News&NotesJANUARY 2013

DEARBORN HEIGHTS MONTESSORI CENTER

Accredited by the National Association

for the Education of Young Children

Dearborn Heights Montessori Center andsister school Plymouth-Canton Mon tes -

sori School are proud to announce that wehave achieved a new five-year term of accredi-tation through the National Association forthe Education of Young Children. NAEYC is the country’s leading organization of earlychildhood professionals.

“We’re proud to have again earned themark of quality from NAEYC, and to be rec-ognized for our commitment to reaching thehighest professional standards,” says Kay Neff,head of schools. “NAEYC accreditation letsfamilies in our community know that chil-dren in our program are getting the best careand early learning experiences possible.”

To earn NAEYC accreditation (technicallyre-accreditation—Dearborn Heights Mon -tes sori has been accredited since 1998),

DHMC went through an extensive self-study process, measuring our program andservices against the 10 NAEYC Early Child -hood Pro gram standards and more than 400related accreditation criteria. DHMC receivedaccreditation after an on-site visit by NAEYCassessors to ensure that our program meetseach of the 10 standards. NAEYC-accreditedprograms are subject to unannounced visitsduring their accreditation.

NAEYC accreditation is a widely recog-nized sign of high-quality early childhoodeducation. More than 6,000 programs, serving 600,000 young children, are cur -rently NAEYC-accredited, and only 131 ofthem are in Mich i gan. The NAEYC accredi-tation system has set voluntary professionalstandards for programs for young childrensince 1985.

DHMC earns prestigiousnational NAEYC accreditation

Thank you to our DHMC students andfamilies for being so responsive to our

November food drive for Gleaners Com -munity Food Bank. We are planning thenext step in our ongoing partnership to benefit the organization: a fund drive inFebruary. Look for more information in thecoming weeks!

The hands-on experience of collecting alarge quantity of nonperishable food (nearly1,500 pounds!) helped our students under-stand what it takes to run a food drive,including time, expenses, and even fuel totransport the items from our school toGleaners. For the upcoming fund drive,

we’ll see how another important resource—money—can be put to use for Gleaners.

Because of special bulk agreements withfood vendors and grocers, Gleaners can buy 4 pounds of food with every dollar donated.That 4 pounds of food can provide three mealsper person, so in essence, Glean ers can feedone person for one day for one dollar!

Our efforts in November provided morethan 1,100 meals for the hungry. The needsof hungry families in our community tend togrow after the first of the year. People are in agiving mood around the holidays, but dona-tions to organizations like Gleaners typically

Our next Gleaners project is a February fund drive

continued on page 11

Reema Haimour, Grade 5, made this replica of a stained-glass window

using cut paper à la French artist Henri Matisse.

2 NEWS & NOTES

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

A model of partnership educationMy column this month con -

tains the words of Dr.Riane Eisler, eminent social sci-entist, attorney, author, socialactivist, and cultural historian.Dr. Eisler became interested inMontessori through her studiesof peace education. In this articleshe discusses the importance ofpartnership education, her termfor the approach that Montessorischools have been using for more than 100 years. She, likeDr. Maria Mon tes sori, came tothe inevit able conclusion that inorder to create a peaceful world,we must lay the foundation inour children, beginning whenthey are very young.

In many schools, childrenoften feel powerless to change thecourse of their lives, much less thecourse of the world around them.Many become immersed in thematerialism and self-centerednessthat permeates mass culture,futilely seeking meaning andbelonging in the latest fad or com-mercial offering.

Montessori schools around theworld offer an alternative way toraise and educate young peoplethat I call partnership education.It is designed to help them notonly better navigate through ourdifficult times, but also create afuture that is oriented moretoward partnership, rather thanthe familiar form of interpersonalrelationships that I call the domi-nator model.

Dominating vs. partneringIn the dominator model, relation-ships tend to be based on patternsof domination and submission.Most of us have observed, andperhaps experienced, the pain,fear, and tension of people whouse coercion, jockey for control,or try to manipulate and cajolewhen they are unable to expresstheir real feelings. We can find

this going on every day in the rela-tionships within some families,classrooms, and workplaces, andamong nations or fanatical groupsof ideologues.

Thankfully, most of us havealso experienced another way ofbeing, one where we feel safe andseen for who we truly are, whereour essential humanity and that of others shines through, perhapsonly for a little while, lifting ourhearts and spirits, enfolding us ina sense that the world can after allbe right, that we are valued andvaluable. Relationships like theseare based on mutual respect, non-violence, and a desire to workthings out in a reasonable andequitable manner if at all possible.

