Last weeks of May 2018

Dear Families of St. Croix,

This year has really flown by! It has been a fantastic year. The students really have grown so very much in so many ways. This week when we send home all their things on Thursday, we will take time with each of them to look at the early pages of their math and language copybooks and their science sketch book. One of the reasons I have the students date every lesson I give them is for times like this: to be able to look back and see tangible growth. J I can’t wait for them to see their work from 9 months ago.

One example of their growth in self-control is a wonderful story that happened last Friday afternoon when I was away on a professional development afternoon and Julian and a sub were with them. One student had the idea to work in silence with the exception of whispering a question. Julian wisely timed their self-imposed silence: 4 minutes 13 seconds! J Self-control is such an important part of our Montessori approach because it is a habit that will serve them not only their whole lives in diverse areas but more immediately, in all their academic endeavors to come. These three years of Lower Elementary are critical to forming good learning habits and all the students have done this. We do not push or make it happen; a Montessori prepared environment encourages spontaneous work marked by concentration, independence and self-control. It has been a deep pleasure to watch this happen – they created themselves, we did not.

Of course, we have had ups and downs this year but each conflict, moment of tension and challenge offers the student a moment to grow and overcome a barrier. They will continue to encounter barriers because life is full of them, but throughout this year, they have expanded their tool kit to handle problems, confrontations and disagreements.

This past week I took them on a surprise “field trip”: we went and visited the classroom where St. Croix will be next year. It was very thrilling for them! I have been reminding them for the past few weeks how much teaching and modeling they are going to be doing with the new first years next fall. Also, this past week we had a classroom meeting to talk about things they loved about the year and that they want to repeat again next year. It was endearing to hear their reflections and their anticipation. 

Also, the week before we heard Spanish stories from the Adolescents, we had Lucia's dad come in and talk about fly fishing. He had all kinds of things to share and several children tied flies with him. We have been honoring several students who have summer birthdays! This past Thursday we had Field Day put on by the seniors. Fun for all. All these events you will see in the photos below.

Finally, they have loved packing up the classroom! We have taught them so many Practical Life skills of taping up a box, how to pack a box so that it is full but not too heavy. They labeled themselves all our classroom chairs, tables, shelves, cabinets etc. The packing up process has helped them realize that the year is ending and that they will have a new classroom and new peers next year.

Reminders:

Wednesday: Como Pool Field Trip; apply sun screen and bring the bottle to school and we will reapply as needed. Pack a picnic style lunch with lots of food and snacks. Swimming and playing is going to make them very hungry.

Thursday: all items will come home so if your child takes the bus they may have a heavy backpack or if at Big Canoe, please be sure to take the items at pick up Thursday evening.

Friday: No lunch (we will have a homemade snack and chocolate milk (shh! – it’s a surprise); No backpack, no items needed. There is no need for sunscreen or water bottles because school ends at noon and we only be outside from about 11:15 - 12. The buses leave at 11:45 and parent pick up beings at noon. You are welcome to the closing ceremonies when the whole school will sing and celebrate a terrific 2017-2018 year.

As promised, this week we will do a community sewing project and make our St. Croix flag! We will also be doing some polishing and other cleaning activities.

We will have a final end of year post on the blog but we want to already say now how incredibly WONDERFUL and THOUGHTFUL you all have been for us this year. We have received so many surprise gifts of coffee, donuts, home-made treats, cards and so many GIFTS from our wish list. Our words of thanks cannot express enough our gratitude. Really. We learn so much from your children and they give us so many smiles and happy reflections about learning and life.

Kateri and Julian