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

Next Week: September 30 UE Soccer Home Game, 5:30pm October 1 MS Soccer Practice, 3:15-4:15pm October 2 K-LE Soccer Practice, 3:15-4:30pm UE Soccer Away Game, 5:30pm October 3 MS Soccer Away Game, 4pm LE-UE Horseback riding, 3:30pm October 4 UE Soccer Home Game, 5:30pm For more details about soccer please see the Hilltop Website Calendar

Upcoming Dates: October 7 UE Soccer Away Game, 5:30pm October 9 K-LE Soccer Practice, 3:15-4:30pm UE Soccer Home Game, 4pm October 10 MS Soccer Home Game, 4pm LE-UE Horseback Riding, 3:30pm October 11 Grandparents and Special Friends Day (Half Day) October 13 Putney School Harvest Fest October 14 No School, Indigenous People's Day

Hilltop Becomes AMS Accredited!

We are proud to announce that Hilltop Montessori School is now fully accredited by the American Montessori Society (AMS). We are the first Montessori school in VT to become Montessori accredited. Only 15% of the Montessori schools in the country are accredited by AMS. Being accredited is an official certification and confirmation that we have the qualified teachers, child-centered facilities, and solid management that enable us to implement the Montessori pedagogy authentically!  This has been a journey of growth and development since the school opened as a one room pre-school in 1972. As many of you know, this accreditation was a goal of the Strategic Plan set in 2017, and we are pleased to have accomplished the self study and site visit portion in the past two years. The self-study was labor intensive for the teachers and other community members who supported this endeavor. A special thank you to people who got this off the ground with donations that paid for the initial application and for the site visit costs. We are very grateful for support from Tonia Wheeler, Mel Kahn, Ciri Gillespie, Liz Richards, Stephanie Betit-Hancock, and their families. We also appreciate the involvement of the past and present board members and staff who did the thinking, meeting, writing, and editing that made this possible.  The process started with a thorough analysis of our mission statement. The work, led by Vanessa Long, resulted in a slight revision and update to the statement. It was important to the staff to keep the critical piece of “responsible independence” and to add the role of “practice” and “community” which is constant here at this school and in life. We are pleased with how thoroughly we know and implement our mission, something that the AMS accreditation team noted! The self study resulted in a 200 page report that documented all aspects of our school including: teacher qualifications, facilities, implementation of Montessori philosophy, board governance, policies and record keeping, financial management, and more. A big thank you to the teachers who devoted meeting time to discuss and document what they do in the classrooms, to Becky Eisenhandler who took responsibility for the final compilation of materials, and to Stephanie Betit-Hancock and Marti Anderson who did a final read through of the report. We are proud of this document! A copy is available in the lobby and a summary document is here [LINK].  After submitting the self-study a year ago, it was approved by AMS and they sent a team of three experienced Montessorians to do a site visit last March. Their visit kicked off on a Sunday afternoon with a full tour of the school and a gathering with all staff. This was followed by a board dinner hosted by former board member, Mel Kahn, currently in her final (and 14th year) as a Hilltop parent. The warmth, hospitality, and sense of community that the visiting team felt, set the stage for their days with students, parents, and staff at the school. The visitors confirmed that we do what we said we did in our report and specifically commended: our “teachers’ passions for teaching” the “very strong sense of social responsibility” exhibited by our students the "solid fiscal practice through many years of operation” the extent to which we honor diversity and much more. (The site visit report is available in the front lobby.) After the site-visit team recommended us for accreditation, we waited several months for the accreditation board, and then the full AMS board, to meet to approve us. Then, late in the summer, we got the official word! We are proud of this accomplishment and this confirmation of our authentic implementation of Montessori. And, as this is an accomplishment from our 2017 Strategic Plan, we are now also beginning the process of developing our 2022 Strategic Plan. If anyone would like to be a part of that process, please contact a board member!

Tamara Mount, Head of School, Mel Kahn, current parent and former Board member, and current Board co-chairs, Asher Pucciarello and Alix Fedoruk, spoke in celebration of our AMS accreditation at our parent night.

Notes From the Board

The Hilltop Board Back row, left to right: Heather Lesage-Horton, Sandy Campbell, Andrea Lemon, Sarah Swank, Joslyn McIntyre, Asher Pucciarello, Todd Fahey. Front row, left to right: Vanessa Long, Alix Fedoruk, Travis Shine, Marti Anderson.

