This month ~

New Arrivals, p.2

Student and Alumni News, p.3

Adirondack Trip 2013, p. 4

More(!) Student and Alumni News, p. 5

Staff Luncheon—Thanks to All of Our Caring Volunteers! p. 6

Land Lab Outdoor Adventure, p. 6

MSS Moms—classes of 2006-2011, p. 7

Spring Recitals, pp. 8-9

Class of 2013, Then and Now,, pp. 10-11

Peace Pole, p. 12

Summer 2013

A window

on our

world

Montessori Summertime... Wondering how to continue your

child’s learning process over the

summer and not “lose ground” dur-

ing those eternal dog days? Here are

some ideas: Visit a book or art store

and let your child select a blank

book or journal. Encourage them to

start or end each day recording

something in their journal. Young

children can “draw” a story, then

dictate it to you. They can glue in-

teresting postcards, sketches, bro-

chures, and photographs in the journal. Making this priceless keepsake will help develop

literacy and creative writing skills. Explore local resources and places of interest: city and

county parks, fun events, historic homes, farms, zoos, museums, and walking trails. In-

clude your child in the planning process for local day trips to waterfalls, the art park, al-

paca shearing, blueberry picking, and craft fairs. Plan a camp-out in the Adirondacks. Let

your child help out in menu planning and shopping, and then in meal preparation. Bake

cookies. Churn homemade ice cream. Toss a big salad. Blend smoothies. Build a club

house. Starting and maintaining a family garden will reap delicious rewards. Install a

clothesline and include your child in hanging laundry with clothespins and in folding tow-

els and sheets. Let them help with household routines. A family book club can be fun for

older students. Each participant can suggest one or two books and decide as a family which

ones you’ll read. For non-readers,

evening read-alouds are relaxing and a

great family routine to develop. Join a

book club or summer reading program

at your local library. Happy Summer!

Diya Ali, Marielle Emmanuel, and Annika Dharwadkar, above, friends from Birch Cot-tage, and Jasper Kyle and Genevieve Kimball, right, of Maple, enjoy being together on the playground.

MSS teacher Serenity Clerk and her hus-band, Will Morat, announced the arrival their son, Desmond John Morat, born on April 11 at 4:16 p.m., weighing 8.51 lb and measuring 23 in. long. Serenity worked at MSS this year, developing our new website and filling several teaching roles. After visiting with family in Cali-fornia this summer, they plan to move to Mumbai, India to pursue a social business venture — a for-profit business whose revenue helps fund a not-for-profit cause. We wish them all the best in their new adventure!

Erin and Geoff Roberts welcomed ba-by Lorelei Elaine on June 12 at 4:39 a.m. Brother Caelen and sister Bridget are delighted with their future play-mate, who weighed in at 7 lb 2oz and measured 20 inches long at birth. A member of our Oak Cottage team, Erin has worked at MSS for eight years at the primary level. She and teaching partner Wenfang Zhao are excited to begin the 2013-14 school year in their beautifully remodeled cottage classroom!

New Arrivals!

Page 2

Maple Cottage teacher Ping Wang Damiani and her hus-band, Jonathan, welcomed their first child, Isabel Damiani, on April 29 at 4:01 p.m. Isabel weighed 7 lb 5 oz at birth and was 19 3/4 in. long. Ping’s par-ents traveled from China to meet the new arrival! Ping will complete her Masters in Mon-tessori Teaching this summer in Baltimore, then join Jonathan

where he has accepted a teaching position in Japan. Jonathan, now Dr. Damiani, worked in our After-Hours Program while completing his doctorate at Syracuse University. We will miss Ping and Jonathan and wish their fami-ly all the best!

“The child is the

hope and promise for man-

kind.”

Maria Montessori

Fifteen MSS students have qualified to participate in the Johns Hopkins Center for Tal-ented Youth (CTY) Talent Search based on their recent scores on the CTP IV (ERB) test, a rigorous standardized test given to students in Willow classroom each year. To qualify for the Talent Search, students must have scored 95% or higher on a verbal or mathematical reasoning section of the nation-

ally normed test. The Talent Search is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University Cen-ter for Talented Youth to iden-tify, assess, and recognize the academic abilities of highly able students. The quali-fying Willow students are: Jessica Abrams, Marcea Bond, Peri Cannavo, Amira Car-roll, Jason Cavanagh, Kara Dunn, Ryan

Dunn, Isabelle Enslin, Ireland Fernandez-Cosgrove, Connor Hughes, Mackenzie Moore, Cassie Murphy, Xavier Plourde, Sara Vertino, and Isabel Zuber. Congratulations!

