TNSM (9-12) teacher, Nancy Buchman reports, “Unfortunate accidents always lead to cooperation at The New School Montessori. One of my favorite moments is when students all gather to help pick up dropped items – a fraction box, decimal discs, or in this case a broken rice-filled stress ball. I love the teamwork and lack of blame or embarrassment as students work together to create order out of chaos.
TNSM community celebrates The New School with prospective families
Last Sunday, we opened our doors to prospective families for an open house. A great number of current parents, students and alumni came to give tours, to meet prospective families – AND to make bagged lunches together for residents in need in our city. TNSM parent, Lydia Stec, posted this great video from our open house and community outreach event. I love The New School Montessori where my son goes to school! Posted by Lydia Randall Stec on Thursday, January 28, 2016 TNSM alumni student, Aiden Clancy, took this artistic photo of the more than 200 lunches TNSM friends and family …
We love Phy-Sci Fridays!
Nancy Buchman’s students in (9-12) ended their study of electricity in physical science by creating their own batteries. They watched videos and looked up procedures on the internet. Each group was responsible for writing up a lab report that listed who would bring the necessary materials, and who would perform each step of the process. Each battery was built using copper, aluminum or zinc, and an acidic electrolyte which all worked together to get the electrons moving in a circuit. Batteries ranged from lemons, to pineapples, to pennies and potatoes. Each group successfully produced an electrical current that they measured …
Feathered friends return for a visit
Look who came back to The New School for a visit! Katherine (TNSM student in 9-12) brought in Kingston and Twilight to see their New School friends. The feathery pair used to live in the (6-9) space a few years ago. Katherine and her family adopted the birds and have been providing a wonderful home for them. Many thanks for bringing them in to visit.
Cincinnati Zoo brought animal friends to TNSM
Non-nappers in preprimary enjoyed meeting some new animal friends from the zoo. Students made them feel welcome by creating a quiet and still environment so as not startle them. They enjoyed learning about where each animal lives, its diet and habits. And of course they were thrilled to have the opportunity to see the animals up close and to touch them.
Understanding relationships between decimals and fractions
Silas is beginning to learn about decimal place values. This work show the decimal place values and the equivalent numbers in both decimal and fraction form. Using the Montessori place value colors of green, blue, and red to indicate 10s, 100s 1000s holds true for decimal numbers too.
Concrete Montessori Materials Help Students Work Abstractly Later
Stella, Rob and the other 5th graders are beginning their hands-on algebra work where they learn to solve equations by adding or subtracting the same value from both sides of an equation. The concrete Montessori materials help lead them to be able to do this work abstractly.
Abbia demonstrates use of the movable alphabet
TNSM 3rd grader, Abbia, gave a demonstration on the movable alphabet. Montessori students begin using these loose letters in preprimary as an early preparation for reading and writing. Many Montessori materials are used across the levels – so that each year students build on what they know and have a rooted and rich understanding of the subject.
TNSM student raises Blue Angora rabbits
Last Friday, Rob brought in his English Blue Angora bunny, Muffin, for sharing. He also has another Blue Angora named Batman Jr. He has been raising bunnies for 2 years. At home the rabbits have an indoor cage for winter cold temperatures, but during warmer weather they enjoy their outdoor cage. He spent a long time choosing the Blue Angora, and rode to Indianapolis to pick up Muffin.
Sing for Peace
Andrea Rosenthal Warnken’s 2nd-level students sang for peace around the world in this lovely arrangement of movement and song.