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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The Toddler Program's first virtual morning circle!
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Next Week:
Thursday, April 16
- HMS Parent Connections Meeting, 7-8pm
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Upcoming:
April 20 - 24
Thursday April 30
- All School Gathering, 9-9:30am
- HMS Parent Connections and Open Board Meeting, 7-8pm
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Note from the Head of School
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Dear Families,
In the first few weeks of remote learning, we focussed on:
- Reaching out to students and families to support learning at home as quickly and thoroughly as we could
- Balancing staff roles and responsibilities to distribute the immense new online workload and the diminished onsite workload, and keep all staff employed
- Strategizing for managing the school and supporting families during this health and economic crisis
- Providing care for children of essential persons
And much more . . .
Now as we are all more settled into this “new normal” we, as a school, have added another set of goals:
- Streamlining and organizing our communication with families (see below and be on the lookout for an email with calendar links for “All School Events” and for your students program calendar that will include the ZOOM invitations for one stop event info)
- Establishing and communicating attendance and participation expectations during the Remote Learning period.
- Providing community events for parents and students across programs (the second Hilltop Parent Connection will be Thursday, April 16th 7pm, and the first On-Line All School Gathering is scheduled for Thursday, April 30th, 9am)
- Planning for what this “at home” situation could mean for events through the spring and into the summer
- Further strategizing, at the Board/Admin level, for how to support families, staff, and the school now and in the near future of this financial crisis. (Please join us for the Open Board Meeting on Thursday, April 30 at 7pm)
We welcome input as we further refine how to serve students and families in this learning at home period. Please contact your teacher, a Board Member, or me if you have any ideas for us to consider as we get better at this!
Stay well,
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We invite you all to the second
Hilltop Parent Connection meeting on Thursday, April 16th at 7pm.
The theme of this meeting will be using Google Classrooms and Calendars to support your students. Yet, any topic and sharing will be welcomed. We appreciate this opportunity to connect with parents and hear how things are going for you.
We had six families join us last night and it was a wonderful opportunity to gather together and “see” each other. In our haste to set a regular day (Thursday) and time (7pm) for this weekly event, we made a serious blunder and neglected to notice that the first one was scheduled on the second night of Passover. We are deeply sorry for this oversight that is not consistent with the equality and respect for all that we have as a clear goal for our school. We will do better in the future, and hope that many families will be able to join us next Thursday, April 16th.
There will not be a meeting on April 23rd, as that is Spring “Screen” Break. The following week, on
Thursday, April 30th will be the Open Board Meeting
(moved from Friday to have continuity with the Thursday weekly parent meetings). The Board is refining information to share about Board functions, school finances, and the state of the school in the context of our current situation. We strongly encourage caregivers to attend this event, as we want to share information and would love to have people consider participating in Board work. Come ask and learn more!
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Google Calendar Information
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We have heard from a handful of families that managing Google Calendars has been confusing. We empathize - it has been tricky for staff as well! In an effort to remedy this, we have updated a few things.
- A private “All School Events” calendar has been created. This calendar will be accessible to all families, but not to the public. It will hold event dates, times, and ZOOM invitation links to things like All School Gathering, Parent Connections Meetings, and more.
- All parents will be invited to view their student’s Google Calendar, which holds their individual class schedules and lessons, including ZOOM invitation links when appropriate. Students and parents will only be able to see what is required/offered to them specifically.
- We have established official Technology Coordinators for each program. If you have any technical difficulties going forward with Google Calendar, Google Classroom, or ZOOM, please contact the appropriate staff below. These Tech Coordinators are responsible for managing their classroom calendars and troubleshooting Zoom difficulties.
- Toddler Program and Children's House: Julia / 607-339-8745
- Lower Elementary: Amelia / 802-282-2845
- Upper Elementary: Kathy
- Middle School: Finn
Next week’s Parent Connections Meeting will focus on any sort of tutorial that may be needed to help families become fully comfortable with their online classrooms.
Caregivers in each program will be receiving an email specific to them that will contain the All School Event Calendar link and the Program calendar link for your child shortly. Please let your student’s Tech Coordinator know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
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Hello Toddler Families,
It was wonderful to see so many of you on Wednesday for our ZOOM call! We miss you all so much, and just seeing your faces and talking together really lifted our spirits.
