Minneapolis September Newsletter

Miniapple Int’l Montessori Newsletter
September 2016
DIRECTORS’ NOTES
Welcome! We can’t believe the new school year
is here. We are looking forward to another
memorable year with our new and returning families.
Thank you to our new families who attended our New
Family Connection. We are all excited to be working
with you and your children! We hope to enjoy the
exciting growth and opportunities with your child
throughout the year.
Please remember to stop and read the information
center(s)(bulletin boards, clipboards, newsletters, etc).
These are key areas of communication between the
staff and our families. Feel free to call or email with
any questions, comments or concerns. We are
always happy to hear from you.
As the ’16-‘17 school year gets rolling, there are
already many things to remember. We would like to
remind you to sign in and out daily and be sure to call
if you need stay and play or if you’re going to be late.
Please remember to label all items of clothing, lunch
boxes, ice packs, shoes/slippers, blankets, nap items,
etc. Sharpies are available outside your child’s
classroom.
We want to emphasize the importance of arriving
at 8:30 or before. There are many reasons why this
is important, such as: We like to start our day as a
group by greeting each other and then practicing
our lessons of grace and courtesy. The teachers
are also more available to serve the children when
drop offs are at 8:30 or before. Helping with drop
offs during the work period means fewer
presentations for all children. Late drop offs are
more difficult for children. Imagine how it feels for
us as adults when we arrive late to a meeting or
dinner party. Your child has a similar feeling when
arriving late to his/her community gathering. We
understand that the 8:30 start time is not possible
every day for every family and so we ask that if you
are late, please call to let us know, and then please
say goodbye in the hallway after you arrive. The
child can independently enter with his/her
belongings and we will assist them. It is helpful for
us to know ahead of time that you are arriving late
so we are prepared to greet your child. This will
greatly cut down on distractions that take the child’s
focus away from their Montessori materials.
When picking up your child, we ask that all
children find the teacher that has the clipboard and let
them know they are leaving by shaking their hand.
This way the child doesn’t leave without us noticing
but it also establishes a routine of ending their day by
saying goodbye. Thank you for your cooperation.
Our first field trip will be on September 22nd to
Afton Apple Orchard. Permission forms and more
details will be posted outside of each classroom.
Each classroom will hold a class potluck. The
dates are at the end of this newsletter. This is a great
way to meet the other parents and your child’s friends!
If you would like a receipt for tuition, there will be
a sign up sheet on the front table. If you would like
one, please include your child’s name. Receipts will
be emailed out mid-month.
WELCOME BACK TO DANIELLE! She is
working with us again while her son is in T1. We
would also like to welcome a few new teachers to our
Miniapple team! Amanda will be our new Activities
Director, working 11-6 and will be a main teacher on
the playground at the end of the day. Katrin and
Wamie have joined the toddler community. Will is
our new CH2 assistant teacher. We welcome each of
you to our MIM family and so glad you have chosen to
join us!
Please stop by the office, email or call with any
questions or concerns. Feel free to also stop just to
say hi!
Lee & Lindsay
Miniapple Int’l Montessori Newsletter
September 2016
IMPORTANT DATES TO
REMEMBER
September 5th: MIM CLOSED-LABOR
DAY
September 12th: Grandparents Day
celebration
September 21st: Light a Candle for Peace
Day
September 21st: Silent Journey 5:30-6:30p
Sept. 22nd: Field Trip Afton Apple
Orchards
October 3rd: Kindness in Chalk Day
October 18th: Field Trip: Children’s
Theater Play
October 20th: Parent/Teacher Conferences
(MINIAPPLE CLOSED)
October 21st: MINIAPPLE CLOSED:
In-service
October 25-27th: PICTURE DAYS!
CLASSROOM
NEWS
Infant House
Welcome to the new school year in the
Infant House! We are excited to a new start
with our friends. We want to welcome our
new assistant teacher Isabella (Izzy), she will
be closer, working 2:30-6:00. We would like
to wish Rigel good luck in Toddler House 1, and
welcome new friends Sam, Sylvi and Sylvia!
So glad to have you with us. As summer slowly
comes to an end, please make sure to stock
your baby’s basket with weather appropriate
clothes and please send a light jacket since we
will still be going on walks. We will be having
music class on Mondays, at 8:30am.
Reminder, please label your child’s belongings
with first and last names. If you have any
questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Kathy, Amy, Monica and Izzy
Toddler House 1
Hello toddler families! It is a new school year now,
hard to believe it!
The summer went by fast and now
our new school year started! We are looking forward
to having a fun school year again.
Please welcome our new assistant teacher Wamie.
