This week in Mountain Laurel Cottage…

We will begin preparation for the community breakfast, which will be on

Wednesday, October 26 th from 8:30-9:15 AM. The children have sent invitations

out to one guest to attend this gathering. Please proceed with normal arrival (8:10

AM) that day. We’ll need support prior to the gathering from children to set-up

tables and food. We look forward to having you at the community breakfast.

Please note: All parking will be available after arrival at 8:30 AM near the after-

care building and/or elementary library. Primary arrival will be occurring during

this time along the primary loop, please do not park or block along the primary

entry/loop. Please let us know if you have questions by sending an email.

Our community will be honoring Day of the Dead this year on Monday, October 31 st .

Those interested can bring in a photo of a person or pet which they would like to

honor. We will set aside two tables as an alter with flowers. A group is currently

learning about the Holiday, and would like to begin decorating the alter this week.

A flyer with more information will be sent home this week to families.

This week we will be starting our Fall Festival Project, which will be a

polygon shaped line design made into a mandala with embroidery floss.

We’ve practiced and reviewed line design using rulers this past week as

preparation. The children are excited to begin the project and look

forward to developing a beautiful piece to auction.

This week in the kitchen, we’re making garlic mashed potatoes and apple pie

taquitos. We’ve been practicing peeling lately and mastering the skill of cutting

thicker fruits and vegetables (potatoes/carrots) carefully and safely. The children

have been interested in using the masher utensil which led us to recipes in our

community cookbook “garlic mashed potatoes,” and “apple pie taquitos.”

If you have yet to sign-up for an observation and/or conference please see below:

Observation: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0445a9ac2ca3fc1-fall

Conference: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0445a9ac2ca3fc1-fall1

A few going-outs occurring this week include going to HEB to purchase ingredients

for the community breakfast and a trip to Petsmart to budget for a bearded

dragon. We have a group interested in studying France and making crepes as part

of their presentation. This group will begin the process of looking for a French

Bakery and/or Chef for information. There are several animal studies going on as

well; peacocks, panthers, tigers, dolphins and hamsters. The children are using

multiple resources as references, as many are finding out you cannot find a book

with all of the information. They are practicing using the index, glossary and

visiting the elementary library to check books outs with supporting information.

We will be studying bees’ this week and observing their activity. We’ve

had a few come and go while at lunch and/or snack. Also this week, we

will be reading about the artist Georgia O’Keefe and making our own

examples from her work. We will be learning about singer and song

writer, Woody Guthrie, “This Land is Your Land.” Lastly, we will be

revisiting recognizing state names, capitals and abbreviations before

moving onto South America. The children have made book binded maps.

Parents, please let us know if you have further questions and thank you!

This week in Mountain Laurel Cottage…

The children of Mountain Laurel are planning a community breakfast. The breakfast will be on Wednesday, October 26th from 8:30-9:15 AM. Each child will invite a special guest. An invitation and flyer will be going home tomorrow with more information. The children are in the midst of planning and have organized committees to delegate tasks; shopping for ingredients, making foods/beverages, hosting and serving, table prep and etc. Everything will be made fresh and served buffet style with an order-here “hot off the griddle” egg station. Items on the menu include; fresh fruit, toast/butter, scrambled eggs, orange juice and fresh brewed coffee.

Parking will be available at 8:30 AM near the after-care building and along the morning arrival loop near the library and elementary office. Please drop your child off at normal arrival time (8:10 AM) for support with moving tables and chairs outside prior to breakfast starting. All guests will be welcomed at the porch by a greeter for further instructions. Please note, we will be having a similar event in the spring (March) as well, which the children have decided to plan and prepare to support a secondary guest of interest. It will be a community breakfast too.

We will be attending Ballet Austin’s, “The Nutcracker,” on Thursday, December 8th. We will be seeing Act II. The performance will be from 12:00-1:00PM, at the Long Center.  We will send home the envelopes this week to collect monies. It is $5.00 per child. Please return the money in a sealed envelope to school before the end of this week. If you send a larger bill, we will return the money in a sealed envelope (labeled with amount) and home with your child.

If you are interested and available to assist with driving to and from that day, please let us know by sending an email to mountainlaurel@cedarsmontessori.com. We will be departing Cedars at 10:45 AM and will park in the Long Center Garage. Once parked, we will walk safely to the lawn/sidewalk area in front of the theatre. Parking in the Long Center Garage is free. We will need to be picked up after the show at the Long Center at 1:00 PM. You may park in the garage and then walk to the lawn/sidewalk area to meet us outside the theatre. We will leave the theatre promptly and will return to campus no later than 1:45 PM. Due to limited seat availability and high interest from other schools, we were not able to get tickets for both children and drivers, but we would greatly appreciate your support with transportation if available that day.

This week in the kitchen we will be making food with beets and parsnips. We will be preparing a roasted beet hummus and baking roasted parsnips with rosemary. There are a variety of fruits and vegetables available this month which we will use as ingredients within the kitchen, and the children are eager to try and explore these healthy foods.

This week, we will be exploring further composition of the earth; layers of the earth and movements of the crust with mountain formation. We will also be studying the work of water and cloud formation. We have supporting materials to aid with understanding the terms and concepts and further work with experimenting. Also, we will dig deeper and study erosion; river erosion and v shaped valleys. We have supporting images from the Montessori Charts and an experiment to follow-up and practice if interested. A few individuals, we will be reading about include; Elizabeth Blackwell, the first person to graduate within the US with a medical degree and Jacques Consteau, a researcher and scientist who studied the sea. Also this week, a story will be shared with a children’s book about the California Gold Rush.

Please refer to the information below if you need to sign-up for an observation or conference.

Observation Sign-up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0445A9AC2CA3FC1-fall
Conference Sign-up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0445A9AC2CA3FC1-fall1

Silent Journey is this week; Thursday, October 13th from 5:30-9:00 PM. We hope that you join us for this unique opportunity to find out what really happens in your child’s day to day as a Montessorian. You’ll discover your child’s world and the continuum of the Montessori education. You will have a better understanding of how lessons learned in Upper Elementary begin in the Primary. Participants will have a chance to move through the environments first, and then as second phase, receive lessons and experience the material first-hand. This is a wonderful adventure to understand your child/children’s love for the Montessori Method.

Lastly, please let us know if you child will be absent due to illness and/or other reasons, also if your child will be arriving late because of an appointment. As a reminder, all communication needs to be sent via email and/or note. If possible, it is best to schedule these appointments early morning or late afternoon, as many children are grouped to receive lessons and/or are part of an ongoing group project or follow-up activity. The work of the child and/or children within the community begins at arrival (8:10 AM) and thus leads into lessons, group collaboration and/or preparation for going-outs, work in the garden, etc. There is so much happening first thing! ☺

Finally, please let us know if you have plans for your child to get picked up early, go home with another child from our community or simply being picked up by someone other than the usual. This information may be shared via email will help with departing safely and quickly. If it is after morning arrival time, or mid-day and an email or note hasn’t been shared, please call the elementary office and communicate to Jodie or Sarah, and they will let us know.

Parents thank you for your continued support and we hope to see you all at the Silent Journey!

Warmly, Mountain Laurel Cottage




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