Montessori Buzz – April 14, 2020
A message from Tina Sartori, our Executive Director
Dear MA Parents,
I hope this holiday weekend offered you moments of connection to family members in ways that were still meaningful (although done at a distance) and you found ways to maintain traditions that brought your family much needed joy. I am sure eggs were still found, chocolate was devoured, food was prepared, and blessings were shared among many.
We were able to get all of the refund cheques out in the mail early Thursday morning, so they should arrive to you by the end of this week, barring any disruption of service through Canada Post. If you haven’t yet, you may also want to check out Get Support For Families, where parents can receive $200 per child (ages 0 to 12) to offset the cost of buying materials to support your child’s learning while schools are closed.
We also became aware late Friday, April 10, of the memo delivered by Shannon Fuller, Assistant Deputy Minister Early Years and Child Care Division, regarding the regulatory order to refund fees by daycare centres. The Canadian Council of Montessori Administrators (CCMA), of which I am a Board member, immediately reached out to Ms. Fuller through our Ministry Liaison, to seek further clarification on this regulatory order, due to its ambiguity and lack of clarity. CCMA has sent a detailed communication to Ms. Fuller, and we are awaiting a response in the coming days.
We appreciate your patience while we wait for additional information and whether independent schools that charge tuition for education fall under this regulatory order, or if we are able to continue to manage our school finances and programming accordingly. As noted in the refund structure we put into place for April, we did take into consideration the inability to provide care for our youngest students, however we are providing programming that includes learning opportunities, connection and support for them and their parents. Families who could be impacted by this order are the same families who received funds from the City of London, for the Family Savings Initiative earlier this year; essentially our Toddler and first-year Casa students.
- “To achieve the formidably difficult goal—the universal cooperation required of humanity for continued progress—humankind must organize. It is urgently necessary for all humanity to participate and to remedy a defect that endangers the very existence of civilization. This is the task of education.”
Dr. Maria Montessori wrote this in Education and Peace during a time of war, yet seems strikingly appropriate for what we find ourselves dealing with today.
Be well,
Tina Sartori, Executive Director
Your donations to CHF!
Last week, Ann took some time to organize the donations raised through Jersey Day/ Beach Day before the March Break. Last Wednesday she visited the Children’s Health Foundation to drop off the money. Final tally to come!
Thank you again to all the families who donated spare change in support of this annual Charitable Giving initiative.
#MAofLondonAtHome
Thank you to all of the families who are capturing the learning taking place in their homes over the past few weeks. We’ll continue to share them through our social media feeds and in the Buzz.
Here are just a few highlights of the various lessons….
- For Gretta’s Year 3 Sumerian study, she wrote her name on a clay tablet using cuneiform writing.
- Hailey’s Year 2 Egypt study project was a pyramid built with lego bricks.
- Hadden’s Year 1 study of the parts of the bird included some gorgeous cursive writing
In Upper El, Tesneem created a board displaying the Canadian advent of insulin, along with a model of how sugar enters the cell! Sugar is trapped in the blood and can only enter the cell when the ’door’ is unlocked; the key represents insulin that opens the door!
Parent Resources
Math work resource from Calvin’s mom
Calvin’s been doing some mixed fraction work using a fraction set they printed out. Here’s a template: https://www.worksheetfun.com/2013/03/04/1602/
Tip: They made 1/20th pieces by cutting the 1/10th pieces in half. (Thanks, Valerie!)
Montessori Minute: Math Facts
Card games are a great way to practice math facts with your child. Even 3-year-olds love the game, WAR. Get them hooked on math the fun way–using card games! Check out the Montessori Minute video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvjE9-QaMNM
Here’s a link to several different ways to promote math with cards: https://www.weareteachers.com/math-card-games/
Western Ed students offer tutoring support
Elementary and secondary school students who need help with their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic can get it from the Faculty of Education.
The Teacher Education Office has set up virtual tutoring where students are matched with teacher candidates. Learn more here: https://www.edu.uwo.ca/news-events/2020/virtual-tutoring.html (Thanks for the heads-up, Laura!)