Gladwyne Montessori Students Study History Beyond the Classroom Walls; Travel to United Kingdom

GLADWYNE, Pa. - May 2, 2013 - PRLog -- On Friday, April 26th, Gladwyne Montessori’s 4th grade through 7th grade students began the culmination of their year-long study of the Middle Ages and Renaissance with a trip to the United Kingdom. The 14 students, accompanied by chaperones including Head of School Abigail Miller, are traveling from Scotland to England on their 10-day journey abroad as part of the Elementary and Middle School cultural studies program, which allows students to focus on a broad historic period over an entire school year.

Activities in all areas of learning at Gladwyne Montessori are tied to students’ cultural study. Math played a role in the preparation for the trip as students learned how to calculate exchange rates and helped organize and run numerous fundraising activities to help defray costs of the trip including a weekly pizza lunch sale, babysitting events held in the Gladwyne Montessori gym, Bingo Night and a popular Bowling Night.  

This year students performed a Medieval plainchant song at the school concert, designed an illuminated manuscript in reading, reported on and portrayed a famous figure from the Middle Ages for Famous Persons Day, and acted out a scene from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream during a recent Poetry Festival.

“Dr. Montessori called it “going out,” Miller said. “The concept was meant to help develop independence in children, by gradually offering them the freedom to expand their learning beyond the classroom walls.

“In Primary classes for our 3 and 4 year olds learning extends to other parts of the school building. In Kindergarten and Elementary school, children learn more about the community around them as their studies lead them beyond campus. This week, our Elementary and Middle School students cross the ocean to study and experience history in Scotland and England.”

The students on their Best of the UK Tour (http://www.gladwyne.org/ukclasstrip) spent several days in Scotland, with a native Scotsman as a parent chaperone, exploring Stirling and Edinburgh castles, visiting the William Wallace monument (of Braveheart fame), learning about the sport of falconry and dancing at a traditional Scottish ceilidh.

Departing Scotland, students will spend time in Yorkshire visiting a traditional English farm where they hope to help sheep give birth to lambs, have a lesson in Tudor Medicine, and stop in Stratford-on-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare. They will tour the Roman Baths in the town of Bath and conclude their trip with three nights in London where they will tour the capital city, visit the Tower of London, see a play and participate in a swordfighting workshop at Shakespeare’s Globe, the modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre.

“At Gladwyne Montessori we open our classroom doors to give our students the freedom to embrace their own curiosity as we guide their learning,” Milller said. “Our classroom experience extends beyond desks in a row and reward for memorization: We help guide our students to explore and become the innovators of tomorrow.”