While the temperatures are not giving us the fall vibes, the work around our school is getting us in the spirit! Students are learning about harvests, holidays, and events that happen during this time of year.

Fall leaves changing colors always help give pause to enjoy the beauty of the world around us! I hope you all are able to find time to enjoy the cooler days, the colorful trees and the joyful celebrations of the fall season! For those that know me - that includes Sunday Football - Go Bills!

In Peace

Alicia Rheel

Head of School

Montessori education works best when we can build connections between school, home, and the greater community. This makes Montessori truly a way of life. When children are able to move from home to school to the world at large where the values and expectations are aligned, the Montessori community and all of its members grow and flourish and work together beautifully.

Families who choose Montessori for their children’s education embark on an educational journey that goes beyond what their children learn within their classroom walls. An equally important aspect to Montessori education is creating a community among the children, caregivers, teachers, and administrators, and then extending this community to work together within their towns and cities. Just as the children learn the importance of caring for, respecting, and appreciating the people in their classrooms, Montessori schools try to extend this same sense of inclusion to their school parents and families and then branch out to work together with their neighborhood communities in a variety of positive and contributing ways.

Want to learn more?

Check out these great resources on ways we can grow and connect as a community on our website:

• Family School Association

• Family Engagement Plan

• Service Learning Program

Visit our special events page

We are excited to share with you the latest news about our school's growth and fundraising efforts. Thanks to your generous contributions and grants written by our staff, we have been able to improve and upgrade our facilities. This has provided a strong learning environment for all of our students. Over the past year, we have seen an increase in enrollment and academic achievement. Our teachers and staff have worked tirelessly to create a supportive and inclusive learning environment where every student can thrive. We are proud to say that our students are excelling both inside and outside of the classroom. In addition to our academic success, we have also made great strides in our fundraising efforts. With your help, we have been able to raise funds for a shade structure for our outdoor classroom, a new multipurpose room, and music classroom. Grants have helped us provide a home for our chickens and tortoises, We are grateful for your continued support and commitment to our school's growth and success. Looking ahead, we are excited to build on the momentum of our recent achievements and continue to provide our students with the best possible education. Please take a moment to see our newly updated fundraising page and all the ways we hope to grow from here!

A big congratulations to one of our new team members, Ms. Tricia! She has joined Island Montessori as our Middle School EC teacher and has just hit the ground running for her students! Ms. Tricia wrote a donor's choose to support her classroom with new laptops and adaptive seating. She was fully funded! We are excited for her and her students! Congratulations and a big thank you to Ms. Tricia

We are excited to share that we will be starting basketball this year! While all the details are being finalized, we will be offering a boys and girls basketball team for students in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. We are so grateful for the schools around our community that are willing to let us play them this season. We would not be able to do this without the partnership of the Carolina Rec Center and their help to be our "home" court.

Families of students in 6th - 8th grade, please be on the look out for an interest survey to be sent home the first week of October. Try-outs and a practice schedule will be sent after the interest survey is complete.

If you are interested in sponsoring or helping support our new teams, please reach out to Ms. Izzy or myself!

The team will need:

-equipment: balls, cones, pinies, rack for the basketballs, pump, traveling totes

-uniforms: home and away uniforms

-coaches support

Please take some time to explore our website's strategic plan page. There is a short graphic explaining our overall pillars of the plan. If you click the image, it will take you to the pdf of our plan. This will support our vision and growth for the next 5 years! We have a lot to be proud of over the last 10 years but so much more we hope to achieve!

I will be sending out a save the date and rsvp about a parent session Q&A around our strategic plan. Be on the lookout for more information coming soon.