February 2007
"Education is the lighting of a flame, not the filling of a vessel"
- Socrates
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
GENERAL NOTES:
NEW TODDLER-CAREGIVER PROGRAMME: we are pleased to announce a new programme for "Under 3's". A letter went out in your child's plastic folder with more details.
SCHOOL UNIFORM: the Winter Uniform should be worn at this time. Please dress your children in school uniform only (unless it is very cold and heavy overcoats are needed). Please help our children represent IMS tidily and proudly in and out of school!
Play Dates: If your child is having a play date with another child from the school and it affects the way they go home i.e. need to change buses or not take the bus… Please ensure that the school is informed al least one hour before the end of the end of school. We will not be able to entertain changes in their arrangements after this time. Thank you.
UPCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY
PTA SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING (Monday, February 13th): PTA Subcommittee meets each month to discuss PTA business. Please contact the PTA at pta@montessori.edu.hk if you have items which you would like to bring up.
CNY FLOWER MARKET OUTING (Tuesday, February 13th): The Elementary children will be visiting the Chinese New Year Flower Market in Victoria Park, and practicing their Chinese.
We recommend visiting the with your younger children this weekend - it is always an event!
CHINESE NEW YEAR HOLIDAY (February 19 - 23): Please note, all children are encouraged to wear traditional Chinese Dress on Friday, February 16th.
Classes resume on February 26th
MARCH
ELEMENTARY MONTESSORI PROGRAM INTRO FOR PARENTS (Tuesday, March 6th 7-8 pm): As your child is getting older and nearing the age where you will be making decisions regarding your child’s P1 – P6 school years, we would like to invite you to attend a discussion forum to help parents understand more fully the Montessori elementary program, and how it fits your child’s development and learning style.
We will review the elementary curriculum in more detail, and discuss how we “match” the British National Curriculum and the US Stanford Test standards, and how children are evaluated. You may also be interested to understand how the elementary Montessori program differs from the primary Montessori program, and the metrics used to determine when a child is ready for the new challenge of the elementary program.
We have now had two years of transition children who completed the full three year Casa dei Bambini programme.
We have a large number of children who will be preparing to move up to the elementary program next school year, and another group who we expect will be ready in January 2008. We are now in the process of evaluating need for a third class, and are interviewing top teachers for our elementary program. We have a number of excellent candidates from which to choose.
Parents are invited to sign up for an observation of the Elementary classes starting March 1st.
ELEMENTARY OVERNIGHT (March 8-9th): the Elementary children will be going on an overnight (Europe Class) or day trip (Oceania Class).
BOOK WEEK (March 12-16th): More details will be sent out soon regarding the upcoming Book Week.
WHOLE SCHOOL SPORTS DAY (Friday, March 23rd): all IMS children will participate in this morning event at the Sports Ground in Causeway Bay. Afternoon Casa dei Bambini should attend school in the morning on the day.
NOTE: SCHOOL ENDS AT 12:00 pm on March 23rd. All bus children will go home on the 12:00 pm bus. Teachers will be receiving In-Service Training.
STANDARDIZED TESTING (March 26-30th): the Elementary children will be taking the Stanford 9 (US standardized tests). These tests are roughly 5 hours long for each grade level spread over over the course of the week.
ELEMENTARY LIBRARY CLOSED (March 26-30th): Please note that the library will be closed for standardized testing.
_________________
HOLIDAYS
Each month we introduce holidays from different cultures to the children to help them understand their meanings and how they are celebrated. At school we have many opportunities to provide meaningful holiday experiences by incorporating them in the daily classroom work of music, literature, history, language and art. This is the perfect way to increase the children’s appreciation of other cultures as well as their own.
Click here for more information on February Holidays.
Click here for more information on March Holidays.
RECENT EVENTS
PARENT COFFEE (January 4th and 18th) It is always nice to see so many parents at the PTA parent coffee!FYI, parents have casual coffees every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at Pacific Coffee right after drop off. The PTA has suggested we extend this to once a term, and the next coffee will be after the Easter holiday.
For more about the PTA, click here.
PTA SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING (Monday, February 6th) the PTA Subcommittee met to discuss PTA business.
For more on the PTA, click here.
NEW STUDENT INTERVIEWS: IMS staff have been very busy interviewing students for September 2007. We are delighted that we had so many candidates for so few spaces for the upcoming school year. Don't worry - siblings get priority!
MONTESSORI EVENING (Tuesday, January 23rd, 7 – 9 p.m.) The teachers presented the materials used in the Montessori mathematics curriculum:
□ Casa dei Bambini: Language Curriculum for children ages 3-4 and 4-5
□ Elementary: the Montessori Mathematics & Geometry Curriculum. In the elementary, parents got to use the materials to solve problems, and gained an understanding of how materials are used to introduce and master a concept before a child moves on to abstract (paper and pencil) work.
Ask your classroom teacher for a recommended title – we have most in the library, and parents can check out these books.
THE AMAZING RACE (Sunday, February 4th), what an AMAZING thing! Special thanks to the PTA for all the wonderful work you put in to arranging this event for the benefit of the IMS children and their library!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
________________