March Newsletter
"Growth is not merely a harmonious increase in size, but a transformation."
-- Dr. Maria Montessori
Featured Staff Member Of the Month
Who is this special person and why is her role so important?
Meet out Staff Support Manager, Rocio Lopez-Cortez!
"After five years of being at Athena I am thrilled and excited to be joining the admin team! I am grateful for how far along I’ve come throughout my time at Athena. I started as a Support Guide in our After School Program, then moved to the role of Assistant Guide; I most recently held the position of Interim Lead Guide in P1 while Ms.Tess was on maternity leave; and now have been promoted to Staff Support Manager as a member of the admin team! In this new role I will be supporting our Education Director team by helping our guides and our children when they need extra support, in all of our classrooms and in our After School Program."
If you would like to learn more about Rocio, please visit her BIO on our website.
Athena Montessori Celebrate's Women
March is Women’s History Month. At Athena we are celebrating all month long by weaving a focus on women and women’s accomplishments the world over. We will listen to female-made music, we will read women authors, we will art made by women. We will talk about justice and what is fair and unfair.
At the Primary level, we are inviting women from our community to come into their child’s classroom and share with their child’s class any facets of their identity they wish to share.
Below you will find an excerpt from the website GoodGoodGood. They published an excellent article yesterday (2/28/23) entitled “ 36 Activities to Celebrate Women's History Month .” It is chock full of excellent resources and we urge you to check it out!
What is the theme for Women’s History Month 2023?
In 2023, the theme of Women’s History Month is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.” This theme, designated by the National Women’s History Alliance, will recognize women of past and present who have been active in all types of media and storytelling.
Throughout history, women have been erased and excluded, and women of color, transgender women, and queer women have been subjected to even more harmful oppression than their white, cisgender sisters. To truly embrace and understand the value of Women’s History Month, we must approach our celebrations with intersectionality and intention.
With that in mind, Women’s History Month is both a time to confront the ongoing injustices that plague women around the world — and an invitation to celebrate and rejoice in our shared humanity as women.
Books are a powerful tool for sharing timeless messages with our children. Please click on the links below to see some of our favorite Women's History Month Booklists:
25 Children's Books for Women's History Month
17 Books to Read to Your Kids in Honor of Women's History Month
RSVP for CASINO NIGHT
Saturday, April 8
6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Click the invitation below to RSVP to Athena Montessori Academy's Annual Fundraiser!
This year’s fundraising proceeds go towards campus safety and security.
Want to help make the event a success?
Use the link below to access the Donation Form to donate an item or service to the
SILENT AUCTION!
Stay tuned for a Signup Genius to volunteer to help at the event.
We are so excited to bring this event back to our community! We hope to see you there in your best DISCO COWBOY!
ADMISSIONS AND ENROLLMENT
Current Athena Families:
Re-enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is complete. Families with an extension on their child's re-enrollment have until March 31, 2023 to let Joy know their plans for next school year.
Tots enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is complete, and Primary enrollment is well underway! If you know any families with a child that will be between the ages of three and five in August and that are looking for a school, please encourage them to check out Athena, or connect them directly with Joy. We will be offering Primary spots as they become available over the next few months.
Waiting Pool Families:
Spring Enrollment: Spring enrollment is complete. Should we have any unexpected openings, we will be reaching out to individual families as we learn of them. As a reminder, siblings of current students are given priority for enrollment, followed by the general waiting pool.
2023-2024 Enrollment: Tots enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year is complete, and Primary enrollment is well underway! If you have a child that will be between the ages of three and five in August and you are interested in enrollment at Athena, please reach out to our Admissions Director at Admissions@AthenaMontessoriAcademy.com. Otherwise, if you have an eligible child and are in our waiting pool, you can expect to hear from our Admissions Director by the end of March if we are able to offer you a spot.
Our continued goal in the admissions process is to be as transparent as possible, and we strive to give you the most accurate information we can during each step of the deliberate process of enrollment. We respect that decisions related to your child's education are important and timely ones, and we will continue to send you general enrollment updates via this monthly newsletter. Thank you for your continued interest, and we encourage you to reach out with specific questions related to your child's enrollment at any time.
Please direct admissions & enrollment questions to our Admissions Director, Joy Jacobson. You can email her directly at Admissions@AthenaMontessoriAcademy.com.
LEAVE YOUR MARK AT ATHENA!
Purchase a custom brick for the Athena pathway in front of the breezeway!
Bricks are custom-made and may include a special tribute to your child's guides, your child's name and/or signature, or your family's name! Need inspiration? Visit our brick path today.
If you are interested, please stop by the office to fill out the order form OR click to download it HERE.
Bricks are $100 each
Deadline to Purchase: March 22, 2023
IMPORTANT DATES
Wednesday March 1st
-First day of Women's History
Tuesday March 2nd
-Purim
Wednesday March 8th
-Holi
March 13th - March 17th
-Spring Break (Student/StaffHoliday)
Friday March 17th
- St. Patrick's Day
Monday March 20th
-First day of Spring
Tuesday March 21st
-Nowruz
Wednesday March 22nd
-Gudi Padwa
-Ugadi
Thursday Match 23rd
-Beginning of Ramadan
Friday March 31st
-Cesar Chavez Day ( Student/Staff Holiday)
Spring Break!
Check out our vetted partners who are offering Spring Break camps!
MARCH BIRTHDAYS!
STUDENTS:
Neko C. 3/1
Iliana B. 3/2
Griffin F. 3/2
Magnolia S. 3/3
Solomon P. 3/6
Gray C. 3/8
Colton M. 3/9
Niam C. 3/20
Everett B. 3/20
Magdalena L. 3/21
Sloan T. 3/22
Lucia V. 3/24
Hollan C. 3/24
Raghubir M. 3/25
STAFF:
Olivia L. 3/22
Keisha S. 3/26
FIRE DRILLS AT ATHENA!
Do you know that we conduct monthly safety drills with our staff and students?
We practice fire drills monthly, and severe weather and lock-down drills quarterly. We have carefully curated our drills to be fun and age appropriate, while still providing practice for our team for how to handle various unexpected events on campus.
If you are ever on campus during a drill, just stay where you are, and don’t try to drop off or pick up your child at that time. (We do not schedule drills during regular drop-off or pick-up windows.)
The children do a wonderful job with the drills! Ask your child to teach you our fire drill song sometime!
Sharp'n Austin Day
We have a very exciting announcement – as some of you may remember, Leif Rasmussen, an Athena alum and local college student hosted his knife-sharpening services for our community a little while ago. By popular demand, he’s offered to host another knife-sharpening party later this March, so if you have any knives or tools that need to be sharpened, be sure to make use of his services. We will send another announcement with more details regarding the event later, but you can reach him through his website (sharpnaustin.com) or email (leif@sharpnaustin) for any questions you have.
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