For many McGuffey students, Celebration of Learning is their favorite day of the year. Parents and grandparents visit after school to see their child’s classroom and get a peek into what they’ve been working on. The day of Celebration of Learning is filled with preparation. Students clean, vacuum, tidy, wash, and prepare flowers. They also make a workplan for parents to complete. Works this year included pin maps, chess, algebra, journaling and so much more.
First and second grade are near to completing a unit about plants. Students planted seeds that have been growing in a light box in their classroom. Growth has been documented in plant journals during the life cycle which lasts about five weeks. After 47 days of growing, the plants have gone from seed to plants bearing their own seeds. It has been exciting to watch the entire life cycle. Students harvested the seed pods and noted final observations in our plant journals.
Kindergarteners have been working on finger knitting in Art Studio. This will set them up nicely when they learn to knit with knitting needles in Middle School. Working on fine motor skills can be tricky so they had plenty of help from students in Grade Three who have mastered the art.
Middle School students recently held an African American Read-In for Black History Month. After spending time browsing and reading the collected books, each student selected a passage the especially moved them to share with the group. Students sat in a circle in and took turns reading their selections aloud to the class. Students wrote a response on a sticky note to each of the other students after they heard the stories and histories. The notes and passages were placed on a central wall in the classroom where the communication and learning continues. Many thanks to the Lane Public Library for help in curating a rich supply of books and stories by and about African Americans, and to the National Council of Teachers of English, who organize the national African-American Read-In program each year.
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The St. Louis trip for Grades 6, 7, and 8 began with a cancelled bus and remarkably happy kids. Their first full day included a visit to the Gateway Arch and Museum then a narrated riverboat sightseeing cruise on the Mississippi River by the National Park Service.
You can access the Scholarship Fund under the Support Us tab above. Thank you for supporting McGuffey Montessori.
McGuffey’s Middle School students had a fantastic time on their trip to St. Louis. “Going Out” of the classroom and into the wider world is an essential part of the Montessori curriculum. Our very oldest age group goes on McGuffey’s biggest “going out” experience, traveling all the way to another state.
We traveled to St. Louis by bus, riding on both luxurious buses and not quite as luxurious buses. Students learned how to have a great time even when waiting in a bus station, and enjoyed hanging out at an Indianapolis mall.
When we arrived late on Monday, everyone got settled into our temporary home, the Mancave. The foosball table and pool table were instant favorites. On Tuesday morning, we headed for the St. Louis Arch, admired it from the base and then took its unique tram ride to the top. Next we boarded the National Park Service’s riverboat tour and had lunch while cruising the Mississippi. We spent the afternoon exploring CityGarden, a sculpture park only two blocks from our AirBnB. It was warm and sunny enough that we enjoyed popsicles during our outing. We topped off the day with Imo’s St. Louis style pizza and a movie.
On Wednesday we explored St. Louis’s unique City Museum. This giant space is filled with fantastic environments to explore. With the guidance of our chaperones, Wednesday’s cooking crew made a big spaghetti dinner for everyone, and the cleaning crew. Our final outing was to the Kosciusko Graffiti Wall, where each student added their own piece of graffiti art.
While the middle school students were off in St. Louis the Upper Elementary learned a bit about the real world. Starting with breakfast and a tour of Patterson’s Cafe, we learned about the jobs involved in running a restaurant. We then created a small menu, checked our soup recipes, created a shopping list, and assigned jobs. At the end of the week, we invited the Lower Elementary students over for lunch in the Main Building. They had their choice of soup and made-to-order sandwiches. It is a nice opportunity to see the joy that can come from making and serving food to their community. Thanks to Lower for being such great customers!
Lower Elementary has had some exciting lessons in history. First, they learned about Mimar Sinan, who played a large role in developing what we now identify as Turkish architecture. He was responsible for designing many significant mosques for both Suleiman and his daughter, Mihrimah Sultan. Students were thrilled to be visited by Cory Driver, a McGuffey parent. He shared with us the research he did in Turkey, telling us more about the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman, and the cultural significance of mosques.
The following week, there was a visit by Kadriye Walsh, our upper elementary and middle school math teacher, who lived in Turkey for the first 24 years of her life. She helped us with the new pronunciation of the country’s name—Türkiye. This change was made in 2022 and has been formally adopted by the UN. Kadriye talked to us about what it was like to grow up and go to school in Türkiye. She shared a bit about the history of the country, traditions, religion, architecture, and food.