We are looking forward to doing another call together next Wednesday, April 15th, at 9am. Please look out for an email from Julia for the link to your child's Google Calendar, as it will contain the ZOOM invitation.
We had fun putting together another distance learning kit for you this week. It is available for pick up on the Toddler Room porch. Inside you’ll find some activities for Practical Life, Expression, Manipulatives, and Language. We hope you enjoy it! If you have feedback about the bags to share, please contact us. We have another one planned for next week with activities to keep children engaged during the Spring Break week.
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Also, we love seeing photos of students at work! It is such a great way to stay connected with our community, and often acts as inspiration for peers. Going forward, we encourage you to send any pictures that you would like to share with the community via the Newsletter to the
Front Desk. If you post a photo on Google Classroom, we will assume permission to share has been granted unless specifically specified. Here are a two we received this week:
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Thinking of you all.
The Toddler Team
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A new Montessori Goody Bag is ready for you to pick up from the Toddler Porch! We hope you will enjoy your weekend excursion to collect this newest bag full of fun and interesting activities for students to work on over the next week.
That being said, how are
you
doing?
We understand that it is not possible to recreate our classrooms through technology. Children's House learning takes place through children observing and interacting in person with other people. So...that's where you come in!
You may be under a great deal of stress right now. You are working in a very different way with young children in the same space and that can be overwhelming. Here are some very helpful tips to help you stay psychologically healthy and rejuvenated:
- Self-Observation. Practice self-care before you get overwhelmed. Notice how your body reacts to stress; tune in, not out!
- Practice Breathing. Refocus your attention on breathing and counting. This in turn lowers heart rate and reduces anxiety so you can access more reasonable thinking.
- Mini Breaks. Go somewhere alone for a short time. Breathe, meditate, or even just cry in frustration. Make sure your child is in a safe place and take that time! Express yourself!
- Communicate. Choose a trusted person and TALK.
- Go outside. Fresh air can be very restoring for both you and your child.
- Exercise. Walk, practice yoga, run, dance.
- Practice meditation, or mindfulness. Focus your mind and energy in specific ways.
- Practice Gratitude. Think about what you are grateful for at this time.
- Practice self care. When you take care of yourself, you are more likely to have the energy and patience to care for others.
Our focus should be on:
- Observing
- Reflecting
- Adapting
We need to fall back on our human tendencies; to find order, explore, and find new ways of functioning. Our long term challenge is to be courageous, brave, resilient, and compassionate to ourselves and others.
For your children, have a plan. Create a Prepared Environment in the home for order and consistency. Set-up:
- Organized space
- Create a structure for the day
- Establish daily routine
- Communicate in a positive way. Be brief, clear, communicate what to do, be kind and non-judgemental, and be consistent. Remember process over product.
The whole world and routine seems upside down right now. Everyone is needy and clingy and that is O.K. Slow down, be present, center yourself, and breathe...We will all get through this together!
Please contact CH teachers if you would like to set up a meeting time. We have enjoyed Zooming with many of you! Our available times are in the Learning From Home handbook.
Warm Regards,
-The Children’s House Teachers
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Willow's first of many weekly ZOOM circles.
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Annabel's report on camels.
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Skyler and Connor watch a lesson by Jonathan.
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Cheryl, Mariam, and Sarah practicing social distancing
while preparing this week's distance learning kits.
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Lower Elementary began their first Monday morning meeting this week, with many in attendance. The mood was jubilant, as friends who hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks “reunited” on ZOOM. Wednesday morning brought our first “sharing circle,” which is a continuation from the physical classroom routine of having three students a week share something of importance to them. A question-and-answer session followed, with everyone managing this new mode of communication quite well.
In addition, students experienced their first afternoon Art and P.E. classes with Jade and Mace this week, with more to come. One-on-one check-ins began as well, which provided students and teachers with the opportunity to visit and ask questions about specific works that students are practicing from Google Classroom.
