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Little Star Montessori School
PO Box 608
509 Highway 20
Winthrop, WA 98862
(509) 996-2801
littlestar1@centurytel.net
26 Years of Excellence
1982-2008
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From The Director
In one year, we have seen your children grow on so many levels. While they have become experienced with our Montessori materials, learned their alphabet or how to read, they have also learned how to express their emotions and resolve conflicts with one another. While they have sprouted in inches and outgrown their clothes, they have become masters of the Peace Table, and how to self-advocate. They have learned to share of themselves and offer support to one another when someone is down. Your children are all wonderfully unique, and we cherish each one of them.
In one year, your children have accomplished an extraordinary number of things. They:
- Took a field trip to the Smoke Jumper Base
- Formed the Little Star Marching Band
- Paid a visit to Jamie's Place once each month
- Helped with daily classroom chores, including sweeping, mopping, setting the table, and washing dishes
- Took a field trip to the Winthrop Fish Hatchery
- The Kinders performed a play for the school in celebration of the Chinese New Year
- Constructed and decorated bird houses out of scrap cedar and recycled glass stones
- Spent an entire morning searching for eggs at Winthrop Park
- Each classroom performed Winter Holiday skits for their families at t he Twisp Community Center
- Created art to participate in the Rocking Horse children's art show
- Made play dough
- Took a field trip to the Winthrop art galleries, glass blower’s shop, book store, and ate lunch at the Duck Brand
- Bike day twice each month during warmer weather
- Gymnastics with guest parent twice each month
- Planted flowers
- Pajama Day once each month
- Learned to resolve problems at the Peace Table
- Participated in weekly class meetings
- Participated in the Super Tuesday Presidential Primaries
- Delighted in the Fire Fighters' visit
- Monthly fire drills
- Took field trips to the dental office and chiropractor
- Put on an art show for parents, depicting their year's worth of art
- Planted a tree
- Decorated tiles to install on the school's wall
- Prepared snack
- Shared stories, pictures and found objects from their families' adventures during their monthly sharing days
- Yoga once monthly
- Sang songs and played musical instruments with guest musicians twice monthly
- Skiing or sledding twice every week during colder weather
- Attended the Public School's performance of The Pied Piper
- Created mobiles out of recycled metal scraps
- Took a field trip to a Christmas tree farm to find trees for the school
- Made stepping stones out of concrete and marbles
- Attended the Harriet Truman play
- Entered the Confluence Art Contest: Georgia O’Keefe, and had a winning entry
- Studied the artists Matisse, Kahlo, Rivera, and DaVinci
- Studied and celebrated Blarney Stone & St. Patrick’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, and Columbus Day
- Attended “Folk Tales & Fairy Tales” at the Merc
In one year, we have had the incredible fortune to see the smiles on your children’s faces, wipe away their tears, hug them (many times) every day, snuggle with them while reading books, hold their hands, and watch them grow. Thank you for sharing your precious children with us.
From Our Office
Happy Birthday!
Sadie Halpin, Sam Otonicar, Keeley Brooks, Nolan George, Amelia Bondi, Madison Strauss, Mariah Lucy, Sydney Schuler, Elena Hall, Walker Hall, and Kaydin Haase!
Thank you to everyone who helped with our Spring Cleaning Frenzy. An incredible number of projects were completed and the school looks fabulous!
Other items to keep in mind…
Summer Camps – Don’t forget to sign up for summer camps. We have many choices and they’re beginning to fill quickly. Please help spread the word about our camps for older children (ages 7+) since those tend to be slower to fill.
Sunscreen – Please remember to apply sunscreen every day! We are spending ample time outside now and children burn easily. Legally, we must treat sunscreen as a medication and cannot apply it to your child.
Lost and Found – Please check the lost and found box. It’s filling with your children’s very nice clothes. Anything not claimed by June 12th will be donated to the Senior Center.
Final Bills – Families who have not completed your participation hours or have not talked to the office about completing them need to do so as soon as possible. Otherwise, payment is due on or before the 15th of May.
Your last tuition bill for 2007/08 was placed in your parent cubby on May 1st. If your child has been in the Afternoon Program, you will receive an additional bill in June for those hours
Please note that on July 1st we will send you your first tuition invoice for the year 2008/09. Payment for this bill will be due on or before July 15th. The second invoice will be placed in your parent cubby the first day of school.
Upcoming Dates That Pertain To You
May 14 – Bike Day!
May 7 – Yard Sale
May 26 – Memorial Day (NO SCHOOL)
May 28 – Bike Day!
