Montessori News Letter from the Editor October 2014

Newsletter editor Bev Wolff
October 2014
Montessori News
The Montessori School of Pullman
115 NW State Street Pullman WA 99163 509 334 4114
In this month’s
newsletter:
Montessori@pullman.com www.pullmanmontessori.org
• Letter from the editor
Pg. 1
• Meet the staff, continued
Pg. 2
• Classroom news
Pg. 3
 The Back Page – All on
board
Pg. 4
Calendar Highlights:
October
2 – Thurs.
Back to School Night for
parents & children from
Willow, Aspen and Maple
Rooms 3:45 to 5:30 PM
21 – 5:30 Board meeting in
the Montessori Office
31 – Visit from the
Pumpkin Lady, for all
classes. Donations of mini
pumpkins welcome (for the
pumpkin lady to hide and the
children to seek) No
Halloween costumes,
please. Dress color code –
black and orange!
Letter from the Editor
Dear Parents,
Our second Back to School night is scheduled for
Thursday, October 2. If you did not get a chance to
visit last week, we hope you can attend this event. The
children so look forward to showing their parents their
newest and favorite lessons. The Back to School night
is open from 3:45 – 5:30. You should plan on spending
about an hour with your child. This is for preschool,
kindergarten and elementary families. Parents of
Montessori Beginnings students in Oak Room, you will
have an opportunity to visit the class for a singalong
soon.
HALLOWEEN
Celebrating cultural traditions is an important part of
Montessori education. We will celebrate the holiday of
Halloween with some special activities – such as
pumpkin painting, pumpkin polishing and pumpkin
decorating, and/or baking pumpkin bread. The k/1
students will practice their weighing and measuring
skills, using pumpkins. Which is the heaviest
pumpkin? Which pumpkin has the biggest
circumference? The Maple Room students will also be
joining in some dramatic storytelling opportunities with
Ms. Bev – acting out stories such as Big Pumpkin, The
Little Old Lady who wasn’t Afraid of Anything and
Five Little Pumpkins. We’ll perform these stories and
songs for the students in Willow, Aspen and Oak
rooms.
Another special event, for all children, is a visit from
the Pumpkin Lady. The Pumpkin Lady will hide mini
pumpkins and all of the children can hunt to find a mini
pumpkin to take home. Donations of mini pumpkins
welcome.
We ask that children not wear their costumes at
school. Some children are scared of the costumes, and
for other children wearing costumes all day is
uncomfortable and makes going to the bathroom
difficult. Props, such as crowns, might also get broken.
Please save costumes for home. Kindergarten children
coming from the school bus will be given an
opportunity to change back into their regular clothes at
Montessori.
If your child has orange or black clothes, please let
your child dress in those colors for Halloween.
Thanks!
THREE CHEERS FOR
VOLUNTEERS!
Thanks, parents of Sawyer (Colleen),
Leonid (Anna), Anoushka and Aayush
(Preeti) and Ireland (Molly) for a
great parent work day. We traced
shapes for pin poking, copied,
trimmed and laminated new language
work, cut paper to size for map work,
and cleaned out all of the closets in
room 207, which will be a multipurpose space for our school . . . We
are thrilled that all of the tasks were
completed!
Thanks to Mom of Lana and Tyson
(Stacey Camp) and Anna and Gunnar
(Carolyn) for help organizing our
storage areas.
Oak Room thanks ~ Moira’s family
for laundry help, Juniper’s family for
playdough making, and Grayson’s
family for sorting photos.
Aspen Room thanks ~ Tyson’s
family for making playdough, Carson
and Connor’s family for sewing a bag
for the Leaning Tower of Pisa blocks,
Sawyer’s family for help with laundry
Willow Room thanks ~ A special
thanks to Azalea/Prairie, Peyton, and
Alex’s families for doing the
classroom Laundry!
Maple room thanks ~ Thanks to
Casey (Alana’s Mom) for
accompanying us on our field trip.
Thanks to Amberly Boone (Blaise’s
Mom, from Willow Room) for the
great tour of the WSU visitor center.
Thanks to the Hust and Bayly family
for help with painting and putting
together cabinets before the beginning
of school.
A big thank you to Lynn Myers,
Dylan’s Mom (Willow classroom) for
painting the Aspen Room this
summer.
Page 2 of 4
Montessori News
Meet the staff, continued . . .
Bev Wolff, Director, has spent almost half her
Ms. Bev thinks she has the
best job ever!
Lauren Bay works in After
School Care
life in England and just over half in the United
States, and calls both places home. As a result, she
has teaching qualifications from England and the
United States, both in traditional and Montessori
education, as well as degrees in English and
Drama. Bev has taught toddlers through college
age students and beyond, and has enjoyed it all.
