From the Principal…
I would like to thank everyone involved for our wildly successful Open Day on May 15th. Thirty five new families toured our school led by our teachers and welcomed by a number of friendly parent volunteers. It was one of the many occasions over the past 5 months where I was proud of the support from our families. There are other opportunities in term 2 for parents to get involved at CMS, we have a Parent Evening on June 3rd at 7 p.m. where we are going to explore both Parent Toddler and Cycle 3; we are hoping that the similarities of both transitional periods will be of interest to families. Also, on June 26th we are expecting a big turnout for our trivia night (I will handle all ice hockey questions that may come up that evening!). Learnscapes is another great way to get connected with our school, as you can see from the incredible work that has been done around our new addition they are a dedicated group, always looking for more hands willing to make a difference at our school.
Term 2 also brings a Pupil free day on Friday June 11th and CMS is sending a large delegation to the Montessori Australia Foundation’s annual whole school refresher. I attended the refresher in Sydney last year and it was there that I first learned about the Canberra Montessori School. We thank parents for indulging us with the day to convene with our fellow Montessorians, and I appreciate the many staff members giving up their entire long weekend to pursue further studies.
As always, I hope this message finds you in good spirits and enjoying these busy days with your young family.
Peace
Jack Rice
Principal, CMS
Upcoming Dates
TERM 2 2010
May 24-28 Open Sessions
May 27 NEW Fundraising Committee meeting
Jun 2 NEW Learnscapes Committee meeting
Jun 3 Parent Education Evening 7pm
Jun 11 Pupil Free Day – Montessori Conference
Jun 14 Public Holiday – Queen’s Birthday
Jun 16 NEW Fundraising Committee meeting
Jun 26 NEW Trivia Night
Jun 29 NEW Healthy Bones Breakfast
Jun 30 Canteen Day
July 2 Last day of Term 2
Please check the Bulletin regularly for changes to published events.
Term Dates for 2010
Term 1: 3 February – 9 April
Term 2: 27 April – 2 July
Term 3: 20 July – 24 September
Term 4: 12 October – 15 December
Thanks from Fundraising Committee
The following organisations have generously donated to our school for this year's fundraising effort:
Jamison Travel - Macquarie
The Brumbies - Griffith
Active Leisure Centre - Wanniassa
Club Lime (CISAC) - Belconnen
Club MMM (CISAC) - Belconnen
Federal Golf Course - Red Hill
Edge Health Club - Weston
Kings Swim School - Macgregor
Canberra Southern Cross Club - Woden
Hellenic Club - Woden
Lookout Cafe - Red Hill
Please offer these organisations your support if you are able.
Thank you from the Fundraising and Social Committee 2010
Parent Evening #2
The CMS Journey from Parent Toddler to Cycle 3
Thursday June 3rd
7 p.m. start
Maria Montessori observed four planes of development in an individual’s life. At our Parent evening we will investigate two such periods - infancy which can be demonstrated in our Parent Toddler program, and the later stages of childhood as witnessed in our Cycle 3 classrooms. The characteristics between the age groups may not be as dissimilar as one would imagine.
This presentation should be particularly relevant to new families entering the school wondering where it is all headed and parents of Cycle 3 children interested in how the Montessori classroom continues to meet the needs of the child soon to be entering adolescence.
We will gather in the Jacaranda building prior to 7 p.m. and then move to the Parent Toddler room for our first presentation before finishing the evening in the Karri classroom. Our first Parent Education evening was lots of fun and we hope you can support our event next Thursday.
Dryandra News
Dryandra is learning about ‘eating well’ in the first month of this term (May). We are learning the nutrition values of different kinds of food. Tasks are designed to improve mathematical and language skills using ‘eating well’ as a topic. There are some art and craft activities too. For the extended day children, we are also having a couple of cooking projects. Many thanks to Anna Lehrbaum who cooked pizza with the children last week and also brought along all the ingredients.
Understanding Your Child’s Artwork
A visitor gushed over my four-year-old daughter's new and quite abstract painting on our refrigerator. "Oh, what a beautiful painting. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
I was pleased that my daughter had remembered to say, "Thank you" to a compliment. I thought she would also enjoy the "non-mom" appreciation. After our visitor was gone, my daughter turned to me and said, "That lady sure doesn't know anything about art. I guess she's never been to a museum. It's not the most beautiful picture in the world. It's just a picture I did about trains."
That's the day I learned that a four-year-old can spot a phony compliment. It's also the day that I discovered that blobs and scribbles may actually contain an important story.
"So your picture is about trains. Tell me about it," I ventured. I had been amazed that the picture was about anything. It resembled the dropcloth of a messy house painter.
"This is the train we saw with all the circus animals on it. Here is the yellow engine, and here is the green caboose."
At least six weeks before we had stopped to watch the Ringling Brothers train roll through town. The train had a yellow Santa Fe engine and green Burlington Northern caboose. I hadn't realized she remembered any of it.
"What's the blue here?" I ventured.
"That's the car with the elephants."
On and on she went about the day we saw the circus train. I was delighted by the detail she remembered and had expressed in her painting. I thought of her other "artwork" I had thrown away. So many stories I tossed out because I didn't ask a few questions. I just didn't know.
This incident with my daughter taught me to ask open-ended questions about artwork. Instead of some "Oh, how nice!" compliment, I've learned to approach children's artwork with phrases such as: "Tell me about your picture. What is this red? Tell me about the yellow. What is the blue about?" I also include the famous five questions of who, what, when, where and why. Who was there? What did they do? When did this happen? Where did this happen? Why were you there? These questions have helped me understand the story inside a picture.
With these few questions, I hope you'll discover something new about your child. Splotches of colour on a piece of brown craft paper let me experience something that was important to my daughter. With her drawing, she was able to share with me a memory of an important event in her life. Her refrigerator artwork became one of the most beautiful pictures I had ever seen, because I took the time to try to understand the artist.
- Maren Schmidt (founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland)