SCHOOL NEWS::
1.SCHOOL PHOTOS: They are in. Please pick them up. Retakes will be done if necessary and if you were absent, they can also be taken. The date & time will be posted. Please let us know if you wish to have a re-take photo.

2.WARM WINTER CLOTHES: Be sure your child has hats, warm coats and mittens as cold weather has arrived.

3.Late Pick-Up: Please pick your child up on time. SMS Staff are NOT available to stay late with students that are not picked-up on time. Please be aware of the heavy University traffic and plan accordingly to be on time. We want to thank all the parents who have made an effort to be prompt! We know it is not easy, but thank you again for your consideration in this! You have been doing great! Keep it up!

4.NUTCRACKER PARTY, Sunday, December 4th: If you signed up for the Nutcracker party please check your parent folders this week for your tickets. If you have not already paid for them, please make out the check to Stillwater Montessori School and put it in Joe’s basket. Thanks!

5.Family Geography Night, Thursday, December 1st We will have a family geography night for the elementary school families. It will start with pizza at 4:30 p.m. followed by geography activities and each family will leave with a family geography kit to use at home. The evening should be done by 6:00 at the latest. Please sign-up at the elementary site if you plan to attend. Thanks, it will help for planning purposes.

6.Stillwater Montessori School Food Basket Project: We will be continuing our tradition to give to others at the Holidays by donating a food basket to the Holy Family Food Pantry. We ask that the students bring in a favorite nonperishable food they like. The basket will be given to the pantry on November 22nd, during the all-school party.

7.Parent Conferences: Please be sure to sign-up for a time with your child’s teacher. We are all looking forward to sharing you child’s day with you. Sign-up sheets are at both sites on the bulletin boards in the hallways.

8.Bears of Tomorrow: The University of Maine - Department of Athletics would like to invite you to participate in the Hannaford Supermarkets - Bears of Tomorrow program. The program will include an opportunity for your organization to watch the end of the men's hockey practice followed by a behind the scenes tour of the Alfond Arena and the new Shawn Walsh Hockey center by members of the team. Children will have the opportunity to ask questions, get autographs, and meet Maine's Team! In its 3rd year, the Hannaford Supermarkets - Bears of Tomorrow program provides pre-school, elementary, and middle school children the opportunity to take an educational tour of the University of Maine Athletic facilities, while getting a behind the scenes look at the Home of the Bears. The tour emphasizes such important topics as healthy lifestyles, goal setting, and teamwork. Please sign-up at the Primary or Elementary Bulletin Board if you plan to attend.

9.SMS PARENTS- FYI: Joanne has been doing a special National Teacher Symposium for the American Montessori Society. She has done three of them to date in Texas, Ohio and New York. She has two more to do. She has had between 80 and 120 participants. Her topic is: “Maria Montessori and Best Practices: Are We Just Catching Up with Her?” You can get more info at this website: http://www.amshq.org/events_touringSymposia.htm

10.Children’s International Summer Village (CISV) Programs: Please check the school bulletin boards for information on these great educational programs. Please pass the information on to any families you know that have children of the right age to participate. If there are any questions, please contact Joe or Joanne.

11.UNICEF: SMS students raised $250 for UNICEF! Thanks to all our students for their efforts in this!

AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS:

Chess Club: Held on Weds. from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. It is open to the community and all are welcome. Instruction will be given. There will be a team formed to compete against other elementary or middle schools. It is based on interest.

Environmental Club: Environmental Club has been going very well this fall as we learn about birds. We have had two guest speakers, Jason who talked to us and did activities on bird identification and Jennifer who spoke to us about migratory birds and talked to us about her work with catching and banding birds. We also had a Field Trip to Fields Pond Audubon Nature Center. We have signed both the elementary and primary sites to do the Cornell University Project Birdfeeder Watch which goes from now until April. They will report their results in May at the International Migratory Bird Day celebration at Fields Pond which the environmental club is involved in planning. If you would like to sign up as a family and do this feeder watch project at home you can. Just go to the website for Project Birdfeeder Watch. The next two meetings are November 17th this week at Page Farm and on December 8th. This week we will be making bird feeders to take home and learning about the food used to attract different birds. Next time on December 8th we will be making our annual night tree for the birds and animals at the Page Farm. We will have a celebration of all our hard work this semester as well. Please let us know if you will be attending this Thursday, Nov. 17th. Thanks.

