“There is a great sense of community within the Montessori classroom…”
-Maria Montessori
Every day at Winfield is filled with wonderful moments and meaningful connections.
Here are just some of our many special traditions that strengthen our sense of community!
Spring Tea
One of our most beloved traditions is that of our annual Spring Tea. This event is typically held in April or early May, and is the opportunity for each child to invite a guest to their classroom for the social event of the year!
Children spend the days leading up to the Tea deciding what they are going to make, writing menus and invitations, and then setting tables and making everything ready for their guests. But while there is a flurry of activity immediately before the day, in reality Spring Tea is truly successful because it is culmination of the children’s work that they have been undertaking the entire time they have been in the classroom.
Refining their hand in Practical Life, learning the lessons of grace and courtesy, developing the confidence to host a guest in their space - these are just some of the skills which have been building and accumulating over time, and are made apparent in the course of one beautiful morning!
Field Trips
Three or four times each school year, the Children’s House classrooms embark on field trips out into the community. While the bus ride is often the most anticipated part of the adventure, the opportunity to expand our learning beyond Winfield is the real treasure!
We typically attend at least one theater show at Merrill Auditorium or the Children’s Museum, include at least one nature outing to an orchard or a local farm such as Wolfe’s Neck or Smiling Hill, and in recent years, the Kindergartners have embarked on their own trips to the Maine Wildlife Park or Victoria Mansion.
Field trips are planned each year with the input of the classroom teachers in order to ensure connections between the trips and the classroom curriculum.
Bring Your Parent to School Nights
Held twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring, these events are a time for the children to share their classroom with their parents. Parents have often toured these spaces, or have been in there for birthday walks or other events, but it is a very different perspective to see it through their children’s eyes.
The child becomes the teacher, sharing their favorite works with their parents, introducing them to classroom pets, and offering a glimpse into their day. Often parents report that they see a side of their child they don’t often get to see - a level of confidence and autonomy that sometimes comes as a surprise!
Buddy Classrooms
Each classroom forms its own close-knit group, but the children are also part of the wider Winfield community. While there are many opportunities for interaction when each program is playing outside together, we also look to create times for children from different rooms to come together and feel like a part of the larger group. One of the ways that we do that is through our Buddy Classrooms, where pairs of classrooms adopt each other for the year and foster increased interaction with one another.
Whether it is a group of older children visiting the Toddler House to read to their biddies, baking treats for each other, delivering cards for Friendship Day, or having children from the Buddy Classroom visit for a morning, community building is an ongoing part of the children’s Winfield experience!
Kindergarten Capstone
The Kindergarten Capstone serves as a vibrant culmination of three years of exploratory learning, where children embrace their individual interests and embark on meaningful projects. Each year, each student selects a topic that sparks their curiosity or a service project that reflects their passions. This creative freedom fosters a deep sense of ownership, encouraging students to dive into research and present their findings to the community. Although capstone projects are traditionally seen in high school or college, our kindergarteners bring their own flair and self-confidence to the process.
Each student's project reflects their individual curiosity, from space exploration and simple machines to animal habitats and environmental conservation. The Capstone Evening is a celebration of these projects, where the entire Winfield community comes together to support and applaud the students’ efforts. This event not only showcases the children’s creativity and hard work but also reinforces the Montessori commitment to fostering a lifelong love of learning. Through their Capstones, our kindergarteners are not just completing projects; they are building foundations for future inquiry, empathy, and advocacy in their world.
Grandfriend’s Day
This sweet tradition is held every year right before Thanksgiving break. It began as an opportunity for grandparents to share time in the classroom during a season when they were often traveling to visit family.
Over time, as we heard from families that either grandparents weren't able to make it or were no longer with us, but their child still wanted to participate, the idea of Grandfriends was born.
A Grandfriend may be a grandparent, or an aunt or uncle, or a beloved neighbor - anyone who fills the role in the child's life of an older relative or friend, separate from their parents. The primary goal of the event is intergenerational - an opportunity for younger and older generations to interact, as the children share their classroom with a very special guest!
Visiting Artists
Throughout the year, the Kindergarten class enjoys time with a series of artists-in-residence, who bring their experience and love of art to the classroom! Recent visitors have included representatives from Portland Pottery, Maine State Ballet, Portland Symphony Orchestra, as well as many talented visual artists, jewelers, and more!
Arts Festival
The Arts Festival has been a tradition at Winfield for more than 30 years! This special day at the end of May brings together area artists who fill our outdoor classroom with art experiences for the entire community. Pottery, circus arts, music, culinary arts, fabric arts, storytelling - the whole range of artistic expression is on offer for the children all morning. Decorated with a gallery of the children’s art from the year, and fueled by the traditional snack of watermelon and popsicles, the Arts Festival is a beloved end-of-year experience.
Solstice Celebration
We conclude each calendar year with celebration of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, and the start of winter. Each classroom community comes together with their families to share in this special season in a variety of ways. Whether it is outside at our Gathering Place around a fire or in the classroom with an altar with symbols of the season, it is a time of songs, togetherness, and the sharing of stories of why this time of year is special to so many cultures and communities around the world and throughout history.
Family Picnic
Shortly after the start of the new school year, we have an afternoon set aside for families to bring a picnic lunch, and enjoy each others’ company in our beautiful Outdoor Classroom! This is a great chance for new families to be welcomed into the wider Winfield community, for returning families to rekindle connections after the summer, and for teachers to interact with their families outside of the day to day of the classroom!
Family is at the center of the emotional world for children at this age, so knowing those families is a critical part of caring for those children. The family picnic is a reflection of the importance we place on ensuring that your entire family feels connected to the Winfield community!
Mystery Readers
Most weeks our Children’s House classrooms welcome in a guest reader to share a book to two with the class. Typically the children don’t know ahead of time who will be coming in, so their identity is a mystery until they walk through the door, hence the name!
A Mystery Reader can be a parent, grandparent, older sibling (especially Winfield alums!), or family friend!
The Mystery Reader reads one (or two shorter) books of their choosing to the class. Children love being read to, whether it’s a book new to them or an old favorite; the fact that someone else knows the same book that they do is always a source of wonder and excitement! Plus repetition of text is a key tool to learning reading, so there is no pressure to have to pick something unique. We just love the opportunity to share this tradition with our families!