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

Friday Newsletter March 8, 2019

Next Week: March 14th Noon Dismissal: Parent/Teacher Conferences (afternoon child care available, sign up at the front desk) March 15th No School: Parent/Teacher Conferences (child care available, sign up at the front desk)

Important Future Dates: March 21 All School Gathering starts again! 8:45 in the Arts Barn. March 22 Lower El Field Trip to Beneski Museum of Natural History (more info below) The Board Meet, Greet and Eat - Second Annual Chili Cook-off (more info below)

Please sign up for your parent/teacher conference if you haven't already! (You should have received an email with a link to sign up. If you need it again, please contact the front desk .)

Notes from the Head of School

Hilltop Montessori School seeks to be first fully Accredited Montessori School in the State of Vermont. This week Hilltop Montessori School welcomed three outside accreditors from American Montessori Society for a multi-day site visit. This is the final step of an initiative that supports ongoing commitment to achieving standards of excellence and is the highest level of recognition bestowed by the American Montessori Society. Hilltop Montessori School has been a vibrant part of the southern Vermont education community since 1972. Hilltop has strived to develop its commitment to Montessori principles and philosophy, and two years ago undertook the AMS accreditation process. Currently, less than 15% of AMS member schools are accredited. Hilltop has grown steadily to its current enrollment of over 120 students ages 18 months to 14 years at the campus off of Guilford Rd and Summit Circle in Brattleboro. All programs, which include toddler, early childhood, lower and upper elementary and middle school, will be involved in the AMS accreditation site visit. But what does it mean to be a Montessori school, and an accredited one at that? Multi-Age Classrooms - This arrangement mirrors the real world, in which individuals work and socialize with people of all ages and dispositions. Montessori Materials at Work - Beautifully and precisely crafted, Montessori’s distinctive learning materials each teach a single skill or concept in an appropriate progression that allows the child to develop an abstract understanding of a concept. Child Directed Work - An extended period of “free choice” time called the “uninterrupted work period” provides students time to select and work through various tasks and responsibilities at their own pace, without interruption, fostering increasing concentration. Trained Montessori Teachers - A properly trained Montessori teacher observes children and introduces them to challenging and developmentally appropriate lessons and materials based on each child’s unique interests, abilities, and social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Hilltop Montessori School is proud to have hosted the AMS accreditation team this week.

Meet, Greet and Eat !

Join us for a Meet, Greet and Eat with the Board of Trustees! We are looking forward to our second annual CHILI COOK-OFF, highlighting the culinary expertise of our talented Board. This will be also be an opportunity for parents to ask questions, and hear the latest from the board. Wait, there's more...we even have a Kid's Night Out planned to make attending the event easier. Bring the whole family! From the KNO team:  Hello all! We had a great time at KNO last week! Here’s a short recap. The kids started off the evening in the gym or in the theater coloring. They played tag and threw footballs, colored flowers, and ate delicious snacks. Then, at six, we all ate dinner together. After that, we watched a movie. Once the movie was over, we went back to the gym and colored until parents came. Some kids had so much fun they didn’t want to leave! If you’re interested, there will be another KNO on March 22nd, paired with the board's chili cook-off! We’d love to see your kids there! To sign up or learn more, visit our website . If you have any questions, just write us back. We have only 30 spots, so don’t wait. Sign up now! We look forward to seeing you on Friday, March 22, at 6 pm in the Middle School.

2019 Parent Surveys

At Hilltop Montessori School, we want to be responsive to the needs of our families. We would like feedback from families in order to consider future plans. The 2019 Parent Surveys were emailed this morning. Please respond to this survey as soon as possible so that we can take your input into consideration. You can also access this survey through the link here. The responses can be anonymous, though if you would like to give your name for further follow-up or input, that would be helpful. Thank you.

Toddler Room

Grace and Courtesy in the Toddler Room Lessons in grace and courtesy are the cornerstone of a Montessori environment. Learning to be part of a community, developing a sense of cultural awareness, and showing respect and politeness towards oneself and others are important interpersonal skills that will serve children well throughout their lifetimes. And young children, especially between 2.5 and 6 years of age, are in a sensitive period for learning these skills. The toddler classroom is a wonderful place to introduce young children to some early lessons in grace and courtesy. Here are a few examples: taking care of one's own belongings (carrying, putting away. keeping track of) waiting patiently for one's turn pushing in chairs serving food and using utensils to eat putting works away so they are ready for another person to use caring for the classroom helping each other, after asking permission to help first covering one's coughs and sneezes