Montessori schools are found-ed on the partnership model andencourage children to develop theability to work together, thinkindependently, and be empatheticand kind. As studies have shown,students in Montessori programstend to excel academically, and to have exceptionally high levelsof self-esteem and social and emotional maturity.

Teaching a balanced view of historyMost schools give young people a false picture of what it means to be human. We tell them to begood and kind, nonviolent andgiving. But on all sides they seeand hear stories that portrayhumans as bad, cruel, violent, andselfish. In the mass media, thefocus of both action entertain-ment and news is on hurting andkilling. Situation comedies makeinsensitivity, rudeness, and crueltyseem funny. Cartoons present vio-lence as exciting, funny, and with-out real consequences.

Montessori schools deliver adifferent message, even from earlychildhood. Here children are seenas complete human beings, andare encouraged to discover their

own talents and voices. They learnat their own pace, and are chal-lenged to focus their attentionand energy on self-mastery, ratherthan besting their classmates. Thegoal is still to produce very well-educated people, but the meansby which this is achieved aremuch more empowering andrespectful.

One of the things that Iadmire about Montessori is that itoffers children a much more bal-anced and positive view of history.Rather than glorify violence andconflict, Montessori schools helpchildren to look at societies fromthe perspective of daily life, withan equal emphasis on the roles ofwomen, who were, after all, any-thing but invisible and irrelevant,as well as the roles men played.

Montessori students study theculture, cuisine, art, music, andgreat stories of past civilizations.Rather than pretend that badthings did not happen, Mon tes -sori schools teach children toexamine the evidence of celebra-tion and kindness that did exist,along with the stories of not onlywarriors and kings, but also thepeople who made great contribu-tions to social justice, scientificunderstanding, the arts and greatliterature, and the search for peace.

It is interesting to considerwhy schools have continued toemphasize the themes of wars anddomination in the history cur-riculum for so long. Not that theyshould be ignored, but why theseexperiences are often glorifiedseems illogical, if we all wantpeace on Earth.

But think about it from thisperspective. If human beings areinherently violent, bad, and self-ish, we have to be strictly con-trolled. This is why stories thatclaim this is “human nature” arecentral to an education for a dominator or control system ofrelationships.

Montessori

schools encourage

children to develop

the ability to work

together, think

independently, and

be empathetic

and kind.

CorrectionThe “Cookie Fundraiser

Brings in the Dough” article inthe December issue of News &

Notes contained a misspel ling inthe list of parent volunteers. Thenames should have appeared as

Andrea and Michael Thoms(Ben’s parents). We apologize

for the error.

NEWS & NOTES 3

They are, however, inappro -priate if young people are tolearn to live in a democratic,peaceful, equitable, and Earth-honoring way: the partnershipway urgently needed if today’sand tomorrow’s children are tohave a better future—perhapseven a future at all.

Moving toward an equitable, caring societyChildren are impoverished whentheir vision of the future comesout of a dominator world-view.This world-view is our heritagefrom earlier societies that werestructured around rankings ofpeople who considered them-selves “superiors” over their com-mon and everyday “inferiors.” Inthese societies, violence andabuse were required to maintainrigid rankings of domination—whether man over woman, manover man, nation over nation, race

over race, or religion over religion.Over the last several centuries,

we have seen many organizedchallenges to traditions of domi-nation. These challenges are partof the movement toward a moreequitable and caring partnershipsocial structure worldwide. But atthe same time, much in our edu-cation still reinforces what I calldominator socialization: a way ofviewing the world and living in itthat constricts young people’s perceptions of what is possibleand even moral, keeping many ofthem locked into a perennialrebellion against what is, withouta real sense of what can be.

Montessori education is one ofthe few educational approachesthat has been so highly successfulin giving children both a soundgrasp of core knowledge and thebig picture of human history andhuman possibilities.

In the 100-plus years since its

inception, Montessori educationhas proven to be not only highlyeffective, but also more relevantand important today than everbefore. With the challenges thatwe face as human beings—social, environmental, and inter-national—I am not aware of anyother educational system thatpro vides such a clearly definedoverarching plan for preparingteachers to implement partner-ship education, along with thecurriculum needed to support it.

I earnestly hope that as par-ents, you can appreciate the valueof the education that you havechosen for your children by send-ing them to a Montessori school.There they will absorb critical lifeskills and values that will servethem well through the years.

Toddlers move to the musicEvery Monday and Friday, music fills the toddler classrooms when Mrs. Pat comes to visit. Shebrings her guitar and gets the children moving to songs such as “The Wheels on the Bus” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” Eventually the toddlers will be ready to make the long walkdown the hall to experience music class in the music room. Now that’s worth singing about!

