Hilltop Montessori School's mission is for students to practice responsible independence in a caring community of curious, critical learners and thoughtful citizens.
July 19, 2019
Back-to-School Dates:

August 26
  • Upper Elementary & Middle School Work Party, 3-5pm

August 27
  • Children's House & Lower El Work Party, 3-5pm

August 29
  • Upper El New Student Conferences

 August 30
  • New Student Conferences CH, LE, UE, MS
  • Toddler Program Visiting Day 9-10am


2019-20 School Calendar
  • one page calendar here or
  • the website calendar here
(start of school conferences and orientation details will come with
mid-summer letter)


September 3
  • First Day of School (No B/C This week & No A/C for New Students)

September 6
  • First Full Day for TP & CH
  • Hilltop Family Picnic, Green Mountain Girls Camp 5-7pm

September 9-12
  • MS Upland Odyssey

September 12-13
  • UE Pinnacle Trip

 September 19
  • Parent Meeting

 September 26
  • First ASG 8:45am
Hilltop Acronyms Key
New to Hilltop? We are excited to have you! Below you will find a key of Hilltop's most used acronyms.

Key

Classroom Terms

TP- Toddler Program
CH- Children's House (Pre-K)
LE, Lower El- Lower Elementary (Grades 1-3)
UE, Upper El - Upper Elementary (Grades 4-6)
MS- Middle School (Grades 7-8)
AC/BC- After Care/ Before Care

Event Terms

ASG- All School Gathering- Thursday mornings from 9-9:20 students, staff, and parents gather beginning at the end of September to share stories, learning, and events from the classrooms and sing with our wonderful music teacher, Jay Cook. Parents are also invited to have coffee with fellow parents and the head of school beforehand.
GP Day- Grandparents and Special Friends Day- Twice a year we invite grandparents and special friends to visit in the classroom with their grandchild or special friend, attend an All School Sing and join us for lunch.
Notes from the Board
The Board gathered for our annual retreat on Saturday, June 29th. The annual retreat is an event of transitions, planning, and, of course, really good food! We welcomed and voted in our newest Board member, Andrea Lemon. Andreas connection to Hilltop is that she and her husband are neighbors on Summit Circle. Andrea has many different areas of knowledge and expertise to add to the Board. Specifically, she is a web designer for the local organization BuildingGreen and she has a Master's Degree in French Literature. While she was tapped for Board service because of her knowledge of and connections to local builders, she expressed interest in our Strategic Plan secondary initiatives of secondary language exposure and technology integration, and aligned herself right away with the Buildings & Grounds committee. We are so pleased that she generously jumped right in to Board service! Welcome, Andrea!

We also announced, discussed, and voted on a significant change to the Leadership Team for this upcoming year. Unfortunately, our chair, Angela Yang-Handy, had to step off the Hilltop Board for family reasons. Angela's perspective will be deeply missed, but we are grateful for the year that she was able to lend her considerable knowledge and expertise to the Board. In an effort to keep some continuity, while also infusing the Leadership Team with new perspectives, Alix Fedoruk and Asher Pucciarello will be sharing the duties of Board Chair during this upcoming year, with Alix gradually handing off to Asher throughout the year. Vanessa Long will continue as the Honorary Outgoing Chair and Board Secretary.  

In addition to the games and food, the Board got some actual work done - refreshing everybody on the important roles and responsibilities of the Board versus the school administration, reviewing our Strategic Plan progress, beginning the discussion of planning for our next Strategic Plan development, and formalizing committee assignments and goals for the year. We will be enjoying a quiet summer, with some ongoing committee work, and look forward to seeing you all at the back-to-school family potluck picnic on Friday, September 6 at Green Mountain Camp in Dummerston.  

Have a lovely summer & stay in touch!
Alix, Asher & Vanessa
Parent Survey
One of our themes for the coming year is “Parents as Partners.” As we work to further partner with all families in the care and education of your children, we will be looking to you for information about specific components of our programs. We plan to do this partly through short, focused surveys. The first topics are coming from the Equity and Anti-Bias Workgroup. This group of parents, students, and staff have been looking at topics on which to make recommendations to the school administration and board. This is the first of a series of quick surveys (under 5 minutes) we hope to use to obtain your input for school directions. Thank you in advance for your thoughtful response. We hope this won’t take too much of your time.

