Children at The Montessori House spent time this week learning a little bit about Ireland

• They heard stories from Irish history and the story of St. Patrick.
• Our Director, Ms. Maria, dressed as a leprechaun and led the children to her pot of gold!
• The Nutrition Committee helped the children make their own (green) St. Patrick Day smoothies  with spinach!.  (Recipe below, please try this at home!)

Erin Go Bragh means, roughly, “Ireland Forever”.    Enjoy the holiday!

Green Smoothies

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ banana
• 1 teaspoon (rounded) sugar
• 1 leaf of spinach

Mix together  and blend in a blender, or in a cup with a handheld blender.
Use a clear glass so you can enjoy the beautiful green color!

The Nutrition Committee (NC) is very busy this year.  Not only with daily snack, but engaging the children in “cooking” their own food!

Most recently, at the end February, the NC held a workshop to make yogurt parfaits. Fun to assemble, pretty to look at, nutritious and delicious to eat, yogurt parfaits were a big hit.  Some of the children requested not only seconds, but thirds and fourths!

Here were the ingredients used:

• Organic yogurt (French Vanilla flavor)
• Granola clusters (cinnamon oat with flax seeds / vanilla blueberry with flax seeds)
• Fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)

Yogurt parfaits are an “anytime food”:  it can be eaten for breakfast, snack, dessert or anytime in between.  And the ingredients can be varied or adapted according to preference.   Yum!

In our recent e-mail to parents about our Valentine’s Day Card Exchange, we provided the following guidance:

If your child would like to participate in the card exchange, here’s what he/she should do:

• Bring one card for each child in his/her class(es).  Here’s how many you should send:
  • If your child is in Stepping Stones, please send in 10 cards.
  • If your child is in any other half-day program, please send 30 cards.
  • If your child is in any full-day program, please send 60 cards.
     
• Write — or have your child write — your child’s name where it says “From”, so the children know who gave them a card. 

Please do not address the cards and/or envelopes to any individual children; leave the “To” portion of the card blank.  In other words, the only name on the cards/envelopes should be your child’s name.

We’ve had a few inquiries about the gender mix of children’s classes, here’s what you should do:

• If your child is Kindergarten/First (full-day): 24 girls, 36 boys
• If your child is Pre-Primary Montessori plus Enrichment (full-day): 33 girls, 27 boys
• If your child is Kindergarten (half-day): 9 girls, 21 boys
• If your child is Pre-Primary Montessori morning only: 15 girls, 15 boys
• If your child is Pre-Primary Montessori afternoon only: 9 girls, 21 boys
• If your child is Stepping Stones: 3 girls, 7 boys

Although not part of the card exchange, if you also plan to bring cards for teachers (regular teachers and student teachers):

• Stepping Stones: 3 teacher cards
• All half-day students: 6 teacher cards
• All full-day students: 9 teacher cards

This does not include “specials” (art and Spanish). 

The Montessori House will be open on its normal schedule, Wednesday, January 16, 2013. 

Local conditions vary; parents, please exercise caution planning your time and route to school today.  Feel free to keep your children at home, arrive late, or pick up early,  if that is your best, safest course of action.

We can hardly comprehend the tragedy that occurred Friday at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, CT.  Our deepest sympathies to the families of the children and teachers who were murdered there.   We offer our prayers for the families, teachers, staff and neighbors of  Sandy Hook School. 

— Ms. Maria

An interesting interview on WNYC’s New Tech City with Dr. Ari Brown.

Americans will buy millions of smartphones, tablet computers and other digital tech this holiday season, and many of those gifts will be given to children.

Nineteen percent of kids between the ages of two and five know how to use a smartphone application, while just nine percent can tie his or her shoelaces, according to a 2010 study conducted as part of a year-long ‘Digital Diaries’ research project on the influence of technology on children by the internet security company AVG.

The AAP [American Academy of Pediatrics] suggested kids two years old and younger be completely screen-free and that older children should get no more than two hours of screen time a day [this includes “background” exposure].

Dr. Brown weighs in on the longterm effects of digital technology on childhood development and what parents should think about when deciding when their kids should get their own smartphones or Facebook accounts.

“Kids who have even one device — one electronic device [including TV] — in their room, much less two or three, are getting significantly less sleep a night,” Brown said.

