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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Bill McKibben visits the Middle School to talk about climate change and
gets great press!
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Next Week
Monday, January 20
Tuesday, January 21
Wednesday, January 22
- MS Basketball Game at Putney Central, 4pm
- LE & UE Knitting, 3:15-4:30
Thursday, January 23
- UE Basketball Game at Guilford Central, 4pm
Friday, January 24
- UE Basketball 3:15-4:30
- Kids Night Out, 5-9pm
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Upcoming
Monday, January 27
- LE & UE Knitting, 3:15-4:30
- MS Basketball Game at Twin Valley, 4:30pm
Tuesday, January 28
- Open House for Prospective Families, 9-11am
- UE Basketball Game at Putney Central, 5:30pm
Wednesday, January 29
- LE & UE Knitting, 3:15-4:30
- MS Basketball, 3:15-4:30
- UE Basketball Game at Dummerston, 5:30pm
Friday, January 31
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Harper W. says, “Athena learned two things today, how to ice skate
and how to use a growth mindset!”
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Mountain Day #2 was a success!
We are so appreciative of our community coming together to create this new tradition at our school. The Mountain Days program we are working to provide has many aims: important community building; lessening our environmental footprint; providing a un-intimidating space to learn new skills; furthering a sense of equity; and supporting local businesses--along with the fun that can come with Vermont's winter weather. The way the community spent time together these past two Thursdays at Memorial Park and on our campus was unique and, in some ways, unprecedented in our history.
I want to thank teachers, students, and parents for all of your for your flexibility and efforts in support of our second Mountain Day. I’m hearing and seeing so many examples of this doing what we want for our individual students, the school community, and the greater community. We have so many students trying out new sports in a way that they haven’t in previous years. New skiers/snowboarders are gaining confidence on a smaller hill. Older friends helping their younger ones. Young friends able to be independently successful in a smaller environment. The snow was slow and the hill is not intimidating so we had many beginner students meet with great success. More experienced skiers are loving having no lift lines and being able to get run after run in with their buddies.
A huge thank you for all the parent chaperones who pitched in again, even with the delayed opening and challenges of the day.
- Christian Engel in the Castle for the whole time, doing the job!
- Marta Bernbaum coming in, with her son home sick, to do the driving role that Josh Bernbaum does, PLUS her own role helping with the cross-country skiers
- Kathryn Einig showing up early and going wherever needed, including that critical first 20 minutes for skaters at the skating rink getting all the skates on
- Andrea and Tess Burke in the very warm warming hut!
- Kevin Warzecha rushing back from his plowing job to get here in time to do whatever we need!
- Josh Treager being an encouraging force
- Mark Horton immediately impacting all of our young skiers ability with his racing tips!
- Gil Rosenberg adjusting to the change in plans and playing with the learn-to-skiers
- RJ wplk giving Becky a break and driving anyone wherever they need to go
- Ben Boyarko driving and chaperoning for skaters when we are short on help
- Lisa Ford stepping in for her husband and being a chaperone new to the hill
The day was a success!!!
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Creating Cozy seems to have been the theme of the week in the Toddler Room. Françoise worked with the children to create little rice filled cushions that can be warmed and used at naptime (or any other time) like a hot water bottle.
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After choosing their very own fabric
for the cushion cases, the children
took turns helping Françoise by
passing straight pins to her.
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Learning about the sewing machine and watching how it worked was fascinating.
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After a few days we had a basket full of beautiful little cushions!
The children were delighted.
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Josephine and her little cushion.
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And some of the children
got to try them out at naptime.
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Olive E. has snuggle time with Sarah.
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We rounded out the week with freshly baked bread prepared by the aftercare group and plenty of cozy cuddles!
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Enjoy the weekend.
Ellie, Sarah, and Françoise
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Welcome to Jody and his family! The Birch room welcomed Jody into our classroom beginning January 6th. Jody is learning many new works and is enjoying his new classmates and teachers.
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Happy Birthday to AJ and Elijah, who celebrated their birthdays with the "walk around the sun" ritual
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Frustration; giving up on a work because it’s “too hard;” avoiding a work because you worry that you will not be perfect at it. We see this every day in class, and there’s a very good chance that the people reading this newsletter, as well as the ones who’ve written it, have had similar experiences! To help normalize, and even embrace, the sometimes-uncomfortable feeling of “not knowing,” we have been discussing growth vs. fixed mindsets this week. Some of the hallmarks of each are:
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Fixed mindset
- ignores feedback
- gives up easily
- doesn't try
- mistakes are bad
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Growth mindset
- learns from feedback
- puts in effort
- keeps going
- mistakes are opportunities to learn
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We read excerpts from the book
Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain, by JoAnn Deak. In it, we learned that the brain (despite actually being an organ) is like a muscle that we can develop. Mistakes play an important part in this growth, because they help us to improve our skills, whether they be swimming or multiplication. We will continue to discuss, and grow, our growth mindset in the coming weeks - and, indeed, for the rest of our lives, we hope!
