Dear Parents,

First and foremost I would like to say it is always a pleasure to spend time with you and thank our fathers for joining your children for breakfast. The children love to show off their classroom and we love to give them that opportunity to build their self-esteem by the excitement you parents show when you enter their environment and allow them to show you a few things you may not know...

I would also like to thank those of you whom shared your thoughts with me about summer. Based on our conversation and my staff’s input, we have decided to implement a few changes. A letter will be sent home to you with more details. Please respond to this letter and let me know what your thought are. This year we will begin our summer enrollment earlier than the previous years.

Thank you for all you support and thoughts. We all appreciate that you have chosen us to spend some of the most important hours of your child’s life with.

~Mrs. Amiri

Reminders

Please make sure that your child’s cubby is supplied with extra, weather appropriate clothes.

Please remember to call the school if your child is not going to attend for any reason.

When picking up your child please try not to linger in the lobby or to have long conversations with the other parents. We are very pleased to see our parents have a relationship with each other, however since the lobby is a small space and the children can wait patiently for a limited time we appreciate you keeping pick up time to a minimum.

Spring Holidays will begin on March 29 thru April 2.

Please let us know if you will attend any of the summer sessions.

PLEASE DO NOT PARK CLOSER TO THE BUILDING THAN THE HANDICAP PARKING SPOT  THIS AREA IS NEEDED FOR CARS TO TURN AROUND.

Dear Toddler Parents,

We would like to thank our fathers for attending Fathers' Breakfast in our classroom. The children enjoyed that precious time of sharing breakfast with you. You are very important to our children and at this age you represent their whole world to them.

February was a very short month because of snow days. We apologize for the inconvenience. However, we still had the opportunity to explore the Presidents and the United States ' Flag. Children enjoyed holding the flag and watching its colors. They learned that the flag is red, white and blue. They also know it has stars and stripes.

In the upcoming month of March, we will learn about the life cycle of plants. We will discuss the plant's important role in our life. We are still introducing the seven continents and we are learning a song about it.

Please do not hesitate to address us if you have any concerns.

Thank you,
Mrs. Nora and Mrs. Meena

Greetings!!!

Spring is on its way! A time when it seems that the beauty of the world emanates all around us. I am happy that winter is almost over and the weather will soon be warming up. Hopefully, we will have a beautiful and fun-filled spring season.

Thank you: I would like to thank all fathers who attended the Father’s Breakfast. It was wonderful to see them spending some quality time with the children and see their great work in the classroom.

We have a new student joining us, so please welcome Han Nguyen to our class.

This Month:

This month, we will be learning about the continent of Europe. We will talk about the people, traditions, and cultures from this continent. In science, we will be studying wind, insects, arachnids, and seed. We will be also talking about Irish holiday St. Patrick’s Day. We are going to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. Children will play games and have craft.

Dr. Seuss’s Birthday:

March 2^nd is the birthday of our beloved writer and illustrator, Dr. Seuss. We will be celebrating his birthday by reading some of his famous children's books. 

Vincent Van Gogh’s Birthday:

March 30^th is the birthday of the famous Dutch artist, Vincent Van Gogh. We will be looking at his biography and his famous work, The First Starry Night.

Youth Art Month:

Celebrate Youth Art Month, a month that emphasizes the value and importance of art in the development of children. We will introduce children to painting and talk about art in general.

Thank you,

Ms. Najia and Ms. Ruby

Dear Class B Parents,

Thank you to those who attended the Father’s Breakfast. The children enjoyed very much having parents in their classroom and were excited to show them their work.

We would also like to thank to all of you who had provided the Valentine’s cards. It was nice to see the children exchange their cards as a "token of love" during the circle time.

This month we have learnt much about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Children were shown the 1- dollar note with George Washington’s picture and a 5- dollar note with Abraham Lincoln’s picture. They were encouraged to visit the Lincoln memorial in Washington, D.C. We also learned that Abraham Lincoln is on the front side of the penny and the Lincoln memorial is on its back side.

We introduce lessons to the children regarding land and water and vertebrate and invertebrate. We also spoke about solid, liquid and gas.

In the upcoming month, we will also learn about Europe and focus on St. Patrick’s Day. "Dentist on the wheels" was great success in our school. Children learnt how to take care of their teeth by eating healthy food and about brushing their teeth regulary. We hope that you and your children will have a wonderful month of March and a good spring break.

Thank you,

Ms Sheuly and Ms Sima

Dear Class C parents,

First and foremost, we would like to thank all the parents for being patient and cooperative during the snow days.

This was the month of many celebrations which were enjoyed by the children. The children made little puppets for Groundhog's Day, and we talked about the groundhogs.Thank you to Mr Tzong for sharing his knowledge about Chinese New Year. The children learned many new things about the culture. This month we also discussed about Presidents' George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and we were surprised that the children knew many facts about them already.

On Feb 23rd the dentist came to talk about the importance of brushing and flossing our teeth.

We'd like to thank all the dads who came to our Father's Breakfast. The children were very excited to show their work to their dads. Unfortunately, our Father's Breakfast had to be rescheduled from February 12th because of the great amount of snow we had.

During the month of March our focus will be on St Patrick's day, Weather, Animal kingdom etc. We will also be focusing our efforts on what we can do to help the Earth! And will be teaching the children about recycling, reducing waste, and conserving energy and natural resources.Different activities　related to the subject will be available for the children to work with. Reading is an everyday routine in the class. Please encourage your child to bring non-fiction books to share ( books with the monthly theme is even better).

PS: Please check our website ( http://www.montessori-fairfax.com)　for any updates.

Thank You,
Ms Jain & Ms Zarri

Montessori And Discipline

In a Montessori classroom the foundation of discipline is build on freedom and structure. The best Montessori guides/parents understand that maintaining the delicate balance is one of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of our job. Dr. Montessori herself held that discipline is "not...a fact but a way". She held the belief that true discipline comes from within the person than without, and is the result of steadily developing inner growth. In her studies, she concluded that independence of the child made him/her respect authority. One of the things that aroused her greatest interest was that order and discipline seemed to be so closely united that they resulted in freedom.

Therefor, discipline in a Montessori environment is not something that is done to the child, nor is it a technique for controlling behavior. Our concern is to show the child and enable him/her to choose the right behavior because it is right for him/herself and right for the community.

The role of the teacher, then, is to be a model and a guide whole supporting the child as he/she develops to the point where he/she is able to choose to accept and to follow the "rules" of the classroom community. We know that this level of discipline has been reached when children are able to make appropriate behavioral choices even when we are not present.

Discipline presupposes a certain degree of obedience. Before the age of three a child is truly unable to obey unless what is asked of him/her happens to correspond with one of his/her vital urges. This is called the first level of obedience: the child’s personality has not formed to the level where he/she is capable of making choice to obey. The second level of obedience is reached when the child is capable of understanding another person’s wishes and can express them in her own behavior. Most educators stop here, however the goals of Montessori reach beyond this, to the third level called "joyful obedience". In this stage the child has developed self-discipline where he/she sees clearly the values of what is being offered to im/her by authority and wants to obey.

With this level of obedience comes a degree of self-respect in which a child cannot help but respect the rights and needs of others alongside his/her own. (More on this in the next month’s Newsletter).