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date
 May 24, 2015
Inside This Issue
The Abundance of Spring
What's Growing in the GMS Garden
 

Sugar Snap Peas

Strawberries

Onions
 
Sour Cherries

Fava beans

Congratulations Graduates
Congratulations Graduates! 

 With graduation season upon us, 
we are thrilled to share with you the special moments of our alumni, and soon to be alumni, who are
graduating from middle school, high school and college.

Pictured left:
Max Bitar, GMS Class of 2007, just graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with dual degrees in Journalism & Dramatic Arts. He is pictured with his parents George and Evelyn.


Pictured below: GMS grads and sister, Ellie and Molly Rogowski.

Ellie, GMS Class of 2007, just graduated from James Madison University with degrees in Public Health Education and Spanish. Her older sister, Molly, GMS Class of 2004, just graduated with her law degree from New York Law School.





GMS Prepares for Graduation and Annual Moving Up Ceremony 

8th Level Students Signify Their Readiness for High School with 
Council of Elders Interviews
 
 You are cordially invited to attend our 
Annual Moving Up Ceremony 
and 
8th Grade Graduation
on Thursday, June 4
in the GMS Gym

Moving Up Ceremony (9:30am)
 
This ceremony recognizes all of the GMS students who are moving up to a new level in the fall.
 
Toddler to Primary, 
 Primary to Lower El, 
 Lower El to Upper El, 
 Upper El to Middle School, 
 and 
 Middle School to High School

8th Grade Graduation (7:00pm)

This event honors our thirteen 8th graders who are graduating. This is a special night for our entire community, one that is very affirming for any family enrolling their children at GMS. 

 Ceremony includes a short slide show and faculty introduction for each graduate, and a speech or creative performance delivered by each graduate.

Refreshments are served.


Rites of Passage for Graduating 8th level students:
Council of Elders Interviews
 

During the 8th level year, of Middle School, our students experience several events which mark the end of their lives at GMS and move them towards high school.  These events serve as  

"Rites of Passage" for our oldest students, preparing them for life after GMS.

  

Because our school educates the whole child by nurturing the social and emotional aspects of an individual as well as their academic development, these "Rites" are numerous and varied.  In the 8th level, the students have specific tasks to complete: 

  • an internship at a profession of their choosing, 
  • 4 days and nights caring for a "Baby Think It Over" doll (computer simulated infant doll)
  • the opportunity for a trip to NYC to learn more about the functions of the United Nations and afterwards giving a presentation to parents and faculty about what they learned,
  • exploring a variety of high school options, 
  • traveling to Costa Rica for a cultural immersion experience, 
  • writing their graduation speeches, 
  • and being interviewed by a "Council of Elders" about their experience at GMS and about their hopes and dreams for the future.
The Council of Elders interview takes place during the last week of school.  Each student  dresses in business attire, and individually sits before a group of 2 or 3 adults (similar to a job interview) to answer questions about how the education at GMS has helped to shape who they are as individuals. The interview takes about 30 to 45 minutes per student. The adults who have served as an Elder, consistently are surprised at the insight and maturity our students exhibit during the interview. The Elders have the opportunity to see our "Portrait of a Graduate" come to fruition.  Frequently, our current parents with children in Toddler, Primary and Elementary help conduct the Council of Elders interviews. 
 
 

Art in the Montessori Family Exhibit on Display Through May and June
Amazing Talents on Display 
 at our second Art Show of the year!
 
 
 
   We are proud to showcase the amazing artistic talents of our parents, staff and alumni in a special art show entitled, 
Art in the Montessori Family.
 
A True Testament to the Creativity in our School Community!
 
On display during May and June at Mitchell & Bartlett Orthodontics  
5314 W. Friendly Avenue.

Be sure to attend the Art Show Reception 
on Sunday, 5/31 @ 3-5pm
(or contact Sharon Mitchell, exhibit coordinator, for a special weekday showing 336-681-4144)
 
Special thanks to all of the participating artists:
Katherine Allen, Olivia Azzarita, Betsy Bevan, Joe Comick, Balaji Desai, Samantha DiRosa, Dhanraj Emanuel, Ilene Harper, Yumi Hatakeyama, Yeny Hernandez, Nancy Hofer, Chie Honda, Yeny Hernandez, Erica Jones, Kevin Jones, Gail Keefe, Jenny Kimmel, Susan Lambert, Jonathan McLean, Olivia Meyer-Jennette, Mitie Ogura-Lindgren, Sheryl Oring, Asuka Nakato, Kathi Quesenberry, Mrunalini Ranganathan, Shelley Reynolds, Sakiko Tateshima, Joseph Taylor, Justine Vranian, Aris Wells, 
and Michelle Wells


Photos of the Week
Upper Elementary Celebrates Birthdays with a Proper English Style High Tea







Lower Elementary Cultural Fair - Friday, May 22








Photos from Several End of Year Field Trips

Costa Rica - 8th graders travel by boat up a canal in the rainforest to their service project location, Estaci�n de Tortuga

Costa Rica - 8th graders shoveling and sifting sand to build a new hatchery for leatherback sea turtles

Costa Rica - 8th graders enjoy a cultural immersion experience with their home stay families from our sister school, Summit Montessori School, in Coronado.


