News&NotesAPRIL 2010

DEARBORN HEIGHTS MONTESSORI CENTER

Accredited by the National Association

for the Education of Young Children

Extended Dayer Blake Manwell shows off the colorful bug eyes he created on Art Day in March. See page 5 for more photos from thisfavorite DHMC event.

Come with us to ancient Greece

The Winter Olympics may have ended inFebruary, but at DHMC, the journey to

ancient Greece is just beginning! This year’sannual schoolwide cultural festival will takeparticipants on an “Olympian Odyssey.”Please plan to join us on Thursday, May 27for a full day of entertaining performances,educational presentations, and more—allfocused on the ancient civilization of Greece,and all created and produced by students.

The DHMC curriculum includes a six-year cycle in which students from preschoolthrough Middle School explore the ancientcivilizations of India, the Vikings, Meso -america, Egypt, China, and Greece. Each year brings new challenges for studentsbecause elements of the featured civilizationare incorporated into all areas of their classroom studies—math, science, geography,language, art, and culture.

Students began preparing for the Olym -

pian Odyssey in March, and their hard work will culminate in a daylong festival that includes theatrical performances, music, dance, and food. In the classrooms,students will share with visitors oral pre -sentations, reports, dioramas, and manyother engaging efforts. On stage in the gym,third-graders will take on the personae of celestial characters (gods and goddesses) ofthe Greek civilization. Sixth-graders will perform the play The Tale of the WoodenHorse, complete with an Olympic-styleopening ceremony. Middle Schoolers willprovide the technical support for the play as well as hospitality for festival-goers.Refresh ments, dinner, and festival mementoswill be available for purchase in the MiddleSchool throughout the evening.

Watch for additional information via e-mail and your child’s backpack, and be sureto save the date for our Olympian Odyssey!

For the safety of children and adults alike,please observe our school guidelines for

parking and student drop-off. Our parking lot has designated handi-

capped spaces as well as no-parking areas;please park in the appropriate spaces. TheDear born Heights Police Department isactively ticketing in our lot.

In addition, all children (except Middle

School students) must be walked in to thebuilding after morning and afternoon drop-offhave ended (8:25 a.m. and 12:25 p.m., respec-tively). Children may not be dropped off in the parking lot.

If you have any questions regarding ourparking lot or drop-off procedures, pleasefeel free to contact us. We appreciate every-one’s cooperation.

Safety alert: Mind our parking lot policies

“The word education must not be understood

in the sense of teaching but of assisting the

psychological development of the child.”

—Dr. Maria Montessori

2 NEWS & NOTES

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Why re-enroll? An authentic Montessori education is a lifetime gift for children

It’s the time of year when parentsare asked to make enrollment

commitments. Especially whenbudgets are tight, it can be tempt-ing to make a change. I hopeyou’ll continue giving your childthe lifetime gift of an authenticMontessori education. Below aresome reasons to stay.

SafetyOur students are safe here, bothphysically and emotionally. Pol -icies and procedures related tophysical safety are firmly in place.And in contrast to many otherschools, it is safe to be smart, tobe polite, to ask questions, tomake a mistake, to be different,to tell the truth. Our teacherstruly know their students and cre-ate a safe haven in every respect.

Impressive test scoresOur students’ composite scoreson standardized achievementtests are consistently severalgrades above their actual gradelevel. Performance is high despitethe fact that we do not teach tothe test, and spend minimal timepreparing for it.

Depth and richness of programWe offer so much more than the basics. Field trips, in-housepresenters, art, music, foreignlanguage, physical education,and technology complement arich curriculum that encouragesdiscovery and in-depth explo-ration. Individualized instruc-tion targets lessons to eachchild’s level of understanding.Other “extras” include after-school classes, athletic teams,and community service.

StabilityFinancial stability, staff stability,and a stable administrative teamcharacterize our school. We’re fastapproaching the 40-year mark,still going strong, and headingconfidently into the future.

Happy kidsHappy kids go to school here—kids who love to learn, who loveto come to school, who love theirfriends and their teachers.

