Acorns, Seedlings & Saplings

A Normal day

Morning Meeting starts at 8 o’clock but our Learners are welcome anytime after 7:30. During the Morning Meeting we greet, share news (not only personal-, but also national- and international news), discuss issues relevant to all for the day or week, share praise items and prayer requests and pray. There is also an opportunity for judicial hearings where complaints and compliments are brought up and dealt with by the community as a whole.

Then we head off to work: Each child has an individualised schedule and "To-Do-List" for the day that they can do in any order and tick off as they go. The idea is that they learn to plan and self-regulate, taking responsibility for their time and their learning.

The children may move freely indoors and outdoors, help themselves to a snack whenever they are hungry and go to the bathroom without having to ask permission. They seek out facilitators as they need them or attend lessons that they have signed-up for according to their individualised rosters.

Free periods are scheduled for all so that they have ample time to engage in meaningful play, but some children choose to knuckle down and get all their work done without any breaks so that they have a large chunk of free time available at the end of the day, while others enjoy pacing themselves with lots of short breaks in between.

At the end of the day the whole To-Do-List needs to be completed. The child records all activity (including play e.g. lego creations) on a weekly record keeping sheet. Facilitators mark all work (and plan) daily. Should a child appear to not to have grasped a concept it is revised with him the following day before he does corrections.

The Seedlings and Saplings go home at 14:00 Mondays to Thursdays. On Fridays everyone finishes at 12:00. Our terms roughly correspond with public school terms.

What the classroom looks like

We are in an old double storey house at the forest verge. We have a covered verandah with some outdoor sensory play tables, dress-up trunks and nooks with "invitations to play" as well as a kitchen sink where we wash our Art supplies.

A sunny room with a tiled floor for our Practical Life, Sensorial and Art areas, two large rooms with fireplaces and a toilet with basin and shower interlinked by a passage (or hallway) rounds off the Seedlings’ and Saplings’ indoor area.

Both the Seedlings’ and Saplings’ Rooms contain imported Montessori didactic materials and other educational aids are on low shelves, a whiteboard, pot plants, a fish tank, a large rug and a lovely collection of books that they are encouraged to choose from for their personal reading. The children work around low tables that can seat four and on the rug on the wooden floor.

We also have a safe and shady prepared outside environment that contains balls, slides, swings, a trampoline, stepping-logs, mud kitchen, sandpit, vegetable garden, hen house and quiet corners with seats (and a hidden fairy garden or two).

Curricula

English, Afrikaans and Maths are considered core subjects. The Seedlings and Saplings use Cambridge English, Singapore Maths and Living Books (a Charlotte Mason approach) to theme work. Content subjects (Natural Science and Social Studies which include History and Geography) are covered during Themework. The Seedlings and Saplings collect “Big Questions” and vote on which ones to research and answer next. They work as a multi-aged group on collaborative projects on the specific theme that is relevant to them. They are also taught how to find reliable information using the internet. The Seedlings and Saplings also participate in Music, Art, Sensorial, Practical Life, Computer & Coding and Phys Ed activities and have specific Read Aloud time where they enjoy listening to a chapter book of their choice.

Assessment

The Seedlings' and Saplings' (6 - 12 years) work is assessed through continual assessment as the facilitator works one-to-one with each child and marks all class work daily. The goal is mastery. Understanding only half (50%) of the work is not considered mastery. A child only progresses to new work once current work has been fully grasped, not because a certain time of the year has been reached. Each child thus works at their own individual pace and level. There is no such thing as "condoning" at Woodbury.

A confidential narrative report for every child is written in the middle and at the end of the year. The children write their own reports, to share what they have learnt, and parents are invited to browse books, at the end of the first and third terms.