March 31
Camp Montessori Early Registration Deadline
Sign up for five weeks of camp (per family) by this date to receive a 10% discount!
Deadline to Submit COVID Test Results to Nurse Kathy
April 2
No School or Child Care
April 5
Child Care Day
No school - pre-registered child care available. Advanced registration by 3/31 (today!) is required. We are unable to accept walk-ins due to COVID-19 restrictions.
April 9
Virtual Admissions Open House
Noon
April 12-16
ERB Testing - Grades 4-8
April 14
Deadline to Submit COVID Test Results to Nurse Kathy
April 20 & 21
Outdoor Student Portraits
Details TBA
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Camp Montessori Early Registration Deadline - Today
Planning to send your children to Camp Montessori? We are looking forward to a wonderful summer and hope your family will join us!
Register by the end of the day today and receive a 10% discount if your family signs up for five or more weeks!
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Reminder: Register for April 5 Child-Care Day Today!
If you would like to register your child for Monday's child-care day, please contact Tracey or register online before the end of the day today. Drop-ins will not be accepted due to COVID-19 restrictions.
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Early Childhood Virtual Math Night - April 22 |
Virtual Math Night is back by popular demand! Toddler and Primary families are invited to join us on Thursday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. for an evening of math fun. This month, we will be learning about geometry. Trish Harkins will be sharing a book from the author and artist, Hervé Tullet, and Paula Sharpe will host another math-related scavenger hunt. The kids will be entertained and tired before bed, and we will share more resources for parents. Sign up using the registration link below and you will be sent the Zoom link before the event!
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Updated CDC Guidance for Schools
Last week was a “break” for many of us, a break from the typical school week. One of the other ways we got a bit of a break was taking a week off from submitting COVID-19 test results. We are now returning to that routine - results are due to Nurse Kathy today and then again in two weeks, April 14.
Just as we began our spring break, the CDC announced that schools could move from having students 6 feet apart to 3 feet apart. Many people were delighted with this news, and it has allowed some schools to open who had previously been unable to do so because they simply don’t have the space to distance students 6 feet apart. While the CDC has stated that we may move students closer together, they have also said that if there is an exposure to COVID with the decreased distancing, the entire classroom will need to quarantine. For this reason, WMS will continue to enforce the 6-foot distance as much as possible. We are all anxious to be closer to each other, but also remain committed to keeping each other as safe as reasonably possible. If you have any questions, please contact Nurse Kathy.
Required COVID-19 Testing: Results Due Today at 4 p.m.
We continue to be grateful for your efforts to keep our community safe through COVID-19 testing every two weeks.
As mentioned above, you child's next test results are due today, Wednesday, March 31, at 4 p.m. in order for your child to attend school tomorrow Thursday, April 1. Results must be emailed to Nurse Kathy at nurse@wmsde.org as soon as they become available. If you are sending a screenshot, please include the date tested.
Important: Please understand that if no results are forwarded to Nurse Kathy, your child will not be permitted on campus. If your results are forwarded after 4 p.m. on the due date, you may experience a delay in drop-off in the morning. A last-minute result may delay or prevent your child from attending school; time must be allowed for communication to the staff members conducting screenings in the car line.
Upcoming required due dates are as follows:
- Wednesday, April 14
- Wednesday, April 28
You are still welcome to have your child tested more frequently and may forward the results to Nurse Kathy.
Thank you, and please contact Nurse Kathy if you have any questions!
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Upcoming New Castle County Testing Events
Thursday, April 1
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Merchant Square Shopping Center - 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 3
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Westside Healthcare - 4th Street - 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
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UD Star Campus - 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
(Please visit this page to confirm that there have been no changes to the schedule above before going to your testing location.)
