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

Spontaneous Wind Exploration

Today the Farm School students explored the properties of wind using a parachute. The Wind Occupation group is developing a windmill prototype using the cloth from an old parachute. First, they had a great time testing their strength against the wind. The lessons that will grow from this fun include drag, lift, forces, and more.

Open House Nov. 8th 1:00-3:30

FARM SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE!

Please join us on Sunday, November 8th, from 1:00-3:30 at the Farm School. Students and faculty will be on hand to give tours and answer your questions.

The Farm School is a unique educational setting, and it really takes seeing to believe it.

As a parent of a 9th year Farm School student recently said, "it is such a great place for the heart, soul, and mind!"

We hope to see you on Sunday.

"So, it is good when a sheep burps?"

One of the Occupation groups (see below for explanation) this Fall is studying sheep. The students noticed that the sheep frequently burp. The question, "why do sheep burp?" led to a lesson on ruminant digestion and a fermentation experiment.

To simulate the fermentation that happens in one of the sheep's four stomachs, the students combined yeast, water, and sugar in flasks and attached balloons to the top of the jar. Learning about variables, some changed the amount of sugar or yeast, or varied the temperature. The amount of gas released was measured by placing the balloons in water and measuring the displacement.

Many Montessori Adolescent Programs use the terminology Occupation and Humanities Projects for the long term interdisciplinary studies in the curriculum. Occupation projects are science based, and revolve around the real needs of the farm (for instance, Sheep because this will be the first time we breed the sheep, or Wind Energy because we need to install a windmill to aerate the pond). The science standards of learning are covered through this project-based approach. They are called Occupations because they reflect the developmental needs of young adolescents as they look to the adult world and wonder "how will I contribute to society?" "What will I do?" They are trying on the occupation of farmer, naturalist, biologist, engineer, or veterinarian to see how it fits.

"a limitless field for scientific and historic studies"

“Work on the land is an introduction both to nature and to civilization and gives a limitless field for scientific and historic studies.” -Dr. Maria Montessori , Italian Physician and Educator (first published in 1948)

Dr. Montessori believed that we could achieve a better and more peaceful society by improving the education of young people.

The farm provides the basis for the curriculum at the Farm School, lending itself to project-based, experiential, learning.

Food, Inc. Makes an Impression

Farm School students, faculty, and parents attended a showing of the film Food, Inc. in Warrenton, VA with a follow-up Question and Answer session with Joel Salatin. The film made quite an impression.

At breakfast and lunch the next day, there was a lot of talk about food choices and analysis of where the ingredients for our meals were grown.

While the movie painted some pretty dire problems in the US food system, the students noted that they were proud to be a part of the solution - raising our own pigs for pork, chickens for eggs, and garden for fresh and healthy vegetables and herbs using sustainable farming practices.

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