Business is booming for LE students at Haymart!
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Hilltop Montessori School's mission is for students to practice responsible independence in a caring community of curious, critical learners and thoughtful citizens.
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Next Week:
May 4
May 6
- Equity and Anti-Bias Work Group, 1:45 - 2:45 pm
May 8
- 6th Grade trip to Old Sturbridge Village, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
May 9
- All School Gathering 8:45am
- Lower El Workshare, 3:00 - 4:00 pm
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Important Future Dates:
May 17
- Moving Up Morning Pinnacle hike for 3rd, 4th, 5th graders
May 23
- All School Gathering 8:45am
- UE Museum, 2:00-3:00pm
May 24
- Grandparent and Special Friend Day, 8:30 - 11:45 am
- UE Museum 8:30-9:15am
May 25
- Hilltop Community Tag Sale & Craft Fair, 7:30 - noon
May 27
May 29
- Children's House Moving Up Night: for parents of toddlers moving to Children's House next fall. All parents are welcome to hear about what lies ahead for next year. 4 - 5 pm
May 29-31
- UE 3-day trip to DAR State Park
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Mister G Concert at Hilltop!
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The Mister G performance is tomorrow!
Do not miss this special event, here at Hilltop.
Tickets will
not
be available at the door, so please be sure to purchase your tickets in advance.
Tickets are $10 and $25 for a family pack, available on Eventbrite:
Join us for a morning of lively entertainment. This bilingual concert, featuring Mister G will incorporate musical styles from around the globe and engage audiences through movement. Children are encouraged to dance and sing along.
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We had a record 22 days of rain in April and May is shaping up to be a continuation of that weather trend. While the gray skies and constant damp has been challenging for the adults, the children have embraced the puddles and mud with complete joy. Rain suits and rain boots are necessary accoutrements to the toddler wardrobe and enable wonderful, focused activity even when the rain pours down.
Singing has been another focused activity. This week there were spontaneous rounds of
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
during the work cycle and dancing and singing with Jay during music class. Here's a fun song with hand motions to ask your toddler about:
Put your hands up high
Put you hands down low
Put your hands to the side
And make a rainbow!
Finally, what mud season would be complete without this tune?
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Yours in soaked solidarity.
The Toddler Team
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TAB Art means teaching for Artistic Behavior. In each classroom our young artists experiment and practice to improve skills that assist in the design of their own creations.
Children learn best and engage longer when they are in control of their choices. We already know this from observing children deeply engaged with the Montessori materials they choose throughout each work cycle. With TAB a new technique is presented and then added to the Art area in a simplified form for practice. These lessons are brief and precise. Techniques can then be scaffolded into future creations when needed. With TAB, children learn to problem solve, persist in their practice, trust themselves, critique their own creations and then share their discoveries with others. It truly is a beautiful thing!
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Feature - Elementary Art Studio!
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The Elementary Art studio buzzes with energy! Our studio is inspired by the
Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB)
art class model. The TAB method melds beautifully with Montessori, as it places the student at the center of their decision-making process, allows the teacher to follow the interests of the student, and fosters a resilient and confident art-maker. The envisioning, creative problem-solving, and reflection done in the art studio ripples out to all aspects of a child's life.
Art class begins with a lesson on technique, history, studio behavior, etc. Students then choose the art they will create that day. The studio is arranged into 'centers' focusing on each major art media: drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, clay, fiber arts, and print-making. Students can work as independently as they choose, or seek teacher (and student!) support.
As each center opens throughout the year, lessons specifically focus on a particular medium. For example, when the Fiber Arts center opened – to much excitement – students learned basic weaving and sewing techniques, the vocabulary of each method, and heard stories about historic and modern artists working in Fiber Arts. Smaller groups had more advanced lessons in subsequent classes.
Each class finds the students following their creative intuition. They choose books for reference visuals, curl around their sketchbooks, fill enormous sheets of paper, and create universes with hot glue and found objects. They collaborate, inspire one another, and help each other when the art-making doesn’t go as expected. Some may be in the vital 'scribble phase,’ exploring the ways a new media allows them to express themselves. Others may be refining their craftsmanship over many classes.
As students become inspired to try a technique, the teacher is ready to support them at their peak time of curiosity, allowing for deeper learning. That student often goes on to inspire – and confidently teach – many other students in the class. Upper Elementary artists have the opportunity to choose art electives throughout the year where they dive even deeper into specific techniques.
