Upcoming Events

December 20-January 4, Winter Holidays - School is closed.

January 21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - School is closed.

In order to avoid a late fee, please don’t forget to mail your tuition at the first of the month!

Holiday Celebration Part 2 - Christmas

The excitement and joy of this holiday is palpable. Every day a child comes in and shares a new story about the way their family celebrates Christmas. The traditions of driving around town looking at lights, baking cookies, making ginger bread houses, going to church, visiting live nativity scenes…

The traditions you begin now will be held deep in your child’s hearts for all their days. Here’s to keeping the joy that your children show in the coming days alive the whole year through.

“Laura, my family put up our Christmas tree last night it is soooo beautiful”

“Hey, did you see that house with all the pretty lights and Santa in the yard?”

“I got my picture taken with Santa. I told him I wanted an island princess.”

“’Jingle bell, jingle bells’ - I have that song on my radio in the car.”

“Christmas is Jesus’ birthday except we get all the presents.”

“Hey did you watch Frosty the Snowman last night?”

All of us at Hopewell Montessori School want to thank all of our families for the greatest gift – time with your children! Happy Holidays!

Holiday Celebration Part 1 - Chanukah

Our class is fortunate to have a good deal of diversity – cultural, social, ethnic, and religious. This season we are celebrating this diversity by learning about two of the religious holidays celebrated by the families in our community. This week we have been learning about the Jewish holiday, Chanukah, or Hanukkah. We started the week by making Stars of David, a premier symbol of the Jewish faith. This six-pointed star, made of two interlocking triangles, can be found on menorahs, tallis bags and in the center of the flag of Israel. The Star of David poetically refers to God’s rule over the universe.

Tuesday Caren Doleys joined our class and helped the children make potato latkes. We enjoyed eating the during our Chanukah celebration on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday, Jane Mule and Larry Engel joined our class. They shared the story of Chanukah, telling us about the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days and how the people of their faith continue to hold a celebration of light known as Chanukah. They taught about the menorah and how to play the dreidle game. Caren Doleys gave each child a dreidle game to take home and share with their families.

We have had a great start to the holidays and look forward to learning more about one another as this holiday season continues.

Stone Soup for Thanksgiving

We have discussed the first Thanksgiving in class, and have had experience with planting and harvesting our own vegetables throughout the year. This week we read the book Stone Soup by Ann McGovern. For our Thanksgiving feast, we created a Stone Soup of our own. The children brought in vegetables, washed, peeled, and cut them, and created a delicious stone soup to eat.

We are so Thankful

Thanksgiving is a time for each of us to slow down and give thanks for all of the many gifts that enrich our lives. Today we talked about what we know about Thanksgiving - turkey, apple, pumpkin and pecan pie, mashed potatoes. The children, as most adults I know do, focused on the food! We talked briefly about the first Thanksgiving and how thankful the first English settlers were for the food they had.
I asked the children what they were thankful for and here are some of their responses:
"I'm thankful for..."
Cole: "...my mommy taking me to The Wiggles, it was fun."
Emma: "...my sister playing babies with me a lot."
John: "...Halloween candy, my dog and cat and my sister Rachel."
Tanner: "...my mom gave me a new grabber. My tool bench, all my friends here and for you giving me a lesson on the 100 board."
Isabella B.: "...for my kitties."
Taze: "...for my new truck I'm really grateful that my mom and dad gave me this school because it has a lot of great friends."
Carley: "...that I have a friend Taze and that I go to go 'Hallowing' with him - we got some candy."

Hopewell News and Events

Thanksgiving break approaches! School will be closed November 19-23. Enjoy your holiday!

In an effort to improve our communication with you, our newsletter will be published consistently on the first and third Friday of each month, both in print (available in the office) and on this blog.
Mark your calendars to get the latest Hopewell Happenings! Thanks for your feedback on this subject!