Our botany study is providing children with a mix of academic work - learning and recording the six parts of a flowering plant, for example - and outdoor and hands-on exploration. Some students have taken their bean-in-a-bag experiment further, by planting the beans that showed promise. The general consensus is that the chickpeas didn’t do well in terms of germination, but the cannellini beans are growing! “Paper Pat,” Patrick’s botany alter ego, hosted a video on plants which addressed specific questions that students asked. “Do plants hear?,” “Do plants eat?,” and ” “Do plants excrete?” were some of the excellent questions that the students asked. Amelia and her dog, Mona, led us on a virtual tour of her backyard, teaching us about the parts of a plant.
Thank you to all of our parents, who have been stellar partners in this transition to distance learning!
Have a wonderful weekend.
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A drawing and observation from Eko's Nature Journal.
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Hazel's sprouts are peaking out!
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Cooper's cannellini bean sprout.
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Classes were up and running this week, with more and more students ‘turning in’ work on the Google Classroom platform, bringing their wonderful questions to literature discussions and math groups, and using our Community Meeting to share work ideas, personal news, play a game, or gather information about ongoing studies.
We are winding up our literature and seminar books for this portion of the year. Sixth grade is working on a five-paragraph essay about
Okay for Now
, addressing character change and the remarkable way that the book weaves Audubon’s bird prints as a running reflection of the main character's changing perspective on the world. Meanwhile, the Fourth and Fifth literature groups have finally discovered the key to the
When You Reach Me
mystery, and the intriguing role of the Black Panther Movement during the 1960's Bay Area as depicted in
One Crazy Summer
. Here is
a link
to an interesting recent kids’ interview with veterans of the movement, shared with this lit group recently over Google Classroom.
In other work, some of the students are reading biographies of individuals portrayed in Ken Burns’
The West
. These range from a cowboy (Teddy Blue Abbott), a farmer (Uriah Oblinger), a slave turned homesteader (Pap Singleton), a Mormon suffragette (Emeline Wells), and the important story of Chief Joseph, leader of the Nez Perce nation during a time of staggering loss of homeland and forced removal experienced by indigenous peoples of the western United States.
Sixth graders have been hard at work finishing up research on their Independent Study Projects, and meeting individually with advisors to plan the writing phase of this ‘right of passage’ within Upper Elementary.
Screen time worries? The class is also aiming our sights out of doors in these days of early Spring. We are learning about features of plants that will help us with identification work in coming weeks, such as the arrangement of buds and leaves on a stem. (Ask your child to show you examples of alternate, opposite, and whorled in your yard.) We also played “bird bingo” to gear up for the kinds of observation skills that will be employed in upcoming backyard birding data collections.
Students have enjoyed the new live sessions offered in the afternoons by Mace, Jade, and next week Jay. We certainly miss seeing one another in person. However, we are experiencing real successes in both academic and social realms. It is wonderful to connect in the smaller group setting of a math lesson, and then to enjoy the full range of friendly faces in the larger meetings. After a successful ‘crazy hat day’ this Wednesday, students rallied for ‘crazy hair day’ next week. Stay tuned for that!
Warm weekend wishes to all of our families,
-The UE team
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Sebastian showing decimal concepts
that just clicked in!
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Oona and Esme make brooms from backyard woods materials.
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The middle school community is settling into the rhythm of distance learning. Our plates are very full as we juggle home and school in the same physical space, but the smiles and camaraderie of morning meetings lift our spirits. Learning continues apace.
Here is a snapshot of what we’ve been up to:
- Creative short stories pour forth from adolescent imaginations in Language Arts. ZOOM read-aloud sessions abound.
- Thursday is math day. Pencils and paper at the ready, young mathematicians tune in to check answers with peers and get the next lesson.
- Give me that old time religion! Visits from buddhist practitioner Gary Keiser and therapist/MS parent Debra Rosenzweig expanded our minds and had us contemplating joy, health, and happiness.
- Speaking of health, students practiced the art of accepting rejection in their on-going study of consent.
- Students are measuring their daily water use at home as part of a science lab project. Also, we learned how recycling the nutrients in our urine could be the solution to water shortages and pollution.
The Middle School met with Arthur Davis from the Rich Earth Institute. We got a great tour of the facility, learning about how we can improve our water through the collection of waste liquids:
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Finnegan works on his water consumption project.