The walls of the studio act as 'passive' lessons. An informal student gallery allows artists to proudly share work alongside artists who are historically prominent, lesser-known, local, and from cultures all around the world. A chalkboard bookshelf focuses on a new artist every few weeks, featuring an inspirational quote, an image of the artist at work, and examples of their art.
Classroom studies often inspire lessons on specific techniques, like Aboriginal Australian dot painting, drawing dinosaurs from references, and Chinese calligraphy.
Students are given space to reflect on their art and articulate their learning. Lower Elementary particularly enjoys having a sharing session each week. What inspired them? What was difficult, and how did they solve the problem? What did they love that they want to continue developing next? Twice a year we share an art show for Grandparents & Special Friends Day. This art is accompanied by an Artist Statement written by each student, which provides a fascinating look into the student's creative process.
We are so proud of our hard-working artists!
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Upper El students work together to learn a new clay technique.
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Upper El practices 3-dimensional drawing and shadows during a lesson on observation.
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Upper El students deeply engaged in a 'comics' elective.
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A Lower El student practices observation and planning for her dinosaur sewing project.
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Exploration happens inside the studio and out.
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So many kinds of art happen at one Upper El table!
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Artists so proud of their finished work!
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This week, we read the book
Those Shoes
by Maribeth Boelts, and had an interesting discussion about what it means to be generous. Here are some of the questions asked, and the responses given:
- The main character gives away sneakers that are too small for him, but he really doesn't want to. Does this make him less generous? No, because he really hoped the shoes would stretch one day and fit him.
- Can generosity hurt you or other people you're trying to help It depends on how you do it. You wouldn't want to hurt someone's feelings and make them feel like what they have isn't good enough. Sometimes you can keep giving and people start to expect it. Then it gets awkward.
- Is it easier to be generous or to not be generous? It's easier to give something away because if you don't, you'll wish you had, and you'll think about all the happiness the other person would have gotten.
We have started our study of money! Please continue the practice of counting change with your child, and working on making change, to make them money-literate. Can they skip-count each denomination? This could be a fun game on a rainy day.
What can magnetism travel through? In our second presentation on magnetism, we posed this question. Ask your child what they know about this.
Enjoy your spring weekend.
Kerstin, Patrick, and Amelia
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The class has a discussion about the book "Those Shoes" during our community time
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Hazel and Matai test whether different objects are magnetic or not.
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Charlotte and Kerstin work with the Golden Beads
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Students have begun our final lit and sem books of the year, which include
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy,
by Gary D. Schmidt, as well as two mysteries: the old classic,
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E.L. Konigsburg, and
The Westing Game
, by Ellen Raskin. The olders are also wrapping up essays on the last book, which has involved a new in-depth editing of one another’s papers at the “micro” level (word choice, punctuation, etc.) and the “macro” level (order of ideas, salient quotes, good organization). In a teacher-created sample paragraph for practice, they laughed when they saw the various spellings for the main character’s name, and frequent typos. (It’s amazing what one notices in someone else’s work!)
Sixths have brought their Upper Elementary history studies home to look at Vermont in the late 1700s and 1800s: how the natural resources shaped settlements, and how human settlement shifted the land (as in logging and sheep farming). This is admittedly a look at the dominant culture of Western immigrant peoples. While the sixths did some work on native cultures last year, with our look at the Pequot culture, we hope to incorporate understanding of the Abenaki culture more fully in next year’s U.S. history study (which will involve the whole class!).
Meanwhile, the 4-5th group is winding up “Silk Road” with a brief look at contributions from ancient China, then moving into the “Age of Exploration”. Work on Chinese calligraphy in the art room has been a lovely connection.
Recently the class also began some anti-bias lessons from a new resource put out by the Anti-Defamation League. This is a process that will continue into next year. We are just getting our feet wet at this point. To illustrate why the work is important, the group viewed
a short NYT video
last week from their “25 Mini-films Exploring Race, Bias, and Identity with Students”, raising topics that will be covered in more depth next fall. In order to understand cultural stereotypes that can be the precursors of cultural and racial bias, we began a few exercises looking at our own individual traits and cultures--which often go unnoticed or unidentified as we live them day in and day out.
Here are a few upcoming dates. You will note the three-day trip at the end of May. Students will arrive to school at the regular time (8:15 to 8:30 a.m.) on Wednesday, May 29. The class returns to school by regular pick-up time (3:00 p.m.) on Friday, May 31. Details will be sent out later.
