This week we celebrate the 150th birthday of Maria Montessori. While interested in many different issues, Montessori was especially passionate about the cause of the young child in Victorian England. She became familiar with the works of several French scientists and their work with children, translated their works and borrowed many of the materials, modifying them for use with children. Her studies in engineering, biology, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, anthropology, and philosophy presented her the opportunity to work with the poor children of the San Lorenzo district in Rome, Italy. Putting her years of research and study to good use, Montessori began teaching skills these children would use for everyday living and what would become the four areas of learning in the classroom: 1) Practical Life; 2) Sensorial area; 3) Mathematics; 4) Language.
We here at St. Catherine’s are fortunate to be the stewards of the life and work of Maria Montessori. She was energetic, determined, and passionate about her work, and was filled with a desire to learn about young children. To read more about the life and work of Maria Montessori, please follow this link: https://montessori150.org.
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Monday, September 7
Tuesday, September 8
- First day of in-person learning for Elementary - High School students
Friday, September 11
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PSO Friends of the Atrium - Intro to Christian Meditation, 9:00 - 10:00 AM (Zoom)
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PSO Book Club Meeting, 12:00 PM (Zoom)
Tuesday, September 15
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Welcome Back Meeting, 6:00 PM (Zoom)
Wednesday, September 16
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Mass, 6:00 PM (Facebook Live)
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Do you operate your own business? Then consider listing your business in the free online SCM business directory.
We are creating an online directory that will allow SCM families to support the many local businesses that have been created by our community.
This directory can be accessed through FACTS Family Portal beginning September 10.
This directory is a service to the school community for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as an endorsement of these businesses or services by St. Catherine's Montessori.
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Subscribe to the SCM Web Calendar |
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Stay up-to-date by subscribing to the SCM web calendar. This calendar can be downloaded on your smartphone, tablet or computer.
The web calendar is found on the homepage of the school website – www.stcathmont.org – and also linked from the site’s Parents tab. The “Subscribe” link is found on the top right-hand corner of the page.
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Request for Community Photos |
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As the old saying goes "a picture is worth a 1000 words". Photos are one of the best ways to communicate joy, excitement, and happiness. They keep us connected even though we may be apart for a short while.
Last school year we requested you send us photos of your children while they were learning remotely, enjoying family time, exploring the outdoors, learning a new skill, or baking bread. We would like to carry on that tradition into this school year.
Please send us photos to [email protected] and we could include them in online photo galleries, the website, or yearbook.
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Congratulations to our First Communicants |
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Sister Theresa Josephine shared with us the following current and former SCM students that have celebrated their First Communion. Each child has received a beautiful wooden prayer table to commemorate this special occasion. |
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INSIDE & OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM |
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This week starts the 4th week of the 2020- 2021 school year. Check out this album to see what everyone has been doing this week. As always, we would love to have your photos to share. Please continue sending them to [email protected].
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Tip of the Week: Taking Care of You
Message from Sandra Espinosa, SCM Counselor and Health Care Coordinator
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“Taking care of yourself is the most powerful way to begin to take care of others.” - Bryan McGill
Take a few moments in the day to pay attention and notice the things that feel nutritious to your mind and body and carve out time to do them more often. As parents, we sometimes lose sight of the simple but wise adage that we can’t give from an empty cup”.
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PARENT SERVICE ORGANIZATION (PSO) |
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Message from the Friends of the Atrium - 6 Week Intro to Meditation Class Starts Friday, September 11 at 9:00 AM |
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“In meditation you are learning to be. Just to be, as you are.” - Father John Main, OSB
Join us for a six week intro to meditation class. This weekly class will meet starting Friday, September 11. This free course teaches you how to meditate and helps you to establish it as a regular practice. It also tells the story of how meditation was rediscovered within the Christian tradition as a form of contemplative prayer and how it is practiced by many Christians around the world.
The class material is provided by the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) . No experience required. We will spend half of the class listening to materials and learning about the origins and process. Then we will meditate together: 10 minutes in the first 3 classes and 20 minutes in the second three.
Click here to sign up for the class. Zoom link is forthcoming.
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Message from the PSO Book Club - Join us September 11 at Noon |
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Our first book club selection may bring comfort to those who have been anxious about “homeschooling” your children during COVID19. Jim Trelease, a former educator and expert in children’s literacy, argues in “The Read-Aloud Handbook” that reading to our children of all ages is the single most important thing we can do to promote development in all academic domains and deepen our relationship with them in the process.
Please join us to discuss this inspiring book with your fellow SCM parents during our PSO Book Club Zoom call on September 11 at noon. Zoom link forthcoming.
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Jumping Right Back in to a New School Year! |
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Welcome back to the High School Corner!
We may be living in uncertain times, but in the High School we are certainly making the most of things. Last semester we did our best to adapt to a virtual setting with virtually no time to adapt. Now, with a summer full of preparation on the part of our guides, the High School operates like a well-oiled machine even when we’re all connecting through our machines!
Our first day was a fun one. We re-familiarized ourselves with Zoom as we introduced our incoming sophomores to the High School through some fun ice-breaking and competitive games. Our second day was set aside to introduce us to the new schedule and procedures. While a virtual setting is rarely, if ever, the ideal situation for hands-on learning, the guides certainly made use of their time this summer devising ways to keep the curriculum as engaging as possible. We ended our first week of school with a Brownie Night, an old tradition from the AC that is essentially a talent show with the crucial component of brownies added for maximum yumminess. Everyone was provided brownie mix in the bags of school supplies given to us by the guides at the beginning of the semester.
Among other goodies included was an owl pellet for us to dissect in science class. This is a fantastic example of engaging hands-on learning over Zoom. Another great example is creating our very own basic telescope from lenses and large cardboard tubes. Some people even went the extra-mile and decorated their telescopes!
As we discuss various comedies in Seminar, we are honing our comedic skills in Creative Expressions, learning about the ins and outs of comedy through fun games that we’ve adapted for Zoom. We will be doing a comedic performance at some point this year. If you would like to see the results of our owl pellet dissections, have a look at these pictures,
Thank you for reading; be sure to check back next week for more content!
Jacob, Isabella, Julia, and Sarah
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If you would like to submit something for the Globe, please send it for approval to [email protected] by Monday at noon.
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