Declaration of Unity

Mountain Laurel Montessori Jr. High students are studying US Government this term.  In this Spring's Humanities Project they are forming a new nation.  They are in the process of developing their system of government.  Today they delivered their opening speeches and formally declared their intention to form a union.  Here are some photos of the official signing.

The Declaration



a little pomp and circumstance for the signing

A delegate signs

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

Students create artifacts inspired by study of Ancient Greece

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School students have been studying Ancient Greece. Each student has developed expertise of a particular Greece city-state.  The students will demonstrate their knowledge through research papers, persuasive essays, and a "meeting of the minds" in which they will try to convince a council why their city-state is fit to rule all of the Greek world.

   

Creating a mosaic inspired by mosaics from Ancient Greece

In addition, each student is creating an original artifact inspired by their research.  Here are photos of the students hard at work on their artifacts and research.

Students collaborate on research and creation of artifacts

Creating a map of the Delphic League - mixed media

Writing Across the Curriculum - Language is Everywhere!

Study of the English language is woven throughout the curriculum at Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School.  Students read and write in every aspect of their studies.  Here is an example of creative writing as part of a Geometry exam. This story was written by an 8th year student.

The Story of the Points

Once upon a time there was a point named Will.  He occupied no space and had no dimension.  He was very lonely and set out on a journey to find a family  He came to the line family.  He joined the line family which had an infinite amount of points.  This line extended infinitely in opposite directions, but had no length or depth.  All of the line family points were mean so he went to find another family. 

The family he came to was called the plane family.  The plane family was made up of a flat expanse of points extending in every direction.  The plane family, like the line family, had length and no depth, but unlike the line family it had width. Will thought that the plane familty was very nice, and he loved that it had width, so he joined the family.

One morning, Will woke up to see that the plane family was playing collinear / noncolinear.  Collinear / noncollinear is a game like musical chairs.  A point will call out a name such as collinear which means that the points must form a single straight line.  Whomever is the last to get in the collinear line will have to sit out. It is the same for non-collinear.  When the point calls out noncollinear, you must make sure that you are not lining up with any other points, and whoever is lining up will have to sit out. 

During the game, the points got ino a big fight.  Half of the poinst thought that Will was out of the game, and the other half thought he was in.  All of the points were so mad that they split up into different planes: one called Plane 1 and the other called Plane Elephant.  Points would refer to Plane 1 and Plane Elephant as the noncoplaner crazys. 

One day, Plane Elephant wanted to spy on Plane 1.  They sent 5 of their points out in an infinite straight line in the direction where they thought Plane 1 was.  They called this mission (which failed) Mission Ray.  Points were sad that this mission failed, so they sent 5 more points out infinitely in the opposite direction. They called this Mission Opposite Ray. 

The Opposite Ray mission succeeded and they saw that Plane 1 was soing horribly.  There were angles everywhere.  Angles are hated by points.  Young teen points put them up kind of like graffiti.  They are like a bad version of rays, because like rays, they share an end point and extended infintely in opposite directions.  But, unlike rays, they are not straight (plane family points like to be straight). 

The Mission Opposite Ray points came back to Plane Elephant and reported the horror they found.  They sent the 5 points back to talk to Plane 1 about becoming one plane family again.  Plane 1 agreed to come back and they vowed never to leave again, extend infinitely, and to always be straight, creating a line segment. 

The End

In a Word: Synonym for Whine

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a dialogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. This week, the challenge was to use a synonym for the word "whine." Every so often we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

Synonym for Whine:

Sit by the trees, where the leaves have blown.

Sit by the trees, and listen to them moan.

Sit by the trees, and enjoy a plum.

Sit by the trees, like a lazy bum.

Sit by the trees, and watch the stars.

Sit by the trees, and ignore the cars.

Sit by the trees, and sleep, sleep away.

