Hilltop Montessori School's mission is for students to practice responsible independence in a caring community of curious, critical learners and thoughtful citizens.
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Next Week:
September 3
- First Day of School (No B/C This week & No A/C for New Students)
September 4
- First Full Day for LE & UE
September 6
- First Full Day for TP & CH
- Hilltop Family Picnic at the Green Mountain Girls Camp 5-7pm
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Upcoming Dates:
September 10
September 9-12
September 12-13
September 19
2019-20 School Calendar
- one page calendar here or
- the website calendar here
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New to Hilltop? We are excited to have you! Below you will find a key of Hilltop's most used acronyms.
Classroom Terms
TP-
Toddler Program
CH-
Children's House (Pre-K)*
LE-
Lower Elementary (Grades 1-3)*
UE-
Upper Elementary (Grades 4-6)*
MS-
Middle School (Grades 7-8)
AC/BC-
After Care/Before Care
*
Each three year program refers to the grades as "Youngers", "Middlers", and "Olders".
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.
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Bring a dish to share, we'll have the grill going!
Our first social event of the year, the annual Family Picnic, is quickly approaching! The date is
Friday, September 6th, from 5-7pm at the Green Mountain Camp for Girls
. There will be able to swim in the pool (lifeguard provided). Jay and friends will play. And of course we will have a B.B.Q! What a wonderful time for families to connect, meet new friends, and share a meal. It is always great fun!! We are looking forward to seeing you all.
In the spirit of participation, we ask each family to provide a potluck dish to contribute to the meal. Here is the breakdown by classroom and type of dish:
CH/Toddler Program
: Desserts
Elementary Program (UE & LE)
: Salad or side dish
Middle School
: Drinks (no soft drinks please)
Board of Trustees:
Hot Dogs, Tofu Dogs, Hamburgers & Veggie Burgers
Click
here
for directions to Green Mountain Camp
Since there are certain areas designated for our gathering, here are a few rules we must follow:
- As always, please keep your eyes on your child/children at all times.
- Guests (adults and children) are NOT allowed up the stairs, on the ridge or in the cabins.
- Please park in designated areas only - Town of Dummerston issued stern warnings. We appreciate your help w/the parking. Guests should only park on one side of the road.
- Parking is tight, if you can carpool with another family from the covered bridge, please do so. Otherwise, once the parking on the Campground is full, you may park on the road. All cars must be parked on the same side of the road.
We are so excited that Green Mountain Camp has once again graciously invited us to share their facilities. Thank you for your respect and understanding. We look forward to seeing you there!
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Toddler Program Orientation Week Schedule
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Tuesday, September 3 - Thursday, September 5
- New Students 8:30-10 am dismissal time
- Returning Students 10:15 - usual dismissal time (11:30, 2:45, 4:00 or 5:00)
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Children's House Orientation Week Schedule
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Tuesday, September 3 - Thursday, September 5
- New Students (ages 3 and 4) 8:30-10:00 am dismissal time
- 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 (at 11:45, 3:00, 4:00, or 5:00)
- 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)
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Lower Elementary Orientation Week Schedule
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Tuesday, September 3
- 1st grade students (Youngers) start at 1pm (regular dismissal time at 3:00, 4:00, or 5:00)
- 2nd and 3rd grade students (Middlers and Olders) start at 8:30am (regular dismissal time at 3:00, 4:00, or 5:00)
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Upper Elementary Orientation Week Schedule
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Tuesday, September 3
- 4th and 5th grade students (Youngers and Midders) start at 1pm (regular dismissal time at 3:00, 4:00, or 5:00)
- 6th grade students (Olders) start at 8:30am (regular dismissal time at 3:00, 4:00, or 5:00)
Sixth Year Student Hike, Tuesday September 3
- 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. 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. We will return to the classroom for the afternoon with the rest of the Upper El students.
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Middle School Orientation Week Schedule
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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!
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The summer is a time for teachers to rest and rejuvenate. It is also often a time for thoughtful professional development, feeling less rushed than during the school year. Many of our teachers and staff were involved in different trainings and Professional Development over the summer. Below are a few highlights of information learned that will be brought back to school.
Sarah Palacios of the Toddler Program
did the first summer of her Montessori training to become a credentialed Infant/Toddler Montessori teacher! She attended the
Montessori Training Center Northeast
and spent nine weeks of the summer in Hartford. She has already begun to apply what she has learned to the set-up of the Toddler Room and is looking forward to working with the children with this new knowledge in mind!
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Mariam Diallo and Cheryl Matthews of the Birch Room
took the training on Act 1 for the prevention and reporting of child sexual abuse. They also took a class titled “Never Too Early: Worried, Wild and Wonderful”. This four-hour class discussed how to identify social and emotional themes in children’s books and use the books to support learning in the classroom.
Jonathan Sellers of the Willow Room
started on his masters degree with the
Montessori Integrative Education Program
through Endicott College. This program is designed for credentialed Montessori teachers who are interested in further exploring their understanding of applying Montessori philosophy.
Kerstin Kjellberg, Patrick Burke, Amelia Fontein, Jen Hed, and Tom Griffith (all from the elementary program)
attended a four day with
Responsive Classroom training
. They took part in two different sessions of the “Elementary Core Course” that focused on community building, classroom management, and social/emotional learning in elementary classrooms. While Responsive Classroom is not specifically “Montessori”, it is one of the many examples of Montessori principles being adopted more generally. The training reinforced many practices already in place in our elementary programs and provided ideas for many more to implement in the coming year, especially during these first weeks for school when so much classroom culture is being set.
