Getting Dirty in the Pursuit of HIstory

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School Students excavated clay from the farm pond for a recent humanities project on Mayan pottery.  Can't wait to see the finished project!

Alumni off to Colleges Near and Far!

How time flies...

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School graduates from 2009

are off to colleges and universities near and far.

Congratulations to you all!

Schools include:

University of Virginia

Virginia Tech

Mary Washington University

New Mexico State University

Students Backpack the Appalachian Trail

Mount Marshall and Shenandoah National park are right outside our back door. They are what we see each day as we go about our school lives.  They helps define who we are and where we are in the world.

Students and faculty of Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School got up close and personal with the park and Mount Marshall on a 3 day backpacking trip in April.

Before...

After...

From Farm to Folger Theater!

The Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School students put on an excellent performance at the Folger Shakespeare Secondary Festival yesterday. We are all very proud of them all!

Their play was entitled "Shakespeare Mashup" and included scenes woven together from Hamlet, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The whole cast received a recognition award called "The Well-Oiled Machine Award" for working together as an ensemble, listening and responding to one another, and clearly presenting the meaning of Shakespeare's texts. 

Three individual Mountain Laurel Montessori students received awards as well.

Many thanks to our guest drama teacher and director, Katie Long.

Congratulations!!

Rosalind and Sylvius with trees in As You Like It

Romeo and Juliet

The cast with the narrator setting the scene

Hoophouse before the windstorm February 2012

We were just ready to harvest early spinach, lettuce, and radishes when we had a big windstorm that destroyed the plastic on the hoophouse.

Students water the plants daily

Chard

Lettuce

Plant's eye view

Radishes! We ate some for dinner on an overnight recently - yum!

The good news is that within 1 week we had ordered new plastic, repaired the damage, and added new anti-billowing straps to keep the wind from damaging the new plastic. 1 week after that, we had 60 mile per hour winds and the hoophouse came through it just fine! We're replanting now.

The bad news is that all of that fresh produce we grew for the Food Pantry was frozen when the plastic was damaged.

A Cosy Rainy Day

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School students enjoy the fire on a rainy day in February.

Algebra dog

Chopping wood for the fire

SAVE THE DATE: 

Mountain Laurel Montessori's annual conference 

The Work of The Hand

Through the Planes and Across the Stages of Development

A one day conference for parents and educators

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012

Front Royal and Flint Hill, Virginia

Keynote Speaker: Pat Ludick

To register or read the brochure:

www.mountainlaurelmontessori.org

OPEN HOUSE - Sunday January 29th, 1:00-3:30 pm

The Nation's Capital Was the Setting for Original Theater Based on the Cultures of Ancient China and Mesopotamia

The US Botanical Gardens became
the setting for this portrayal of the
leader of an  ancient Chinese dynasty

At the end of each Humanities Project, the students write original historical fiction based on their research.We call these pieces Dramatis Personae.  We spend the day in Washington D.C. performing all around the city

At dusk, part of an original epic poem
styled after Gilgamesh

The students on the capital lawn

Each student chooses the location for their dramatis personae based on the physical scene they want to portray.  For example, the US Botanical Garden has a desert room that has been used for cultures in arid climates, the US Capital was the backdrop for a portrayal of a Roman Senator because of the historical connections between the governments of Rome and the United States, and the grassy area of the National Mall was recently used to represent a wide open plain.   

More of the epic poem 

The location may be chosen for visual effect or historical significance.  In this way, the students are challenged to make connections between various cultures, times, and places and to think about how the past is connected to our own lives today.   

Genghis Khan

Tamworth Piglets Arrive!

Eagerly welcoming the new piglets

Cute but with a very loud squeal

Three Tamworth weanlings have joined us at the Farm School this winter.