Wendy shows parents during the Lower El work share an exercise she uses with students, called "Balance Auditory Visual Exercises". This exercise uses balls to help make learning easier by engaging both sides of the brain.
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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 13
- Golf After School Program, 3:30-5:00 pm
- Middle School Performance, 7-9 pm
May 14
- Middle School Performance, 7-9 pm
May 16
- All School Gathering, 8:45 am
- Golf After School Program 3:30-5:00 pm
May 17
- Moving Up Morning Pinnacle hike for 3rd, 4th, 5th graders
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Important Future Dates:
May 23
- NO All School Gathering
- UE Museum, 2:00-3:00 pm
May 24
- Grandparent and Special Friend Day, 8:30-11:45 am
- UE Museum, 8:30-9:15 am
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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Remember to check your kids for ticks!
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Grandparents & Special Friends Day!
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Invitations have been sent out. If you plan on attending please RSVP using the link below.
We look forward to seeing you!
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Equity and Anti-Bias Opportunities
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Opportunities to further engage in the Hilltop community through the lens of Equity and Anti-bias:
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- View our Anti Bias resource list here. Please check out the readings, podcasts, and videos noted. They are materials that have helped us staff grow further in this area.
- There is a Parent Anti-Bias Group for parents to engage in these topics. Elizabeth Fisher (UE parent) is coordinating this. Please contact her if you are interested in participating in this training: Elizabeth Fisher - (802) 257-8584
- We are growing our school collection of anti-bias/diversity books for all ages. We are continuing to develop a wish lists and also a lending library that will be available for families to borrow books for children and adults. Sarah Swank (CH parent and Hilltop alum!) has offered to lead this up. If you are interested in helping with this please contact Sarah Swank - (202) 270-8508
- The Equity & Anti-bias Work Group had its second meeting on Monday. We discussed potential topics for consideration and planned a tentative agenda for next school year. In planning for the future and hoping to suggest changes for implementation, we are having a second meeting this month on the upcoming Kids Night Out. We hope to enable the participation of more parents due to the timing of the evening and the availability of childcare. If you are interested, please complete the following doodle poll so we can gauge interest.
If you want to sign up for childcare, please see the Kids Night Out notice and link below to sign up:
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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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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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Jody practices his fine motor skills.
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Josephine matches small tools to picture cards.
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Mason learns about geometric solids - spheres, cubes, triangular prisms and cylinders.
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Children's house classrooms were excited to have the toddlers visit.
What an exciting week in the Children's House Classrooms.
Happy May everyone!
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Cooperating at the mud kitchen.
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Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our last work share of the year on Thursday! Practicing reading, spelling, and math facts over the summer is essential for skill retention, and there are a variety of ways to go about it. Unless parents are intentional about practicing these skills, it's easy for the time to slip away without having done anything.
To this end, we are asking parents to partner with us in helping your children grow their skills over the summer. For math:
- Children entering second grade in the fall should know all their addition facts up to 20.
- Children entering third grade should have their Addition and subtraction facts 20 and under be automatic.
- For children going into fourth grade, it's important that they are automatic with addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts, and that they are in the process of learning their division facts.
- Flash cards, jump rope, and bouncing balls are just some of the tools you can use to help make memorizing math facts easier and enjoyable.
Sight word mastery opens the door to more proficient reading and more interesting books. Wendy provided packets yesterday of Fry words, which include the first hundred to the tenth hundred sight words. Using sight word stacking cups, sight word fly swat, and any number of games is a fun way to learn the reading and spelling of these essential words.
What is your plan for helping your child build his/her skills this summer?
Last but not least, we wish a fond farewell to Carter and his family, as they make a trip across the country to discover its natural wonder. Bon voyage, Carter!
Have a great weekend!
Kerstin, Patrick, and Amelia
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In connection with our ecology study, the class was introduced to the concept of biodiversity. The olders also adapted a geometry/math lesson to create pie charts of related data. The work is timely, given the significant UN report released this week on the fragile status of the world’s biodiversity. In class, we viewed a PBS NewsHour segment on this, as well as a pointed four-minute speech by
Swedish teen Greta Thunberg
addressing the COP24 Climate Talks last December (
Click here to see the talks
). A portion of the class is planning to prepare and eat a “simple lunch” next week of beans and rice, to exercise our ability to do something in the face of climate change. We noted the benefits of less packaging waste, using fewer resources, and even bringing us together as a community. (Those of you who needn’t send in lunch on Monday will get an email!)