Cedar second-level student Caleb Randazzo performed with a guitar en-semble at Syracuse University’s Crouse College. According to MSS music teacher and attendee Pat Getz, he was fabulous!! Caleb (at the far right of the photo, left) played alongside his teacher, Steve Brew. Ms. Getz noted that the re-cital included musicians from many local guitar studios, including Caleb’s at the YMCA. Caleb is a diligent guitar student who really enjoys the instrument.

Johns Hopkins Talent Search Students

Learning about Asia Former Montessori student Rachael Thomas (right) d a n c e d t h e B h a -ratanatyam to the amaze-ment of all the elementary students. Rachael studied this graceful, ancient classi-cal Indian dance under her guru, Dr. Sudha Raj, for eleven years. She still per-forms when she is not busy with her studies in environ-mental engineering at Car-negie-Mellon University.

This spring we were treated to two very special presen-tations representing Asian culture: a karate demon-stration and performance of a dance from India. Our librarian, Nancy Finch, and her karate teacher, Randy Lawrence, gave a terrific karate demonstration for the elementary students, who also learned some of the history and origins of the self-defense technique.

Caleb Performs at Crouse College

Student and Alumni News

Page 4

Annual Adirondack Trip At this year’s sixth-grade graduation, the most often cited “favorite ex-perience” of our students’ years at MSS was the annual Adirondack Trip, taken at the end of their third year in the 6-9 classroom. Many of our graduates look back with fondness on this very special experience with their friends and teachers. It is a community-building adventure and a major milestone for the students, forging connections for their next year in Willow Classroom.

This year’s group will probably feel the same way, as the ADK trip was once again a great success! The third graders climbed two big moun-tains: Cascade and Porter. They enjoyed rock-climbing with Rock and River Guides, preparing their own meals at Rock and River, playing games and being outdoors in nature. The ADK Trip is a rite of passage for all third graders at MSS and is looked forward to each year with great anticipation. Special thanks to this year’s ADK staff team: Judy Gianforte, Julia Gordon, Jack Lawyer, Brian Durkin, and Karen Dunn who made this year’s trip really special for our third-level students!

Clockwise from left: Parisa Ahmed rock climbing at Tillman’s Arret on Chapel Pond. Climbers atop Cas-cade Mt.: Antonio Fernandez-Cosgrove, Henry Knapick, Julia Gordon, Lili Czerniak Linder, Catherine Jean Durkin, Fayrouz Enany, Judy Gianforte, Audrey Burrows, Annabel Davis, Parisa Ahmed, and Sam Dunn. Fayrouz Enany prepares for rock climbing.

Windows is published by the Montessori School of Syracuse five times per year unless otherwise noted. Special photo contrib-utors this month are Karen Dunn, Selina Lazarus, Lori Dot-terer, Zac Randazzo, Sharon Vazquez, Serenity Clerk, and Terry Cox. Regular contributors are Madge Brower, René Gabriel, and Mary Lawyer O’Connor. Editing is provided by Kathleen Parrish and Susan French-Lawyer. Comments, questions, and submissions are welcomed by Mary Lawyer O’Connor at msshead@gmail.com

” … we can  give each individual the 

chance to fulfill his potential... to 

become an independent, secure, and 

balanced human being.”  

                           Dr. Maria Montessori  

More Student and Alumni News

Malachi Emmanuel ('11) and Milan Gupta ('11) both graduated from Middle School at CBA this spring. Malachi participated on the modified soccer team while maintaining his academic Honors status. He was a member of the Senate during his 8th grade year and act-ed in the musical Godspell. He also partici-pated in the soccer Olympic Development Team and ran track both years. Milan played on the modified football team in the fall and the modified track team in the spring. He maintained High Honors throughout the 8th grade. Milan will be taking honors courses in geometry, English, global social studies, Spanish and biology his Freshman year.

AWARDS

Maja Cannavo (’11), de-scribed in The Post Standard as “perfect on stage” at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., missed making the semifinals by just 3 points. She represented Central New York at the contest, broadcast live on ESPN3. Maja’s whole family attended the event, including sister Peri (Willow). Maja told reporters that she “wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.”

“Perfect on Stage”

MSS Graduates at CBA

At the JD Middle School grad-uation, many awards were handed out to former MSS stu-dents and graduates! Robert Dotterer (’11), Tyler Gabriel (’11), Jeff Gabriel (’11), Julia Vazquez (’10), MariYana Williams-VanArsdale (’11) received the Presidential Award for Educational Excel-lence, recognizing students who maintain a 90-plus aver-age during their years in middle school. Tyler Gabriel received a Silver Key for his art work in the Regional Scholastic Art Awards competition, as well as an award for participation in the Science Olympiad. Former MSS student Will Eimas-Dietrich and Robert Dotterer received special math awards. Rob also competed in the NYS High School Tennis Champion-ship games. Finally, Rob Dot-terer, Tyler Gabriel, Jeffrey Gabriel, and Julia Vazquez re-ceived bronze medals for their local and national placement in the top 10th percentile in the nation-wide French competi-tion, Le Grande Concours.

