Montessori Matters
September 27, 2019
International Understanding
Time for the third in our series of Montessori School of Anderson’s four pillars: The development of an international understanding and the importance of environmental education.
Building on the first two, a passion for excellence and universal values, it is only natural to see how our third one fits right in. If you believe that humans should strive for excellence in what they do and believe in certain values such as working for peaceful resolution to personal conflicts, it is only natural that one would want to carry that over to the global scene and believe that what we do locally can have an impact globally if those individual impacts are multiplied by 7.7 billion (estimated current world population).
The Montessori Method itself is so conducive to this equation. First, Maria Montessori was an international figure advocating for the betterment of humankind by the way it educates its children. In her day, she was as much of a world traveler as possible and helped set up Montessori schools globally so that today there are over 20,000 schools worldwide that follow her principles. She believed deeply that peace was possible but only if we raised our children up to understand the likenesses and celebrate the differences of the human population.
Our children, beginning in Primary, are introduced to world maps as well as United States maps at the same time. They first work the various maps as puzzles, then they trace the outlines, making pictures to be kept in a booklet and labeled. They then name each piece of the maps through her famous three period lesson:
First period – directress identifies by name – “This is Africa.”
Second period – directress lays out three different continents that she has individually identified and then asks: “Point to the one that is Africa?”
Third period – directress asks: “Tell me the name of this one?”
Over three years, several of the continents have had their special celebration month where artifacts, music, food, special language phrases, etc. are introduced during line time (a time when all the students come to the circle for information). Individual cultural pictures related to that country are set up as a sorting exercise for the children to choose as a work.
Many of you will remember our three-year cycle when we do Festival of Lights, once again highlighting each country’s winter holiday specialties. The entire campus is trimmed with white lights while families stroll from one end to the other stepping into another culture, listening to their music, watching a native dance, and tasting a specialty finger food or dessert of that country. We have built igloos, painted volcanoes, and danced the Hora as we traveled the candlelit paths ending up at the flagpole with our communal blessings for “peace on earth” being sent out into the world.
With all this as a background, our high schoolers have had the opportunity to participate in a Mock United Nations where they come together to discuss BIG world issues along with students from all over the country.
As they graduate, we hope to send out into the world young citizens who know who they are, who appreciate the fact that they have had the blessings of a great country, and who acknowledge the contributions of other cultures in the well-being of this planet we call Earth. This is our “Eden” we have been given to take care of environmentally and culturally. “Together - we celebrate our being here.”
Dates to Remember
Sept. 30-Oct. 3 - School Pictures -- see below for class schedule
October 8 - Family, Food, and Philosophy event
October 10 - Classroom Campout (LE and UE)
October 11 - Early dismissal, no extended care
October 14-18 - Fall Break, extended day available
October 21-25 - Spirit Week
October 25 - Primary Book Character Day
Oct. 28-Nov. 1 - Middle and High School conference week
See here for the full, interactive calendar.
School Photos
Class photos will be taken in the mornings this week. Sibling photos can be scheduled with your children's teachers. See below for the daily schedule:
Monday, Sept. 30 - Middle and High School
Tuesday, Oct. 1 - Primary
Wednesday, Oct. 2 - Infant/Toddler
Thursday, Oct. 3 - Lower Elementary
Family, Food, and Philosophy
Don't forget to fill out the RSVP line beneath the map to let us know you're coming!
Nurse's Notes
Please reduce speed while traveling on MSA school property. Due to the increased amount of traffic on our campus, we respectfully request that you remain with your children at all times while on the MSA campus. Pedestrians (especially small ones) are difficult to see and we want to address this safety issue to protect the lives of our MSA students and visitors. Too often, drivers are in large vehicles, become distracted and may not see a little one who has gotten away from their caregiver. It is essential that all visitors and students use the sidewalks and parents supervise your children at all times.
All children should remain buckled up until they have arrived at their respective classroom(s). SC State law regarding carseats/restraints still apply when on MSA's private property. Please make sure that children under age 13 are in the backseat, properly restrained and in carseat/booster seat if applicable. Please refrain from allowing children to place hands, feet and heads out of the windows and sunroofs. We want to encourage and model safe passenger behavior.
Susanna Merriman, RN
Board Notes
September has been a wonderful month of community at MSA. We have attended family potluck dinners in our Toddler Classes and Primary’s annual Planet Pajama party, seeing the campus buzzing with young learners exploring their world together. Board members have enjoyed meeting new families through these events and look forward to more opportunities at the Family, Food and Philosophy event October 8th.
We welcome new members to the Board of Trustees: Cassie Funk Brittain, Jodi Durkee and Taral Sharma. They join our current members: Jennifer Cline, Vince Fanello, Dan Keenan, Keremy MacDonald, KD Mohsseni, David Rogers, and Chris Simcoe. The meeting Monday, September 30th will be a board training session conducted by Dr. Spencer Jordan, Executive Director of the South Carolina Independent Schools Association (SCISA).
Board committees continue work on public relations, long-range financial planning and development of a soon-to-be-launched fundraising campaign, as well as several improvements to our buildings and grounds.
MSA Board of Trustees
Pinwheels for Peace
Meals on Wheels
Toddler Covered-Dish Dinners
Toddler Two's covered-dish dinner photos can be found in this gallery.
Toddler Three wrapped up the Toddler covered-dish dinners on Thursday night with a delicious pot-luck dinner and fun with friends in the classroom and on the playground. A few images from the night can be found below, a small preview album can be found here, and there will be more to come in a future issue of Montessori Matters!
Lower Elementary Breadmaking
Geometry Test Flights
MSA Youth Soccer
Ender's Game Club
Dabney Baby Shower
Last Chance for 2018-19 Yearbooks
2019-20 Yearbooks On Sale Now!
New readers
Montessori School of Anderson
Email: mdabney@msasc.org
Website: msasc.org
Location: 280 Sam McGee Road, Anderson, SC, USA
Phone: 864-226-5344
Facebook: http://facebook.com/MontessoriSchoolofAnderson