Do you remember your first visit at a new school? I do.
When I went to Gladwyne Montessori School for my first visit it really wasn't my first visit. I had visited the school in kindergarten, but my parents decided it was too far away to go because we lived in center city then. When I was in kindergarten and preschool I went to Greene Towne Montessori. For first, second, and part of third grade I went to The Philadelphia School. In third grade I wanted to return to a Montessori school. Pretty early in the school year, sometime in October, I visited this school. I was supposed to visit Meg Bolton's class, but Meg was absent; instead, Lois sent me to Mrs. Hartnett's class. There I met Alexandra Duncan, Sasha Miller, and others. I really wanted to be in Mrs. Hartnett's class. Though I got put into Meg's class, after the first day I was glad. It was so much fun! I met Winnie Wolfe, who has now been my best friend for almost four years, and Margo Polett. We were a threesome for one and a half years, until the middle of fourth grade.
Some of my favorite memories from Meg and Lois's class are: Grammar boxes, which taught us about different symbols such as nouns, verbs, and prepositions. Another thing I remember was a story starter. It gave a sentence, such as: "A UFO landed in my backyard." Then we built a story based on that sentence. Finally, a great thing that happened in Lower El was our third grade trip was to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. My favorite memory of that trip was riding in the horse and buggies.
The Philadelphia School was not big on sports. When I came here, I was a very slow runner. I couldn't play most sports. It took me almost twelve minutes to run a mile. This year I can run a mile in less than nine minutes. I can play many sports, including lacrosse and baseball. All this is thanks to Mr. K., our gym teacher.
Then I went into Upper El. Until the middle of March Mr. Guss was our teacher. After he left Dan came in to help Mrs. L. This was the year Mrs. L. introduced to us the Edit. My favorite part of fourth grade was that we had a class pet in the Upper El, a guinea pig named Cherry. Cherry used to be my guinea pig, but my mom was allergic so he became our class pet.
In fifth grade Mrs. L. introduced to us different homework. We also started our reading journals, where we write to Mrs. L. about a book we read. In fifth grade Sasha, Winnie, and I were the only girls in the class! We became very close friends.
The next year was sixth grade. Finally I felt like I was in Upper El. The Lower El treated me with the respect due to an Upper Elementary student. The work seemed harder. I knew from the beginning that this was going to be my last year, so I did all the things I wanted to do. My favorite special piece of work Mrs. L. gave us was LINX. Seth, David and I were in a group together. Our assignment was to design a vehicle that could go down a ramp and go three meters carrying a brick. We then actually built the vehicle using wood provided by Mrs. L.!
My favorite subject is history. In fifth and sixth grade we had many choices for different kinds of projects. Some of our choices were: board games, dioramas, reports, and stories. When we studied the Middle Ages in fifth grade I did a board game about becoming a knight. In sixth grade when we studied Egypt I did a travel guide to the Giza Pyramids, and when we studied Greece I wrote a play about social classes.
There were many special things that happened in the Upper El, such as our trip to Annapolis for a boat ride on the Chesapeake Bay and dinner. In fifth grade as our big class trip we went to New York City in a limousine. There were two televisions in the limo, and we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This year our class trip was to Harrisburg, to see the big farm show that was taking place. That was lots of fun, especially since we took a chartered bus!
I would like to thank my teachers who have helped me or boosted me to become the person I have become.
Thank you, Meg and Lois, for helping me catch up to everyone else and helping me remember Montessori. Thank you Mrs. L., for showing me through three of my four years here at Gladwyne Montessori. I also enjoyed having silly jokes with her: We have a joke that she has been alive since the big bang! I would also like to thank Sally for being a great substitute for Mrs. Harris and Mrs. L., and Mrs. Harris for teaching me most of what is in my vocabulary and starting me on advanced books. She also was the director of every play I did here, including The Marvelous Eclipse and The Fabulous Formula. Mrs. Barclay always had a good book for me to read, and was so helpful with research up in the Library. Mrs. Hunter always had a laugh and introduced us to incredibly interesting programs such as Terrapin Logo and a photograph program called CAMEDIA Master.
I have had three music teachers in the past four years. Each teacher has taught me a different part of music. Thank you Mrs. Rosard for starting me on singing in the Upper El chorus, and for having terrific songs to sing. Joe taught me more in the instrument department; we played the piano and other instruments like guitar. This year Coco started us on drums and rhythm and helped me on upbeat songs such as the Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun." Thank you very much.
Madam Denise has taught me most of the French words I know, and helped me in all aspects of art from sculpting to murals to blow-pens. Thank you, Madam Denise. Last but not least I would like to thank our Principal, Mr. Ebmyer, who also acted as our math teacher in fourth grade giving us interesting and advanced math to do.
In conclusion, I would like to thank Gladwyne Montessori School for giving me all you have given. I really wish I could stay another year at this wonderful school, and go into the new building every morning.
It has been a terrific four years.
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