ECA friends created a collaborative art piece completely driven on their own without the help of the guides. This included crumbling tissue paper and gluing it on a large piece of art paper.  ECB created jellyfish after looking at different types of jellyfish in their study of the oceans. This project involved cutting and gluing tissue paper bodies and cutting and gluing pieces of yarn for the tentacles. ECC is exploring music by using a keyboard through creative expression. Friends are learning to distinguish high and low sounds. This also helps strengthen the hand muscles for writing.  LE collaborated and created a salt map of Pangea as well as a salt map of Laurasia/Gondawanaland to go along with their classroom study of the formation of the supercontinents. ME learned the art of making sushi!  They spread the rice on the seaweed, put the ingredients of their choice on top, and then rolled their sushi all while learning the vocabulary in Spanish....

ECA is practicing their cutting work to help them develop the control and coordination necessary for later cutting activities. ECB explored creating art with a marble that went along with their study of the primary colors.  The children squeezed drops of primary colored paint in the center of the paper and then moved the container to roll the marble through the paint, creating the design.  ECC created a mosaic of dots to create intricate detailed patterns.  This work also helps strengthen the hand muscles for writing and performing practical life activities.  LE learned about the work of the master artist, Claude Monet. They created their own watercolor inspired by Monet’s love for painting water forms.  Monet Inspired Watercolor by Kate LE also received the final piece of the collaborative fall art they did with Kolidiko. ME did a Mandala Project to honor someone or some place important in their lives.  It was a way of giving...

The Abintra Montessori School is proud to be a partner of the West Meade Conservancy. The outdoor education curriculum in the Upper Elementary classroom at Abintra strives to help students develop awareness, foster respect and share enthusiasm for the natural environment and learn how to work as a community to protect and preserve our local ecosystem. Currently, the class is building a database of organisms on the Abintra campus, following the example of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) project taking place in the Smoky Mountains National Park. It documents parts of the biodiversity existing in the hills of West Meade. Members of the WMC have been very supportive in our efforts: Jane Bibring donated several field guides to our classroom and Willi Honegger recently presented a lesson about insects. We hope that this collaboration will continue and become stronger. Jonell Smith, Upper Elementary Guide, Abintra Montessori School Above: Abintra representation at the West M...

In ECA, students do a sewing activity while learning the vocabulary in Spanish:  aguja (needle), hilo (thread), nudo (knot), coser(sew), cortar (cut), tijeras (scissors). ECB created a representation of the Earth's core with red as the inner core, orange as the outer core, yellow as the mantle, and black as the crust.  The students are creating these through pin punching, using a push pin to create the shape, which strengthens the three-finger grasp.  This is a continuation of our study of the Earth's core, providing the students with the opportunity to experience the lesson in another form, incorporating movement and fine motor skills. ECC took some time during November to study the beautiful season of fall.  Each child created their own unique fall tree using paper bags and torn pieces of construction paper. LE kicked off their study of printmaking this week.  Using leaves that have fallen on campus, the students did positive and negative prints...

Play is children’s therapy - they work through worries, curiosities, fears, and triumphs through their play. Having limited language and less conceptual experience, nature has provided young mammals with this way to learn what the grown-ups know. At school, we teach children that games are for having fun, and if someone in the game is not having fun, the game should change. This gives the children opportunities to practice reading faces and listening to each other’s words. The adult’s work is to be aware of the dynamics of play, and point out choices and options when the children need guidance. We take advantage of opportunities to voice our own peaceful values by commenting on situations that arise. Through play your child is trying to find out who he or she is in the world. A child learns about personal physical abilities and limits, about what is interesting and/or tolerated by individual friends or the group, and about how to negotiate a difference of opinion with friends. Chil...