Amazing graduatesOur graduates are accepted at thehigh schools of their choice, andthrive when they get there.Schools our recent graduates areattending include Brother Rice,Catholic Central, Cranbrook,Dearborn High, Detroit CountryDay, Divine Child, Fordson,Gabriel Richard, Greenhills,Mercy High School, PlymouthHigh School, and University ofDetroit Jesuit. The maturity andself-possession of these youngpeople is remarkable.

CharacterThe academic success of our stu-dents is important, but is, in ourview, secondary to character. Wecare most about the kind of peo-ple these children will grow up to be. Loosely defined, characteris doing the right thing when noone is looking. This internalizedsense of integrity—of moral andethical conduct that is indepen -dent of external control—is theoverriding goal of our program.

RespectChildren are treated with respectand in turn are expected tobehave respectfully. They aretrusted to do the right thing, andtheir conduct justifies that trust.We receive many compliments

from outside presenters who areimpressed by the students’ inter-est, attentiveness, and thoughtfulquestions.

IndependenceIn developmentally appropriateways, children acquire an arrayof self-management skills. Theylearn to be responsible for theirwork, their belongings, and the school environment. Theydevelop confidence in them-selves as individuals and as members of a group.

We are the worldOur culturally diverse commu -nity welcomes and celebratesindividual differences, at thesame time recognizing andappreciating things we have incommon. We also care about the natural world, and by wordand example emphasize “green.”

Our door is always openWe welcome families and encour-age participation. Meetings,events, parenting classes, discus-sion groups, volunteer opportu-nities—there are many ways to beinvolved, and we love to see you!

AuthenticityThe Montessori name is notpatented, and is often attached toprograms that are “Montessori”in name only. We are the realthing in both philosophy andpractice, with properly trainedstaff, well-equipped classrooms,and a long history of success.Authentic Montessori works!

Instilling an

internalized sense

of integrity—of

moral and ethical

conduct that is inde -

pen dent of external

control—is the

overriding goal of

our program.

NEWS & NOTES 3

Thank you…To preschooler Sophia Reeves’Aunt Judy (Naomi Kennedy)for donating snack items to theMiddle School. The goodieswere added to the menu atthe student-run Middle Mart,which offers snacks before andafter school in our lobby. Mid -dle Mart pro ceeds offset thecost of the Middle School’sannual end-of-school-year fieldtrip—this year it’s West Virginiafor white-water rafting!

PUPPET MAGIC: The Amazing Clark (Eugene Clark of Amazing Clark Enter tain ment) brought Rocky theDinosaur and other puppets to DHMC on March 9 for a delightful inter active magic and puppet show for preschool and Extended Day children.

Artwork by Cara Hodgins, grade 4. Working in the style of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, Cara created a series of rectangles by drawing lines on watercolor paper using black crayon. She thenfilled in some of the spaces with black, blue, red, and yellow watercolors, taking care to balance the placement of color and to leave some rectangles white.

Still life by Kiran Prasad, grade 5

4 NEWS & NOTES

Students in Betsy’s preschoolclass kicked off their cele -

bration of March Is ReadingMonth in style: They donnedhandmade Cat in the Hat head-wear and enjoyed a snack asteacher assistant Laura Wildfongread the classic Dr. Seuss book to them. Pictured above are, from

left, Yiannis Papadakos, EthanPerkins, Jaad Darwich, RadwanDarwich, and Ben Clifford.

Laura planned a number of literary activities for the month.The Cat in the Hat reading onMarch 2 coincided with ReadAcross America, the national read-ing awareness initiative promoted

each year on Dr. Seuss’ birthday.In addition, parents, staff, andstudents were invited to the class-room to read their favorite child-hood book to the children. Thestudents thoroughly enjoyed hav-ing special guests visit their class-room and read a variety of booksevery school day of the month!

