09-26-17 GBH Newsletter

Important Events (Always defer to the parent calendar on our website, if you notice a discrepancy.)

• Next Early Releases: October 16th and October 30th.
• No School: October 13th  
• Wednesday, October 18th-Picture Day
• Thursday, October 19th- Open House/Parent Ed Night - Look for more details, we are hoping for 100% attendance, because we want to update families on some new routines and be able to say hello.
• Monday, October 23rd- Pumpkin Patch Field Trip
• Monday, October 30th- Historical Halloween (please look for more details soon)

Reminders:

• The weekly reflection letter, should be signed by a parent  and returned each week by Thursday.
• Historical Halloween is around the corner- start discussing with your child someone who might be interesting and inspiring to study and present on.

Requests:

• All students in the GBH Room are expected to have their own Library Card that they can use to request books and check out books from the Silverton Library.  This is an important part of being able to follow passions and take ownership of our learning.  Please work with your child to find their card, or get a new card.  Also, please make sure they have paid their fines so they can use the card.  If this is a problem- please reach out to Matt and Josie- so we can figure out a plan to support your child together.

Weekly Update:

We have now heard the first great story, The Coming of the Universe, and the second great story, The Coming of Life. These stories sow the seeds for our geography and biology work.  They allow us to see with gratitude  that everything in the universe has important work to do.  Also, all life has worked to meet its needs, and as each plant and animal does that- they lead to the adaptation of other animals- we are all linked together.   Many students have chosen to work with Nicole to preserve their understanding of the stories by creating artwork that captures certain parts of the story.  Some of the artwork was really striking!

This week we will be completing our first learning journal.  Students will be reflecting on their progress towards our goals, and their level of success in balancing freedom and responsibility.  Please plan on making the time next Tuesday evening to look through their first completed learning journal, and to discuss what they got done, and didn’t get done.  These are opportunities to help the students identify patterns and choices that have helped them, and find ones that are getting in the way of their concentration.  This week, you can ask your child how their progress is going on their learning journal map.        

Last week and this week, students are working to explain the difference between follow up work and projects.  While they are doing that, the room is full of a great variety of both.  For follow up, some students have really gotten into solving ratios, and our fourth years are working hard on memorizing all their math facts.  In history, the students have worked to explore the fundamental human needs- and have some great insights.  All the students have had the opportunity to do a science “command card” which is like an experiment/ demonstration of an important science concept.   
Finally, the projects are looking great!  We have students planning a fundraiser to support those hurt by the hurricanes.  Others are learning to code and writing computer programs. We have students studying interior design and learning to use software to support it.  We have students researching animals.  Other groups are writing comic books, animal research reports, and narrative stories.  We also have groups of students researching, designing, and building things for our class animals.      

Gratitude Corner:

• Thank you to all of the families who have returned all their forms!  We are nearly at 100%!
• Thank you to Nate’s mom for volunteering to come in and help with our auction project.

9-18-17 GBH Newsletter

Important Events (Always defer to the parent calendar on our website, if you notice a discrepancy.)

• Next Early Release:  Monday, 11:30 Sept 25 (NOTE: This is still an earlier early release time than last year.)
• Thursday, October 19th- Open House/Parent Ed Night - Look for more details, we are hoping for 100% attendance, because we want to update families on some new routines and be able to say hello.
• Monday, October 30th- Historical Halloween.

Reminders:

• The weekly reflection letter, should be signed by a parent  and returned each week by Thursday.
• Students are expected to have a LABELED water bottle for water (hydration is important)
• Student may have a LABELED travel mug for tea.  These mugs must be insulated, and they should close, some students are trying to use  thin water bottles and we are concerned about burns from the hot tea.  

In Search of:

• If any families have an extra working vacuum that they do not use, our vacuum is on its last legs, and before we purchase one, we wanted to ask if anyone had an extra one they wanted to donate.

Weekly Update:

On Monday of this week we gained a new classmate!  Devon Farmen is the older brother of a student in the lower elementary.  He enjoys working with his garden and building legos.  We are excited to have a new fifth year to learn from and with this year- especially another student who enjoys building and botany.  If you see him, welcome him, and introduce yourself.

Last week we completed our first set of student conferences, and we are excited for that new system being in place.  We have set up the schedule for students to be able to have 10-15 minutes a week just sitting down with a teacher discussing what they are working on, what they are excited by, and checking in on their organization and progress.  This is a very important part of a Montessori classroom, helping the adult and child work together to find the Freedom and Responsibility balance that helps children practice learning to be responsible for their learning.  

