September 30, 2015

The Tall Oak

Leaves Volume 9 Issue 1

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Our Mission:

To provide a Montessori environment that inspires children to

reach their potential through meaningful work.

Megan

Dear Community,

Welcome to the start of the 15-16 school year at Oak Farm. Nearing the middle of our sixth week of school, the

momentum and energy are tremendous, and big work is happening in every square inch of campus! A few highlights:

the infants can daily be spotted wheeling off to an outdoor adventure. The toddlers are digging, walking in the woods,

tricycling, and doing big work in care of self. Primary is taking on new levels of meaningful work with composting and

recycling. Lower Elementary has been launching into study of the universe and solar system, diving deeply into imagina-

tive work. Upper Elementary has already partnered multiple times with both Merry Lea Environmental Center in study

of our prairie and the work of water, as well as Michael Goebert from Deer Run working on communication, collabora-

tion and cooperation. 6th years trained with Andrea Deihl and with Brandt of Experiential Systems on the use of our

new Low Ropes Challenge Course. Middle school has been actively caring for our many animals, solving the problems of

the farm – How CAN we stop the sheep and goats from escaping their pens and wandering on the soccer field?—

selling eggs, planning their fall trip, doing community outreach, and more. Not a moment has been wasted in provid-

ing inspiring experiences that will speak to each child and excite them to learn.

In exciting whole-campus work, all of our faculty and all of our stu-

dents have begun the school year by identifying our three Guiding

Principles at Oak Farm, which are

Take Care of Yourself Take Care of Each Other Take Care of the Environment

Classroom communities from Infants through Middle School as well as

specials have described what these principles look like in each environ-

ment, forming a guide that all can follow to ensure a peaceful, respect-

ful and joyful experience can be had by all in their time spent at

school. Talk with your child about this work and hear what they came up with. Their creativity and understanding of

the principles is impressive. We encourage you to take this work home, as well, and talk about what Guiding Princi-

ples your family most values. Then, talk about what that looks like in your home. See what your children can come

up with.

Welcome, again, to the start of the school year. We are happy you are here, and trust you will find that Oak Farm is

a community like no other, and a wonderful place to be.

Sincerely,

Positive Discipline Session A night with an expert! Understanding the Kid Brain & Motivation with Dina Emser

Thursday, October 15, 2015 6:00-7:30 @ Oak Farm Montessori School—Victorian Farmhouse

In this 90 minute session, Positive Discipline Lead Trainer and Parent Coach, Dina Emser will pro-vide parents with the latest on brain science as it applies to kids and motivation. Be prepared to learn tips you can use right away to turn potential power struggles into cooperation.

Dina and her husband of 37 years, sculptor Bob Emser, have parented their two adult children the Positive Discipline Way. She has directed a Positive Discipline school in Illinois for 10 years and now trains and coaches parents and teachers around the world on leading children and others with mutu-al respect. She is the co-author of Road Map to Success with Steven Covey and Ken Blanchard, and author of Trusting the Fortune Within.

RSVP by 10/9/2015 to Macy @ mmcnaughton@oakfarmschool.com

Limited spaces available for childcare for Oak Farm Toddler—Middle School Students only. $5 per child. Reserve a spot for your child when you RSVP for the event.

Let Your Voice Be Heard! This year, Oak Farm will embark on the creation of a new

Strategic Plan that will guide our growth into the next

several years. We also have begun a new cycle of our

dual accreditation with both the American Montessori

Society (AMS) and the Independent School Association of

the Central States (ISACS).

To prepare for our big work in both of these areas,

we need to hear from YOU!

What do you love about Oak Farm?

What could we be doing better?

Help us plan for the future by taking our Community

Survey that will be launched at Conferences on Oct 29 &

30 and which will run into mid-November. Your opinion

matters! Stay tuned for more details.

The OF Toddlers are adapting to their new classrooms. The weather has allowed for a lot of outdoor time to swing, slide, work in the gardens and sweep the porch. They are becoming acquainted with their teachers and friends. As they learn to trust their new environment, they also learn how to empathize with others. This is one of our favorite characteristics to enhance at this level. "Brain rules for Babies" by Medina explains that empathy is how you develop hard working and high self-esteem children.

