Dear Parents/Guardians,
We have been in school for over a month! It has gone better than we could have hoped. Parents are collaborating nicely if a child is not feeling well, children are getting to socialize and learn in person, and everything is running smoothly. Furthermore, we are on the verge of starting waiting lists for all programs except for the Adolescent Program! Our Virtual Back to School/Collaboration Night seems to have gone well too! We are going to take this opportunity to share with you some updates, clarifications, and some of what is happening moving forward through October.
Updates
From an operational perspective, it is very relieving and exciting to announce that we have officially gone from having our Temporary Certificate of Occupancy to our Final Certificate of Occupancy! The new fence was installed in the backyard a few weeks ago. A new camera system has been installed all around the property. We are working towards joining the New Jersey Clean Energy Program. UV lighting is expected to be installed in the HVAC System over the next couple of weeks. A GaGa pit was recently installed. The playground set has been delayed and the company now tells us it should be installed before the end of October. Some additional outdoor play equipment is expected to be added over the next two months. Additionally, we are working on getting half of the Greenhouse operational and safe for our use. We have approval from the township to apply to have donkeys, goats, and chickens on the property! We will assess and evaluate before making final decisions for animals. There is more in the works and we are excited to continue to move forward!
Lastly, I tried to do a bunch of editing with the collaboration night recordings. It did not work out, so I will have the recording available to you in their raw format on Monday.
Clarifications
Everyone should now have access to the Back to School page on our website. There you will find a lot of helpful information such as the Parent Handbook, B6T transportation forms for children 5 years old and older that also live more than two miles away, pizza forms, change of information forms, and things of that nature. We are updating the classroom wish lists. If you are anxious to choose something please check with Mr. Matt or your teacher first, until it is announced that it has been updated.
Another place to get collaborative information from community parents/guardians is from our MSOE Parent Closed Facebook Group. Just do a search in Facebook for MSOE Parent Group, apply and you will be accepted.
Pick up for Toddler and Primary is between 3:00 and 3:15 pm. Elementary Pick up is between 3:30 and 3:45 pm. Adolescents can be picked up at any time between 3:00 and 3:45 pm. Some Elementary parents have been showing up earlier, and we have been releasing children with siblings in other programs. Our goal is to start walking the other elementary children out closer to 3:30 pm moving forward. We started staggering pick up this year because of COVID, and as we have more new children joining through January, this seems to be the best method to accommodate growth. We will continue to assess the effectiveness and alter as needed.
Conclusion
We are all very pleased with how the start of the school year is going and we hope you are too! Please read through the newsletter in its entirety. It Is important to us for you to see what the entire school is up to and not get stuck in communications only about your child’s program. It is hard with our busy schedules, but the more we educate ourselves and the more we are aware of MSOE as a whole, the more we will benefit together as we collaborate for the success and fulfillment of your child!
Sincerely,
Matthew Simberg
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Dear Parents,
Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year at MSOE! I hope that you all had a fun filled summer with your children making many special memories!
Ms. Xiomara and I are so very happy to be back in the classroom this year and look forward to working with your children and watching them blossom and grow throughout the school year. Thank you for entrusting us with your little ones!
I assure you we are doing due diligence in the Toddler program to keep your children safe and happy.
Our year has gotten off to a fantastic start! We have a wonderful little group of sweet and happy toddlers who are eager to learn, explore and participate in their new environment. The transition into our Classroom Environment has been a smooth one for this group.
I would like to welcome all of our new families to our Toddler Classroom, as well as our returning families. I look forward to getting to know our new parents, and welcome our returning families who have 2nd year toddlers. I appreciate your support last year, especially during Distance Learning, as it was quite a unique experience for us all.
I am looking forward to working together with all of you as a team to help your child in his/her emotional, social and academic development.
I hope that you are enjoying seeing the pictures via Transparent Classroom. It helps you to get a little glimpse into your child’s world while he/she is here at school.