We are in our second full week, and our art lessons are coming along wonderfully.  Last Wednesday, Nicole led a Kente cloth exploration with about eight students.   On Fridays, a volunteer named Kristen, an experienced Montessori guide comes in. She is starting the year giving drawing lessons that students can opt into.  Last week they were drawing Winnie the Pooh characters.  It has been fun to see the concentration and focus.  

Looking around the room you can already see the excitement for independent research projects, and so many forms of writing.  We can already tell that we are going to be a community of writers this year!  It is fun to see students exploring multiple genres of writing so early in the year.  Please feel free to ask your child:

1. What project(s) are you working on?
2. What are your next steps?
3. What challenges is your group facing right now?
4. What have you learned so far on your project?

Gratitude Corner:

• Thank you to Alex’s mom for making a beautiful poster for helping us reflect!
• Thank you to several more families who brought in more  tissues!  It is so nice to have a stock.

09-12-17 GBH Newsletter

Important Events (Always defer to the parent calendar on our website, if you notice a discrepancy.)

• Next Early Release:  Monday, 11:30 Sept 25 (NOTE: This is an earlier early release time than last year.)
• Thursday, October 19th- Open House/Parent Ed Night - Look for more details, we are hoping for 100% attendance, because we want to update families on some new routines and be able to say hello.
• Monday, October 30th- Historical Halloween.

Reminders:

• The weekly reflection letter, should be signed and returned each week by Thursday.
• Reminder: If you have not already done so, please sign and return the volunteer form by the end of the week.
• Reminder: The technology form (from the registration packet, needs to be signed and returned ASAP.  Students must have it signed before they may use the technology.  

Weekly Update:

What an exciting year this is going to be!  We have so many students who bring such great energy to our classroom.  Josie and Matt have been marveling at the teamwork and focus we have seen to start the year, and we are looking forward to the heights we will achieve from such a great starting point, and such hard work.

The first week had a large focus on what makes a Montessori classroom.  We discussed the importance of community, effort, and teamwork.  If you want to help discuss some of our key ideas, here are a few questions you can ask your child:

1. What does “Don’t Yuk their Yum” mean?
2. How are freedom and responsibility related?
3. What did they learn from the long spoon video and activity?
4. What do we mean if we say, don’t eat their soup for them?
5. How are dying eggs, and learning in a Montessori classroom similar?

This week, on Thursday, we are getting our two new critters- a pair of sisters from a small rattery in Salem.  Look for more updates and names next week.  We are very excited, and will plan on including pictures in next week’s newsletter!

This week we are also beginning our content lessons in earnest.  We will be jumping into math, early human history, writing projects, and geography.  If we are lucky, we will even have the first great story this Friday.  As the work gets up and running we hope to have pictures of children’s work on Transparent classroom weekly.  More details coming soon.  

Gratitude Corner:

• Thank you to all of the families who contributed markers, essential oils, and facial tissue!  It is wonderful to be surrounded by such support.  I know that more families contributed, but some students dropped things off before I could thank them, or write their names down.  Thank you to the one’s I managed to catch being kind: Eli’s family, Nate’s family, Taylor’s family, Naia’s family, Jahne’s family, and Lily and Ben’s family!

9/5/17- Back to School Newsletter

Important Events (Always defer to the parent calendar on our website, if you notice a discrepancy.)

• Early Release:  Monday, Sept 11 (NOTE: This is an earlier early release time than last year.)
• Early Release:  Monday, Sept 25 (NOTE: This is an earlier early release time than last year.)
• Open House/Parent Ed Night - Look for more details, we are hoping for 100% attendance, because we want to update families on some new routines and be able to check in with two new adults on our team.

Weekly Update:

We are so excited to kick off this year!  We have new 4th years to meet.  5th and 6th years who have grown and are ready for bigger challenges, and even more inspiring work.  To start the year, we thought we thought we would start with just some tips/reminders of the classroom expectations that are easy to lose track of.  Please read them with your child.  Also, please sign and return the volunteer form by the end of the week.

Classroom Culture Preview:

Homework:

• The only planned weekly homework will be bringing home their weekly reflection letter on Tuesdays, discussing it with parents, getting it signed and bringing it back by Thursday (with their Tuesday Folders).  Generally speaking, routine homework that goes out to every child every night is not a part of Montessori philosophy.  However, students benefit from choosing activities to do (especially away from screens) that involve concentration, focus, and problem solving- thus establishing patterns of responsibility and self-directed learning.  This can take the form of being in clubs, sports, theater groups, practicing an instrument, having a chore list, or making a homework plan with parents to practice important skills like reading.  Like last year, we will send home a best practices letter at the open house night.  

