Miniapple International Montessori
May 2015
Directors Notes
As we creep to the end of the school year, it’s a great
time to be thinking about summer and all the exciting
things going on here at Miniapple…
 Thank you to all our families for taking time out
of your day to attend your child’s conference. All
the teachers really enjoyed connecting with you
about your child’s progress. If your child’s class
has not had conferences yet, please make sure you
are signed up.
 As stated in our Parent Policy book, children
should wear closed toe shoes to prevent
injuries on the playground that can come from
flip flops coming off or their feet getting
stepped on. We require children do not wear
flip flops or open-toed shoes.
 Now that the weather remains consistently
warm, we will be starting our day outside at
8:00am, for toddlers and preschoolers. The
breakfast room will close at 7:45am, so that we
can be outside by 8:00am. If you arrive after
7:45am, your child will not get to eat breakfast
inside. If you arrive before 8:00, please bring
your child to the activity room with their
outside shoes and a jacket if needed, and not
wearing slippers or inside shoes so we can
leave from the activity room and not have to
find their outside shoes first.
 Friday, May 8th Mother‘s Day! Please join us for
coffee and doughnuts to celebrate our wonderful
Moms! More info at the end of the newsletter. All
family members are welcome!
 Our Spring Program and Kindergarten
Graduation is scheduled for Thursday, May 14th.
The program will begin at 6pm at the First
Congregational Church. Please plan on picking
up your child early enough to feed him/her a
small dinner or snack in time for the 6:00
Program. Following the program, we will have
light snacks and beverages. A sign-up sheet will
be posted outside of your child’s classroom. We
will have more info coming soon.
 The Miniapple Preschool Recognition
Ceremony will be on Thursday, May 21st at 10:00
a.m. We will celebrate the preschoolers that are
graduating before their journey to Kindergarten.
Please join us in our parking lot. Following the
ceremony, we will enjoy a picnic lunch at Marcy
Park!
 Please sign up to allow Miniapple staff to apply
sunscreen to your child this summer. Permission
forms will be located outside of your child’s
classroom. Miniapple asks that the parent(s)
apply sunscreen in the morning, and provide a
bottle for staff to reapply at lunchtime.
Lee & Danielle
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Tues. May 5th: Soccer registrations due
Fri. May 8th: Mother’s Day breakfast 7am-9am
Thur. May 14th: Spring Program & Kind.
Graduation 6:00pm
Mon. May 18th: Field Trip to Pinehaven Farm
Thur. May 21st: Preschool Recognition &
Picnic at Marcy Park 10am
Mon. May 25th: MIM closed, Memorial Day
CLASS NOTES
Infant House
We want to first welcome Janet and Lauren to the
baby room! Hailey (our infant room closing staff)
will be going full time when she graduates. Janet is
taking Val’s place and Hailey will take Katelyn’s.
We hired Lauren to take Hailey’s place, to close the
baby room and give teachers their breaks during the
day. April showers bring May flowers, so get ready
for some spring flower art work and a special
Mother’s Day surprise! We’ve been enjoying the
nice weather by taking a walk around 9:00-10:00am.
Please don’t forget a sun hat to wear on our walks.
Parents are required to apply sunscreen before they
arrive and we’ll reapply if we go outside in the
afternoon. Please welcome our newest babies Rose
R. and Rose G! Glen will be “Baby of the Month”
for May. We will be starting “Fun Fridays” which
will run through August. There will be a new theme
Miniapple International Montessori
May 2015
th
every week, starting on Friday May 8 , which is
dress up as your favorite zoo animal. May 15th is
Pajama Day, May 22nd is wear your favorite sports
team apparel, and May 29th will be a “Bright Day!”,
wearing your brightest clothes. For the Spring
Program on May 14th, please have your baby wear
work-out wear. Please don’t forget to update/check
your child’s extra clothes to ensure there is
season-appropriate clothing, and clothing that still fits
your growing baby! Don’t forget to label! If you
plan on arriving after 8:45am, please call or email us
to let us know. Since we will be going on morning
walks we want to make sure all our babies are here so
we can coordinate our walks and other morning
activities. Thank you!!
Nicole, Hailey, Janet, and Lauren
Toddler House 1
Hi Toddler Parents!
It’s hard to believe that the school year is ending and
spring is here. Because of the nice weather we will be
spending more time outside so please bring weather
appropriate clothing and sunscreen. Please apply
sunscreen before you arrive, and we’ll reapply before
we go out again. Our May calendar is full of fun
activities. We will celebrate Mother’s Day and learn
about different birds, butterflies, flowers and bees.
We will celebrate Mother’s day with a breakfast on
Friday May 8th. All moms are invited to join us. The
first week of May is our conference week, so please
sign up if you haven’t already. We are very excited
about the spring program and have been practicing our
songs. We said goodbye to our friend Ella who moved up
to CH3, and Vera who moved up to CH2. If you have
any questions or concerns please let us know.