Arizona - 7th graders visit Kitt Peak National Observatory, the world's largest solar observatory.

Arizona - 7th graders ride horseback
 in the Sonoran Desert.

Arizona - 7th graders visit the old city of Tombstone, and have a little fun with
a touristy photo op at Big Nosed Kate's Saloon.


Sunset at The White House
Lafayette Park
by the statue of Andrew Jackson

Washington D.C. - 6th graders board the train from Greensboro destined for our nation's capital where they tour monuments and museums all over the city.

The Lincoln Memorial



Salter Path, NC (Sound to Sea program) -
2nd and 3rd level students study the ecology of the maritime forest and the similarities and differences of the animals that live in the ocean compared to the brackish waters of the sound.
Discovering the part of a squid

Exploring different varieties of fish in
Bogue Banks
Birds of prey



Spring Scholastic Bookfair is in Full Swing

  

Scholastic Bookfair in Full Swing
 
 
Thanks to Diane Cabbell, Karen Kelly and many other parent volunteers for setting up the book fair and staffing it all week. 

Scholastic Bookfair  

in the GMS Library

 

 Buy One, Get One Free


 Stock up on Summer Reading

  

May 22-29


 Open 8:30am-4:00pm

Every Day!

 except Friday 5/29 - 8:30am-12:30pm 

  

  


GMS Middle Schoolers Welcome Visitors to the Land and Induct Rising 6th graders
into Their Land Tribes 

  

This Week's Land Experience Welcomes Visitors and Inducts Rising 6th Level Students into Their Tribes

Lee Dunn, a graduating 8th level student presents Lucas Selvey, a rising 6th level, with a special painted rock to place at the Land as a symbol of welcome.
Thomas Peele, a returning GMS student, adds his bead to the "Irossetnom" tribe necklace at the rising 6th level tribal induction ceremony.

"Irossetnom" is Montessori spelled backwards.
Maddie and Hayley share a special moment at the tribal induction ceremony. Eighth graders take great pride in passing the torch to the rising 6th graders!

The Jacobs, McLean and Rich families share dinner together at the Wednesday Night Community Land Cookout.

Eighth level, Phoebe Craft, enjoys her sister's visit at the cookout. Mary Kathryn Craft graduated from GMS in 2009 and currently attends Univ. of Mississippi. She will spend her summer as a camp counselor at Gwynn Valley Camp in western North Carolina.

Parents, staff and students enjoyed beautiful weather and fresh air at the Land. 

What is the Land Program at GMS?

by Nancy Hofer, Associate Head of School

 

Dr. Maria Montessori envisioned an Erdkinder  (German for land children) as the best environment for adolescents to study and work. She called it a "school of experience in the elements of social life."  She felt that if adolescents could live, manage and study in a farm environment, they would learn the lessons of being responsible community members as well as be able to have practical applications for learning, which is so developmentally crucial to an adolescent's education.

 

If you have heard reference made to the GMS Land Program, then you have heard something about our school's version of an Erdkinder. Many families explored the land site in Oak Ridge on Wednesday evening at the annual GMS Community Picnic at "the land."

 

Four times a year the middle school students experience being community members and relying on each other for practical needs such as fire, food, water, sanitation, and shelter, as well as for social and emotional needs.  The students spend 4 days and 3 nights living in shelters that prior students built. The population of the middle school is divided into 3 "tribes" comprised of 6th, 7th and 8th graders.  The students choose which tribal responsibilities they will take on; fire building, food preparation, washing dishes, acquiring water from a nearby well, and site maintenance.

 

Over the 10 years the middle school has spent time on the land, many projects have been completed: 3 shelters were built with 3 rows of bunk beds in each, a community shelter and wood working shop, a community cob oven, individual tribe ovens, lean-tos, storage bins for fire wood, metal fire pit rings, benches, picnic tables, Adirondack chairs, monitoring the cleanliness of the creek (a Haw River tributary), orienteering and survival skills, to name a few. Students continue their writing, science, history and math studies by using them in practical applications.

 

The use of the land is made possible by the generosity of Bill Stevens, grandfather of Phoebe and Chloe Stevens, who have been students at the school. 