Daily reading is the cat’s meow

My Turkey Storyby Samir Mehanna, first grade

Once upon a time a littleturkey was dashing throughthe rivers. He had so much fun but a dog was chasing

him. He was so scared. Thedog wanted to eat the turkey

for lunch. The turkey was run-ning as fast as he could from

the dog but the turkey hidfrom the dog. The dog couldnot find the turkey. The dog

went away, back to his owner.

NEWS & NOTES 5

Our annual preschool andExtended Day Art Day

drew lots of children and theirparents to DHMC for a fun-filled morning of hands-on proj-ects on Sat ur day, March 20.

Each preschool classroomoffered different arts and crafts,including Jackson Pollack-stylepainting in Betsy’s class, making“bug eyes” in Manel and Beth’s

class, and creating Matisse papercuts in Heidi’s class.

After completing their handi-work, guests gathered in theArtists Cafe for healthy snackssuch as veggies, cheese, tortillachips, and juice.

Pictured below, clockwisefrom left: Tamas Denes anddaughter Bernadett enjoy themorning together. n Matthew

Robinson paints à la JacksonPollack. For that work, studentsplaced a piece of paper on a tarp-covered floor and thensplashed paint onto their paper,creating a masterpiece. n Parentsand children make colorful JoanMiró-style necklaces by twistingchenille pieces into interestingshapes and then stringing beadsonto them.

A canvas for art and memories

Scouts collect shoesfor quake victimsDHMC Girl Scout troopsrecently collected gently usedshoes to aid in the earthquakerelief efforts in Haiti. As a resultof their initiative, the collectionboxes at school overflowedwith donations. More than 200pairs of shoes were taken to Z-Coil Comfort Shoes of Dear -born, which in conjunctionwith the organization Soles forSouls will ship the donations to Haiti. Thank you to ourDHMC staff and families fortheir donations!

6 NEWS & NOTES

Taste of the Town is a sweet successFor the third year in a row, the

upper elementary Taste of theTown fundraiser was a great suc-cess! Families flocked to DHMCon the evening of March 18 tosocialize, sample a vast array ofdelicious cuisine from localrestaurants, and vie for prizesthrough raffles and giveaways.

Proceeds from Taste of theTown benefit all DHMC pro-grams and students. The upper elwould like to thank everyone whosup ported the fundraiser: guests,sponsors, exhibitors, raffle-itemdonors, and event organizers.

Event vendorsAl Nada BakeryAllegra Speedy PrintingAntonio’s Cucina ItalianaApplebee’s, Dearborn HeightsBangkok 96Barnes and Noblebd’s Mongolian BarbequeCheesecake GalleryChocolate CelebrationsCo-op Services Credit UnionCorporate Travel ServicesCozy Heart Candle Co./

Gold Canyon CandlesCrave Restaurant and Sake BarCreatopia PotteryDearborn Chamber

of CommerceDearborn Health &

Racquet ClubDearborn Heights Chamber

of CommerceDearborn Italian BakeryDearborn Sausage CompanyDel TacoDelux LoungeDoug Lloyd & SonsEnglish GardensEntertainment ExpressEverfresh Juice/LaCroix WaterThe Flower ShopFrito LayGeorge’s Senate Coney IslandGordon Food ServiceHiller’s MarketJannie Annie the ClownJimmy John’s, Dearborn HeightsKrogerKumon of Dearborn HeightsL.J. Griffin Funeral HomeLa PitaLifeWise PlanningMexican Fiesta RestaurantMizudo Academy of Martial ArtsMonroe BakeryMorgan’s ArcadiaMorsels, Traverse CityOlson’s Party Rental SuppliesOm SpaPanera Bread, Dearborn HeightsPapa Romano’s, Dearborn

HeightsPark Place CaterersPeopleGro, LLCRio Wraps/PizzaPapalis

Sally Foster/EntertainmentPublications

Sammy’s PizzaSoundTraxx Disc Jockey

Services, Dennis PagliaStarbucks, Dearborn HeightsTastefully SimpleThrifty Florist, DearbornTrader Joe’sUpstairs Downstairs