Move up withMontessoriPlease plan to attend our OpenHouse and “Moving Up” meet-ings on Wednesday, February13. The meetings are designedto inform you about the nextstep in your child’s Montessorieducation. Come for the OpenHouse at 5:30 p.m. and stayfor the Moving Up meetings at6:30. Meet the teachers, checkout the classrooms, and learnmore about the next level ofDHMC Mon tessori!

4 NEWS & NOTES

A sense-sational eveningSensorial materials set the stage for learning and fun during thePreschool and Extended Day Family Activity Night on November 29.Children and their families gathered in the preschool hallway to experience a number of Sensorial works, which are designed to helpstudents develop and refine their senses. Scientific in nature and exact in mea sure ment, the Sensorial materials introduce color, texture, sound,dimensions, smell, and shape, and indirectly prepare students for laterwork in mathematics. Clockwise from above: Linda Fakih lends a handas her children—(from left) preschooler Adam, toddler Leem, andExtended Dayer Mahdi—create their own sound shakers. n PreschoolerLuis Rodriguez (left) and Extended Dayer Malik Makki create a “shapescape” using geometric shapes. n Mihaela Balanean sniffs a “scentbag” as she and daughter Bianca work on a matching activity with six aromas (garlic, ginger, lavender, pine, orange, and cinnamon).

NEWS & NOTES 5

Bald eagle research and illustration by Celine Fadlallah, Grade 1

Diala Kawar, Grade 3, conducted a science experiment on the formation of water vapor. She wrote a report describing her hypothesis, the materials she used, the procedure she followed, her observations, and her conclusions. She also created this drawing illustrating the key stages of her experiment: watering a plant, securing a plastic bag over the leaves, and collecting the water that condensed inside the bag.

Families invited to ElementaryCurriculum NightStudents in grades 1

through 6 will be showcasing

various areas of their classroom

studies for guests during

Elementary Curriculum Night,

on Thursday, January 24 from

6 to 7:30 p.m. Families are

invited! We hope you’ll come

see how your children use

the Montessori materials

throughout the curriculum.

6 NEWS & NOTES

Channelingthe masters

Elementary art students havebeen studying master artistssuch as Matisse and Picassoand creating works in their

styles. Clockwise from above:Matisse paper-cut design byAndrew Angold-Stephens,

Grade 6. n Picasso-style snow-man by Anthony Martin,Grade 3. The snowman is

made from cut paper, and thebackground was created withsponges dipped in watercolor

paint. n Picasso portrait byDevan Dhruna, Grade 4.

NEWS & NOTES 7

Crunch Cart is openSixth graders (from left)Mahmoud Hage, James Utley,and Rory McMaster announcethe news: The Crunch Cart is open for business! Run byupper elementary students, the Crunch Cart began offeringlunchtime snacks to upper eland Middle School students inearly December. Menu itemsinclude chips, cookies, toasterpastries, fiber bars, juice boxes,Silk Pure Almond milk, andHori zon Organic Lowfat Milk(both milk options are avail-able in chocolate and vanilla).Prices range from $.50 to$1.25. Upper el students willadd items to the menu periodi-cally. Managing the CrunchCart gives students real-worldexperience in economics, sales, and marketing.

Drama students soak up the limelightElementary students in our fall after-school Drama Program gather on stage for a photo op before performing The Catnip Conundrum and Other Tales in December. From left are (front row)Leila Fakih, Eva Ibrahim, and Maya Fakih; (middle row) Dixon Miller, Andrew Angold-Stephens,Emily Davidson, and Serene Saleh; (back row) Diksha Iyer, Lydia Mills, Chloe Rochefort, Libby deVeer, Maya Liljegren, and Hannah Khor. The cast performed the play twice on Friday,December 7—once during the day for students and later in the evening for families and friends.

The winter session of our Drama Program, which is offered for students in grades 1 through 8,begins on January 22. The registration deadline is Wednesday, January 16. For more information,please ask at the front desk.

8 NEWS & NOTES

Just as the name implies, theMiddle School’s Peace and

Service Group focuses on pro-moting peace and providingcommunity service. The stu-dents in this year’s group havebeen gaining experience on bothfronts through activities insideand outside the school.

The eight Peace and ServiceGroup members vote on theactivities they would like to doduring the school year. For thepeace portion of their agenda,they decided to work with thepreschool classes. Every otherweek, these Middle Schoolersvisit the preschool classroomsand read stories to the youngerstudents about peace-relatedtopics, such as conflict resolu-tion and what to do when you’re feeling sad or angry. In

Decem ber, the group also spenttime in Heidi and Renu’s class-room making holiday crafts withthe children.