Children’s Chorus: Shauna Stratton-Meier instructs this after-school program. It is held on Mondays, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. at the Primary School. It is open to the community. If there are questions, please call Shauna at 989-2458.

PRIMARY NEWS

Joanne’s Primary Class: It has been a busy month so far as we study North America and Native American cultures. We have learned about the mammals native to North America such as the buffalo, wolf, beaver, bald eagle and moose and how these animals were important to Native American people. We have learned about the plants-corn, beans and squash ( the “Three Sisters”). We have tried a tasty pumpkin pudding treat, made popcorn, and are watching corn kernels sprout! We are practicing with our tortilla press in preparation for making tortillas to eat! We have made our own clay pots, storytellers or figures. We will continue to journey across America and learn about the southwest, plains , northwest, and northeast regions of our country, past and present.

Next week we will each bring an ingredient to prepare food for our all school harvest feast. We will be making cranberry bread as well as preparing vegetables. We will also be talking about those in need and bring in an item for a food basket for the Holy Family Food pantry to be donated next week at our all school celebration.
We continue to work with sign language in our class and the children love it! We have learned greetings, feelings, counting to 10, animals and plant signs. We have songs we know how to sign and will be learning to sign ‘It’s A Small World” with Emily, Dryden’s Mom, for December.

We have finished the I Care Cat Peace curriculum and now have all the rules to practice. The I Care Cat rules are :

1. We Listen to each other.
2. Hands are for helping, not hurting.
3. We use I Care Language.
4. We care about each others feelings.
5. We are responsible for what we say and do.

It has been wonderful to see how much the children are using these rules in the classroom and how we can discuss issues that come up using these rules. They are really coming together as a peaceful community and it is great to see how empowered they are becoming at solving their own problems and using their words. When it is not working to use their words, we ask them to walk away from the situation and get help from an adult or another friend. The children have enjoyed the work in the classroom and I am always amazed by all the individual choices and great work cycles that are happening everyday! The interest in all areas of the class has been strong, especially math and language!

Please remember to dress for the weather! We do go out as much as possible as that is an important part of our day and fills our need for gross motor skills!

Thanks to all who have provided snacks. They are so appreciated.

The last book order for this semester and before the December Holidays went home Friday and needs to be returned this Friday, November 18th. This ensures they will be here in plenty of time for the Holidays.

Remember to sign up for your Parent conference on Monday, December 5th. Please fill out the parent conference forms and return by next Monday the 21st. It helps to make sure we answer your questions about your child’s day. It has been a busy fall and I look forward to sharing your child’s work and day at school.

- Joanne

Joanne’s Extended Day Class:

We have continued our studies of habitats as we explore the desert, plains, northwest and northeast regions of our country. We have learned about the plants and animals of the regions and what resources would have been available before being able to buy things from the store and what our food, shelter and transportation would have been like. We have made a book about ourselves, which we have sent to Indian Island Early Childhood Program. This begins our year of pen paling and learning about new friends. During the year we will be having visits both at our school and Indian Island School as well as adventures to other places together such as the Old Town Riverside Park! Karen and I have been talking and are looking forward to our second year of having our classes get to know each other! For the school feast we will be making cranberry relish and the stuffing for the turkey. The stuffing is made with Joe and the children really enjoy helping. There are always a few laughs as we all cry over the onions1

The children continue to work on their reading daily and enjoy taking the books home to share with you. Please help us by returning the books on Monday. The children chose their book for the week on Monday. It helps to keep the favorite books in circulation with all the children.

We have been reading many wonderful Native American legends and stories in lieu of a chapter book this month! We often do a project related to the stories or discuss what the message of the story is, such as how to be a kind friend. We have talked about the Native American cultures using a talking stick, feather or peace pipe to give everyone an equal voice when there is a conflict to resolve. We have tried it and made our own talking sticks to take home to use with our families!

If you would like to set a time to talk about your child’s afternoon with me please do not hesitate to ask me. We will find a time to catch you up and share their portfolio of work. They have all worked so hard and we have come together as a wonderful class community.

