Welcome! [https:]...Welcome back Parkside Montessori! Let’s start the year off with a fundraising event brought to you by the Parkside Montessori, School Council. Join us in the

Welcome!

Education is not the

filling of a pail, but rather

the lighting of a fire.

-William Butler Yeats

September Calendar/Orange Shirt Day 2

School Council & Fundraising Guild 3

Casa dei Bambini & ELMO 1-3 4/5

ELMO 4-6 News/Terry Fox Run 6

GPPSD Annual Elementary Fun Run 7

Math Corner/Food in Classroom 8

Inside this issue:

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Volume 3, Issue 1

September 10, 2018

Welcome back to Parkside Montessori! It

is refreshing to hear the sounds and see

the sights of children in our building. We

miss them during the summer months!

Thank you to everyone who has popped

into the office to ask if there are any

tasks that we need help with! We are

grateful for your on-going support. Par-

ent volunteer packages are available at

the office and if you are able to volun-

teer this year, please pick one up. We

would love to have you in. Information

about our upcoming Trickster Theatre

residency has been sent out in the week-

ly teacher emails. If you are able to as-

sist, please use the Sign-Up Genius link

provided! Thank you to Rebecca Ryan

and Bev MacDonnell for being our par-

ent volunteer coordinators. If you have-

n’t had a chance to check out the Trick-

ster website, take a minute to watch

some of the videos of the work that they

have done in other schools. We are ea-

gerly anticipating this residency in our

school and are grateful for the grant fund-

ing from Alberta Foundation for the Arts

which will fund most of this opportunity for

our students.

To ensure that you are up to date on our

school events and activities, like our Face-

book page and make sure to sign up for

our newsletters. You should be receiving

an email with weekly reminders and infor-

mation by the end of day each Monday

from your child’s teacher. If you have

feedback for us on the style of communi-

cation you prefer as parents, please let us

know. It is important to us that you feel

informed about events, activities and your

child’s progress at our school.

We are looking forward to all that the

2018-2019 school year will hold and are

glad to be walking this journey with you!

-Miss Corrine & Miss Terra

Page 2

On the Calendar...

M ONT ESS ORI NE WS

Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission

(SIM) residential school commemoration event held

in Williams Lake, BC, Canada, in the spring of 2013. It

grew out of Phyllis Webstad’s account of having her

shiny new orange shirt taken away on her first day of

school at the Mission, and it has become an oppor-

tunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residen-

tial schools happening annually.

The date was chosen because it is the time of year in

which children were taken from their homes to resi-

dential schools, and because it is an opportunity to

set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies

for the coming school year.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 3

Labour Day

4 First Day of

School,

Casa Staggered

Entry Begins

5 6 7

Fire/Evacuation

Drill

8

9 10

Regular Casa

Classes begin

11 12 Fire/Evacuation

Drill

13 Fire/Evacuation

Drill

14

Family Dance

15

16

Terry Fox Run

17

Trickster Theatre

Residency

18

19 20 21Int’l Day of

Peace

22

District Fun Run

23 24 School

Council AGM

25 26

Hot Lunch: BP

27 Orange

Shirt Day

28 Profes-

sional Learning

Day, NO

SCHOOL

29

30

September 2018

Orange Shirt Day is also an opportunity for First

Nations, local governments, schools and commu-

nities to come together in the spirit of reconcilia-

tion and hope for generations of children to

come.

This year Orange Shirt Day falls on a Sunday. In

the Grande Prairie Public School District, we en-

courage everyone to wear their orange shirts to

school on Thursday, September 27th to show sup-

port of this important event.

V OLU ME 3 , IS SU E 1 Page 3

School Council & Fundraising Guild

The Fundraising Guild of Parkside Mon-

tessori is excited to be partnering with

MunchaLunch online ordering this year

for our Hot Lunches. The system is set up

and accepting orders for the first session

(September through December) of hot

lunches. The first hot lunch is on SEPTEMBER 26th!

Place your hot lunch orders online using

MunchaLunch!

https://munchalunch.com/schools/Park

sideMontessori

Accepted methods of payment are: Vi-

sa or Mastercard; Visa/Mastercard Deb-

it and Prepaid cards only.

Mark Your Calendars!

The Fundraising Guild of Parkside Mon-

tessori Annual General Meeting will

take place on Monday, October 1st at

7:15 pm at the school.

Our School Council Annual General

Meeting will take place on Monday,

September 24th at 6:00 p.m.

This will be an opportunity to hear the

Council report from the previous year

and elect any executive positions that

have terms coming to an end.

Welcome back Parkside Montessori!

Let’s start the year off with a fundraising event

brought to you by the Parkside Montessori,

School Council.

Join us in the gym on Friday, September 14th

starting at 6 pm for a FAMILY FUN DANCE!

Everyone is welcome as we celebrate the start

of a new year with our returning students, new

friends and their families. Come & meet your

school council too!

For more information about the dance and the

council please email:

[email protected]

Casa dei Bambini, Preschool & Kindergarten

Page 4 M ONT ESS ORI NE WS

Welcome to our first month of school! The

children are beginning to settle in and are

starting to learn the routines and procedures

of the classroom. Some highlights from the

first week of school included: meeting new

friends, playing on the playground, and

learning more about the classroom.

This month we will focus on normalization.