She just loves teaching and people, no matter how
young or old! Bev enjoys writing, and for many
years was a teacher consultant for the Northwest
Inland Writing Project, based at the University of
Idaho. She also enjoys theatre, both as a
participant (actress, director, writer, house
manager, Improv) and as an audience member.
She also loves spending time with her family –
cooking, playing games, hiking and camping are all
enjoyed by her family members. Bev finds
working at the Montessori School of Pullman full
of delights and challenges. Reading stories,
gardening, drama activities, and conversations with
the students, parents and teachers are some of her
favorite activities at school.
Bev has three grown children, all graduates of
Montessori programs.
Bev is a trainer in the field of Early Education for
the Department of Early Learning in Washington
State, and is delighted that this allows her and the
Montessori School of Pullman to host the first
Montessori mini-conference on the Palouse, and
have participants receive recognition from the state
for their participation. She hopes that this will be
an annual event, and encourage interest and growth
in Montessori education in our area. Montessori
education is just too fantastic to be kept a secret!
Colleen Evans, After Care
Supervisor, has worked at the Montessori
Taylor Maclean works in After
School Care
School of Pullman since 2001. Previously she
worked for many years as an assistant teacher in a
Montessori school in Spokane.
Colleen has two grown sons, and four
grandchildren. Colleen is an artist in many ways.
She draws beautiful pictures, fills her garden in
Pullman with beautiful flowers, especially roses,
and prepares a magical environment to invite
children to play, be creative and socialize with their
friends.
Joleen has been working with children for
many years, both here and in Olympia.
Joleen lives in Albion. She has three
teenage children.
Taylor Maclean, After School
Care
I was raised in a small town in Hawaii then
moved to Washington in 8th grade to
experience the mainland. I went to a
Montessori school myself, and my mom
being a teacher, raised my sister (Ms.
Jamey) and I to love kids! I am now a
senior at WSU studying
kinesiology/psychology, and in Delta
Gamma sorority. I plan on graduating in
December and staying in Pullman to take
up a job at Pullman Regional Hospital for a
few months, and then moving back to
Seattle. I am hoping to go to Physicians
Assistant School, and eventually become a
pediatrician. My dream would be to travel
the world and work with kids everywhere
to help them get better. I previously
travelled to Africa and it was life
changing!
Lauren Bay, After School Care
My name is Lauren Bay and I am a senior
Communication major at Washington State
University! Last semester I had the
opportunity to study abroad in Valencia,
Spain for five incredible months. I was
able to connect with people around the
world and expand my global perspective.
Throughout my high school years, I was a
reliable and experienced baby sitter to my
family members and my neighbors. I am so
thrilled to be able to work at the
Montessori School of Pullman to gain new
experiences with the wonderful and
intelligent children of this school. I look
forward to getting to know all of the
children and parents as the school year
continues!
Joleen McCarroll wears many hats. She
supervises the lunch and the nap program, works as
an assistant teacher in the summer and extra care
programs and works with Ms. Colleen to supervise
our After Care Program. Joleen has also cleaned
our school and has helped out in the office. Joleen
really is a ‘Jill of all trades’.
Ms. Joleen and Ms. Colleen
Montessori News
Page 3 of 4
News from the Class Rooms
Oak Room
As fall weather begins, we will be working on the selfhelp skill of putting on our own coats. We are working
on learning the routine of our day and the layout of our
classroom. We are remembering where each piece of
work belongs in the classroom. The children have
already learned many songs, including our Alphabet
Song, Ram Sam Sam, Open, Shut Them, Slippery Fish,
Jump up and Down, and also a song in French. The
French song is Frere Jacques.
Thanks for the great turnout for our first sing-a-long.
 Please do read the white board each day so that
you know whether your child needs inside or
outside shoes.
 Please do have your children practice changing
their own shoes and clothing at home.
Aspen Room
Here in Aspen Room we are still settling in to our routine
and environment. We have been doing art projects about
apples, as well as discussing what happens in fall, and
what fall means to us.
Over the next few months we will be focusing on our
bodies, and also learning about how we nourish our
bodies with healthy food.
Please do bring snack the day ahead of your child’s snack
day. This allows us to prepare snack before the children
arrive in the classroom in the morning.
Willow Room
August and September have come and gone already and
fall is upon us! The children in Willow room have
transitioned nicely to routines and continue to enjoy
getting used to the classroom and strengthening new
relationships with teachers and peers.
Beginning October 6th we will begin our first theme
study on plants, after which we will continue to enjoy the
late harvest season. We will be starting our Library
Program on October 10th.
Just a couple reminders - Please remember to sign your
child in and out each day, as well as start thinking about
switching out extra clothes with more weather
appropriate clothing.
