middle school

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First Week of School: Building Community

/ sarahwbaird / 1 Comment

In Montessori middle school programs, it is vital to start the year with community building lessons and activities.

“To learn, children and adolescents need to feel safe and supported.” –  William H. Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge

We begin every morning with a fun game to get the students relaxed and energized before academic lessons.  These include name recognition, charades, sports-related/coordination building, and trust-building activities.

Then, we have morning meeting daily.  Each week, a different student facilitates the meeting with a set agenda that includes sharing, acknowledgements, mental challenges, PACE (Brain Gym), and announcements.  The regularity and positive sharing aspects allow the students to communicate in a respectful way and wake up their brains and bodies for learning.

During academic work times, all subject areas involve individual, small group, and large group assignments.  This way, introverted children have some personal time to complete assignments suited to their personality, and extroverted children get their group discussion needs met.  In between, small group work allows children to build leadership and cooperation skills.  Middle school children especially desire more social interaction and learn better from peers than teachers. (see article here)

At Sea Pines Montessori Academy, we are off on the right foot with our class of 2014-2015.  These wonderful young men and women are going to do great things…

–Sarah

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Making Lemonade: Remaking Your Classroom Space

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With our growing lower school, my middle school program had to move from one large classroom into two smaller spaces at the opposite end of the school.  A larger pre-school program means more children for our upper school.  But, as any teacher will tell you, moving your entire classroom and its contents is no easy task.

On top of that, I had to put two years of curriculum for every subject I teach (language arts; history – world, American, South Carolina; math – Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry; Chinese; science – physical and biological, and practical life) somewhere in that space.  All while leaving room for eight teenagers to move around.  Phew!

My motto became when life hands you some nice lemons, make lemonade!  I re-imagined the space, and with some help from friends, the local thrift shops, and creativity, succeeded in creating a welcoming environment.

The video below is a slide-show of my classroom and its contents.  As a Montessori Middle School teacher, I am a generalist.  I have a cultural area for history and science.  My language arts and math books are in another room where we have created a library and work space.  This year, we are focusing on biological science and using the Estuary 101 curriculum I received from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (see my week-long post from the Salt Marsh STEAM experiences).

I maximized floor space with three small tables, and kept the wood as light as possible to make the space seem larger.  I used natural wood and table decorations to infuse the classroom with vitality and nature.  I kept familiar items (student mementos) so that they would have a continuum from the old space.  I added some inspirational messages for the front door so the teens would feel hopeful as they walked into the room.

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome.  The students and parents who visited last week enjoyed it too.  I look forward to the exciting things we will be doing as we study our beautiful island ecosystem and study global peace through our Model United Nations projects.

Peace, Sarah