Sweeping the floor after snack

Taking turns

Serving oneself food with utensils

Author Simone Davies wrote about teaching children to interrupt politely in her essential book The Montessori Toddler : "My children's first Montessori teacher told the children that if she was in the middle of giving a lesson to another child and they had something they needed to tell her, they should put their hand on her shoulder. This would tell her that they had something important to tell her. Then, as soon as there was an appropriate place to pause in the lesson, she would stop and see what the child needed. This principle can be used at home too. If we are on a phone call or talking to someone, we can tap our shoulder to remind our toddler to put their hand on our shoulder, they place their hand there to remind us and, as soon as we can, we can ask them what they wanted to tell us. It takes some practice but really works. A hand on our shoulder, with our hand on theirs, gives them the message, 'What you have to tell me is important. I'll be right with you.'" Her take on this simple practice beautifully illustrates how children can learn to interrupt politely and adults can affirm their children's importance while reinforcing a valuable life skill. If you'd like to take a look at The Montessori Toddler: Creating Activities, Setting Up your Home, Planting the Seeds to Grow a Curious and Responsible Human Being , we have copies to borrow. Enjoy the weekend! Ellie, Marco, Sarah and Amanda

Children's House

Thank you to everyone who came to Thursday's Work Share!  Just a reminder, conference sign-up emails were sent out this week. Please take a moment to schedule your time. Thank you and have a wonderful weekend! The Children's House teachers

Lower Elementary

We are looking forward to our field trip to the Beneski Museum of Natural History in Amherst, MA, on Friday, March 22nd ! Children, including those that get pizza, will need a hearty snack, as we will return in time for a late lunch.  During our morning meeting time these last two weeks, we have practiced the steps of conflict resolution, with a particular focus on reflective listening. In addition to the modeling and practicing we have done during this time, several pairs of children have already used these steps in real life situations, with success.   Our conflict resolution steps are: Cool off time: each party takes two deep breaths before beginning the conversation.  Upset person (A) invites other person (B) to talk and speaks with an "I statement." Person B repeats what A said (reflective listening). Person A confirms if B got it right, if not, repeat... Once it is confirmed, B explains their perspective. A reflects what B said. B confirms if A got it right. B asks A what they could do to help "fix" it and they work together to get resolution. Have a fantastic weekend! Kerstin, Patrick, and Amelia

Eleanor puts the finishing touches on her trilobite. Eleanor with her finished trilobite!

Esmé works on a dinosaur report. Patrick and Caroline use the test tubes to solve division problems.

Leo consults a list of options for stating his opinion during Writers' Workshop.

Fun at recess!

Anti-Bias Work in the Elementary Art Room

The Elementary Art Room bubbles with artists at work on many techniques and projects. Students also learn about art history and hear the stories of other artists making art today and in years past. We strive to balance art history's well-known white males with lesser-known females and people of color. When teaching a culture's artistic techniques, our goal is to do so respectfully, without misappropriation. We’re also developing a more diverse Art Room resource library.   To highlight Black History Month, students were taught a lesson on five American artists who identify as Black or African American: Augusta Savage, Horace Pippin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kara Walker, and Amy Sherald. Lower El focused on Augusta Savage, a portrait sculptor during the 1920s, as part of their sculpture unit. Upper El heard stories about all five artists.  While Lower El was hearing Augusta Savage's story, they worked with handfuls of modeling material like young Augusta, who had made her first sculptures out of natural clay found in her backyard. They were very taken with that tactile connection to her childhood – and it helped them listen! True to their 'age of justice', they were horrified when oppression tried to slow Augusta down, and cheered when she went on to achieve her dreams of studying in Europe and helping other African Americans make art. Several in Upper El were inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat's abstract graffiti style that drew from his urban and African-Carribean heritage.  The Art Room also supports the Elementary geography and culture work. While studying Oceania, Lower El students learned about the rich, ancient history of Aboriginal Australian art and how it has changed since coming into contact with the modern world. Many students were inspired to experiment with sticks as brushes and created colorful patterns. Upper El students created mosaics while studying Ancient Rome. For their Silk Road study, they learned about many examples of Yuan Dynasty art and will try Chinese calligraphy this spring. We will continue to ensure our Elementary students have access to a diverse collection of artists and artistic techniques from all over the world.

Upper Elementary

It was wonderful to enjoy an almost full week of normal schedule. Besides some real hunkering down on academics, students have begun the process of preparing for next week’s conferences. They are reflecting on their learning, and choosing representative works to share. The class is also gearing up to do a comparison of lichen grown on various kinds of trees on campus, to determine which trees they prefer, and whether a particular side of the tree or height makes any difference. This is one example of the kinds of interactions we are looking at in our ecology study, so stay tuned for results. Another highlight this week was Carmen’s presentation on her recent trip to Africa. Among other things, she described the dramatic change anticipated to the landscape surrounding Mt. Kilimanjaro, whose spring snow melt has been dissipating over time. Thank you to Carter’s family for donating the cage for a soon-to-be-acquired furry friend. The room has missed having a snuggly little companion. We look forward to seeing all of you at next week’s conferences.

