“The first duty of an education is to stir up life, but leave it free to develop”

                                                                                                   Maria Montessori

We are privileged to be able to see the magic of a child development unfold under our very eyes. The past ten months showed us once again how time has different speeds for different ages, and it also has its own rules for each child. With the summer vacation closer in sight, we must get ready to bid fare well to some of our students, prepare to welcome back the returning ones, and open our arms and minds to the next generation.

May was the last straight line of our year’s curriculum, and we packed as much as we could fit in, all seasoned with songs, dances, rhymes, stories and games.

Among the highlights:

• Australia and some of the marsupials.
• Arctic regions, the differences and similarities (Why a polar bear can never eat a penguin).
• Learn how penguins take care of their young. (We tried walking with a stone egg on the feet – not an easy task!)
• Digging the soil, watering the plants, learning about friends and pests of the garden.
• We brought in dandelions, violets, tulips, lily of the valley, forget me not, and poplar.
• “Colors of Spring” – a paper in which we recorded the  natural colors we found around the play ground.

We looked closer at butterflies and moths, talked about the need to keep away ants, mosquitoes and ticks.

All these, along with the regular Montessori materials, kept the children on their toes and turned us in their shadows. More than ever we sense the children feel empowered, self confident, and able to direct themselves. They can’t wait to take on new challenges, to prove what they can do and how good they can be.

In June we will observe the solar and eolian energy through simple experiments, and will talk about growing healthy in a healthy environment, human body and nutrition. A new round of measurements will show how much each child grew since September. We will ask the children to draw pictures and talk about what they want to be when they will grow up. You may want to keep those papers for their future career choices!

I am looking forward to having a good time for the remaining of the school year, and enjoying every minute with your children, since I know I am going to miss them over the summer.

Kindergartners and Junior  Kindergartners

We started learning the value of money and the equivalencies among the coins (math, once again). The children show great interest for the various lessons, regarding this skill as a new benchmark in growing older. We set up a shopping exercise that has become a favorite activity and it is practiced well as long as there is a trusty shopkeeper (that means a child who knows the value of the coins well enough). A collection with recently minted quarters was a good opportunity to revisit the US map and the symbols for each state.

To give the KG graduating students a sense of closure we asked them to try an optional homework project. It is a review of some our topics throughout the past year. The children can make a report on an animal of their choice. I am attaching a three-page format (open/download the pdf file below) for you to print and give them to fill out, or follow the instructions as a guide and expand their work as they wish. Just help them with a trip to the library and/or provide them with books/magazines to look at. We encourage them to share their work in the classroom when they are ready.

kindergarten-homework.pdf

Another task will be to memorize a stanza from a poem (check the Friday folder for the printed poem and the selected part for each child) for our graduation celebration.

Graduation ceremony is scheduled for Monday, June 13^th, at 3:15 p.m. for the Kindergartners and their families.

Dorina Nimigean

        Hot potato, hot potato…                          Miss Merrimack                 I love you forever

                                                                           Tea time…

Hi Everybody,

It hardly seems possible but here we are in the last 2 months of school!  Ms. Dorina’s class is deep in preparation for Mother’s Day Tea and the Elementary are chugging along with exciting new areas of studies including “The Work of Water” and “Light”. Elementary are opting for a PARENT NIGHT in June where you will be invited for an evening of work with your child.

Many “thank yous” to issue – to all our drivers to Dance, to Ms Becki for managing our Box Tops program and to all of you for sending in your Box Tops. You may not be aware, but the school has received $571.00 just for submitting the clippings this last quarter. $500.00 of our award was secured by Ms Becki for following the program so closely. This is HUGE for us.

More thanks for all our returning students. The school is full and we only have a few remaining openings for afternoon Children’s House class. We will not be offering summer school this year. We are trying to have it in place for summer of 2012.

We thank the many families that have been kind enough to donate Clorox wipes and paper towels and Kleenex etc: We can never have enough!

The last tuition payment of the year is due by the 10^th, as always. If it is late please include late fee of $15.00.

The black flies are out in good number. If you would like to have bug spray here for your child please send it in to school in a plastic bag with your child’s name written on it with a Sharpie. We do not want to mix the products as some children and parents are particular that their child receive or NOT receive certain ingredients. Best practice is to apply it before drop-off and we will re-apply before recess.

The same protocol applies for sun screen.

This seems a good time to inventory and send in a complete seasonal change of clothing for your child as well and as the days become warmer make sure they have their water bottles with them once again.

Reminder: Elementary Info Night is this month on Thursday the 26^th. at 6pm. We especially encourage all in-coming 1^st graders to have one or both parents attend. Current Elementary Class Parents are most welcomed to share your experiences with our new class members’ families.

The school calendar for the 2011 – 2012 school years is now ready. It will be posted on-line too. Please note the start dates and the vacation days as they depart from Amherst School schedule. We hope you will be able to work your family time off so that your child does not miss school due to vacations.

Elementary Conferences are open for Fridays. I have had 4 conferences so far and look forward to meeting with more of you over the coming weeks. Please call or e-mail to schedule.

Last minute reminders: Monday is Children’s House Mother’s Day Tea. If you are not attending remember your child cannot come to school that day. It is a “Special Event” and the teachers are occupied with the running of the day and not able to be with any individual children. As usual, siblings are not able to join us this day either. Thank you.

We look forward to the last day of school which is our traditional picnic; Friday, June 24^th. We open and welcome families and ALL siblings (providing it is an “outside day”).  It is always a fun and relaxing morning. We are inviting our newly enrolled families to come and meet the wonderful students and parents we have at Country Village Montessori School. More info to come in the very near future!

At the end of this month we will once again have the class studying Human Growth and Development of Susan Carr’s from Souhegan High School come for a visit. This is always pre-empted by my visit to her class one morning to lecture about Montessori Education. They LOVE it! As a result of this, a class member from several years past who is married with a child is due to take training for an A.M.S. Certification this summer. Sadly, she lives in Massachusetts and can’t be with us! 

We have been hosting many visitors interested in Country Village for their children. They always remark what a beautiful and inviting place it. The atmosphere of joy and self-determination is evident. We are blessed to have a continued robust enrollment as we move into our 10^th milestone year and have you to thank. 

Enjoy your spring!