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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Lots of exciting upgrades are happening to the Children's House and Toddler playgrounds! A BIG thank you to Mar
ta Bernbaum
, Ben Boyarko, Julia Gil, and Tom Griffith for helping Kegan with putting up the new fencing. Marta and Ben volunteered their whole Thursday to get this fencing in!
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Next Week:
Thursday, May 21
- All School Gathering, 9-9:30am
- HMS Parent Connections, 7-8pm
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Upcoming:
Monday, May 25
Thursday, May 28
- All School Gathering, 9-9:30am
- HMS Parent Connections, 7-8pm
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Possibilities For Toddler
and Children’s House SummerFun!
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- Can our facilities and staff meet the requirements laid out?
- How many families might want to send their children into this group situation?
- What group size is most appropriate and protective of individuals and of our community? (Guidelines have said 10 previously, but the new ones say up to 25, including teachers.)
- What scenarios should we plan for and be able to meet?
- What should be the cost to the school or our community for this service?
We were able to discuss this a bit at our Parent Connections meeting on Thursday night. There are many variables at play in making these plans, most importantly to determine the needs and desires of our community.
We are grateful for the flexibility and understanding that families have demonstrated as we pivoted to provide remote learning when required to by the global health crisis. Our community has shown resilience in the face of adversity and a commitment to the learning environment that we provide, in person and remotely. While we are proud of the emotional and academic support that our teachers are able to provide at a distance, it does not replace the loving in-person care and prepared environment that we normally provide, especially for our youngest students. In acknowledgment of this, we hope to be able to offer care for as many as six weeks of the summer at no additional cost to those who were enrolled in the Toddler and Children’s House programs in the 2019-20 school year.
While we will not require any additional payment for this care, if a family is able to make a donation to help our school cover the cost of this care, we would welcome any donation that would help us to maintain our programs into the future. SummerFun typically costs $200/week for a half day and $300/week for a full day.
As we determine what options we might be able to offer, we will be doing a survey next week of current Toddler and Children’s House families to see how many students we might have for these sessions of SummerFun, and to see if there are any particular family considerations regarding scheduling, safety, etc.. If anyone has any particular input or questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly.
Stay well,
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Thank you to the 67 of you who took the time to complete the Parent Survey a couple of weeks ago. That 76% of households (if we assume one response per household) shows a high level of participation, especially for this difficult time. As always we appreciate the involvement and engagement of our families!
Resonance Insights has shared some initial information with us by email:
Most parents (around ¾) were Very Satisfied or Somewhat Satisfied with how Hilltop is planning and communicating during this crisis. When asked what they would like more of, the most popular choices were for advice on teaching and keeping students occupied at home, especially among parents of younger children. Almost half of all parents were worried about losing or had already lost income because of coronavirus.
In their open-ended responses, parents captured how complicated it is to parent during this crisis. Over 60% of all the emotions they used to describe their experience were negative, much higher than we see during parent surveys under normal circumstances. Parents described their fear of the unknown, the frustration and guilt of balancing working from home with family life, and the exhaustion of never having a moment to take a break. However, the most commonly used word among all parents was “Grateful”. Parents appreciate the opportunity to spend time as a family and find themselves in awe of their children’s resilience and capabilities. The Hilltop community got plenty of appreciation from parents as did the state of Vermont with its many hiking trails and open spaces.
We will be meeting with Resonance Insights shortly to analyze the feedback more deeply and look forward to implementing ideas from these responses in the future, especially if we are called upon to provide distance learning again.
We hear you, and
want to continue to work towards better meeting your needs!
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Hello Toddler families!
It has been great to hear about all the creative ways your children have been using the materials we’ve sent out in the bags this week. From sorting pebbles to simple games of “pick up pebbles,” we want to let you all know that any way your child is using the materials is perfect. Although we cannot deliver the “prepared environment” that is ideal for Montessori learning, we want to encourage any activity that sustains focus for your child. As Maria Montessori said, “The child has a mind able to absorb knowledge. He has the power to teach himself.”
We would also like to remind you all that we’d love to see some pictures of your child learning, playing and exploring! Please send them to us or to the
Front Desk, or to
Jay to add for sharings at All School Gathering
.
We look forward to seeing you all next week for our meetings and hope that all can (finally) enjoy some beautiful springtime weather this weekend!
