This evening, hours after I got home from school, I received this email from a student about a project that’s due tomorrow morning:
Hi mr Roy I was wondering if you could put this picture on the smart board to make sure you can read the lettering. if you cant read it then I will change the picture. thanks bye
I guess it’s true that students believe that their teachers live in the classroom 24-7!
(Yes, it is also riddled with mechanical errors, but that’s pretty common with emails from middle-schoolers. He probably felt like he was being super-formal by putting in periods and saying hi.)
Well, it was Griffin’s first day, even if I had already been at school for a week of meetings and classroom prep. It’s hard to believe that Griffin is done with middle school!
Today was Oliver’s “Fly-up” ceremony where he transitions from Children’s House into the elementary school. In Montessori terms, he’s not only moving into a new classroom next year (as a first grader), but he is moving into another developmental stage (or “plane of development”). Here’s how his teacher described it in a recent email:
Fly-up is a celebration to mark the passing from one plane of development to the next. You probably already see signs of your second plane child: abstract thinking, reasoning mind, strong sense of what is just and fair, strong inclination to be with and work alongside peers. The fly-up ceremony is a visual representation of this internal growth.
At the celebration, each child will run down the hallway from the Children’s House wing, out the door and into the elementary courtyard where they are greeted by the elementary children, teachers and parents.
In honor of the occasion, Oliver decided to wear a festive fancy shirt and a top hat from our costume closet. He looks pretty dashing! (Maggie dressed up for the occasion, too.)
“I haven’t finished it yet, but it’s like my mind is connected to the bead bars. I Just know what’s going to come next.”
Oliver’s wonderful Kindergarten teacher, Molly, sent us this picture and quote. The “bead bars” represent numbers (by the number of color-coded beads on each bar) and can be used to explore a lot of mathematical operations (including addition and multiplication). It’s amazing to see how these manipulatives give kids real confidence around number manipulation. Oliver regularly stops me from solving math problems so that he can do them himself.
One of my favorite middle school events in the years before COVID was the Chinese New Years Assembly. Put together by my amazing friend and colleague, Neil Bray, it features music and skits by students and culminates in a lion dance by a local family troupe (the Ha family). This year, we were happy to have the Ha family back at school for an in-person event. I caught a bit of the dance on video:
Lion Dance at the SPA Middle School on February 10, 2023
Oliver has been working on learning countries around the world. This week he completed a map of Europe. He hasn’t labeled everything yet, but I love the creative spellings (Itle = Italy; youkran = Ukraine, etc.).
Griffin has had a great season with his volleyball team this fall. The team has been unfailingly positive even in the face of defeat. (Though they’ve done better this season than last year, with a few decisive victories and many close matches.) It’s been a joy to watch them duke it out on the court every week.
Here’s a short video at the tail end of one of their closest games. Alas, after getting 1 point from victory, they were ultimately defeated, 25-27.
In Oliver’s Kindergarten class, they’re using their Montessori “golden beads” to solve some epic math problems. In this instance, Oliver (seated on the floor) was one of two farmers trying to sell their pumpkin crop to three Trader Joe’s stores. They had 4,572 pumpkins to divide evenly. Each store got 1,524 pumpkins.
Oliver and his classmates solving a big math problem.
Kudos to my colleagues Neil and Diane for organizing a faculty gathering at Afton State Park earlier this month. Families were welcome at a large group site. Some folks brought tents and stayed overnight. Many others stopped by to enjoy the fire for a portion of the evening.
Sarah was out of town, so I brought our three kids plus two extras. They basically ran off into the woods and only emerged occasionally for hot dogs and s’mores. Social gatherings like this have been few and far between since COVID struck, so the time felt quite special. We didn’t stay overnight, but had a lovely time spending the evening with a stellar group of people.