Wed., May 8
8:00 - 5:00 p.m
Sixth grade trip to Old Sturbridge Village
Friday, May 17
Moving up Morning Pinnacle hike for 3rd, 4th, 5th graders
(regular arrival time to school; drivers and hikers welcome)
Thursday, May 23 and Friday, May 24
2:00-3:00 p.m.
UE Museum
Wed.-Fri., May 29-31
UE 3-day trip to DAR State Park
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The fifth graders point to their ‘Mystery Sites’ they located for the Journey North investigation that ended this week. They were able to locate all 10 cities! The sites ranged from Winnipeg, Canada to Suva, in the Fiji Islands; from Taragine National Park in Tanzania to Albany, Oregon.
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Expression of Self In the Middle School
Sometimes we forget how much art we do in the Middle School. This is because formal art-classes are limited and tend to be purely skill based: lessons on two and three point perspective, facial molds, watercolor wet on wet technique, visualizing negative space, facial proportions, nib and ink characteristics, paper mache, and coptic binding to name a few. What is possible? How does a student look beyond the scope of YouTube and the rapid fire visual onslaught of Instagram to a landscape of their own imagination? The real goal is to give students enough technique so as to allow their creativity to bloom, enough breadth of vision to imagine an expression of their own.
Art making at some level must be a concern of life, a reflection of introspection, an exploration of the unknown, a contemplation of matters of personal consequence. There should be some joy, some sharing, and a degree of struggle. These intangible aspects are seldom achieved in a class but rather they must grow from the total experience of the student. It is for this reason that most of the art in the Middle School is incorporated into the curriculum as a whole. How do we express the immigration story of our family visually? What does enslavement look like personally? If my nature could be expressed by an animal, what would it be, and what would it look like? How can the simplicity of a haiku be captured in a landscape? What is the nature of a heroic nose? How can a film become a poem? These questions represent some of the many projects that students must engage in the Middle School. They are challenges that demand the acquisition of technique and the struggle of process. Their execution and final vision are varied by design, and ultimately it is the student’s creative voice that is being nurtured and valorized. Hopefully students are offered a glimpse of their essential creativity that will feed them for the rest of their lives.
Finn Campman
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The online school store is open!!
A wonderful way to show your support of Hilltop!
This “Pop-up Shop” is only live from now through 5/15. Start shopping now!
Hilltop Montessori School themed items hats, sweatshirts, t-shirts, bags and more are available for purchase.
Check it out!
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THANK YOU
to
Hazel Pizza
for providing delicious pizzas for the students and staff every week! Sccccrrrrumptious! We still and always will ♡ 🍕!!
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Kids Night Out
Friday, May 17th
Do you want to have a fun night out on the town? Are you having a hard time finding a babysitter? Do you want your children to have just as much fun as you do while you’re out? Drop your children off at our arts barn anywhere between 5:00-9:00 pm on Friday, May 17th to have a night of fun and games with our responsible middle school babysitters.
There will be fun, games, crafts, and tons more! At least one adult and lots of fun middle schoolers will be there. We will provide snacks, and pizza is available! If you don’t want pizza, please pack a nutritious dinner or feed your child before you come. To attend KNO, your child must be in children's house or above and be able to use the bathroom independently.
This fun night for you and your kids costs only
$7.00 an hour and $5.00 for each additional child
.
Pizza is $5.00 more for two slices
. All proceeds from Kids Night Out go to the Hilltop Montessori Middle School Odyssey fund. Our businesses are an important part of our fundraising, so your support really helps!
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Children's House + Summer Fun supplies needed:
We Just received our new sewing machine and we are so excited to start sewing projects with the kids!
- We are looking for sewing items you don't need anymore such as scissors, fabric, fabric markers, buttons, etc.
- We are also looking for camera donations so the children can photo document their process and create photo journals and scrapbooks.