Electronics:  

• Students do have google accounts so they can save work, access our chromebooks, and develop digital literacy and citizenship.  Please support this (if you allow screen time at home) by monitoring its use at home and helping continue to talk about and learn together. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ is a resource that has reviews of games, books, websites, and shows to help you get a deeper look at them from a parent’s perspective.  It also has many resources on how to support your child’s safe and civic development in the sometimes scary wide world of the internet.
• We recommend that cell phones/electronics  be left at home, but if they come to school they must be turned in each day at the start of the day.  

Parent Communication:

• We have a classroom blog now.  It will have the newsletter each week on it, as well as occasional additional information.  The URL is: crsblueherons.blogspot.com
• Students will be bringing home letters every Tuesday reflecting on their previous week.  They will also be bringing home their completed learning journal every 3(ish) weeks.  For both of these items, we ask that you discuss them with your child, sign them, and send them back in the Tuesday Folder by THURSDAY of each week.

Supply List

• The supply list is on our blog (see above for the URL).
• Please remember to have your child have a labeled water bottle or travel mug that closes.  We have a water heater available this year, so tea will be available to students who have sealing mugs.
• Please remember the students will be going outside 1-3 times daily and they need to have shoes available that won’t track mud and dirt in- the community is concerned about the carpets, and we want to try to protect them as best we can.
• Thank you for contributing to the supply fund.  Montessori education has so much art, creation, and materials, that your supply contribution allows us to sustain our paper/art supplies, feed our animals, have a base budget for goings out, and have organizational systems for all the students.  Thank you!   

Food/Snack/Coffee:   

• Students will be allowed to have snack each day.  We ask that it is healthy.  We know that families vary widely on what they describe as healthy.  Here are a few quick things we ask:
• Include Proteins: Cheeses, Nuts, Jerky, etc can provide the energy needed to get to lunch happily.
• Include Crunch: Things that crunch or pop like carrots, apples, grapes, etc can be a great pick-me-up and have been shown to help as much as coffee for waking up drowsy students
• Please Avoid Chips: Takis, Doritos, Goldfish, Potato Chips- while not evil often are messy and leave children still hungry.
• Please Monitor Portion Control: An entire bag of trail mix, a full bag of chips, a bunch of bananas- these are all big enough to cause challenges with storing, temptation for trading, and challenges eating the right amount.  Please send the portion you hope your child will eat.     
• Microwaves: Their snack should NOT need to be microwaved (such as unpopped popcorn).  Their lunch will be able to be microwaved.   

• Students should NOT be bringing coffee, blended drinks, juice, or other drinks with them to school.  We have water available, and plan on having tea available (if students have the proper mug) during the work time.  If students bring other drinks, they will be asked to dispose of them before PE.

Schedule:

• The 2017 start of year schedule is also on the blog so you can see what a day looks like for your child.  A couple highlights: We START each day with PE at 8:30 sharp.  Students will get their stuff out and lay it out before going to PE each day, so please arrive on time.  Our lunch starts at 12:15 (followed by recess).

Birthdays:

• We will mostly be continuing the birthday celebration expectations from last year.  Here is the outline:
• Parents and family members are invited to come in to celebrate birthday circles.
• Before your child’s birthday email Matt that you would like to come in, and what day you would like to come in, and if you are bringing a treat to share.  
• Children are expected to make and bring a timeline on their birthday.  They can add pictures, and likely will need help from you to figure out the beginning of their lives.  This is a great way to practice making a timeline and research themselves by interviewing parents/older friends and family members.  
• The birthday circles will be held at either 9:00 AM, 1:15 PM, or 3:00 each day.
• The birthday circle takes about 15 minutes and follows this outline: Gather in a circle, walk around the sun (parents can share information about their child), sing, then share  a snack and/or small time together.
• Families are allowed to bring treats to share.  This is not expected, but many families enjoy it.  We ask that if you are bringing something with gluten, dairy, or food dye in it, that you have an alternate option as well (there are great, affordable, tasty fruit popsicles available at most grocery stores).   If you buy food, please bring in all packaging so students with severe allergies etc can check the ingredients.

Gratitude Corner:

• Thank you so much to the Lisa G, Lily, Ben, and Hilary D for coming in the week before school and helping with many projects!
• Thank you for Rebecca’s family for helping take care of Luna for the end of the summer.
• Christine Eubanks for making a beautiful birthday  wall display, and for making the labels for our cubbies.