Congratulations
to
Ms. Tessa Olsen
on the successful completion
of Montessori teacher
training!
Maple Room
The highlight of September was our all day hiking field
trip along the South Fork of the Palouse River. Along
the way, we
 stopped to identify trees (oak, aspen, willow
and maple – what else!),
 made bark rubbings, collected leaves and seeds
 found examples of food for living things, both
human and animal
 looked for evidence of animals using the river
habitat – nests, tracks, beaver dams
 considered how we might have lived long,
long ago, before there were houses, cars and
grocery stores,
 visited the WSU visitor center (Thanks,
Amberly Boone, Blaise’s Mom, for the great
tour)
 ate a picnic lunch at Koppel Farm Community
Gardens
 enjoyed testing our endurance on a big hike
 conquered our fears of crossing the river on the
plank bridges
 ate a snack at Sweet Mutiny!
We have continued learning about habitats and plants
back in the classroom. We have also been very busy
making maps, doing math work, reading and writing.
Maple students out hiking the South Fork of the Palouse
The Back Page!
All On Board
The Montessori School
of Pullman
115 NW State Street
Pullman
WA 99163
Phone:
509 334 4114
E-Mail:
montessori@pullman.com
Follow
the child!
We’re on the Web!
See us at:
www.pullmanmontessori.org
Like us on facebook!
On Sunday, September 28th, former, current
and several prospective board members, plus
Ms. Jane and Ms. Bev to represent the staff,
met at the beautiful Moscow Mountain home
of Lynn Myers (Dylan’s Mom from Willow
Room, our current vice-president of the board)
for a board retreat. Our focus was to solidify
our mission statement, identify our core
values, and share our hopes, dreams and
concerns for the school, in order to
strategically plan for our future. Our next step
is to invite you, our parents, to share your
needs, hopes, dreams and concerns. There will
be two ways to add your voice ~ through a
survey monkey link or on a notecard to be
distributed through the cubbies! Please do
contribute, so that our strategic plan reflects
our whole community of families. Thanks, in
advance, for taking time to do this!
One of the topics that we did discuss was ways
to keep school tuition affordable. See below
for Bev’s story and ideas.
Paying for Private Education
A Personal Story from Bev
All of my three children attended Montessori
elementary school, and I can tell you that was
a real stretch for our family budget. One of
the ways my husband and I coped with making
the payments was to let our children know that
we were investing in their education when
they were young, at a time they could not pay
for it themselves, but that when it was time for
college, we would expect them to contribute
through scholarships, grants, college loans and
work. This is, in fact, what did happen, but we
have contributed when we could.
Looking back, I wish we had also talked to my
Father-in-Law. Their grand-dad would have
helped out at the time, as he later left money
for their education.
For the last two years, my husband and I have
shared a car. It’s amazing how much more
money we have in our budget without a car
payment, and with savings on gas, car
insurance and maintenance. That’s another
tactic I wish we had tried earlier, and put our
savings into our children’s education.
We are trying to keep our prices as affordable
as possible. As an example, staying for all-day
kindergarten costs $50 more per week, or $200
a month more, than being dual enrolled, and
spending half the day in public school. Our
elementary program is currently $550 per
month, or about $137.50 per week.
Please do share any of your own budget tips
with us. Thanks.
Meet the board president
My name is Thanh Nguyen. I received my
Bachelor of Science degree in electrical
engineering and computer science from the
University of California at Berkeley and a
master of engineering degree in electrical
engineering from the University of Idaho. I
have worked at Schweitzer Engineering
Laboratories (SEL), Inc. since 2001 and have
been involved with designing, testing, and
validating a variety of generation, distribution,
and transmission products. Presently, I am
working on an Executive Master of Business of
Administration from the University of Idaho
and work as a marketing program manager for
SEL power system products. I am the mom of
two beautiful children, Valerie and William;
both have gone to Montessori School of
Pullman. Valerie used to be in Ms. Sudha class
and Ms. Jane class for 2.5 years, and now is in
Jefferson elementary school. William started
off in Ms. Jane’s class, and is now in Maple
Room with Ms. Sudha for kindergarten in the
morning and Aspen Room with Ms. Jane in the
afternoon. My husband, Trung Nguyen, also
works at SEL as an electrical hardware
engineer. We have lived in Pullman for more
than 13 years and love the community and the
environment that Pullman has offered.
I invite you to contact me via telephone (509
592 3130) or email (thanhxuan@gmail.com)
with your feedback about the school. We want
to hear from our parents!
Next board meeting is scheduled for
Tuesday, October 21st in the Montessori
office at 5:30. All welcome.
Sharing hopes and dreams at the retreat!