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We are grateful for our supportive community, and we look forward to being together again (virtually) next week.
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Building Bright Futures (BBF) is Vermont’s early childhood public-private partnership established by law to monitor the state’s early care, health and education systems and to advise the Administration and legislature on policy and systems improvements.
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Celebrate the Week of the Young Child with BBF!
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Even though we can't gather in communities to celebrate the Week of the Young Child next week, BBF is planning a week of fun, engaging activities and performances on Facebook. Starting on Monday, April 13, we have something exciting planned for five straight days! We'll be posting every day at 3pm unless otherwise noted:
- Music Monday: We have two wonderful performers lined up for Monday: the Podd Brothers at 11am and John Gailmore at 3pm.
- Tasty Tuesday: Join BBF's own Robin Stromgren and Jay Austin to learn how to make Wacky Cake.
- Work Together Wednesday: We'll be working together with BBF's Amanda Biggs to learn a wonderful Calm Down Routine.
- Artsy Thursday: We'll have a very busy day with River Gallery School of Art in Brattleboro teaches us how to make a collage at 9am, Crabgrass Puppets in West Brattleboro will do a puppet show and show us how puppets are made at noon, and our friends at Artistree in Woodstock will teach us how to make a homemade drum at 3pm.
- Family Friday: We'll be joined by Mister Chris for a Week of the Young Child grand finale concert!
During this stressful time, we are reminded more than ever that children are at the heart of our work. We hope that our Week of the Young Child activities bring some of the joy of childhood to your home!
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Hello Friends,
I hope that you and your families are safe and well during this unprecedented time. As we face the challenges and stress of these circumstances we are excited to share our passion for science though a new series of short and fun digital science experiments that engage a wide age group using everyday household items.
Our new weekly digital series,
Waters STEM LIVE: The Science of What’s Possible for Kids will begin April 8th
via Facebook Live, please see the event page
here
.
This series will focus on various STEM themes to engage students of all ages around the world digitally. Each week, we will share an overview of the experiment and the common household materials that students will need to participate. The cool thing about this series is that it will be hosted by Waters scientists, technologists and engineers from around the globe from their homes, with their children. No matter where you are in the world, science can connect us.
Waters STEM Live: The Science of What’s Possible for Kids
April Schedule
- Pen Peculiarities (STEM Topic: Hydrophobicity) – April 8th
- Red Cabbage pH STEM Topic: Acid/Base/Neutral) – April 15th
- 6 Layer Density Column (STEM Topic: States of Matter/Density) – April 22nd
- The (air) pressure around us… (STEM Topic: Gravity/Gas Pressure) – April 29th
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In these times of "stay home, stay safe" and physical distancing we've been working hard to find ways to keep sharing our love of movement and circus arts with our community. Today we are launching our first ever series of
virtual classes
that you can take online! There are several options to choose from including activities for kids, work outs for more advanced students, and conditioning classes for folks who have their own trapezes or aerial fabrics. These are ongoing classes you can take every week, or join in for just one class. We are also offering some "online mini" workshops on Tuesdays which are one-time activities in a specific topic.
For a listing of our virtual classes, please check our
calendar
here.
And of course, if you prefer a customized online lesson, you can book an online private lesson
HERE
.
Our coaches are at home like the rest of us right now, and have volunteered their time to help keep our community involved and engaged. All our virtual classes are by donation to help NECCA be prepared to return to in-person classes when the time comes. Classes are by
DONATION
- please pay what you can, spread the word and invite your friends because everyone is welcome!
And our summer plans, for camps and workshops taking place after June 7, are in full swing and you can register for those activities
HERE
.
Please reach out to us with any questions. We can't wait to see you all again in person, but in the meantime, let's connect virtually!
Best,
Elsie and the NECCA Team
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Main Street Arts is striving to continue to serve its community by offering a series of free workshops, gatherings, facebook challenges, music, art and love to get us through this difficult time of social distance. Because even though we need to be physically apart we don’t have to be alone. Please join us.
For information on each activity, hand-outs, material lists, and how to access videos or live streams, go to
mainstreetarts.org
Here is a sampling of what we are offering. Visit the links above regularly for new offerings and information.
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Hilltop family-owned business still open!
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