We are so happy to have her, the children already love
her! Our September calendar is full with fun activities,
talking about squirrels, apples, learning about the
Montessori materials in our room, and learning how to
be in a Montessori classroom. We will continue to go
on walks. We will celebrate grandparents day on
September 12th and a potluck in October. We will say
goodbye to Yael who will move into Children’s House
1. We are proud of you and excited for your new
adventure!
We will also welcome new friends Rigel,
Otto, Scarlett and their families into our room, we are
glad you will be joining us.
With the changing of seasons, it’s a good time to
make sure that we have weather appropriate clothes for
your child in their extra clothes box. For lunches,
please cut cherry tomatoes and grapes and label all
containers. As always, we are open and available for
you should you have any questions or feedback.
Suggestions are always welcome. We look forward to
getting to know you and your child.
With love, Reshma and Wamie
Miniapple Int’l Montessori Newsletter
September 2016
Toddler House 2
We had such a wonderful summer and could
not be more excited to see what is in store for Toddler
2 this fall. Firstly, to those of you just starting or
returning to our class after a summer away, welcome!
We are pleased to announce we have a great team and
are welcoming Katrin as our new assistant teacher.
Miranda and I had a fun summer filled with a lot of
splash days, trips to Marcy Park, and walks around the
neighborhood. This fall we hope to continue our
walks and reintroduce French lessons in our schedule.
As the weather continues to be warm, please bring a
labeled water bottle, sunscreen and plenty of extra
(weather appropriate) clothing. Don’t forget about
indoor shoes and to label everything. Please follow
T2
on
our
private
Instagram
page
“miniappletoddlerhouse2” for weekly updates and
photographs of our days. This is always a fun way to
stay involved.
We look forward to a great
September! As always, please feel free to be in touch
with me if you have any questions or concerns.
All our best, Ashleigh, Miranda, and Katrin
Children’s House One
The new school year is off to a glorious start!
Dr. Maria Montessori names Preliminary Exercises,
Practical Life, and Grace and Courtesy Lessons the
foundation for all other work. Whether a returning
student or new to Miniapple, we all benefit from going
back and reviewing the foundational work.
Preliminary Exercises and Practical Life
includes work such as how to roll a mat tightly and
evenly, how to carry a tray full of pitchers and containers
through an active classroom, how to pour grain and
thoroughly clean any spills or fasten a buckle.
Some Grace and Courtesy Lessons are how
to say goodbye, how to replace a chair, how to ask to
observe a peers’ work and how to apologize. These
activities help children of all ages establish order,
respect and community.
The following denotes ways you can help make
your child’s day progress smoothly:
Please arrive a few minutes prior to 8:30am to
ensure an adult is able to properly welcome your
child. We want to include your child in important
community building activities at morning circle.
Please help your child part with unrelated school
items at home or in the car. Toys from home are
a distraction for all.
Please check the whiteboard daily for classroom
news.
Feel free contact us with any questions at
612-378-9375 or write a note on the clipboard (next to
the whiteboard). We look forward to working alongside
you this school year!
Cheers!
Erica & Annah
Children’s House Two
Welcome to a new year in CH2! We are looking
forward to getting to know Alden (5 years old) and his family.
Welcome Ericksons! Please also give a hearty welcome to Will,
the new CH2 assistant!
Please note that since we are the nap room, our
schedule has changed so that we eat lunch at 11am and play at
12 pm. Everyone should have received our CH2 Letter to
Parents outlining basic information about our classroom as well
as our Apple Snaps Blog information, a look inside our lunch
routine and a great article about helping children to help
themselves.
I’d also like to point out one of our most important
rules: if the class is already in the classroom, please say
goodbye in the hall and send your child in on their own with
their things. Will and I will help them get settled if needed. If
they are having a difficult drop off, make the drop off as short
as possible, flag me or Will down, and we will take them and
help them transition. We are more than happy to do so!
We had a couple cases of lice at our school during the
week of August 22nd. Please remember to check for lice every
day for the next 2 weeks.
As the year begins, we’ll be focusing on Grace and
Courtesy lessons at circle time like “How to Observe,” “How to
Say Excuse Me,” “How to Push in a Chair,” etc.. We’ll also be
preparing for our Afton Apple Orchard field trip by learning
about how apples grow and the parts of an apple. Here’s to a
great year!
Mia and Will
Miniapple Int’l Montessori Newsletter
September 2016
Children’s House Three
Welcome and welcome back to CH3! Lilah and I are
so happy to be back with your family in preschool.
This year will be so much fun! We have great field
trips planned, craft projects to do, and of course, a lot
of work demonstrations. On each of your cubbies is a
welcome packet filled with Montessori goodies to
enjoy, including “10 jobs your child can do right
now“, mistaken goal chart, and tips for difficult drop
offs. Please enjoy these helpful letters. Reminders:
Please arrive by 8:30 daily to provide maximum
benefit for your child’s schedule. Any shoes your
child has should be able to be taken on and off
independently. Please label all items. Thank you so
much valued parents! This year will be amazing and
we’re looking forward to watching your child grow!
