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April 2010 News and Photos
Grace and Courtesy
Three primary students that read wanted to try their hand at a recipe. They also wanted to share the product of their efforts with a few elementary friends. The students choose a recipe and then they each sent an invitation to one elementary student.
An afternoon was spent making the strawberry banana bread.
Ready for the oven!
The next day the children set a special table for their guests. They made place cards and placed flowers in the center of the table. The special guests arrived and were formally greeted by their hosts.
Everyone took their seats and water was served by the hosts.
A fun time was had by all. The elementary students enjoyed tasting the bread and talking with the primary students.
Creating Peaceful Pathways Montessori - Come help us build the vision!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Families are asked to reserve a chair for this exciting event!
Let me try to summarize what might be the guiding question: What will it take to make Peaceful Pathways Montessori sustainable in the long term – programmatically and financially?
This will be a visioning process. One in which we will all need to step out of the constraints of our current parental, classroom and administrative realities to look to the future for what we might need to do - to create - to remain sustainable, dynamic and true to our Montessori mission.
This process is not new to Peaceful Pathways. Five years ago Peaceful Pathways was still a plan - written on paper and being presented to the Kendall County Board. In four short years we have gone from ten students ages 3 to 6 to eighty-five students ages 15 months to 11 years old. God has certainly blessed the school and continues to send more and more students and resources our way. Here are just a few things that have happened in four short years:
- We consolidated two campuses into one specially designed building - all during a three month time period.
- A new toddler program was added this year and was full within the first couple months of school.
- Our primary classrooms now have outdoor decks attached that view our creek and allow for bird watching.
- Our students are able to pass between classrooms to get lessons that will serve them both academically and socially.
- Our elementary room has both indoor and outdoor space that is used daily by students.
- Last spring our elementary had its first annual Spring Musical. It was a huge success with an audience of more than 100!
- The elementary “Going Out” program is now very active. Students are calling specialists in the area to follow up on research they are doing in class. The students have scheduled visits to a farm, a fiber art studio, a local forest preserve to speak to a naturalist, the local food pantry and the local public library.
- A chess club was started this fall and now has more than 20 members that meet each week after school.
- Our library collection has more than quadrupled and has its own dedicated space in our new building with a collection of more than 2500 books. We even have a card catalog cabinet now.
- The landscapers will be out in the next couple weeks to work on a plan to put pathways in our wooded areas.
- Parents have come into the office requesting we consider adding classes through high school in the future!
I am excited to see what plans God has for our next four years here at Peaceful Pathways. His blessings have been abundant! Our collective visioning process will hopefully take a hard look at everything from the use and realities of this campus, to technology, to our shared values, to our commitment to service and giving, and to the structure and content of our programs.
Ultimately we should be looking forward towards the ongoing Montessori objective of education as a means of creating a new child (a responsibly independent child) for meeting the needs of new society. Therefore, all that speaks to the development and movement of Peaceful Pathways in the direction of creating a truly whole, open and sustainable school is fair game.
Our first class in May 2006. Who knew we'd have over 85 students four years later!