In the spirit of the holiday season, we have two opportunities for you and your children to help those people in our community who are in need.
The MOMs Club of Acworth West is collecting wrapping paper and tape to be given away at the *Shop With a Hero* event at Kohl*s Department Store on December 8th.
We are also collecting new or gently used mittens, gloves, and hats to help keep families warm this winter.

Parent Conferences

Parent conference time is approaching. The parent conference is an opportunity for Laura to sit down one on one with parents to discuss your child’s progress. Please call the office or stop by to sign up for your conference. Conference times are available the week of November 12 at 11:00, 3:00, and 3:30. Conferences may also be scheduled Monday, November 19^th from 9:30-2:30. Child care is available at all conference times. Please schedule time for a 20 or 25 minute discussion. If you have two or more children in our class, please sign up at the 11:00 or 3:30 time slot to give us the opportunity to take as long as we need to discuss each of your children. If you have a conflict and need to schedule another conference time, please speak to Laura individually.

Pictures!

Individual and class pictures are available for viewing and ordering online at www.mbphotodesign.exposuremanager.com You can preview your child’s pictures and order prints to be delivered to your home, and send the link to grandparents, friends, etc. The gallery is password protected, there is a password hint on the page. If you have any questions, contact Megan Breece at mb_photodesign@yahoo.com or (404)323-0104.

Hopewell Happenings: Autumn Harvest

This autumn the children and I have enjoyed collecting and harvesting the last of the vegetables from our summer garden, tomatoes and bell peppers. We also began working on our winter garden digging and turning over the soil and adding in compost from our compost pile to enrich the soil and make it ready for our winter crops. Then we planted the winter crop of lettuce, red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes. We are looking forward to seeing those vegetables grow until we harvest them as well.

The children have enjoyed two books related to our gardening. The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone helps the children learn that it takes a lot of work to have delicious bread to eat. The second book, Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens, teaches the children that we can eat different parts of a plant – the roots (carrots and potatoes), the leaves (lettuce and cabbage), the stems (celery) and the flowers (broccoli and cauliflower). We have quite a variety planted in our garden and will experience eating the different parts once the plants are harvested!

Upcoming Events

October 12-Teacher Work Day. School is closed!

October 24-Picture Day:
Class pictures will be taken on Wednesday, October 24. If your child is not at Hopewell on that day, please feel free to come have pictures made between 10:00-11:00. A group picture will be taken at 10:30. Feel free to bring siblings for pictures as well. Pictures will be available for order on or after October 24.

October 27-Pumpkin Festival:
Thank you to Rhonda Lamb and Caren Doleys for helping plan this event. If you are interested in helping, please contact them.

Hopewell Happenings: Science and Nature

A few weeks ago, some of our students began collecting acorns on the front deck. This week, we finished filling one of our sand buckets full of the small nuts. We read in one of our science books that acorns are the seeds of an oak tree. They drop from the tree and land on the forest floor where they can set roots and grow into a new tree. They also provide food for many of the animals that live in the forest. We have observed from our classroom windows squirrels and chipmunks feasting on some of our acorns.
*This week a group of older children questioned how many oak trees we would have if our bucket full of acorns took root and became oak trees. Well, of course that inspired a lesson. First I asked them how many they thought we would have. The estimates ranged from thirteen to three billion. I asked them how we could know for sure and they all agreed we could find out exactly how many we had if we counted them.
*We decided that we would use the golden beads to help us. We used the acorns as our unit beads and we started counting. Each child took turns counting out ten acorns and exchanging them for a ten bead. As soon as we had exchanged all of the acorns for tens we found we needed to exchange the tens for hundreds, and ten of the hundreds for a thousand. It turns out hat we had collected 1,347 acorns. We marveled at how many possible trees we had collected just from our outdoor classroom.
*At the end of the day, we thought it was time to return the acorns to our *forest* to help the squirrels and chipmunks have food for the winter. We will watch and see how many of the 1,347 acorns turn into great oak trees.

Parent Meeting 9-13-07

We had our first parent meeting of the year on September 13. Thanks to all who attended. If you were unable to join us, you can catch up by reading the information below.