Tom Griffith and Jen Hed of the Upper Elementary, along with Kegan Refalo and Amber Arnold of the administrative staff
, attended a three-day course on
Presenting Abenaki Culture in the Classroom
. We will be bringing what they learned into the Upper Elementary curriculum as well as to many of our school-wide considerations and practices.
This August, I attended the week-long Summer Institute on Energy and Climate Change put on by the Vermont Energy Education Program. This terrific organization works throughout Vermont (and now in New Hampshire, too) to get kids and schools working on climate issues related to electrical production, home efficiency, and transportation. VEEP educators do in-school residencies, work one-on-one helping teachers develop curriculum, and provide trainings for educators. At the Summer Institute, I joined eleven other K-12 educators as we unpacked VEEP's project-based approach to learning and built connections between key energy concepts and our own curriculums. I am very excited to bring many of these activities and investigations back to the Middle School for our year-long focus on climate change. In fact, I was so excited that I brought back six boxes of science materials on loan from VEEP, including infrared thermometers and watt meters. I encourage anyone who is interested in Vermont's carbon footprint to check out VEEP's
website
.
Tamara Mount
took the Basic Specialized Child Care Training that is part of the requirements to work with children who are under protective services with the Department for Children and Families. Several staff have taken the class and the director needs to have taken it within the past five years. It was a great review of the support agencies in place and how to best meet the needs of children and families.
All of the staff
participate in training sessions and meetings during the In-Service Days at the end of summer. This year included a half-day training session on Gender and Sexuality Diversity with a speaker from Northampton, Mass.
Jennifer Bryan
travels all around the country to give these workshops and was pleased to be able to stay local! She is very familiar with Montessori schools and noted that she was giving us not tools to put in our “toolbox”, but materials to put in our “baskets”!
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We also had a half-day
First Aid Training
. (We alternate years between First Aid and CPR to keep all staff current with those certifications.) This year we used an instructor who focusses on
wilderness first aid
. She was able to give us very relevant and applicable training addressing bleeding, head trauma, frostbite, heat stroke, EpiPens, ticks, and more. She was an unusually engaging trainer and had a fun teaching tool for learning the Heimlich maneuver!
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Staff also appreciated time taken by two board members to help employees better understand and utilize a couple of the employee benefits offered by Hilltop Montessori School. Travis Shine came in to speak to folks about the TIAA/CREF retirement fund and Vanessa Long covered AFLAC benefits. We feel very fortunate to have these benefits and to have board members so dedicated to Hilltop staff benefitting from them!
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Thank You!! Tidbits From the Work Parties
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Summer Facilities Projects
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Kegan had a busy summer this year and ended the summer completing many projects with the help of his assistant Milo Gardiloc, Hilltop alum Alex Lier ’17 (back for his third summer), Jonathan Cavanagh, and Z Mohammad. They were a busy crew. Projects included:
- Giving the Garage lots of love! It has been transformed from being a storage area to being an organized and accessible student and staff workspace, including a new exterior paint job.
- Continuing to address drainage issues in the Children’s House playground area and around the pump house that is critical for our fire suppression system. We are in good shape now!
- Annual carpet shampooing and washing and painting of all the common area walls.
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- Installing speed bumps made out of 100% recycled tires. Similar to the ones the town added near the Living Memorial Park, we’ve added this safety measure to protect our young pedestrians. Please drive slowly throughout our campus and parking lot.
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- Installing the Dan Filler Circle sign. Dan has been gone a year and we miss him and think of him often, especially when there is congestion in the traffic circle. Kerstin got to visit him in Washington state this summer!
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The summer help in the gardens has been wonderful.
Marta Bernbaum, Beneth Sauer, and Debra Rosensweig
put in hours to get the flower gardens ready for the start of school.
Water Testing
- You may have heard about lead water testing for schools. Kegan is on it! We turned in the survey, as requested by the state, and continue to do our regular testing with results for lead well below the required levels. The state has started with child care centers and will be moving to schools shortly. They will be sending more specific kits with more detailed testing to do shortly. We will let you know how it progresses. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions please contact
Kegan.
If you are interested in helping out with the flower gardens (weeding and watering, etc.) or any other project around the grounds, please contact Kegan Refalo, Facilities Manager, at
rkefalo@hilltopmontessori.org
.
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Parenting for Social Justice Workshop!
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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)
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Hilltop Family Clothing Swap
The Equity and Anti-Bias Workgroup will be hosting seasonal clothing, winter gear and sporting equipment swaps here at Hilltop! This is a great opportunity to connect with
other Hilltop families and share resources as we prepare for the coming year. These kids
grow so fast! Our first swap is planned out!
Date:
Tuesday, September 10th
Time:
4-6pm
Location:
Hilltop Montessori Theatre (In the Arts Barn)
Description:
Stop by anytime between 4-6pm and take whatever you need! For our first clothing swap we will be looking for character free items in wearable condition without holes, including:
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• Shirts
• Pants
• Sweaters
• Rain gear
• Boots
• Slippers
• Reusable lunch containers
• Lunch boxes
• Backpacks
• Hats
You may drop your donations off at the Hilltop Front Desk on Monday, September 9th or Tuesday, September 10th
. The gym will be open for children to play while parents mingle and shop for some new items!
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