We would like to thank you for the wonderful attendance and support on Parent Night. We are so pleased with your response to the many exciting new ventures for the 2008/2009 school year. If you were unable to attend, here are some highlights:

• Savor the Season, our new hot lunch provider, presented a wonderful tasting selection of their very high quality, home cooked lunches. The food, focused on natural, local and organic ingredients, was beautifully prepared and delicious. Their presentation was highly successful and we are looking forward to many tasty meals.
• Chef Leslie Owens was on hand to discuss her plans for Culinary projects for the Elementary students, including menu planning that ties the cooking to our cultural studies and the development of culinary skills and experiences.
• Debra Babiarz talked and answered questions about the structure and curriculum for the Upper Elementary class including Community Service projects and her plans for the development of our new class on a holistic level.
• Our new music teacher, Julie Harrison Sporer, comes to us with both a music background and 15 years experience as a Montessori teacher. She recently attend an amazing Montessori Music Curriculum program and plans to incorporate ear training, music appreciation, note reading and composition as well as dance into all of our classrooms. She spoke of her love of music and Montessori and of her commitment to the child’s complete experience of both.
• Julia Liljegren comes to us with much experience in wilderness education and preservation, including children’s education at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. Julia spoke enthusiastcally about her plans for incoporating our Children’s Habitat, outdoor education and new Biome materials into a comprehensive program for connecting our children to their natural environment through both education and abundant outdoor experience.
• Aric Liljegren  was very successfully in conveying both his dramatic talent and excitement about the prospect of offering after school Drama Class to our elementary students. Aric has most recently been working with children through the drama program at The Marquis Theatre in Northville. We are all excited about this upcoming opportunity and will be finalizing the dates, times and costs very soon.
• We will also be updating our information about our Suzuki Violin classes. The classes will be held during school hours and the children will have the opportunity to lease a size fitted violin, stand and Suzuki book. The final cost of lessons is currently under review and we will notify parents very soon of the program details. If you are interested in receiving this information please email us at info@mapletreemontessori.com as soon as possible.

All of the staff are very excited about the new offerings for your children and we are looking forward to a wonderful school year. I want to also thank all of our parents for their support and especially the fundraising efforts that have allowed us to pursue some of these changes in our curriculum, Thank you!!

P.S. Our email difficulties are resolved!!

We are being blocked by certain email servers.  These include:  Comcast, ATT & Sbcglobal.  We have tried a number of things with some parents and these solutions didn’t resolve the problems.  Please work with your email server to unblock us.  Our email is:  info@mapletreemontessori.com  please email us when you have resolved the issue with your server.

Another easy solution would be to get a hotmail or yahoo email account, these are working wonderfully.  Please email us your new email address, if you choose this solution.

Thank You for working with us to resolve this issue.  Kim Koehn

Fridays will be Pizza Day at Maple Tree Montessori. The Upper Elementary will organize and run a year long fundraiser for their classroom by ordering, selling and distributing pizza by the slice. We don’t have all the details yet because this is a class project and will be set up by the class. The hot lunch program from Savor the Season will be available on Mondays and Wednesdays. The pizza will be served on Fridays. The Upper Elementary class will determine how the raised money is to be spent, we will keep you posted!