A Holiday Gesture of Kindness

Saying "we care about you" during the holiday season may seem commonplace, but when our elementary students recently presented a gift to a former teacher, it was filled with deep, heart felt meaning.

Their kind gesture was in the form of cookies...very special ones that every one of the 19 students in our class had helped to make, and a treat which they initially couldn't wait to feast upon themselves. It's a tradition in our class to carve fresh pumpkin and several weeks later use it for holiday baking. Scraping the flesh of the squash, spooning out the cooked vegetable, and then mashing it are all tasks that are organized by the children and performed in small groups. The final few students follow a favorite recipe as they cook up a huge batch of pumpkin oatmeal cookies overflowing with chocolate chips. By the time the project was completed this year, nineteen mouths were watering, eagerly awaiting their hard-earned treat.

But, just as the cookies were coming out of the oven, one short lesson about the Middle Ages and St. Augustine's work in Britain brought about a discussion of monastic life and a twist in our plans. It seemed a good time to share information about a similar current day lifestyle of sacrifice and a former teacher's decision to enter a contemplative monastery almost a year ago. Ms. Hurley, now known as Sister Hurley, is living a new lifestyle of prayer and hard physical labor with NO talking. This concept was difficult for the students to digest.

The children were stunned for a moment, but after questions, discussion and collaboration, they turned their surprise into a response filled with love. They asked if they could package up their pumpkin cookies and send them to Sister Hurley by overnight mail so that she and the other nuns at the convent might share them on their holiday table.

And so it was done...a caring gesture to begin the holiday season of giving and tender thoughts for a dear teacher and friend of AOC who remains in our hearts.

A High School Senior’s Tribute to Montessori

             On my first day of seventh grade, I was bewildered by the idea of sitting at a desk. Every classroom was filled with desks, carefully placed in straight, orderly rows. How strange middle school seemed, after spending ten years in a close-knit Montessori environment. The idea of a desk was fascinating and yet, disturbing – I now had my own, assigned space, but how was I expected to work with my classmates if we were separated? The desks seemed like they would hinder learning, rather than facilitate it. A strong contrast from Montessori school, this concept of desks triggered my concern with conventional education.

            At three years old, wearing an over-sized apron, I had used a yellow basin of water to determine which objects would sink or float. By seven, on my stomach with feet in the air, I had exhausted encyclopedias and organized note-cards for a research paper. I had wondered, discovered, and achieved in every physical position all over my classroom. Never had I been asked to listen to a lecture for forty-five minutes, or memorize dates, grammar rules, or names of countries for a test. Instead, I had learned the countries, capitals, and flags of the world before age eight by labeling maps with my friends.

            I have always been eager to explore and understand as much as possible about the world. I wanted to know everything, and that was that. Thoroughly researching and analyzing has always been my passion, never a chore. It was a shock to witness classmates in middle and high school complaining about homework. Advocates for the Montessori curriculum understand that it is natural for a child to enjoy learning. However, I soon realized that in conventional schools, teachers believe students need incentives to learn, like gold stars or good grades. My unconventional experience convinced me that traditional schools emphasize convergent thinking, leaving little room for creativity, exploration, and discovery.

            I have no doubt that the boy who fell asleep during physics class, and the girl who copied a few answers on the history homework were once excited by the prospect of learning. Montessori theory demonstrates that it is possible to learn effectively and still maintain an interest in the world.  Though I have often heard my classmates insist that they will never understand this or that concept, I believe that everyone possesses the ability and motivation to reach an answer. I owe my inextinguishable curiosity and views about education to my Montessori experience.

            Throughout my college search, I have sought a school that will encourage me to ask questions about so-called norms. Why do most schools suppose that children learn best when sitting at a desk? Can learning and freedom of movement not go hand in hand? While I have adapted well to conventional education and deeply respect my teachers, I often recall my Montessori education with longing. We learned by asking questions. We absorbed information by examining and analyzing. We understood that experience is not acquired behind a desk.

A Gathering of Heroes for Halloween

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates tried very hard to program things when we sat down to our meeting this morning. Abe Lincoln tipped his hat to Wyatt Earp and Stonewall Jackson, who were determined to keep everyone in line. They were trumped by Hillary Clinton, though, who reminded us that Sitting Bull’s position is now set in stone. Things would have been just fine if Julius Caesar and George Washington hadn't vied for a leadership role in the process. Fortunately, Paul Revere warned us that trouble was on the way. Thomas Edison figured everything out while Amelia Earhart and Ponce de Leon navigated the room. Thanks to Clara Barton everyone remained in good health throughout. Good thing, because for a moment we thought we were seeing double when Martin Luther King Jr. showed up twice, but Helen Keller clearly knew what was going on! Little did modern day Bindi Irwin realize that she and Donald Hayes have something in common...they both are passionate about frogs!

