Parents Corner
Important Dates
*Friday, January 20 7:30 – 9:00am
Coffee House presented by The Adolescent Community (AC) at the school.
All are welcome to come and enjoy fresh coffee, tea, baked goods, and savories for purchase in a joyous atmosphere of community created for parents and Elementary students by the AC.
SPECIAL ART PREVIEW for Faces of the Future fundraiser
After you get your coffee or tea at the AC Coffee House, take a stroll through the school to preview art works in progress by the students that will be featured at Faces of the Future on March 10th.
Thursday, January 26 - 7:30am – 3:30pm
Friday, January 27- 7:30am – 11:30pm
Parent/Guide Conferences
Classes will not meet. All Day Montessori is available with a reservation.
Watch for an e-mail with a link to sign-up online for your Parent/Guide conference.
Friday, January 27 - 12:30pm
Faculty Meeting
Classes will not meet. All Day Montessori is available with a reservation.
Tuesday, January 31
2012/2013 Re-enrollment Contracts Due
Wednesday, February 1
2012-2013 Placement Begins
Tuesday, February 14
Valentine's Day Celebrations in the classrooms
Friday, February 17
Professional Development
Classes will not meet. All Day Montessori is available with a reservation.
Monday, February 17
Presidents Day
Classes will not meet. All Day Montessori is available with a reservation.
Tuesday, February 28** Science Fair **This is a date change
9 – 11am Presentations to ARVM students
1 – 3pm Presenting/Defending to experts
**Required Uniform for Upper Elementary students. AC dress requirements to be announced.
6 – 7pm Family Exhibition – Everyone is welcome!
*Parents Night Out - TBA
Parents Night Out is also hosted by the AC at the school. Parents are invited to drop-off their children for an evening of activities including play, arts and crafts, a home-cooked dinner, and later a movie to unwind with. The cost is $25 for the first child, $15 each additional child.
To reserve a place for your child/ren, please contact the AC at theca@arvmontessori.org.
Coffee House and Parents Night Out
*The Coffee House and Parents Night Out are business enterprises operated exclusively by the Adolescent Community students (ages 12-15). The running of a business - from planning, purchasing the raw materials (food ingredients), producing the product, creating the space for people to gather, and then hosting the event – is all real life work on an adult level and essential to students this age. Vonda Stepp, their Montessori guide, explains-
Adolescents have specific needs tied to their plane of development. One of the strongest of these needs is that their work be real, meaningful, and big. If the job is too small, it simply will not engage an adolescent. Students of this age are driven to choose tasks that are almost (or are) too big or hard for them to handle. They must test themselves and solve the problems of managing big work. The AC students, being of this age, are nearly fearless and yet do use their wits to gauge the maximum they can attempt and still have a hope of success. In addition to the job being large, it is vital that the task be real. ….taking on the real thing is a task that vitalizes the group. They KNOW they are doing a real task. It is equally important to the students that the real task be meaningful. The students know they are helping create the wonderful childhood and family memories that today's students will have for the rest of their lives. As such, they feel they are giving to the community with …work such as PNO and Coffee House. They are proud of their community service and are highly motivated to give back in this way. Read More >
It is not their primary focus, but they do make a net profit on the sales from the coffee house. This money is used to fund all expenses, including for their teacher and all chaperones, for their year-end trip. They have travelled to cities such as Houston, Chicago, and St. Louis.
Adding to their motivation to be successful in their efforts, each class leaves an amount of money in the class bank account for the next year’s class to use as start-up, including a community-building camping trip taken in the very early days of the new school year.
Calendar
To see a list of all event activities please see the calender under our News section.