News Archive

Montessori Buzz – Oct. 22, 2019

Dear MA Families & Friends,    

Reminder: Friday is a PD Day

There is no school for the students on Friday.  

Photo Retakes: contact the Front Desk

If you wish for your child/ren to have their photos retaken, please contact Tameka at 519-433-9121 or email reception@montessori.on.ca to let her know. 

Artisan Bazaar – Winter Edition

Please join us on Saturday, November 23 from 10 am – 2 pm for a winter holiday inspired Artisan Bazaar!Welcome vendors such as: 

  • Anke Healing
  • Ruckus Sauce
  • Maple Shamrock
  • Little Spark Company
  • Sweet Brigadeiros
  • Century Chocolates
  • Happy Bees Honey
  • Chalk Coutore
  • Imperfectknits
  • ..and more!

Our Junior High students will be in the Music Room with their very own creations!  Visit our Media Swap in the downstairs community room for a blast from the past, and to unload your own collection.  Out front in the JH parking lot, Rosie’s Streetery will be serving up coffee, tacos, fries and other delicious treats! A $2 or pay-what-you-can donation at the door goes to support Montessori Academy’s annual fundraising efforts. 

Halloween Boo-wling is this Friday!

We still have space available for our spooky outing to Palasad South!  Sign-up by noon tomorrow, October 23, to get in on the fun! Register today online at:  

  • Friday, October 25 at 5:30 – 8:00 pm
  • Palasad South – 141 Pine Valley Blvd.
  • Bowling + pizza – $20 per person
  • Laser tag add-on – $10 per person
  • Social + pizza (no games) – $10 per person

This event is open to all Montessori Academy families and friends.  All proceeds will support fundraising for our special projects. 

The Buzz: Slightly different look, same great content

As part of the upgrades to Blackbaud, we can now create the Buzz, our parent eNewsletter, in the system. 
Why does this matter? Now, when you update your email address in your Contact Card through the MA Parent Portal, the Buzz list will be updated within 24 hours. (Caveat: If you update your information on a Tuesday morning, it may not be ready for the Buzz that afternoon.)
To ensure your Buzzes avoid Junk or spam mailboxes, please add montessori@myschoolemails.com to your safe sender list/contacts, etc.

What’s next: testing urgent messages via email and SMS/text

On Thursday, Oct. 31, we will test the new urgent messaging system with all MA families. You will receive an email message and a SMS/text message to the mobile phone numbers in your Contact Card through Blackbaud Partner BrightArrow.  This will be how we communicate time-sensitive messages moving forward, such as Snow Days/school closures, changes to events/field trips, bus delays, etc. We don’t expect to use this often, but we look forward to being able to reach parents quicker and easier through the two different modes. 
No action is required once you receive the urgent messaging test on Thursday, Oct. 31.  

Phys Ed. update

Cross-countryThe students did an amazing job representing themselves and the school last week at Springbank Park. A cross-country meet was quickly put together with four other schools in an effort to recognize all the hard work these young athletes have put in this year. This event enabled our students to achieve personal bests along with some top ten placings. Thank you, parents, for coming out and cheering on our runners!  Year 3 swimming lessonsSwim to Survive wraps up this Thursday for the Year 3 students. The three-week program at the YMCA Centre Branch location has led to greater confidence for many of our swimmers. Certificates will be sent home next week.
Gymnastics The Year 1 and 2 students will go on a field trip next Wednesday, October 23, from 12:30-2pm. A note will be sent home this week with further details.
VolleyballSenior volleyball continues this week with games at St Mark on Wednesday for the boys and Thursday for the girls.  The girls also have a tournament this Friday and Saturday at St Catherine of Siena. The schedule has been sent home with the players. 

Learn Your Level RSVP by Thursday

We’ve had a great response to these upcoming information sessions! There’s still time to sign up for either or both sessions if you want to learn even more about your child’s Montessori education.   takes place at 311 Oxford Street, and provides parents of all of our Casa and Toddler students to see the ‘big picture’ of the Montessori method in action! The classrooms will be set up to present all areas of the Casa curriculum, and teachers will be available to explain the three-year progression of the materials. 

  • DATE: Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019
  • TIME: 7:00-8:30 pm
  • LOCATION: 311 Oxford St. 
  • RSVP:

. Our classrooms will be set up to display mathematics materials, and teachers will be available to explain the progression of the work across the Elementary and Junior High levels.

  • DATE: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019
  • TIME: 7:00-8:30 pm
  • LOCATION: 711 Waterloo Street
  • RSVP:

Please note: These Learn Your Level sessions are for parents only; no care will be provided for children.  

Toddler practical life skills!

For the first six or seven weeks our Waterloo Toddlers have focused on practical life skills, grace and courtesy as well as getting settled in the new environment. Our Toddlers take great pride in choosing where they want to sit for lunch, and setting their spots for lunch. This is a multi-step process for a toddler.  

  The Toddlers at Westmount are very busy working in the Practical Area everyday. The Practical Area gives the child the opportunity to work on real-life activities like washing the table, washing dishes, mopping the floor, and washing linens. All these activities lead the children to be in contact with themselves, highlighting concentration and following a sequence of steps for each activity. It’s an area in our environment for future work that the children will be doing in-class, and throughout their lives. 

Casa 3 Scavenger hunt in the park!

The Friday before the long weekend was a beautiful day, so Casa 3 took advantage of it by taking a stroll to hunt for all things nature and enjoyed a little break at the park. 

Greenhouse tomatoes

Look what’s growing in the school’s greenhouse behind our Elementary buildings!  

Junior High student vote on Friday

 The Junior High program decided to join a federal organization that encouraged students to be educated and active in the election. We were part of the one million students that participated across Canada. The students were given time to research the parties and pick which one they would like to support. After this, the students held a mock debate, in which moderators gave questions that were asked and each party would answer in a certain time limit. Every party running in this riding had a table where people represented them. After the debate, each student was given a voter ID card which would prove that they had the right to vote. There were voting stations set up and the students voted for which candidate running in London North Centre they wanted to represent them. Here were the final results from our school:

  • New Democratic Party: 13 votes
  • Liberal Party: 10 votes
  • Conservative Party: 10 votes
  • Green Party: 6 votes
  • Communist Party: 1 vote
  • People’s Party: 0 votes

To see the student results nationwide, the link is attached https://studentvote.ca/canada/results/

This was a fundamental experience that was extremely beneficial to the JH students because it helped educate them in their decision on who they would like to represent them as their leader. We feel as though the Junior High team enjoyed it. This will definitely help encourage students to vote all across Canada, when they are 18.  
~by Leo and Safiyah  

Extended family members who want to receive the Buzz 

If you have family members or friends who would like to be on the Buzz distribution list, please have them contact Reception@montessori.on.ca. We require their permission along with their first name, last name and email address to add them to our upgraded database.

Montessori in the community

We can’t wait to hear this release from our very own Miss Marty! https://twitter.com/i/status/1183748085710802944

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