A busy table during worktime!

Corbin won’t give up on dividing 10 by 3 until he has used up all the decimal pieces, even though he can see this could go on forever!

Cara identifies Denmark and nearby countries, the setting of her lit book, Number the Stars . Luke completes a geometric representation of squaring a binomial Lucas sorts nouns into four categories (common, proper, abstract, and collective).

Ava and Tucker have completed a layout that presents key features of major world religions, then choose two to compare in a Venn diagram. Ciana and Kaiya show off a loooong division problem they decided to solve. Ping-pong championships during indoor recess/lunch on a cold day.

Hilltop alumna Maya Sutton-Smith regales the sixth grade with stories about her job coordinating testimony for Vermont legislative committees.

Middle School

Students have been working hard on their science labs modeling natural selection and adaptation over time in a population. Using materials ranging from sugary sweets to beads, variables such as shape, size, or color of individuals in the population are considered when determining how traits effect their survival and/or how predators prey on the individuals effects the size and growth of the population.  This is part of a larger study of human genetics exploring how adaptations lead to a diversity of human traits in the population. Also this week, students modeled how chromosomes from parents combine to determinate physical traits of a human face. Using paper chromosomes, students combined traits (often there is more than 1 chromosome responsible per trait) and tried drawing the faces they created.  As part of our wider study of race, we invited State Representative's Nader Hashim and Sara Coffey to speak about race in Vermont's criminal justice system. It was a lively conversation drawing on the representative's rich experiences as a Vermont State Trooper and member of the Fair and Impartial Policing Committee and a member of the art's community, now serving on the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions, respectively. Students got answers to questions such as "Do you think there is a way to overcome implicit bias in law enforcement?" and "Why is it that Vermont has one of the highest rates in the country, proportionally, of imprisoned people of color?"

State Representatives Sarah Coffee and Nadir Hashim visit our class for a discussion on Race, Justice and Government.

Solomon records lab data. Ben and Owen model natural selection with a population of marbles.

Ian, Parker, and Marian sort and match chromosomes. Ana and Ilona sort chromosomes.

Save the Date: Concert at Hilltop!

Hilltop Helpers

THANK YOU to Hazel Pizza for providing delicious pizzas for the students and staff every week! Sccccrrrrumptious! We still and always will ♡ 🍕!!

BIG THANKS to Brattleboro Tire for donating our Hilltop van's winter snow tires and for rotating them each year!

Community

NEYT's Junior Company would like to extend a warm invitation to Hilltop students for our production of A Wrinkle In Time , by Tracy Young, adapted from the novel by Madeleine L'Engle and directed by Katrina Spenceman and Julia Tadlock. Meg Murry is once again joining forces with Mrs. Whatsit, Charles Wallace, Calving O'Keefe and more to battle the forces of evil so she can rescue her father, save humanity and find herself. Performed by young actors ages nine to twelve, this particular adaptation tells this story of adventure and discovery in a fresh, unexpected way, and, of course, in the end, audiences will know two things for sure: 1. Love CAN overcome evil and 2. There IS such a thing as a tesseract. Join us! The play performs March 8 at 7 pm, March 9 at 2 pm and 7 pm, March 15 at 7 pm, and March 16 at 2 pm and 7 pm. Tickets for these performances are $11 for Adults, $10 for Seniors, and $7 for Students. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.neyt.org , in person at the NEYT Box Office, or by phone (802) 246-6398 from 12-5pm on Wednesdays. The show plays at New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat Street in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Bonjour! ¡Hola! Express Fluency has some exciting new classes coming up this spring. Our classes get students understanding and speaking a new language in record time. The current offerings are designed for adults but are also appropriate for students age 10+. They are great to take as a parent/child team. Please contact us if you have any questions. ( elissa@expressfluency.com ) Weekend French Intensive (beginner) March 16th-17th 10am-4pm  More info and registration  here . This class is taught by our guest instructor, Allison Litten. Allison teaches elementary French in Norwich, VT. There are two mother/daughter pairs enrolled in the class already.  Weekly French classes: Beginner : April 11th-June 13th. 3:30-5:30pm Advanced Beginner : April 11th-June 13th. 6-8pm Instructor: Maggie Smith Weekly Spanish Classes Beginner :  April 23rd-June 18th. 4:30-6:15pm Advanced Beginner : April 23rd-June 18th. 6:30-8:30 Instructor: Becca Rice. Becca teaches middle and high school Spanish at the Four Rivers Charter school. She is great with kids and adults alike. Or join us on  a trip to Andalucía, Spain ! May 17th- 26th.