December 23
Child-Care Day
Pre-registered child care available. Sign up by no later than Friday, December 18. No drop-ins will be accepted!
December 24
Winter Break Begins
No school or child care. Note: Our planned January 4 return date is subject to change based on the status of COVID-19 in our community and state. Please watch your email for an update before Winter Break. See the article below titled "Winter Break Reminders" for more information.
January 7
Financial Aid Application Deadline for First-Round 2021-22 Awards
Note: 2019 taxes must be submitted by this deadline, along with your application. Please contact Barb Trotto for more information or click here to apply.
January 8
Virtual Primary (3-6) Classroom Visit
For parents of toddlers who will be moving up to preschool in the fall
9:30-10 a.m.
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Last Chance to Order Special Edition Hoodies - Orders Due Friday!
Have you seen our staff wearing their new WMS "Not All Classrooms Have Four Walls" hoodies?
Several of our students and parents have mentioned that they would like one for themselves, so we are doing a special sale for our community!
Hoodies will cost $25 for child sizes and $30 for adults. Orders and payments are due this Friday, December 18.
Please email Tracey Gable with the sizes you would like, and send in a check to "Wilmington Montessori School" with your child.
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Home Learning & On-Campus Learning Choice Coming Soon |
As we shared at the beginning of the school year, we will be offering an opportunity to change your child's learning plan from at-home to on-campus (or the reverse) this January. Please watch your email in early January for a message from Paula Sharpe, Director of Enrollment Management, including a form to be submitted if you would like to change your child's status. Decisions will be due on January 15 with a February 1 start for those opting to change plans. |
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Get Tested
WMS strongly recommends that students are tested for COVID-19 regularly, and testing will be required before your child can return to school after Winter Break. Results should be sent to Nurse Kathy for your child's health records.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, December 17 (both 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.)
- Wilmington University Athletic Complex
- Wilmington University Brandywine
Friday, December 18
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Delaware Park (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.)
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Judy Johnson Park (11 a.m. - 4 p.m.)
Saturday, December 19 (both 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.)
- University of Delaware Star Campus
- NCC Government Center
(Please visit this page to confirm that there have been no changes to the schedule above before going to your testing location.)
Drop-off/Screening Updates
Thank you for continuing to help our drop-off/screening process go smoothly. A couple of reminders:
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Please make every effort to drop your child off during our designated drop-off windows. Late arrivals can be disruptive to both the child and their classroom. If you plan to be late, even by a few minutes, please give us a call at 302-475-0555. Our teaching staff moves back to classrooms after our scheduled drop-off windows so advanced notification is appreciated to help us plan our work days!
- As you may have noticed, our thermometers are somewhat temperamental in temperature extremes. When riding in a heated vehicle and/or wearing a warm hat, students' temperatures often run high. You can help with this by taking off hats a few minutes before arriving at school. Also, in cold weather, we sometimes have difficulty getting a temperature reading. When this is the case, we may ask children to come into our front entrance to take temperatures. Please wait until our temperature-taker gives you a wave to indicate that your child's temperature is within normal range before leaving the car line.
Winter Break Reminders
Winter Break is almost here! As you know, we plan to continue school through Tuesday, December 22, with a child care day on Wednesday, December 23. We are continuing to monitor the situation in the state and will be in touch before the 22nd with further information about how we will proceed in January. While we would like to be able to return to the campus on January 4 as originally scheduled, we know that may not be advisable or possible as we get closer to that date. Regardless of our return date, we are asking families to have their children tested before returning to school. The test sites can be found here. When we confirm our return date, we will share the window of time during which you should be tested. Please plan to share your test results with Nurse Kathy.
All of us at WMS thank you for your ongoing support, helping us stay healthy through the fall and into the holiday season. As we approach winter break, we know that there may be additional opportunities to travel and gather with friends and family. We strongly encourage you to continue to keep the safety of our community in mind as you make your plans. Please keep in mind the state's ongoing restrictions on indoor gatherings:
- Indoor gatherings in homes must be capped at no more than 10 people.
- Indoor gatherings outside of homes must be limited to 30 percent of the venue's stated fire capacity, up to a cap of 50 people.
We are asking you to follow the guidelines above (or those applicable to your state) and to continue to follow the protocols we follow each day at WMS when you are away from school: hand-washing, wearing appropriately fitting masks, maintaining social distance, and to continue to be tested on a regular basis. We, in turn, will continue to do the same - our staff's monthly testing schedule will continue through the weeks we are away from school on break. When we return from our break, we will continue our routine of health screenings at drop-off, hand-washing, mask wearing, social distancing, increased air circulation and remaining in cohorts.
Thank you again for all you do on behalf of the WMS community. Please feel free to reach out to Nurse Kathy, Sarah or Lisa with any questions you may have.
Free Webinar: COVID-19 and the Holidays
Live Q&A with Nemours
Thursday, December 17, 6-7 p.m.
Families across the country are rethinking some of their holiday traditions to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Our expert panel of pediatricians from Nemours Children’s Health System will host a live forum to address your concerns and share strategies for minimizing risk and helping your kids understand the importance of celebrating safely this year.
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Recently, some of the children read the book Mouse Paint and explored color mixing with paints. They loved seeing their finished products! Last week, we enjoyed listening to some holiday songs that our music teacher, BrendaRose, sang for us on video. Everyone had fun swaying their scarves to the music. While listening to the songs, we pretended to put on hats, scarves, coats, gloves and boots, and we discussed the clothing we wear during the season of winter. We also read the book Winter Friends and discussed what items we would use to make a snowman.
