Our students age 3 on up to Upper Elementary students have been keeping busy with several field trips and special guest visits as the school year draws to a close. Take a look at the exciting things our classes have been up to:
Battery Park “Math Trails”:
Hudson Montessori School’s focuses on teaching children to apply knowledge gained inside the classroom to the vast world outside of it. Each of our elementary classes recently ventured to Battery Park with math question booklets in hand. The students explored beautiful flowers on rooftop gardens, enjoyed a ride to and from Manhattan on the ferry, and examined different types of architecture. They were challenged to find how patterns, symmetry, ratios, shapes, and perimeter exist all around us. Each class observed animals in the park and ate lunch beneath gorgeous sycamore trees.
Special Visit from Eyes of the Wild:
Upper and Lower Elementary got to meet exciting Australian animal friends from the Eyes of the Wild Wildlife Adventure Center in New Jersey.
Students saw a sugar glider: a small, omnivorous, and nocturnal gliding possum from the marsupial family. Its name comes from its love of sugary foods like sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air like a flying squirrel.
“We learned that Australia is filled with reptiles like the blue-tongued skink.Though his brown and black scales didn’t seem especially impressive, this omnivore specializes in mimicry to look and act like a dangerous creature,” said Samira Brito, primary teacher. Predators are scared away when the skink opens its mouth, sticks out its vibrant blue tongue, and makes a threatening noise like a poisonous snake.
Many students mistook the wallaby we met for a kangaroo at first glance. We learned that wallabies and kangaroos look similar to kangaroos because they are related! However, wallabies are much smaller herbivores. We also learned that wallabies are often social, feeding on grass and plants and living in groups of up to 50 wallabies called a mob.
Field Trip on the Clearwater Sloop:
Our Upper Elementary Class spent three hours sailing aboard the Clearwater Sloop and learning about the Hudson River estuary. Once aboard the vessel, they learned about testing water quality, nautical symbols, fishing in the Hudson using an auto net, and tying different types of knots.
Students listened to the story of Pete Seeger, singer/songwriter and the founder of the Clearwater Sloop. As a recording artist and environmental activist, he used his music to spread awareness about caring for our environment.
The class also recited a Land Acknowledgement to recognize the Indigenous people native to the Hudson River Basin, the original protectors of the land, waterways, and their connection to it.
