SWIMS October Newsletter
October
4…Back to School Night! Your student has a lesson planned just for you!
Families with last names beginning with A-M please come 3:00 – 4:00pm
Families with last names beginning with N – Z please come 4:00-5:00pm.
Overflow parking at Matt Knoop Park south of the school and on the grass along Old Ranch Road.
10 – 11…School Photos!
Tuesday – Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers, Bluebirds, Wasatch, Evergreen and Bridgemont Classes plus siblings
Wednesday – El Nido, Tadpoles, Ladybugs, Turquoise and Faculty
Go to pectolitephotography.com/swim to register siblings from outside of Soaring Wings.
14…Happy Birthday Eden!
Eclipse at 10:28am. Grab your eclipse glasses!
18…Half Day Before Holiday
11:30 – 11:45 am dismissal: Bumblebees & Sunflowers Toddler Classes, Ladybugs and Turquoise Early Childhood Classes
11:45 – noon dismissal:El Nido Infant Class, Chickadees & Tadpoles Toddler Classes, Bluebirds EC Class, Wasatch Elementary, Evergreen Middle School and Bridgemont High School Classes
19 – 20… Fall Break – No School
22…Happy Birthday, Eliana!
23…Happy Birthday, Nathy!
10/27 & 11/3…Parent/Teacher Conferences – No School.
31…Party Day! Regular schedule for all classes. Costumes are welcome – no bloody, grotesque costumes, or weapons, please. See class sign-ups for supplies.
November
21…Half day
11:30 – 11:45 am dismissal: Bumblebees & Sunflowers Toddler Classes, Ladybugs and Turquoise Early Childhood Classes
11:45 – noon dismissal:El Nido Infant Class, Chickadees & Tadpoles Toddler Classes, Bluebirds EC Class, Wasatch Elementary, Evergreen Middle School and Bridgemont High School Classes
22 – 24…Family Holiday. No School.
School Bulletin Board
We had a consultant on campus with us last week who kept commenting on what a peaceful campus we have at Soaring Wings. And she comes from a well-established Montessori school in Wisconsin and consults across the country. We blushed. But we also notice what a terrific community we have at our school.The children are growing strong and bright and their families bring us joy each day. We traditionally spend the first six weeks of each school year just settling into the routine – “normalizing.” And we have normalized well. And we are anxious to see what the rest of this school year brings!
We are proud of our scholars who are busier than usual this year – Kassidy is working on a Master’s in Montessori from St. Catherine University, Leith and Emily are working on Montessori Leadership credentials from Center for Guided Montessori Studies (CGMS), Eden, Agnes, Hollis and Richelle are completing credentials in Elementary, Early Childhood and Infant/Toddler from CGMS, Leith is beginning a Master’s in Business at the U and Leah, Duna and Emily are just getting started on EdDs in Montessori at University of Wisconsin. There is lots of homework to manage, but, boy, are our philosophy discussions terrific! We spent much of Set-up Week deep in pedagogical theory. But with 13 graduate degrees among a faculty of 30, are you surprised? Not really.
And we are proud of Emily for hosting her first event of the Utah Montessori Council, the UMC Fall Workshop that most of our faculty attended last weekend. We brought back inspirations to last us our lifetimes.
October is Indigenous Peoples month and every classroom offers a variety of indigenous photos, books, artifacts and stories, building up to our study of North America in November. This year we add the element of a drive for our friends in Lahaina through a Montessori colleague whose family is there. Halia taught us a beautiful hula dance at our teacher conference last weekend. Please send in contributions in any amount by October 6th. Mahalo nui loa.
Lowdown from Lower School: Infant, Toddler and Early Childhood
Infant & Toddler Impressions – Notes from El Nido, Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers and Tadpoles Classes
October brings the 6th week of the new school year and normalization! This is traditionally the time when students have settled into the routine and are feeling comfortable in the school environment. They have by now learned to wash hands, those who can walk are setting places for snack and lunch, clearing places and washing their dishes. They are working on blowing noses, keeping faces clean and getting in and out of the bathroom successfully. All of this self care brings the joy of independence as they realize how much they can do for themselves. Take a look at how teachers do this in class and think about how to set up your home for your child’s success. By placing low hooks and child-sized seating by the door your child can dress and undress for the weather. A small table and chair in the kitchen and a low cupboard where your child can access eating utensils and acceptable snacks allow your child to prepare breakfast, lunch or a snack when hungry. Also supply a small broom and dust pan, small sponge and spray bottle and they can clean their dining space.
