Volume XXXIV Number 8 April 2018

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MONTESSORI MATTERS A Discover Montessori School Newsletter

Principal’s Message

This is such a busy time of year. Our Family Ball, Canadian Tests of Basic Skills, Track Meet, Parent Teacher Conferences, Hot Lunches, T-Shirt sales, playhouse construction, and on and on. It is enough, at first glance to conclude that the school is extremely busy.

Yet today, a student commented to me that he wanted to do more. Another student told me that he couldn’t believe the Open House hour had come and gone, when I thanked our guests for coming.

What prompts our Montessori students to want more activity? For me the simple answer is purposeful activity and ‘Teach Me to Do It Myself.’ Whether my 16 month old granddaughter is helping her two slightly older brothers clear the dinner table or she is making an effort to sweep the kitchen floor, I see her determination, confidence and pride in her work. The 99 year old great gramma in our home folded her great grandchildren’s laundry two days before she passed. It was most important to her that she was valued and contributed to our household. When it is so clear in the extremes of the generations, how much more important is it for all of us in between to fulfil ourselves with purposeful activity and not get side tracked.

At our school I often talk to the public either in our building or putting together outside programs. Inevitably with few exceptions, I get positive responses like how polite, respectful and capable are our students. Our local Staples manager can hardly wait to employ any of our students based on his observations when he comes into our school. One of the coordinators of our Odysseys, is always excited to take our middle schoolers on their outdoor adventures. She loves being with them.

I get feedback from practicum students about how peaceful and productive our casa students move around their classrooms and what a joy our third year students were in their Water Safety program.

Perhaps, there is a difference in keeping too busy or planning work that fulfills our inner need. Nothing happens in our school, or with our students, that is not well thought out and meets multiple aims both directly and indirectly. You may have thought you were going to the Open House to see what your child or children were learning, when actually what the students were really doing was practicing public speaking and gaining all sorts of self assurance when the adults listened so attentively to what they had to say and do.

Thank you parents, grandparents and guests for attending all our activities and events that bring you to our Montessori Programs. Your attendance is what completes our Montessori community.

~ Diana Chalmers, Principal

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Upcoming Events Tue. and Thur. April 17 &19th Nanaimo Primary Parent Teacher Conferences

Saturday, April 28th Family Ball! Doors open at 4pm.

Wednesdays, Thursdays, May (2,3), (9,10), (6,17) with 2 Groups of students Elementary Ages 9-12 Kayaking Details will come home.

Saturday, May 5th Work Party 10am to Noon

May, 7, 9, 10th Elementary Child-Parent-Teacher Conferences

May, 8th and 10th Middle School Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences

Tuesdays, May 15, 22, 29, June 5 Elementary Ages 6-9 Gymnastics Details will come home.

Friday, May 18 & Mon. May 21 - Professional Day & Victoria Day Stat holiday NO CLASSES!

Thursday, May 24h Elementary TRACK MEETDetails will come home. Middle School Shakespeare Night Date to be determined

We need you! Help us to create a DMS parade float for kids and adults to ride on at the QB Family Day Parade!

The build needs to be ‘family friendly’ with students involved in the process from design to finished masterpiece!

The Parade Details

- QB Family Day - Sunday, May 27 - Parade Time TBD - but usually around 10:30 or 11am

All Discover Montessori families from Primary to Middle Schoolers ….. Lets’ all show our school spirit!

Contact Jane or Karin if you can help!

Work Party: Saturday May 5, 2018

Come and help us beautify the gardens, do some spring cleaning and build some community. We will have a job list posted soon at both locations. We have some irrigation work in our Dufferin location.

Please join us.

Idea!

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The Primary Community Notes from Parksville Casa 1

Welcome!

We want to welcome our newest student, Anthony, to our class!  We are so impressed with how our little community has come together to help Anthony feel at home.  There have been many memories shared as the children reminisce about their first few days of school- how the time flies!

Our class also welcomes the arrival of our butterflies.  After a patient wait, the young, wet butterflies emerged from their chrysalis.  When their wings were dry we were able to offer them a snack of fresh orange pieces. This has been such an interesting way to introduce this life cycle to our students.

French at the Parksville Campus!

We are joined each Wednesday by Rehanne, who travels over from the Nanaimo campus to introduce french to the children.  What a great opportunity during this formative time to have exposure to this beautiful language.  The children are so excited when Rehanne arrives and we often hear them spontaneously singing their french songs during our work cycles.

Looking Forward:

We are planning to participate in the Qualicum Family Day Parade, which takes place on May 27th.  It was such a memorable experience for the children last year that we decided to do it again!  This year we would like to add a themed float to the occasion.  If you have any experience creating a float, or are interested in helping please let us know.  We want this to be an inclusive project, involving both campuses. The hazelwood family has offered the use of their trailer!

Flashback! 2017 QB Family Day Bike Parade

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Notes from Nanaimo Casa 2

We’re all really enjoying this time of year and have settled into a calm and comfortable routine.

The children have definitely grown over Spring Break. Some of our second years are now incorporating housekeeping tasks that were formerly attributed to the Masters. For instance, some of our morning students are now taking on a leadership role, leading the youngest ones to and from the washroom, and helping them dress in rain gear in preparation for going home. Wonderful! Additionally, the Masters are now preparing for their transition into elementary, through exposure to elementary learning journals titled, “Work Diary”. The youngest ones, the first years, are observing this development, which in turn, helps them become aware of what’s ahead in their next academic school year.

We love each other’s company, and will continue to embrace that love in supportive development. Warmly (because it’s spring!), Liz and Jodi

Notes from Nanaimo Casa 1

I hope everyone found some down time over spring break. As always, April and May are going to be busy.

