Hilltop Montessori School's mission is for students to practice responsible independence in a caring community of curious, critical learners and thoughtful citizens.

October 18th, 2019

Next Week: October 21 UE Soccer Home Game, 5:15pm October 22 Birch Room Conferences October 23 Willow Room Conferences UE Soccer Away Game @Guilford Central, 4pm October 24 Parent Teacher Conferences (Half Day), Childcare Available* MS Soccer Game Home, 4pm October 25 Parent Teacher Conferences (No School), Childcare Available* For more details about soccer please see the Hilltop Website Calendar

Upcoming Dates: October 28 Annual FUNd Week Begins! October 29 MS Home Game, 4pm October 30 Soccer Jamboree K-8! 3:15pm October 31 All School Gathering, 8:45am  November 3 Racial Justice Parent Workshop, 1-4pm *Childcare Available let the front desk know by Oct 21st so we can plan for staffing

Hilltop Practices Emergency Preparedness

This week we practiced emergency preparedness. Children's House got to meet with firefighters, tour the fire trucks, and learn more about being safe and aware.

We also practiced an Evacuation Drill which was presented by Kegan to the students at the end of All School Gathering (ASG). He described how we would practice an evacuation using buses. We went from ASG to the gym and out the back door of the gym to where buses were waiting. Each student walked with their Peace Buddy into the gym, then met their classroom teachers and each class practiced getting on and off the bus. The bus drivers spoke with students about features inside the bus and took questions from students. All went well and students enjoyed the process!

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Notes From the Head of School

As a staff, we continue to do “professional development” as one of our ways to grow further and to always improve as teachers and administrators. We invite you to further develop as a parent/caregiver by taking advantage of one of the outstanding workshop opportunities that we have arranged to offer at Hilltop this fall. None of us have a degree in parenting and all of our children would benefit from us being more intentional and thoughtful in our interactions. Please join us! Parenting for Racial Justice - We are extremely fortunate to have BOTH Angela Berkfield and Shela Linton joining us to facilitate two workshops offered on Sundays, November 3rd and December 15th (from 1-4 pm). These advocate trainers each bring more than two decades of experience to their work. Find their full bios here - Act for Social Justice And take our word for it, you will find the time to be very worthwhile! Please register to join us by emailing Elizabeth Fisher at livezestfully@yahoo.com.  Parenting to “Mean Business without being Mean” and to “Raise Problem Solvers” - We are thrilled to be able to arrange for Sara Donahue, MSW, LICSW to be able to meet with parents for two FREE parenting workshops. Sara is a Hilltop parent and has decades of experience providing individual and group counseling for children and adolescents, behavior intervention and crisis response in the school setting, and family support. She has been working as a school social worker for fourteen years, while also maintaining a private practice in Brattleboro. Sara has been an independent facilitator for the Love and Logic Institute® for eight years. Currently, Sara is most enthusiastic about her work coaching parents to become more confident in handling tricky situations with their children around behavior. Thursday, November 7th 5:30-7:00 pm for a session on working with children ages 0-6. Tuesday, November 19th 7-8:30 pm for a session geared towards elementary and middle school aged children. More information provided below.

Notes From the Board

On Wednesday evening the HMS Board of Trustees gathered for our monthly Board meeting. Some highlights: We practiced our fiduciary responsibilities by listening to a presentation from our independent financial auditor regarding the full financial audit done this summer. We are happy to report that the school is in good financial standing, with no major outstanding financial issues and strong consistency in our finances from year to year. We also reviewed and approved the required IRS Form 990, to be filed on time (!!) by the November 15 deadline. We are grateful to have such strong, competent financial leadership in the HMS Administrative Team! We continued our work with Trustee education in a few different areas, discussing the mentorship program we implemented this year and use/structure of the Board shared drive. Annual Fund is coming up! We made our pledges. Stay tuned for more information from Roselle about exciting Annual Fund activities! Thanks to everybody who came to Grandparents and Special Friends Day! We were delighted by the turnout and the delicious treats, and were blown away by the composure and knowledge of the student panel. We are looking forward to catching up with you during the Annual Fund week, and at the upcoming parent workshops (see below for more info and to RSVP).  Stay in touch! Asher, Alix & Vanessa

SAVE THE DATE Two Great Parenting Workshops

Parenting for Racial Justice Workshop!