We have introduced the primary colors and will begin blending red, yellow and blue paint this month. As we get better at controlling drips we will move from finger paint and tempera paint with large brushes, to liquid water colors with small brushes.
Simple science experiments are being introduced such as sink and float, magnetic and non-magnetic and the properties of water.
As the leaves change around us we will notice the signs of the new season – fall. This takes us into trying on hats and masks in preparation for Halloween so these youngest students can see that even with a mask on, it’s still the same person underneath. We will focus on what is real in celebrating Halloween – cats, bats, pumpkins and spiders – creating crafts to decorate the classrooms so students take part in making the room spooky in time for Halloween parties. There will be special snacks, crafts, stories and a dance party on the 31st. Check with teachers for what is needed!
Every Day in Early Childhood – Events in the Bluebirds, Ladybugs & Turquoise Classes
Daily lessons include exercises in Practical Life, Sensorial, Math and Language as well as Science, Art, Music, History and Geography. Every student assimilates the hundreds of lessons in the ec curriculum at their own pace. By their 3rd year in ec students are feeling the power of being able to polish off the big lessons all by themselves, like assembling numbers and quantities to 9,000!
In October we are finishing the Art History Timeline that gave us a peek into Early Art, Egyptian Art, Roman Art and Renaissance Art. From the earliest cave paintings 40,000 years ago people were leaving their stories for us to find on walls, tombs, pyramids, sarcophagi and mosaics. With the invention of books came more attention on portraits. With the invention of the camera came the experimentation of the Impressionists and Modern Artists. With each chapter students try their hand at a different style of art. You will see their self-portraits at Parent/Teacher Conferences.
We complete our study of fall in time to begin our Thanksgiving Timeline that takes a look at Indigenous Peoples and explorers in general, and the Wampanoags, in particular. This story builds through November with students taking part in adding each chapter in time for our Feast on November 21st.
Our study of the Earth and its basic land and water forms continues through October leading up to the introduction of the globe and map with students taking turns identifying the islands, lakes, bays, capes, gulfs, peninsulas, isthmuses and straits on the globe. They often recreate the basic landforms in the sand on the playground. Next time you are playing in the sand, challenge your ec students to see how many landforms they can create!
Botany lessons cover seeds, needs and edible parts of a plant in time to begin chopping vegetables for Stone Soup for our feasts.
Authors Anno and Tomie DePaola add to the threads weaving together to produce a tapestry of where North America is on the globe and the cultures that have made their homes here.
Ask your ec students about these topics and see what they remember from the daily lessons. You might get them started by dialing up the old Donovan song, “Happiness Runs” which is what we sing as we begin circle every day.
What’s Up in the Upper School: Elementary, Middle and High School
Elements of Elementary and Middle School with High School Highlights – News from the Wasatch Elementary & Evergreen Middle School & Bridgemont High School Classes
The theme of Indigenous Peoples resonates through every classroom right up into the Upper School where the big kids often take the lead in our relationship with our “adopted” Navajo Grandma Frances. She is 97 now and unable to come to Park City, but loves to talk to “her grandkids” a few times each year. This month we will take a look at a variety of the Indigenous Peoples contributing to all parts of our curriculum.
Upper School classes are completing the Great Lessons that begin the study of how our planet and cultures came to be. They are finishing up game skills and team building while the weather is warm and planning the year’s Friday field trips and excursions. These students run their own meetings and plan their own curriculum around their class time spent practicing academics at their own individual level. Those who need a little extra time on a concept can work on it in a variety of ways. Those who have mastered the current material move ahead. This mastery learning has much to do with the phenomenal test scores we see from these classes as well as the building of intrinsic motivation.
Weekly field trips allow students to confirm in the real world what they have learned in class. They recently visited Clark Planetarium bringing together all the science, history and functional geography they have learned from the Great Lessons. This month Evergreen Class will met with an entrepreneur to discuss how to plan a successful business. And these students are starting to think about what this year’s Winter Celebration will be about. Details will emerge in November.
The Montessori approach to learning including mastery learning, uninterrupted work periods and allowing students to plan their own curricula to include their own interests as well as required components, results in a remarkable group of peaceful, joyous learners and explorers of the world. With our school bus ready to go anywhere, everything is possible. This group of elementary, middle and high school students lives up to their motto – they work harder and play harder, too!