The HMS Board of Trustees gathered on Wednesday evening for our first meeting of the school year. We were first notified that Stephen Lowe, who has been the only Board member on the Buildings & Grounds Committee for the past year, has decided to step off the Board. Thanks, Stephen, for your service to Hilltop! We are now looking for new candidates, especially folks who have expertise in Buildings & Grounds issues, to join our newest Board member Andrea Lemon on the B&G Committee, either as a committee member or to join the board. Please reach out to Tamara, Alix, Asher or Vanessa if you are interested in learning more about what it means to be on a Board committee or to serve on the Board! Other items discussed during this meeting included: Development update with lots of upcoming activities and events, notably Annual Fund! Stay tuned for announcements from Roselle regarding upcoming events!   Finance review - we had a good discussion of our projected cash flow for the upcoming school year, in light of how our enrollment has settled. Overall, the school’s finances are strong, and we are still considering whether we will need an endowment draw this year, and if so, when and how much.  We had a spirited discussion about the migration of the Board’s functional document management system from an older google site to a new shared drive. While this might not seem greatly important for the rest of the school, issues of ownership, transparency, accountability, security, and legal liability (not to mention plain old functionality) were all brought up. Ultimately, we believe that this will be an important tool in supporting the functions of the Board, which will ultimately serve the needs of the school. We look forward to talking with you at upcoming events, including Grandparents and Special Friends Day on Friday, October 11! Stay in touch, Asher, Alix, and Vanessa

Grandparent and Special Friend Day

Grandparents & Special Friend Day invitations have just been sent out for Friday, October 11th 2019 . See the full schedule below.

This is a very popular event that we host twice a year, fall and spring. Having two opportunities for Grandparents or Special Friends to visit our campus allows those traveling long distances to choose the time of year that works best for them.  We love visitors! Sometimes too many grown-ups in the classroom can be hard to manage for children and visitors alike. This year, we welcome all guests but ask that no more than 2 guests per child visit in the classroom at one time. We're hoping this alleviates some of the stress that little ones, especially, can experience on this very special day.

Toddler Program

This week the toddlers prepared the wooden box (built by our very own Marco) for composting our food scraps. Sarah gave the children a lesson on how to create the ideal Prepared Environment. (Haha! Not just children, but worms, too, need a Prepared Environment!) In the spring we hope to have some compost to add to our garden.

meeting the worms welcoming the worms to their new home

watering the newspaper bedding adding some food scraps

Many thanks to the families who were able to join us last night for the parent orientation. We hope you found it informative and interesting! We enjoyed sharing a bit about a Montessori Toddler Room with you. Enjoy the weekend. Ellie, Sarah & Françoise

Early Education License

Dear Hilltop Families, Earlier in September, we had a routine, unscheduled visit from our licensor for our “Center Based Child Care and Preschool” license. This is one of the six regulatory/licensing/accreditation programs that we are a part of: Approved Vermont Independent Schools – for school aged children Center Based Childcare and Pre-school license – for children 5 and under PreK Partnership Program – for 3 and 4 year olds who reside in Vermont. Participation provides tuition contribution of $3k for each Vermont student. Specialized Child Care Program – for children under “Protective Services Child Care” and/or “Family Support Child Care” STARS – 5 star recognition in this program enables us to participate in other programs at the highest recognition and financial reimbursement level American Montessori School (AMS) Accreditation - for authentic implementation of Montessori in all areas

For our Childcare and Pre-school license we need to be in full compliance with all of the Vermont regulations for such programs. The licensing field specialist spent time in each of our early childhood classrooms: the Birch Room, the Willow Room, and the Toddler Program. She saw children and teachers at work and play in the prepared environments of the classrooms, bathrooms, and playground. She confirmed that we are in compliance with the requirements. The only area she noted a need to change was in our schedule for emergency drills. A couple of years ago, the school age regulations changed to doing a rotation of a fire drill, a secure your classroom drill, and an out of sight drill on a rotation with one drill a month on a three month rotation. At that time, we went to that rotation for all programs. The licensor noted that the old requirement of doing a routine evacuation (fire) drill each month is still in place for the early childhood programs. As such we will need to do additional evacuation drills in some months for the younger classrooms. We can implement this with verbal instructions, without needing to do the alarming sound and lights. Kegan quickly developed a schedule to meet the dual requirements. The full report and our corrective response is hanging on the bulletin board in the front office next to our “Center Based Child Care and Preschool Certificate”. If you have any questions, please contact Tamara. 

Children's House

Thank you to all who were able to come to the Thursday Parent Orientation Night. It was wonderful to begin our partnering relationship with you and your children. We are here to support and guide!  For those who could not make it, our discussion included some of the following topics:  Curriculum area overview Materials: Examples of how each set of materials in each area of the classroom meets the developmental needs of children 3, 4, 5 and 6 years old.  Routines: and overview of the day and transitions Communication Grace and Courtesy  Respectful listening/being a respectful learner Bathroom and hygiene Kindness Building resilience and supporting emotional processing Addressing conflicts Educational resources (come see us if you would like a small collection of parent resources). Thank you for your commitment in making this a wonderful year for your child, and working together in support of your child’s growth, development and wellbeing!  Sincerely,  Jonathan, Rebecca, Cheryl and Mariam

Lower Elementary

Henry and Eleanor practice adding end marks to sentences as part of their Work Study work.

