Center for Food Action in Englewood (CFA) asked us to pass on their thanks for the generous donations made by
Montes
sori House families during last week’s food drive.
Last Friday our kindergarteners helped to deliver more than 10 bags of food in Englewood. The children, parents and teachers all found it an enlightening and fulfilling effort.
Thanks again for all your donations and help!
(P.S. You can see more photos in the Parents Section)
The Nutrition Committee would like to take advantage of our diverse family here at Montessori House.
If you have any health, interesting snack ideas for the children, we would love to hear them. In particular, we want to explore how we can offer a more ethnically diverse snack program. Or, perhaps we can use your culinary talent or great food craft skill with all our children: would you like to sign up for a food presentation in the classroom?!?
Join the Nutrition Committee for a meeting with other Montessori House parents to share fun healthy snack ideas for our kids! We meet this Friday November 20th, 2009, at 9 a.m. in The Montessori House school office.
This week children will receive book order forms from Scholastic.
Order forms submitted by Monday November 23 should arrive at school before the Winter Break (December 18 is our last day). Order forms received later will arrive later (after the break).
Be sure to make your check payable to Scholastic Books and put your name at the top of each order form.
The Center for Food Action
(CFA) in Englewood is a very effective antidote to some of the pains of poverty in our area. In order to provide sufficient food to families in need during this holiday season, the CFA is reaching out to local communities and asking for food donations.
The Montessori House will collect food for the food drive from Monday, November 16, through Friday, November 20, 2009. We encourage all Montessori House families to participate in this worthy effort by donating any one of the food items from the list below. We will deliver the food to the CFA Friday afternoon on November 20. Please consider having your child assist you in your choice of food at the supermarket so s/he can better understand the purpose of this food drive. A seed of giving, sewn in the heart of a child, cultivates a garden of kindness for years to come.
We thank you in advance for your donation. – – The Montessori House
(Follow these links to see the list of most-needed food items for Thanksgiving and overall)
Many parents have already made appointments for Parent-Teacher conferences next week on Thursday and Friday, November 12th and 13th. We schedule 20-minute conferences between 8:00 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. If you would like to schedule a discussion with your child’s teacher(s) please stop by the office during the school day or call 201-816-8343.
Reminder: No classes on the conference days — Thursday November 12, and Friday November 13.
Also, we still have spots open for Parent Visitation on Wednesday (Nov. 4), Friday (Nov. 6) and Monday (Nov. 9) if you would like to spend 30 minutes in the classroom participating in school with the children (note Stepping Stones does not participate in Parent Visitation). We have two 30-minute slots each morning and two 30-minute slots each afternoon on the days noted; however, we do limit the number of parents visiting to three at a time in each classroom. If you’re interested in scheduling a classroom visit please stop by the office or call 201-816-8343.
My daughter Olivia and I certainly enjoyed last Sunday’s Fall Festival. Great weather, great food, great fun! Of course, we owe it all to the great parents who prepared the festival, and to all the families that participated. Thank you.
Finally a great big THANK YOU to the Festival Committee along with everyone else. They want me to remind you to start thinking about how you want to participate in the Spring Festival (last year it was an International Festival, and it was splendid!).
Thanks again to everyone!
Maria
P.S. To see more pictures of Fall Festival, go to Parents, log in, and then click Photo Gallery in the left navigation bar. You’ll find several albums, including one of Fall Festival.
The Nutrition Committee would like to take advantage of our diverse family here at The Montessori House.
If you have any healthy, ethnic snack ideas for the children, we would love to hear about them. With your help, we can provide our children with an even more interesting and varied snack program.
OR
Perhaps you have a special culinary talent or a great food craft for the children They love it when parents present in class! In the past parents have presented:
Other ideas include Cannoli for Kids, Smoothies…You get the idea!!
If you have ideas and want to participate, get in touch with Elia F. [Use your ID and password to log on to the Parent section, go to Parent Contact and search for Elia (be sure to search in Name, not Child’s Name). There you’ll find her e-mail and her phone number.)
Next week we invite parents of Pre-Primary and Kindergarten students into the classroom to observe and work with their children: 3 parents at a time in each classroom for visits of 30 minutes.
Parent Visitation is scheduled for next week Monday – Wednesday (Nov. 2-4), plus Friday (Nov. 6) and the following Monday (Nov. 9). Two 30-minute sessions are scheduled in the morning (at 9:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.) and two in the afternoon (at 1:00 p.m and 1:30 p.m.). No Parent Visitation is scheduled for Thursday Nov. 5: on that day we host Lenape Lifeways for a cultural presentation.
We have an appointment book at the front door for you to schedule your Parent Visitation; or you may call the office at 201-816-8343 to schedule your visit. When you do so, you may want to also schedule your teacher conference for Thursday Nov. 12 or Friday Nov. 13 — reminder, no classes are scheduled for either day.
To ensure everyone an opportunity to visit, please schedule only one parent visit per child during Parent Visitation Week. We will have a second Parent Visitation in Spring.
Halloween. In our haste to introduce children to all the exciting holiday celebrations, we sometimes overlook the occasional side effects. Halloween, with its emphasis on horror, monsters, or super-hero fantasies, falls into this category. Very young children can be unduly scared by the goings-on of this holiday. So here at The Montessori House we make an effort to keep the atmosphere at school as undisturbed as possible, and we appreciate your cooperation in helping us do so by not sending in treats and not dressing your child in a costume for school.
Tulip Planting, Fall Festival, Hay Days. Instead, to celebrate the season, on Friday, October 23 the children scooped pumpkins with the Parent Garden Committee; at last Sunday’s school Fall Festival they planted tulip bulbs in the playground garden boxes; and this Friday, October 30th the children will participate in a “Hay Days Adventure” on the playground.
We have made revisions to the After Care program at The Montessori House based on our first 4 weeks of operation. We’ve recognized that parents need a better-tailored option for emergency care, especially when running late for pick-up. These changes accomplish that goal while still freeing our teachers immediately after the scheduled pick-up time to attend to their recordkeeping and learning environment tasks.
* First, we will no longer levy a $10 penalty fee for the 1st hour of unscheduled/emergency After Care or for After Care use without pre-payment; and we will credit this penalty amount to all families who incurred it during the initial month of the program.
* Second, for future unscheduled/emergency care, we will charge $5 for children picked up by 3:20 p.m. For children picked up after 3:20 p.m., we will charge $15 for care until from 3:00 pm. to 4:00 p.m., and the normal After Care rates after 4 p.m.
You may pick up a revised After Care description at school.