PARENTING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE Workshops are coming to Hilltop Montessori School this fall!     On Sunday 11/3 and Sunday 12/15 (from 1-4 pm) Angela Berkfield and Shela Linton, well known facilitators and advocates from The Root Social Justice Center, will lead parents and others important in the lives of Hilltop students, in workshops to help us understand racism and bias, and to help us see how these play out in our parenting, school, and community.  Childcare and light refreshments will be offered.  We are relying on parents to fund this event. Please use the following link as you think about your contribution, and give generously: Sliding Scale Guide. If you are unable to participate, but want to support this work, we would welcome your contribution.  Contribute Here It is preferred that participants attend both workshops and continue with the monthly discussion group that will follow during the 2019-2020 school year.  We need a minimum of 8 participants to move forward, so please call Elizabeth Fisher at (802)257-8584, or send an email to livezestfully@yahoo.com to REGISTER your interest and indicate the number of children who will need childcare. If you’d like to get a head start on reading, pick up a copy of White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo. This is an exciting learning opportunity which we hope will benefit us, our children, and our school as we strive to become more diverse. I look forward to doing this important work with you, Elizabeth Fisher (UE Mom)

October Parent Teacher Conferences

Half Day Thursday, October 24 No School Friday, October 25 If you need childcare for the entire afternoon or day on: Thursday, October 24 from 12pm-5pm Friday, October 25 from 8:30am-5pm Please remember to sign up for childcare at the front desk! Childcare will be provided on Thursday, October 24 from 12pm-5pm, and on Friday, October 25 from 8:30am-5pm. If you need childcare for your 20 minute conference, there is no need to sign up, and you can simply drop your child off during that time free of charge. If you need childcare for the entire afternoon or day, you can sign up by emailing the front desk or stopping by in person. This childcare will be billed at the After Care rate, or is included in the flat rate. Please sign up by Monday October, 21st - we will be staffing accordingly!

Hilltop Online School Store

We are excited to launch the 2019 Holiday online Hilltop School Store! There are exciting new items and many gift ideas for your Hilltop student, alum, parent/caregiver or grandparent. What a unique gift idea and a wonderful way to show your support of Hilltop!  Our Holiday “Pop-up Shop” is only live now through November 15th at midnight...Start shopping now!   Hilltop Montessori School themed items hats, sweatshirts, t-shirts, bags and more will be available for purchase.  Please check out the website here now.

Toddler Program

Each week since the beginning of the school year, the toddler program has been walking in the woods along the Haytown Highway. It has been lovely to witness the children’s growing comfort in taking these walks and how much we’ve all enjoyed observing the changes in the forest week to week.  In the beginning, the trees were full and green and the ground somewhat bare. The children attempted to push down trees and happily stomp along the pathways. There were a few tears when some children got tired or hungry and some wanted to be carried. On our most recent venture, the children were excited to walk through the thick layers of leaves on the forest floor (though it was harder) and to fill buckets and baskets with acorns and colorful leaves. They noticed the changes from the week before and a soft patch of moss along the path. There are no more tears. The children were happy to hold hands along the way and take a few minutes to contemplate the sounds around them while perched on logs. How lucky we all are to spend some time together in the woods! Here are a few photos from our most recent walks.

“There is no description, no image in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all the life to be found around them, in a real forest. Something emanates from those trees which speaks to the soul, something no book, no museum is capable of giving.” - Dr. Maria Montessori Enjoy the weekend (and perhaps a walk in the woods)! Ellie, Sarah & Françoise

Children's House

Emergency Preparedness Practice

“Fire truck, fire truck! I want to ride on a fire truck!”

Reminders: Please dress for the weather! It is expected that children wear a coat on the playground. Remember, we go out in all kinds of weather….. Please check your child’s clothing boxes and restock with appropriate clothing. Jonathan, Rebecca, Cheryl and Mariam

Lower Elementary

Helping students take ownership of their learning - guiding them toward “responsible independence” - is an important part of Lower El. To that end, the assignment board was officially introduced and put to use this week, and the reception was enthusiastic. Comments from new students were overheard, such as “I have an assignment!” and “Have you done your assignment yet?” In addition to the assignment board, older students are using work plans to help remind them of their daily and weekly goals. In science news, Lower El is heading into space! We said “Peace in the Universe” to our friends with a far-out “Galaxy Greeting” in one morning meeting, and had fun learning the words and gestures to a planet song in another. As part of our Sun and Earth study, students will be doing research on various planets in our solar system.   Word problems abound in Lower El these days, with every math group focusing on them. Newer students get help with the reading from more experienced readers, and then proceed to draw a picture and write the corresponding equation. Reading and comprehension skills are put to use, and students have the opportunity to practice pulling out the pertinent information in order to solve a problem.  Please remember to send your child to school with the right footwear for inclement weather, along with a set of extra clothes. We want everyone to get out and enjoy recess, while also keeping their clothes and our classroom carpet clean and dry! Have a great weekend. Kerstin, Patrick, and Amelia

Students interact with the morning message. Sylvia builds the numbers 11-19 using the Teens Board and Bead Bars. Finn creates addition problems using the Bead Bars. Haytown business as usual.

Kennedy and Harper build words using word puzzles. Kerstin and the Middlers joyfully studying adverbs. Reine sports a leaf crown in Haytown. Sophie makes her own addition problems using the Bead Bars.

