Call Us: 410-321-8555 ignite@greenspringmontessori.org
Spring Earth Day Celebration at Greenspring

Spring Earth Day Celebration at Greenspring

As part of our Allegiance to Nature at Greenspring Montessori School, our faculty and staff organized a special Earth Day event for our children and families. Our Toddler, Children’s House, Elementary, and Adolescent classes took on various projects around our campus including planting stations, nature-based story walks, and nature scavenger hunts. Many classes also worked to restore natural spaces on campus and make improvements to their outdoor environments. In addition, there are many beautiful books on display in the library on Earth Day, Spring, Gardening, and more! 
After school, many families joined in to help spruce up the campus grounds. We would like to extend a special thanks to all of our families who volunteered to help make this event a success! If you would like to support any of our current outdoor projects by volunteering or donating supplies, please reach out to us here.  It was beautiful to see everyone coming together for this purposeful community event! Take a look below to see photos and more details about the projects at each level.

Toddlers

Our Toddlers visited the planting station in the morning to prepare small seedlings to bring home. They also worked together to spruce up their outdoor environments and plant flowers.

Children’s House

In preparation for Earth Day, Ms. Laura, one of our Children’s House Naturalists, worked with the children to plant milkweed, phlox, black eyed-susans, and coneflower seeds to welcome all pollinators to the Outdoor Environments and give them a place to rest, eat, and lay eggs! Their goal is to become a Monarch Waystation just like Ms. Emily has accomplished along the Chesapeake Village! All of our Children’s House classrooms enjoyed getting down in the dirt to weed, plant, and prepare our campus for spring!

Our Children’s House team was inspired to take on this initiative after learning more about the Roots & Shoots Program by Jane Goodall. To learn more about our Children’s House Roots & Shoots lessons, please click here.

In addition, our Winterberry Children’s House classroom participated in a waste-free lunch to show to our students the impact of small decisions every day.

Elementary & Adolescents

Our Elementary children sowed vegetable and flower seeds in their outdoor gardens. They are also preparing to extend their garden area in order to grow wine plants including gourds, pumpkins, squash, and watermelon. Our Adolescents created a graph of the atmospheric carbon along with eco-awareness art in sidewalk chalk around campus. They also sold seedlings as part of their small business. 

Families

We also celebrated Earth Day with our families at our Spring Grounds Day. Volunteers came out to give back to our school by helping to beautify and maintain the Greenspring campus. Parents, grandparents, and children helped with everything from weeding and planting to window washing and fence staining. Thank you to everyone who came out to join us! Thank you for your support as we celebrate Earth Day and help inspire the future generation of stewards for our planet. 

“Hope is contagious Your actions inspire others.” – Jane Goodall
What do you love about Greenspring?

What do you love about Greenspring?

A recent article in Education Week brought to light some intriguing findings from a Brookings Institution study that reveals a gap in how parents perceive their children’s enjoyment and engagement with school compared to the students’ own perspectives. According to the study, while 78% of parents believe their children are thriving academically and enjoying school, only 60% of students share this sentiment. This gap grows even wider when it comes to how much students “love” school, with only 41% of students expressing such feelings compared to 71% of parents.

At Greenspring, we deeply value fostering an environment where students feel excited to learn, grow, and engage with their school community. Our Guides are dedicated to creating an atmosphere where each student can explore their interests and discover the joy of learning. We know that when we support the whole child – academically, mentally, and spiritually – their joy, success, and confidence follow naturally.

While the gap highlighted in the study is concerning, it does not come as a shock when we think about the mighty challenges facing modern education. At Greenspring, this offers us an opportunity to reflect on our efforts to connect with our children and adolescents to ensure they feel both challenged and supported. After learning more about the study, we decided to poll our own Elementary and Adolescent students in 3rd – 8th grade to find out more about what they are feeling at school. Here are the questions we asked.

We are happy to share the results here.

We also interviewed Elementary students to find out more about what they love about Greenspring. We hope that you will take a moment to hear what they have to say.

With this in mind, I encourage you to open up the dialogue with your children at home. What are they learning about in school? What inspires them? And are the adults in their life offering them worthy challenges that support their growth, not just academically, but also emotionally, physically, and spiritually? We seek to move forward into a new age of education where this is the norm, not the exception, for every child.

Lower Elementary Students Mystery History Presentations in Honor of Black History Month

Lower Elementary Students Mystery History Presentations in Honor of Black History Month

Our Redbud Lower Elementary class celebrated Black History Month with special Mystery History Presentations. They have been researching inspiring black leaders, advocates, and public figures. They then created presentations, and families had to guess the “mystery” speaker. We had the pleasure to hear from Ruby Bridges, Barrack Obama, Michael Jordan, Harriet Tubman, Jackie Robinson, Ray Charles, and many more.

Elementary Students Travel to New York for Model United Nations Conference

Elementary Students Travel to New York for Model United Nations Conference

In February our Upper Elementary students visited New York for the Montessori Model United Nations Conference. They have worked so hard this year to represent United Nations topics for Uruguay, Croatia, and United Arab Emirates.

What is Montessori Model United Nations?

Upper Elementary students in fifth and sixth grade participate in the Montessori Model United Nations (MMUN) as an After-School Program at Greenspring Montessori School. MMUN is an international group that seeks to empower young leaders through research, cultural studies, critical thinking, and problem-solving. MMUN works directly with the United Nations and implements elements of the Montessori Method to create an enriching experience for students and faculty.

Elementary students meet after school for months in preparation for the annual MMUN conference in New York City. The topics they researched ranged from food security and water scarcity to gender equity and disarmament. Students prepared a research paper and then drafted a one minute persuasive speech to present to other MMUN students from around the world. 

They learn together the need for peace and lasting conflict resolution, skills that will follow them through life.

Click here to learn more about our Elementary Program and here to learn more about Montessori Model United Nations.

Adolescents Present to Maryland Lawmakers at Lobby Day

Adolescents Present to Maryland Lawmakers at Lobby Day

Our Adolescents visited the Maryland State House in Annapolis for Lobby Day where they presented to legislators on upcoming bills. Their bills included restorative practices in schools, animal rights laws, paid leave for parents, water bottle refill stations in Baltimore City, funding for the 988 hotline, youth sports safety commission, porch piracy laws, and prescription coverage for workers’ compensation. ⁠

Thank you to the delegates, senators, and staffers who shared their time with our Greenspring students. And a special thanks to Greenspring parent, Jen Brock, for volunteering your time to support our students in this important work.