At The Montessori House we’re big proponents of more sleep for children … and we’re not too enthusiastic about digital media (TV, computer, video games, smartphones, etc.) for children.  The Montessori classroom emphasizes interaction with the “real” world, not a digital facsimile; three dimensions of space, dimensions of time, sound, smell, feel, and taste, not to mention the psychological “dimensions” from interacting with family, friends, other people, pets, animals and the world inside and outside.  Nothing on a screen can compare or provide children the physical, intellectual, emotional and developmental richness!

In any event, for the most part we keep digital media out of our classrooms; children in our community receive plenty of media exposure outside school.

An interesting article in the WSJ “Playing It Too Safe?”   If playgrounds are boring, kids don’t want to play or don’t have sufficient challenge — physically or mentally

Some child-development experts and parents say decades of dumbed-down playgrounds, fueled by fears of litigation, concerns about injury and worrywart helicopter parents, have led to cookie-cutter equipment that offers little thrill. The result, they say, is that children are less compelled to play outside, potentially stunting emotional and physical development and exacerbating a nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity.

“We don’t give our children enough roaming space to help them test their limits or to help them become confident in their physical skills,” says Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, a professor in the department of psychology at Philadelphia’s Temple University. “Sometimes when we protect people too much they never learn to take healthy risks.”

“It’s important that play environments are as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible,” Dr. Sandseter says, adding that broken and fractured arms and legs shouldn’t be considered serious injuries.

The article mentions several “provocative playgrounds” in the U.S. including:

• Hoboken’s Pier C, with an 18-foot slide
• Boston’s Esplanade Playspace with a 65-foot zipline.
• Memphis, TN’s Shelby Farm Park with the Queens Swing
• Maplewood MN’s Applewood Park with the Mobius Climber
• Saratoga Spring UT’s Neptune Park with a 30-foot high climbing pyramid
• Atlanta’s Chastain Park with a group swing and 8-foot wide slide

If your family is interested in exploring a scholarship (a.k.a. financial aid) at The Montessori House for 2013-14, now is the time to start the process. 

First, you apply to The Montessori House: please have a look at our Timing and Tips for 2013-14 Admissions.  If you haven’t visited the school, we suggest you call us to arrange a tour for yourself (we recommend you come for a tour during the school day without your child, if possible).  Please call us at 201-816-8343 to arrange a time.  

Starting now you can prepare your scholarship application on-line through School and Student Services by NAIS.  Your application needs to be completed by early February, 2013 (for September, 2013).  

NOTE: THE SCHOLARSHIP PROCESS FOR 2013-14 HAS CLOSED.

Scholarships are provided by The Friends of Montessori Foundation, and they consider your financial need as well as the depth of their own resources when making scholarship decisions.  

Generally, The Montessori House will offer your child a place for enrollment in January, and ask you to commit with a $750 Reservation Deposit.  You’ll hear about your scholarship (if any), at the same time we ask you sign an Enrollment Agreement and complete your tuition deposit (about mid-March).  Note, the award may be subject to verification of information you submitted; for example receipt and evaluation of 2012 tax returns that you may not have sent to SSS/NAIS before March.  

If Friends of Montessori Foundation cannot meet your calculated need, then you may choose to withdraw and receive a refund of your Reservation Deposit.  However, if the Foundation meets your need (or determines that you have not demonstrated a financial need), then you would not be eligible for a refund if you decide to withdraw.  

Of course, before deciding to reserve a place for your child, you can wait to hear from the Foundation regarding your scholarship.  But, without a reservation in place, by mid-March we may have filled up your preferred sessions for 2013-14.

Feel free to contact us by e-mail (admissions@themontessorihouse.com) or by phone (201-816-8343) with questions.

The Montessori House has regained electric power and plans to reopen on its regular schedule Monday, November 5th.  Right now we can confirm that we will have After Care, but we’re still waiting to hear if Ms. Lisa is available for Suzuki Violin after school.  

In case repairs elsewhere cause a further loss of electric power (which we consider possible but unlikely), we suggest parents check our phone message after 7 a.m. on Monday to confirm that school is open (201-816-8343).

As of Saturday morning, we again have power at The Montessori House.  We’re inspecting our facility and checking with teachers, and hope to re-open Monday on our normal schedule. 

By Sunday afternoon, parents will receive a special communication on our final plans for Monday, November 5th.