With love, Reshma and Rachel
Toddler House 2
May is a busy month for the toddlers! It also
brings big changes, both outside - as we begin to notice
signs of spring on our neighborhood walks and during
our playground time – and within our classroom as we
say goodbye to old friends and welcome new classmates.
Wesley, Logan, Indigo, Fay and Jack will all be moving up
to preschool this summer and we wish them all the best.
We will also be celebrating Bodhi and Quinn’s birthdays
this month!
With warmer weather finally here, and all the
snow melted from our playground, we are excited to
spend more time outside, nurturing an appreciation for
nature that is a key component of our toddler
Montessori program. In addition to outdoor playtime,
we will enjoy planting and tending a garden, going on
nature walks, visiting nearby parks, and exploring our
community. Please be sure to send your child in
weather-appropriate clothing. If you would like your
child to wear sunscreen outside, we ask that you apply it
in the morning and provide a bottle for us to re-apply in
the afternoon. Please also sign the sunscreen permission
form outside of our classroom.
We look forward to celebrating our May
transitions, May birthdays, Mother’s Day, and our Spring
Program with you this month!
All our best,
Julianna, Katie, & Amanda
Children’s House 1
We welcomed Annah to our community last
month. Her calm presence, humor and compassion have
made it easy for her to connect with your child. Thank
you Annah for making this such an easy transition!
We are gearing up for a summer of outdoor fun.
Along with a shorter Montessori work periods, we will go
on nature walks, play at Marcy Park, garden, walk the
St. Lawrence Labyrinth, visit the library, go swimming
at Van Cleve Park, play board games on Fridays, create
an observation journal…the possibilities are endless!
We would love for families to come in and share
your hobbies, stories, experiments, art projects or make
a fun snack with our class. Please let us know if you
want to join us.
Children’s House 1 will become the nap room this
summer which will continue through the 2014-2015
school year. Look for a more detailed letter of what this
change will mean for our classroom environment.
Stop by and join in the fun any time!
Erica and Annah
Miniapple International Montessori
Children’s House 2
May 2015
We had 2 new students join our classroom in April;
Vera (age 2) and Mila (age 3). Welcome Vera and Mila and
their families!
I know many of you have been asking about our Show
and Tell policy. Right now, we just ask that they refrain
from bringing any toys to school. Encourage your child to
only bring in things that other children might not see every
day or that are particularly meaningful to them. We prefer
that they have some educational value. Starting in the fall,
we will start the “Me Bucket” where children will take turns
bringing in something to share.
We have our Flower Arranging work back on the
shelf. If you would like to donate a bouquet of flowers, they
will be lovingly arranged by the children of CH2. Just put
your name down on our sign-up. Thank you!
We are continuing our Friendship Fish project. We
will post them on our new bulletin board outside our
classroom.
The month of May is filled with events so please
check the white board outside our classroom on a daily
basis. Thank you, Mia and Blake
Children’s House 3
It was so nice to sit down and talk with many of you last
month for conferences. While Cecily did not sit in on
them, she contributed many great insights and
observations that were helpful in making our time more
productive. In April, we enjoyed exploring the peace
activities put together by each classroom. It’s always
fun when we can collaborate and share ideas. For the
spring program our class will be singing “Under the Sea”
from Little Mermaid. In preparation for our big
performance, we have been singing a lot and learning
more about sea life. The children will make their props
in class, and we will bring them to the program. Please
have your child wear as much BLUE as possible for the
program, to represent water. Many thanks! Maria and
Cecily
Children’s House 4
We will end this school year with a lot of activities! On May
8th, we will celebrate Mother's Day with special gifts and
treats. From May 11- 15, we will have our class conferences.
May 14th will be our spring program and kindergarten
graduation day and on May 18th, we will go on a field trip to
Pinehaven Farm. On May 21st, we will have our preschool
graduation ceremony, followed by a picnic lunch at Marcy
Park.
We will be performing at the same church as our last program.
Our song is called " I’ m Planting Seeds of Love in My Heart."
This time we will be wearing a plain black tee shirt (no print)
on top and the bottoms can be any of your choice. Najat and
I are going to decorate the front of the shirt, so please bring
the shirt, the sooner the better.
We had a few lice cases this past three weeks. We want to
thank you for being so cooperative and patient during the
whole situation. We hope it is the end of it and appreciate
your diligence to make sure your child is lice-free. It is a good
idea to continue bringing a backpack every day to school for
their belongings. If you have questions, please ask me or
Najat.
Wangmo and Najat
Children’s House 5
We still have a month of our school year left before starting
the Summer Program!
