Big School News: So, Sewing & Sowing

With the countdown to the holiday season kicking off we wanted to share some of our fall term work with you.

Our big school senior class children have been busy bees and are proud as anything to show you their handicraft and nature work.

In celebration of National Birch Day some of the senior class participated in a photo shoot to highlight the event. They loved seeing the photographer in action, learning about composition and lighting and of course, admiring the end result; beautiful photos! One of the shots was even used in the free daily MetroHerald. Dont worry if you missed your copy, you can download it here: Birchday (08-10-10).

Birchday Photo's

Many of the shots are proudly displayed in their class to commemorate the fun morning and all they discovered.

Resulting from this outing the students decided to plant their own birch seeds, and with regular watering they are growing nicely.

Sprouting Birch

We’ve even seen the first sprouting from Marcella’s birch seed. With a little more love they will be ready to go home in the spring and grow tall in our families gardens.

Sunny morning in the park.

On another nature walk the students created some birch bark rubbings, investigating the patterns and contrasts in shading.

Rough & Smooth Boards?

This inspired them to make a very impressive full-scale birch bark trunk. Using crayons and silver paint.

We are sure you will agree it is very handsome.

Silver Birch

The core aspect of a Montessori community being that the activities of the community are child led. A Montessori teacher observes the talents and interests of the students, then provides inspiration, materials and projects for the children to explore and learn. In Hedley Park we are in a unique position have been with the majority of our students from the age of two. This gives us a deep understanding of each child in our care.  As a community led by the children’s interests the composition of the class members can really change the direction of the work. It became clear from the all female composition of this years class that some more traditionally gender specific projects would be well received and so the girls began a needlecraft project.

Sewing Satchels

Needle Craft Dolls

Sewing drawstring satchels, with a variety of stitching patterns and buttons to personalise their own work. The students also created needlework jars and have begun working on dolls.

Needle Craft Jars

Needlework is proving to be very popular, combining the talents of the colour and fashion sensitive students with the more technical design and mathematical minded.

Of course high on the agenda right now are the rehearsals for our 20th Anniversary Christmas Show, this year we are doing Peter Pan. So check back soon for more information on this, and perhaps we’ll treat you to some rehearsal photos! 🙂

Thanks for reading.

The staff and students of the Big School!