• Introductions: it was nice for our families to get to know the other members of our growing community. Along with many families, our staff (including Samantha, or "Sam," our classroom assistant), also present were our co-owners, Dennis and Faye Sullivan, who enjoyed seeing their behind-the-scenes hard work translated into a thriving parent body.
  
• Our Mission, Vision, and Commitment: We want to know if we are meeting these goals in your eyes. Please fill out your survey and return to us. We would like to discuss our success and any ideas you have for us at your next parent conference. If you did not receive a survey, they are available in the office.
  
• Carpool: when dropping off you children in the morning, please pass to the right of the well as you pull in the parking lot and wait until you are in front of the sidewalk to release your child from your car. We will make an effort to greet you at your car so you don't even have to get out! If you would like to walk your child to the gate on the porch, please pull around and park at the top of the parking lot in the mulch area. We will also use this method for pickup at 3:00. If you pick your child up at 11:45, we will be on the playground and you will need to park (again in the mulched area at the top of the parking lot) and walk to the gate to pick up your child. This should ensure a safe and efficient way to get your children in and out of school!
• Tuition: there is a tuition box in the office. Please remit your tuition in the box provided to ensure that your checks are accounted for, rather than handing it to Laura or Sam or sending in a backpack. If you are paying cash, please give that directly to me so that I can get you a receipt. Late charges will apply for payments not received by the 5th of the month. Also, the rate for "hourly" childcare when you are running late or need to extend your child's stay has changed to $10/hour. Otherwise, there was no increase in tuition this year.
• Changes in Enrollment: if you need to increase or decrease your child's enrollment status, there is a request form available in the office. When space is limited, preferences for increases in attendance will be given to our current students. We ask for a thirty day notice for any decreases so we can plan staffing accordingly.
  
• Lending Library/Parent Information: There are resources available in the office for your use. We have a lending library of books on Montessori, parenting, and education. Also available are school calendars, the latest newsletters, student directories, parent handbooks, etc. Feel free to come in any time.
• Volunteer Opportunities:
  
• We welcome you as parents to come to our class and share anything special you would like with our class. You could tell us about or demonstrate a hobby or occupation, read a story to the class, or educate us about your cultural background. We always welcome additions to our class in the geography/culture area as well as contributions to our nature shelf.
• We will soon post a Wish List of items big and small that we would love to receive. We can always use things you wish to donate, from plants to art supplies to tissues.
  
• Please help us with our grocery shopping! We will provide you with a list of a few items for snack and classroom use on Friday afternoons and you will bring those items in on Monday morning for our use during the week. Thanks to all of those who have volunteered for this job. There are still dates available to be our class shopper:
  
• October 15, November 26, December 10, and December 17
• Piano Lessons: Lissette Sanabia is offering piano lessons to be given at Hopewell after school for children ages 4 and older. There is information available in the office.
  
• We have a new blog! If you are reading this, you have already discovered this! We will post our bi-monthly newsletter here as well as other pertinent information. Feel free to share the link with friends and family who are interested in what is going on at Hopewell. Please give me your current email address so I can email you when information is available. If you prefer paper to the computer screen, any information here will be available in the office.
  

We also did a fun activity. Laura asked each parent to list 3 words they would like to be able to use to describe their child in 20 years. We discussed some ways to make sure that those adjectives would apply to your children in the future. Some of the words were:

• independent
• cultural
• responsible
• creative
• eager
• inquisitive
• intelligent
• courageous
• authentic
• energetic
• enthusiastic
• compassionate
• caring
• a gentleman
• happy
• generous
• cheerful
• loving
• faithful
• reliable
• healthy

We want to provide the best environment possible to help your children along the way to becoming adults with all of these great qualities.

Announcing our new blog!

Hopewell Montessori School is pleased to announce that we are going digital! From now on, our school newsletters and other pertinent communication will be available online for your viewing pleasure. We will send emails to announce new information on the blog from time to time. Don't worry, if you like to have paper in hand to read, all of the official information posted online can be picked up in the office.