2022 Newsletter Term 02 | Issue 02 – Farmhouse Montessori School

Dear Farmhouse Montessori Families,

Welcome to this edition of our Farmhouse newsletter.

Parent Teacher Interviews – Semester 1

These are well on the way and enable parents to check in with teaching staff to learn more about your child’s academic, emotional, and social development.

These meetings are also a good way to get to know your child’s teachers better if you are relatively new to a classroom.

Parent teacher interviews also help your child’s teachers understand more about your child and to make plans with you about how you can both support your child.

Chess Club at Farmhouse Montessori

About 20 children are currently attending the after-school Chess Club which is led by a very generous and enthusiastic group of primary parents – a real chess frenzy has developed, and children are absolutely loving it. The group are aiming to participate at the Sydney Junior Championships (Under 12) at North Ryde October 4-6 as a bit of fun.

Montessori Sports Carnival – 15^th June

Where: BANNOCKBURN OVAL – PYMBLE

Time: 9:45am to 2:00pm

This much anticipated and fun filled event is again taking place on the 15^th of June. All parents are welcome to come along to observe and cheer. Due to concerns raised by teachers for our third year Stage 1 children (Kindergarten), who did not seem to cope too well with the busyness of the event last year, they will not participate this year. All primary students are participating.

Thank you to our primary class parents for recruiting parent volunteers to help support sport stations on the day and to give a hand.

What will my child wear?

A red t-shirt, comfortable shorts or track suit bottoms and sneakers.

Permission forms have already been sent home.

Theatre Fun for all the Family – The 13-Storey Treehouse

Andy Griffiths’ and Terry Denton’s best-selling book comes to life on stage for children and their adults! Ideal for ages 6 – 12 years!

Following sold out seasons at the Sydney Opera House and theatres across the country, here’s your chance to catch the super-famous, ultra-brilliant, runaway success show, The 13-Storey Treehouse.

Don’t forget, Glen Street Theatre accepts NSW Parents vouchers, so a trip to the theatre is even more affordable.

9 – 11 June – Tickets* Members $25, All tickets $30, Family pass (4) $110, Babes in arms (under 2 on lap) Free

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Xkqtc-Roo

Enjoy the remainder of our newsletter – happy reading!

In the Elouera classroom, we work with and experiment with a wide range of mediums to foster and encourage creativity. Our creative expression work focuses on the process of making art & creating, and not on the end result. This week we have been working with oil pastels, liquid watercolors, acrylic paints, and markers. Experimenting with different materials and techniques to create artworks allows the child to develop their creativity, improves fine motor skills, and lets them practice making choices.

— Corinne, Sarah & Nina

The Burbangana class work with the maths materials on a daily basis.

Children are introduced to concepts in concrete form where the materials can be felt and manipulated so the hand is always involved in the learning process. As children progress through the materials they are learning numbers and their associated quantities, learning about place value through the decimal system, and are learning about the four operations of maths. We encourage lots of counting in the classroom, from the number of children at school that day to how many pencils are in the jar. Maria Montessori believed that everyone is born with a ‘mathematical mind’.

— Amanda, Teresa and Claire

This week is Road Safety Week. We took this opportunity to discuss with the children how they can be safe around cars. Investigations with very young children usually starts with brain storming what they already know. We then make the learning concrete through hands on experiences. Making road signs allows the child to remember the road rules through motor memory. Finally the children spend time role playing what they have learned incorporating songs into their learning. A fun week.

— Jenny, Angela, Claire & Catalina.

What is an activist?

This was the question asked in sustainability as we talked about David Attenborough on the eve of his 96th birthday. The discussion that followed resulted in this agreed meaning “it’s a person who tries to make the world a better place for everyone”. All the children agreed David Attenborough is the best and that they want to be like him, to make a difference.

“We do every day when we bring our reusable water bottle not one to throw away!” and “We love animals sooooo much!”

Each week this term we have spoken about a person, an activist and what they are trying to achieve. This has linked with World Bee Day and World Turtle Day. Teaching children about activism enhances their sense of control over their life and their impact on the world. It gives them a sense of belonging to a community and hopefully will inspire a passion to try and change what they see needs to be improved in the world.

Go my little eco warriors!

– Dawn

This week in Kindergarten the children investigated bees on world bee day. They learned some interesting facts about bees. Did you know the queen bee lays 2000 eggs per day? Bees help flowers and plants to grow and bees drink nectar from flowers.

To extend this learning, the children made a small book about bees, drawing pictures and writing words to tell a story or state a fact about bees.

Together with Cooinda and Burbangana, the children learned the Waggle Dance. This is a representation of the dance bees do to communicate to other bees where to find a food source.

— Helen

Through the support of our family community, the adjustments made within the Aikya classroom to support the student’s social and emotional well-being and purposeful academic fulfilment post-COVID lockdown have significantly impacted the community as a whole.

Comparatively to the last term, we observe smoother, more harmonious beginnings to the day, increased focused purposeful work, and more engaged and happier children with an increase in the respect shown to one another, the classroom, and oneself.

This fortnight, the room has been filled with wonderful examples of independent work from the children. Maths, geometry, comprehension, and language studies are consistently the drawcards. Art has also featured in our Thursday lessons with Ali. Friday sport has been exciting with our weekly walk to St Paul’s school where we utilise their Waterford Hall.

As always, thank you to all our families.

– Harshitha, Toby, Thomas

The past few weeks at Yani, we have been working on different concepts such as: square numbers, sentence analysis, and the study of biomes.

The study of biomes involves personal research about the biotic and abiotic factors of a biome and how humans interact with nature. The students have created posters and some of them are currently working on dioramas and models to present what they have learnt. This week, they have been working on Tundras.

The older students in the classroom have been learning about different types of poetry. Last week, they learnt the features of a ballad and this week, they are focusing on sonnets. We have discussed how to recite poems using rhythm, intonation and emotion.

Show and Tell is an important part of our classroom. The children are welcomed to bring items or stories to share with the rest of their peers. During Show and Tell, we practise how to interact with each other respectfully, putting our hand up before we speak, and listening to what others say intently.

— Laura.

PRE-SCHOOL CAMPUS
We’ve continued on with some rhythm drills, using apples and pears to make patterns we can clap and say. All 3 groups are doing such a great job!
We’ve written a fun and silly song as a class which is almost complete!

NORTH HEAD CLASSROOM MUSIC
Akiya and Yani have been continuing to learn all about the sounds and style of Surf Rock Music. Sur Guitar, Surf Drums, Surf Vocals.
Our ‘surf rock choir’ is sounding wonderful on Surfer Girl by The Beach Boys!

MONTESSORI BAND
We’ve continued playing Cloudy Day, a great song by Australian artist Tones and I. But also some ‘Hard Rock’ music including Australian Band ‘Wolfmother’!

Looking forward to sharing what we’ve been doing in person via live performance with the Farmhouse Community soon!

Learn to PLAY Music
Learn to LOVE Music
…Be a Musician for LIFE!

James, Angie, Ben & Deb
(The Evergreen Music Team)

YANI Group
We received our new French notebook.
Created the first page with “ mon cahier de français “ ( my notebook of french )
Start learning about the physical description.
J`ai les yeux ( marron, bleus, verts, noirs + clairs=light/foncé=dark)
My eyes are…….
Played memory game in French and created a IMAGIER about the body parts in French

AIKYA Group
Start learning about the physical description.
J`ai les yeux ( marron, bleus, verts, noirs + clairs=light/foncé=dark)
My eyes are…….
Received our French notebook “ mon cahier de français “.
Played memory game in French and played a DICE group game about the body parts.

— Delphine .