Picture this: First and foremost - an invigorating Autumn day on a lovely farm setting with barn, cows, and rolling pastures. Then listen: for the sound of children laughing inside the Bouncing Tent, for the squeals of delight when a certain numbered plastic duck crosses the finish line, for an excited cheer when a father wins the cake walk, for an “ahhhh” in showing off newly painted nails and cheeks, for quiet murmurs of families being warmed next to the bonfire, and for happy folk sitting at the picnic tables chatting over a delicious bar-b-que lunch.

Just some of the sights and sounds to be expected tomorrow at Montessori’s 40th Fall Fest!

Come join us from 10 am to 2 pm at 347 Bowlan Rd. (10 min. from the school).

Happy Fall Festing 2018!

Directions to the Dbouk Farm and FALL FEST

Take a right out of the MSA parking lot on to Sam McGee. Take a right on to Concord Road. At the stop light at the intersection of 81N and Hopewell Road (7-11, Shell, Subway) go straight. Continue on Hopewell Road for approximately 2½ miles. At the four way stop (Hopewell Rd and Breazeale Rd), go straight. You will cross over a small bridge and then the road will fork (Bowlan Rd). Take the fork to the right and the Dbouk Farm will be on your right. There will be signs!

Upper Elementary through High School students will celebrate Spirit Week October 29-November 2 (Lower Elementary will join in the celebration on Monday and Friday). The dress schedule will be as follows:

Monday: Pajama Day (no slippers, still in dress code)

Tuesday: Sports Team/College Day

Wednesday: Costume Day (no masks, no weapons, nothing scary, still in dress code)

Thursday: Tacky/Mismatched Day

Friday: MSA School Spirit Day

Upper Elementary is wrapping up their full-immersion week at Electric City Playhouse. It has been exciting, exhausting, and illuminating to take a show straight from a script to full production on the stage. We can quote Mrs. Nickles: "It is theater magic!" We hope you have a chance to see the show -- the last performances are this afternoon at 1:00 pm and tonight at 7:00 pm!

Below are just a few pictures from one of the final rehearsals on Wednesday, the day before opening night. Don't miss your chance to see this wonderful show!

October has been a busy month at Montessori and we are so please to have participated in several health promotions on campus. The Upper School participated in Scoliosis Awareness, Breast Cancer Awareness and Fire Prevention and Safety Month.

Montessori hosted a school wide "Pink Out" acknowledging Breast Cancer Awareness month. Our MSA community all came together, students and teachers alike, in a bright display of "pink" to honor, remember and support all of those (male and female) whose lives have been touched by this disease. Thank you to all who wore pink bringing awareness and advocacy for breast cancer.

For more information on Breast cancer advocacy, early detection and screening, treatment, survivorship and support, please go to the following link: https://ww5.komen.org/

With Halloween next week, I wanted to share Halloween and Pedestrian safety information with you. Please follow this link or click the image below to view a document containing important Halloween and Pedestrian safety tips.

Finally, please join me in thanking the Hopewell Fire Department for assistance with recognizing Fire Prevention and Safety Month. Hopewell Fire Department's Assistant Chief Brian Boyle visited with our Primary and Lower El students and discussed fire prevention and safety. After the educational program, the children were given the opportunity to explore the Fire Engine. Please ask your child about the fire safety tips that they learned.

Here is the link to Safe Kids Worldwide Fire Safety Tips:

https://www.safekids.org/sites/default/files/documents/fire_safety_tips_2015.pdf

With safest regards,

Susanna Merriman, RN

Our toddlers were fascinated with the camera after Toddler 1's pumpkin roll this Wednesday. Several toddlers enjoyed snapping pictures of their friends and looking at pictures on the camera after they were taken. Stay tuned for images from the three toddler classes' pumpkin rolls in next week's issue of Montessori Matters. Below are a few images from Infant/Toddler's playground time on Wednesday; follow this link to see the rest of the album.

Middle School students were fortunate to have a group of Clemson School of Computing graduate students stop by to present their research topics to them on Tuesday. The Clemson presenters showed our students that there are tasks that humans are better at than machines (like differentiating between images of chihuahuas and blueberry muffins/chocolate chip cookies!) and vice versa and demonstrated that computing research is not limited to just research on improving computers -- computer-aided research can be applied to any field of study! The presentations were part of a Clemson School of Computing K-8th grade computer science outreach program organized by Adam Rollins, father of two of our toddler students. Special thanks to Adam, Daricia, MinJae, and Marie for coming out to MSA and sharing their research!

Students were surprised to see two hot air balloons fly by MSA on Monday morning -- one flew right above the school and the other landed in the field just across East West Parkway!

During Fall Break, the 2018 South Carolina Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Student of the Year represented Upstate SC at the SC Light the Night Walk. This MSA 11th grade high school student is taking steps to end cancer and will be participating in each of the SC regions' Light the Night event bringing awareness and advocacy to those affected by cancer.

Today is the last day to get the lowest pricing for student recognition ads in the yearbook! We are offering parents of 8th, 9th, and 12th grade students the opportunity to purchase recognition ads for your student this year. If you have your images and text prepared and are ready to submit your design, you can use this link to do so. If you would like to purchase your ad at the reduced rate while waiting to submit your design, please stop by the front office today to fill out an order form and drop off your payment. The order form is available at this link if you'd like to view the pricing and fill out your order form ahead of time.

You can also purchase a yearbook by clicking here or on the image below.

Know someone that would like to receive Montessori Matters? Follow this link or click the image below to fill out a form to request new recipients.