Throughout the year we will be focusing on independence. The toddlers are learning to take care of themselves by putting their own shoes on and off, hanging up their backpacks and putting their lunch boxes and water bottles away. The toddlers may need a little assistance, so please encourage them to do these things for themselves at home. Your child will be so proud that they have done this all by themselves, that you will surely hear them say, “I did it!”
September's Curriculum was centered around the change of the seasons, from Summer to Fall, Back to School and Farm Animals. The color of the month was red, so the toddlers enjoyed painting with red, as well as making red collages using glue and all types of red items. During our Circle, we have been singing lots of songs that the children know, as well as some new ones. We have started to count from 1-10 in Spanish, we have been learning about our State of New Jersey, as well as learning a song about the Continents. In Science, we learned about ocean animals and other creatures that live on and near the ocean. We have been practicing Yoga breathing everyday, so please ask your child to show you how to do this, as they really enjoy this time of calmness and relaxation!
Just a reminder that we have pizza available for purchase every Wednesday.
Please feel free to contact me at anytime, should you have any questions or concerns about your child, my door is always open. You can reach me via the school phone or e-mail me at [email protected].
I’m looking forward to a great year ahead with your little ones!
Best Regards,
Ms. Chris
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Dear Families,
I can hardly believe September is ending already. The past 4 weeks since the beginning of school, have flown by. Ms. Mary, Ms. Stephanie and I, have enjoyed getting to know your children. We are thankful to be able to work in-person with this amazing group of Primary children. Your support and attention to protocol has been appreciated.
Throughout the month of September, the Primary classroom has been working hard to become a peaceful and joyful community. Our class is humming with activity. The children have been busy learning how to work and play together. Respect and courtesy in our Montessori classroom are the foundation for everything we do, and each child has been learning the following important skills:
- how to put their work away where they found it
- how to tidy up after themselves
- the importance of helping a friend in need
- the importance of respecting the materials, the teachers and each other
- how to tuck in their chair when they leave the table
- how to walk in the classroom
- how to be self-directed and find their own ‘work’
- how to be independent
Skills such as negotiating, team building, creativity, communication, conflict management, leadership, manners, sociability, etc. are learned through the lessons of Grace and Courtesy. As soon as a child enters MSOE, the lessons of grace and courtesy are presented and woven into every aspect of the classroom. The lessons set the standard for behavior, problem solving, collaboration and respect. How to walk around a work mat; how to make way for others; how to excuse yourself when stepping in front of another; how to sit at a table; how to blow your nose; how to walk in a line; how to wait rather than interrupt. The list goes on and on.
Montessori Grace and Courtesy lessons introduce children to socially accepted customs and manners that in turn help them interact with others in a peaceful manner. Students learn to take responsibility for themselves, their classmates, and the environment. Through the lessons, children are given the vocabulary, the actions and the steps required for them to treat others with courtesy and dignity and above all, to act in a socially acceptable manner. As they find activities that meet their inner need for self-development and as their space and autonomy are respected, a sense of calm and purposefulness settles over the classroom.
A few books we have read:
· The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
· Look and be Grateful by Tomie DePaola
· The Seashell Song by Susie Jenkin-Pearce and Claire Fletcher
A few songs we have sung:
· Down by the Bay
· Five Green and Speckled Frogs
· Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me
A few things we look forward to:
· Pumpkins in the classroom for scrubbing, golf tee hammering and painting
· Flint corn for kernel picking
· Baking projects
In just one month of school, wonderful friendships are being formed, the classroom is becoming a home and meaningful activity is buzzing through little hands. Ms. Mary, Ms. Stephanie and I are looking forward to spending October with your child. October conferences for all new parents and parents are coming up – scheduling to be announced soon.
Warm Regards,
Ms. Michele
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Dear Parents/Guardians,
I want to start by communicating that I am so grateful to be able to offer in person learning for your children and that you have chosen to take this journey with me and each other at this time.
It has been great getting to know your children this month and seeing them get to interact with old and new friends. A few new children have joined us since we started and we will be getting another new student who has previous Montessori Experience. This will put us at 25 elementary students. There is a good chance that we will be welcoming a new family from Spain that will be with us just for most of the year. Their nine year old daughter currently attends an AMI Bilingual Montessori School over there. We will most likely not be accepting anymore students into the elementary program.