All the best, Molly & Lilah
Children’s House Four
We hope you all had a memorable summer time. Our
summer session for this year at Miniapple was another
successful one and it went by past so fast. We want to
wish everyone a happy school year. For sure, we will have a
fun learning and make the most of it.
We said a sad goodbye to our older friends who moved
out to different schools and we said hello to some new
friends who are coming to our room soon. This year our
room will be used as one of the two nap rooms. Our nonnappers will be divided into CH1 and CH3 as of now. If you
have any questions or concerns you are welcome to talk to
me.
We changed all the practical life materials and added
more materials due to a lot of younger friends this year. We
are looking forward to having a fun new school year.
We appreciate that most of the children are
coming to school on time. There are 4 good reasons why it is
a big deal to our little community. 1: Reducing separation
problems. 2: Having some social time with their peers in the
morning. 3: Entering the classroom with their peers, makes
them feel welcomed and bonded together with others. 4:
Starting their day together. Thank you so much for your
cooperation.
We always appreciate all your effort and all the
support we get from you. Please don’t hesitate to talk to us
if you have a question or concern. We are looking forward
to having an exciting and fun school year.
Sincerely, Wangmo & Najat
CHILDREN’S HOUSE 5
Hello CH5 families! I am so excited to become
part of the Mpls Miniapple Int’l Montessori school team!
You have been truly welcoming and my journey here has
been a true blessing. As we move forward with our
summer’s end and transition to our fall school year, our
class will be working on several grace and courtesy
lessons which is going to require some additional
reinforcements at home. We are working on our 7
character traits: kindness, polite, honesty, respect,
responsibility, caring and being a good friend. Our class
has just begun practicing our RESPECT trait. Everyone is
continuously reminded about what respect means, and how
one should be respectful at school, in our classroom, and at
home. We are super excited about this new school year
and look forward to a wonderful year with you. Our
monthly school calendar will be posted soon. Please be on
the lookout for field trips and current events that will be
taking place this month. Have a wonderful end of the
summer and exciting school year.
Sincerely yours, CH5 teachers Ms. Yeng and Ms. Kay
PRESCHOOL FRENCH CLASS
Bonjour â toutes les familles â Miniapple (minipomme).
My name is Najat, I am the assistant teacher in Children’s
House 4 and I am the preschool French teacher at MIM. I
have been working at MIM since 1999 and teaching French
since 2002. During the month of September we will start
our French classes by learning the basics: how to say hello
in French (Bonjour), how to say goodbye (au revoir), how to
introduce themselves (je m’appelIe___), how to count in
French, how to sing the alphabet, learn our colors
(red/rouge), yellow (jaune), blue (bleu), and will learn other
songs in French. I will also read various stories in French.
Throughout the school year we will enrich our French
vocabulary based on various themes: holidays, seasons,
field trips, and our daily routine. I encourage the children
and their families to practice French at home by naming
objects. Please let me know if you have any questions or
ideas you would like to me to include in our classes.
Merci â tous et je souhaite une bonne année scolaire!
Amitie’, Najat
Miniapple Int’l Montessori Newsletter
September 2016
“LIGHT A CANDLE FOR PEACE”
SING PEACE AROUND THE WORLD
CELEBRATION
Children from across the planet will come
together to sing for peace on Wednesday,
September 21st 2016 to celebrate the United
Nation's Day of Peace. The singing will
commence on the shores of New Zealand and
continue from country to country until it
reaches the shores of the Hawaiian Islands 24
hours later. This event will become one of the
largest United Nation's Day of Peace
celebrations on record. In 2009, "Sing Peace"
involved over 65,000 children from some 35
different countries. Miniapple will be singing
our song at 10:00am. The children have been
practicing the song with Robin and in their
classrooms. More info to come, but we
welcome all to join us.
CIRCLE OF LIFE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Each year we love to celebrate your child’s
birthday with them and their families. In the
past we have allowed families to bring in a
special treat such as cupcakes or cake.
Since we discourage these treats in your
child’s lunch, we would like to encourage
you to bring a healthier treat to share with
your child’s class during their birthday
celebration. Examples are: Fruit, all-fruit
popsicles, yogurt, snack mixes (peanut free),
banana bread, muffins, etc. You will be
given a form to complete for the
celebration, which includes many more
suggestions for healthier treats.
CLASSROOM POTLUCKS
Come and meet your child’s classmates
and all the parents! Potlucks will be
from 5:30-6:30. A sign up will be posted
outside the classrooms.
Sept. 28th: Toddler 1 & 2
Sept. 29th: CH2
Oct. 5th: CH3
Oct. 6th: CH1 & infants
Oct. 12th: CH5
Oct. 13th: CH4