Weekend Warriors Day

How do you get over 40 hours of work done in one morning? With a group of dedicated volunteers!

Last Sunday, November 18, volunteers gathered to do small projects at WMS. Liz Madden, Director of Educational Programs, led a group of parents who helped clean out and re-organize downstairs classrooms. One of the rooms is being prepared for a new preschool room to open in January. The other rooms will be used as breakout rooms where teachers can lead small group lessons and will also be used by our five Odyssey of the Mind teams and Girl Scouts.

In other inside spaces, walls were spackled, door stops were replaced and kitchens were cleaned.  Outside, bushes were trimmed in toddler play areas, river rock was spread outside the gym to help drainage, playground benches were fixed, and the swing set on the elementary playground was scraped of rust, protected with a rust-preventing primer and painted!    

Many thanks to our hard-working volunteers:  Liz Madden, Stephanie Simms, Jessica Yanis, Pam and Jeff Politis, Meredith and David Amado, Kerry Shweiki, Nora and Jim Lober, Anna Quisel, Susie Ventresca and Dave Ropars.

Look for another gathering of the Weekend Warriors later this winter. WMS can use your help! 

Currently, all WMS families are responsible for 30 hours of co-op service, which can be completed through a combination of time spent and materials purchased in support of classroom and school-wide activities. For the remainder of this school year, the exchange rate for materials purchased for co-op credit will be changed to one hour of co-op credit for every $20 in purchases. Receipts are still required for purchases and must be turned in to Lori Oberly, Front Desk Coordinator.

If your family is unable to complete their co-op requirements for the year, incomplete hours will still be charged at the rate of $30 per hour.

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Laughter is such a wonderful, contagious gift. No one laughs quite like a child. Their honest, beautiful belly laughter brings joy to our hearts and a smile to our face.

When is the last time you laughed together over a silly mistake instead of getting angry? It is those small moments of sharing the same "joke" that bring us closer. Laughter should never be at the expense of another.

Keep a joke and riddle book at your dining table and laugh together often. 

Wilmington Montessori School received a five-star rating again in 2012 for the Delaware Stars for Early Success Program.

Director of Educational Programs Liz Madden and Admissions Officer Theresa Conaty attended a celebration of the program with Governor Jack Markell and Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn on Tuesday. WMS was one of the select few early childhood programs in Delaware with the highest rating and was the only Montessori school with this five-star rating. In a letter from the governor, WMS was applauded for our "hard work, leadership, and the focus we bring to our children's learning and development."

Delaware has put an emphasis on early childhood education during the past year, fueled by funding it received through a national grant of $20 million dollars last December. The speakers at the event mentioned how crucial brain development is from birth through age 6 and how a quality program with a focus on an individualized curriculum and observation of each child is fundamental to a child's future success. 

"At Wilmington Montessori School, we already focus on so much of what they emphasized today.  We teach to each child's individual needs and our teachers are trained professionals who are experts in early childhood learning," Liz Madden said. "The state is finally catching up with what we've known as Montessorians all along; education does not begin in kindergarten - it begins at birth."