Field Trips

We have a limited number of field trips planned throughout the school year and these may include: Safety City, The Muttart Conservatory, The Odyssium and our Year-End Family Picnic. We charter a bus for these events and a limited number of parent volunteers are asked to assist. The average cost of our field trips is $5.00 - $20.00. Fees for your child’s field trip are paid for from your pre-paid Activity fees.

School Pictures

Individual student, siblings and class photos are taken in May. A variety of packages are available, and there is a cost associated with this service. Franklin Photographs is the company responsible for Montessori & Me school pictures. If parents are unhappy with their child’s school photos, they should contact the company directly to arrange for a re-take.

Digital photographs of classroom events and birthdays are uploaded monthly to the Gallery section on our website. We encourage parents to view these with their child: www.montessoriandme.com.

Show & Tell

Every Wednesday is Show and Tell Day at Montessori & Me. Children are encouraged to bring a favourite toy or item from home. or an item that relates to our weekly or monthly theme. Show and Tell is a wonderful way for children to learn to verbally express themselves and develop more confidence in a group setting.

We promote peace in our classroom and on the planet we share. Toy guns are not allowed in class, nor are hand held games or laser type space weapons. Parents should help the child choose an item that is appropriate for our classroom.

Homework Practice

We do not send additional work home, however some parents may ask for work sheets and suggestions on how to participate in their child’s learning. If parents would like additional work sheets in phonics, mathematics, or any of the units we are covering, please speak to the Directress.

Observations

Observations, if absolutely necessary, may be scheduled through the Directress. Parents are asked to refrain from visiting the classroom during the first sensitive weeks of school when students are still adjusting to classroom routines. One-hour observations may be arranged anytime between October 15th - May 31st, and parents are provided with a handout to maximize the time spent with us.

Please remember the teachers will be focused on the students and may not have time to speak with you. It is also important that your presence does not disrupt the natural rhythm of the classroom. When in class, we ask parents to refrain from making comments, correcting, or helping the children. To limit the novelty of your visit, you will be asked to sit in a designated visitor's chair in the classroom. A great deal may be learned by patient and quiet observation of your child at work.

Washrooms & Potty Training

Children should be potty-trained to attend Montessori & Me. Washroom breaks are routinely planned throughout our day, and children may go to the washroom at any time. Children are always accompanied by a teacher. Younger children or those just recently potty trained, go to the washroom at least once per hour.

Due to our harsh winter climate, many of our students are prone to eczema or have sensitive skin. To help protect the child’s face and hands, we use a mild soap, soft cotton facecloths as towels, and fragrance-free Keri lotion.

Whenever possible, we encourage independence. We ask the child to carry the soap and towels, undress as much as they can, help pump the soap, pour the water or clean the spill. These are all-important parts of learning and help develop a sense of competence.

TV & Computers

We do not have televisions or computers in our classroom. Sadly, the "couch potato syndrome" is pervasive in our culture and we fear that many children are now unable to amuse themselves...they have lost the art of play. Boredom should never be a reason to turn on the television, but rather a reason to get up and move!

Parents and educators need to remember that the preschooler has an immature mind; his imagination is imprecise, without limits and he believes everything we tell him. He does not yet have the power to distinguish between fantasy and reality. As real life is so fascinating to the young child, parents and educators should strive to present activities which lead to concrete experiences and active work.

Television and computers can be a valuable tool for education but we must keep these in balance with other experiences. In support of this balance, here is a quote from the July 1997 issue of The Atlantic Monthly:

"'Sesame Street' ...has been around for twenty years. Indeed, its idea of making learning relevant to all was as widely promoted in the seventies as the Internet is today. So where's that demographic wave of creative and brilliant students now entering college? Did kids really need to learn how to watch television? Did we inflate their expectations that learning would always be colourful and fun?...and finally I see a parallel between the goals of 'Sesame Street' and those of children's computing. Both are pervasive, expensive and encourage children to sit still. Both display animated cartoons, gaudy numbers and weird, random noises...both give the sensation that by merely watching a screen, you can acquire information without work and without discipline."

"The primary danger of the television screen lies not so much in the behaviour it produces as the behaviour it prevents... Turning on the television set can turn off the process that transforms children into adults."
~ Urie Bronfenbrenner, Professor of Human Development, Cornell University

"Television . . .is an anti-experience and an anti-knowledge machine because it separates individuals from themselves and from the environment and makes them believe they are living while they are only observing passively what other people decide to make them see."
~ Dr. Silvana Montanaro, MD, Psychiatrist, Montessori Teacher-Trainer