Enjoy your weekend.
Kerstin, Amelia, and Patrick
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Reine digs into a flag work.
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Uri practices his multiplication facts.
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The class was introduced to the structure of the atom this week, looking briefly at the history of thinking around this, then using a classroom material, the “atom board,” to demonstrate an impressionistic model of the arrangement of protons, neutrons, and electrons in the atom.
The class continued researching the characteristics of their chosen element, now able to draw a Bohr model and understand what accounts for the element’s tendency to bond or not. It was great to see the group applying other math skills, such as rounding the atomic mass to a whole number, then subtracting from that the number of protons to determine the number of neutrons in the nucleus of a given element.
Based on last week’s experiments, the Upper Ellers created graphs from the data they took looking into the conductivity of different cup materials. We then compared and matched the graphs to the containers, depending upon how well we thought they conducted heat.
We have now started a project identifying characteristics of five mystery powders. Now that the group has discovered which test (visual, heat, iodine, vinegar, or water) uniquely affects each one of the mystery powders, they are set to determine which are in four mixtures that will be introduced next week. Again, stay tuned!
Map work continued on the territorial expansion of the U.S. in the early 1800’s. In poetry, the group spent time examining the poem, “Abandoned Farmhouse,” looking at the structure, repetition, and words used to create mood and meaning. Last week the students wrote poems using the “5W” and “diamante” format. This week they have been writing poems based on the idea of a list.
In our weekly peace education time, we continued moving through a series of lessons that last week examined the concepts of our unique “perspective” on things that are colored by our experiences, “stereotypes” which are so often colored by our expectations, and this week we began looking at the meaning of “prejudice”. As we establish a shared understanding of the definition of these concepts, students have been very forthcoming with ideas and examples, some of which are very personal. The atmosphere of trust and mutual respect in the group has been truly wonderful.
Upcoming Poetry Performance: Wednesday, February 12 at 1:30 p.m.
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In the history of the Hilltop Montessori Middle School, we have had many memorable moments and met extraordinary people. Over the years we have spoken with Representative John Lewis three times, counted Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham as a friend, twice had remarkable conversations with Reverend Bernard Lafayette, have a priceless relationship with the community of Gees Bend and the list goes on. Yesterday afternoon we added to this roll with our visit from the writer, environmentalist, and climate activist, Bill McKibben. Everytime we meet and speak with someone who has dedicated their life to a great cause we are left renewed, energized, and inspired. Yesterday was no exception. In the hour we conversed with Bill we heard ways to move forward and an exhortation to not allow fear and sadness about climate change overwhelm us but translate all that intensity into anger at the systems that continue to knowingly destroy the environment and act.
As he prepared to leave, Bill left us with the idea that we are privileged to live in a time of such great challenge. Perhaps the greatest challenge ever to confront all life. The privilege is the opportunity to make a difference, an opportunity to dedicate ourselves to change that counts, an opportunity to help save the world.
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Ian asks Bill McKibben
an important question.
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Ana thanks Bill McKibben.
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Representative Emilie Kornheiser
speaks about the climate caucus.
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The high floppy bun crew.
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Kids’ Night Out
Friday, January 24th
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, January 24th
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, please email
Ava
or
Marian.
We have only 30 spots, so don’t wait, sign up now!
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To learn more, you can visit the film's website
here.
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The 98th Annual Harris Hill Ski Jump
is looking for volunteers!
Dates: February 15 and 16
Hours needed: anywhere from 9:00-3:00, depending on volunteers position
Volunteers get free admission!
Please contact Kathryn Einig by
email
or cell (802) 258-1983 for more information or to sign up.
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Celebration Brass Band
and
VT Shakedown
are joining forces to play the
Midwinter Carnival Breakdown
at the Stone Church in Brattleboro!
Come celebrate the night with New Orleans style brass band tunes, Afrobeat and Funk - originals and covers! Dance hard and support an awesome venue!
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Friday, January 17 // Show starts at 7:30pm
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Nature Days
with Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center
There's no school, so send your kids for a day of play in nature.
These dates will take place at the Winston Prouty campus.
We'll explore the woods and fields and follow where winter leads us.
9am - 3pm for children in grades K - 5 on the following date:
Mon Jan 20, MLK DAY
Members $45/ day, Non-members $55/day
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Hi amazing alums of Cross Class Dialogue Circles,
We have a Virtual Circle starting in 2 weeks, running 7 Thursday evenings, January 23rd - March 5th, 6-8:30pm EST. We hope to have a robust circle!
For more information, please see the Facebook link and the
cirlcle website link below.
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