A Letter from Michelle Edwards |
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It is at the core of our educational mission as a Montessori school to create a space for each child to be seen, known and valued. At Woodland Hill, throughout the month of February, as we celebrate Black History Month, that mission reminds us of the importance of both designating a special time to highlight the contributions of our fellow Americans while also offering more to our students and one another than simply acknowledging the stories of Black Americans during this one month of our school year.
Rather, the histories and voices of Black Americans, and the voices of others who are marginalized, must be intertwined in our teaching throughout the entire school year and across the curriculum. There are hundreds of years of history to include and many counter-narratives to share and explore. This intentional work to broaden and deepen our understanding asks us to acknowledge our present opportunities and all those who have come before us and have brought us to where we are today. Creating a safe place for all children to explore their identities and histories is how we will truly educate for peace.
Dr. Montessori left a most purposeful legacy; to counter systems of oppression in our classrooms, schools, and spheres of influence, not only for the children in our presence but as a model to the world. As a community who shares the common goal of walking in Montessori’s values, we will work together as Woodland Hill families, faculty, and staff.
As Montessorians, we understand that the formation of a person begins at birth and that for change to occur, we must begin with the child. This quote from Dr. Montessori, taken from an address to the International Montessori Congress in 1937, underscores our mission: “All our efforts will come to nothing until we remedy the great injustice(s) done to the child(ren), and remedy it by cooperating with them. If we are among the humankind of goodwill who yearn for peace, we must lay the foundation for peace ourselves, by working for the justice of the social world of the child.”
Together, we will make an investment of our time, effort, and resources to do the work necessary to create in our school a truly anti-biased and anti-racist learning environment.
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As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Maria Montessori's birth this year, we also want to highlight our own Montessorians. Throughout the school year, we will highlight a WHMS teacher in each Messenger with five facts about them, totaling 150 facts throughout the year.
This week's facts are from Lower El Teacher Julie Adams.
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- I have the privilege of being WHMS' first Lower Elementary teacher. I was drawn to the Montessori philosophy and made it my life's work.
- We have three daughters all of whom were both high school and collegiate athletes. My husband and I were proud supporters for more than a decade at many running tracks, swimming pools, and soccer fields. Good thing I'm a sports fan.
- I worked at the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, NY, and attended the Miracle on Ice game! U-S-A!
- The beach is my happy place... give me a sunny day, a light breeze, a good book, and a large bottle of ... sunscreen 🙂 and I'm happy!
- I am currently pursuing a certificate in literacy. It is a CALT- certified academic language therapist.
"Educate the child not for the classroom but for life". - Maria Montessori
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Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival, is the biggest holiday in China, in many other countries in Asia, and for communities of Asians who live all over the world. According to the legend, a monster named Nian once came to villages and ate villagers in early spring. To keep him away, villagers scared Nian away with red colors, loud fireworks, and bright lanterns. People celebrated their victory over the monster and welcomed the new year together with festivities. You will notice that the Lunar New Year is not on the same day every year, which is because it is based on the lunar calendar and the new moon that marks the beginning of the year starts on different days. Lunar New Year is celebrated for two weeks and concludes with the Lantern Festival on the first night of a full moon.
During this time, many who celebrate busy themselves with lots of gathering, lots of eating, and lots of good fortune rituals. Some of the more popular traditions include: cleaning the house, adults giving children red envelopes with new money, wearing and decorating with red, and enjoying a large feast with all the relatives. Meals are symbolic and each dish is carefully chosen, imbued with meaning to bring long life and luck to those who eat. Long-life noodles (not to be cut!), get rich dumplings (the more you eat, the more you will earn!), whole fish (head to tail for a good beginning and ending to your year, leave leftovers as a sign of abundance!), oranges (round, gold, sounds like the word “success” in Chinese too!), and sweet rice cakes (stick together and have a better year) are often found on every table. More rituals and rules on new year’s day such as: not washing hair (rinse away all the good luck?!?), no sweeping (wealth will get swept away!), no using scissors or knives (cutting short income and life!), no wearing black or white (unlucky colors), no giving of gifts or money in sets of 4 (the number 4 sounds like death in Chinese), and more. Trying to keep all these customs in mind can become overwhelming to recall each one.
Like a lot of things these days, our family has chosen to keep our celebrations simple and light. As parents, we chose to include our favorite traditions and to impart the joyous aspects of our childhood memories of this holiday with our children. Every household celebrates the Lunar New Year a little differently so we spent time learning about the holiday together through books we gathered from the library and online resources. What stood out to me was how in some ways, these rituals and customs were and are a way people vie for a say in the fate of their new year. Starting a new year with as much luck and good wishes as possible to yield a better outcome sounds appealing and even wise. However, if there is anything that 2020 has taught us is that there is only so much we are in control of in our future. This isn’t to say that I think good fortune has run out; but rather perhaps the focus can be on how we can be conduits of good fortune instead. Rather than toeing every line and jumping through hoops of traditions to manipulate the outcome of one’s own prosperity, we can find more blessing in helping others around us to flourish. Our home, community, and nation will heal when we look beyond ourselves. There is certainly beauty in the traditions and celebrations, and yet our focus this year is looking forward to helping us move towards doing so “together” once again.
-- Jeanne Lee and Penny Yung
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Save Your Spot for Summer Camp! |
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Camp Registration is in full swing and weeks are filling up!
The 2021 Summer Camp season begins June 28 and ends August 27. Camp days will run from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Extended day hours are 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. We offer an early bird discount of $30 per week ($15 for ½ day Three’s Camp) if you sign up by April 16!
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Future City is a project-based learning program where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future. The final leg of the competition was on Saturday, February 13 when three students from each team joined a Zoom session for a Q&A about their city.
Leah Johnson says our students are proud of their city, even though it didn’t all come out as planned.
“There were so many lessons and skills that I acquired from the Future City Competition, but I think that the most valuable would have to be what I learned about the importance of support, encouragement, and teamwork. This was a very large group project that allowed for me and many others to learn the best, most helpful ways that we personally could contribute to the success of the group. Each member to contributed a valuable part of the project and each of these valuable pieces is what ultimately led our group to success. Nothing would have been possible without reliance on each other, hard work, and most importantly, a sense of community and teamwork.” - 8th grader
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Baby bunnies from Jennifer and Ashley's Classroom were born over break! |
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Cindy's class experiment #Science |
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The Middle School students celebrated Valentine’s Day like no other. They enjoyed pizza and games in the gym. Thanks to the MS remote learners who made the fun and thoughtful Kahoot game.
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Scenes from Valentine's Celebrations |
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The Upper Elementary worked together to design & write Valentine's to the Foltsbrook Center in Herkimer, NY. |
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Upcoming Events
Monday, February 22- Friday, February 26
Montessori Education Week
Tuesday, February 23
Primary Level Discovery, 5:30 p.m.
Middle School Level Discovery, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, February 24
Lower Elementary Level Discovery, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, February 25
Upper Elementary Level Discovery, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, March 1
WHMS Board Meeting, 6 p.m.
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The WHMS Sequins and Slippers eGala21 will be here before you know it! It's time for you to start showcasing your tootsies!
Get your cozy, fuzzy, silly, or silk and sparkling slippers out, and show us what you've got!
Grab the whole family (including pets!) and snap a pic of all your feet in your fav slippers. Then, post it to Instagram or Facebook tagging us at #WHMSeGala21 and you will be entered to win WHMS swag and goodies.
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