For their service work, thegroup has selected several causes.They are assisting Sue Fitz -patrick, DHMC Par enting Sup -port and Community Outreachcoordinator, with our school-wide projects in support ofGleaners Com mu nity FoodBank. In December, the studentsvisited Oakwood Hos pital’sCen ter for Excep tional Familiesin Dearborn, which offers healthcare, social work, mental health,and physical therapy services to special needs children andtheir families. Our students weregiven a tour and afterwardhelped make holiday stockingsfor some of the children andtheir families as part of the cen-ter’s Holiday Giving program.

“The students really enjoyedthis field trip,” says KimDavidson, Middle School teacherand advisor to the Peace andService Group. “I have a feelingthey may want to do more workwith the center because they’vebeen talking a lot about theirvisit. It made an impression.”

Another organization thegroup has discussed helping isthe Ronald McDonald House,but as of this writing, no planshad been finalized.

Regardless of which organiza-tions they support, the Peace andService Group students are gain-ing firsthand experience in peaceand service work. Their actionstoday mean they’re well on theirway to become caring, compas-sionate citizens in the future!

Promoting peace, striving to serve

Middle School Peace and Service group members (from left) Nahla Hammoud, SarahRochefort, Reem Rizk, and Arianna Afonso make holiday stockings for special needs children at Oakwood Hospital’s Center for Exceptional Families in December.

Upper el parents:Middle School

Mornings are for youAll upper elementary families

are invited to Middle School

Mornings, which are great

opportunities to learn more

about our Middle School while

class is in session! The visits

begin at 8:15 a.m. and end

just prior to lunch. Middle

School Mornings are planned

for January 9, February 27, and

April 17 (all Wednesdays), but

prospective Middle School

parents are welcome to visit

anytime. For more information

about Middle School Mornings

or to arrange a visit at another

time, please call the Middle

School at 313-359-6943.

NEWS & NOTES 9

Throughout history, peoplehave had an insatiable appe -

tite to discover the unknown—and our Middle Schoolers are noexception. During Cycle Two oftheir academic curriculum (whichran from the end of October toearly December), students enteredthe Age of Exploration. Theyshared their discoveries through adisplay outside their classroom, anexcerpt of which we present here.

The Age of Exploration,beginning in the late 1400s,brought about the end of theMiddle Ages and ushered in anera of competition, conquering,and adventure. In addition, theAge of Explora tion challengedpeoples’ basic precepts about theworld and fostered the necessaryingredients for the Reformationand the Age of Reason.

North Amer ica has beenstrongly influenced by explo-ration. Christopher Colum bus, insearch of an alternate route to theIndies, was the first Euro pean toreach the Western Hemi sphere in1492. Prior to Colum bus’s voy-age, Leif Ericsson, a Norse man,set foot in Greenland and easternCanada around the year 1100.However, the first explorers toreach North Amer ica were thenomads who crossed the frozenBering Sea approximately 13,000years ago. These original hunter/gatherers continued their trekacross North and South Americaover the next several thousandyears, creating settlements alongthe way until, eventually, humanbeings populated the WesternHemisphere from Alaska toPatagonia.

Middle School students wereasked to build their knowledge ofpast and present exploration bycompleting individual and groupprojects. There are two distinctgroup projects featured in this

exhibit. First, students were askedto find the factors that led peopleto explore North America. Eachgroup of students chose a groupof explorers from a specificnation, including England,France, the Nether lands, Spain,and Italy/Portugal. They present-ed their research to the rest of theclass in the form of a mural.

The second project consisted

of discoveries in the Age ofExplora tion in specific geographicareas other than North America.Stu dents chose from China,Australia, India, Africa, SouthAmerica, the Polar Regions, themoon, the highest peaks, theocean, and deep space. They wererequired to create a timeline iden-tifying important dates and signif-icant findings.

Middle Schoolers get immersed in the Age of Exploration

Above: A group mural by Luma Qashou, ColeStockinger, David Vanzant,Ryan Mondalek, and PatrickByrne highlights key playersand locations in Spain’sexploration of the Americas.n Left: A map by SamClifford, Ian Kovach, CarolinedeVeer, and Reem Rizk shows English exploration of North America.

10 NEWS & NOTES

Winter weather may beupon us, but we are still

prepared to enjoy outdoor play.State licensing rules require

outdoor playtime for children,and DHMC is committed tomaking exercise and free move-ment available to our students.Studies have indicated that chil-dren who play outdoors, even dur-

ing cold weather for short periodsof time, have fewer res piratory ill-nesses. The school staff will usereasonable dis cretion in decidingif weather conditions are appro-priate for children to be outdoors.

