| At-a-Glance |
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9/10
K-3rd Grade Conditioning Club
3-4pm
9/11
EARLY RELEASE
11:15am
Open House for Parents
6:30-8:00pm
9/12
4th-6th Grade
Conditioning Club
3-4pm
9/17
K-3rd Grade Conditioning Club
3-4pm
9/19
4th-6th Grade
Conditioning Club
3-4pm
9/22
Best of Both Worlds 5k& Fun Run
9am
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CORPORATE SPONSORS
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We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing contributions from the following corporate partners:
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Welcome Back!
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These words reveal
the child's inner needs;
'Help me to do it alone'.
Welcome to the first 2019/20 issue of our weekly,
Mill Falls News. For those of you who are new to Mill Falls, each Friday this newsletter
is sent out via email. We use this as our key form of school-to-home information sharing about our programming and school happenings. The newsletter has important links to documents, key dates, information about Montessori, and features photographs from the week. You will see additional guidelines for school-home communication below.
This week, we began our 8th year of operation since our founding in 2012. We welcomed back old friends, and gave a warm welcome to new ones. We played name games, ate lunch outside in the sunshine, talked about our summer vacations, and shared so much more!
Truth be told, we've been
celebrating the beginning of this new school year since late August.
Staff
returned the week of August 26th for our
 Annual Staff Opening Days
which included planning, facility work and ended with an
outing where we
worked in teams to build benches for the lending library.
There were plenty of other student-focused events that week as well. On August 27th, we welcomed our youngest students to Kinder Camp
- the first official day of school for the Yosemite Room. On the 28th, we gathered together as a whole-school community for our
Annual Popsicle Party
. Mother Nature tested our party planning skills - she threw rain, and we moved indoors; instead of summer popsicles, we shared cookies. No matter the treat, the real goal was to be together as a community to kick off the year. After a beautiful Labor Day weekend, we regrouped this Wednesday - the first official day of school for our 1st-6th year students. We are thrilled to welcome each and every one of our students and their families back to school for the 2019/20 School Year!
Thanks to so many of you who have sent in classroom supplies, flowers and even some treats for staff. Your generosity and kindness has helped make our first week a wonderful one!
We look forward to many opportunities to
grow connections within our school
community this year,
strengthening our links
to one another, and to our school's mission and goals
.
If you haven't already returned your
Count Me In Form
(which went home recently), please click here to down load it. It helps us know more about you and what strengths you have to share with our community. It also notes a number of family events planned throughout this year. E
ven if you've attended similar events in past years, please be sure to make time to join us at these and other events this year!
A reminder that our
Pizza Fridays begin later this month (forms went home today and there is a link below) and our
Friday Morning Read Ins
will begin in October.
 A HUGE shout
out to our great friend, paraprofessional and our new Art Teacher, Ms.
Melissa Fortin
, for tackling the lion's share of the interior facelift in the special's room and along many re-painted walls. We look forward to all the student art that will fill those frames and walls in the months to come. Thank's, too, to Ms. Jen Avery, Ms. Mindy and Ms. Colleen C. for all their amazing energy to brighten our school, indoors and out with flowers, paint, a new look in the lobby and so much more!
You can download the
2019/20 School Calendar from our website by
clicking here, and you can link to our school's Google calendar there as well. We will also send flyers home, usually on Fridays, related to upcoming activities and events.
Thank you in advance for giving each issue of the Mill Falls News a careful read so you can stay connected!
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Important Dates
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Wednesday, September 11th
All school dismissal at 11:15am
Buses will pick up at that time as well;
BeforeCare will be provided as usual.
Any child already enrolled in our Kinder or AfterCare Programs will be automatically enrolled in the Early Release Child Care Program (if your child will not be in AfterCare on the Early Release Day,
please notify Grace, our new Project Manager, ASAP so we can give your spot to another family)
If you are in need of Drop In Kinder or AfterCare on the 11th, please be in touch with
Grace. Space is very limited for Early Release Drop In and will be granted on a first come, first serve basis.
* * *
2019 Parent/Guardian
Open House
Wednesday, September
11th
6:30-8pm
Please join us for an important evening gathering to meet your child's teachers and learn about classroom structure and our public Montessori setting including: basic curriculum, homework & snack guidelines and how we build community in our classrooms. This is an important opportunity for the adults in our school community to come together and spend time with our teaching staff. Even if you've attended this event in the past, we hope you will make time to join us.
Coffee and light snacks will be provided.
Please note, this is an adult-only event.
There will not be child care on site.
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Road Race & Family Fun Run: Sept 22!
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4th Annual Best of Both Worlds
Road Race &
Family Fun Run
Sunday, September 22nd
Fun begins at 8:30am!
HUGE thanks to Amanda Gerardi for all her hard work thus far! If you can l
end a hand as September 22nd approaches, or be a volunteer on the day of, please email Amanda. Thanks, too, to the many families and friends who have stepped up as sponsors for the event.
Still
time to be a Sponsor!
This year's Best of Both World's t-shirts will feature our event partners and sponsors. If you want to join in and add your family or business to our sponsorship list, please
reach out to Amanda
- the final
deadline is Monday, September 9th by noon.
Annual
Student Conditioning Club
This September!!