EC’s  solar system (astronomy) art project involves placing the planets in order while also coloring the planets according to their actual colors.  The project combined tracing the inset of the planets, coloring the planets with oil pastels, and finally painting over them in black watercolor.  This also allows the children to observe that watercolors do not paint over oil pastels (oil and water don't mix). Art and science are a natural complement to each other. In the last few weeks, ME has been working with clay.  They have experimented with rolling and cutting slabs, revisited pinch and coil methods, and have created a little menagerie of wee beasties and containers.  Clay fish by Ava ME also visited the Nashville Children’s Theater to see the production of “You're a Good Man Charlie Brown” . UE continued their study of religious art focusing on Islam.  They learned about the significance of geometric patterns in Islamic art and create...

EC students are working with watercolors, strengthening their hand for writing. Watercolor by Atia  In honor of Pablo Picasso 's birthday last week, LE created self-portriats in his cubism style. Cubism Self-portrait by Molly ME & UE went on a field trip to TPAC to see the performance of Beyond the Bog Road . They were able to identify with several elements of the performance after spending 3 hours working with TPAC teaching artist, Steve West. The UE students that are in the after school digital art class are putting a video together to share this experience. UE kicked off their study of art in religion by learning about Henna tattoos and their significance in Judaism and Hinduism.  They created their own tattoo design that illustrated self-expression.    MS finished their campus drawings this week.  Be sure to come to this Friday coffee to see their beautiful work displayed in the parent education room.  Drawing by Ka...

Creativity is important to a child’s development.  As our world becomes more technologically advanced, children will need creative problem-solving skills to face the challenges of their time. Imagination is the cornerstone to this process!   We know from research about the 3-6 age group that children of this age are still acquiring information about what is real and predictable in their world.  The early childhood Montessori classroom focuses on real objects in the universe, and we encourage the children to be creative in imagining possibilities within the real world.  Through the concrete activities children practice in the classroom, they are learning how to recognize tangible objects that are the foundation of their world and their learning.  It’s with an inquisitive imagination that children are able to “imagine” the next step in their learning; they study the details and “imagine” how they fit together. Maria Montessori considered and asked,...

ECA has been integrating the life and work of Henri Matisse in their geography, geometry and math lessons. The children compared and contrasted two works of art by the artist: Harmony in Red and Les Betes de la Mer . The children were fascinated by many different aspects found in the art pieces. Some liked the spirals and "organic shapes" in the cut outs and others liked the fruit found in the earlier painting.  The children enjoyed themselves so much they requested they work on two collaborative art pieces over the course of two days. ECB students have been studying circles and the medium of painting.  The project below was based specifically on the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds .  The students created their artwork, through the process of stamping, using different circular objects, including sponges, spools, corks, and tops.   With the change of seasons, ECC students are incorporating leaves into their artwork. They have been practicing the ...

LE continued their study of the elements of design by focusing on “form” this week.  With the help of Middle School, they formed the solar system out of yarn.  They wrapped yarn around a balloon to form a planet, then soaked the yarn covered balloon in glue.  When the glue completely dried we popped the balloon and saw how the yarn kept the form of the planet. This beautiful collaboration piece will be displayed in their classroom.   ME & UE participated in their second TPAC study unit with Steve West.  This week they created drum patterns for the song they wrote during their first lesson with Steve.  ME & UE visited the Frist to see the exhibition of Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography & Video .  “Carrie Mae Weems is a socially motivated artist whose works invite contemplation on issues surrounding race, gender and class. Increasingly, she has broadened her view to include global struggles for equality and justice.” MS...

This week LE started their study of the 4th element of design, texture.  To align this texture study with their classroom study of the development of earth, they created multimedia art of volcanoes using paint, sand, construction paper, and tissue paper. Volcano art by Anabel ME practiced contour drawing with soft pastels using a fall inspired still life of gourds. Gourds by Natalie UE went  to see the Nashville Children Theatre’s performance of Sherlock Holmes.  This production is based on the original 1899 play  by William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  MS expanded their study of blind contour drawing with a still life of their choice. Still life by Rebecca | Aftercare Art has been doing a study of portraits. This week they created  personality portraits out of collage.   Digital Art has been learning photo editing with  Adobe Photoshop Elements.  They have learned exposure correcting, color adjustin...