SWIMS March Newsletter 2025
March
February 28th & March 7th…Parent/Teacher Conferences – No School.
4th…What’s Next? 10:00am A preview of early childhood program for families of infants and toddlers. Reply to duna@soaringwings with the number in your party.
5th...Happy Birthday Kassidy!
9th…Spring Forward!
17th…Wearin’ o’ the Green during regular class time
27th…Your Child’s Potential 3:00pm. A preview of what’s in store for your Leadership Year (3rd year) ec students in Wasatch Elementary Class. Invitations to follow.
April
11th…SWIMS Earth Day Celebration – No School!
All families are invited to come enjoy our Earth Day Celebration, “Human Impact.” Each class offers nature-themed activities for children of all ages to explore. Leadership Year (3rd year) early childhood students will be presenting their capstone Ancestry Reports, Wasatch and Evergreen Elementary students will be presenting their Science Fair and Invention Convention projects. Bridgemont Secondary Class will present their Upcycled Fashion Show! Bring your family to learn something new about the how humans can impact the planet.
Families A-M 9:30 – 10:30
Families N-Z 10:30 – 11:30
Leadership EC students, Wasatch and Evergreen students 9:00 – 11:30am
Breakfast Club students welcome as early as 7:45am
Join us to celebrate our planet and her people!
14th – 18th…No School – Spring Break
May
6th…Family Day Celebrations!
26th...No School – Memorial Day
30th...Closing Ceremonies
Administrative Notes
As Duna, Emily and I continue our doctoral studies we are being exposed to new ways of thinking about Montessori, her method and her life’s work. In leadership courses we have contemplated ways to apply how we work with children in the classroom to how we work with adults in an organization. One of our current classes is taught by philosopher, Dr. Patrick Frierson, author of The Moral Philosophy of Maria Montessori and the soon to be released Maria Montessori’s Philosophy: Following the Child. Dr. Frierson is committed to bringing Dr. Montessori’s work into the light as a significant person on the timeline of worldly philosophers. Another of the latest books to come out about Maria Montessori which highlights her human rights work and advocacy for all children is Best Weapon for Peace by Erika Moretti. Ms. Moretti came to class to share some of the little known facts that she has unearthed in her research, adding color and depth to the Montessori story. If you are interested in history, philosophy, feminism, children’s rights, education or peace check out Frierson, Moretti and another recent addition, The Child is the Teacher by Cristina de Stefano.
This spring we look ahead to a few projects to improve what we do at Soaring Wings. The list includes redesigning the playground to provide better drainage as winters become warmer, wildfire mitigation, security enhancements, preparation for adding two more classes to the south end of the building, transitioning to the new school management software being custom designed for us, sending five of our faculty to the national American Montessori Conference in Denver this month, planning to send as many teachers as are interested in going to the International Montessori Congress in Mexico in 2026, sending two more of our talented teaching assistants to teacher training and continuing to build the best possible Montessori community for our students, faculty and families.
Sincerely,
Leah Linebarger, MMEd, AMS
School Bulletin Board
Thank you to all families for helping with the foods, crafts, stories and style of our Asian Celebration on February 26th! It was a wonderful melange of sensorial experiences of Asia.
Thank you also for your patience during this early mud season. Plans are in place to rework the playground so that as the winters get warmer the snowmelt can drain more efficiently. We will also begin preparations for the next addition on the south end of the building by moving the driveway this summer.
Congratulations, Dejah and Millie! These talented educators have begun their Montessori credentialing journeys. We love seeing our newest teachers entering into the training process which is somewhere between graduate school and an ashram. Did you know there is a “spiritual transformation” involved in becoming a Montessori teacher? It’s not a religious experience, but for some it can be similar. It’s a philosophy about preparing oneself to teach; mind, body and soul. Fresh new teachers emerge with a reverence for the philosophy of peace education , mindful presentation skills and keen habits of observation. They develop a skill for seeing into the child’s eyes to understand what they need. It’s a beautiful process and the secret to why Montessori people are typically mindful, gracious, peaceful and full of gratitude for the privilege they have earned to practice this work.
Death & Taxes…For your tax preparation pleasure, the SWIMS EIN# is 45-0949195 .