Remodeling

AdvertisersAmmex PlasticsArab American Language

InstituteDearborn Orthopedics &

Sports Medicine, P.C. DreamwalkerFRD PharmacyBarbara and Marc FreemanHenry Ford Health SystemJack HornePat HorneIntegrity Home Health CareKubica familyKumon of Dearborn HeightsLaw Offices of

Timothy J. Horne, Inc.Mannik & Smith GroupMartie and Don MolineNoretta Dunworth School

of DanceTorus Wellness

Gift basket donorsAbdullah familyAl-Sultan RestaurantAndiamo, DearbornAngold-Stephens familyAntonio’s Cucina ItalianaApplebee’s, Dearborn HeightsAutomotive Hall of Famebd’s Mongolian BarbequeBailey’s Pub and GrilleBody n BalanceBuffalo Wild WingsPaula ByrneCheli’s Chili BarShannon ClementsCollege for Creative StudiesCorporate Travel Services, Inc.Cozy Heart Candle Co./

Gold Canyon CandlesCrave Restaurant and Sake Bar

Carrie Kosiba (third grade) and her brother James (fifth grade) display the guitar package

they won in a Taste of the Town raffle.

NEWS & NOTES 7

Creatopia PotteryCurves of CantonDavid and Shelly HelwigDearborn Health &

Racquet ClubDearborn Heights

Montessori CenterDel TacoDelux LoungeDenise and Jim HodginsdeVeer familyDHMC Day Care ProgramDHMC Summer ProgramDiscount Tire CompanyDouble OliveDrinks SaloonEades familyEnglish GardensEntertainment Express, Inc.EnviroSolutions, Inc.Erika DanielsFakih familyFeinn Tire & Auto ServiceFlo’s Pampered ChocolatesGloria Johnson Medical

TranscriptionGordon Food ServiceKaren and Vince HatchRhonda HoltPaul HorneIn Pro InsuranceJack’s Bicycle & FitnessJason familyJoey’s Comedy ClubPaul JomantasJungle JavaJunior Girl Scout troop 3826Kernosek familyKobel familyKovach familyKen and Sonya KowalskiKubica familyLenton familyLeonard Burdage’s Michigan

Bass Fishing Tour GuideLind familyLucky Strike LanesMcMaster familyMexican Fiesta RestaurantMichigan Academy of

GymnasticsMidway Golf Family Fun

CenterMixx LoungeMizudo Academy of Martial Arts

Martie and Don MolineMoline-Freeman familyMonroe BakeryMorgan’s ArcadiaMorsels, Traverse CityMurray/Pawelek familyOm SpaPapa Romano’s, Dearborn

HeightsPhotography by ShannonPlymouth WhalersPost BarRed RobinRemski/Clifford familyRio Wraps/PizzaPapalisRunning FitSally Foster/Entertainment

PublicationsSalsarita’sSalute to the SunTorus WellnessTrader Joe’sUpstairs Downstairs

RemodelingVIP Car WashWard familyMargo Wos

Classroom gift basketsThese include donations/contributions from families.Betsy’s classroomHeidi’s classroomManel & Beth’s classroomKaren McGraw’s classroomKarren Spatz’s classroomKaren Yamin’s classroomMargherita & Regina’s classroomMary Beth’s classroomTony’s classroomMiddle School

Raffle coffee cansThank you to families and stafffor donating coffee cans for theraffle. Special thanks to Camp -bell’s Paint and Wallpaper inDear born for donating wall papersamples to decorate the cans.

VolunteersAbdullah familyAfonso familyAngold-Stephens familyMark Boyak

Byrne familyKim CascardoClements/Watts familyCurrie familyDaniels/Littleton familyCasey DembowskideVeer familyDondero familySean DunnEades familyFadlallah familyFakih familyLaura FransenBarbara and Marc FreemanGallagher/Kernosek familyHager familyHatch familyHelwig familyIyer familyDoug JohnsonKobel familyKovach familyKowalski familyLambert familyShereen LindAmy LukaszekMcMaster familyMiddle School students and

alumniMills familyMartie and Don MolineTara MolineMoline-Freeman familyMondalek familyMurray/Pawelek familyRemski/Clifford familyStockinger familyWard family

StaffThank you to our DHMC stafffor their efforts before and dur-ing the event.