The sixths enjoyed a day at
Old Sturbridge Village
. We saw a water-powered sawmill rip a log, watched a blacksmith fashion a part for a toaster, and a tinsmith piece together a tin mug. While in the shops, we asked the artisans whether the town should purchase a poor farm. (The group had read primary documents arguing the pro’s and con’s of this relatively new idea as a way for the town to carry out the state mandate of caring for the poor.) Most were leary of the possibility of an increase in their taxes to buy the farm, a notion that carries on to this day.
The older’s from lower el visited class twice this week in two
“moving up”
events. It was fun to host them, see the various works they brought along, and learn about them. In small groups, upper el buddies helped the visitors write three clues about themselves. At the end of our time together on Thursday, these were read aloud and the rest of the fourths and fifths guessed who. We look forward to hiking the
Pinnacle
next Friday morning with the group. (Emails are on the way with relevant information.)
DATES:
Morning Pinnacle Hike
Friday, May 17
3rd, 4th, 5th grade
(regular arrival time to school)
UE Museum
Thursday, May 23
, 2-3:00 pm
Friday, May 24th
, 8:30-9:15 am
UE Museum
May 29-31
UE 3-day trip to DAR State Park
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Opening night for the Middle School's 2019 original musical theatrical production,
The Dreamer
, is just around the corner, and excitement is running high! Props are built, lines are memorized, blocking, lighting, and choreography are set, and fragments of music waft tantalizingly from the Arts Barn. We are ready!
The performance is a
powerful
piece of the Middle School experience. It is a time for reflection and connection as ideas from a year of study coalesce into a singular piece of personal expression. Students drive every aspect of the process, compiling lists of themes from the year, building scenes on those themes, writing poems and songs, designing sets and lighting, and running show production. Students cheer each other on as folks who may never have considered themselves performers find their stage voices. It can be hard at times to imagine how individual ideas from twenty-two opinionated humans will ever come together into one unified whole, yet with time and patience, that is exactly what has happened. It is a remarkable exercise in collaboration and flexibility.
We are excited to share this totally original work with you. The piece explores ideas of privilege, race, power, leadership, and youth voice. It also draws
deeply
on our recent Odyssey to Alabama.
Shows are in the Arts Barn on:
Monday, May 13th at
7:00 PM
Tuesday, May 14th at
10:30
AM and
7:00 PM
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Rehearsal for performance.
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Bill Forchion gives instruction in lift dynamics.
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Speaking of lifts...performance lights are hung.
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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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In search of:
Allison Korn is looking for a 24” wheel bike for Lucas (10 years old- it’s the size just below an adult sized bike). If anyone has one to pass on or for sale, please contact Allison!
allisonkorn123@yahoo.com
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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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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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"Attention is the Beginning of Devotion"
-Mary Oliver
POETRY, BOOKMAKING AND ART WORKSHOP:
Once again a summer workshop combining poetry, bookmaking and art, will be held at
Ann Gengarelly’s Poetry Studio
. As always, young people will have the opportunity to write and draw in a natural setting with woodlands and beautiful gardens.
Workshops are divided into two groups; a younger group and and an older group. Each student participates in a poetry and bookmaking/art class each day.
Classes are kept small in order to create an individualized and intimate setting where creativity flourishes.
Poetry classes will be taught by Ann Gengarelly who has been a poet-in -the-schools for over twenty-five years. Bookmaking and Art Design will be led by Tony Gengarelly who teaches Art History at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
ONE WEEK INTENSIVE:
AUGUST 19, 20, 22, 23
Students will be accepted on a “first-come, first-serve” basis. If interested call Ann at
802-257-8972
or contact us at
agengar@sover.net
or
a.gengarelly@mcla.edu
.
We welcome students between the age of 7 and 17.
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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 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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