- Joanne

Marion’s Primary 2 Class: We have been busy with our new unit, North America and studying the Native American Culture (past and present). We have talked about a variety of homes, clothing, foods, crafts, music and languages. We will be cooking corn bread, making jelly and preparing vegetables for our upcoming school feast. We are getting ready for our winter presentation on Dec. 15th and the songs are great.! Hope you all can make it. Our special child presentations have been wonderful. Thank you for all your help. Thanks you also for all the wonderful snacks. They are greatly appreciated. Please remember that all children need warm clothes that are labeled. Please check for extra bathroom clothes as well. Conferences are Dec. 7th , so please fill out your parent questionnaires so that I can better answer your questions about your child’s day. A sign-up sheet is posted on the schools bulletin board, so please sign-up for a time and cross off your name. I look forward to talking with all of you.

- Marion

ELEMENTARY NEWS

Al’s Lower Elementary Class: We have just finished our money unit and the children had a great time. We are studying the Solar System and the relationship between the Sun, Earth, and Moon. The object is to see how one responding to the others affects our climate and the language we use every day. In December we will be doing a unit on religious differences. The more we learn about different ideas the easier it is to understand different cultures.

Thanks to your support for the spaghetti dinner we raised $265 to help offset the cost of the Elementary Spring trip. The next fundraising meal will be in March.

The snack committee wants everyone to know that November’s Snack Money is due. The children are learning a lot about shopping for snack and staying on a budget.

– Al

Irene’s Upper Elementary Class: The class recently attended the Maine Energy Education Program (MEEP) workshop in Bangor as part of our study of energy and climate change. The students have had debates on pros & cons on energy usage, played energy planning games, conducted experiments and completing models. The students will be going to Smith’s Ceramic studio on Nov. 15th to paint ornaments. They will in turn sell these to raise funds to buy Thanksgiving meals for needy families. The next unit is on East Asia.

- Irene
FUNDRAISING:

Bottle Drive: Please drop your returnable bottles/cans to Skeeters Redemption on Stillwater Ave. Skeeters is on the left on the way to Old Town Hannaford Store. An account is all set up for the school. You just drop them off anytime and say it’s a donation to Stillwater Montessori School. If you wish, you may bring them to School (either Primary and Elementary) and the staff will take care of them. . Thanks for your support.

Box Tops & Campbell’s Soup labels: Please save your “Box Tops for Education” labels and Campbell Soup labels as they can be used for School fundraising . There are collection boxes at both school locations. Marion is coordinating this collection. Please see her for details.

Hannaford for Education: There are coupons for certain items at Hannaford that are advertised as “School Dollar” items. Turn these into the school for savings for the school.

Current Orders : Welcome back Parents and Friends! Please remember that you can order Current cards and gifts any time, all year round and 50% of your order will go to our school. Go to www.currentfun.com and place your order. When you check out, put in Stillwater Montessori, Old Town, ME in the appropriate spots. Usually, any funds raised through Current orders will go to the Stillwater Montessori scholarship fund. Soon we will have new catalogues in each class for those who wish to order by catalogue. Thank you for your support.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTION:

Art: Jami Cass provides Optional Art Instruction for students at the Primary School and art lessons to both Elementary programs. Jami comes every other Tuesday. At the elementary the students have a journal and are given drawing assignments in the off weeks.

Foreign Language: We are currently seeking to get another foreign language instructor. If you know of anyone able and interested in teaching a foreign language (preferably French or Spanish) to children, please let us know.

Music: Shauna Stratton-Meier provides music instruction at the Primary on Mondays and Wednesday mornings and at the Elementary on Friday mornings.

Creative Movement / Physical Education: Cid Dyjak provides creative movement lessons at the Primary after lunch on Wednesdays. He will offer Physical Education at the Elementary on Friday mornings.

Suzuki Violin: Megan Grassi offers optional violin lessons at school on Tuesdays. All fees are paid directly to Megan. Call her at 884-4297 if there are questions.

Music at UM: The Elementary students are going to UM from 11: a.m. to Noon on Thursdays to participate in the elementary music course there. December 8th is the last lesson this semester. Laura Artesani is the instructor.