Rock Prairie Montessori School

On Wednesday, November 18, 2009, the Rock Prairie Montessori third graders, Cavanaugh Mair and Nathan Staddler,  took a trip to the Logan Museum of Anthropology at the Beloit College in Beloit, WI.  Students learned what a Curator does.  Curators study artifacts and catalog information about them and teach others what they learn.  The third graders put on gloves to protect their hands and to protect the artifacts they were able to handle.  They studied the artifacts, described them and matched them with other artifacts with similar qualities.  There were five artifacts along with a mystery object (a pine needle basket). 

 Students were able to go inside a large glass room called “the cube” which is climate and light controlled.  This room is where the artifacts are kept.  Each student was able to find artifacts from the Native American Tribe they are studying in their classroom.  The students analyzed those artifacts and will share what they learned in their own museum in their classroom.  Nathan Staddler is studying the Hopi Tribe of the Southwest and Cavanaugh Mair the Kwakiutl Tribe of the Northwest.

The Rock Prairie Montessori School third graders would like to thank Dan Bartlett and his student assistant, Kelsey for this amazing field trip.

Our very first Culver’s “Scoopie Night” was a huge success.  Thank you to all of the families that came out that night and supported this wonderful event.  Teachers and Board Members helped serve the food trays and Scoopie greeted everyone all night.  I four short hours Rock Prairie Montessori School raised $331.40 that evening.  WAY TO GO RPMS!!!

Alumni and current families are invited to join us on Saturday, August 1, 2009 as we celebrate 15 wonderful years of providing quality Montessori education in our community. Come and learn about the history of our school, reunite with old friends and get acquainted with new families. Put this very special date on your calendar. Details about this event will be posted and sent out in the coming weeks. Spread the word and join us on this date!!

This program is for young children from birth to 23 months of age and one of the respective parent/caregivers. It is a time for bonding, exploring Montessori materials and receiving information about various topics relating to child development. The cost will be $20 per class or $60 per 3-class session. This program is being offered through June- August and meets in the Young Child classroom from 9:00am-10:30am. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact the school office at 868-4844. For dates and registration
information, please download this pdf.

Elementary Class Thanksgiving Day model 08

There has been a tradition at Rock Prairie Montessori School that every November the Elementary class of first through third grade students creates a model of their depiction of the first Thanksgiving. All materials are student made and they assemble the village and dinner according to what they have learned about Native American and Pilgrim studies and cultures. All of the school gets to enjoy the creativity and knowledge of the students while the diorama is on display in the main hallway. Thank you Ms. Bonnie Sue, Ms. Kris and all of the elementary students for sharing with us the spirit of Thanksgiving!

On Thursday, November 13th we had our first all school assembly of the school year!  We were visited by the Janesville Police Department’s Officer Shaun Mahaffey and his partner K9 Hardy.  The children got to see how different this dog was from a dog they might have at home and what his importance is on the force.  Hardy is a full blooded german shepherd who was born and trained mostly in Germany.  One year ago he was introduced to Officer Mahaffey and the pair went through rigorous training in order to become Janesville’s first K9 unit.  The children listened and watched as Hardy was given his commands in German.  After which, they each got to pet Hardy.  They sang a gratitude of service song to Officer Mahaffey and K9 Hardy, and they got to walk through the area of the car where Hardy rides.  This was really quite fun and I believe the children thoroughly enjoyed it!

On Friday November 7th, we were thrilled to have one of our parents, Camille Makurat and her daughter Josie who is in Ms. Mary’s class give a informative presentation to our lunch time audience of students on their life in the Army. Major Makurat just retired from 20 years of service. Josie is 4 years old and helped her Mom show us all what MRE’s are (meals ready to eat), discussed her uniform, and metals. We all learned how veterans help keep our country safe. We ended the presentation with the students singing our service song: “We thank you we do, we thank you we do, we thank you for service, we thank you we do!”

We are glad to be hosting the Teach Peace Seminar on March 1st at 9:00 AM till 3:00 PM. We will be featuring many keynote speakers throughout the day speaking about the different aspects of Teaching peace within the montessori framework. The registration before Feb. 27th will be $65, after the 27th registration will be $75. Please register by calling Rock Prairie Montessori School at 608-868-4844 or download and mail our Teach Peace Registration Form and Information pamplet.

Thank you to all who attended the Winter Program on Friday December 14th.  This was a first in RPMS history – having all classes perform on the same morning.  What a morning it was!  The children did so well sharing their singing talents under the direction of Ms. Linda and Ms. Robyn.  This was such a fun way to end our school week!

The entire production was captured on video tape and can be order through the school.  Order forms are available in all parent mailboxes and are due in the office by Friday January4, 2008.