OUR VERY BEST WISHES FOR PEACE FOR YOUR FAMILY,

AND ALL FAMILIES OF THIS WORLD,

IN THIS FRESH NEW YEAR, 2008!

Know that you, as a Montessori Family, have the opportunity to create brilliance and peace in our world, by the way you live your lives, model peaceful living, and educate your children. You have undoubtedly heard the phrase, "You are your child's most valuable teacher." Well of course you are! This is why it is so crucial that parents learn as much as they can about human development, and implement their learning in order to bring forth more responsible, kind, thoughtful, rational, and peaceful human beings.

Good parenting is hard work. This has always been true, but is especially significant in our rapidly-changing, and often confusing culture. We want to help in any way we can, and to this end, we strive professionally and spiritually to guide your children every day.

One of our goals in 2008 is to provide more support to families through our website, parent library, and parent education events. As a gift to parents, we have purchased a new Montessori film, which we will utilize in this coming year to help parents grow in understanding their child, and their family as a whole. This film is one of the best we have seen regarding conscious, rational parenting, and provides an excellent view of families who have established "Montessori homes." The message is clear: Montessori is not just a method of education, but a way of life! We will be inviting you to a viewing very soon!

Peace,

Mrs. Sanantonio, Miss Heather, Miss Holly and Miss Jessica

Speaking of peace, the children came back ready to work. They have interacted with each other well, and sought challenges that address their ever-evolving development and expanding concentration. We teachers are excited about this, and have added many new materials to our shelves.

These are our models of penguins that Miss Tess made for us. She began with raw sheep's wool. Then she poked the wool so many times with a long needle. This process is called "felting." She looked at pictures in books, and using various colors of wool, produced an Emperor, an Adelie and a Macaroni penguin. Miss Tess has loved penguins since she was a tiny girl at Metamorphosis School. Thanks Miss Tess!

We have begun to look at Antarctica. Some materials include: penguin species photo matching cards and a penguin nesting doll

Why I Need the Birds

When I hear them call
in the morning, before
I am quite awake,
my bed is already traveling
the daily rainbow,
the arc toward evening;
and the birds, leading
their own discreet lives
of hunger and watchfulness,
are with me all the way,
always a little ahead of me
in the long-practiced manner
of unobtrusive guides.

By the time I arrive at evening,
they have just settled down to rest;
already invisible, they are turning
into the dreamwork of trees;
and all of us together —
myself and the purple finches,
the rusty blackbirds,
the ruby cardinals,
and the white-throated sparrows
with their liquid voices —
ride the dark curve of the earth
toward daylight, which they announce
from their high lookouts
before dawn has quite broken for me.
Lisa Mueller

Way back in December...we began introducing birds to our children. Older children read a biography of James Audubon, the great naturalist, who loved to draw birds even as a child. Now we are in full swing and are looking at...

Winter tree birds...did you know that we have five? They are: the chickadee, the tufted titmouse, the nuthatch, the brown creeper and the downy woodpecker. Ask your child what job each bird has. They might be able to tell you. Hint...they keep our trees healthy.

We have added new finch feeders and plenty of suet so that we may observe our birds every day.

We play a game where a child flies in and out of our windows we make with our arms. Sometimes the child is a cardinal...or a tufted titmouse.

"Little bird, little bird, fly through my window, little bird, little bird, fly through my window, little bird, little bird, fly through my window, and buy molasses candy. Fly through my window, my sugarlump, fly through my window, my sugarlump, fly through my window, my sugarlump, and buy molasses candy."

WE HAVE MANY PHOTOS TO PUT UP ON THIS SITE, BUT ARE HAVING DIFFICULTIES. WE NEED A WEBSITE-SAVVY MOM OR DAD WHO CAN HELP US SORT OUT THESE NEW COMPUTER-PHOTOSHOP-NEW CAMERA TROUBLES! PLEASE EMAIL MIM IF YOU CAN HELP--SOONER THE BETTER!

codysanantonio@mac.com