Infant & Toddler Program Toddlers and Empathy by: Candy Slabaugh, Toddler Two

“Free the Child’s potential, and you

will transform the world”

-Maria Montessori

Show empathy to your children. Young children (like

all of us) love to receive empathy. Research shows that par-enting/teaching with empathy and emotional guidance en-courages healthy emotional growth.

Provide simple, clear explanations about how other people feel when they are sad or hurt. This

is especially important if your child has caused these feelings in another. ("It makes Bob feel bad when you push him.") When this happens, be firm with love as you explain how these feelings work.

Be a good role model for empathy. Children are

some of the best observers around, and they are likely to do things the ways they see you treat people.

Show your appreciation for a toddler's early act of empathy -- they are wonderful signs of learning to care

about other people. When your toddler gives up his favorite work/item to a younger sibling who's crying, make sure he knows you appreciate his action.

Don't expect empathy every time -- young children

are still learning how emotions work, and how people get along with others. Encourage empathy -- but don't expect perfection.

Source: Talaris Research Institute

Primary Program

The Student’s Journey

by: Natasha Fillers, Primary One

The new school year is always full of bright smiles,

happy moments of reuniting with old friends, great sto-

ries full of sun, adventure, and joy! It also brings some

tears and moments of sadness for very young students

who just began their journey at Oak Farm. This journey

is big, they are learning to adjust to new routines and

schedules, are meeting new friends, all while developing

and growing into independent problem solvers and

thinkers. No matter what feelings the school year brings,

one thing always remains the same – we all unite in our

effort to feel like we are at home. Returning students are

always eager to help new the friends in their class.

They encourage and guide them through every step of

their journey, making them feel like they belong to the

classroom since the first moments of their journey.

During the first weeks of school we also focus on

creating a peaceful atmosphere that is built on mutual

respect and cooperation. Our students are the ones who

are engaged in creating the rules and guidelines to help

everyone feel safe. We all problem solve the most

important question: “How can we make our classroom

feel like home where everyone can learn, have a sense

of belonging and feel successful?” We also have

discussions and practice activities that help the children

become more self-aware and help them understand how

they each can contribute in creating peace in the

classroom.

Our guidelines are built on three rules: take care of each

other, take care of yourself, and take care of the

environment. Speaking with inside voices, smiling, not

interrupting each other, helping, and giving lessons are

among a few ideas that students helped us brainstorm.

They all know what it takes to make the classroom a

peaceful and respectful place for all, and when given an

opportunity will astonish you with a deep sense of

knowledge and understanding.

Gardening in Primary Oak Farm’s Outdoor Classroom - Sandy Knox, Primary Specialist

The children in Primary have been busy in the gardens and around campus helping with the outdoor environment.

Pumpkins , gourds, watermelon and cantaloupe were a few of the items that had been planted in the big gardens in June during Summer Camp. As a result of the lovely weather that we had over the summer, the children have been enjoying a nice har-vest. You may notice some of the pumpkins and gourds around the Victorian Farmhouse grounds as fall decorations. The mel-ons were used as snack in the after care program. Grown local, very fresh and organic. Nice!

Rock painting is another way that the children enjoy spreading color around campus. This is a work that we can still do on a day that is rainy. Rocks are collected from areas around school, giv-en some beautiful personal touches and returned back to their locations.

Gardening is a work that is done in the primary level on a daily basis. The children help not only on the porches and in the play yard with sweeping, scrubbing, watering and caring for the gar-dens, they also work on the walking paths in the woods, keeping them clear.

Let’s not forget about composting! This is an almost daily work in and outside the classroom. The children save all things com-postable in a bucket in the classroom. When the children go out-side for afternoon gardening, the compost buckets are carried around the building, dumped in our composting area and then scrubbed out and returned back to class. No small work and a great commitment.

Lower Elementary Program Starting Off to a Great Start

by: Ines Oldenburg, Lower Two

In Lower Elementary we are busy collaborating and learning from each other and sometimes we are just having fun! Fun and laughter in school is as important to us as it is to our chil-dren, because we will always remember and cherish the experiences that we enjoy. What a great place to be!

During the first few weeks of school we spent time getting to know each other, learning our likes and dislikes as well as our needs. This consideration for each other then guided us to establish this year’s guidelines and responsibil-ities (jobs).