Normalization does not refer to a process of

being forced to conform. Instead, Maria

Montessori used the terms “normal” and

“normalization” to describe a unique process

she observed in child development. Dr.

Montessori observed that when children are

allowed freedom in an environment suited to

their needs, they blossom. Normalization in-

cludes the ability to concentrate on an ac-

tivity, the ability to find joy in their work, self-

discipline, and respecting others. If you are

curious to learn more about Normalization,

this is a great article: https://

livingmontessorinow.com/what-does-the-

montessori-term-normalization-mean/

Our themes for this month will be pinecones

and the Harvest Moon. We can’t wait to ex-

plore nature with the children!

-Miss Trisha & Miss Laura

Lower Elementary, Gr. 1-3

V OLU ME 3 , IS SU E 1 Page 5

Welcome back to school! We are looking for-

ward to a great year ahead! It feels wonderful

to be back in the classroom with our excited

and curious students. During the first few weeks

of September there is a lot of time spent on es-

tablishing expectations and routines. We will al-

so be spending time reflecting on ourselves as

individuals, while also working to establish com-

munity within the classroom and within the

school as a whole.

In Health, we are discussing the importance of

making sure we are actively avoiding the

spread of germs by practicing good hygiene

habits such as washing our hands to stay

healthy. We will also be placing an emphasis on

growth mindset throughout the year. We will be

discussing the importance of challenging our-

selves and facing those challenges as opportu-

nities to learn and grow.

Needs of Plants and Animals will be our first top-

ic of study in Science. This is a fun unit where the

students will explore the differences and similari-

ties between plants and animals, discovering

what they need in order to thrive.

Mark your calendars! International Day of

Peace is on September 21. We are delighted to

welcome the Trickster Theater team to help pre-

pare us for a production embodying the day to

reflect on peace. Leading up to this, there will

be discussion around how each of us can be

peacemakers rather than peacebreakers.

September is a busy month but an exciting one,

as we look ahead to great things to come. We

look forward to an amazing year!

-Miss Megan, Miss Elise, Mr. Josh & Mr. Mark

Terry Fox Run, Sept. 16, 2018

Greetings from the Upper ELMO team!

We are so excited to see everyone back in our class-

rooms. The first little while we will be getting back into

routines and reinforcing the school and classroom

norms of safety, respect and kindness. This term in

Science, we will be beginning our Waste in Our

World Unit and in Social we will be learning about

the great province in which we live, Alberta! Miss De-

siree’s class will be walking over to the Grande Prairie

Care center to start our Grand Buddies program. This

is an opportunity to meet residents from a different

generation. Other classes will be doing this later in

the year. We are very excited to be welcoming Trick-

ster theatre company to our school for a weeklong

residency where students will be exploring drama

and theatre. We encourage you to start discussing

our Halloween activity for this year. Last year, our

students designed a Haunted Museum, made a

scary snack and organized gym activities for every-

one to enjoy. It will be fun to see what the students

can create this year! We look forward to having

many exciting learning activities and special events

this year.

-Miss Desiree & Miss Rebecca

Upper Elementary, Gr. 4-6

Parkside Montessori is once again proudly

supporting The Terry Fox Foundation in its

ongoing work to fund innovative and pro-

gressive cancer research programs by tak-

ing part in The Terry Fox Run on Sunday,

September 16, 2018. Please support our

team by joining, or sponsoring us. Your

kindness will impact the lives of so many

people living with cancer. This is a great

way to meet other families in our school

community as well! To join or sponsor

please visit our team page:

http://www.terryfox.ca/parkside

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Muskoseepi Park

Registration begins at 9:30. Run begins at 11 a.m.

Free BBQ

Parkside Montessori

Corrine Shmyruk, Principal

Terra Shewchuk, Vice Principal

PARKSID E MONTESSORI

Math Corner: Tips for Parents

9617 91A avenue

Grande Prairie, AB

T8V 0G7

Phone: 780-532-7429

Email:

[email protected]

Facebook:

@ParksideMontessori

Visit our school page:

www.gppsd.ab.ca/school/parksidemontessori

Food in the Classroom We have some students in our school with se-

vere allergies. Please check with your child’s teacher about specific allergy warnings.

Please note that we do not have microwave

ovens in our classrooms. Students are encour-

aged to bring warm food in a thermos.

Helpful tip! Heating the thermos up with hot

water before filling with food will keep items

warm until it’s time to eat.

Food Sharing– Due to the variety of food aller-

gies in our classrooms, we ask that you speak

to a teacher before sending any snack to

share. We will then let you know if this is

something that can be eaten by everyone.

We appreciate your help and support in

keeping everyone safe.

How can I support my child’s math learning?

You are an important partner in your child’s

mathematics education. When you find ways

to engage your child in thinking and talking

about mathematics, you are providing an im-

portant key for unlocking his/her future success.

Today, critical thinking, problem solving, reason-

ing ability and the ability to communicate

mathematically are essential skills and are the

foundation of mathematics education.

Kent Haines (see video link at the end of the

article) is both a math teacher and a dad. In

this short video, he shares some excellent tips

on how to help your children’s “math-

readiness”, expressing it with a modern term, or

we might just say, “how to help your children

understand their world with math.”

It’s aimed at parents of preschool to grade 2

children, but the ideas ring true for other ages

as well.

The three important guidelines he shares are:

1. Use math language.

2. Play.

3. Focus on questions, not answers.

https://youtu.be/OitL1ZI0azo