Montessori Academy at Belmont Greene

20300 Bowfonds Street Ashburn, VA 20147 (703) 729-7200 mabmontessori.com

September 6, 2013 Dear Parents, Welcome to another great school year at MAB. This is actually the start of our 14th year of operation! We have come so far in that time and we couldnt have done it without your support. On behalf of the faculty and the entire Theriot family, I would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to you all for choosing MAB. Last years addition of Facebook classroom groups has changed the way we are able to communicate with parents. As a result, your experience is a much more interactive one because through these pages, youll receive frequent updates, pictures, notes and other correspondence from your childs teacher. They are literal windows into your childs day. We also plan to use the school Facebook page more this year to communicate school-wide information. If you havent liked the page yet, please visit it HERE and like us! Well still continue to send out school correspondence via email, so if youre hesitant about Facebook, youll still be in the know when it comes to events etc. Also, our website www.mabmontessori.com is a great source for information on child development, parenting, Montessori, academics and, well, just about everything you could want to know abouteverything. Our faculty even writes posts to the schools blog in The Cubby. This is a long way of saying that our monthly newsletter is going to change a bit. Well include important dates, time sensitive information, changes or updates to school policy and a few other items, but we encourage all parents to rely on the website and Facebook pages as much as possible. Daily Arrival and Dismissal Carpool arrival and dismissal have been going very smoothly even though we are only days into the school year. Thank you all for your cooperation. Here are a few points about the carpool line to remember: Timely arrival is important for your childs success in the Montessori environment. For many children, the entire day hinges upon the transition to and from school. Morning arrival begins at 8:25 and the front doors will be locked by 8:50 (well keep the doors open a little longer for the first

week or so until everyone gets into the routine). Parents arriving after this time should park and bring their child to the front office to be escorted back to the classroom by a faculty member. Parents coming from Belmont Ridge to Portsmouth Boulevard should continue past Winkle and turn right onto Brookton Way. Then turn Right onto Bowfonds Street. Parents coming from Claiborne to Portsmouth Boulevard should turn left onto Chesterton Street and then right onto Bowfonds Street. It is not necessary to unbuckle your child before the faculty member opens the car door. We can do that. However, please place your childs car seat on the passenger side of the vehicle. Parents should remain in the vehicle at all times. While children are loading and unloading into and out of vehicles, please remain in line. Do not drive around the car in front of you as this creates a potentially dangerous situation for the children and faculty. If you have business to attend to in the front office in the morning, please drop your child off using the carpool arrival line first, then park your vehicle and walk into the building. Daily dismissal occurs on the following schedule: Half day students 11:45-12:00 Full Day Students Primary/Kindergarten Early Montessori/Elementary 3:00-3:15 3:15-3:30

Please be sure to display your childs carpool nametag in your windshield so that teachers can see it as soon as you approach the building. This will facilitate a quick and efficient dismissal for all students. Dates to remember Back-to-School Family Picnic 11:00-1:00 Sunday, September 15th (Pot-luck bring a dish to share) Back-to-School Night and First FAN meeting Wednesday, September 25th 6:30 (FAN meeting starts at 7:45. FAN (Family Activities Network) The FAN is ramping up for a school year packed with FANtastic family events. Youll be seeing a monthly calendar shortly. Members will also receive the FAN newsletter which will have all sorts of useful information pertaining to the school and even updates on some of the work our children will be doing this year. Have you joined yet? The FAN relies entirely upon membership fees and donations for funding. Please visit the FAN page on our website and join. The membership fee can be paid through PayPal (Once you register, you will need to re-visit the page to connect to the PayPal site). In addition to supporting the school and MAB families, the FAN is a great way to meet other parents. We thank you in advance for your participation.

Montessori Madmen Even though Montessori has been around for more than 100 years, in the general public, not a whole lot is known or understood about this amazing pedagogy. In truth, many of the parents who send their children to the more than 5,000 Montessori schools in the U.S., hold only a basic understanding of the program. Theres a group of dads out there (Im one of them) called the Montessori Madmen who feel that there is really no excuse for this. I know it sounds like some kind of extremist group, but we are actually a great group of dads who spend all our free time (well, some of it) advocating for children and the spread of the Montessori way. We try all sorts of different things, sometimes throwing what we can against the wall and hoping to see what sticks. Every now and then, we get one right: Take a look at this quick video, created by Madman Trevor Eissler. There is no better place to start your journey through Montessori than right here, in your childs classroom. So we encourage parents to schedule observations beginning in October. In the meantime, t the Madmen website offers a huge list of resources that will help you learn more about Montessori, your child and yourself. As always, we want to hear from you, so join the Madmen website. Like us on Facebook. Email, post, visit, call. Speak up! Bart