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| July, 2009 |
Vol 1, Issue 2 |
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Brookview School
Community Newsletter |
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| A Message from the Director of Education |
Greetings from New York. I'm writing to you this month from the Center for Montessori Education, where I am currently enrolled in the Course for Montessori School Management. It's an excellent program and I'm learning a lot! I will return to Brookview School on Monday, July 27.
Watch your mailbox for your summer packet, which will include lots of information for the new school year, including immunization forms to be returned prior to the first day of school. Now is a great time to schedule your child's appointment with the pediatrician.
I hope you enjoy this second installment of the new Brookview Community Newsletter.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Spikner |
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| Parenting Tips from Montessori Educator Virginia Varga |
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Model the behavior you expect from your child. Children will do what you do more often than what you tell them to do.
Support your child's desire to participate in doing things for herself. Growth in becoming independent is necessary for normal development.
Give your child some individual attention daily. It is the quality rather than the length of time which is important.
Demonstrate your love and acceptance of your children by letting them help with chores. Children can wash and dry dishes, clean vegetables and set the table by the time they are two and a half years old.
Give your child appropriate choices: Would you like chicken soup or tomato? Would you like to wear the blue shirt or the red one? Making choices develops the ability to think and make decisions.
Be consistent in your expectations and responses. A few consistent rules help build a secure and trusting relationship.
Show your child how you do things, how you think and what you believe. Think out loud so that your child has examples of problem solving.
Play with and read to your child daily.
Protect your child from experiencing violence. Yelling at and hitting children demonstrates that this is the way to solve problems. Don't let young children watch violence on television. (This includes many cartoons).
Children learn not from words but from experience. A child who is honestly loved will become a loving person.
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| Community Meeting Scheduled |
Please join us for our next Community Meeting, which will be held on Monday, August 24 at 6:00. We will be returning to our open forum style: the agenda for the meeting will be set by those members of the Brookview Community who wish to attend. If there is an issue that you would like to discuss, please add it to the Community Meeting agenda which will be available in the office the week prior to the meeting. You may also e-mail agenda items to info@brookviewschool.org. We value your input and hope to see you there! |
| Brookview Math Camp |
"Math Camp was much more fun than I thought it would be," said Chandler Kerrigan, 10 years old.
"I really liked making pie, and finding out about PI," said Ava Vickers, 10 years old.
This year Brookview School offered a week long intensive math camp experience for elementary students. Students were able to sign up for one week at a time. The camp that ran from June 15 until June 19 and then again from June 22 until June 26 gave students experiences to explore mathematics in every day life. Students explored mathematical and geometric concepts and patterns in more depth as well as practiced computational skills. Students measured, made comparisons, gathered data, and made charts.
Students did an intensive study of the differences between composite and prime numbers, identified PI and its relationship to the diameter and circumference of a circle, and read about the lives and times of Pythagoras and Einstein.
Students examined Einstein's Theory of Relativity by going to the Go-Carts at Hidden Point. Imagine their faces when they discovered for themselves that the position of the observer matters, that understanding the concept of speed depends on whether you are watching the car or whether you are in the car.
Samuel Moreira explored pictures of the Universe while conducting research on the speed of light, light years, and astronomical units. He said that "even though it is summer, I really liked being in Math Camp."
Julien Thrum, 9 years old, practiced long division using Montessori materials. According to Julien, Math Camp 2009 "was a great way to practice math and spend time learning new things. I loved it!"
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| Host Family Needed |
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Is your family interested in hosting an intern next year? As we have done so many times, Brookview School will be having a teacher intern join us from abroad for the next school year. Over the years, Brookview has hosted student teachers from South Korea, Japan, Mexico, Finland, and China. Next year, we look forward to the arrival of Hyeyoung Ko, a student of early childhood education from Busan, South Korea.
If you think that your family might enjoy the experience of hosting Hyeyoung, please contact Jennifer Spikner at jspikner@brookviewschool.org. |
| Do you want to know more about that giant swiss cheese? Just dial in! |
 Touch Tone Art & Culture is a collaboration between the Krasl Art Center and the City of St. Joseph. This cell phone based audio tour features information about the Krasl Art Center's exhibitions and sculptures, and about the City's monuments and historic sites. The link below includes pdf maps and a list of all of the permanent objects featured in the tour. The tour is also available for objects along the Upton Arboretum which are a part of the Sculpture Biennial and for select objects in the Krasl Art Center galleries. This service is supported by a Berrien Community Foundation grant. Cell phone minutes do apply but there is no other fee to visitors to Touch Tone Art & Culture. For more information, pick up a brochure in the Brookview office or check out this link: http://www.krasl.org/exhibits_collections.aspx You'll find pdf maps and a list of all of the permanent objects featured in the tour. Enjoy!
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"The work of the child consists of creating the human being that it has to become. The adult works to improve his environment while the child works to improve himself." - Maria Montessori | |
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