The Brickton Weekly, December 20, 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year From Brickton Montessori School

Getting to Know You: Each week this section will highlight one staff member and what inspired them to pursue working in a Montessori environment.

Erica Lane, Upper Elementary Directress and Educational Coordinator

Montessori has been a part of my life since I was very young.  I had the pleasure of starting my Montessori journey at the tender age of three, when my parents sent me to Beverly Montessori School on the southwest side of Chicago.  I still fondly remember doing the trinomial cube, matching color tiles, scrubbing tables and tracing sandpaper letters.  I was able to attend Montessori schools until the end of third grade.  When I was in junior high school, my mom helped to start Council Oak Montessori school in our neighborhood, becoming a Lower Elementary teacher there.  Montessori was becoming a family affair with more and more of my younger siblings reaping the benefits of Montessori philosophy all the way through eighth grade.  By the time I started college, I knew my goal would be to get my teaching certificate and work in a Montessori environment.  With each class I took, I realized more and more benefits of this educational philosophy.  Many of the new "innovations" and teaching strategies I was learning about in my classes were rooted in Maria Montessori's child development philosophy from so many years ago.  It only affirmed my commitment to this method of education.  I have been at Brickton Montessori since the fall of 1997, and I still love and believe in what we do!

Holiday Cookie Exchange

Spread some delicious holiday cheer and join us for the Brickton Cookie Exchange.  On the last day of school before Winter Break, December 21st, at 8:30 am, bring around 3 dozen cookies and exchange with other parents and Brickton staff members.  This is a great way to feed your holiday sweet tooth with a wonderful variety of holiday treats.  Don’t forget your empty container to store your cookies!

Winter Break Monday, December 24^th – Monday, January 7^th.

The last day of school before winter break is tomorrow, December 21^st.  School will be closed from Saturday, December 22^nd – Monday, January 7^th.  Students resume school on Tuesday, January 8, 2013.

Volunteer Spotlight: Thank You for Your Donations

The Brickton staff held a hat and glove drive for the students at the Montessori School of Englewood.  Thank you to everyone who donated.  You can see the beautiful thank you card from the students posted on the office bulletin board.

Operation ChildFind

Operation ChildFind will come to Brickton right after the winter holiday, on Wednesday and Thursday, January 9 and 10.  Operation ChildFind is a team of early childhood experts that perform vision and hearing screening, check large and small motor development, assess speech and language use, and perform school readiness screening for children aged 2 through 6 years old, for our Toddler and Children's House students.  A part of the Chicago Public School system, Operation ChildFind has been visiting Brickton each year since 1999.  Their free service is optional, and parent/guardian permission is required for each child to participate; permission forms can be downloaded here.  If you have not filled yours out, please complete and return it to your directress.

Operation Woodchips was a Success

A school wide effort to lay new wood chips on the playground was wrapped up today.  The Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School students used buckets, wheel barrows, shovels, rakes, and bare hands to move a dump-truck full of wood chips onto the playground.  It was inspirational watching the students work vigorously and with enthusiasm to complete a project that benefits the entire Brickton community.  Thank you students.  Your work really paid off! 

The Brickton Weekly, December 13, 2012

Happy Hanukkah from the Brickton Community!

Getting to Know You: Each week this section will highlight one staff member and what inspired them to pursue working in a Montessori environment.

Marie Rodriguez, Toddler Teacher

When I was in grammar school, I had an amazing teacher who helped us enjoy all she taught, especially geography, which I still LOVE, because of her teaching.

Montessori strives to help the children enjoy their learning intrinsically. My first Montessori experience was in a Children’s House class. A six-year old boy quietly worked alone on the continent map of Africa and could locate and name all of the countries. A six-year old! I was hooked.

Volunteer Spotlight: The Book Fair and Food Drive Edition

The Scholastic Book Fair was a huge success again this year.  It would not have been possible with out the generous assistance of our many volunteers.  Thank you to Diane Grassi, Georgia Ferguson, Shashona Chau, Lori Plier, Tara Leinenweber, Kelly McDermott, Molly Arnoldt, Cheryl LaCost, and Agnes Guerra.  Your help is very appreciated!

Many thanks to the entire community for your participation in the annual food drive for the Salvation Army.  We were able to provide a generous supply of nourishing food for the holiday season and as always, the Salvation Army was thankful for the donations.

Winter Extracurricular Activities

The Winter Extracurricular session begins Monday, January 14^th.  We have an all-new class this year: The Runaway Circus, which promotes self-confidence, teamwork, and lifelong physical activity through the joy of Circus! Please open this link to download the registration form with descriptions of all the great classes.  Please submit the form and your payment to the office.  If you have any questions, please contact Kelly.

Greeting Cards for the Troops

This month Brickton students sent 100 hand-made greeting cards to Governor Quinn to distribute during his annual visit to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany.  The cards contained holiday greetings and well-wishes for armed forces members recovering from illness and injury, as well as medical and support personnel stationed there.  The children’s greetings are meant to affirm these heroes and let them know we are mindful of their sacrifices, and that our thoughts are with them during these holidays when they are serving us so far away from home.