The Toddler Team
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Circle time with friends!
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Olive E. works on a watercolor painting.
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“No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child”
― Maria Montessori
The impact that this time will have on our children is hard to know, but we have the power to help guide a child’s experience positively. It will not be an easy task, nor will it be immediately obvious. We have the opportunity to create memories of this time that are of greater connectivity and inner growth.
We are saddened by not being able to provide the classroom and daily school experience for your child. We all entered into this profession to work not only with children, but to help maintain a sense of care and joy in learning.
The official school year is winding down, but we are looking up. Each week, we look forward to seeing smiling faces at group time. We look forward to having one-on-one time as well. We enjoy being able to connect regardless of how challenging it may be. Know that even if we only see you once a week, we are thinking about you every day.
Please look forward to more Goodies Bags next week! We are embracing the beauty of Spring and welcoming the warmth that comes with it. Flowers, gardening, and green all come into play -- as does more time outside to explore and discover. We hope that everyone is able to find some moments of peace, joy, and connection.
With kind thoughts, well-wishes, and love,
The Children’s House teachers
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Phoebe and Eliza get creative with play dough.
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Teachers, kids, and admin wearing masks!
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We know that masks can be alarming to young children, yet they are likely to be our reality in the days to come. Here is a wonderful
video
that a local teacher, Jill Johnson, did to help explain masks to our younger citizens. She has encouraged us to share it with our community.
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We wanted to offer an immense “thank you” to all of our parents, who are doing what they can to continue our Montessori work at home, and often adding other, interesting pursuits into the mix (bike rides, new lambs, hikes, games, deconstructing computers, building treehouses and cat tanks, skateboard tricks, writing snail mail letters…) We are grateful to have such hardworking and innovative “co-teachers,” and know it isn’t always an easy gig.
All School Gathering participants sought! We invite Lower El students to submit a short video, or pictures, to
Jay
, highlighting something they have been working on from home. Have you done academic or artistic work you’re proud of, gone on a fantastic hike and have the pictures to show it, or are you pursuing interesting family projects at home? Please send your offerings to
Jay
, so he can highlight the creativity and industriousness of the Lower Elementary kids!
More “Live Art” is coming to Lower El, starting next week! Jade has generously added a Monday class to her popular Tuesday one. Both Art classes begin at 1:00.
Sagamo Roger Longtoe Sheehan
’s Wabenaki tale of a monster beaver who jealously guarded the river he dammed was a welcome addition to our Friday lineup of classes and check-ins. The story’s lessons - “Don’t be greedy” and “Share what you have” - seem especially fitting in this time of uncertainty. We thank him for being willing to sit in front of a computer, alone, and share his songs and stories with us from afar.
Have a wonderful weekend!
The LE Team
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Eko does his plant layout work.
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This morning many of us enjoyed hearing
Sagamo Roger Longtoe Sheehan, an Abenaki Storyteller,
share a story about the origin of Lake Hitchcock - the geological lake that would have covered all of downtown Brattleboro. For those interested, we highly recommend checking out this 2016 episode of VPR’s Brave Little State,
What is the Status of Abenaki Native Americans in Vermont Today?, which gives a terrific overview of the history of Vermont’s first people and how they are faring today (think: cultural renewal and comeback, after a period of less outward visibility).
Our class birders this week collected data using forms made available from the Cornell Lab, which we will be using for some graphing work. Families might want to check out this lovely NYT article,
Seven Tips for Watching Birds During the Spring Lockdown. In other cultural work, the class looked at another important precursor to the Civil War: The Compromise of 1850. In botany we turned our sites from Gymnosperms to Angiosperms, reviewing parts of the flower and flower reproduction.
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Finn's bird study illustrations.
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The sixths are wrapping up their research and writing for their Independent Study Projects. As usual, the topics are as varied as our students: Dr. Seuss, Pearl Harbor, the biography of a local scuba explorer/discoverer, global warming and extinctions, wolves, Winston Churchill, Norse mythology, Viking technology, and planning a trip to Europe. We look forward to seeing the presentations.
