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

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School: Live On Air!

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School: Live On Air!

Farm School Director, Susan Holmes, and 2 Mountain Laurel Montessori students were interviewed live last week on the Valley Today Show, The River 95.3.

You will find the link to listen to the show here:

http://royalbroadcasting.net/Podcasts/Valley%20Today/20110120VT.mp3

Thanks so much to Lonnie Hill and Mario Retrosi for inviting us on the show!

The Farm School Live On The Air!

Congratulations

to students Ursula Bell and Zoe Pettler

who did an outstanding job in an interview on the local radio show The Valley Today!

You can listen to the podcast online here:

http://www.theriver953online.com/page.php?page_id=41558

Scroll down and click on
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010: Mountain Laurel Montessori School Staff

The students, along with Farm School Director Susan Holmes, were interviewed about upcoming events and recent happenings at Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School.

Thanks to Mario Retrosi for inviting us to be on the show.

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 Give Presentations

Students deliver final presentations at the end of each Occupation and Humanities Project.

It is, in Montessori terms, the 3rd period of a 3-period lesson.

It is a time when the students share their newly developed expertise with the rest of the Farm School Community, and are recognized as true experts in that particular area.

Montessori students have many opportunities such as these to develop their public speaking skills.

Here, students from the Sheep Occupation talk about pregnancy and lambing, including DNA (the Sheep Occupation).

The Wind Energy Occupation is demonstrating their first successful anemometer