Hilltop Montessori School's mission is for students to
practice responsible independence in a caring community
of curious, critical learners and thoughtful citizens.
|
|
All staff meeting on Wednesday over ZOOM!
|
|
Upcoming Calendar
Large group, in person activities have been cancelled until at least April 6, as directed by the state.
|
|
Hilltop Montessori School has been transitioning to provide support/education virtually, as our campus has been “shutdown” to help flatten the curve of the COVID-19 infections. We are also working to support families of “essential persons” with their childcare needs.
In-Person Events will be rescheduled as the situation evolves.
|
|
|
Note From the Head of School
|
|
Dear Families,
It is so strange for all of us to be working from home and not visit in person with you, each other on staff, and of course spend the days with your children. This has been a transition for us all, some more than others. . . I’ve been astounded by the work of the teachers and by what I’ve seen and heard from your homes. Moving online as a Montessori school is, by definition, especially challenging. We have no textbooks or workbooks our students are methodically working through. Each child works in our prepared classrooms at their own unique place in each subject area – their own spot in an individualized curriculum. Clearly, it is not possible to fully replicate this model at home, although I’ve been amazed at how the teachers have worked to do so and how quickly many of you have been able to implement their suggestions.
Go easy on yourselves and your children. We can’t all turn into home schoolers overnight, no matter how much support is given. Within each program, and for each child, there is a different level of responsible independence with work at home, just as there is for work at school. If you are trying to work at home yourself, know that there will be bumps in the road for us all. As we adjust to the “new normal,” please continue to communicate with teachers and administrators as we work together to support productive, engaging, and enjoyable remote learning from home. Here is a fun
example from Lower Elementary!
|
|
We appreciate any and all communication as we work together through this unprecedented time. Please feel free to reach out to me.
Stay well!
|
|
Hello Toddler Families,
We hope you are all doing well and coping in the midst of this unusual situation we find ourselves in. We are looking forward to hearing some of your voices and hopefully seeing some of the toddler's bright and sunny faces over Facetime or ZOOM in the near future. We want to reiterate that we would be thrilled to set up regular dates to video chat if you or your child would like! In considering how best to support you all, we were thinking of what we do in the classroom that most easily transfers to home life. We know that students in our classroom absolutely love to cook and prepare food! Even scrubbing carrots (or peeling eggs) can be a long, focus-inducing activity for these young children.
Click
here
for an article with some awesome videos that tells and shows a bit about how to use Montessori principles to guide this kind of activity with your children. The website also has a lot of great articles that explain the theory that drives the way that we strive to empower your children on an everyday basis!
We’ve heard from many of you who have set up spaces at home and have been engaged in lovely activities. If you would like to share any photos or stories of your school at home adventures, please send them to the
Front Desk
. We will need your help to have photos of your adorable children for future newsletters! No pressure, but if it would be fun for you, please share.
Hope you all are not feeling too overwhelmed, and can find time to enjoy yourself (and your children) despite these uncertain times.
We are here for you!
In solidarity,
Sarah, Ellie, and Françoise
Here is a recipe to make with your toddlers:
Baking tips:
- Pre-measure ingredients for your child and set them all out in front of the bowl beforehand, so they can get right to work.
- Don’t expect it to go perfectly :)
Irish Soda Bread
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Mix together:
- 3 3/4 cup white flour (or 3 cups wheat flour and 3/4 white flour for brown soda bread)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
Make a well in the ingredients and pour in:
- 2 cups buttermilk (I’ve often used a substitution of milk mixed with vinegar— 2 tbsp of vinegar added into 2 cups of milk left to sit for a few minutes will do the trick just fine if you don’t have buttermilk)
Stir this together, and then dump it on a floured surface. Let your toddler knead the bread on each side, getting it coated with flour. Then you can pat the bread into a round loaf shape that is about 1 and a half inches high. Place that on a baking sheet and draw an X across the top of the loaf with a knife (or help your toddler do it with a rubber spatula). Try to go deep into the bread and make the cuts go all the way to each edge of the loaf.
Bake for 15 minutes at 450, then lower the temperature to 400 and bake for another 30 minutes.
Voilà! Tomorrow’s breakfast or snack. Your child will enjoy it all the more if they can help to make it. Serve with raisins!
|
|
Sarah has a video chat with Olive E.
|
|
Laylani serves herself snack.
|
|
“One of the most important lessons we can learn from the child is how to bring our whole selves, mentally, physically and spiritually, to the task at hand, to focus on each thing we do, and to enjoy life.”
-- Michael Olaf, Child of the World
What a week! We know that this is a hectic and challenging time for many. It’s wonderful to hear that some families have taken on “home-care” including some of our recommendations. We know that it’s hard -- we’re working through the same challenges. We can do it!
Thank you to those who reached out to us -- again, we’re open to working with you to come up with a plan, provide resources, and encouragement. :)
So far, we’ve been communicating as a staff to be able to provide our support. We’ve been able to accomplish the following (and plan to continue with):
- Contacting families with a “check-in” to answer questions
- Provide suggestions, general suggestions for maintaining routine and purpose.
- Regular emails with work ideas and websites, etc.
- Developing work packets with simple materials and work pages to support families as needed
- ZOOM meetings with other CH staff to support each other and share information and ideas
- Preparing “youtube” videos of familiar stories and songs - stay tuned
- Extending our love and support
This is only the beginning. Do look out for emails over the next few weeks, which will contain helpful tips, resources and ideas. As always, feel free to contact us whenever with questions!
