NEWSLETTER

2014/2015

We strive to inspire a love of learning.

MEADOW MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY & PRESCHOOL 11391 Dartford Street, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 1V6

(604) 465-3492 www.meadowmontessori.ca

School Community Update

As educators and leaders of our school community we spend so much time with our

students that we can often lose touch of what it is like to be that first time parent on

the other side of the doors. Some of us are parents, but our children have grown

leading much different lives than that of the community school environment. This

point was brought to my attention recently at the AGM. Even though the beginning

of the school year is just a wink behind us we forget how hard it is to be that parent

wondering “what is going on in there!” Sometimes our children are not the greatest

at letting us know what’s happening in the classroom; except for the odd “Bobby

cried in the corner the whole time” or “Lana had an accident” comment. These

statements can sometimes lead parents to worrisome thoughts but rest assured our

teachers would contact you should something arise. This brings me to this little

poem that always makes me smile:

What Did You Do Today?

When children come home at the end of the day,

The question they're asked as they scurry to play,

Is, "Tell me, what did you do in school today?"

"NOTHING! I did NOTHING in school today!"

Maybe nothing means that I played with blocks,

Tied my own shoes, or found precious rocks.

Maybe our monarchs hatched today,

Or maybe I learned a new game to play.

Maybe today was the very first time

My scissors followed a really straight line!

Maybe I sang our song from beginning to end,

Or maybe I made a brand new friend!

When you're only five, and your heart has wings,

NOTHING can mean so many things!

~Source Unknown

Our parents are very gracious and respect the teachers’ time waiting so patiently for

that first interview which is coming in the first week of December. Make sure you go

to your meeting without your children so you can talk freely about them.

Remember, if you do have concerns – we have an open door policy – please let us

know – you can make an appointment to see the teachers or even have a viewing of

the classroom in action to enjoy a little of their day. It will make you wish you were

back in school again, but this time around, Montessori style!

~Ms. Kristine

NOVEMBER EVENTS &

REMINDERS

REMEMBRANCE DAY - No School

Tuesday, November 11th

GRADES 4, 5 & 6 VSO Field Trip

“VSO’s Greatest Hits”

Wednesday, November 19th

Details to follow

“Silent Journey” of Practical Life

Parent Education Night

Thursday, November 27th

Information will be sent home next

week, save the date now!

ELEMENTARY REPORT CARDS

NOVEMBER 28th

DECEMBER EVENTS &

REMINDERS

PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS

PRESCHOOL & ELEMENTARY

NO SCHOOL

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5th

WINTER CONCERT

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19th

Details to follow

NEWSLETTER

2014/2015

We strive to inspire a love of learning.

MEADOW MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY & PRESCHOOL 11391 Dartford Street, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 1V6

(604) 465-3492 www.meadowmontessori.ca

Christmas is coming!

Order NOW to ensure you have your gifts!

BOTH November and December flyers are coming home!

PLEASE, cheques only, made payable to:

Scholastic Canada Ltd.

Make sure you write your name on each order sheet please.

The next order is due: Friday, November 14th

The Virtue for November is COURTESY

What is Courtesy? Courtesy is being polite and having good manners. It is a gracious way of speaking

and acting which gives others a sense of being valued and respected. It is greeting others with respect.

“Please”, “Thank you”, “Excuse me”, “Hello”, “Goodbye”, “You’re welcome” are not just words. They are

courteous expressions that show people you respect them and care about them.

Why Practice It? When a person doesn’t practice courtesy, people feel insulted and disrespected. They

think this person is rude and ignorant, not caring about anyone or anything. Practicing courtesy gives

people a sense that they are valued. Courtesy is like a magnet. It makes you attractive to others.

How Do You Practice It? Courtesy is remembering your manners. Speak politely. Wait your turn.

Instead of interrupting someone say “Excuse me,” and then wait patiently for them to give you their

attention. Greet people pleasantly. When you are courteous, you make requests instead of demands.

Bring courtesy home. Your family needs it most of all. Courtesy helps life to go smoothly.

