Elementary 1 Newsletter
May 2013
DATES TO REMEMBER:
May 1st: Tuition Due for some families & 1st month’s tuition for children moving up to the next level*
May 10th: Middle School Transition Night/ Open House**
May 17th: Mother’s Tea, 1 pm basement
May 19th: Spring Fling @ Forrest Park, 1:30-4:30pm
May 23rd: 3rd, 6th, & 8th grade graduations, 1pm
May 28th-31st: Scholastic Book Fair in Middle School
May 27th: No School, Memorial Day
May 30th: Kindergarten Graduation, 6:30 pm
May 31st: Last Day of School, Noon Dismissal (NO Aftercare)
*Tuition and After Care balances are due on Thursday, May 30, upon pickup of your child. If you have a question concerning your balance, feel free to contact the school, and we would be happy to send home an itemized list of dues that need to be settled. Inquiries can be made over the phone or e-mailed to montessoriwestfield@gmail.com.
**Teenagers! First, we want to hug and protect them then we want to throw them out of the house! Living with an adolescent is no walk in the park. If we are going through this turmoil as parents, imagine what they are living. So…
We would like to invite you to Middle School transition night to show you how we meet the developmental needs of teenagers, academically, personally, and socially.
In the Classroom
This month will be very busy as we wrap up another year. There will be the Spring Fling to look forward to as well as our Mother’s Day Tea. Graduation is another special event which honors the 3rd graders in our class before they make the transition to the Elementary 2 class next year. Then, on the last day of school we gather at Cook Creek Park for an end of the year picnic.
Our curriculum highlights will include a study of Australia. The children will learn about its geography, hi
story, and culture through map work, art, and research. They will also do some writing about Australian animals and learn about the Great Barrier Reef. In addition, they will experience a taste of Australia by making damper, a kind of bread eaten in Australia.
The students have planted seeds in the greenhouse in anticipation of transplanting some in the garden. This coincides with our botany curriculum this month as the children review the parts of a plant, their functions and the life cycle of the plant.
The children will also continue writing poetry. They will experiment with writing haiku and shape poems.
End of the Year Items
We will soon be putting together your child’s portfolio for this past year. If your child is new to the classroom you do not need to do anything. We provide the portfolio notebook for your child. However, if your child is a 2nd or 3rd year student who was in the classroom last year, we need you to return their portfolio. The 3rd year students will be given their portfolio at graduation and the rest of the class will receive theirs the last week of school.
The Terra Nova test results are in for the 2nd and 3rd year students. You are welcome to stop in and pick them up. If you would like to discuss anything, please e-mail (mswelementary1@gmail.com) us to schedule a time. In addition, if you would like an end of the year conference, please feel free to contact us as well.
All library books will need to be returned before the end of the year.
Thank You
We would like to thank all of you for your generous help this year. We appreciate your help with field trips, listening to readers, library, and special events such as Taste of the World. You make our job much easier!
Have a great summer!
Mrs. Lohrstorfer
Mr. Wissman
Mrs. Smith
Children’s House 2
March 2013 Newsletter
Spring is officially arriving, and we have all been looking forward to some warmer weather after all of those frigid days that we were stuck inside! Help your children to explore the new growth and new life that is emerging around them. Also, take time to talk with them about nutrition and how to keep our bodies growing, strong and healthy. Good food is one of the fundamental building blocks of health and success! They may come home and start some conversations about food, themselves!
Dates to Remember:
March 1: April Tuition Due
March 27: Taste of the World
March 29th: Spring Break Begins, No School
April 1-5: Spring Break, No School
April 1: Tuition Due
April 8: School Resumes
Please Help Us:
* By remembering to send a hat and gloves with your child each day
* By having your child carry their folder into the classroom on Wednesdays (after you have emptied it at home)
* By having your child put their returned Library book into our Library Basket on the shelf directly outside of our classroom door
* By helping your child find an educational Show and Tell to bring in. Each child may bring in one item a week, on any day.
* By volunteering for Dismissals (see the sign-up in the entry); by volunteering to listen to readers; and by taking home pencils to sharpen. Go to signupgenius.com for opportunities and let us know if/when you’d like to take home some pencils!
Curriculum
Nutrition Our Bodies
Continents – Asia/Australia Composer – Handel Artist – Rembrandt
Thank You
As always, we wish to thank the families that contribute snacks, help with drop-off and pick-up, listen to readers, cover the door and help us to prepare materials and more. Special thanks go to the following parents: Stephanie Imel for helping with Arrivals and Dismissals; Emily Rink, Jennifer Soudeidan, Nicole Spacey and Lisa Sloan for helping with Dismissal. If we have forgotten anyone, please know that we are always grateful, if sometimes forgetful! We are so lucky to have such generous families! Also, make sure that you mark down time that you have helped, and snack ($20=1 hour)that you have purchased, or you will not receive credit for time fulfilled. Thank you!
Life Skills/Grace and Courtesy
This month we are working (as always ) on listening. Please help your children to be better listeners by trying to integrate the following into your busy lives: get down to their eye level when you speak to them and ask them to repeat it back; get their attention from any distractions (TV, toys, games…) before you start speaking to them; make sure that you watch or check to see that they have followed-through on what you asked of them. When they do the right thing, you may reinforce them by saying something like the following: “Thank you for doing as I ask. You should be proud of yourself for being such a good listener!”
TASTE OF THE WORLD:
Each year the whole school hosts the popular event “Taste of the World”. On Wednesday, March 27th, beginning at 9:00 am, this event will again take place. Each of the Children’s House classrooms, Elementary 1, Elementary 2, and Middle School classrooms have chosen a continent to represent in food. All of the students get a chance to tour the world through food and parents are welcome to join us. Children’s House 2 will be representing Africa. We will need some parent volunteers to help cook the dishes and to help serve them. Please check SignupGenius.com for a sign-up sheet. All food dishes must follow school nutrition policy and full ingredient lists/recipes will be required accompaniment due to student food allergies throughout the school. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. This is a very fun event and I hope to see many of you enjoying it with your children!
Quote
“The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity.” Dr. Maria Montessori
Montessori Is For Life!
Kelly Bowe & Brandy Schroeder