You can access the survey here: Click Here
The Anti Bias workgroup meets to look over goals for the upcoming school year!
New on Campus
We have been busy this summer with caring and tending to the campus!

Pictured above;

  • Sweet little Copper Beech Tree planted by students during the Bead Ceremony in honor of the incredible donations from the Snyders and Copper Beech Foundation, Inc.
  • Kegan and Milo (our Facilities Manager & Assistant) tending the land
  • Blooming dahlias planted by our wonderful parent volunteer extraordinaire Marta Bernbaum
  • Our brand new trash/ recycling system donated by Recycle Away
  • Hilltop's freshly paved driveway all ready for the new school year
New Faces at the Front Desk
We will have two familiar faces joining us this year at the front desk. Amber Arnold and Zoe Thomas Ireland will be Co-Administrative Coordinators at the front desk! They are looking forward to greeting you and supporting you and your children with all your questions and needs throughout the year.

Amber Arnold - Amber is excited to join the Hilltop team as Co-Administrative Coordinator as well as supporting Hilltop with anti-bias, inclusion, and equity education initiatives. Amber plans on using her unique anti-racist and social justice lens to support these efforts. Amber has three children all of whom are in Hilltop programs. Her oldest Layla in Lower El, Elijah in Children’s House, and Laylani entering into the Toddler program this year. Amber moved to Vermont from Massachusetts in 2014 and has felt deeply connected to Hilltop’s education, community, and mission ever since. In the past Amber has worked at Hilltop as one of the cleaning staff and is excited to be joining the team once again in a new role! Amber has taken the path of various decolonized styles of education in the fields of Marketing, Logo and Website Design, Sound Therapy, Folx herbalism, Cultural Somatics, and Embodied Movement. Amber looks forward to deepening her connection within the Hilltop Community and contributing her unique and culturally sensitive/ supportive offerings to all those who enter the Hilltop doors. When not at Hilltop you can find Amber making Montessori works in her home with her children, harvesting plants and creating herbal medicines with her family, offering ritual, ceremony, and anti racist somatic healing workshops in the Brattleboro community, or in nourishing spaces devoted to uplifting and bringing love and light to marginalized voices around the state of Vermont.

Zoe Ireland - A true Hilltopper (class of ‘08), Zoe has found her way back to us this year after a long hiatus, working afternoons and aftercare in the Children’s House this past Spring and now as Co-Administrative Coordinator, where she can’t wait to put all her absurd love of organizing and spreadsheets to use and still be able to hang with the kiddos, which she loves. As daughter to Jessica Thomas when Jessica was a Lower El teacher at Hilltop Zoe spent her infancy napping in Tonia Wheeler’s office, and her formative years running around Hilltop, so much so that Hilltop grew to be an inseparable part of her life. During her hiatus Zoe dabbled with schooling, traveled the world, and worked different jobs before realizing that fighting the pull back to Hilltop was just plain silliness! When not on campus, Zoe can be found swimming or skating (depending on the season), driving around dirt roads admiring victorian houses, or in Westminster West, where she and her partner, Ian (a fellow Hilltop alum, class of ‘01!) are building a house to live in with their beloved cat, Babs.  
SummerFun!
Summer Fun - Grace & Courtesy

During SummerFun, we are having a lovely time outside in the beautiful Vermont summer weather and Hilltop setting. It has been a great time to continue working on "grace and courtesy" and "practical life" that are so important during the school year and in life. Some lessons of note, that families can continue at home, include:

Taking Turns/Random Selection/Resilience
To determine who will get the next turn (using the class camera, getting to be in the baking group, playing a new game, etc.) we have been using strategies of pulling names from a hat, or a special color block from a bag. By doing this, children are learning how to handle disappointment in a low risk situation and patience with needing to wait for their turn. Sometimes children wait with grace and calmness, at other times there is great disappointment and frustration. Each child’s turn does come along shortly, and a lesson is learned in the process. As supportive adults, we want to help children learn resilience rather than pushing frustration or disappointment out of their way. All are learning experiences for life which includes situations of disappointment and frustration of a greater scale. 

