Giving School

In early November Justus came to visit in Montessori and teach us a bit more about his wonderful country, Kenya. We learned about many animals that live there. We also learned about the children of Nymbani Village. They need backpacks and school supplies to be able to go to school in January.

What a great service project for us!

We collected money to buy backpacks. We also collected crayons and colored pencils while our teachers donated regular pencils and sharpeners.

First, every backpack needed a message of good wishes for the new school term!

 

Make sure every backpack has crayons,

                                                             

 

                                                              colored pencils,

                                                                     

                                                                  and pencils.

                          Make sure every bag has a pencil sharpener. There is no electricity!

                                   Each bag is checked to make sure it has everything!

                                                  Then, into the box and off to Kenya!

Our rafiki at Nymbani Village in Kitui, Kenya will enjoy their new school supplies. We're glad we could help them get ready for their new school year. We believe "It just takes ONE" to make a difference in the life of a child! In our case that means 75 backpacks!

             "The first and final rule: It is far better to give than receive."   --Auntie Claus

 "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." African proverb ~~~ Tuko Pamoja!

      We wish you a very Merry Christmas. May you find peace and happiness in the New Year!

Sugar High

The Montessori children filled classroom boxes with candy from their trick-or-treating again this year. All the candy will be donated to Mother Teresa's Gift of Peace home in Northeast Washington, DC. We promised not to eat any!

First our collection needed to be sorted.

What are the categories?

Is it chewy or chocolate?

Package or box?

Lots of decisions to make!

Then the Lunchers sorted all the chocolate candy.

What a lot of chocolate!

Make groups of ten!

Then count 10,20,30,40,50... Our graph showed how many candy bars we collected.

We had 64 Snickers! How many KitKat?

Sweet counting work!

Now the really important work begins.

Make each gift bag special!

Put in a lollipop

and make sure there is a variety

of candy for each one!

Our sorting made it easier to make sure 

each bag was filled with a sweet treat!

We know our candy gifts will help make the holidays a little sweeter for Gift of Peace patients and their families! We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

"To make a difference in someone's life you do not have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care."   ---Mandy Hale

Going Out

It is tradition for Montessori students to "go out" for experiential learning. The Lunchers did just that on Tuesday when they visited Homestead Farm in Poolesville, Maryland.

Farmer Holly introduced them to a variety of chickens

and showed them where the eggs are laid.

The black pigs had a smelly pigpen, but they were quite funny as they tossed their food bins! The Lunchers learned that pigs are smart and roll in mud to protect their skin from bugs and sunburn.

Baby goats are called kids. The kids are excellent climbers just like Lunchers!

This alpaca was very curious!

The Jersey bull calf was only seven weeks old and already eating grass.

Billy goats eat hay.

Off to the pumpkin patch!

The hay wagon was full of straw. Hay is used for animal food!

Decisions, decisions!

Found!

Great choice!

Ready to return?

The farm is beautiful!

The weather was perfect!

The snack was yummy!

We're glad we visited

Homestead Farm!

Back at school the Lunchers weighed and measured their pumpkins and shared their data to figure out who had the heaviest, fattest and tallest pumpkins. They also wrote about their experiences, organizing their stories in sequence.

"All thinking begins with wonder."   --Socrates