Special thanksThank you to Volunteer &Donations Coordinator KirsteMoline-Freeman, her husbandLee Freeman, and their familymembers for all their hard workon Taste of the Town!

VIP sponsorsPlatinum EnviroSolutions, Inc.LifeWise PlanningPeopleGro, LLC

Gold Arab American Language

InstituteUpstairs Downstairs

Remodeling

Silver Dr. Bernadette Kovach, Ph.D.Keane Center for AdoptionDelphi Accounting and Tax

Services, Inc.

Friends of DHMCJason familyMartie and Don MolineMoline-Freeman family

DATES TO REMEMBERApril14 Wednesday Preschool, Extended Day, & Elementary Dads’ Night. 5:30–7 p.m.

14 Wednesday Sixth-grade parents visit Middle School. 8:30 a.m.

16 Friday Parent Perks morning parent discussion. All levels invited! 8:30 a.m.

19–22 Monday–Thursday Elementary & Middle School achievement testing.

22 Thursday All-school Earth Day Celebration (during school hours).

23 Friday Make-up achievement testing begins.

27 Tuesday Preschool & Extended Day Music Programs. 6 & 7:15 p.m.

May3 Monday Preschool & Extended Day conferences begin.

6 Thursday Lower elementary Music Program. 7 p.m.

7 Friday Parent Perks morning parent discussion. All levels invited! 8:30 a.m.

7 Friday Upper elementary Senior Project presentations. 5 p.m.

7 Friday Preschool & Extended Day Grandparents’ Day.n Morning classes: Grandparents (or a substitute) visit 9–10:30 a.m.n Afternoon classes: Grandparents (or a substitute) visit 1–2:30 p.m.Note: Extended Day students’ grandparents may visit at either time.

13 Thursday Upper elementary Music Program. 7 p.m.

17 Monday Middle School yearbook sale begins.

21 Friday Middle School canoe trip.

21 Friday Parent Perks morning parent discussion. All levels invited! 8:30 a.m.

24 Monday Middle School report cards issued.

27 Thursday Cultural Festival: Olympian Odyssey (all levels). 3:30–8:30 p.m. (No day careor latchkey 3:15–6 p.m.)

28 Friday Staff Professional Development. NO SCHOOL. Day care and latchkey available.

31 Monday Memorial Day. NO SCHOOL. NO DAY CARE. NO LATCHKEY.

Summer fun is fast approaching

Be sure to enroll your child in our learning-is-fun summer program, which

runs from June 21 through August 20.Designed for children aged 3 to 12, our

summer studies provide consistent,enriched environments to further develop

students’ inherent desire to learn. Aca -demics such as math, language, art, and

technology stay exciting and vibrantthanks to hands-on materials and theme-related projects. Weekly themes focusedon ancient cultures come alive through

in-house presentations and field trips. You won’t want your child to miss out

on our Montessori-enriched summer program, so sign up today! If you have

any questions or need additional infor mation, please con tact summer

program director Heidi Gauger.

DEARBORN HEIGHTS MONTESSORI CENTER

466 N. John DalyDearborn Heights, MI 48127-3703

313-359-3000www.dhmontessori.org

DHMC elementary students raised $1,924.50 for theAmerican Heart Association through the Jump

Rope for Heart fundraiser in March. Congratulations tothird-grader Zachary Buvalic for being the top moneyearner. He raised more than $600!

Students jumped a total of 59,034 jumps. Upper andlower elementary children each took turns being ajumper and a recorder. At intermission, students wereprovided with water or Gatorade plus fresh apples andoranges. Each student completed 10 rounds of jumpingin 30-second intervals, for a total of 5 minutes. In each30-second interval, students jumped as many times aspossible, averaging 472 jumps during the 5-minute period. Each child’s total jumps were added up to deter-mine our all-school tally.

Students jump in to help heart association

Second-grader MichelleStubbs is ready to jump.