In 6th grade geometry, as an introduction to the concept of volume, Tom showed the group a material usually found in the Children’s House, The Introduction to Decimal Quantity:
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Here, we change the focus to think about how these shapes relate to geometry and our idea of dimensions: The unit bead is analogous to a point, with zero dimensions (something even the teachers have some difficulty wrapping their heads around), the bar relates to a line, with one dimension, the square a surface with 2 dimensions and the cube with three dimensions. Except for the point, which, with no dimensions, has no way to measure it, each new added dimension needs a new measuring tool: for length, area, and volume.
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Many of our 4th and 5th grade students are doing some early algebra work using a program called “Hands On Equations.” With a ‘virtual’ balance scale, we put pawn and number cards on either side to represent the variable and number values in an equation. The first several problem sets were solved with the ‘guess and check’ method, and the group is now moving into ‘legal moves’, such as removing the same number of pawns from either side of the balance scale to simplify the problem.
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We leave you with a word of wisdom from Michelangelo, which our lit book students came across in their background research.
An apt quote these days for more than artwork!
“Genius is eternal patience.”
We wish everyone a happy spring weekend,
UE Team
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The Middle School has been writing short stories for the past five weeks. Each week, students have developed a new story exploring different voices, moods, and styles. They have learned about different narrative points of view, how to use a non-linear timeline, and explored descriptive writing that excludes adjectives. They have become supportive critics and good listeners as they shared and discussed their work in class. The craft of writing a satisfying piece of fiction in just a couple of pages is incredibly difficult, but students have created some amazing work and will be sharing some of it next week in morning meetings. Anyone who is interested in coming to the readings please email
Finn
for an invitation.
In the final days of our water science study, the Middle School received a visit from Josh Carnes, water engineer at Brattleboro’s Pleasant Valley Drinking Water Treatment Plant. He created a virtual video tour of the plant, taking us on a journey from the reservoir into the giant filtration beds and then up into the storage tank that gravity feeds the water into town. Josh joined our Monday morning meeting to answer questions. Students expressed their wonder and gratitude for the work that goes into keeping our drinking water clean and plentiful. Thanks to Josh for sharing his time and expertise with us!
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Josh Carnes joins the class.
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We were thrilled to host Sagamo Roger Longtoe Sheehan this morning for virtual Abenaki Storytelling. Roger Longtoe Sheehan is the Sagamo (Chief) of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe and a talented Abenaki artist, Native musician, and educator. He makes use of all of these talents in Abenaki Living History events. If you were unable to attend the live streaming of this event, but would like to watch, you can view the recording
here.
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Congratulations to Louisa, Lucas, and Maisie -
welcome to the world baby Minna!!
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Free breakfast sandwiches are available to kids
on Saturdays and Sundays starting in May
Just come down to the
Retreat Farm in Brattleboro between 9 am - 12 pm
for sausage and cheese egg sandwiches made fresh with local eggs and sausage. To honor the social distancing details you'll place your order at the drive up order area and then drive up to the pick up station. Socially distanced walk ups are welcome also.
Sausage donation and catering by CherryRail Farm with additional donations and support from Pete and Gerry's Eggs, Against the Grain, Brown and Roberts, Leader Home Center, and Wendy's.
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Saturday, May 16th
Virtual Tour of Abbe Museum 2-8pm
and
Film Screening of
Dear Gorgina
8-9pm
Join the Emmy winning team behind DAWNLAND
We are extremely excited abo
ut
Digital AMIM
. The Abbe Museum's mission is ‘Inspiring new learning about the Wabanaki Nations with every visit.’ The health crisis created a situation where the public can't come to visit us, so with Digital AMIM we're bringing our mission into your homes. We invite you to join us throughout the event both to support the AMIM artists and engage in the opportunity to learn about Native arts from the artists themselves.
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This is a living document with mutual aid resource signups in response to COVID-19 impacts for the rural New England Region maintained by Out in the Open. If you have mutual aid resources to add, please
email
to get them added.
The Farmer Emergency Fund
provides farmers with the needed cash flow in times of an emergency, to help them recover and ultimately become more resilient farmers. Currently, we are planning to use the fund to support farms with challenges related to the COVID-19 crisis.
Fortunately, many local, regional, and statewide networks for mutual aid have been taking shape and we encourage accessing or contributing to networks in your local communities whenever possible. With that being said, to the best of our knowledge, we are currently one of the only mutual aid networks that have centered the needs, resources, abilities, and work of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) in Vermont. As we know, these are (and have historically been) the most negatively impacted members of our society; supporting this population is critical.
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