From the Director's Desk: 11/21/2008

This week our staff had the wonderful opportunity to attend a professional training session with Janet McDonell. This was the first of several professional training sessions our staff will attend this year. Training sessions include group and/or private discussions with a specialist, lectures and observations of other classrooms. The professional also observes and assesses the staff in the classroom, during conferences and other aspects of their work day.

The benefits of professional training are immeasurable. It helps build a stronger curricula by reviewing and assessing the current one and ensures adherence to the standard upheld by educational intuitions such as AMI (American Montessori Internationale). It also helps build a team-work atmosphere. This atmosphere is instrumental in producing a confident, happy and satisfied staff that enjoys its work with our children.

 Educational Night – Language Development

Last Thursday we also had a Parent Educational Night with Ms. McDonell, who discussed the Development of Language from Early Age to Elementary Age. We had a strong turnout with about 35 parents in attendance. If you missed this session, please join us for the next one. Our aim is to have Parent Educational Nights a few times a year. We will repeat some of the classes on the next academic year beginning in September 2009.

We view Educational Nights as a means, not only to enrich our understanding of what our child is doing in class and how she progresses, but also as a way to better understand what kind of experience the child is going through. Parents that attend Educational Nights have a better understanding of what is communicated during Parent-Teacher Conferences, as well as what the teacher and children are referring to when they discuss Montessori materials. Most importantly, these parents have a better understanding of the Montessori philosophy as a whole. We hope that you will join us on the next Educational Night.

Upcoming Parent Educational Nights:

• December 16:  Miriam Singer will discuss Discipline and Self Discipline in the Montessori philosophy at our school.
  
• December 17:  An Elementary Open House and Elementary talk at Kemp Mill Montessori School. Our guest speaker, Lila Carusillo, will share with us a fascinating discussion of the Elementary Montessori Program. Ms. Carusillo is an AMI primary and Elementary trained teacher. Ms. Carusillo has over fifty years of administrative and classroom experience. She is also an AMI Oral Examiner for the AMI Master’s Program.

Reminder

Wednesday is noon dismissal for Thanksgiving.  We will be closed Thursday and Friday. We will see you all back on Monday,  December 1.

Ayelet "Ellie" Lichtash

From the Director's Desk: 11/14/2008

Please note that the next parenting class, scheduled for November 18, has been rescheduled for December 16. We will announce the topic in the next bulletin.

We are having an Elementary Open House on December 17 at Kemp Mill Montessori School at 519 Lamberton Drive,  Silver Spring, MD 20902, (google map link), at 7:30p.m. This is for all parents who are interested to see how Montessori goes beyond Kindergarten. Flyers will be sent home next week

Also, the PTO has begun plans for our Annual Chanukah Party. The low turnout at Wednesday's meeting, however, left the committee in need of several more volunteers. Karen Galanti is the Chanukah Party committee chair, so please contact her if you would like to help. If you have other questions for the PTO you can contact PTO chairperson, Rachel Frier.

From Director's Desk: posted on 11//08

Soup Thursdays

During the upcoming winter days, our children will be cooking soup. They will be busy cutting up vegetables and washing legumes to prepare a soup for Thursday. The Toddler class got a jump start and made a soup this past Thursday. Next week the Primary classes will start cooking for Soup Thursday. This is part of our school program that encourages Food Preparation.

The soup will be served as part of snack and sometimes lunch. Please continue to send a lunch with your child, but in smaller proportions on Thursdays.

 Annual Giving

This is the time of year that our Parents Social Committee with be addressing the schools’ parents and reaching out to our community for donations for the school. I hope that we can cultivate the culture of giving in our school and help the Parent Social Committee volunteers, as they make their calls for pledges. Thank so much for being part of our school.

Other items to note

It's not too late: If you haven't already done so, don't forget to sign up for November Observations. Parents can schedule a time to observe their child’s classroom by signing up on the observation sheets on the child's classroom door or email janel@alefbetmontessori.org.

Book those babysitters: In two weeks, we have a very special guest speaker, Janet McDonell, coming to speak at the school, Thursday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. Parents, this lecture is a must, if you want to understand what Montessori is all about. To read more about the lecture look in the parents class section on our website. Please make all efforts to attend and take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to learn about Montessori from a real expert.

November Photos: We have posted our first pictures from this month. Make sure to check them out at Photos in the Parents Place section of the website.

Ellie