Your children have been adapting well as we know children tend to do. Since we have so many new children and it has been so long since returning children have been in school, I have limited the activities available to them. There is a focus on so many important things in the beginning of the year that we want to make sure we get everything right to ensure solid group cohesion, such as orientation to the new COVID Procedures, time to adjust via socializing, and following all the necessary classroom protocols that they are not used to having to do everyday at home. These things include, picking up after themselves, waiting their turn. helping peers around them, grace and courtesy for themselves and others, and becoming more independent, as well as, utilizing creativity more often.
There is a fair amount of catching up and reviewing to do, but the most important things are being taken care of first. Those most important things are reconnecting to themselves in the classroom, peers, and myself as their Guide. You have definitely seen them doing academic work too in Transparent Classroom.
Speaking of work, we have done a few of the great lessons. The Story of the Alphabet, Story of Mathematics, Story of how Geometry got it's name, and Coming of Life. The work we have been focusing on is Geometry, telling time, awareness of time, parts of speech, cursive, word families, multiples, math facts, positive and negative numbers, factoring, foiling, playing the tone bars, and caring for the environment. We have also learned about appreciation, the way the world works (in pieces), and how to communicate better.
It has been a fun filled and hard working month that seems to have past by in the blink of an eye. There are a few things I'd like to ask you to work on at home and you can use school as a reason for persuasion if it helps. Please talk to your children about home being a community like at school. We have to work together and help each other. Choose tasks with your child to do around the house. Show them your appreciation and tell them how it helps you or who ever else. Please ensure they are participating in preparing lunch for the next day. Lastly, please consider minimizing screen time little by little. I can imagine that screen time had increased significantly and stopping it now will cause stress. However, you are significantly helping your child, yourself, and me by participating in this request. If they are in front of a screen for more than two hours a day, especially during the school day, they will benefit greatly by cutting it down. I can not tell you how much improvement I have seen in children, especially with concentration when their screen time at home is cut to this number and even more so if not during the week at all.
I am very excited for us all moving forward through October together. We have a lot going on and a lot to continue to accomplish. It is possible that horseback riding will even start for your children this coming Tuesday and Thursday. At first it will only be five at a time.
New Parents, I will see you in a few weeks. Returning parents, feel free to touch base if you need to. Thank you again for entrusting me with your children's education and I look forward to continuing the journey with you through the year and beyond.
Sincerely,
Mr. Matt
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Dear Parents,
Welcome to the Evergreen Team Live 2020/21 school year! I cannot express how amazingly great it is to be teaching your adolescent face to face during this crazy time of COVID. Everything we do, as long as we are out of the house and together, is a whole lot better than being stuck in front of a computer all day. And we are all the better for it, believe me!
We started the year out not on a camping Odyssey Adventure, but with day trips. We spent two days in the woods learning survival skills with Mountain Man, an afternoon being challenged and building our team on a low ropes course, a day hiking in local woods and meeting experts on the region, a day fishing and exploring the river bank, then visiting a new farm and finally, we spent a day organizing ourselves and developing our Code of Civility and chores list.
We jumped right into academics with the introduction of a term long project in English Language Arts called a ME BOOK. This book will be where the students put all of their final writing assignments this year. We also started independent reading of Harriet Becher Stowe’s famous “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which supports the direction we are heading in American History, the Civil War. All of these topics are in line with current affairs and Social Studies in general.
And of course, we now have the Blue Sky Farm hosting us as our new farm extension. The Parvey Family has accepted us with open arms and open minds as they have allowed us to help them develop their long term plan for the farm. So far we have spent 3 weeks cleaning out the beautiful horse stable there, picked up a lot of downed branches from summer storms and had a lot of fun fishing and enjoying the pastoral scene.
Once again, I am extremely grateful to be able to guide your adolescent in person this term. We have so much to be thankful for and to look forward to doing this year.
Sincerely,
Mr. Frank
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Montessori Seeds of Education| www.montessoriseeds.org |(609) 832-2546 |
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