Dear Friends,
I hope everyone is having an enjoyable winter break. This time of year can often bring up many mixed emotions: stresses or pleasures that come from visits with extended family, remembering those we have lost, or the anticipation and hope that a new year brings. Whatever your circumstance, we wish you joy and peace.
We are 4 months into the school year, and the staff at The New School Montessori is filled with gratitude toward the families and children we get to serve. One of life’s greatest joys comes from putting one’s talents and gifts toward a cause or community worth serving. Your families allow us to do the work we were meant to do. Thank you.
As you know, our understanding of the word “school” is broader than most. To us, it means community. To us, it means a place of inspiration, enthusiasm, compassion, and service. From discovering the counting beads in the preprimary to the treasures hidden within the Trinomial Cube, our students (your children) grow up with us; we learn together.
- We explore the hidden laws of nature through experiments in electricity.
- We hypothesize about why leaves in our preprimary playground turn upside down in anticipation of an approaching rain.
- We learn to read and then love to read.
- We know that no measure, no test, fully captures who we are.
As Walt Whitman says, “I am not contained between my hat and my boots.” We push ourselves to learn more, so that we can love the world in a hundred different ways. Through the chemistry of water, or the satisfaction of solving an algebraic equation, or the discovery through a well-written novel that we are not alone in our thoughts, we learn to honor and cherish life. To love it. This is what “school” means to us.
Thank you for allowing The New School Montessori to serve your families and continue to find new ways, as the poet Rumi says, “to kneel and kiss the earth.”
With gratitude,
Jeff Groh