Lower School Lowdown
Infant & Toddler Impressions – News from the Owlets & Ducklings Infant Classes, Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers & Tadpoles Toddler Classes
Geography studies for infants and toddlers are about experiencing foods, music, art, animals and experiences from each of the continents as the rest of the school travels through the curriculum. We want our students to become familiar with the sensorial experiences of many cultures so when they go into the world it will all seem like an extension of their known world rather than something strange and possibly threatening. Our Asian Celebration was a wonderful mix of sensory input. In March we take a look at Europe – the native wildlife, people, homes and foods. You can be sure we will be tasting new things such as crepes and hummus. We will also study reptiles and visit with some of our school pets such as Cucumber the tortoise, Evan the corn snake, Sprinkles the leopard gecko, and Draco the bearded dragon. As always, our units of study will be complemented through our art, science projects, music, language, math and cooking projects.
We will be preparing for our Earth Day Celebration on April 11th by creating experiential activities for your family based on some of the wonders of our planet.
Excellence from Early Childhood – Every Day in the Bluebirds, Ladybugs, Turquoise & Wildflowers Classes
The Asian Celebration was a fun example of how all of the early childhood units of study come together to allow students to learn through a variety of sensorial experiences and to use their skills to prepare an Asian Feast.
The long winter work periods have brought students through the exploratory stage of ec classes and into the more complex lessons. 1st year students can now sort out the artifacts in the Geography drawers – which animals belong in North America, South America, Asia or Europe? Where does the harpy eagle belong? How about the stork? They can make a challenging choice, prepare their own work space, complete the activity to the best of their ability and put everything back where it came from. This is called completing the work cycle and is a foundational element for the executive function skills students are building.
2nd year ec students have mastered much of the Practical Life and Sensorial materials and are working on the phonetic sounds of the letters and associating quantities with written numbers. They are practicing proper penmanship and are starting to read and write some simple phonetic words. They are also working hard on social skills and can now solve a problem on their own, arriving at a solution that works for everyone.
3rd year ec students are polishing off the more challenging lessons in each area of the classroom. They are practicing academic skills daily and see themselves as leaders. They are often the ones to remind others when there is an infraction of the rules or when some detail has been overlooked. This 3rd year in early childhood is the frosting on the cake when the previous two years’ work is coming together to create a polished whole – a student who is advanced in academic skills, social skills and confidence, enabling them to go into our elementary class with a sense of responsibility, knowing how to both lead and follow and with a joy for learning.
Upper School Updates
News from the Wasatch / Evergreen Elementary Classes
Elementary classes have been working on culinary skills, like making Korean dumplings for the Asian Feast. Students follow their interests while moving steadily through their lessons and planning for their field trip to southern Utah.
The class took the lead, as always, in our school-wide Asian Celebration, leading the parade through the Sanctuary they had decorated with their lanterns so it resembled China Town in San Francisco.
Their end of year trips are aimed at a culminating experience drawing together all of the skills they have been honing over the school year, planning and organizing the trip themselves.
In March the Wasatch/Evergreen students will mentor 3rd year early childhood students as they prepare for their move to elementary. We will invite parents to see their work together at “Your Child’s Potential” on March 27th.
Updates from Upper School: News from Bridgemont Secondary School Class
The Bridgemont Class works in class online every morning for 2 to 3 hours with their talented Montessori instructors and classmates from around the world. They spend afternoons on homework, entrepreneurial projects, school leadership projects and field trips. They have lately been planning for their end of year trip to Moab. Over choices to go to Cayman Islands, Canada or Costa Rica, the class decided to come to Moab, Utah. Our Bridgemonters are excited to welcome their classmates in their own state. They are doing well academically and enjoy this rigorous online version of Montessori.
Friday field trips have lately included winter sports, a trip to the landfill and a look into the future with a tour of the University of Utah.
Dr. Montessori said that education should be a preparation for life, not just an academic preparation, but an education that includes refining the senses, hands-on learning at all levels including caring for oneself, the environment and others and following interests as far as they lead. Elementary and middle and high school students often work at an academic level far beyond what is offered in traditional schools, but more importantly, they very often love what they are learning