Permanent Test Sites and Other COVID-19 Testing Options
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CLASSROOM NEWS - As seen on Bloomz
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Before spring break, students in Room 3 had fun dancing with scarves and marching around the room to the song "We are the Dinosaurs." It was a great way to get some energy out. Later, we read the book Birds by Kevin Henkes and made our own bird feeders using pipe cleaners and Cheerios. The children hung the feeders outside on our fence. It was great to see their focus and concentration as they placed the Cheerios onto the pipe cleaners.
We looked inside a birdhouse outside our classroom and discovered the beginnings of a bird's nest! We talked about the items the birds would gather for their nest, and we look forward to seeing if there are eggs in the nest later this spring!
- Hillary McDonald, Room 3 Lead Teacher
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During the week before break, toddlers in Room 4 performed a science experiment, looking at the way in which salt affects buoyancy of objects in water.
We cut raw potatoes into slices and placed them into two separate bowls. We covered the potatoes with water and added some food coloring to the bowls - blue to one, and yellow to the other. The potato slices in each bowl sank to the bottom. Finally, the students took turns adding teaspoons of salt to the yellow bowl to see how many teaspoons it would take for the slices to begin to float. It took 24 teaspoons, or 6 tablespoons, of kosher salt before the slices began to float. Then the students wanted to poke their fingers in the water to touch the potatoes. It was a fun activity and a fascinating study in sinking and floating.
- Leanne Callaway, Room 4 Lead Teacher
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In Room 17, we have been continuing with the identity work we began back in October, when we discussed the story of our names. It is important for children to develop a positive self-identity, and it also allows us to strengthen our community as we make connections with one another.
Before break, we created self-portraits. The children took time to look in the mirror to study their features and then worked to depict them in their portraits. We created our own masks to put onto the portraits as well. After completing their self-portraits, many students chose to write bio-poems (a poem about a person) as well. This was a great way to connect with our exploration of different types of literature, including poetry.
- Jocelyn Hall, Room 17 Lead Teacher
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Before break, we started our study of dinosaurs. We learned that birds are modern dinosaurs and that paleontologists now believe many dinosaurs had feathers! We examined fossil imprints in rock and will continue to learn about these amazing creatures that once roamed the earth. We will even step into the role of a paleontologist by digging for evidence from the past. Cultural activities will guide our learning about this topic and some of the work in other classroom areas will reflect this theme.
- Marilyn Faralli, Room 20 Lead Teacher
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Lower Elementary (6-9) Program |
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A peek into the virtual observation room window - watch a math lesson during which some second and third-graders learn about basic budgeting skills (and the adjustments that sometimes are necessary when life gets unexpectedly expensive)!
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Virtual 6-9 Program
Before spring break, students in our virtual 6-9 class were challenged to create leprechaun traps in their Maker (STEAM) Studio class with Paula. We added a writing assignment to this challenge - students wrote "How-To" pieces describing how their traps work. Using a new paragraph for each step of the plan and adding transition words throughout (e.g., "first," "then," "next," "last," etc.), the students were able to write clear instructions that anyone could use to catch a leprechaun!
- Emily Kofke, Lead Virtual 6-9 Teacher
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Upper Elementary (9-12) Program |
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Our 9-12 students are making progress on their Passion Projects, exploring topics they may not have the opportunity to learn about in class. Projects range from exploration of knitting to fitness to 3D modeling and more! Enjoy some previews of the students' work above.
- Allie Colflesh, Lead 9-12 Teacher
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National History Day Projects
For several weeks, Middle School students have been working on projects for the National History Day (NHD) Contest. NHD is an academic program focused on historical research, interpretation and creative expression for middle and high school students. Students are creating projects related to this year's theme - Communication in History: The Key to Understanding. Within the broad theme, students were challenged to come up with a specific topic and form a thesis surrounding it. Topics include the discovery of anesthesia, the Chicago 7 and the cultural impact of the surviving Kamikaze pilots after World War II. Students are working on exhibits or websites to teach others about their topics, writing process papers, and a compiling a full bibliography including the primary and secondary sources they used for their research. We look forward to sharing the completed projects in the future!
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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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