Maple Tree Montessori Academy will be holding an informative Open House on the first Saturday of each month…March through May 2009, from 11:00 – 2:00. Parents may tour the classrooms, meet teachers and ask questions. We are currently enrolling for Fall 2009 and we encourage all interested parents to take this opportunity to become familiar with our authentic Montessori environment, preschool through elementary programs and our wonderful staff.

On Tuesday February 10th at 7:00pm, Maple Tree Montessori will be hosting a parent event for all families considering Montessori Elementary School for their child. This will be an informational meeting between parents and our Lower and Upper Elementary teachers. If your child is a Kindergarten student and you are considering Montessori for 1st grade, or your child is “coming up” to the Upper Elementary from the Lower Elementary…this is your opportunity to tour the classrooms, meet the teachers and ask questions. If you know a friend who has a child in another Montessori program, be sure to share this information and bring them along! Reminder: current student early enrollment for the 2009/2010 school year ends on February 28th.

Once again, Maple Tree Montessori welcomes author Chick Moorman to kick off our open enrollment season. “Parent Talk” will be held on Saturday, February 28th from 1:00 – 4:00 in the afternoon. Chick is a funny, insightful and inspiring speaker who engages his audience in an experience of parenting that is both practical and thought provoking. We are delighted that he is able to come and speak at our school. Although his workshops are often priced above $50.00 per person, we are offering this event free of charge. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity…and invite your friends and family to attend!

Dr. Maria Montessori’s work with children, although centered through observation and education transcended both these forms to a level of content that resulted in her nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Montessori Philosophy is not just a method of education, but it is a broad reaching, indeed worldwide, social movement. It is an inspiration of the spirit of humankind, this idea that the child is to be revered as the hope for mankind and that within the child is the potential for a lasting peace, a “peace through education”. This inspiration of thought was radical 100 years ago and is importantly and hopefully as relevant and needed today.

Maria Montessori envisioned peace as much more than the cessation of war, in her understanding, peace was a positive state. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict, it is a whole state that is naturally present and attained within the hearts of humankind through an amazing new definition of education. She was a visionary who had an incredible ability to take abstract conceptions and offer them to the world in a practical, effective manner that redefines all of our previous notions of peace and education. We proudly and humbly carry on her legacy to a hopeful future.

During this time of year, as we offer our wishes to all for a Peaceful Holiday Season, we also offer the hope that this is a lasting Peace, a true Peace that flourishes within all hearts this New Year. We also offer for reflection and consideration, Dr. Montessori’s hope and insight…

“Times have changed, and science has made great progress, and so has our work; but our principles have only been confirmed, and along with them our conviction that mankind can hope for a solution to it’s problems, among the most urgent are those of peace and unity, only by turning it’s attention and energies to the discovery of the child and to the development of the great potentialities of the human personality in the course of it’s formation.”

Dr. Maria Montessori    1948

Maple Tree Montessori Academy is pleased to invite you to attend our first ever Celebration of Performing Arts. This exciting event will be held at the Hartland Music Hall on Tuesday, December 9th at 7:00 pm and will feature performances by our Suzuki Violin students, Music and Dance by our elementary students and skits performed by our Drama Class. All families and friends a welcome and performing students should arrive a just little early.This is a celebration of our expanded programs, giving our students a slightly formal opportunity, a beginning experience of performing on a real stage. There will be no formal dress rehersal and the show itself will be conducted in a relaxed manner appropriate to the experience of young children and first time performers. We are looking forward to sharing their progress with our entire school community.

THANKSGIVING FEAST

Wednesday, November 26th…Primary Class Thanksgiving Feast Day. All family and friends are welcome to attend. Morning Class Feast is 10:00 – 11:30. Afternoon  Class Feast is 2:00 - 3:30. There is NO regular Primary Class and NO Day Care on the Feast Day! Elementary students will be having class at their normal class times. The Primary Class children having been working hard to prepare the food for this event and we all look forward to sharing it with the people that we are most grateful for…such as you!!

The snowflakes and the tempatures are falling and winter is on the way! A good time it seems for a few seasonal reminders. We will still be going outside on a daily basis unless the wind chill is below 20 or it is raining, please send clearly labeled winter clothing for your child. Snow pants, boots, mittens and hats should be all marked with your child’s name and these items may be left in a bag at school instead of transported daily. Also, many students wear slippers during the winter months. The slippers should be non-distracting, labeled and can also be left at school.

If Maple Tree Montessori Academy is closed for the day, this will be announced at WHMI FM 93.5 and posted on this blog as soon as possible. If Brighton Area Schools close, due to poor weather conditions, we will be closed. However, since they take more days off during the year, you should always check the radio or the blog for current closings.

