Category Archives: pre-primary

Schoolhouse Rock

The McGuffey spring musical is gearing up! The kids will be performing Schoolhouse Rock Live, Jr. on April 23 and 24 at the Oxford Community Arts Center. We will need plenty of parent volunteers to help with sets, refreshments, setting … Continue reading

Posted in announcements, drama, intermediate unit, McGuffey, music, pre-primary, primary unit, upper unit

The Read-a-thon kicks off today!

We have kicked off the McGuffey Read-a-thon! Today your child received a Read-a-thon book record to help them keep track of their reading and sponsors. For years this has been a fun way to raise money for our school while … Continue reading

Posted in announcements, fundraising, intermediate unit, language arts, McGuffey, pre-primary, primary unit, upper unit

Kindergarteners begin woodworking!

Our art kindergarten studio is beginning a unit on woodworking! We have already spent some time familiarizing ourselves with the individual tools, and now we are beginning to practice using each one. This week we explored the saw. Our first … Continue reading

Posted in art, McGuffey, pre-primary

Pre-Primary: Fish

Last week, Pre-Primary began a traditional Montessori study of the five classes of vertebrates (animals with backbones): fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. During these first two weeks, we will be studying fish. We read about the characteristics that define … Continue reading

Posted in McGuffey, pre-primary, science

Pre-Primary: Argentina

As part of the Pre-Primary study of South America we have been talking about Argentina. An extremely long country, it holds a wide range of climates, and therefore a huge amount of diversity in geography and wildlife. We were fortunate … Continue reading

Posted in guest speakers, McGuffey, pre-primary, social studies

Pre-Primary: And the winner is…hermit crab!

While their parents were hard at work electing a President, Pre-Primary was deciding the critical issue of a new class pet. After learning about elections, reading books, listening to lobbyists from the upper unit, examining the candidates, and talking amongst … Continue reading

Posted in McGuffey, pre-primary, social studies

Pre-Primary: Informed voters

Election season is heating up in Pre-Primary! On November 6th we will hold an election, deciding whether we will add a goldfish or a hermit crab to our classroom. We have been reading books about both candidates to give us … Continue reading

Posted in guest speakers, McGuffey, pre-primary, social studies

Pre-Primary: Fungi, protists, bacteria, and viruses

The Pre-Primary science topic for the last two weeks has been Fungi and Tiny Life. Fungi are neither plants nor animals, but have characteristics of both. We introduced fungi by dissecting some grocery store mushrooms and looking at their parts: … Continue reading

Posted in McGuffey, pre-primary, science

Pre-Primary: Fall Leaves

Last week, in celebration of all the colorful trees beginning to appear around Oxford, we made our own fall leaves. This is a favorite activity as it always yields a beautiful, yet unique, result, regardless of ability. We will be … Continue reading

Posted in art, McGuffey, outside, pre-primary

Pre-Primary: Monarch metamorphosis and migration

Pre-Primary, like the rest of the school, has been raising monarch caterpillars. Almost all our monarchs are chrysalises now. This week we watched a short video on how monarch caterpillars hatch from egg as caterpillars, change into chrysalises and then … Continue reading

Posted in McGuffey, pre-primary, science