St. Louis, Part One

The St. Louis trip for Grades 6, 7, and 8 began with a cancelled bus and remarkably happy kids. Their first full day included a visit to the Gateway Arch and Museum then a narrated riverboat sightseeing cruise on the Mississippi River by the National Park Service.

Posted in Middle School, Middle School Trip, Uncategorized

Donate For Free!

Access the Scholarship Fund under the Support Us tab above. Thank you for supporting McGuffey Montessori.

Posted in fundraising

Middle School African American Read-In

Middle School students recently held an African American Read-In for Black History Month. After spending time browsing and reading the collected books, each student selected a passage the especially moved them to share with the group. Students sat in a circle in and took turns reading their selections aloud to the class. Students wrote a response on a sticky note to each of the other students after they heard the stories and histories. The notes and passages were placed on a central wall in the classroom where the communication and learning continues. Many thanks to the Lane Public Library for help in curating a rich supply of books and stories by and about African Americans, and to the National Council of Teachers of English, who organize the national African-American Read-In program each year.

Posted in community, McGuffey, Middle School

Finger Knitting

Kindergarteners have been working on finger knitting in Art Studio. This will set them up nicely when they learn to knit with knitting needles in Middle School. Working on fine motor skills can be tricky so they had plenty of help from students in Grade Three who have mastered the art. 

Posted in art, Primary

Plant Unit

First and second grade are near to completing a unit about plants. Students planted seeds that have been growing in a light box in their classroom. Growth has been documented in plant journals during the life cycle which lasts about five weeks. After 47 days of growing, the plants have gone from seed to plants bearing their own seeds. It has been exciting to watch the entire life cycle. Students harvested the seed pods and noted final observations in our plant journals.

Posted in Lower Elementary, science

Celebration of Learning

For many McGuffey students, Celebration of Learning is their favorite day of the year. Parents and grandparents visit after school to see their child’s classroom and get a peek into what they’ve been working on. The day of Celebration of Learning is filled with preparation. Students clean, vacuum, tidy, wash, and prepare flowers. They also make a workplan for parents to complete. Works this year included pin maps, chess, algebra, journaling and so much more.

Posted in community, Lower Elementary, Middle School, Primary, Uncategorized, Upper Elementary

Thank you!

It takes a village to raise a child and a village to support a school. McGuffey is honored to receive help through sponsorships and donations to pull off Trivia Night each year. Paesano’s, Cru Gastro Lounge, and Patterson’s sponsored the evening and donated liquor. Part of Trivia Night is our Fancy Pants Bake Sale, where all pants have an elastic waistband. From cakes to cookies to donuts, the Fancy Pants Bake Sale was the perfect complement to a merry night of trivia and desserts to take home. Thank you all.

Posted in fundraising

Trivia Night

Our Thirteenth Annual Trivia Night fundraiser was a delight as well as a success. Participants went all out with themes and delicious food. MC Keith Martin was as superb as ever with his band of judges including Alpha Phi Omega. Many thanks to parents and staff who worked behind the scenes to create such a magical night benefiting McGuffey and of course, The Oxford Community Arts Center for hosting us.

Posted in fundraising

Native American History

Lower Elementary had an amazing week prior to Thanksgiving, taking time to explore Native American history and better understand the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday. Having just discussed the indigenous people of Australia allowed students to draw comparisons. Emily Legg, a McGuffey parent and member of the Cherokee Nation, visited our classroom to talk about her experience and to teach us a bit about traditional basket weaving. 

Posted in Lower Elementary, social studies

Composing

Third Graders recently composed a song in music. First, they learned an old folk song and determined there were two melodic patterns and wrote them using solfege, a way of identifying notes with the syllables do, re, me, fa, sol, la ,ti, do. They recognized most of the song was written with the notes do, la, sol and ended with mi, re, do.

Their challenge was to compose a new melody with four measures, four beats per measure, and using the patterns they had dictated from the folk song. Once their new melody was written in solfege, they translated the solfege into treble clef and played their song on xylophones. Four verses for lyrics were agreed upon, written (with lots of giggling!), and then sung and played on xylophones.

Finally, the students added an accompaniment to play on castanets. Their accompaniment is an ostinato, a continually repeated rhythm. The song was complete when they sang while half the class played xylophone and the other half played the ostinato on the castanets.

Posted in music