We had a beautiful day on Saturday and we all enjoyed the opportunity to work on our Children’s Habitat Project. A split rail fence now defines our Prairie which was dug and planted with native grasses and wildflowers. The Prairie will be reclaimed in stages throughout the next year, but we are already seeing animals and children enjoying our efforts. Trails in the woods were cleared and the debris from deeper areas removed to allow the children to explore our habitat safely. Thank you to all the hard workers; 

Rick, Naomi, Vivian, Malcom, Uncle Joe, Jackie, Jay, Caden, Petra, Katharina, Franziska, Mitch, Mindy, Canyon, Colbie, Breck, Robin, Favrile, Aaron, Joey, Logan, Deb and Steve…on behalf of all the children, I thank you!

I would like to invite all families to watch for our next work day, sharing a feeling of purposeful community and contribution makes the work a delight…the more the merrier!!!

Sue

Thank you Tricia, for sending a reminder to our parents about A.M. drop off. I do regret that in my excitement over all our new programs for 2008, I did not cover this well at Parent Night. I thought it was included in our August Newsletter, but I was mistaken, it was in September’s. Many of you may remember this drop off process from past years, it has worked very well.

When you pull in to drop off, pull up as far as you can. Along the fence and in the north parking spaces, form 2 lines. Then blend into one line near the door by alternating cars. Always pull up as far as possible and when in doubt, be kind. Of. course there is not room for a double line between the island and U.S. 23 since we need to allow room for parents to safely leave after they have dropped off their child.

Ms Sherry will be out directing traffic this coming week, to help parents to learn this pattern. We will also have a Lower Elementary staff member out to work our drop off and several volunteer parents. I am sure that we can all work together to resolve our concerns and keep everyone safe. Thanks for your help, patience and cooperation.

We are planning several events for parents to attend during this coming school year. Please mark your calendars for the following events:

October 7th…6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Savor the Season will be presenting an informational evening about Nutrition and Organic Foods. Leza will be hosting this event which will also include an optional $7.00 dinner fundraiser for the Children’s Habitat. Reservations for the dinner plate are recommended! Also, Jackie Adams has arranged for samples of an upcoming fundraiser  of Certified Fair Trade chocolates, coffees and teas to be available at this event. Sounds too good to miss!

January 17th…1:00 – 4:00 p.m. – “Embracing Humankind”, a diversity workshop with Julie Harrison Sporer of “One World Mind” will be our keynote event to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We will celebrate our diversity through this interactive and engaging workshop! www.oneworldmind.net

February 28th…1:00 – 4:00 p.m. – Wonderful author and parent educator, Chick Moorman will be kicking off our Open Enrollment with “Parent Talk: Words that Empower, Words that Wound”. Chick is a lively, funny, calming and engaging speaker. We enjoy him every year and are grateful to have him returning to present such helpful and inspiring practices to our parents. www.chickmoorman.com

April 21st…6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Please join us for our celebration of Earth Day with a special presentation by our Outdoor Education and Children’s Habitat instructor, Julia Liljegren. Julia has extensive “Earth” experience and will surely inspire us to a better appreciation of our home, our habitat.

Please mark your calendar for these outstanding presentations and workshops. They are designed especially for our parents, but the public is also welcome so please share this information with friends and family!! We hope to see you soon!!

We are all happy and excited to be back at school. The students are all full of enthusiam and eager to learn, glad to see their friends and teachers. The Upper Elementary class is off to a great start and they are all working together to develop their classroom and to balance their daily schedule. The new materials in the Upper Elementary are very compelling and the students are looking forward to using these “new works”.

Lower Elementary students are enjoying the new layout of the classroom and are busy welcoming their new classmates. They are also engaged in establishing the functioning structure of their classroom and their daily activities.

Primary classes are off to a wonderful start! The students have been in orientation week and they have been learning and practicing the ground rules. All classes have had their first work time and will be fully engaged this coming week.

We will be incorporating our special instruction areas of Spanish, Music, Outdoor Education, Locomotion, Yoga and Culinary Arts over the next couple of weeks. Suzuki Violin and Drama sign ups will begin on Monday! Maple Tree Montessori Academy is proud to be the only public or private elementary school in Brighton, in fact, in Livingston County to offer such diverse experiences to students. Suzuki Violin is known worldwide as a thoughtful and amazing method of music education and early drama experiences allow for a wonderful, creative process to emerge within the child. We are grateful to bring this holistic quality of education to the families of the Brighton area.

We are glad to have such supportive families, dedicated staff and interested, engaged students. We have an amazing community and we are off to a great start for 2008/2009!!!