Grammar and word study work is in full swing in Lower El, with groups studying the makings of a sentence, what an adverb is, and how a pronoun is used. The youngest children have been practicing composing sentences (“a very little story”), including the pertinent information of who/what it’s about and what is happening.  They will continue to practice both orally and in writing.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Parent Night on Thursday. We appreciate your interest and look forward to working with you this year. We handed out the schedule for Art, P.E., and Music; p lease be sure to send your child with the appropriate clothing and needed items for these activities on the corresponding day. We also provided the general one-year curriculum of our three-year cycle and some helpful reminders. For those who were unable to attend, a copy of each of these should be in your child’s “take home” folder today.  Some topics we covered on Parent Night: The period from 6-9 years old is a highly social one; children are eager to work/play with peers like never before. They are also excited to tackle big ideas and big works, and we provide this through Montessori’s “Great Lessons,” such as how the Universe was formed. Lower El does not have a “Peace Table” like they do in the Children’s House; instead, we view our entire classroom as a Peace Area. With all of the peer closeness our students crave, conflict inevitably arises. Our reflective listening steps are one way we help them to navigate challenging situations. (More about this in a future newsletter) Our Morning Meetings begin at 8:35; we request that children arrive anywhere from 8:15 to 8:25 to have time to settle in before this begins.  Energizers and purposeful sharing is incorporated daily into our morning meetings, as is a 10:10 walk/run around our quarter-mile loop.  “Take home” folders will come home with your child on most Fridays; these will contain some of the work that your child has done over the previous days. Empty folders should be returned the following Monday.  Please email us with questions or concerns you have, at any time. We will respond within 24 hours.  Thank you for your partnership! Have a fabulous weekend! Kerstin, Patrick, and Amelia

Dylan learns about the Deer Mouse using the Biome Readers of Asia.

Eko helps to keep the classroom clean by doing his daily Supply Shelf job.

Older students study the Homophones layouts. Amir and Asha enjoy recess at their store in Haytown.

Mazin carries a heavy load down Hayton Highway. Kegan teaches the Lower El students about the "recipe" for compost.

Upper Elementary

In an exercise exploring the notion of fact vs. opinion, students choose their spots along a continuum of “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” when presented with a series of statements.

We loved seeing so many of you at the Parent Meeting last night. We have a lively and jovial bunch! We shared lots of information about the year, including two handouts that we wanted to share here. Not everyone was able to attend, and we’ve also made some additions and corrections to the handout. Please learn about the topics we are currently working on by reading our “Musings of the Upper Elementary: September 2019”. Also, mark your calendars or check the Hilltop Website Calendar for these dates of Upper Elementary events. Have a great weekend, Jen, Tom, and Marco

Middle School

“.....in Wildness is the salvation of the world”.  Henry David Thoreau wrote these words in his 1862 essay, “Walking”. Students recently read this challenging, sometimes perplexing and beautiful essay and then sat together in our Upland circle for an engaged discussion. Students have also read selections from John Muir and Aldo Leopold, both deeply impacted by Thoreau’s concept of wildness and his relationship to nature. Here are a few excerpts of student journal entries written while observing on their plots and contemplating “wildness”.

“Nature essentially has a cycle, meaning if the wind hadn’t blown that day then that seed wouldn’t have blown off a plant and then that plant would not be here. A human can try to meddle with the cycle to “help” certain trees or flowers but other than for their own benefit nothing good comes from it….. In my opinion to be wild means to be part of the cycle…. When I am running as fast as I can, sprinting across my field, I feel wild….it makes me feel like nature is on my side.” ~Shoshanna  A mushroom… Has an earthly smell. The underside has a host of gills, soft to the touch Silent, no crunching or crackling here A tiny baby, a “mini-me” behind it An ant crawls on a plant beside it It’s cupped top caught last night’s rain A spider’s web stretches between it and the log behind The stem below looks sturdy but could be uprooted in a heartbeat Leaves shelter the trunk trying to make it stay But it is no use, it has no roots, nothing to anchor it It’s small form could by crushed by nearly anything It is A mushroom ~Parker

Get ready For Some Delicious Salsa Made by the Middle School For this coming Tuesday, October 2nd the Middle School is making salsa! We've got fresh organic produce from Lilac Ridge Farm and a crew of students with a passion for phenomenal food. So pick up your mouth watering salsa at pickup on Tuesday for just 8$ a pint. All funds going to our odyssey. You won’t regret it!

HMS Community

Kids’ Night Out Friday, October 18th Do you want to have a fun night out on the town? Are you having a hard time finding a babysitter? Do you want your children to have just as much fun as you do while you’re out? Drop your children off at our arts barn anywhere between 5:00-9:00 pm on Friday, October 18th to have a night of fun and games with our responsible middle school babysitters.   There will be fun, games, crafts, and tons more! At least one adult and lots of fun middle schoolers will be there. We will provide snacks, and pizza is available! If you don’t want pizza, please pack a nutritious dinner or feed your child before you come. To attend KNO, your child must be in children's house or above and be able to use the bathroom independently. This fun night for you and your kids costs only $7.00 an hour and $5.00 for each additional child. Pizza is $5.00 more for two slices. All proceeds from Kids Night Out go to the Hilltop Montessori Middle School Odyssey fund. Our businesses are an important part of our fundraising, so your support really helps! To sign up or learn more, visit our website If you have any questions, email us at adavidov@hilltopmontessori.org or mwojik@hiltopmontessori.org  We have only 30 spots, so don’t wait, sign up now!

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, 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)

Community