Prairie Restoration: Biodiversity in Eco-systems, Native Seed Bombs & Healthy Prairies
November 13, 2018

An essay by Julia Lunn, MSLF’s Outdoor Classroom Director

A healthy ecosystem starts with healthy biodiversity; that means a large variety of life! Think about your diet: broccoli’s good, but if you eat just broccoli is that a healthy diet for a growing body? No! It’s the same for an ecosystem. A healthy prairie needs sunflowers, but in order to attract a diverse amount of native wildlife it also needs a balance of grasses, sedges, forbs or wildflowers.

In early October, our Lower Elementary students worked to encourage a healthy prairie at the Montessori School of Lake Forest. The school’s prairie is the western edge of the Middlefork Savanna , an ecologically rich ecosystem carefully maintained with the help of many folks including Lake County Forest Preserve District and Lake Forest Open Lands Association.

Led by Outdoor Educators Brandon Chartier, Alex Close and Julia Lunn, students gathered in the Ritter Story Ring for a story about the mighty oak tree. Following the story and introduction, they split off into three groups to gather native seeds from our prairie and surrounding area. Plants included Illinois Bundleflower, Milkweed, Bergamot, Cup Plant, Joe Pye Weed, Obedient Plant, and New England Aster.

Proper restoration involves encouraging natives, but also discouraging and managing non-native species. Students were introduced to the non-native plant Purple Loosestrife. Loosestrife was introduced to North America in the early 19 th century by European settlers. It is an invasive species that needs to be managed. Working with clippers and plastic bags, students clipped heads off of the plant and deposited them into the trash bags to be properly disposed of. One Purple Loosestrife plant can produce as many as 3 million seeds a year! If left un-managed, it would take over the prairie.

We are grateful to earlier students at MSLF for their Earth Stewardship and work to maintain a healthy prairie. In 2001 the Upper Elementary Class introduced the Galerucella calmariensis, a species of beetle with a voracious appetite for the Purple Loosestrife and a proven biological control method for the plant. I’m sure without their work we would have much more Loosestrife to manage!

After all the native seeds were collected the fun really began. Students formed mud balls and tucked the seeds into them. It was much like forming a snowball, but a lot dirtier! After the seeds were neatly tucked and the mudballs formed, the students tossed the native seed “bombs” off into the prairie. Encasing the seeds in rich soil and sowing the seeds during the cold and wet fall will give the seeds their best chance to work their way into the prairie soil and germinate.

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday. November 13, we kicked off our Outdoor Classroom initiative Hello Native!

Last year we said bye bye to the buckthorn on our property and now it’s time to say hello to the native species. Again in partnership with Lake County Forest Preserves and Lake Forest Open Lands we had an opening assembly  followed by outdoor work seeding native plants. Seeds were generously provided by both LCFPD and LFOLA, and our students also collected seeds as part of their outdoor work in early October. Who knows, maybe we’ll see more Native Seed Bombs flying over our Prairie!

Check out photos from the Hello Native! Kick Off!

MSLF Retirement Announcement

January 29, 2025
Dear MSLF Community, After over 20 years of teaching Lower Elementary students at MSLF, Kathryn Jasinski has shared her plans to retire from teaching at the end of the current school year. There is no doubt about the impact Miss Jasinski has had on our school community during her long tenure here. Kathryn has been well known for her dedication to her students, to developing the whole child, and for her passion for Montessori education, always staying true to the core tenets of Montessori philosophy. Her legacy at MSLF will certainly live on in each of the students who have been lucky enough to have been in her class and in the many words of wisdom she has shared with her fellow colleagues, past and present. No doubt each one of her current or former students who receives a note from her in the mail instantly recognizes her perfect cursive writing and the thoughtful note inside. Kathryn’s care of her students extends well beyond their time in her classroom as she has kept in touch with dozens of her former students and has even welcomed some back to work alongside her as assistants. She has been a mentor to many, imparting her years of expertise on all those who have had the privilege of working with her. While we are sad to see her go, we know that she will enjoy her well-earned retirement, and we look forward to celebrating Kathryn’s legacy more this year. MSLF is pleased to announce that Laura Earls will be the new Lower Elementary lead teacher for the 2025-26 school year. Laura has been co-teaching in our Upper Elementary classroom since the beginning of the current school year. Laura Earls joined the MSLF team from Higher Ground Education where she was Regional Program Lead, working to elevate program quality in all Guidepost Montessori schools across the Chicago area. It was during this work that she realized how much she missed working directly with children in the Montessori classroom and decided to return to teaching. Laura received her BA in art history from the University of Dallas and completed graduate work at the University of Notre Dame. Soon after, Laura shifted her career to education and earned her AMI Elementary Montessori Certification (6-12 years old) at the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee. She then taught in an Elementary classroom at Forest Bluff School, and her classroom was profiled in Paula Polk Lillard’s book, Montessori Today. After moving to Wisconsin to raise her three children, Laura received her AMI Primary Montessori Certification (3-6 years old) at the Midwest Montessori Institute. After that, she worked as a Primary Directress and Director of Admissions at a Montessori school in Wisconsin, as Head of School of Forest Bluff School, and as Senior Head of School at Guidepost Montessori. Laura has three grown children who all experienced Montessori education themselves and are thriving in college and beyond. Laura has lived and studied in both Paris and Rome and is an accomplished pianist. Laura is excited to make the transition to the Lower Elementary classroom and looks forward to working closely with current and new Lower Elementary families next year. She also looks forward to meeting families in the Lower Elementary classroom during the Open House on February 5. With Laura transitioning to the Lower Elementary classroom following the current school year, MSLF will be conducting a search for a new co-teacher to work alongside Debbie Lincoln in the Upper Elementary classroom for the 2025-26 school year. We are thankful to Laura for all the support she has offered the Upper Elementary community this year. Please join me in wishing Kathryn a peaceful and fulfilling retirement and in welcoming Laura to the Lower Elementary community. Sincerely, Hope Allegretti Head of School - Executive Director Montessori School of Lake Forest

Montessori Assessments at MSLF

By Teresa Pavelich • January 8, 2025
An overview of how Montessori schools assess student progress and development
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