October 14, 2014

Re: Active Threat Drill

Dear FMS Families –

We currently perform regularly scheduled fire drills and shelter in place. However, we will also begin monthly active threat drills starting in October as part of our continuing safety initiatives on campus. The purpose of the active threat drill is to prepare the students to urgently seek shelter and protection in the event of a violent incident or intruder on campus. The drill will be conducted as follows:

“Test Test Test” will be announced campus wide through the intercom system

Teachers will direct students to quietly hide in bathrooms, closets, or other protected areas and remain out of sight

An admin staff member and/or law enforcement personnel will sweep the campus to ensure the classrooms are secured quickly and effectively. Students and staff will be directed to resume activity after the drill is completed

Please note, we will not be discussing specifics with the children regarding shootings, guns and/or weapons of any kind. Teachers are identifying the drill more in line with “hide and seek” or “quick and quiet”, especially for our younger students. However, it is highly likely our older students will know the reasoning behind the drill. Our primary goal is to stress the urgency and quickness of the lock down process with staff and students alike.

Lastly, we will be sending you a one-time “test emergency text” when the first drill is conducted on October 28th only. The text will be clearly identified as a “test.” Subsequent drills will not be announced in advance and “test” texts will not be sent.

It is unfortunate we have to take such precautionary steps, but preventative measures are necessary and important. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Jason Russell, CEO and President of Secure Education Consultants, may also be contacted at 616-308-7626 or emailed at [email protected] to address any concerns.

Respectfully,

Karen Kolb

Executive Director

We have been busy workers in P3 the past two weeks.

The children have learned about healthy habits such as brushing their teeth twice a day and flossing once, to wear a helmet while riding a bike, and the rules about coughing and sneezing to prevent the spread of germs.

We had a special visitor, Officer DeSpain, who spoke about the duties of a police officer.  She presented important safety information such as always wearing your seat belt while in the car and being careful of strangers.  We also had a discussion about other community workers and what the children might want to be when they grow up.

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For another lesson, we talked about the different seasons throughout the year and the appropriate clothing to wear.  The children had fun determining what item matched with each season.  We took a vote and P3’s favorite season is… FALL (with Spring coming in a close second).

We began learning about different land and water formations as well, including terms such as isthmus, lake, island, ocean, bay, cape and so on.

We spent a day gardening in our garden box in the courtyard.  Thank you to our amazing volunteers.  The children have already learned about the parts of the seed and will be studying leaves and roots this month.

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We have also started reviewing some of our shapes and geometric solids.  We learned shapes such as curvliniar triangle, quatrafoil, square, circle, triangle, and pentagon. The geometric solids we have reviewed are the cube, cone and cylinder.  A great way to practice these at home are to find the different shapes in everyday objects.

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We have changed over our classroom works for the month of October, and this month’s studies include:

Anatomy and the Five Senses

Mammals

Vertebrate vs. Invertebrate

Pumpkin Studies

The World and Continents

Children Around the World

Parts of the Leaf

Mark your calendars – International Children’s Day is Octover 30th! Please see our classroom door to sign-up for donation items if you are interested.

Snack and Flowers Provided By:

October 6th – 10th: Mentley Family

October 13th-17th: Ghaneian Family

October 20th-24th: Smith Family

October 27th-29th: Perry Family

Practical Life Supplies Provided By:

Pumpkins: Michel Family

Pickles: Mohlman Family

October Volunteers:

Cooking Project: Coleman Family and Michel Family

Hands-on-Activity: Tien Family

Circle Presentation: Perry Family

ICD Volunteers: Ghaneian Family, Tyler Family, Dannin Family, Reid Family, Robinson Family, Perry Family, Rosales Family, Kimani Family, Arieli Family

Important Dates to Remember:

Friday, October 10th: PTO Fall Festival!!! See you there!

Tuesday, October 14th: Picture Day

Friday, October 17th: No School, Teacher In-Service

Thursday, October 30th: Half Day, International Children’s Day (ICD), Pick-Up @11:15

Friday, October 31st: No School, Nevada Day. Happy Halloween!

We have been busy bees in P3 the past two weeks…

We started by learning about how to be a good citizen.  The children came up with ideas of taking care of your pests, cleaning up your yard and parks, using quiet voices at school and listening to our teachers, keeping our oceans clean, and to be a gentle and kind person.