Group Lunch/Routines and Manners
We have been enjoying sitting together at a big table for lunch including:

  • student leaders who set placemats, lunch boxes, silverware, compost bowls, etc.
  • waiting for everybody to arrive before sitting
  • everyone taking everything out of their lunchbox and putting the box under their chair, before anyone starts eating
  • community conversations, including sharing and listening
  • warmed, rolled, tie-dyed hand towels given to each child (by another child using tongs) for them to clean their hands before reading a book after lunch

This lunch routine has built community, increased use of “manners” and developed both independence and camaraderie.

Prepared Environment for Baking
Baking muffins and bread (in addition to making tea from local sources) has been a regular part of SummerFun this year. We’ve emphasized using senses in cooking and learning how to follow a recipe. We aim to have a book with the recipes to send home to families so your child can make them at home, quite independently, if the environment is prepared! They have loved noticing how:

  • the warm, squishy dough, is so tempting to touch
  • to pick and dry the flowers from the Linden tree on the playground to be used for tea
  • wonderful the mint leaves smell as they are picked and dried for tea
  • cooking activities require playing in water while cleaning up! 

SummerFun allows for more outdoor activities, less structured time, lots of intentional thought that has gone into every activity with the hope that these lifelong lessons will continue at home and create wonderful memories.

The Importance of a Simple Environment
“Parents as Partners” can simplify at home experiences. This article speaks to how "We Montessorians take this to heart, believing that the student, the teacher, and the environment all work together to form a “learning triangle.” We believe that when an environment is set up appropriately, it can help a child develop independence, coordination, concentration, and an internal sense of order, as well as support well-being and social and academic achievement. Montessori teachers take great care in the preparation of their classroom environments, guided in large part by the idea of simplicity. Everything in the classroom has a purpose and a place where it rests when it is not in use. There is an intuitive sense of order that makes it easy for the children to navigate the space and to clean up after themselves successfully. Teachers keep the environment fresh and engaging by observing how children respond to the environment and changing things as needed."

To learn more about how you can simplify your environment   Click Here
Parenting for Social Justice Workshop!
PARENTING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE

Workshops are coming to Hilltop Montessori School this fall!  
 
On 11/3 and 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, so there is a suggested fee of $0-$250 per participant. 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 this summer, 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)
Toddler Program
If you are new to the Toddler program, you’ll soon be hearing from us to set up a home visit. It will give you and your family a chance to meet Ellie again and answer some questions.

Upcoming dates to remember:

Visiting Day / Friday, August 30, New Students 9-10 am and Returning Students, 10-11 am
  • Toddler students are invited to stop in with a parent and spend 10-20 minutes in the room. This is an informal visit to become acquainted with the space. 

Orientation Schedule for Toddler Room / Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, September 3 - 5
  • New Students, 8:30-10 am (There is no Before Care available during this week, and no After Care for New Students)
  • Returning Students, 10:15 - usual dismissal time (11:30, 2:45, 4:00 or 5:00)

Toddler Regular School Schedule Begins / Friday, September 6
There is no Before Care available during this first week . Before Care will begin the second week of school. There is no After Care this first week for new students . After Care will be available for new students the second week of school.

Hilltop Family Picnic / Friday, September 6, 5 - 7 pm
  • Green Mountain Girls Camp, Potluck picnic: Bring a dish to share. We’ll have the grill going! 

September Parent Meeting - September 19, 2019  details to come
Children's House
Hilltop Community Work Party / Tuesday, August 27, 3 -5 pm
  • Join us to spruce up the classrooms and spend time with students, parents and teachers. Snacks will be provided and children supervised.

Conferences / Friday, August 30 
  • Parents of students new to the Children’s House will have a twenty-minute conference. This conference is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to sit down together before the year begins. Please be on the lookout for an email from the Hilltop Front Desk to set up your conference time online through “Signup.com”

Children’s House Orientation Days / Tuesday, Sept 3, - Thursday, Sept 5

New to Children’s House Students (ages 3 and 4), 8:30-10:00 am
  • New students visit to become acquainted and see the classroom (without parents or older students).

