Rock Prairie Montessori School

Fresh off the RPMS press is the December issue of Prairie News. You can download it here. If you would like a hard copy, please feel free to contact us and we will mail one to you.

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 pleased to post a new article from Heidi Walters from the Montessori Initiative. Feel free to download the Febuary-2008 pdf of “Montessori in the News” . Feel free to post your thoughts and share your comments. We would love to hear from you.

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.

What is “Making It Possible”? We decided as a board to take a moment to acknowledge and recognize the people within the community who are going above and beyond, and recognize them for their achievements, donations, commitment, and volunteerism. Thank you to everyone.

Martha Carver: The Board would like to thank Martha for her effort and commitment to developing and fulfilling the role of Director of Education. Martha has positively impacted many children in her class work and now the school at large is benefiting from her expertise and passion. In addition she has led the development of new educational offerings for parents such as Love and Logic as RPMS continues to focus on education excellence.

Linda Maybee and Robyn Doege-Brennan: The Board would like to thank Linda and Robyn for their effort to make RPMS first all school winter program such a success and further helping to build our sense of community.

Dennis McDougall: The Board would like to thank Dennis for leadership and time in developing and launching RPMS new website. The website is a key communication tool and will be a great enhancement for our school.

Jenny Membrino: The Board would like to thank Jenny for her leadership over the years with the Fall Festival. As one of our key community events, the Fall Festival has become a highlight for the school.

Lisa Pember: The Board would like to thank Lisa Pember for her dedication to being the Morning Greeter extraordinaire over the last two years. The mornings would not be the same without her!

Mary Umbrewicz: The Board would like to thank Mary for all her efforts to launch and drive Parents as Partners. From concept to execution Mary, has taken our volunteer efforts to the next level.

Welcome to a new year at RPMS. We look forward to many new and exciting opportunities. To start the year off, we are offering up a note from Heidi Walters from the Montessori Initiative. Download the January-2008 pdf of “Montessori in the News” article. Feel free to share your comments. We would love to hear from you.

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.

You are cordially invited to join us on Saturday February 9th 2008 for an Italian Dinner and Auction. We are writing to share some important information about our major fundraising eventfor the year, RPMS Annual Italian Night, held at school from 6:30 – 9:00 pm. As a notfor profit, fundraising is an important source of funds. This year our target is to raise $9500 in revenue and $7500 in profits, which is almost half of our total goal for the year. This is money that is part of our school budget. The best part of Italian Night is that it is an evening out for adults priced moderately with good food, wine tasting and good company. There is music, silent and live auctions and raffles. Dinner and drink tickets are $20/$5 respectively, and you are encouraged to bring friends and family. This will be our fifth year holding the event at our school. To be a success we need every family to participate. There are many ways: whether it is attending the event with family and friends, offering to help with the evening or by donating or soliciting items. We would ask all families to take a few minutes to download and complete the Italian Night Information Sheet and return it by January 11th. This is vital to the success ofevening, the auction and our goal. Time spent in solicitation of auction items counts towards service hours. We have provided copies of Donation Flyers to usefor each item donated or in solicitation. Thank you for your support of our wonderful school. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Oakleigh Ryan via school mailbox, email Toakleigh at aol.com or call 608 436 0876 or contact other members of the committee.