Maria Montessori described the work of the six to nine year old child as being a search for his “Cosmic Task.” The children of this age are often thinking: “How can I make a difference on the world?” The Lower Elementary children find joy and take pride in making a contribution to the community while meeting their own needs. Each year we also start with the Great Lessons

that become the springboard for all other les-

sons in Lower Elementary. They introduce cre-

ation of earth, coming of life, the arrival of hu-

mans and history of language and numbers.

Our lessons are filled with activities to stimulate

the imagination and create excitement.

Lower Elementary is an exciting place to spend

our days. You can see it in the faces of all who

spend time in our buildings.

“While the younger child seeks comforts, the older child is now eager to encounter

challenges. But these challenges must have an aim. The passage to the second level of

education (age 6-12) is the passage from the sensorial, material level to the abstract. A

turning toward the intellectual and moral sides of life occurs at the age of seven.”

— Maria Montessori

Upper Elementary Program

The Upper Elementary classes spent the first few weeks of school establishing community. Establishing community within a learning environment allows students to feel valued as a individual member of a group realizing that each member of the community plays an important role in its success. Students have had the unique oppor-tunity to work with trained facilitators. They spent time in small and large groups implementing "the three C's"

Communication, Cooperation, Collaboration

Students progressed through a series of challenges that encouraged them to work together and support one another. Then, students are able to apply skills learned on the traversing wall or low ropes course to their classroom environments. Whether working a difficult math problem within a small group or completing their daily chores, students refer to the "three C's" and confidently complete their task.

Building Community

by: Jamie Worman, Upper One

The Upper Elementary students

are embracing their new outdoor

environment and are eager to apply

newly learned skills in their

day-to-day work in the

Prairie House.

Spanish Class for Upper Elementary - Susan Dieli, Spanish Specialist

Upper Elementary Spanish is getting into the

swing of things after a summer off. During this

first week everyone has been bright-eyed and

bushy-tailed as we searched our memory

banks for previously learned information: Let’s

list how many different ways we can greet

someone. We sang a song about greetings,

salutations and introductions which was greatly

entertaining because the refrain contains the

memorable “fum, fum, fum”. Next topic – the

Hispanic World: How many Spanish speaking

countries are there in the world? (The U.S. is

not one of them). Guesses ranged from 6 to

100. Ask your student what the correct answer

is! Students were then asked: Since we speak

English like the British, are our countries the

same? We discussed the many ways that we

differ despite speaking the same language.

The same is true for all the Spanish speaking

countries of the world; all unique with their own

cultures, foods, music, etc. Finally, we finished

our class with two rounds of Spanish Twister

which produced lots of laughter, slipping and

sliding.

Going Even “GREENER” at the Middle School - Megan O’Sullivan

As incredible as our Middle School program is, our Erkinder, or

“Children of the Earth” vision is not yet complete! We have begun

Phase III of our middle school renovation, which is an addition of a

greenhouse. Planned uses for the greenhouse include a medicinal

garden for study in conjunction with the study of medieval history,

genetics experiments, the growth and sale of vegetables, herbs and

flowers for the student microeconomy, as well as composting and

hydroponics work. All of these opportunities are meant to provide

students with meaningful work in agroeconomy, which forms the

basis for our modern civilization. We are currently in the design

phase of our project, and are considering such things as solar

exposure, proximity to classroom space, access to utilities, size

and footprint, and aesthetic. Stay tuned for updates on the pro-

ject, which is expected to be completed by next summer.

Middle School Program #Erdkinder Learning Rocks - Student Tweets

Middle School students at Oak Farm practice digital citizenship using technology in our academic classes. This is part of modern practical life for the adolescent. For this month’s newsletter, our students chose to challenge themselves to use Twitter’s format of 140 characters and hash tags (#) to share highlights from our year so far.

#Hanging out with our 4 legged friends Animal Care-

who knew the smell of a barn could be so inviting? @ClaireW

#Creative Expression Wednesday mornings MS students

can express themselves through many forms of art, music,

photography, STEAM, wood shop is amazing @EmmaC

#Write 4 life Writer’s Workshop is a fun, creative way to

learn technique & style as an author @ LouieF

#Learning from Elders Groups of young scientists travel

to Sacred Heart Nursing Home to meet and do Montessori

Practical Life activities with dementia patients @ElyseN

#I love strawberries Strawberry homemade jam for Fall

Festival (YUM!) Our pigs and chicks loved the scraps

@LindseyS

#Monarchs fly free In agri-economy, a specialist taught us

about butterflies. We got to tag and release them with Lower

kids @TatumM

#Buildingcommunity Adventuring from the MS to the

lower campus as mentors helping younger kids grow in their

academic skills @lyndseyk

#RunitliveitloveitMSPE Getting active, building trust, &

creating a positive community @korala

At Oak Farm, we split the scrip benefits with the families - 50% goes to the school, and

50% is given back to you at the end of each school year.