Returning 3 year old's
  • 3 year old's who moved up to the Children’s House during last year, arrive at 8:30am and stay for their regular dismissal time.

Returning 4 year old's and Kindergartener's
  • Arrive at 10:15 am and stay until their scheduled dismissal time at 11:45, 3:00, 4:00, or 5:00 pm

Children’s House First Full Regular Day of School / Tuesday, Sept 3
  • All students attend from 8:30 am until their scheduled dismissal time at 11:45, 3:00, (or 4:00 or 5:00 pm for returning students). There is no Before Care available during this week, and no After Care for new students.

Hilltop Family Picnic, Friday, Sept 6, 5 - 7 pm
  • Green Mountain Girls Camp, Potluck picnic: Bring a dish to share. We’ll have the grill going! More details to come.

September Parent Meeting - September 19, 2019  details to come
Lower Elementary
Hilltop Community Work Party / Tuesday, August 27, from 3 - 5 pm  
  • Join us to spruce up the Hilltop classrooms and campus. This a great way to meet the students and parents in the Lower El community. It’s amazing what we can accomplish in two short hours. Snacks will be provided and children are invited to play outdoors (supervision provided). Wear work clothes – we’ll be painting, hammering, cleaning, gardening, and who knows what else.  

Conferences New Students / Friday, August 30, 11 – 4 pm 
  • Parents of students new to Lower El will have a twenty-minute conference. This conference is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to sit down together before the year starts. Please be on the lookout for an email from the Hilltop Front Desk to set up your conference time online through “Signup.com”.

First Day of School / Tuesday, Sept 3
  • On the first day of school, Lower Elementary 2nd and 3rd year students start at 8:30 am and 1st year students will start at 1 pm. This enables the new and returning students to become a community, with older students learning the responsibilities of their new roles and younger students learning the routines of the classroom. Dismissal is at 3:00 pm in the main circle. Wednesday and beyond are the regular 8:30 am - 3 pm time for all LE students. 

Hilltop Family Picnic / Friday, Sept 6, 5-7 pm
  • Green Mountain Girls Camp. Potluck picnic: Bring a dish to share. We’ll have the grill going! More details to come.

September Parent Meeting - September 19, 2019  details to come
Upper Elementary
Hilltop Community Work Party/ Monday, August 26 from 3-5 pm  
  • Please join us to spruce up the Hilltop classrooms and campus. This is a great way to meet the students and parents in the community. It’s amazing what we can do in two short hours. Snacks will be provided. Wear work clothes – we’ll be painting, gardening, cleaning and who knows what else.

Parent Conferences for students new to the Upper El / Thursday, August 29 and Friday, August 30  
  • Parents new to Upper El should sign up for a twenty-minute conference on one of these afternoons. This conference is an opportunity for parents and teachers to sit down together before the year starts. Please be on the lookout for an email from the Hilltop Front Desk through “Signup.com” to set up your conference time online.

Sixth Year Student Hike / Tuesday, September 3, 8:30 am - 3 pm (first day of school). 
  • Sixth year students are asked to join us for a hike up Black Mountain. This is an opportunity to greet one another and begin our important work collaborating to shape and support the classroom community. This 6th grade hike will take place the first morning of school. Weather permitting, we will hike up Black Mountain, otherwise we will meet in the classroom. Students should arrive at 8:30 am with a regular morning snack and lunch, and shoes to hike in.

NEW THIS YEAR! 4th and 5th Year Students / First Day of School, Tuesday, September 3, 1 - 3 pm, AFTERNOON ONLY for 4th and 5th year students.
  • The first day of school, Tuesday, September 3, 4th and 5th year students have an afternoon half-day. Students should arrive after lunch at 1 pm, with regular pick-up at 3 pm. This afternoon will include an important orientation to the new year, and community-building activities.

Hilltop Family Picnic / Friday, September 6, 5 -7 pm
  • Green Mountain Girls Camp Potluck picnic: Bring a dish to share! We’ll have the grill going! More details to come.  