June 10 – Kinder Potluck, Art Show & Play
June 11 – Kinder Pool Party @ The River Run Inn
June 12 – Last Day of School
Toddler
Spring time! Yes! Signs of it everywhere in the classroom. Crabapple blossoms, blossoming friendships, flower art. With luck we will have baby chicks hatching in the room next week. We’re looking forward to tadpoles and butterflies too. We’ll be starting some flowers for the garden at Jamie’s Place. Everyone is overjoyed to be able to run free outside for longer periods after the long winter.
We are having conferences in May on Monday and Tuesday. Special arrangements can be made for Wednesday and Thursday. The conferences are optional, but if you have the time and can work out the logistics, it is always a pleasure to sit around and share stories and observations about your children.
Halley has left our morning programs. Although we will miss her, the Toddlers will still see her when she arrives for the Afternoon Program. Nicole Price, an already familiar presence, brings her loving energy to our mornings. We are all happy to have her around more.
Enjoy the fleeting season. Thank you, Florence, Michelle & Halley
Preschool
Our two preschools join together at least once a week to discuss various topics. Our theme this spring was Under the Sea. It has led us to many fun ocean activities. We began by illustrating the five oceans and pointing to their location on the globe. We all agreed that there is more water than land covering the earth’s surface. This was then demonstrated by setting out ten glasses, eight filled with water and salt representing the oceans, one filled with water representing fresh water from lakes and rivers, and one filled with ice cubes to represent the ice at the poles. We have a globe that shows the different layers of our planet such as the inner core, outer core, mantle and crust. We explored the concept of mountains above and beneath the ocean surface. We set off a volcano using baking soda, red food coloring and vinegar. There were lots of oooohs and aaahs.
The next week we learned about fish. We had several examples that the children were encouraged to touch, including a puffer fish, porcupine fish, shock jaw and shark egg casing. Many of the children already knew the difference between being cold-blooded and warm-blooded. Some children colored a booklet depicting different parts of a fish. Other arts and crafts projects included salmon and undersea mural painting, making jelly fish, yarn octopi, goldfish porthole scenes, sealife rubbings, sealife tracings, and a wave in a bottle.
Week three we explored whales and dolphins. Two whale vertebra were brought in to compare and touch. The children enjoyed whale demonstrations including how some whales have as much as 16 inches of blubber to protect them from the cold water, serve as stored energy, and keep them buoyant. We used a blubber mitt made with Crisco-filled Ziplock bags and a non-blubber mitt with 2 Ziplock bags. Children placed their hands in each mitt and immersed them in a tub half-filled with water and snow to see which one kept their hands the warmest. Whales use echolocation which we demonstrated using a ping pong ball bounced off several surfaces. The children closed their eyes and called out if they heard a carpet, plastic, cardboard or wooden sound.
There are two types of whales: toothed and baleen. We were fortunate enough to come up with two orca teeth and a piece of baleen. We conducted an experiment using a shallow bowl of water with pepper sprinkled on top. We scraped a comb across the surface and the pepper clung to the comb like krill (small shrimp) to baleen. A whale licks the krill of the baleen with its tongue. A blue whale, the largest animal, can be as long as 100 feet. We measured this length out on our playground (and were amazed).
Week four we learned about shells including sea turtles and crustaceans. Our school has a very large collection of incredible sea shells. We discussed how mollusks build their shells and how sea shells and coral help our oceans by absorbing calcium and other minerals from the ocean which keep it from being milky.
We have had fun ocean practical life including net fishing for sea life, balancing marbles on a fish and starfish, shell scrubbing, a magnetic fishing game and magnetic fishing puzzle, starfish sorting, sea life tweezing, fish sewing, and shell and sea life matching cards.
Last week, our classes took a walking field trip to the fish hatchery. Craig, who lives and works at the hatchery, gave us a tour and told us about the fish we were seeing. We got to revisit the salmon we saw as new hatchlings last fall, as well as some Coho salmon that were going to be released that day to begin their journey out to sea. On our way to the trout pond, we had a real surprise: one of the fish pools was housing a beaver! As the children were peering into the temporary housing for our furry friend (he’s been drafted for a relocation project), he delighted them by coming out and going for a little swim. We got to see the pile of fresh saplings that were just being put into the pool for the beaver to feast on, but he was too shy to eat in front of such an audience. When we finally made our way to the trout pond, Craig had a final treat for us. Each child was given a cup of pelletized fish food to throw into the pond. Instantly the water churned with huge, hungry trout. The children loved it! We picnicked around the pond, and then headed back to school.