If you aren't currently using the scrip program and want to,

please contact Lauren Moyer via email at: lmoyer@oakfarmschool.com to get the in-

formation to set up your account.

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Please remember that the community rewards programs are NOT part of the scrip program and cannot be designated to a specific student or family.

AmazonSmile - Follow this link:

smile.amazon.com/ch/35-2089006

Kroger & Scotts - If you already use the Kroger

Plus Shopper's Card, follow this link:

www.kroger.com/communityrewards

and select Oak Farm School.

Meijer - If you already use a Meijer credit card,

follow the instructions on the meijer.com web-

site to add an organization under your account

for the Meijer Community Rewards Pro-

gram. Oak Farm's # is 103207.

Target - If you already use the Target RED-

card, add Oak Farm School to your RED-

card account.

COMMUNITY REWARDS PROGRAMS Oak Farm is set up in the community rewards programs with AmazonSmile,

Kroger/Scotts, Meijer, and Target. All of these programs will make a dona-

tion to Oak Farm that is based upon your shopping history and will not cost

you at all.

This is an EASY way to help support Oak Farm!

Just clip the Box Tops for Education and send them

in with your child. Each classroom has a spot to

collect these, and then they are all brought to the

Victorian Farmhouse where a parent volunteer

(Thank you Teri!) sends them in for the cash!

Swallowdale Lane… where does it lead? Oak Farm is a large campus, with many turns and beautiful distractions. Because of the nature

of our campus, we needed to name the roads to help visitors feel comfortable. The names

also allow us to show our school spirit and personality. The road leading to the Victorian

Farmhouse, Lorene’s Way, is named in honor of our Founder—we truly do want to do it her

“way.” The roads that lead off Lemper to the various buildings were named by the students in

2013; to Lower - Acorn Trial, to Upper - Oak Avenue, and to the Middle School - Falcon

Road.

There are two internal drives (that are marked with brown signs rather than green) each hav-

ing names that change every two years. The rights to naming these internal drives are auc-

tioned off each year at the Tall Oak Gala. On the south

campus you will see Liberta Lane which was named 1.5

years ago in honor of a family’s matriarch. Last year,

the Hill family was the highest bidder and won the

rights to naming the drive between the Upper and Mid-

dle School buildings.

The process for naming the drive involved a lot of fami-

ly brainstorming. Birk, a 5th grader in Upper, shared

that his parents came home from the Gala last year and

told him and his sister, June, a 7th grader, that their

family gets to name the road. Both he and June were

surprised by this purchase, but they all started to share

ideas on their family chalk wall. Some of the ideas were

“The Yellow Brick Road” and “The Amazon” - but they

finally decided upon “Swallowdale Lane.”

We hope that this new road will not only get you

around the campus safely, but will also introduce you to

a book series that is exciting and interesting for all ages. Scott, Birk & June’s father, has been

reading the books during their family read-alouds. And from the joy on Birk’s face as he shared

the plot line of the story, we are sure that others will enjoy the tale too!

After School Club! We are excited to announce an afterschool option for the Primary & Lower students that is new to Oak

Farm. Soccer Shots is an organization that teaches the fundamentals of Soccer while incorporating the life

skills of confidence, sportsmanship and character. The coaches will be on campus Friday, October 2 for a

short demonstration for all Primary & Lower students. You then have the opportunity to register your child

for the club online until the deadline which is October 10, 2015.

SOCCER SHOTS will begin the week of October 12 and run into

mid November. All registration and payment must be done through

their website: www.fortwayne.ssreg.org

PRIMARY—Mondays @ 3:30-4:10

LOWER—Tuesdays @ 3:45-4:25

Please contact the school if you have questions about this program.

Would you like to offer an after school club to the Oak Farm students?

These could be anything from gardening, board games, fitness, arts & crafts, chess…

the sky is the limit!

Contact Macy — mmcnaughton@oakfarmschool.com or call: 260.897.4270 ext:1560