Last week our class was joined by Karina our practicum student from the Montessori Training Centre of BC. She will be returning in May to work with the children for 3 weeks. Even though she was only observing last week in the classroom she was able to make a nice connection with the children in the outdoor environment.

The Family Ball is at the end of the month. The children will be practicing their Grace and Courtesy skills in the classroom and hopefully at home too. Some examples are "what to say when you don't care for the food" "how to excuse yourself from the table" "how to ask someone to dance”. The children find it so fun to role play and pretend they are in different situations.

The Work Party is coming up on May 5th. Please put this on your calendar because it is an important day to get involved and build school community.  Most of the work will be in the garden. I will try to have lots of jobs for the younger ones (besides weeding because I know it's not their preferred way to help! ) We might have something that needs paint so dress appropriately.

A big thank you to

Nico and Dad (Bryan) for fixing the Nanaimo

Primary wheel- barrow!

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The Elementary Community Notes from Elementary One

April Showers brings May flowers!   Elementary 1 has profited from a break in the weather this first week of April.  We headed out on a walk to learn about our surrounding community; the people, businesses, and organizations that bring the Terminal Park area to life.  Before tunnelling under the highway through the pedestrian underpass, we picked a few of the hyacinth flowers that we had planted back in fall 2016.  One of our first visits was with the Canadian Cancer Society who shared with us how they serve people living through cancer treatments.  This led us into their wig room, where a variety of wigs are offered to women who lose their hair during treatment. 

Next stop was at the Nanaimo News Bulletin headquarters where Sean, the head publisher, gave us an overview of what a newspaper consists.  Students shared their experiences of being carriers for the paper, and others learned about the opportunities to serve as carriers.  

A pass by Cobbs bakery afforded us a taste of their strawberry passionfruit sweet buns, and Charlie Brown’s Healthfood store gave us a

taste of what the 46 year old business offers our community today.

After a few more stops in the Terminal Park area we returned back to school and collected various flowering specimens growing along the roadside.

Students demonstrated a high degree of grace and courtesy on our walkabout to all the people we met along the way.  Our flowers came in handy to offer our presenters a small token of our appreciation.

This walkabout has provided students with an initial introduction of where they might like to visit to learn more about the livlihoods of people in our community.  Students will have the opportunity to prepare a "Going Out" learning excursion to further their growing curiosity.  Nesvogs Meats is one such place that a couple of students are eyeing up.

As the weather provides us with warmer rain free days, we will explore other areas surrounding the school, to learn how unique our community is and all the ways that people serve one another.

For the next two weeks I will be on a teaching practicum in Andrea's class to complete the requirements for my Montessori Teacher Training.  Diana and Aviva will be filling in for me while I am far away... next door!

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Notes from Elementary Three

There is a strong academic focus to this semester. It is so interesting to see how the stories and activities that are introduced in the first years are revisited and expanded in the later years.  For example, in the area of history, older students have been focused on completing their timelines of life, man and civilizations.  Younger students have been busy revisiting the stories and the foundational material such as the  timeline of life which sets the stage for these future works.   

Younger students have received their first pen-pal letters from one of the Elementary classes in Squamish Montessori. It is so exciting to receive a letter in the mail!  We shall be working on our responses, and we have some beautiful note paper to use with our final copies.  It would be great to continue the letter writing process at home - I am sure that family and friends would love to receive a letter in the mail!  Beautiful stationary is fun to choose, and fun to use!

We have begun gearing up for the Montessori Track meet.   Most students remember that we like to focus on improving our individual skills rather than focusing on competing against others.  Also, we shall have the opportunity to meet our new pen pals!

Thank you to all the families for attending the recent open house!  There was a real buzz of positive energy in the room during the event.  Although some were nervous, students felt proud to show their work to others.   It was a real life example of not only the importance of having a thorough understanding of the material, but also the importance of clarity during public speaking.

Notes from Elementary Two

Elementary 2 would like to say, “Thank you” to everyone for coming to the open house. It seemed that everyone enjoyed the evening! We heard lots of positive feedback. So thank you! Your interactions and positive comments worked wonders that encouraged our children and who got more excited about their work. It is always a joy to see that sense of pride and confidence as they present and explain concepts learned using the materials they have been working with in the classroom. Some children came in the morning saying, “The open house was so much fun!’ Some younger children might have been a bit nervous when they presented to the adults, yet the grace and friendly attitude we showed them meant a lot to boost their confidence. Again, thank you everyone for your continued support to our children’s learning process as they build and shape their own future.

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The Middle School Adolescent Community

Microscopes, cell structure, mathematics, French verb conjugation, run-on sentences, art, woodworking, gymnastics and parkour, Shakespeare practice, fundraising, literature studies, open house displays, health, ranch work, café, and daily physical activities — these subjects and more have kept the Middle School class busy for the last month. We will continue to work on our biology unit and concentrate on our upcoming Shakespeare play for the rest of this month.

Outside of class, we have two students, Russell Good and Michael Good, who participated in this year’s BC Games in karate. Russell received a gold medal, and Michael was one of only a handful of students to receive a merit-based bursary from Coast Capital Savings.

Arianna Phillips and Amalia Riedel-Rothera both received silver medals in the recent 2018 Super Series Vancouver Island skating competitions. Arianna also received a gold medal in the Special Olympics portion of the competition.

Arianna Phillips also received three gold medals and a silver medal in the Vaisakhi Festival Track and Field Meet in Abbotsford this past weekend.

Have a great month everyone!