This year's graduation, on Thursday, May 28th, 2009, was bursting with emotion and color. The Middle School bond this year was the strongest in Brookview history, so losing some of our number was definitely tough. The morning was filled with tearful goodbyes, touching speeches, and beautiful decorations created by the 7th levels in the Middle School class.

The morning started out with a profound speech made by Lynne Clayton, followed by sweet speeches by Mexican exchange student Sandy Morales and Myles Kerrigan. Then before the graduates made their speeches, I gave a short prelude. I was really excited about it, because I'm going to miss my friends so much, and it meant a lot to be able to introduce them.

The graduate speeches themselves were fantastic and unique. Katie Francis, Max Vickers, Kali Vitek, Anna Strach, and Serena Chapman all made beautiful speeches. Max even finished his off with a hilarious dance. Next Andy Sawyer made a funny, heartwarming speech about the graduates. The ceremony wrapped up with a speech by Head of School George Barfield and the presentation of the 8th Grade diplomas, while music teacher Larry Schanker played a poignant piece on the piano.

The day concluded with a musical slideshow of photos created by Middle School teacher Andy Sawyer and a dazzling purple and green cake ordered by Annie Sawyer, Andy's daughter and a good friend of the graduates as well as myself. All in all, the 2009 Brookview graduation was one of the most magnificent ceremonies yet.I had a great time, and was really happy to spend a little extra time with my wonderful, talented friends before they go off on their next steps in life.

 

A few people in the Brookview Community may have noticed Sue Dubar spending time out on the playground recently with a ruler stuck into the ground.  She's not looking for inchworms. Actually, she is performing one of her duties as Brookview School's new Program Director.  Sue has been taking college courses in the evenings for the past year in order to qualify for this role. She recently completed the final requirements necessary to oversee Brookview School's compliance with the rules and regulations of the state of Michigan allowing us to provide care for children under the age of six.  Incidentally, the reason she has to walk around sticking a ruler into the ground is to make sure that the mulch under the playground equipment is at least nine inches deep, so that your child will have a soft fall should he or she slip from a piece of equipment.  What other duties might Sue be doing?  She will make sure that all of the teachers and assistants' CPR and First Aid Training is current, that the rooms are always staffed at the appropriate student-teacher ratios, and that the fire exits are always clear. Safety is always our first concern, and Sue will make sure that the building and grounds are safe and healthy for your children in hundreds of ways (a few of which only a state government could come up with!)   For those of you with children in Kim and Sue's class, don't worry, Sue is not giving up teaching to measure the depth of mulch!  Sue will still be in the classroom each morning, giving presentations and cracking jokes as usual.  However, sometime after lunch or during naptime, Sue may tiptoe out to make sure that outlets are covered with child-safe outlet covers or that the recent fire drill is properly documented.  Congratulations, Sue on your new position!
 

Quite often as a Montessori Elementary teacher I am asked what makes Montessori different. I usually reply it's giving each child the support to succeed in being their very best.  What we saw in this year's musical was nothing less.

Each year we take on a musical written by Bad Wolf Press. The company specializes in writing musicals especially designed for children. We read over the musical and the children chose the roles they wanted. If the part was written for one child and two or three wanted to play the role, I rewrote it to accommodate as many children as wished to play the role. We talked about, designed and made the costumes and props together. The children also helped with the staging and choreography. It was truly their project.
The lessons learned were life lessons. Every aspect of this project was community building. We planned and organized everything from learning the songs and script to painting the t-shirts and making the props so we were able to finish everything on time without it overtaking the rest of our work. We helped each other in the spirit of kindness and respect-our parents helped in many ways too. This was especially true when a helping hand was needed to finish a prop, guide a friend to their place on stage or jump in when a solo became overwhelming. And this was without a doubt, the truest measure of success of the musical; the kindness of a friend's help when things got too difficult to go it alone, learning to work together as a team in an exciting experience that put us in unfamiliar places, the joy all could share in a job well done and the building of our community. This year's musical, The Garden Show, was a resounding success in every way. We had a lot of fun and we found strengths we didn't know we had and we grew closer friendships as a result. We are already looking forward to next year's show as I'm sure you are too! 

 

Last night, in under two hours, the Slow Snack folks successfully made 26 quarts of jam at Froehlich's!!  Yay.  We canned strawberry, strawberry/raspberry and blueberry.  We figured the school snack would go through one quart a week so...we only have a few more quarts to go!  And then comes salsa, pickling and tomato sauce season.  And canned peaches, and applesauce...we live in such an agriculturally rich community.

 

This summer, we've tentatively figured out a schedule that, if we hold a community picking event every other Saturday, we can then process the produce the following Monday at Colleen Froelich's shop in Three Oaks.  Fruit picking with kids at this time of year is really fun, so we are trying to find some farms with game areas and hayrides to make it a fun morning for all.  Please stay tuned for a complete schedule of events! 

 

SAVE THE DATES!

Saturday, July 11th, 9:30 a.m.