Our Fun Run & Road Race event is always accompanied by our Conditioning Club! Students registered for the Best of Both Worlds event can join the club for free.
Here is the schedule, organized by age:
- K-3rd Grade Conditioning Club will be held on Tuesdays - Sept. 10th & 17th from 3-4pm
- 4th-6th Grade Conditioning Club will be held on Thursdays - Sept. 12th & 19th from 3-4pm
Please click here to view the flyer & paper registration. Registration forms are due on Monday, September 9th!
Hope to see you all at the starting line on
September 22nd!
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Communicating with School Staff
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We encourage you to reach out to the school when you have questions or concerns.
To help you know who to speak to about what topics, here are guidelines to follow for most of your needs. You will find more information about this in our Family Handbook available on our website. If you aren't sure who to speak to, just give us a call and we will help get you to the right person!
- Questions, wonderings, concerns related to your child's academics and classroom? Please reach out directly to your child's Lead Teacher;
- Correspondence about busing, attendance, scheduling, and the like...should be directed to Jen our Office Manager at [email protected];
- Big picture Montessori and/or Education Program questions and wonderings should be directed to Laura Wrubleski, our Educational Program Director, a [email protected];
- Questions related to our Child Care Program should be directed to Grace, our New Project Manager at [email protected];
- Questions, suggestions, ideas related to volunteering, family engagement activities and donations/fundraising should be sent to Meryl Levin, our Executive Director at [email protected];
- If you are the parent of a student receiving Special Education Services, you can reach Maryclare Heffernan, our Student Services Coordinator at [email protected].
Good communication is the special sauce that leads to a strong relationship between school and home. You can expect staff to respond to your communications within 2 school (business) days.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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Important Dismissal Notes
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Changes in your child's usual Dismissal Plan
must be shared with the front office by 2pm, as per our Handbook.
We need your help! We'd like to ask each family to please write your child's First Name on your car tags to facilitate the dismissal process.
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Overview of our Integrated Arts Program
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Monday:
TECHNOLOGY & LIBRARY with
Ms. Catie & Ms. Jody
Each week, the students will meet with both Ms. Catie and Ms. Jody to learn how to use technology and books to support them in their research projects. This program will grow their skills in reading, and comfort with technology.
 
* * *
T
uesday: FITNESS with Ms. Devon
Earlier this week, Ms. Devon sent home a letter to introduce herself and the program plans.
Please click here to view it
. Please remember that students should
wear
appropriate Fitness attire
: sneakers, leggings, pants or shorts, coats or sweatshirts on Tuesday. We will be outside as much as possible.
* * *
Thursday: MUSIC with Ms. Cassie
Ms. Cassie will begin the year with a focus on South America to link to our all-school continent study this fall. The students will learn songs from the continent and work with panpipes, shakers, and rain sticks. The students will also learn to read notes and generally work on the application of music concepts.
* * *
Friday: ART with Ms. Melissa
Our new Art Teacher, Ms. Melissa, will be working on Color Study this fall. She will present these concepts through projects related to street art, graffiti and mural work. She has also organized an ongoing class project that teams up the Upper Elementary Students with our Kinders. Her fall countries of focus are
Bolivia and Brazil.
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From the Front Office
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Handbook Agreement
Please click
here
to view our
2019-20 Family Handbook
! Once you have read it with your child, please
sign and return
the signature page
to the office
by September 27th.
Count Me In!
 Please help us learn more about you, your strengths and interests and how you can help make this our best year yet! Please click
here to view the
Count Me In Form.
Pizza Friday will begin on September 20th. Today we sent home the Order Forms which cover September - November. Please be sure to complete the forms, and return them along with payment by Friday, September 13th.
Click here to view the form.
Busing Agreement
If your child takes the bus, please
complete
these forms
and return them to school.
Additional Busing Info for our Bus Families
Please remember if you'd like to request a bus route change or have any general busing questions/concerns, please contact the Front Office at
(603) 232-5176 or
[email protected].
If you would like to know the location of the bus because it is running late or you're not sure if it has serviced your child's bus stop OR if you'd like a time estimate of the arrival of the late-running bus, please call
Kelly at the
Manchester School District at
(603) 624-6300 ext. 163.
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Montessori Resource Corner
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To help educate adult members of our school community, we like to share information and articles from time-to-time about the Montessori approach to learning. The following article explores the role of the Montessori Teacher in the classroom. A great read in preparation for the upcoming 2019 Open House next week on September 11th.
source: montessoritraining.blogspot.com
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Montessori Moments...
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A few moments from our first few days together as we kicked off the 2019/20 School Year...
Time was spent this week
working thoughtfully and carefully on community building. The students shared information about themselves and learned about those around them. Classes discussed expectations and plans for each classroom and the school overall. All
of
this is accomplished in our public Montessori setting, by the teachers leading and modeling for the children.
Above: Name games in the Upper Elementary.
Below: Signing the Community Pledge.
Below: Upper Elementary Cup Tower Team Building Challenge
Below: Art Class, Color Wheel Introductory Lesson
Below: Moments from the first days of Kinder
Below: Enjoying the late summer weather...and Team Building Fun!
Below: Practicing greeting friends...with eye contact!
Thanks, everyone, for a wonderful first week!
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