Wednesday Weekly - September 21, 2016

W E D N E S D A Y W E E K L Y

September 21, 2016

In this Issue

News & Notes
Today's Learners

Tomorrow's Leaders

Upcoming Events

All September

After-School Read Alouds

3:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays this September

View this week's schedule

September 21

Whole Foods 5% Day

All day at Whole Foods Glen Mills

September 26

Emergency Alert System Test

6 p.m.
Learn More

October 1

Green Apple Day of Service
10 a.m. to noon
Assist with a variety of tasks around our school and campus to earn Co-op hours. Contact co-op@wmsde.org to learn more.

WMS Homecoming

1-4 p.m. on the soccer field (or in the gym in case of inclement weather)
All curent and past families are welcome!
Please RSVP!
Learn More

October 4 & 5

School Photos
Schedule TBA
Learn More

October 6

MTAD Parent Workshop

"Montessori Education: A Logical Intervention for ALL Children"

7 p.m. at WMS

Learn More

Full Calendar

Wilmington Montessori School Peace Day 2016

Peace Throughout the World

Message from

Head of School Lisa A. Lalama


	Read more from Lisa on the Montessori Message blog.

As a young child with two active siblings, my mother would often beg for peace. She could be heard asking us for "just a minute of peace and quiet." We would stop what we were doing for just a moment... and promptly continue on with our activities. Peace. We want it in our homes, our personal lives, our community and throughout the world. It is an ever-present, yet sometimes elusive goal.

Today, and each year on September 21, the International Day of Peace is observed around the world. Established by the United Nations in 1981, the International Day of Peace is devoted to "commemorating and strengthening the ideas of peace both within and among all nations and peoples." At WMS, we have our first school-wide assembly on Peace Day each year. This year, we joined more than 135,000 children from schools around the world to sing "Light a Candle for Peace" for a collective total of 24 hours.

As our students, small and tall, gathered around the WMS peace pole, we paused for a moment of peace and quiet to reflect, sing a song of peace and wish all people throughout our world everlasting peace.

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Last call for After-School Specials!

The following classes still have openings:

Hip-Hop Dance

Yoga

Tumbling

Science Explorers: Roc Docs

Soccer Shots

Visit www.wmsde.org/afterschoolspecials to sign up today!

News & Notes

Emergency Communication System Test - Monday, September 26 at 6 p.m.

WMS will test its emergency communication system on Monday, September 26 at 6 p.m. Our mass notification system is used to alert parents and staff of weather-related school closings or delays or other emergencies that require action from parents. The system does this through mass phone calls, emails and text messages. The notifications you receive will be based on your selections when you filled out your Emergency Alert Preferences in the Magnus Health System.

Please take note of whether you received test messages at all of your preferred email addresses and phone numbers. If you do not receive these notifications, please email alert@wmsde.org or contact Heather Russell at 302-475-0555.

Classroom teachers will share the specific photo day schedules for each room.

Volunteers Needed for Photo Days

Please contact co-op@wmsde.org for more information.

Play & Learn at the Rachel Kohl Library

WMS has partnered with the Rachel Kohl Library in Glen Mills to offer Montessori "Play and Learn" to the community.

Led by Director of Early Childhood Education Sarah Williams and Director of Admissions Tiffany Harrison, the free monthly class reinforces the learning partnership between parents and their young children. Parents and children learn about WMS and the Montessori Method in a comfortable, classroom-like environment with activities including Morning Meeting, songs, movement and work time with Montessori materials.

Please tell a friend to join us for our next class tomorrow (September 22) starting at 10:30 or 11:15 a.m.!

The Montessori Teachers Association of Delaware (MTAD) Presents:

Jennifer Aiken Fulton, DSW, LCSW

Montessori Education:

A Logical Intervention for ALL Children

Parenting children with unique needs can be a challenge. Parenting children in a world with greater demands can be exhausting. Parenting children with increasingly available technological distractions can be confusing. Come see why a Montessori education helps all children to learn and minimizes the negative impact of so many issues that parents today are facing!

Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 7 p.m.

Wilmington Montessori School

1400 Harvey Road, Wilmington, DE 19810

Contact the Front Desk to reserve a spot.

About the Speaker: Dr. Jennifer Aiken Fulton, a Montessori teacher with 18 years of experience at Wilmington Montessori School, made a career change to practicing school social work in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Jennifer recently tied together her two interests in her doctoral dissertation "Evidence Based Social Skills Interventions for Young Children with Asperger's Syndrome and the Montessori Educational Method: An Integrative Review," which awarded her a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice.

#WMSBacktoSchool Photo Challenge

Thank you to all of the families who participated in our #WMSBacktoSchool photo challenge! Out of all of the participants, three prize winners were randomly selected to win a limited edition WMS water bottle. Our #WMSBacktoSchool prize winners are the Latina/Saarloos family, the Dulin family and the Pachowka family. Please see Noel Dietrich, Director of Communication, to receive your prize!

Stay tuned for our next photo challenge and check out a sampling of the photos we received below.

Tomorrow's Leaders

Did you know that WMS has an Alumni Committee? This committee is a group of dedicated parents and former students who have had some or all of their children graduate from WMS or have graduated themselves and still want to stay connected. They help in planning and running our Homecoming event (more on this below!) and keep alumni and families connected to WMS after they leave.

One of the committee members, Leslie Bastianelli, has shared with us below why her family chose WMS and why they continue to be involved.

Alumni Parent Leslie Bastianelli Shares How WMS Impacted Her Family

We have two children who both attended Wilmington Montessori School through sixth grade. Luke, now 17, began as a 3-year-old in the Primary Program, and Evan, now 14, began as a 2-year-old in the Toddler Program. After graduating, both boys attended public school - Luke went on to attend the IB program at Mount Pleasant High School, where he is now a senior, and Evan is currently a freshman at Cab Calloway School of the Arts.

When I began looking for a preschool for Luke, I had heard of WMS but knew little to nothing about the school or the Montessori Method itself. I had a friend whose children attended, and she filled me in on the basics. After a school visit, I was sold. What first drew me to the school was the whole child concept and how each child was recognized for his or her individual self. The Practical Life aspects of learning, the close community feel and the physical campus of the school itself were also key factors in our decision. I was also very taken with the Montessori Materials (especially math) and how they are used to provide a concrete and physical basis for abstract concepts.

Once we were in the program, the strength of the teaching staff really blew me away. Both of my children are very different in learning style and temperament. The teachers at WMS had an amazing ability to quickly learn who my kids were and then meet them there. When there were bumps in the road, whether they were behavioral or academic, the teachers and staff were willing to try different ways to solve the problem and always give the kids a "fresh start" after a difficulty. WMS taught my kids how to think for themselves and gave them the gift of adaptability and the confidence to make choices for themselves. As middle-schoolers, both of my children were able to transition easily to the public school environment, both academically and socially.

One of the surprises that we found at WMS was the incredible community of parents and staff that has given us so much support and friendship to this day. Going through all of the challenges of parenthood was, and still is, so much easier with the help of the other parents I first met at WMS. I also find that my kids seem to have that same level of comfort with the peers and adults that they met in those younger years. Because the kids and parents all kind of grow up together, the bonds formed are particularly strong. WMS has made a positive and lasting impact on my kids and me in so many ways.

Homecoming 2016

Join our alumni, alumni parents, current parents, students, staff and other friends for our Homecoming celebration on October 1 from 1-4 p.m. Please RSVP at www.wmsde.org/homecoming. To see who else is coming and receive event updates, visit our official Facebook event page .

For more information about Homecoming, or to join the Alumni Committee, email alumni@wmsde.org .

The Wednesday Weekly shares WMS news and events that are relevant to the families in our community.

Please send submissions to wednesday-weekly@wmsde.org by 4:30 p.m. on the Friday prior to the issue in which you wish to include your information. Content may be edited for length and style and may be held for a future issue due to space constraints.

For more information, contact Noel Dietrich, Director of Communications.