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Hilltop Alum share stories of high school at last night's Alumni Night
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 CARNIVAL TODAY 3-6PM - SEE YOU THERE!
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Next Week at Hilltop
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Saturday 10/18
Upper El Soccer Tournament
Putney 8.30am - 5pm
Sunday 10/12
Upper El Soccer Tournament
Putney 8am -5pm
Mon-Mon 10/20 -10/27 Annual Fund Week!
Monday 10/20
MS Soccer Game vs. The Grammar School 3.30pm
Cultural Cooking 3.30-4.30
Tuesday 10/21
Mountain Biking Upper El and MS 3.30-4.30
Soccer Upper El 3.30-4.30
MS Love/Hate Poems & Curriculum Vitae 7pm
Wednesday 10/22
BAGEL LUNCH
Historical Fencing Upper El and MS 3.30-5
MS soccer 3.30-4.45
Thursday 10/23
NO All School Gathering
Noon Dismissal
Parent Teacher Conferences
Friday 10/24
NO SCHOOL
Parent Teacher Conferences
No Soccer Practice
Saturday 10/25
Upper El Soccer Game
West River Fields
8.30am
Hilltop Fun Run! 10.30am
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| Notes from the Head of School |
A parent recently reminded me how long Hilltop has dreamed of having a certified Learning Specialist on staff to assist teachers and students. Wendy's involvement with the children working hard to learn to read has indeed been a dream come true. We've also seen wonderful benefits, as a staff and community, to having Becky work as an assistant to Lower Elementary: helping with math, with transitions to activities, and providing a more age appropriate After Care for elementary students. We have also been thrilled to see Toddlers join our midst - everyone regularly stops to peek in at the little ones learning how to navigate their environment.
These new additions are some of the things that our fundraising and grant writing helps to make happen. These "extras" are wonderful benefits that cost more than what tuition covers. We are thrilled to be able to provide these this year and look forward to further improvements. Please consider these investments in our staff and programs as we begin this year's Annual Fund . . .
Tamara
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| Parent Teacher Conferences & Mad Science Morning! |
Reminder Parent Teacher Conferences are next Thursday and Friday. Thursday is a noon dismissal for students and there is no school on Friday. If you need childcare for those days, we are offering it, sign up at the front desk.
Mad Science will be here on Friday, October 24 for those students who have signed up. It's not too late to sign up - Email Jennifer to get on that list!
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| After School Enrichment Programs |
New After School Enrichment Programs
are Ready!
We have the schedule for the next set of After School Enrichment Programs ready to go. Students will have fliers to go home today. There are also fliers and sign-up sheets at the front desk. You can also access the list at our website here. Most of the classes begin the first week of November and go through December. We have some favorites returning: Spanish, Drum Circle, Fire & Stone, Cultural Cooking (exploring new countries); and some new offerings: Creative Movement and Crafting with Wool. We also have basketball for MS and Upper El boys and girls. The classes will start at 3:15 and end between 4:30 and 5:00 depending on the class. Please check out the offerings and sign your students up soon (deadline is next Friday)!
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Thank You!
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Great big colossal thanks to Jen Betit-Engel and Emilie Kornheiser for organizing the Annual Fund Kick-Off Carnival. They're organized, efficient, fun and fabulous!
Thanks also to Rebecca Fontaine for the crazy delicious caramel apples for the Carnival! Yum!
We'd also like to append our thanks from last week to include Darlene and Steve Betit for the hot dog cooker. Darlene and Steve are grandparents to Talia, Matai and Addie! We will put it to good use! Thanks to whole Betit family!
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Toddler Room
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Practical Life activities are central to a Montessori toddler program. One of the most exciting Practical Life activities is food preparation. Now that we are well into the school year, children are more settled and the routine is predictable. We have such fantastic apples from local orchards, it seemed a perfect time to introduce making applesauce. Below are some friends preparing the apples for stewing.
Have a good weekend!
Ellie & Hannah
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Thursday's apple festival was a great success! Thanks so much to all the parents who came and helped; we could not have done it without you! A special thanks also goes out to Kirsten Perry, from Scott Farm, for her heirloom apple presentation and tasting.
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Learning about (and tasting) different kinds of apples.
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Baking pumpkin-raisin muffins.
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 Making apple sauce
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Decorating pumpkins to take home.
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Scrubbing pumpkins to get them ready to decorate the classrooms.
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Making apple prints.
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Lower El
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Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our first work share/Author's Tea! It was great to see the writers sharing their hard work. Our next work share is in two weeks. Some of our work this week included: - small and large bead frame work in math
- learning that you must always stop and exchange when you get to the number 10!
- using paper dice to practice base words + -s, -ed, and -ing endings in reading group
- discussing the word families -at, -in, and -ug and making riddles for them ("I'm thinking of something I wear on my head; what letter do I have to add?") and making them with the Moveable Alphabet
- labeling states and capitals of the U.S.
- studying the biome cards of Asia, and learning about the animals in the deserts of Asia
Enjoy the Carnival, and have a great weekend! -Kerstin and Patrick
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Upper El
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Our highlight this week was the class trip to Old Strubridge Village, where we witnessed 1830s New England life, asked questions of historical reenactors, and participated in cooking, textile or printmaking classes using historic tools and methods. The culmination of the day was our town meeting, in which students voiced arguments for whether their township should invest in a poor farm to house indigent people. Yesterday, those in favor of maintaining the "vendu" system (auctioning the care of the poor to lowest bidding families) won the day.
Arguments put forth in favor of vendu included:
- You live in a home with a real family
- You are often taught a skill as an apprentice that you can take elsewhere
- You get to participate in the daily life of a family
- Unlike the poor farm, you are not isolated from the rest of the community
- Abuse could occur in either system, but the townspeople will know and the abuser will get a bad reputation
- You don't have to raise new taxes to buy a poor farm
It was really great to see a large number of students speaking up and voicing their opinions based on their interviews earlier in the day, and in-class studies by our older students.
In other work this week, students are completing successive drafts of their short stories and U.S. history paragraphs. We look forward to seeing all of you at conferences next week.
Some photos from our trip to Sturbridge Village
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Middle School
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All the deities, gods, celestial beings, and our ancestors smiled down upon us last Sunday and brought the most sublime and perfect weather for our Harvest Festival annual fundraiser. People from all over thronged to Putney School and gravitated to the aromas of our fabulous soup and ate and ate and ate until all was gone. When we finally packed up, the middle school netted a record $2400! These funds will be a considerable help in our efforts to journey to Alabama this spring. Along with the financial benefits, students, parents, and staff had an excellent time together.
In addition to Harvest Festival, students have engaged in a number of business enterprises to raise funds. Students sell baked goods and lemonade at Hilltop soccer games, prepare weekly bagels, baby sit, sell hot coffee and muffins at their twice weekly coffee cart, and soon our special, organic, and delicious soups will be available.
Have a wonderful weekend.
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Fundraising at UE soccer game
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Soup sellers
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Getting ready for a huge day of selling soup!
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Nora Returns to the Trees
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Hilltop Montessori School
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