A Fantastic Start: Our First Nine Weeks at WMS

The First Nine Weeks at WMS: Exploring, Learning, and Growing

The first nine weeks of school have been full of excitement, learning, and community! Across all grade levels, students have settled into routines, made new friends, and engaged in hands-on activities that make learning meaningful and fun.

Fall Adventures: 

October brought some memorable experiences for our students! Our Primary and Kindergarten students had a wonderful time at Walter’s Pumpkin Patch, exploring the farm, learning about pumpkins, and enjoying the crisp fall weather together. In addition, families joined us for our Annual Fun Run, a spirited afternoon community gathering of movement, laughter, and cheer.

Apple Harvest Time: 

It’s the perfect season to learn about apples! Students in our Primary rooms have been exploring the life cycle of an apple tree through hands-on activities and classroom discussions. A delightful poem, “Ten Little Apples”, was created as part of our apple-themed learning and sent home with children to enjoy with their families.

Primary Highlights

In Montessori, what may appear to be play is actually the child’s work. Purposeful activity with carefully designed, hands-on materials fosters independence, concentration, and confidence. Very young children are remarkably capable when supported by a calm, peaceful environment that encourages deep focus and respect.

The first nine weeks have been a wonderful reminder of the joy of learning in a Montessori environment — full of curiosity, discovery, and community. We look forward to more adventures and learning in the weeks to come!

Kindergarten Highlights

With our Montessori materials, the children have been introduced to building tens and twenties, as well as the concepts of even and odd numbers. Some have started short bead-chain work, which introduces the square roots of numbers. We have been busy with phonics, learning to code vowels, and isolating target sounds in word-initial, medial, and final positions. Journal work is always a favorite, and our first spelling dictation is coming soon.
We are looking forward to more great things to come this year! 

• Phonics: Learning to code vowels and isolate target sounds in initial, medial, and final positions.
• Writing: Journal work remains a favorite, and students are preparing for their first spelling dictation.
• Math:
• Exploring number stories, tens frames, counting collections, and cardinality.
• Montessori materials introduce building tens and teens, as well as the concepts of even and odd numbers.
• Some students have begun short bead chain work, an introduction to the square roots of numbers.

Lower Elementary Highlights (1st-2nd) 

We’ve had a fantastic start to the school year and are eager to share some highlights with you. We are busy every day working on skills that establish the foundation of learning. In math, they are working on competency in addition and subtraction computation, counting money, measurement, story problems, number scrolls, and telling time. We practice cursive writing. They are still learning how to form the individual letters, but their writing looks great!

• Language Arts: Focusing on phonics rules, parts of speech, and grammar. Students have just begun writing, so families will see more writing coming home soon!
• Science: Completed the energy pyramid unit and are moving into animal kingdom classifications.
• Growth: Students continue to explore, learn, and grow, showing independence and curiosity every day.

Upper Elementary Highlights (3rd-5th) 

Our school year has kicked off with a bang! We've launched in style, from nailing down routines to diving into our first job applications. We've got a treasure trove of tales to share with you!

• Language Arts & Social Studies:
• Reading myths and legends and comparing them to journals and diaries to explore the author’s voice and the purpose of storytelling.
• Connecting reading to social studies, studying Indigenous peoples and the Americas before and after 1492.
• Mathematics:
• Learning vocabulary for word problems.
• Working with rational number operations to strengthen problem-solving and reasoning.
• Science & Engineering:
• Studying animal classifications.
• Hands-on engineering projects, including creating robotic arms to practice design thinking and problem-solving.

Across all grade levels, students have demonstrated curiosity, independence, and joy in learning. The first nine weeks have been a fantastic start to the year, and we look forward to more adventures and discoveries this fall!