(Reference: The Virtues Project Educators Guide, Linda K. Popov)

“Life is not so short but that there is always time for courtesy.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.” ~Francis Bacon

NEWSLETTER

2014/2015

We strive to inspire a love of learning.

MEADOW MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY & PRESCHOOL 11391 Dartford Street, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 1V6

(604) 465-3492 www.meadowmontessori.ca

FUNDRAISER for

school materials

Full colour brochures are coming home

with order forms inside.

You can also order online:

https://www.purdysgpp.com/JoinAGroup.aspx?c=10158

Register then enter the school email to join our

group: admin@meadowmontessori.ca

Buy for friends, neighbours, co-workers!

Don’t forget yourself!

Extra brochures are available if you would

like to leave some at your workplace or

with family.

ORDERS ARE DUE:

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20th

Delivery will be the first week of December.

Doesn’t everyone deserve a little chocolate?

CHRISTMAS Poinsettia

Drive for Charity

Beautiful Red, White or Pink Poinsettias for

$12.00 and mixed Tropical Gift Planters for

$30.00 – 100% of proceeds going to the

Canadian Cancer Society – this drive is a

registered fundraiser.

Order forms coming home – you can also

order online:

http://meadowmontessori.plants4nonprofit.com

ORDERS ARE DUE:

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20th

Delivery will be the first week of December.

Gorgeous plants, straight from the greenhouse!

NEWSLETTER

2014/2015

We strive to inspire a love of learning.

MEADOW MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY & PRESCHOOL 11391 Dartford Street, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 1V6

(604) 465-3492 www.meadowmontessori.ca

PRESCHOOL: DECLAN

ELEMENTARY: LEVI & JAYDEN

PRESCHOOL NEWS The month of October was a busy month learning about fall harvest, opposites and

signs of fall. The preschool classes had an exciting time attending Aldor Acres

Pumpkin Patch for our fieldtrip. A hay ride, picking a pumpkin and the many farm

animals that we could visit and touch are a few of the highlights. We were very

fortunate to have the rain hold off until we finished our fieldtrip.

Thank you to Christina (Chloe’s mom) and Meggin (Calia’s mom) – from the

morning class as well as Shabnam (Wafi’s mom) and Kristen (Jacob’s mom) – from

the afternoon class for helping with our pumpkin cookies during baking day. What

a great help it was to have parents cleaning, organizing and helping with the

children!

We look forward to an attention-grabbing November where we will be learning

about “Community Helpers” (policemen, firefighters, paramedics), “Healthy Food”

following on the theme of doctors, nurses and dentists, and the last week of

November we will be talking about “Bears and Hibernation.” We are also hoping

to have a couple of surprise visits from some community helpers!

Our ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (of the

Meadow Montessori School Society) was held here at the

school on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH and our Board of

Directors for the 2014/2015 school year was elected as

follows:

PRESIDENT JEANNINE LYOTIER

VICE PRESIDENT JENNIFER PHILIP

SECRETARY JESSICA FLETCHER

TREASURER MICHELLE HEILGENPAHL- COOPER

FUNDRAISING/COMMITTEE DIRECTOR TRISH FELL

THE NEXT MEETING OF THE BOARD WILL BE:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9TH AT 7:00 PM

WANTS/NEEDS

We could use some baby food jars

for some upcoming projects.

NEWSLETTER

2014/2015

We strive to inspire a love of learning.

MEADOW MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY & PRESCHOOL 11391 Dartford Street, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 1V6

(604) 465-3492 www.meadowmontessori.ca

KINDER/ONE NEWS The children in kindergarten and grade one had been counting down the days to Halloween since October first; so it only

seemed fitting to have a month of creepy critters, counting ghosts and hammering golf tees into pumpkins. In addition, we

also started our students’ success celebrations. Every month two students will be recognized by the whole class for their

persistence, improvements or overall achievements for that month. It was an honor to celebrate kindergarten student

Gavin on his printing and Eeva another kindergarten student for her practice and work with the phonetic sounds. Please

feel free to load these two hardworking kiddos with high fives as you see them before or after school.