With Love and Strength,
-The Children’s House Teachers
|
|
Elodie and Owen start their day with circle.
|
Josephine makes an eco-brick.
|
Lester and Oliver explore the sand pit.
|
|
Elijah's family's daily schedule.
|
Daegan's interpretation of "coronavirus."
|
|
While nothing can replace person-to-person interaction in the classroom, LE is striving to maintain our healthy community of engaged learners via technology, knowing that they will receive other enriching experiences from you, their parents and first teachers. Here is what we are doing:
- Packets prepared with math, phonics, etc. as a supplement to other work
- Our classroom work plan as a guide, as you set up the classroom in a new location; routine and rhythm are reassuring to children in the best of times, and even more so, now
- Every Friday, a letter and the upcoming week’s work from LE team will be posted on our Google Classroom.
- Google Classroom with materials from teachers and links to videos we’ve filmed; teachers have posted messages to their various lesson groups, with descriptions of assignments.
- Families can use the Google Classroom “stream” to write notes and post pictures, to maintain our community connection and inspire each other.
- Scanned Jelly and Bean books for our newer readers, so that they can have access to more “just right” books.
- Every Monday, one of the teachers will post an activity to get the day started on a positive note. Family members are encouraged to participate!
From Monday-Friday, LE teachers will have “office hours” from 8:30-10:30am to answer any questions about work, touch base, etc. We will be available by email, and then can make individual plans with families from there. This can include emailing, phone calls, ZOOM chats, whatever works for you. This has started wonderfully! Keep communicating!
We miss our students very much, and will be working every day to support them and their families, so that they can have the best homeschooling experience possible. Now, more than ever, we see the value of having parents as partners. Thank you for your patience during this hectic time. Onward into the Unknown we go, together!
|
|
Isaac digs in to his work packet.
|
Layla fills out Wednesday's mad lib.
|
Eko practices money math during
a big fun game of store!
|
|
Owen goes for a walk in the woods.
|
|
Dear Upper El Families-
During the online video meeting of the whole Hilltop staff on Wednesday afternoon, the word ‘grateful’ was often heard. Staff were grateful for living where we do, for working where we do and with whom, and for the support we have felt from families and each other in these changing times. As the Upper El team prepares for the next phase of instruction and life, we know that everyone’s home situation is different - people have different needs and approaches to our work together with everyone at home. It is our goal to present over the weekend the initial launch of an online program that hopefully will provide both enough flexibility and enough structure to enable families to work together to help our students make progress with academic skills, practical life skills, and personal growth from a mix of assigned and self-created works.
An email from us will go out separately, explaining how our students can join our Google Classroom, where they will find our assignments and our plan for sharing our work and keeping in touch.
We’d like to thank the following folks:
- The UE students and parents for some wonderful parent conferences last week. (That seems like ages ago.)
- Marco and Jen for getting the home packets ready, and parents for coming in to pick them up.
- Tamara for keeping the staff connected with each other and informed.
- The cleaning staff at school for their tireless work.
- Wendy for being who she is.
- Amelia and Guillaume (her partner) for their help in exploring and explaining to us the ins and outs of Google Classroom.
|
|
A map tracking Covid-19 in the U.S., drawn free hand (!!) by Sebastian.
|
|
UE remote-learning packets.
|
A successful packet pick up!
|
Wizard's Chess over ZOOM!
|
|
Extra reading books to take home.
|
Finn gets some time in the glass studio.
|
|
The Middle School entered this new age of COVID-19 with intent, focus, a sense of adventure, and a great desire to reach out and keep our community connection. The staff’s technical online knowledge is growing rapidly (even for the older constituents) and, in collaboration with the students, we are discovering new ways to continue the skill building, relevant material, and community heart that defines the Middle School.
We gather each day via ZOOM at 9:00 for a community meeting and check in. In the days and weeks to come we are using some of this Morning Meeting time to deepen our understanding of the pandemic, to explore questions that concern us, and to share our fears. Some of the questions that students posed recently and are currently pursuing are:
- Is there a relationship between COVID-19 and climate change? Is there a climate impact?
- How does your mental state have an effect on the severity of your COVID-19 symptoms?
- What could the virus mean for the future of my education?
- How long will COVID-19 last and what can we do to minimize that amount of time?
Not only are students researching these and many other questions but are also discovering new ways to present their findings in our new online environment.
After our time together during Morning Meeting we head into classes. There is a full complement of math classes, a new science curriculum focused on water usage, a short story study, health class, an exploration of spirit, faith, and religion in Humanities class, and weekly literature seminar. We are currently reading
Siddhartha
. The classes take place primarily in the mornings, leaving afternoons for project work, one on one online conferences, and making time to get outside, clear the screen addled brain, and embrace the world.
This is a new reality and we are learning and adapting to it.
Wishes for good health and a peaceful heart.
|
|
Folders ready for pick up.
|
|
Ilona and Django's at-home classrooms, respectively.
|
|
WSESU is working diligently to meet the needs of our students and families during this uncertain time.
Beginning Wednesday, March 18th, the school district will be distributing meals to our students, including those in private pre k, across the district.
Children 18 and under are eligible for a daily meal, which includes breakfast and lunch.
We are asking families to complete our Meal Distribution Survey, which can be found
here
If your family doesn't have a bus stop, skip those questions.. You will also find other information related to meal delivery including distribution sites, daily menus, and more. WSESU looks forward to continuing to care for and educate our students in the months to come.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