Operation ChildFind

Operation ChildFind will come to Brickton right after the winter holiday, on Wednesday and Thursday, January 9 and 10.  Operation ChildFind is a team of early childhood experts that perform vision and hearing screening, check large and small motor development, assess speech and language use, and perform school readiness screening for children aged 2 through 6 years old, for our Toddler and Children's House students.  A part of the Chicago Public School system, Operation Childfind has been visiting Brickton each year since 1999.  Their free service is optional, and parent/guardian permission is required for each child to participate; permission forms have been placed in parent folders, so please complete and return yours to your directress.

Reminders:

Winter Break: The last day of school before Winter Break is Friday, December 21^st.  School will resume Tuesday, January 8^th.

Manna Orders Due.  Friday, December 14^th, is the final Manna order date before the winter break.  Simplify holiday frenzy with Manna cards, and get help paying your Brickton tuition!  Card pick up will be Wednesday, December 19^th.  The next Manna date will be Friday, January 11, 2013.

Middle School Holiday Babysitters: The Middle School Students are available at Brickton from 9am to 1 pm, Saturday, December 15^th to babysit for $20 per child - including lunch. Children ages 3-12 are welcome.

Operation: Woodchips

We received a new supply of woodchips for our playground.  If you are free on Saturday from 9:00am – 12:00pm, please stop by to help spread the woodchips on the playground.  They are necessary for our children’s safety while playing at recess.  If you can volunteer some time, it will go a long way to helping the Brickton community.  Bring a shovel and some work gloves, we will provide the woodchips!

Donation to Open Books
If you have books laying around the house, you can donate them to Open Books.  It is writing and literacy building program as well as a book store.  The Elementary and Middle School classes here at Brickton have taken field trips to develop writing and literacy building skills.  If you would like to help the program by donating books for their literacy programs and book store, bring them to school, and our reading specialist, Liz, will get them to Open Books.

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The Brickton Weekly, December 6, 2012

Getting to Know You: Each week this section will highlight one staff member and what inspired them to pursue working in a Montessori environment.

Kathy Hummel, Music, Band, and Chorus Teacher
I learned about Montessori in one of my psychology classes in college and knew that I wanted my children to learn that way. I began teaching in a Montessori school when the principal of the school my children attended asked me if I was familiar with Orff Schulwerk and if I would be willing to start a music program at the school. The philosophies of Carl Orff and Maria Montessori are very similar and the two methods work well together. I enjoy working in a Montessori school because the children are involved in their own learning and the focus is on helping them develop into independent, life-long learners.

Dr. Betsy Coe at Brickton
Thursday, December 13^th, 5:30-6:30p.m. Room 106

Please join us for a wonderful parent development opportunity.  AMS Living Legacy, Dr. Betsy Coe, will talk with parents about Adolescent Development with tips and strategies for raising your teenage child.  Care and dinner for students will be provided at no cost, but please RSVP with Sara in the front office so we can plan accordingly.

Volunteer Spotlight: Breakfast With Santa Edition

Breakfast With Santa was so much fun and a very successful event for the Brickton community.  We would like to extend a gracious thank you to all those that volunteered their time to help ensure the event’s success.  First, thank you to all of you who baked for the bake sale.  The goodies were delicious and sold out fast!  Thanks to Elisa Sarkiss, Deb DeYoung, Deb Schmidt, Diane Grassi, Susan and Jon Urbanski, Rachel Means, Elizabeth Vasquez, LaDonna Taylor and many staff members for all your help during the event.  A special thanks are due to Joe Somers for setting up and letting us use his camera equipment.  The photos with Santa have a professional quality that would not have been otherwise attainable.  Finally, special thanks to Anna Olech for her donation of the beautiful table arrangements which added a lovely ambiance to Breakfast with Santa.  Anna is the mother of Lower Elementary student, Natalie Olech; she is the owner of Krystyna's Flowers, located at 5209 W. Belmont, phone 773-286-8699 

Reminders:

Parent/Teacher Conferences and Club Day, Tomorrow, Friday, December 7th

Bring In Your Boxtops!

We are sending in a batch of Box Tops, please submit them by December 17th to be included in this round.

Scholastic Book Fair, Monday, December 10^th – Thursday December 13^th

Our Scholastic Book Fair is next week.  In preparation for this Book Fair, we are asking for volunteers to help set up on Sunday, December 9, at 11:00 AM.  It is not a huge job but requires as much help as possible.  With enough help, the work is over in about 45 minutes.  This is such a successful fund raiser for our Upper Elementary students, and it all begins with an setting up an inviting display up of books.  If you would like to volunteer, please email John (john.huber@brickton.org) in the 9-12 classroom. 

Holiday Cookie Exchange

Spread some delicious holiday cheer and join us for the Brickton Cookie Exchange.  On the last day of school before Winter Break, December 21^st, at 8:30 am, bring around 3 dozen cookies and exchange with other parents and Brickton staff members.  This is a great way to feed your holiday sweet tooth with a wonderful variety of holiday treats.  Don’t forget your empty container to store your cookies!

Featured Blog: Middle School from Nature’s Classroom
The Middle School Class is up in Mukwanago, Wisconsin, at Nature’s Classroom Institute.  As a way of checking in with the students and introducing some of you to the NCI program, we are featuring a blog entry from the Middle School sent out yesterday.  To access the blog, you will need to enter the password ‘partnership’. (http://middleschoolprogram.posterous.com/engineering-and-other-highlights)