Reflecting back on the Candlelight and Colours newsletter from January describing the reasons behind and highlighting some of our rituals at Montessori School of Anderson, we find ourselves in the midst of some of our biggest ceremonies of the year: the end of year celebrations. Several of the "Kairos" moments -- sacred times where time stands still -- described in the previous newsletter are upon us. Over the next week, we will celebrate the Peace Ceremony in Lower Elementary, Star Ceremony in Upper Elementary, Piping Up ceremony for rising Middle School students, the Naming Ceremony for rising 9th graders, and our graduation ceremony for high school in addition to the 8th grade mountain retreat held this past week. Each of these Kairos moments allow us to pause briefly and reflect on the past year and beyond and all of the experiences that culminate in these end-of-year milestones in the "Chronos" -- chronological time that marches on linearly -- timeline of our lives.

We invite you to come celebrate these ceremonies with us.

May 27 - Memorial Day Holiday, all programs closed

May 28 - LE Peace Ceremony

May 29 - UE Piping Up

May 30 - Early dismissal at 11:30 a.m., Promotion, 6:30 p.m.

May 31 - Awards Day, 8:30 a.m.

May 31 - Last Day of School, early dismissal 10:30 (I/T-LE) and 11:00 (UE-HS)

June 1 - HS Graduation, 4:00 p.m.

All programs will be closed for the Memorial Day holiday this coming Monday, May 27. There will be no extended day available. Please make alternative arrangements for your child(ren) for that day.

Each year the 8th grade class goes on a retreat to the mountains to bond with each other one last time as a class before graduating into high school. The activities of the 8th grade retreat give the students time to reflect on their time so far at Montessori as well as on the future and allow them to get closer as a class.

Freshman students in Ms. McCarty's English class were tasked with researching a topic, writing a paper about the topic, and presenting what they learned in a creative manner to their peers. Two of the students designed impressive, elaborate board games related to their topics. One student designed a Sea Turtle Survival game designed to illustrate the many hazards baby sea turtles face as they go through their early lives. Another student designed a board/card game similar to king's corners designed to teach information about body systems.

One of the senior rituals at Montessori School of Anderson is a senior project. Each senior chooses a topic that they are passionate about, researches the topic throughout their senior year, writes a paper about the topic, and produces a project related to the topic. They defend their projects and papers in front of a panel of their teachers and administrators just as a graduate student would present a Master's thesis or Doctorate dissertation defense and finally present their topics and their products to their peers in a final presentation. A description of each of our seniors' projects and presentations and a few pictures of each follow, click this album link for more photos from the presentations.

Senior Hayley Gordon studied health in Japan, and prepared and cooked Nattō, a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans for everyone to try.

Aaron MacDonald presented on proper care and nutrition for chameleons, and he brought in his pet chameleon and example enclosures to show the audience.

Emma Kate Potter became a certified yoga instructor and presented on why yoga should become a part of school curricula. She described various breathing techniques and gave breathing lessons to those in attendance.

Alex Jones researched how to bring swimming classes to American public schools and drafted a proposal that includes cost analyses of building public, local school-funded swimming pools at two locations around Anderson.

Hallie Shuler gave an emotional presentation about Autism Spectrum Disorder and the importance of ignoring and overcoming negative stereotypes, the need for more accurate representation of autistic individuals in the media, and valuing those on the spectrum as individuals, each with unique talents and experiences. She wrote a children's book that she hopes to publish soon in an effort to provide a more accurate and relatable portrayal of those with autism than what is widely presented in media today.

Ben Vagnoni described the need for more outlets for emotional distress and avenues for gaining the support and therapy required by adolescents with mental illnesses in schools. He provided the outline for an anonymous emotional support system that may be implemented in schools.

Senior Alex Jones presented the final High School internship presentation for the year this Tuesday, describing his exciting and informative day shadowing and riding along with paramedics in Greenville County earlier this year.

Students in Primary and Lower Elementary celebrated Father's Day last Friday by inviting special fathers in the students' lives to the classrooms for lunch and an activity. Thank you to Jaime Emery for capturing these sweet moments; see more in this Father's Day celebration gallery!

Mrs. McAlister shared these great pictures from Mother's and Father's Day celebrations in Primary One along with these sweet last photos of the risers together on the Primary slide and tree house.

These photos show our infants and toddlers at work developing various motor skills, artistic abilities, and practical life skills over the past week.

As part of our effort to achieve STEAM certification school-wide, each level from Primary Risers through High School participated in history and technology lessons followed by a pen assembly and disassembly line activity over the past couple weeks. At each level, students learned the history of writing implement technology advancements and how the Industrial Revolution affected the daily lives of various groups of people centuries ago and even still today. Afterward, students were divided into small groups and tasked with building an assembly line in order to disassemble a set of pens into their component parts before reassembling them -- all as quickly and efficiently as possible. They learned about various roles in the assembly line process and how improvements in production efficiency can affect companies and countries. The students had a blast competing to see which group could achieve the fastest result!

See below for a few photos from each level that participated, and click here for a gallery containing many more!

Upper Elementary science students researched different biomes and presented posters showing what they found. Students researched the locations of the biome, plants and animals that live in the biome, and the impact of humans on the environment there.

On Thursday there was a fire alarm in Primary 3 right at lunch time. Per protocol, the class was evacuated by Mrs. Kirby and Mrs. Jenae. While they waited on the fireman to arrive and clear the building and silence the fire panel, our Primary friends became very hungry so they decided to have a spontaneous picnic outside. There were smiles all around as the children adapted to the atypical lunch plan. What a beautiful day for this all to unfold!

Cub scouts had two special days recently. The Cubs celebrated their year with awards and badges. They are excited for the next year!

On another day, the Anderson county sheriff's office paid the scouts a visit to talk about their role in schools and safety. The Cubs even got to touch the officer's vest and sit inside the police car!

A couple weeks ago, Middle and High School students and their parents were given valuable information introducing them to financial aid opportunities and preparing them for the college admissions process. Thank you to our speakers, Mike Fox from South Carolina Student Loan and Robert Bennett from Clemson University's Admissions Department. Eleventh and twelfth grade students were also able to stay for the Tri-County Technical College Dual Enrollment Orientation Session; thank you to Marla Cobb, Coordinator of Student Support Resources for Dual Enrollment and Career Pathways for that presentation as well.

Please enjoy these photos from the High School trip to breakfast at Maple Street Biscuit Company and Breakout Greenville mentioned in last week's issue of Montessori Matters. Click here for more pictures from the trip.

The 2018-2019 yearbooks have arrived! The yearbook staff were able to see the results of their hard work at an end-of-year yearbook reveal and pizza party this past week. There are a limited number of yearbooks available for purchase for $40 through the front office! Reserve one for your student today!