November will be another busy month in our class. We will be covering the themes peace and Remembrance Day as well

as exploring the magical world of fairy tales. And now for a quick peek at the new curriculum for the month:

Language Arts- Story elements and retelling, Math- Measurement, Science- Magnets

UPPER ELEMENTARY NEWS A new Advanced Practical Life area was added to the classroom at the beginning of October. It has been a very busy and

popular area! Children have been working on various forms of weaving, sewing, and learning knotting techniques such as

Macramé. The children continue to use the S.T.E.M activities with great enthusiasm.

Along with the popular Sudoku puzzles, the children have been learning vectors (x, y) and plotting points on the axis to

create an image such as a sailboat, bat etc. in our regular Morning Muscles period.

The children continue to write regularly in their journals. We have begun focussing on grammar, punctuation, vocabulary

building and spelling. We added two classroom spelling dictionaries (grades 2 & 3 and grades 4, 5 & 6) where children are

encouraged to add the words that I corrected in the margins of their journals to the classroom dictionary for future

reference. The older grades have also been working on Alphabetical order and using a dictionary to look up words they

need to spell.

Using the light table we were tracing bats and the human skeleton and drawing human body using a posable ergonome as

a visual guide. Practicing cutting skills making kirigami spiders and webs was fun and challenging at the same time. There

are many ongoing art activities such as painting, drawing, origami that children can take part in throughout the week. We

are now working on some red poppy commemorative art.

In science we have been learning about the Human Body and its bones.

The engineering components of science have been particularly popular and the children eagerly wait for Science

wondering what challenge they will be given next. The children are learning that it's not about always succeeding in the

challenge, but also how they work together as a team to problem solve and reflect on attempts that failed and what could

have been done differently. A discussion at the end of each challenge allows the children to share their thoughts and

feelings. Some of the highlights were Earthquake proof building structure challenge and the Soda can challenge - 2 cans

are placed 4 inches apart. Using only straws as tools to make the cans touch. Restriction was that they could not touch

the can with their hands, or touch any straw that was in contact with the cans once set up.

NEWSLETTER

2014/2015

We strive to inspire a love of learning.

MEADOW MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY & PRESCHOOL 11391 Dartford Street, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 1V6

(604) 465-3492 www.meadowmontessori.ca

UPPER ELEMENTARY CONTINUED The areas of the classroom are guided by the children's interests and they are always offering suggestions and ideas of

what they want to do and learn. It is great to see that the children overall have taken initiative and become more

proactive about their learning by letting me know, not just when things are challenging but also when things are easy. A

student just this week approached me saying that the new level of reading labs started the week before were easy and

wanted to move up a level. This is exactly what Montessori is all about!

In our MindUp program we continue to practice mindful breathing and the use of the chime in the classroom to help the

children pause take a breath and refocus when the classroom starts to get too loud or children share that they are

having a hard time concentrating.

We have had several whole group as well as small group discussions about being mindful with not just ourselves but

with others and being kind and considerate of others feelings. That we are like a family and we may have time where we

fight or get upset, especially with our friends but it's important to talk about their feelings and using appropriate

language to express themselves.

Our new planners have been working well to help children plan their work week. I hope that it is working for parents as

well as a means to communicate if there are any questions about their child's work plan and spelling.

Mentoring in Ms. Kaitlin's class continues. Through mentoring the children are learning not only how to teach and guide

their younger peers, but also: patience, understanding (when the K-1 children are learning new work) and that it’s all

about being a good role model. They are also learning how to help and guide their peers without giving them the

answer or ending up doing the work for them; all very good lessons.

This message is particularly for Afternoon

Preschool & Elementary parents.

This coming Friday, November 14th

– there is a

celebration of life being held at our joining facility

from 2-4PM.

Parking will be at a premium when you come for

pick-up, please remember to not park across the

street where there are NO PARKING signs.

We also ask that on this day, out of respect for those

gathering, that we refrain from our usual play and

social-time after school on the front school grounds.

If it is a nice day please re-group at the park down

the street and enjoy your time there.

Your co-operation with this request will be much

appreciated.

Thank you