[ Hover over any topic to learn more ]
our VISION
our MISSION
our PASSION
Montessori Academy's vision is that each student
will become an independent, confident, motivated learner, and a responsible community member as a result of the dynamic partnership between
students, parents, and teachers.
This partnership within the exceptional Montessori environment, while developing these characteristics, enables each student to become a life-long learner.
September 2012
Greeting Room 1 Parents, Welcome to our first classroom newsletter for this year! We are well into the month of September, and we cannot express enough how excited we are to be your children’s teachers. At Our New Parent Meeting we had a great turnout. We hope you found it to be very informative. We appreciate your interest in your child’s classroom. We discussed the daily schedule and have posted it outside of the door, along with specifics about Room 1. This has been an almost effortless transition for many of our new children. They continue to amaze us with how they have acclimated to the environment and routine. Many of our returning students have been great helpers for them. They are showing such empathy to ones who may still cry a little by giving a hug, or showing kindness to ones by inviting them to play with them on the playground. It brings us joy to see how much personal growth the children have had since last year. Grace and Courtesy has been emphasized a good deal during these first few weeks. Being graceful by walking and being able to use an inside voice is vital in the classroom. Using good table manners in speaking and eating at snack and lunch time are also key qualities to possess. We have also been working on how to interrupt the teacher whether it be during work time or during group discussions. We continue to reinforce these aspects throughout the school year. We are also giving many presentations to the children in all the areas of the classroom. We note daily how well they are doing and the new work they are being presented. They have started to learn about the solar system and are thrilled about it. They listen attentively to information given during presentations and group time. We heard one parent commenting that her child has been coming home talking about Jupiter’s red spot and that Venus is the hot planet. As we will discuss in our first Parent Curriculum Meeting on September 20, children who are 3-6 years have absorbent minds, and this term “Absorbent Mind” was actually coined by Maria Montessori herself to explain how children are capable of learning many more complex materials than one might imagine. We hope you will be able to attend this meeting on September 20 at 4:30 which will cover the primary Montessori materials/curriculum. We have been having Spanish on Mondays and Music on Thursdays, and the children have enjoyed these supplemental areas of their curriculum. The Specials activities started last week, but if you are still interested in any of those, it’s not too late to sign up for them: http://montessoriacad.org/Extracurricular.php A few reminders: Portrait Day for Room 1 is Tuesday, Sept. 18th. Primary Curriculum Meeting, Sept. 20, 4:30-5:45 Kindergarten Field Trip, Sept. 25th to TN Agricultural Center Thank you to Trenay Bynum who has been diligently organizing the Parent Leadership information. Thank you also to those who have signed up to help in the classroom in various ways; without your help, we cannot work to the greatest capacity so we thank you for the generous donations of your time and money. She will be contacting you regarding areas you are interested in helping within our classroom. We appreciate the families who have donated money to the classroom fund and who have brought in gift cards to attach to the Giving Tree. The children have enjoyed being able to hang the cards which symbolize their gifts to Room 1. Our tree is growing, and you are still welcome to donate a card if you like. This money helps us buy art supplies, food preparation items, seasonal crafting materials, and any other supplies needed for the classroom. We are also looking to provide some outdoor activities for the children in order to help them connect with nature and continue their learning in outside spaces, which is a key component of Montessori learning. Any money collected will help us to enhance our back porch area; we are specifically trying to find a weatherproof table and chairs for the children to be able to work on. Please note that if you have any concerns, contact us by sending in a note with your child, or by sending us an email. Sincerely, Mellynne Dickason and Andrea Johnson |