 

Upcoming Events
  • Scholastic Bookfair in the Library - May 22-29 - Open Daily 8:30am-4pm (except 5/29: 8:30-12:30pm)
  • -
  • Upper Elementary  Year End  - Field Trips 
  • (4th level Students - North Carolina Outer Banks  (May 27-29)
  • 5th level Students - Jamestown & Colonial Williamsburg (May 27-30)
  • -
  • Middle School Opera Performance - Wednesday, May 27 & Thursday, May 28 @ 7:00pm
  • -
  • Art Exhibit and Reception - "Art in the Montessori Family"
    Sunday, May 31 at 2:00-5:00pm
    Hosted by Mitchell & Bartlett Orthodontics, 5314 W. Friendly Ave, Greensboro
  • -
  • Middle School - Epic Battle of Skills - Competition with Human Powered Puppets - Monday, June 1
  • -
  • Council of Elders Interviews for Graduating 8th Level Students
  • -
  • Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast - Wednesday, June 3 @ 8:30-10:00 - Upstairs Conference Room
  • -
  • Annual Moving Up Ceremony (9:30am) and 8th Grade Graduation (7:00pm) - Thursday, June 4
  • -
  • Last Day of School, Early Dismissal and GMS Community Pizza Party (12:00-2:00pm)
  • Friday, June 5

  • Back to the Top
  • Lost & Found Is Overflowing With Unclaimed Items

    Please check the LOST & FOUND for missing articles of clothing

      

    With the cool mornings and warm afternoons of spring, our Lost & Found area has been growing like a weed! If your child has list a jacket or sweater at school in the last couple weeks, chances are pretty good that it is in the Lost & Found. 



    FUN FACTS & REMINDERS

    Fresh Local Eggs for Sale at GMS on Wednesdays & Fridays

     

    We are proud to support our school gardening teacher, Aubrey Cupit, who is selling fresh free range eggs from his family farm. 


    Visit the egg stand in front of the school at afternoon pick up on Wednesdays and Fridays through the end of the school year. It is staffed by his mom and aunt!


    Get Fresh Local Produce from Faucette Farms CSA Every Wednesday

    Have you noticed the white delivery truck parked in our grassy lot on Wednesday afternoons? Or perhaps you have seen someone carrying a brown paper bag of produce across the parking lot on Wednesdays during 3:00 pick-up?  They are participating in the Faucette Farms Community Supported Agriculture program. GMS is proud to be a weekly drop site for local growers who partner with Faucette Farms. You can order specific seasonal produce or just get a mixed box of the best produce of the week.  Use the Faucette Farms CSA form to register.  You can use the Fresh Produce Order Form to customize your order. You can feel good about supporting local agriculture and feeding your family the freshest farm to table ingredients. 
     

    Did you know that you could be contributing to GMS by doing next to nothing?In fact there are three ways

      

    1. GMS Harris Teeter VIC Card # is 1849 - the year of the gold rush!

      

    Every time you grocery shop at Harris Teeter, you could be earning rewards for GMS.  Simply check that your VIC card is linked to GMS (#1849) next time you are at check out, or  log in to the Harris Teeter website 


     


      

    2. GMS Collects Box Tops for Education 

     

    Boxtops for Education are found on hundreds of products you buy every day: General Mills, Betty Crocker, Old ElPaso, Green Giant, Ziploc, Scott Tissue, Kleenex, Hanes Apparel...just to name a few.  When you see the Boxtops logo on packages of things you already buy, just clip them and drop them in the treasure chest on the front desk.

     

    Each Boxtop earns GMS 10 cents.

      

    3. Target Red Card - Take Charge of Education program

      

    If you use a Target Red Card (credit or debit), you could be contributing 1% of your purchase to GMS every time you shop!  Simply  go to  http://www.target.com/redcard/main, and click on the "Learn More" tab under "Take Charge of Education."  


     Y
    ou can register your card with our school by name "Greensboro Mont Sch" or number 24312.  So far, only 15 members of the GMS community have linked their cards.  If you shop at Target (who doesn't??)  and you use a Red Card, please take a minute to link to GMS!

      

      

      

    GMS Website School Directory: Find a neighbor or your child's classmates!

    The Community tab of the GMS website hosts the School Directory.  This feature is a password protected school directory.  After you have registered and been approved as an authorized user you can use the sort feature in the directory to find everyone who lives in your zip code or everyone in your child's class.  Simply enter the criteria in the search box on the left side of the directory.  The directory provides address, home and cell phones, as well as email addresses.  It is a simple way to build community by connecting families to the information they need quickly from any electronic device. 

     



    The Greensboro Montessori School | | [email protected] |