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Donations Wanted:
Hi our names are Ava and Annelise. We are students of the Middle School. We have been working on a school project to help homeless people in Brattleboro with Groundworks Collaborative, and specifically to help two homeless mothers with newborn babies. Thanks to Groundworks these two mothers are no longer homeless but they still need a lot of help getting the items they need to raise children. Please leave any of the following items in the box in the entryway near the front desk: diapers/wipes, baby clothes (new or in excellent used condition), nursing supplies, toiletries, gift cards to local businesses. We also have a list of other items that could be useful next to the box. If you would like any more information about Groundworks you can look them up yourself or go to this link:
groundworksvt.org
. If you have any questions for us feel free to contact us with either of these emails:
afedoruk@hilltopmontessori.org
or
adavidov@hilltopmontessori.org
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Hilltop Housemate Wanted:
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Hello Hilltop community! My name is Camille and I’m looking for a housemate to join me and my 2.5-yr-old cat, Frida, in the semi-furnished, two-bedroom apartment above the Middle School. The larger, south-facing bedroom is available through this summer, and possibly beyond. Frida and I have been living on campus for almost three years now, and it’s such a beautiful and special place to get to call home! Ideally our new housemate would be either already connected to the Hilltop community, or strongly interested in becoming friendly, familiar, and engaged upstairs neighbors. :) More details are listed in the online housemate ad:
Click Here
. Do you know someone who you think might be a good fit? Please help spread the word!
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This Saturday and Sunday: Out of the Lion's Mouth
“Out of The Lion’s Mouth” is a quirky new look at a fascinating old story: Daniel in the Lions' Den. It was the first in a series of 4 such plays written by Paul specifically for the Choir School, founded by Susan Dedell. Hilltop students in the cast are: Marian Wojcik as Daniel, Julian Siegel as Xerxes, and Kiersten Bayer as a Satrap and a lion.
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Calling all Families...
Do you need to find a home for some gently used items in your home?
Perhaps you are inspired by Marie Kondo???
Join us for the 2019 Family Tag Sale!
Table reservations now accepted for the Hilltop Community Tag Sale.
This year will also include Crafters and a fabulous Plant Sale.
Email
Roselle
to reserve a table or stop by the front desk and grab a table reservation form. $20 per table. You sell and keep proceeds.
Take what doesn't sell home with you (or donate to your favorite charity).
Saturday, May 25th
7:30 a.m. - noon
In the Arts Barn & at the circle
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Circus Minimus:
The One-Man Circus in-a-Suitcase performance will be held on
Sunday, May 5 at 11:00am
at the Winston Prouty Center. The performance gives everyone an opportunity to participate in an enthralling, whimsical celebration of the imagination. This show has been performed over 500 times around the globe, for family theater audiences and school assemblies alike. From Kevin O’Keefe’s suitcase an entire circus emerges: tent, band, lights, the boisterous ringmaster Steve Fitzpatrick, the officious Mervin Merkle, the incredible Bumbilini Family, the Magician to the Stars Clyde Zerbini, and Keefer–an innocent trying to runaway and join the circus. However, the most important performers emerge from the audience. Each performance becomes a dialogue between the characters and the audience–a light-hearted collaboration. This event is by donation. All proceeds support the community-based programs of the Winston Prouty Center.
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Join Amber Arnold Hilltop parent of Layla and Elijah for an extra special Mother's Day Ceremony at Inner Heat Yoga Studio!
Click here to register
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Summer Classes offered at In-Sight Photography Project
These classes will be offered in our new facility at 183 Main Street, STE 3. We will be offering classes in Digital Photography, Analog Photography, Graphic Design, Alternative Processes, and a collaboration with the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center.
As always, our classes are available to youth 11-18, regardless of ability to pay, and In-Sight will provide all necessary equipment and materials for students to participate in classes.
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SO MUCH CIRCUS!
The New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) has lots happening this Spring and Summer. Enjoy activities, or just watch a show, there is something for everyone! Tickets and registration open now!
See a Show
Spring Programming includes:
•
May 4 & 5
FRACTURED
: ProTrack Year 3 Graduation Show Tour
•
May 19
CircusNEXT
: We Will Rock You / Youth Troupe showcase
•
June 7 - 9
AS ONE
: ProTrack Year 2 Showcase
Join Summer Camp
NECCA is recognized by the American Youth Circus Organization as an international leader in curriculum development. NECCA’s attention is on teaching to the heart and dreams of every student and meeting them at their own level of fitness and aspiration. Summer Camps include Trapeze, Juggling, trampoline, clowning, low wire, unicycling and more!
- Age 3 – 5 Half Day Camp / Age 5 – 17 Full Day Camp
- Camps run weekly June 24 – August 23
- Special Teen Camp and Advanced Camp, too!
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New England Youth Theatre
is celebrating its 20th year with lots of great summer programs for kids ages 6-19! From Shakespeare to Improv to Melodrama along with our Design and Technical program, we've got something for everyone, even those who prefer to remain behind the scenes! Visit
www.neyt.org
to learn more about all we have to offer to make this your Best Summer Ever!
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