Hope you can tell that we had a great day!

Creativity and Precision

Creativity and precision sometimes develop out of the simple desire to discover a beautiful symmetrical pattern. Third through sixth grade elementary students at AOC, who still learn by doing, are careful and exact as they construct elaborate geometric designs using a compass and a straightedge.

Most of these students have been handling two and three dimensional shapes since they were just three years old. During their preschool years they learned to identify quadrilaterals, regular polygons, seven types of triangles and many geometric solids. They traced numerous outlines, subconsciously absorbing the regularity of the shapes while incorporating geometric terms into every day conversation in their classrooms.

During their early elementary years the same students studied the lines and angles that formed the plane figures and solids they had talked about and handled when they were younger. They inscribed figures using equivalent fraction insets, trying to determine "which shape fit where," renaming them as they did so. They learned new terms, measured perimeters and areas, and discovered that all of these figures coexist in nature as well as in the man-made objects around them.

With careful control of the sharp points of their pencils against their rulers, these determined young scholars have been able to discover and test geometric theorems, long before they will be formally tested on those proofs in a high school geometry class. Unwittingly, from their own experiential art work, they have become familiar with many postulates derived by Euclid nearly 2000 years ago.

Our current society seems to rush students through the curriculum, rather than giving them a steady, thorough approach to learning a concept. It is quite refreshing to witness the tremendous satisfaction and deep understanding that comes from personal discovery, in this case following the creation of some beautiful designs. Creative freedom is a powerful motivator which can drive students to continue a personal study of the fine art as well as the science of geometry.

- Mrs H.

Memories of Success in the Big City

  Our ride to the Big Apple in the "quiet car" of the train last April was a little more relaxed than we had expected, but the excitement began once we were met by our luxury limobus at Penn Station. The driver took us over the Brooklyn Bridge to our hotel where we stored our luggage until the rooms were ready. We ducked into a Starbucks for a quick snack and headed to Battery Park by subway to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and stroll around her pedestal.

The Montessori Model United Nations Conference opened mid-month on a Wednesday evening, with a ceremony to include a Parade of Nations, for which Regina carried a fabric flag of Sweden that the AOC students had made.

Eighty-three nations were represented at the conference by approximately eight hundred thirty Montessori students in fourth through ninth grades. Students not only came from schools in the contiguous U.S. and Hawaii, but also from other countries including China, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sweden to name a few.  AOC was recognized with a certificate during the Opening Ceremony for having been fully supportive of MMUN since its inception five years earlier. The students listened to talks given by real UN Ambassadors about "service to others," and the attendees were congratulated on their hard work throughout the school year, culminating in the submission of position papers to the committee presidents and preparing to debate.

As the sessions opened Thursday morning, our students headed to their committee rooms in pairs. Our delegation represented the Kingdom of Sweden on the UNDP, UNESCO, UNHCR and WFP committees. By lunch time, everyone was talkative, and eager to share the results of their morning work on the topics they had studied back home.

We discovered that each of our student groups had opted to raise their placards during the morning session in order to be placed on their respective Speakers' Lists, and several had already introduced their ideas in this public forum. They chatted with each other throughout lunch about the students they met from other schools, the formal language that was or was not being employed correctly in the committee rooms, and the personalities of their respective committee presidents.

The afternoon sessions progressed, followed by dinner discussion surrounding the working papers which were in progress by that point. It became clear as we rounded the second day of meetings that our students had been involved with formulating the ideas for the preliminary paperwork. In some cases our delegations were even listed as Signatories or Sponsors, a first for AOC!

Saturday morning, the children were excited enough about their work that they hopped out of bed early to check out of the hotel, get breakfast and proceed to the UN Headquarters for final voting. During these proceedings the delegations sat on the main floor of the GA Hall in the seats used by the UN Ambassadors. They cast their votes for or against the resolutions by pushing the electronic colored buttons in front of them which would light up the voting board and create a full count of the votes in the room.

Most of the draft paperwork that AOC students had been involved in passed and became GA Resolutions during the voting session. They were told that their final resolutions would actually be submitted to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.

During the closing ceremony, all participants were congratulated for their noncompetitive, collaborative efforts by the Secretariat and visiting Ambassadors.

Starving after a long morning and a job well done, we headed back toward Grand Central Station to eat some famous New York style pizza in a little cafe. Then, we returned to the hotel, picked up our luggage and met the limo bus once again to transport us to the Greek/Roman and Egyptian exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Welcome Back to School!