Please remember to dress yourchild in weather-appropriateclothing. As we move into winter,the children will need heavier

coats, hats, mittens, snow pants,boots, and other cold-weathergear every day. Also, please clearlylabel all outerwear so that the chil-dren (and teachers) can easily findtheir belongings.

With your help, we are happyto provide a wonderful outdoorexperience for your child atDHMC!

Is your child dressed for outdoor play?

Come see Tangled on DHMC Movie Night Please join us for Movie Night, sponsored by our Parents

Asso ciation, on Friday, February 8 at 6 p.m. We’ll be screening

the animated Disney film Tangled, which is based on the tale

of Rapunzel and tells the story of a lost princess with long, magi-

cal hair who yearns to leave her secluded tower. Stu dents from

toddler through Middle School and their families are invited to

view the movie on the big screen in our gym. You bring your

fam ily; we’ll supply the popcorn. Don’t miss out on the fun!

WA

LT D

ISN

EY P

ICTU

RES

To create this winter scene, Hayden Kibbey, Grade 6, used a multi-step process—and someinteresting materials. He placed pieces of painters tape in the shape of trees on a sheet ofwhite paper, painted the entire sheet with blue watercolor, and, while the paint was still wet,sprinkled it with salt! He then peeled off the tape to reveal the white trees underneath. Thesalt created a snow-like texture in the background of the painting.

NEWS & NOTES 11

High school fiddlegroup brings livelyshow to DHMCFiddlers ReStrung came to DHMC for an all-schoolassembly on November 30.Made up entirely of studentsfrom Saline High School, the21-piece string ensemble (right)entertained with lively playing,singing, and dancing. Duringone song, the group invitedDHMC students to try theirhand at some of the instru-ments (above).

Our next Gleaners project continued from page 1

decrease after the first of the year.Yet that is usually when it is mis-erably cold (increasing thedemand on community soupkitchens) and when temporaryholiday jobs end (making it moredifficult for struggling families toput food on the table).

Our upcoming fund drive willallow us to continue to educate

our students and families abouthunger and the importance ofstrengthening communities byworking together.

And our efforts do make a dif-ference. Mike Auerbach, Gleanersfood and fund drive coordinatorand our contact at the organi -zation, wrote to us, “Withoutadvocates like you in our com -

munity, Gleaners would not beable to collect over 2.5 millionpounds of food from food drivesand distribute them to our morethan 600 partners each year.Through your support, you arehelping to connect hungry peoplewith the food they need when andwhere they need it.”

DATES TO REMEMBERJanuary9 Wednesday Middle School Mornings: Upper elementary families invited! 8:15 a.m.

See page 8 for details.

15 Tuesday Parent Perks meeting. 8:30 a.m. Complimentary child care provided.

21 Monday Staff professional development. NO SCHOOL. NO DAY CARE. NO LATCHKEY.

23 Wednesday Picture Retake Day.

24 Thursday Elementary Curriculum Night. 6–7:30 p.m.

February5 Tuesday Parent Perks meeting. 8:30 a.m. Complimentary child care provided.

6 Wednesday Parents Association meeting. 6 p.m. Complimentary child care provided.

8 Friday Movie Night. 6 p.m. All levels. The Parents Association presents Tangled. Seepage 10 for details.

13 Wednesdayn Open House for the Community—DHMC families welcome! 5:30–6:30 p.m. n “Moving Up” parent meetings. 6:30 p.m. Come learn about the next level of a DHMC

Montessori education: preschool, Extended Day, elementary, and Middle School.Complimentary child care provided.

18–19 Monday–Tuesday Midwinter Break. NO SCHOOL. NO DAY CARE. NO LATCHKEY.

20 Wednesday Staff professional development. NO SCHOOL. Day care and latchkey available.

25–March 1 Monday–Friday Montessori Education Week.

27 Wednesday Middle School Mornings: Upper elementary families invited! 8:15 a.m. See page 8 for details.

DEARBORN HEIGHTS MONTESSORI CENTER

466 N. John DalyDearborn Heights, MI 48127-3703

313-359-3000www.dhmontessori.org

“We see no limit

to what should be offered

to the child, for his

will be an immense field

of chosen activity.”

—Dr. Maria Montessori

A winter wonderland—in watercolorMolly Byrne, Grade 5, explored watercolors using a wet-on-wet approach. She dampened a sheet of paper with water, added watercolor paint, and watched it blend, creating a background in shades of red, pink, purple, blue, and green. She then added the paper-cut trees (also painted with watercolors; she drew thebranches with a gold pen) and sprinkled on paper-cut dots for snow.