We hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! Please enjoy this newsletter containing photos and memories from the last couple weeks of school. As you make memories over the summer break, especially any Montessori moments, please share them with the community using this padlet wall -- just double click an open spot on the wall, give your post a title, add a description of your activity, and add a picture if you'd like!

MSA held its ninth annual commencement ceremony on June 1 at Grace Episcopal Church. Six seniors earned their high school diplomas and will be off to attend colleges and universities in the fall, including Converse College, Florida Atlantic University, Clemson University, and the University of South Carolina. Stay tuned for Montessori Minutes throughout the summer featuring more details about each graduate. See more photos from graduation in this album.

Yearbooks were distributed after the Awards Day ceremony, and students enjoyed visiting with each other and signing each other's books. There are still yearbooks available for purchase for $40; if you would like to buy one, please contact Jaime Emery at jemery@msasc.org.

Lower Elementary celebrated their rising students with a Peace Ceremony during which each rising student presented a short speech to their peers, teachers, and family and friends in attendance. The speeches were followed by fellow classmates listing adjectives that describe each graduating student. Finally, everyone in attendance was given the opportunity to give peace rocks to the graduating students while wishing them luck in the next step of their education. This album contains many more photos from the ceremony, and this gallery has pictures from a photo shoot with the 3rd grade students afterward.

As one of the sixth graders' last assignments in Upper Elementary, they were tasked with creating and presenting individual or small group presentations. The theme for this year's presentations was a Shark Tank-style show in which each group presented an invention to be scored by the judges. The students came up with some creative inventions! Click on these links to see photos of the presentations and photos from a short photo shoot afterward.

Upper Elementary held its annual Star Ceremony and Piping Up celebrations on May 29. During the Star Ceremony, each rising 6th grade student is presented with a star containing a word that describes the student and their experience in Upper Elementary. Mrs. Coffey and Mrs. Henderson presented each student with a star and shared the meaning behind the words chosen for the students. Piping Up is another celebration of the rising Upper Elementary students during which friends and family members lift up the rising students and carry them around a circle of their peers who toss flower petals in their direction. Click these links to view more photos from the Star Ceremony and Piping Up.

Upper Elementary through High School celebrated Awards Day on May 31, recognizing students for extraordinary achievement, including senior Hallie Shuler for lettering in tennis, the Mock Trial team's accomplishments, and college scholarships and grants among others. See below for a few pictures from the day, and follow this link to see more along with several photos taken during yearbook signing after the event.

The 2019 Promotion event was held at Boulevard Baptist on May 30. The event recognizes the students being promoted at each level of the school from Primary through High School. See more pictures from the event in the Promotion photo gallery here.

While the 8th grade students were away on the 8th Grade Retreat, the 7th graders participated in a STEM activity in which they learned about the design-by-contract approach to software engineering by all working together to create parts of a Rube Goldberg Device -- an overly complex machine used to accomplish a simple task. In this case, the students chose to simply turn on a fan, but to do so a series of rolling weights and toy cars activated marbles that proceeded through mazes, finally flipping the switch on a surge protector to turn on the fan. Each student was responsible for designing their own section of the device and for ensuring that both the previous and subsequent students' sections would interact with their own in an agreed-upon manner. The students had a short amount of time to work, and they created some impressive components within the short period of time! Click this link to view a video of the final few legs of the device in action.

The 7th and 8th grade students each took a trip to El Jimador Viejo to celebrate the end of the school year and have an authentic Spanish-speaking experience ordering a meal in Spanish. Additional photos from the 8th grade lunch can be found in this album.

The High School students decorated the conference room whiteboard for summer vacation before they left for the break.

These toddlers in toddler two are enjoying the warm weather by taking care of the plants outside and having water time each week. They continue to make their own macaroni and cheese for their classmates throughout the summer!

Toddler Two had an unexpected visitor a couple weeks ago who helped himself to all of their tomatoes. Mrs. Breanne took this picture when a student alerted her that "a squirrel is eating the tomatoes!"