Upper Elementary

Our Upper Elementary class has started to participate in a project with Sandglass Theater ! This puppetry group, headed by Hilltop Alum Shoshana Bass, is developing a new show titled "Don't Rock the Boat" that delves into issues related to displacement, refugees, and inclusion. Featuring a multi-ethnic, multi-racial cast of three and Troy NY poet and hip-hop artist Danielle Colin as writer with Julian Gerstin as composer and musician, we will be exploring ways to think about refugees. We have started to have classroom visits with Shoshana and the puppets. We will have writing workshops, and mini work-in-progress showings with response sessions over the course of the winter. As Shoshana Bass explains, "Refugee resettlement has become a controversial topic that is changing the social fabric of communities and creating new challenges of cultural identity. In order for young people to learn to grapple with this subject, its language and presentation need to be depoliticized. While media voices are stoking polarization, fear, and exclusion, Sandglass hopes to engage the voices and inventiveness of our young audience. We see this project as a catalyst for dispelling fear, illuminating connectedness, and eliciting humanizing perspectives. The communication about this subject will go beyond words to include objects and images that young audiences can see, touch, and hear." Sandglass has a significant history of working with youth and bringing puppetry into classrooms. The project will culminate in a performance for the Elementary programs at Next Stage in March. Bringing this project to Hilltop is made possible by a grant from the Kahn Mason Foundation, and we are very grateful for that resource!

Julian Gerstin gets the groove going. Talia and Matai make new friends. Cara and Lydia work on their colony presentation.

Max tries his hand at puppet manipulation under the direction of Shoshana Bass. Aidan researching for his hero report on John F. Kennedy Julian leads the group in a West African song from Ghana.

Middle School

Our forest ecology study is winding down to a rapid finish with final drafts of lab reports and seminar essays being completed over the weekend, and self evaluations shaping up for next week's conferences. As this piece goes to print, we are visiting the Harvard Forest, a 4,000 acre research facility in Petersham, MA. We are meeting with David Orwig, senior forest ecologist, and taking a stroll through a series of forest research plots reminiscent of our own in Upland. David is sharing with us his years of research into the spread of the Hemlock wooly adelgid, a tiny invasive insect devastating forests around the region. Students are plying him with questions about the effects of climate change on his research and getting close and personal with the microscopic adelgid. David also works on a team that gathers data on carbon sequestration at the Harvard Forest; our students are comparing this data to their own data in order to put their work this fall into a larger context.  We'll be back in Upland one last time next week to clean up our site and say farewell to our much-loved research plots. Soon we'll be headed downtown for our next study: a look at how human societies function in a time of changing climate.

David Orwig, ecologist, speaks of the mega plot.  Coring a hemlock for age.

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After School Enrichment Programs

Our new season of After School Programs is beginning soon! We will be offering Basketball for K-MS students and an exciting new offering by Waldorf teacher Victoria Mansuri to teach children how to knit toys, cowles, and hats. Keep an eye out as sign ups will go home to families soon.

If you have questions about this program please contact the front desk

HMS Community

From Hilltop alum Julia Fedoruk and Hilltop Trustee/parent Alix Fedoruk:  Carry Me Home's annual Greek Supper Benefit will be on November 16, 2019 at Centre Congregational Church from 5-7pm. The supper will be $15 for those 12 and over, $8 ages 6-11, free for those aged 5 and under, and a maximum of $35 for a family. Please save the date on your calendars, and sign up on the forms in the lobby if you are able to donate ingredients, cook dishes ahead of time, or help out on the day of the event. Carry Me Home is in its 5th year collecting gently used clothing for people fleeing zones of conflict, in Europe as well as here in the US. We sort and pack most Fridays, 9:30am-noon at Centre Church, and new volunteers are always welcome. We are currently collecting winter clothing only: for children, tops, bottoms, and jackets for ages 4-7; for men, thin dark socks, jackets, t-shirts, all sizes S-M only; for women, leggings and jeans sizes M-L; for all ages, new/unused underwear, and sturdy winter shoes/boots. Donations may be placed in the box in the entryway. Checks to pay shipping costs (tax deductible) may be made out to Carry Me Home, and left with the front desk, or you may go to Click Here  to donate via Paypal. For more information, please visit us on Facebook ( CarryMeHomeWithLove ), or contact Alix and Julia at  carrymehomecampaign@gmail.com .

Amber at the Front Desk

Community

Hettie Belle Farm Meat Share Local Meat and Poultry Share!  Reserve your share now for this fall/winter (November-March) Our beef and lamb is  100% grass-fed . Our pigs, chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks are  pastured and fed only certified organic grain . We believe it matters! Monthly distribution in Brattleboro (November-March). Many more details at  www.hettiebellefarm.com .