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Recently several parents have asked the question, "What approach should I use to discipline my child?"

Here are some ideas for ages 3-5: As your child grows and begins to understand the connection between actions and consequences, make sure you start communicating the rules of your family's home.

Explain to kids what you expect of them before you punish them for a certain behavior. For instance, the first time your 3-year-old uses crayons to decorate the living room wall, discuss why that's not allowed and what will happen if your child does it again (for instance, your child will have to help clean the wall and will not be able to use crayons for the rest of the day). If the wall gets decorated again a few days later, issue a reminder that crayons are for paper only and then enforce the consequences.

The earlier that parents establish this kind of "I set the rules and you're expected to listen or accept the consequences" standard the better for everyone. Although it's sometimes easier for parents to ignore occasional bad behavior or not follow through on some threatened punishment, this sets a bad precedent. Consistency is the key to effective discipline, and it's important for parents to decide (together, if you are not a single parent) what the rules are and then uphold them.

Discipline is not just about punishment but also about recognizing good behavior. It's important to tell kids what the right thing to do is, not just to say what the wrong thing is." For example, instead of saying, "Don't jump on the couch," try "Please sit on the furniture and put your feet on the floor." (Disciplining Your Child)

You can read more about discipline by exploring these websites:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/discipline.html#

http://allpsych.com/journal/parentingskills.html

http://www.todaysmodernfamily.com/index.php/2754

The Peace Table is a major component of our own modeling and conflict resolution work in Children's House.

Conflict resolution and respect for the environment (both physical and environmental) are two very important concepts in Montessori education. In a Montessori environment the teaching of these concepts take years to impart through developmentally appropriate experiences. The goal is for the child to learn compassion and responsibility for his actions. We teach children to reflect upon their behavior and its influence on the world around them. When a child attains awareness of truth and justice, their desire for fairness leads to learning to think before they act.

The "Peace Table" involves the children in "Active Listening." The adults in the classroom help the children to take turns listening and explaining their conflicts and feelings. After all sides have not only explained their take on a conflict but have explained how the other side(s) perceives the conflict, the children are guided through solving the problem together. Besides learning to work together, children learn to look at the "big picture" before making judgments. Through this process they discover that most conflicts are due, not to the actual "meanness" of others, but to "misunderstandings."

Ian and Henry resolve their problem at the Peace Table 

Special thanks to Stephanie Betit-Hancock for washing and drying all of the extra laundry this week.

Reminders: please continue to check your children's heads daily. Read the information on the fact sheet that was in your child's cubby for guidance.

We hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend!

This week, we concluded our "Clock of Eons" lesson with the last part of the story, which introduces the Phanerozoic Eon - the time of the trilobites. This last eon is divided into three eras: the Paleozoic (Greek for "old life," in which there was an explosion of many different forms of life), the Mesozoic ("middle life," or the age of reptiles), and the Cenozoic ("new life," the time when mammals and birds dominated the earth). Here on our special clock, there is also one thin red strip, which corresponds with our Long Black Line. This signifies the coming of human beings into the world - the Neozoic Era, or "very new life."

On this Clock of Eons, the Cenozoic Era is depicted in green, which symbolizes the grass and plants that began to grow on the land at this time in the Earth's history.

Talia works on her Clock of Eons poster

Marian helps paint our Time Line of Life mural   

We have been doing a little of our own planting here in class, potting baby spider plants and tending to them. Thank you to Finn for the plant donations!

Ben waters his spider plant   

Reminders and thanks:

• Kim Korson has taken charge of our Scholastic book orders! Soon we will be sending the popular book catalogs home with your children. Thank you, Kim!
• And to all of you who have helped with our laundry, a big thanks. We will need help most weeks with washing.

* Please remember to send your child to school with the following: a jacket sufficient to protect them from a light rain (sweatshirts do not a rain jacket make!), water resistant boots of any kind, indoor shoes, and extra clothes. It is absolutely necessary that everyone have these items! Many children suffered the discomfort of soaked socks and shoes this week, and had no indoor shoes to change into. Thank you in advance for your help!

* Our field trip to BEEC for the insect program is on Monday!

Have a lovely weekend together!

Jessica, Kerstin, and Connie

On Tuesday the sixths did a bit of role-playing. They all became citizens of a small Massachusetts town, Sturbridge, circa 1828. On a tour of their town, they watched the blacksmith forge a hook and listened while he explained where the iron came from and where the hook might end up. They tried on shoes at the cobbler shop and heard of a cottage industry of farmer women sewing uppers during the cold winter nights. They watched a potter throw a vase on a wheel and learned that it would sell for 12 cents. They saw water power a sawmill ripping planks and a carding mill making wool batting. At each shop, and on the paths connecting them, they asked their fellow townspeople a simple, yet compelling question: should the town of Sturbridge keep the existing mechanism for caring for the poor, the vendue system of auctioning off the poor to the lowest bidder, person by person, year by year, or should the town buy a farm, the poor farm, to house and maintain the poor under the care of a keeper? With a simple question the conversation changed from information to opinion. In reflection, at our own "Town Meeting", Emmanuel noted that the men generally were against buying a poor farm in that it would increase their taxes and the women were against the vendue as it often split families apart. In the end, the poor farm prevailed in our vote. Most importantly, the sixths practiced posing an important question to adult strangers, listening to differing opinions, and sorting through the arguments to form their own opinions.

 

The Middle School had a wildly successful soup fund-raiser at the Harvest Festival last Sunday. Over the course of the two-year cycle, students (often with the help of their families) raise half of the middle school's travel budget through a multitude of fundraising activities. The two-year budget for our odysseys (Alabama is our goal this year), various road trips (we are heading for Concord, Massachusetts on the 25th as part of our study of Transcendentalism - still need another driver!) and Upland camping adventures is in the vicinity of $32,000. The value to our students is immeasurable. Other ongoing activities to raise funds are the weekly bagel lunch (you can join up anytime) and starting today, the Friday soup sale. Students recently brainstormed about other ideas and new student-initiated and managed fundraisers are on the horizon. Raising money for our travels is another example of students taking control of their lives and owning their education.

A very important date on the Middle School calendar is rapidly approaching. Our annual Love/Hate and Curriculum Vitae presentation night is on Tuesday, October 23 at 7:00pm. For those of you who have not experienced this magical night of student exploration, the seventh graders write poetic lists of their loves and their hates and the eighth graders write a "curriculum vitae", their resume for life. After deep reflection, innumerable drafts, incisive conversations with Finn, and their own personal wrestling with words, students will memorize their creations and recite on the 23rd. This is always an important milestone in the life of each Middle School student.

Another milestone is next week's student led conference. If you have not signed up, please do so as soon as possible. The conferences on October 18 and 19 are the only dates this round of conferences will be held. At their conference, each student has the opportunity to reflect on and present their work and progress to their parents and staff. They are currently preparing for this expression of independence and self-awareness by writing a self-evaluation that addresses both their strengths and current challenges. We look forward to seeing you all there.