Page 6

Staff Appreciation Luncheon

Special thanks go out to all the parents who brought their culinary creations to the Annual Staff Apprecia-tion Luncheon in June! Each year, parent volunteers put together an elegant presentation of food for all the teachers—an MSS tradition since our move to this campus in 2001. In the fall of 2000, our former location at Temple Beth El was the victim of an ar-son attack, and during the ensuing months of transi-tion, our parents helped in many ways, including

gifts of lunch and dinner for the staff and all those in-volved in moving the classrooms, renovating the new buildings and grounds, and raising funds for our new classrooms. The classroom or cottage that your child has today exists because of the efforts of our parent commu-nity at that time. For many of us, the luncheon is re-minder of those hectic times, when we all pulled togeth-er to re-create our school on Waldorf Parkway.

At left, MSS parents Karen Dunn, Kelly Dunn, Asteir Bey, and Selina Lazarus are some of the generous parents who helped make the Luncheon a great success. Above, teachers Lisa Milazzo, Megan Donnelly-Heg, Jane Phil-lips, and Tricia Bowden, from Maple, Ever-green, Cedar, and Pine, respectively, enjoy the Staff Appreciation Luncheon.

Students Enjoy Land Lab Camp

Once again, MSS elementary students en-joyed two weeks of summer fun at the school’s annual Land Lab Outdoor Adven-ture Program: Tools, Trees and Treasures. Activities included working with tools, col-lecting specimens at the pond, arts and crafts, nature walks and an overnight campout. Above, students and staff pose near the Capture-the-Flag field. To read more about this popular program, check out the program’s daily blog at http://treestoolstreasures.blogspot.com/

For many MSS parents, the bonds they form at Montessori will last a lifetime. One particular group of moth-ers got to know each other as their children became acquainted in their cottages and classrooms and they bonded over shared values and support of the school. And even though many of their children are off to col-lege this fall, they often get together socially, and still support and attend many MSS school events. This year, they attended the Spring Gala, and contributed in many ways to making the event a huge success!

Can you guess which moms have had the following roles at our school: was a Lower Elementary teacher; helped to create our driveways, sidewalks and flower beds; makes the beautiful artistic arrangements of Si-lent Auction items every year; donated the timber frame entrance to our school; leads our Sixth Level pro-gram; is Development Director at MSS; is our school librarian. They are, respectively, the women in the photo above, with children from the classes of 2006 through 2011: from left, Amy Melton, Laura Alfieris, Judy Lieblein, Lori Dotterer, Sharon Vazquez, Madge Brower, and (not pictured) Nancy Finch.

MSS Moms Friends for Life & Life-

Long Supporters of MSS!

Below, our moms with some of their spouses and children, from a photo taken at Robert Dotterer’s Bar Mitzvah in 2012. From left: Maria Vazquez (’10) JD, Olivia Melton (’08) JD, Julia Vazquez (’11) JD, Rachel Lieblein-Jurbala (’09) MPH, Jack Brower (’08) CBA, Isabel-la Melton JD, Will Brower (’07) CBA, Laura Alfieris, Nate Brower (’10) CBA, Robert Dotterer (’11) JD, Bill Brower, Madge Brower, Amy Melton, Jack Melton, Sharon Vazquez, Judy Lieblein, and John Vazquez.

Our 18th year of spring recitals was both impressive and enjoyable. The Elementary Music Recital and the Kindergarten Orff Recital are annual celebrations of the musical accom-plishments of our students in Kinder-garten through sixth grades.

This year’s Elementary Spring Recital featured international folk songs and rock and jazz recorder pieces per-

formed by the lower- and upper-level ensembles, ac-companied by student percussion and African drum-mers. MSS parents Mike Vertino, bass guitarist, and Rob Enslin, trombonist, added energy by accompany-ing all the ensembles, and Brian Caulfield and Kathy Barry provided the sound engineering. The upper- level ensemble also performed folk music scored for various recorders—garklein, soprano, sopranino, alto, and tenor. Several graduating students performed so-los as well. Music teacher Pat Getz noted that she has more students volunteering to play solo and in small groups than ever before. “Many of our students are so comfortable on stage, and have such a strong interest in performance,” she shared. “When our students begin performing at the Kindergarten level, they are well prepared for the stage by the time they reach the Upper Elementary!”