-Hillary McDonald, Room 3 Lead Teacher
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We are really getting into the holiday spirit in Room 4. The children have begun decorating their seasonal cards. While we are listening to the music and learning the story of "The Nutcracker," this group loves to jump and dance to faster beats! We've added some classic and rock-inspired holiday tunes to our morning, and celebrated the beginning of Hanukkah with a reggae song by Matisyahu. We saw some awesome dance moves! Next week, we will finish up our gifts for our families while we keep exploring traditions and symbols of the season.
-Leanne Callaway, Room 4 Lead Teacher
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This month, we are learning about holidays around the world. We are "traveling" to Israel, Germany, Holland, Mexico, and eventually back to the United States to find out what celebrations take place in each country, and have also invited our families to share their holiday traditions with the class.
During the first week in December, we learned about Germany and how many families begin their celebrations four Sundays before Christmas, lighting a candle each week on their advent wreaths. Children write letters asking for gifts and often leave them on their window sills. Then, we began to talk about the Netherlands and how they celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6. Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) arrives and delivers gifts with help from his horse Amerigo. Children leave carrots and hay in their shoes for Amerigo and he leaves them treats! People in the Netherlands celebrate with family parties and serve “letter blankets” that are biscuits in the shape of the first letter in their name. We made our own “letter blankets” using salt dough.
Last week, we continued our holiday travel, heading to Israel where we learned about Hanukkah. We read about the Menorah and how a candle is lit on it every night for eight nights. Many of us tried latkes, potato pancakes, for the first time on Thursday, and we really enjoyed them. We learned that many traditional Hanukkah foods are fried in oil because of the miracle of the oil lamp that stayed lit for eight days, even though there was only enough oil for one night.
This week, we are traveling to Mexico to celebrate Los Posadas, and then we will make our way back to the U.S.!
- Jocelyn Hall, Room 17 Lead Teacher
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While playing outside in the dig site a few weeks ago, we stumbled upon some ice. We broke it up and handed it out to the children. Who knew they would have so much fun!
The following day we created an ice experiment. We asked the children, "How does ice start as a liquid and end up in a solid form?" There were various responses... The next question asked was, "What is a prediction?" Again, various responses.
We gave each child a small cup with each child’s name on it and with a small amount of water. We asked the children to predict how many days they think that it would take for their water to freeze. The day we began the experiment it was very cold, as well as the next day, but later on that week, it got much warmer. The children continue to take a peek each day at their cup of water.
So far, we do not have any ice! We will continue to monitor our cups of ice and hopefully it will freeze!
- Betsy Haas, Room 18 Lead Teacher
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Lower Elementary (6-9) Program |
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Layers of the Earth and Volcanos
The children have been very excited to learn about volcanoes! After learning about the layers of the earth and different kinds of volcanoes, they've built their own models and tested out some different chemical reactions that might be used for the actual volcanic eruptions.
Their curiosity has been exciting; many have asked great questions about where lava comes from and how it is made, and several children were very interested in how underwater volcanoes work: "How does lava move underwater, and wouldn't the cold ocean instantly harden any molten lava?"
We've also been hard at work on our layers of the earth projects. It's amazing how many great questions and conversations occur as they complete these hands-on projects.
- Lead 6-9 Teachers Melissa Connelly and Carol Lettich
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Our virtual 6-9 group has had a busy December, learning about each of the seven continents and the winter holidays that occur in various countries including Christmas, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Hanukkah (including a virtual game of Dreidel, pictured here), Diwali and the Lunar New Year. They are also studying the various landforms that can be found in each of the continents. |
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Upper Elementary (9-12) Program |
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Sharing the First Great Lesson
Last year our students performed the First Great Lesson for the 6-9 students by reading and doing experiments in front of the class. We wanted to work together again this year with the 6-9 group, but had to keep our cohorts separate so we couldn't visit their classrooms. Many of the students volunteered to read, do an experiment or create the video of the First Great Lesson for the 6-9 students. Above, you can watch the resulting video, which was completely done by the 9-12 students. Even though we are apart, work like this allows us to remember we are still together!
- Lead 9-12 Teacher Allie Colflesh
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Montessori Model UN & Stock Market Game |
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Last Friday, middle-schoolers spent most of their day in a Delegate Working Session hosted by Montessori Model United Nations. This session offered students the opportunity to become comfortable engaging in an online committee session and practice their public speaking before attending the virtual conference in February. The students discussed the topic of student mental health, especially as it relates to COVID-19. The students are finishing up writing their position papers for the real MMUN sessions in February and will spend much of their time after winter break writing speeches and creating virtual country culture boards.
Congratulations to seventh-grader Sadie Heiger and eighth-grader Anand Simon for winning first place in Delaware's middle school division of the Stock Market Game! They grew their virtual portfolio by $11,480 or 2.07%, making most of their money by investing long-term in Tesla, Charles Schwab, Apple and APD. They also made some short-term profits from Hershey around Halloween.
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The Wednesday Weekly shares WMS news and events that are relevant to the families in our community.
Please send submissions to wednesday-weekly@wmsde.org by 4:30 p.m. on the Friday prior to the issue in which you wish to include your information. Content may be edited for length and style and may be held for a future issue due to space constraints.
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WILMINGTON MONTESSORI SCHOOL
WWW.WMSDE.ORG
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Copyright © 2020, All Rights Reserved. |
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