All students in our class officially start school on Wednesday, September 7th, but we're looking forward to you stopping by during Welcoming Day on Tuesday between 11am and 1pm. Bring a bag lunch and let your children enjoy visiting with friends on the playground if you have time.

Be sure to send a shopping bag to school full of all the requested supplies on the first day! Check over the list carefully to be sure everything is complete. Pencils should be sharpened before they are brought to school so we don't wear out our sharpener. We'll be labeling individual supplies together that first morning with special name labels.

All homework must be completed and brought to school on the first day of classes. Uniform shirts are worn beginning Wednesday. Just a reminder, there will be no after care during the first week of school. All elementary students will be dismissed at 3:00pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Please join me in welcoming new students, Landon, Alvin, Adithya and Aneesh to our class this month. So happy to have them join us for the awesome work we have ahead of us!

Thank you, Honorable Zookeeper!

Yesterday evening, the upper elementary students participated in a mock UN conference to practice implementing what they have learned about parliamentary rules of procedure and drafting resolutions. Despite the fact that the delegates represented specific animals rather than countries in this simulation, leading to hilarious arguments about the topic of Disarmament at the Zoo, they maintained decorum and interacted professionally throughout the session. Following two and a half hours of speeches, debate, negotiation and compromise (plus a 5 minute doughnut break), two resolutions had been drafted and then passed with an almost unanimous final vote. The people can rest assured that the zoo animals will now be sharing their food and protecting each other for days to come!

Sharing the Final Position Papers

The students have completed eight Position Papers which were recently submitted to the MMUN presidents of the committees noted below. They have agreed to allow their finished products to be published online for our community to view. We hope you enjoy reading this work written by 9, 10 and 11 year olds. (Note that last names have been removed from the papers to protect their privacy.)

Next step ... condensing their ideas into one, two and five minute speeches, and then engaging in a mock simulation on an entirely different topic to become comfortable with debate protocol before the trip to New York.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

Lydia's Position Paper

Ritika's Position Paper

World Food Program (WFP)

McKinsey's Position Paper

Sam's Position Paper

United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR)

Omar's Position Paper

Kiernan's Position Paper

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Regina's Position Paper 1
Regina's Position Paper 2 

Time to Create a Timeline

Timelines are certainly an effective tool for helping elementary students understand the passage of time and place historical events in a chronological sequence, but in our classroom that isn't all that timelines communicate. The process of producing a self-designed timeline from beginning to end gives the student practical knowledge in language, math, practical life and the arts, in addition to a study of his particular topic of interest.

Traditionally, textbooks provide a linear representation of time related facts for students to memorize. Today, there are even many internet sites that give children access to beautiful pictorial displays of the passage of history. None of these prefabricated methods, though, outdo the hands-on, engaged learning process that occurs when a child sets out to make his own timeline in the Montessori elementary environment.

In our classroom, the many steps to creating a timeline provide a slew of opportunities for learning much more than just dates and events. The process goes something like this:

First the child needs to collect and organize some data:

1) He starts by researching a topic of interest.
2) Then he pulls together a list of related events and the dates they occurred.
3) Next he has to put the dates in order starting with the oldest proceeding to the most recent.
4) He takes notes, writing down a few ideas about each event.
5) If he would like, he illustrates something relevant about each event, labeling it with the appropriate date.

Mid-way through this lengthy process, the student plans out his paper requirements. To do this, he needs to complete several more steps that involve some work:

6) He considers the range of dates gathered in the research phase to decide how much space should be allocated to each period.
7) Next he decides on a scale (for example, six inches or a foot for every century -- the longer the better for the elementary child!)
8) And finally, he calculates how much paper will be needed and cuts it off the big paper roll.

At this point it is time to start working on creating the actual timeline:

9) First he uses a ruler to measures and mark off the full range of BC/BCE to AD dates along the edge of the paper according to his scale.
10) Then he is ready to place the illustrations, verbiage and date labels onto the time line paper, matching the dates with the linear progression he wrote along the base of the long strip of paper.
11) Once everything has been double checked by a friend, he glues it all down in place.
12) Lastly he adds headings and decorations to make it beautiful, and finally he presents it to the class.

So the next time your child tells you several days in a row that he has been working on a timeline, think of these twelve steps. You'll know that what he really means to say is that he has been reading, collecting information, planning, organizing, collaborating, negotiating, spelling, composing, sequencing, multiplying, dividing, counting, measuring, drawing, practicing his handwriting and improving his oral communication skills!