Patricia Getz and Alina Plourde, our beloved music teachers, led the children at the recitals. Alina did a fantastic job with the graduating Kindergarteners, as they sang favorite songs and played percussion Orff instruments. Dressed in bright springtime attire, their on-stage performance and behavior were exemplary.

Page 8

Primary Recital

The parents/attendees enjoyed the recital, followed by snacks and conversation in the Great Room. The elemen-tary students always wear traditional “black-and-whites” for their recital, which sets the tone for a professional event. After their performance, many elementary families met at A La Mode for ice cream, another school tradition.

Clockwise from above left: Sasha DeRoberts, Ellie Parodi, Ben Bianco, Catherine Staniec, Declan Reed, Mark DeRoberts, Diya Ali, and Jorge Nie-derhoff sing along with teacher Alina Plourde at the Kindergarten Recital. Sharif Bey plays the so-prano recorder at the Elementary Recital. From left to right: Marcea Bond, Henry Knapick, Anna Pedone, George Knapick, Sara Vertino, Sam Dunn, Raji Bey, Rachel George, Lili Czerniak Linder, Caden Sisko, Fayrouz Enany, Caleb Randazzo, Lukas Ward, Quinn Wimer, and Audrey Burrows. Reese Bowden plays her Orff percussion instrument with grace.

Elementary Recital

Page 10

Compare and contrast! Can you match the girls of our Class of 2013 with their pictures taken when they first started at MSS? All grown up now, the sophisticated young ladies in the group photo at the top right of the next page are, from left: (top row) Ireland Fer-nandez-Cosgrove, Cassie Murphy, Morgan Barnes, Marcea Bond, Annie Gale, Quin Kenny, and Angelina Shenandoah, (bottom row) Sara Vertino, Natalie Stopy-ra, Haley Barnes, and Assata Bey. As primary students, Natalie, Ireland, and Sara start-ed their Montessori careers in Pine Cottage, Quin in Birch Cottage, and Cassie and Angelina in Oak Cottage. Entering at the elementary level, Marcea, Annie, and Morgan began in Evergreen Classroom, Haley in Cedar, and Assata in Willow.

These eleven young ladies have developed into fine role models for our young-er students. In their final year at MSS they have completed wonderful commu-nity service projects, filled major roles in the school musical, “Honk,” run the school store, harvested honey, and traveled to Montreal with the funds they raised. Their final gift to the community was the repair and refurbishment of the school’s Peace Pole (see page 12). The graduates will attend middle school at Fayetteville-Manlius, Jamesville-DeWitt, Manlius Pebble Hill and Christian Brothers Academy. The Barnes girls will enter the Riverstone Montessori Academy in Marietta, Georgia.

The students graduating in the Class of 2013 have excelled both academically and in the arts. Many of them love the spotlight, and have performed solo and in group settings at various celebrations, recitals, and amazing musicals each year, as well as displayed great presentations of sci-ence and cultural topics. We look forward to hearing of the many accomplishments these girls will achieve in the future. Good luck, Class of 2013!

Still guessing? On this page, captured hard at work their first year of school are, clockwise from top left: Ireland, Cassie, Angelina, Quin, Natalie and Sara. Pictured individually on the facing page are elementary beginners, clockwise from top left: Mar-cea, Annie, Haley, Assata, and Morgan.

Who are they...?

The MSS Class of 2013 !

 

155 Waldorf Parkway 

Syracuse, NY 13224 

315‐449‐9033 

www.mssyr.org 

NON PROFIT ORG 

US POSTAGE 

PAID 

SYRACUSE NY 

PERMIT NO. 116 

Let Peace Prevail

This year’s graduating class refurbished the school’s Peace Pole as one of their commu-nity service projects. Located on the traffic island in front of the main building, the pole bears the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in four different languages: English, Spanish, Hebrew, and Onondaga. The world-wide Peace Pole project was started in Japan in 1955 by Masahisa Goi, who dedicated his life to spreading its message in response to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These handcrafted monuments have been erected the world over as international sym-bols of peace.

An iconic feature of our Waldorf Parkway campus for many years, subjected to harsh winter weather and bleached by the sun, our Peace Pole badly needed a face-lift. The girls saw the need, raised the money, and installed the new replacement panels on all four sides. Many thanks to all of you for this lovely gift!

Standing proudly by the Peace Pole are: (standing) Annie Gale, Morgan Barnes, Quin Kenny, Haley Barnes, Assata Bey, Marcea Bond, Angelina Shen-andoah, Sara Vertino, (kneeling) Cassie Murphy, Ireland Fernandez-Cosgrove, and Natalie Stopyra.