Michael, 8th year student

In a Word: Humble

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a dialogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Every so often we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

HUMBLE

Out in the dips and tips of many valleys, there was a mountain, covered in a wonderful blanket of snow. It shone past all the other mountains and had out-grown them by far. And below this blue mountain was a large valley, breathing in the cold snow that was covering it. It shone past all the other valleys and had out-grown them by far. And tucked beneath this valley was a humble cottage, smoke billowing out from its little brick chimney. It's old wood grain; deterioriating from the harsh winds that blow down from the mountain and clean-sweep the valley. And tucked under a blanket next to the fire, sitting in a little chair, sits an old man, breathing in the winter air.

-Ursula, 9th year student

Students become characters from history

Montessori education aims to inspire in young people the idea that every human being is worthy of great repect and is capable of doing great things.

At the Farm School, Humanities Projects are driven by the attempt to get inside the perspective of individuals from different cultures in history. What was it like to be a Roman architect? What did it feel like to be the heir of a Mayan king? What if you didn't want to be the next king? What did Elizabeth Cady Stanton struggle with as she helped women win the right to vote?

Students write traditional research papers on an aspect of the culture we are studying; then they write a Dramatis Persona, a fictitious (although grounded in facts from their research) first person account of a moment in that person's life.

By writing and speaking as these people from our past, young adolescents have the opportunity to explore what it feels like to be one of these people, and in turn, to think about what great things they will do in the world.

"Let us in education ever call the attention of children to the hosts of men and women who are hidden from the light of fame, so kindling a love of humanity...a reverent consciousness of its dignity and worth" - Dr. Maria Montessori

In a Word: Expansive

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

IMAGINATION

Seconds turn into minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days. The expansive plain devoured each step he took, so that it seemed the dry, hot desert would never come to an end. Exhaustion and dehydration began to sink in, hunger followed shortly after. Images skipped past his sight, tricking him each, miserable time. A vulture spiraled above him, trailing a dark shadow in its wake. A small, blue feather floated to the ground.

He fell to the got, dry earth, making a soft thud. His head swam as he dragged himself across the ground, heat beating the life out of him every second. He collapsed again and rolled onto his back. Water, water...water was all he could think as he tasted grains of sand on his tongue.

A gulp of hot air, a last beat of a heart, and then..."Bobby! Get in the house now!" A small boy lying in a sandbox jumped up and ran to the back door of his house. As he ran past his mother in the doorway, she swatted him gently and picked a blue feather off of his shirt.

-Rachel, 9th year student

In A Word: Braggart

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

To choose the word this week, we opened the dictionary and one of the students closed her eyes and pointed. The dictionary brought us this word: Braggart. Here is one example of how it was used in a composition.

BRAGGART

I lay down in cool grass facing syward,
where the birds and clouds took turns chasing one another in endless blue.
The smell of flowers filled the air.
The trees, tall and mighty, seemed like braggarts,
dancing with color when a breeze blew.
It was the most beautiful day I had ever...

"Erika, keep paddling!"

-Erika, 8th year student

In a Word: Force

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

This week the word "force" came from the study of wind energy. The writing this week was an stream-of-consiousness exercise. After breakfast on Friday morning, the students were given the word and 15 minutes in which to write. The only rule was that they must keep writing the entire time. This piece is one example.

FORCE

The force of the blow shook the earth. The tectonic plates rattled and slammed as San Diego dissapeared into the ground. Tsunamis swept through southern Asia, tossing fishermens' boats like a toddler throws its toys when it is angry. Volcanoes erupted and Pompeii returned to its beginnings. Earth is on the verge of collapse and all the world can do is watch helplessly.

-Sam, 9th year student

In a Word: Fire

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as this week's "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. This week, the word "fire" was chosen because the students are studying the Maya culture, and are digging a fire pit in which to recreate ancient pottery firing techniques. However, the students may interpret the word as they wish. In this case, the author uses the word as a noun, verb, and adjective. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

FIRE

If you watch as the fire burns bright
You will see me dancing in the flickering flames
Waving back and forth with the power of fire

Some love me, some fear me, but all respect me
For they know my strength is that of the earth
The earth that they come from and to which they'll return

I am real, more real than you can comprehend
I am the spark of life that flickers within each of you
Anyone can look for me but only believers will succeed

I am the fire queen, dancing for life
Burning bright in the darkness to show the way
I am the essence of the element of fire

-Zoe, 8th year student