October 26 FYI

Washington Montessori
Parent’s FYI
October 26, 2009

We must support as much as possible the child’s desires for activity; not wait on him, but educate him to be independent.
-Maria Montessori

Washington Montessori is committed to the development of the whole child, enabling him to draw upon all his gifts and reach his greatest potential. We encourage personal responsibility both socially and academically. Each child is allowed freedom of choice and is offered guidance in setting individual goals. Our mission is to inspire academic excellence; to nurture curiosity, creativity, and imagination; and to do so within an environment rich with warmth, kindness and respect.

Parent Conferences
Can you believe the first quarter of the year has almost past? The parent conference schedule is going home with the FYI today or is a separate attachment if you get this by email. If you can not make it at the time scheduled for you please contact your child’s teacher to reschedule.

½ Day Dismissal Schedule
Monday, Nov 2nd and Wed., Nov 25th will be a half day. Dismissal will be as follows…
Kindergarten/Pre-K 11:30am
1st - 8th grade 12:00noon
**There will NOT be any BASC provided on the 25th. This will be the start of our Thanksgiving holiday for the WMPCS staff too!

NC History Dinner Theatre
You are invited to a dinner theatre at the old West Campus (500 Avon Ave). All of our 6th graders are performing plays. Ms. Bosso’s class is doing the “Trail of Tears”. Mrs. Prescott’s class is doing “Orville & Wilbur Wright”. Mrs. Wilfong’s class is doing “Civil Rights and the Greensboro Sit-in”. Join us for the fun!
What: NC History Dinner Theater starring our 9- 12 students
Where: Great Room of the old campus (500 Avon Ave. call the office if you need directions)
When: Thursday, October 29, 2009, 6-8pm
Cost: $7.00 per person with a $25.00 per family max ($3.00 per student actor/actress)
From 6-6:45pm, an Early American dinner will be served. The menu is as follows…
Chicken Noodle, Minestrone, and Vegetable Beef soups served with bread, pies for dessert with sweet tea, unsweetened tea, and water.

Upcoming Events:
**All meetings held in the Community Room (classroom #314) unless specified otherwise
 Wed Oct 28th Spaghetti Hot Lunch
 Thursday Oct 29th 9-12 Dinner Theatre
 Friday, Oct 30th Teacher Workday
 Monday, Nov 2nd ½ day to start Parent Conferences see dismissal schedule on the left.
 Mon. Nov 2nd- Fri., Nov. 6th Parent Conferences will be held all week.
 Wed., Nov 11th Veteran’s Day Holiday No School
 Thursday, Nov 12th 3:30pm Community Meeting
 Thursday, Nov19th 7pm BoT Meeting.
 Tues. Nov 24th 3-6 level cooks Pilgrim’s Stew and 6-9 level delivers pies to senior housing development
 Wed. Nov 25th ½ day to begin Thanksgiving Holiday
 Thurs and Friday Nov 27th and 28th Thanksgiving Holiday No School

Sibling Applications
Parents of currently-enrolled students with younger brothers and sisters that will turn 5 years old by August 31, 2010 need to complete and return an application for these younger siblings to reserve their slots in the upcoming 2010-11 Kindergarten class. Due to NC state regulations we will only be holding a lottery for the upcoming Kindergarten year this year. If you have any questions please call Sharon Main at 946-1977.

Picture Proofs
Grades K-7th needs to return their picture orders to the school today, Monday, October 26th
All orders placed after the deadline will need to be taken to Gregg Ward Studios and will have an additional processing fee of $20.
** 8th graders will be receiving picture proofs as soon as we get them. Sorry for the delay.

Open House
For many prospective parents, Open House is their first exposure to our school. After a brief overview, there is a time for questions and then our classrooms are open and our teachers are available to share with parents the difference a Montessori education can make in the life of a child. We recognize and value the commitment of time and effort of these parents to learn about our school and the Montessori Philosophy to make an educated decision. If you have recommended our school to someone you know, please encourage them to attend

Open House
Tuesday, November 10th at 7:00pm.
Childcare will be provided.
You can assure them it will be time well spent!

Stockings for Our Troops
Every year our school participates in a giving project for the Holidays. We rotate through a three year cycle where we address the needs of people locally, nationally and then globally. This year we are reaching out nationally with the Stockings for Our Troops program. Our school will be assigned a Troop that is deployed. This is usually 127 soldiers. Each class will be assembling 12 stockings. A list of items to be donated to make our project a success is as follows...
 Standard size Christmas stockings
 Zipper lock sandwich bags
 Individual packets of peanuts, trail mix, sunflowerseeds, hard candy and hot chocolate (no chocolate candy please)
 CD’s and DVD’s
 Word puzzlebooks
 Note Cards
 Socks
 Deck of Cards
 Travel size toiletries:
 Soap
 Hand sanitizer
 Toothpaste
 Toothbrush
 Deodorant
 Mouthwash
 Handheld video games
**Monetary donations can be given to help cover the cost of shipping.**
The children will decorate the stockings and fill them. The stockings will need to be completed by Nov. 20th in order for the troops to get them by Christmas.

Put Names in Coats & Lost and Found
As the weather gets cooler take a moment to make sure that your child’s coats and sweaters have his/her name written on the inside. Especially uniform hoodies that can all look the same.

Lost and Found Items Include:
 A pair of dangling wooden earrings that were found left on the deck of Bldg #1
 One silver, dangling butterfly earring
 A pair of adult eye glasses found along the side of the entrance driveway.
 A purple change purse.
All items are in the office. Please see Sharon Main to claim.

T-Shirts for Sale
The remaining spirit tees from the beginning of the year are now on sale for $10 each. We do have adult sizes. Currently there are Adult L and XL and Youth S available.


Bus Drivers Needed

Do you have a CDL Bus Driver endorsement on your driver’s license? WMPCS has a bus that belongs to our Middle School but is also available for some field trips for the other grade levels if there is someone to be bus driver. Let the office know if you hold this endorsement and are willing to drive for field trips. We will need to gather some information to add you to our approved driver’s list and you will be ready to roll!!

Photo Gallery
Visit our Website at:
http://www.wmpcs.org/
to view some photos from Donuts for Dads and from the
Grand Opening Ceremony. As always, we do not list the names of the children on the internet.