We will be finishing our study of the oceans next week, and will end the year with a focus on people in the community. We have lots of field trips planned for these warm last weeks of school. Some of them will be visits to: the glassblowing studio in Winthrop to watch Garth create his art, the Lucy family’s Bluebird Farm, Dr. Betsy’s vet clinic, Dr. Harrop’s dental office, The Wellness Center with Dr. Sierra, and more! We always welcome parents who would like to join us, hint hint.
Michael conducted science experiments with preschoolers and some visiting kindergarteners. We combined vinegar and baking soda in a bottle topped with a balloon and then observed as the balloons rapidly filled with gas from the reaction. The experiment was repeated many times and was enthusiastically appreciated each time. We also made a vinegar and baking soda powered boat.
Conferences are under way and we very much appreciate the opportunity to meet with everyone. Please sign up for one, if you haven’t yet done so. If any special circumstances prevent you from being able to come at the scheduled times, just let us know so that we can make something work.
Love Sandy, Kim, Anna & Michael
Kindergarten
It seems as if the holidays last month were lumped together so that we rushed through St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and then spring break in a whirlwind! Thanks to everyone involved, however, the Easter Egg Hunt was a success and here we are in May…
Our return from spring break brought high energy along with the high winds. Everyone seemed to be back at school and in the routine of things once again. We have been spending as much time outside as the children seem to need (which is often quite a bit). Spirits are high and bodies are active with spring fever.
Henry Colvin has joined our class and has eased into the rhythm of the classroom quickly and seamlessly. He has been busy building, painting, making friends, and creating science experiments. Everyone has been so busy lately, our days fly by.
We had a special lesson about seashells, hermit crabs, and how shells save the earth (they absorb calcium from the ocean). We made racecars out of juice bottles, bottle caps, straws and dowels. Rayma gave a lesson about Henri Matisse and the children produced some amazing cut paper artwork! Casey Peplow (Baylie’s sister) came in to give us a Spanish lesson and David Aspholm visited to teach us a few phrases in Swahili and tell us about his experiences in Africa. Jeff Monahan has been back for another gymnastics lesson – this time outside. We’ve been cooking a bit – bread in a bread machine (edible, but yet to be perfected), strawberry “shortcake” pancakes, and cookies for mother’s day.
We took a walking field trip to the Glassblower’s shop in Winthrop, then walked across to the bookstore (while we waited for the art gallery to open), then saw Sean McCabe’s student artwork, and ended the trip with lunch at the Duck Brand. The field trip was a great success, and we were so proud of the children’s responsibility and poise during our visits. The children were each given a little star-shaped trinket from the glassblower, and Brian at the bookstore invited the children back for a story – he was so impressed he said he’d read to them while Rayma and Baylie went and had a cup of coffee! We have a class full of responsible little members of society!
Amidst all these activities, the children are working hard and seem to prefer to just be left to their work. Activities that we plan often go unnoticed, because the children create their own projects and dedicate their energy completely to their efforts. We often postpone any plans we had because we hate to disturb their hard work!
The most notable quality of our classroom this time of year is the ownership over their days that the children have established. Without any help from teachers, they could and often do run the classroom without a hitch. They have truly embraced responsibility and ownership for the classroom. They vote, express themselves clearly, know how to meet their needs, to learn and have a good time. We are so fortunate to witness the creation of such a strong and beautiful community!
Rayma was gone to New York the first week of May, and while we all missed her terribly, Nicole Price was a delight to have in our class for a week.
As the end of the year rapidly approaches, we look forward to a few more fun highlights. May 15 we will visit the Public School and the Community School with the children going into first grade. Trudi will have a special project at Little Star for those children staying in kindergarten next year. May 22 the children will host an open house for you at 6 p.m. to share their classroom and give you lessons. June 10 will be the kindergarten end of school potluck, children’s art show and play. The next day, June 11, we will have an end of the year pool party and picnic. This leads us to June 12, the last day of school!
It is hard to believe that this school year is almost at an end! We are already sentimental about the children that will be moving on. We look forward to our conferences with each of you.
Thanks for all your support, for sharing your beautiful children, and all your contributions to our school!
Love, Rayma and Baylie
Afternoon
Warm April weather finally melted the last of the snow from our play yard. It has been so nice watching the children playing ball and running happily throughout the yard. Some of the special craft projects have included decorating a fairy, bird, hobbit house, a kaleidoscope, and a Mother’s Day project. Throughout the rest of the year, much of our time (even snack time) will be spent outdoors. Happy Spring!
Halley, Michael & Nicole
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