Algebra students have been learning about ratios, proportions, and similar figures. They put their knowledge into practice by using “indirect measurement” to find the height of a fir tree and a back-stop support.

Students placed a mirror between themselves and the object being measured. They then measured the distance from themselves to the mirror, from the mirror to the base of the object, and their own height. Then, using these measurements in a proportion, they calculated the height of the object. We discussed the acceptability and closeness of their calculations.

It was a great morning to be outside doing some Math.

Pokémon Club at Lane Library: Meeting Dates and Time Change

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Pokémon Trading Card Game Club meets tomorrow (Sunday) at the Oxford Lane Library from 1-3pm. Please note the time change, as our meetings used to run from 2-4pm. All future meetings will be held from 1-3pm as well.

You can always check this page on our website for Pokémon Club dates and times. Our final three meetings of the calendar year are tomorrow, November 6; Sunday, November 20; and Sunday, December 4. We will post future dates on the page linked above as they are confirmed.

Partners and Astronomy

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McGuffey has a spiral curriculum, which means our students revisit subjects at older grades, adding another layer to their existing knowledge. At times, students in different grades will be studying the same subjects.

Both the Primary and Upper Units have been studying Astronomy, so we thought it would be great to get together and let the Upper Unit share what they’ve learned with Primary. They read books, drew pictures, checked out the telescope, and watched a few videos. Most of all, they had fun!

Lower Elementary Visits the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

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Lower Elementary students took a field trip to the see the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at Taft Theatre last week. We watched a performance called “The Orchestra Lab,” which introduced students to all of the different instrument families in the orchestra, and we heard lots of familiar music, including snippets of the themes from Star Wars and Harry Potter, as well as classics like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the Overture to Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

After the concert, we walked to Smale Park on the riverfront to eat our lunches and play for a bit before getting back on the bus. We appreciate Elizabeth joining us for the performance, our parent chaperones for accompanying us all day, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for their wonderful show.

Steel Pan Music

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Part of the Music program at McGuffey includes the study of instrument families in the orchestra. Grades 1-4 take a close look at percussion, string, brass, and woodwind families.

To put a lovely end to their unit on percussion instruments, our Grade 1 students were treated to a visit by a Music Education major from Miami University. Timothy Knight came and brought along his steel pan. Not only did we get to hear a brief history of the instrument (it’s a baby compared to the age of other instruments like trumpets and violins), but we got to hear Timothy play. Afterwards, students had plenty of time to explore the instrument themselves.

Thank you, Timothy!

Pumpkin pound

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A favorite work has been in Primary the last few weeks—the pumpkin pound! Working one at a time, children first don safety glasses, and then use a hammer to pound in wooden tees. Each child may pound in as many tees as they’d like. When their work is done, the child takes out those tees. Taking the tees back out adds fine motor practice to the work and prepares it for the next student.

In a Montessori classroom real tools are used wherever possible. The pumpkin pound is no different, using real, not toy, safety glasses and hammer. Under close observation, students are relied upon to always keep safety in mind, and they rise to that expectation.

When our pumpkin has quite a few holes, we put it outside our window so that we can watch it decompose. However, we’re wondering how much we’ll be able to watch it decompose, as some furry visitors have been enjoying it for lunch!


Did You Know?

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Did you know that McGuffey accepts students at all grade-levels and throughout the school year? We often have students join us in later grades, even as late as Grade 7! It’s never too late to join our learning community and give your learner a happy and whole-child schooling experience.

A Montessori education prepares students for the real world of wonder and curiosity, choices, responsibilities, joy, kindness, and compassion.

Schedule a tour of McGuffey to see for yourself.

An Afternoon Outdoors with Partners

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Our Middle School and Lower Elementary students had an opportunity to work and grow together this week in their Partners program. This always provides a nice experience for both the older and younger students.

The Middle School students are developing empathy and responsibility by modeling behavior for the younger students while being able to enjoy some of the fun works available in the Lower Elementary outdoor classroom.

The Lower Elementary students get to spend time with the older students and demonstrate their favorite activities and games. They love to teach the Middle School students what they have learned and what they enjoy doing. It provides them with a sense of responsibility and achievement that comes from within themselves.

There was also plenty of space for imaginative play; together, the students made stores and shops, built structures, and spent some quality time in the sandbox. It was a nice afternoon, and this important social time was appreciated by all.

Pokémon Club at Oxford Lane Library Tomorrow

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Pokémon Trading Card Game Club meets tomorrow (Sunday) at the Oxford Lane Library from 1-3pm. Please note the time change, as our meetings used to run from 2-4pm. All future meetings will be held from 1-3pm as well.

You can always check this page on our website for Pokémon Club dates and times. Our final meeting of the year aside from tomorrow’s date is Sunday, December 4. We will post future dates on the page linked above as they are confirmed.

A visit from Kevin Spencer

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Recently we were visited by magician Kevin Spencer! Kevin travels throughout the country, teaching both children and adults. Through lessons in the art of illusion, students explore creativity, develop curiosity, and discover new confidence.

With he help of several of our students, Kevin performed a variety of magic tricks and  demonstrated his unique ability to engage children and adults of all ages.

That entire week, nine McGuffey students participated in the camp Kevin held at the Oxford Community Arts Center. This is the third Magic Camp Kevin has had in Oxford. We are grateful to the Talawanda-Miami Partnership and Miami University Performing Arts for bringing Kevin to our community.

Gathering Leaves

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As Fall marches on, we are watching the leaves gather on the ground. The Primary students are fortunate to have a huge conifer in their outdoor classroom, but their deciduous trees are too young to yield much of a pile. Earlier this month, Primary teachers sent a well-supervised crew to gather leaves from the enormous maple that sits just beyond their fence. They had a ball gathering and transporting leaves and then making an enormous pile. And the most fun part? Jumping in them!

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