There is still a lot of concentration in all areas, however we
have been trying to get more presentations in the Math and
Language areas. We even learned a new 'sound of the
letters' game that we learned from Children's House 3 that has
a song that goes along with it.
In May we will be having our Spring Program and Children's
House 5 has been learning 'Raindrops Keep Falling on My
Head' as well as a song in French. We have these songs on a
c.d. and play them at least a couple times a day, as well as
practice with Ms. Robin in Music Class on Monday
mornings. We ask for all children to wear raincoats for the
Spring Program to be our prop to go along with the
song. Thank you for your efforts with this.
Also, our Preschool Graduation Ceremony will be Thursday,
May 21st. We will have a ceremony during the day and be
very proud of our Montessorians who are going out onto
other ventures. We would love to hear from you or get a visit
in the future.
Yet another quality I love about the Montessori method is that
it looks upon the whole child. Beyond what we are teaching
academically, the method provides the children Emotional
Intelligence as well. This is a relatively new term in the field
of psychology. I invite you to find out more at this
site: http://lifehacker.com/emotional-intelligence-the-socialskills-you-werent-ta-1697704987?utm_source=pocket&utm_
medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
"Only through freedom and environmental experience is it
practically possible for human development to occur."
― Maria Montessori
Thank you, Jil and Gabrielle
Miniapple International Montessori
May 2015
Toddler French
Bonjour!
It is hard to learn a new language in a class because
we learn the most language in our daily activities
and interactions. For this reason, I have focused
on teaching words that are relevant to a toddler’s
daily life. Please feel free to use any French
words you know (or listed below) with your
toddlers, this will help immensely. This month will
focus on spring words !
Bonjour (Hello), Au Revoir (Goodbye), Merci (thank
you), s'il vous plaît (please), la pluie (rain), le soleil
(sun), l’arbre (tree), la fleur (flower), froid (cold),
chaud (hot).
Merci beaucoup !
Cecily
Preschool French
Bonjour à toutes et joyeux mois de Mai. It is almost
the end of the school year and also for French classes.
We take a break from teaching French during the
summer and will resume in the fall. During this
month, we will keep working on our phonograms ex :
ou, oi, ei, ai, etc. We are learning the name of the
farm animals to get ready for our field trip to
Pinehaven Farm. (cow: la vache, sheep: le mouton,
horse: le cheval, rabbit: le lapin). This is a special
month because of Mother’s Day, so we will learn a
poem in French, « Une Mêre ». We will read two
more French stories, « Babar en Picnic » and « Justine
Parten Valanle » Our program song will be « la Laine
Des Montons ». Merci et Bonne fête a toutes les mères
Najat
SPRING PROGRAM & KINDERGARTEN
GRADUATION
Our program is on May 14th at First
Congregational Church. We will also celebrate
our Kindergartners by having a Kindergarten
graduation ceremony. They will have a special
presentation and wear caps and gowns to celebrate
this wonderful day. Each family will be given the
words to their child’s songs. If you didn’t receive
them, please let your child’s teacher know.
STEP UP TO SOCCER
If you haven’t already registered, soccer registration ends
of May 5th. Register online @
www.childrenslearning.com. School code is
MINI-MPLS. After May 5th, there is a $20 late charge.
Summer Class Schedule
Najat takes a break from French during the summer,
but Niza will continue to teach yoga this summer.
We will continue to have music with Robin on
Wednesday afternoons, as well as soccer on
Wednesday and Thursday mornings. We will go
back to French classes in September.
MOTHER’S DAY
BREAKFAST
May 8th,
We hope all mothers (and grandmothers)
can join us to celebrate Mother’s Day.
(Fathers and grandfathers welcome too!)
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Miniapple International Montessori
May 2015
FIELD TRIP!
On May 18th, we will be going to Pinehaven
Farm in Wyoming, MN. The children will
get to pet and feed many different
animals, go on a wagon ride, and learn
about honey bees. We will leave the
school at 9am and return at 12pm for a
quick bag lunch. Please do not send warm
ups that day.
PATHWAYS TO PEACE WEEK
We really enjoyed our Peace Week. From a
neighborhood cleanup, to our friendship fish, and
the seeds we planted, we really worked hard to
teach and recognize peace in ourselves, our school,
our community, others and our earth. It has
been 5 years since we dedicated our Peace Pole
that is in the front of our school, next to the apple
tree. We are very proud of our peace pole and
celebrate every day the peace that we have in our
school. Here are the languages “Peace” is
written on our Peace Pole:
Shalom: Hebrew
Paz: Spanish
Peace: English
Fred: Scandinavian
Shanti: Hindi
Samaya: Sri Lankan
Heping: Chinese
Paix: French
Shewa: Tibetan
We will continue to encourage the children to have
peace in their hearts throughout the year!