With our 3rd school year coming to a close, I look back with appreciation towards the families and staff for making it another successful and fulfilling year. We are ending the year with 46 children. That is 30 more than we started with 3 years ago. There are almost 15 newly enrolled children for next year. Some of those new children are siblings. It is amazing to think back and remember that just three years ago there were four children in the Primary classroom and twelve in the Elementary classroom. I would not be surprised if we had more new children enroll in the summer.

Even though I am in the classroom 99% of the time, I take a few moments to poke my head in the other classes or look through the window of the doors. Plus, I review Transparent Classroom, at least on a weekly basis. It is so rewarding getting to see some of the work that your children do throughout the year. They have all noticeably grown and matured throughout the year. It is an honor being a part of getting to witness that.

The Seedling Spectacular was an adorable and awesome experience. I mentioned how it is a symbol and a celebration. The Primary children were adorable with the two songs they sang. The elementary children did such a nice job with their solos, the duet, and medley mashup. If you could not tell, the children who read those speeches touched my heart. Aside from a flood of memories, thoughts and feelings that came through me as they were speaking, I also thought of something else that I want to share, which compliments my thoughts about the Seedling Spectacular being a symbol and a celebration. It is my hope that you were watching those soon to be adolescents, listening to them, and besides being impressed, also thinking about your children being in their shoes in a few years sharing their thoughts in their own unique expression from their experience of a Montessori Education. The public speaking, even for their age, was impressive, like they knew what they needed to do and tried their best. I point this out, because it is not necessarily unique to them, but a common trait and experience for a child with an authentic Montessori education. It is an outcome of what happens when their needs, characteristics and tendencies are met properly. This is optimized when there is a collaboration between home and school.

Lastly, I would like to share with you that I am looking forward to next school year for several reasons. We have new and returning families with a projection of fifty something students. We did and tried some things this year that worked and we learned from things that didn't work, which equates to us being able to do even better next school year. Having room parents seems to be working well for us now, so we will stick to that again for next school year. We will have two collaboration nights in the fall and 2 during the second half of the year. For social nights, it seems that most families are better off doing more activities with children, and we will probably offer less adult only nights. Additionally, it seems enough parents only recognize faces and aren't associating names, faces and children who belong to them. To help with this, and continue to build the feeling of community we will be creating a directory for classrooms that will have pictures and names that you will be able to reference. We have other ideas and things to share in the future, but I wanted to get the ball rolling. Please email, call me, or stop by if you have anything that you want to share. MSOE hopes you have a happy and safe summer! We look forward to seeing you in September.

 

-Mr. Matt