Pinnacle Overnight/ Thursday, September 12 - Friday, September 13
  • The Upper Elementary will be spending community time at Tom’s place in Westminster West after school Thursday and Friday during the day, spending Thursday night in the lean-to at the Pinnacle. Pick-up on Friday at school is at the usual time of 3 pm More information (i.e a packing list) will be forthcoming.

September Parent Meeting - September 19, 2019  details to come
Middle School
Welcome to Middle School!

Family Work Evening: Monday, August 26, 3-5 pm  
  • Come and help spruce up the middle school. This is a nice opportunity for families to get acquainted and help “prepare” our environment. Snacks will be provided. 

Parent/student conferences: Friday, August 30, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm  
  • Half-hour conferences for all incoming students and their parents. Please be on the lookout for an email from the Hilltop Front Desk through “Signup.com” to set up your conference time online. Be sure to bring along your completed questionnaires that accompany this letter. They are very helpful in making the most out of the conference.

First Day of School: Tuesday, September 3 See you at 8:20!
  • Drop-off time is officially from 8:15-8:30, but Nora and Paul are often in the classroom much earlier. We would rather you be early than late!

HMS Community Potluck Picnic / Friday, Sept 6, 5 -7:00 pm
  • Green Mountain Girls Camp, Bring a dish to share. We’ll have the grill going! More details to come

Fall Upland Odyssey: We will set off for our Upland Odyssey on Monday, September 8 and return on Thursday, September 11
  • More information and a packing list will appear during the first week of school.


September Parent Meeting - September 19, 2019  details to come
Hilltop Family Picnic
HMS Community Offerings & Needs
Facilities needs and offerings:

Offering: We have about 5100 sq. feet of Hardi siding that is available for free, ideally it is picked up by August 16th .

Need: We need a diaper changing station for the middle school building bathroom. Throughout the year we are upgrading our bathrooms in each building to better meet accessibility needs. If your child has outgrown the need for yours let us know.
Need: Interested in some summer sewing? We need curtains made for the Music room, when it is in nap mode and for the Gym when it is in celebration mode.
Please email Kegan: krefalo@hilltopmontessori.org
Hilltop Parents needs and offerings:

Hilltop Parent Amber Arnold along with her mother Lysa Mosca and friend Naomi Moody are opening a very special space here in Brattleboro in the next few months Called the SUSU Healing Collective "commUNITY Reciprocity for the healing, affirming, & liberation of black, indigenous, people of color, and the allies who support us"!!!!! Here you will find yoga class, embodied movement classes, somatic classes, moon circles, solstice & equinox retreats, sound baths, reiki sessions, sound healing sessions, an apothecary with fresh medicines made by Amber and Naomi and so much more! We are looking forward to also offering sliding scale & low to no cost classes and healing sessions.

This is an exciting journey we are embarking on and we are in need of support. By helping support us you are greatly impacting our ability to serve underserved and marginalized members of our community in wholesome nourishing ways. You are also giving us the opportunity to bring our gifts to this space and create more opportunities for commUNITY gatherings, healing, love, support, and nourishment. 

Below you will find a PayPal link if you would like to donate to kickstart our studio as well as an amazon wishlist which includes a few of the items we need for the studio (we will be adding to this list as needs come up). All contributions are extremely helpful and so so so! much appreciated and we can't wait to share this new space with you!!!!

Donations via PayPal: askyeflyy@gmail.com

Donation Items: We would also graciously accept used items for the studio (yoga mats, bolsters, blankets, blocks, & straps!) also local honey, brandy, and tincture bottles (for tinctures/ elixirs for the apothecary)

Amazon Wishlist Items: Click Here
Community
Fundraiser to benefit Mariam's Haiti Orphanage Sponsorship Trust. There will be a Circus Minimus One-Man Circus-in-a-suitcase at 5pm, Silent Auction, Haitian Dinner, Followed by Lakou Mizik Haitian Dance Party at 7:30pm! All proceeds directly support the Haiti Orphanage Sponsorship Trust.
Finnegan Pucciarello our uprising Middle School student will be singing in Tristan Und Isolde! Come see this incredible performance August 23 & 25.
 "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.