We also learned about the parts of the seed and the parts of the apple. They learned words such as exocarp (the skin of the apple), mesocarp (the flesh of the apple). We also learned about different types of apples and how they grow!  Did you know that a bee needs to take the pollen of one apple flower to another apple flower for an apple to grow??? Let’s take care of our bee population!

For patriot day, we talked about our flag of The United States of America.  We learned that the flag is red, white and blue.  The flag has 13 stripes for the 13 original colonies and 50 stars, one for each state.  The children were able to color a picture of a flag and we also talked about, “How does our flag make us feel?”  Their answers were amazing and touching. (see picture)

Natalia’s mom came to P3 and talked about apple seeds and read a book about Johnny Appleseed.  Thank you for joining our classroom!

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Charley’s dad came to our class on Monday to talk about fire safety. He is a paramedic for the Henderson Fire Department and taught our friends important fire safety lessons.  Thank you Mentley family! Remember these rules:

1. Stop Drop and Roll

2. Get Low and Go

3. Don’t Hide, Get Outside

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We have also talked about food groups and different healthy and safety habits such as brushing our teeth and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Skyler’s mom and dad came to our classroom to do our first cooking project. The children made apple smiles and they were both adorable and delicious! Cooking and food preparation is a great hands-on experience for our students! Thank you Thanh-Do Family!

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September Studies Include:

Parts of the Seed

Safety

Community Building

Nutrition

Food Groups

Apple Studies

Living and Non-living

Land, Air, Water

Important Dates to Remember:

Friday, September 19th: PTO Movie Night

Tuesday, September 23rd: Kindergarten Field Trip to the Fire Station @ 12:45pm

Monday, September 29th-Friday, October 3rd: Book Fair Week

Thursday, October 2nd-Friday, October 3rd: Parent Teacher Conferences

Snack and Flowers Provided By:

September 22nd-26th: Muchow Family

September 29th – October 3rd: Thanh Do Family

Practical Life Supplies Provided By:

Bananas: Perry Family

Apples: Singh Family

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We have been busy bees in P3 these past two weeks.  We have made many new friends and have learned about how to operate in a Montessori classroom.

We have been reviewing different procedures and manners in our classroom.  We have talked about how to roll and unroll a work mat…how our works belong either on a mat or at a table…remembering to push in our chairs before we leave a table…remembering to clean up our work and where the work belongs.  We have also talked about using ‘quiet voices’ while inside, as well as how we should behave in the library area.

We have discussed our 5 Circle Manners this week in great length.

1. Criss-cross applesauce legs with our hands folded in our lap

2. Our bottom is on the line of the carpet

3. Eyes and ears are with the teacher

4. Quiet mouth

5. Raise a hand quietly during question time

We have read books such as, “Our Peaceful Classroom”, “My Five Senses”, “Can You Say Peace”, and  “Please and Thank You”.

In our cultural studies, we have learned about air, land and water. We discussed the differences between them and different things that live in each.  We have also explored the differences between living and nonliving, and made a group list.

September Studies Include:

Parts of the Seed

Safety

Community Building

Nutrition

Food Groups

Apple Studies

Living and Non-living

Land, Air, Water

Important Dates to Remember:

Tuesday, September 16th: PTO General Meeting

Friday, September 19th: PTO Movie Night

Tuesday, September 23rd: Kindergarten Field Trip to the Fire Station @ 1:00

Monday, September 29th-Friday, October 3rd: Book Fair Week

Thursday, October 2nd-Friday, October 3rd: Parent Teacher Conferences

Snack and Flowers Provided By:

September 8th-12th: Mohlman Family

September 15th-19th: Arieli Family

September 22nd-26th: Muchow Family

September 29th – October 3rd: Thanh Do Family

Practical Life Supplies Provided By:

Bananas: Perry Family

Apples: Singh Family

Dear P3 Students and Families,

We would like to send a warm welcome to all of our new and returning families. We hope that everyone had a relaxing and rejuvenating summer break and are eagerly looking forward to the amazing learning adventure that we are about to embark on.

This year in P3, we will be exploring the continents of the world, learning new math concepts, working on our sounds and developing our reading skills. We will focus on peacemaking, taking care of our bodies and our planet and further cultivate our passion for learning.

Miss Alisa, Miss Pauline, Miss Lauren and myself are excited to see what we can create together at Foothills Montessori School for the 2014-2015 academic year.

We are excited to see your smiling faces soon!

Sincerely,

Ms. Kat, Ms. Alisa, Ms. Pauline & Ms. Lauren